Movies Graded

Director: Mike Ahern, Enda Loughman Stars: Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, Will Forte Runtime:  94 minutes Synopsis:   In an Irish town you call Rose, the driving instructor, if you have ghost etc. problems. Martin's deceased wife bothers him, so he calls Rose, who's single. A levitating daughter makes him call again. Performances: 5/5 Screenplay: 4/5 Special Effects: 3/5 Editing: 4/5 Cinematography: 4/5 Score/Soundtrack:  4/5 Entertainment Factor: 4/5 Verdict: Well I certainly wasn't expecting to call Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman's directorial debut the funniest movie of 2019 and yet here I am. "Extra Ordinary" made me laugh more than any movie did this year, and I simply cannot believe how enjoyable I found it to be. Ahern and Loughman channeled their inner Waititi to deliver a film similar in comedic style to "What We Do in the Shadows", but with ghosts and witchcraft instead of vampires. It's awkward, realistic in its ...

Director: Céline Sciamma Stars: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami Runtime:  121 minutes Synopsis:   On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Verdict: I really, really, really wanted to love this movie. In fact, as soon as I heard about its reception at the Cannes Film Festival, it instantly became one of my most anticipated films of the entire year. And who knows, maybe I'll feel differently about it if I give it another shot one day, but right now, I can't say that I was as wowed by it as the vast majority of people who watched. Now I think it's important to keep in mind while reading this review that I'm fluent in French, and therefore watched the movie without relying on subtitles, which are great tools to watch films told in a foreign ...

Director: Bob Clark Stars: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder Runtime:  98 minutes Synopsis:   During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger. Verdict: The original "Black Christmas" is cheesy, sloppy, poorly edited, and kind of dumb. And for all these reasons, I sort of love it. After all, would it really be considered a 1970s slasher film without all these elements? The movie takes place at a sorority house in which one of the girls goes missing after receiving odd phone calls from a stranger. As her father, friends and police look for her, weird things start to unfold as the phone calls intensify and get even weirder. The movie is certainly campy, but that doesn't mean that it isn't creepy and atmospheric as well. Some of the deaths are unsettling to see and the emotional weight of a father looking for his missing daughter eventually does get to you. Having said all that, I do believe that some of the co...

Director: Jay Roach Stars: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie Runtime:  108 minutes Synopsis:   A group of women decide to take on Fox News head Roger Ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 5/10 Costumes/Makeup: 8/10 Editing: 4/10 Cinematography: 4/10 Score/Soundtrack:  5/10 Verdict: "Bombshell" recounts the story of one of the very first major take-downs of the Me Too movement. In it, a group of women, all employed at Fox News, come forward to denounce the toxic workplace atmosphere they've been subjected to and the horrible things they had to endure. And is it interesting, empowering, and inspiring? Yes to all these things. But is it a good movie overall? I honestly didn't think it was. Because amazing performances by Theron, Kidman, Robbie, and Lithgow, as well as convincing makeup work aside, the film was kind of a giant mess. It clearly struggled to find its identity an...

Director: Fernando Meirelles Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins, Juan Minujin Runtime:  125 minutes Synopsis:   Behind Vatican walls, the conservative Pope Benedict and the liberal future Pope Francis must find common ground to forge a new path for the Catholic Church. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 5/10 Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 4/10 Cinematography: 4/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Verdict: Nominated for 4 Golden Globes, "The Two Popes" has been one of the biggest surprises of this year's award seasons so far and yet another win in Netflix's books. The film, which stars Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis and Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict, is a dramatization of the latter's last days on the Chair of Saint Peter before his unexpected resignation and passing of the torch to the former. Directed by Fernando Meirelles, most known for his work on "City of God" back in 2002, the film does present a few interesting elements, espe...

Director: Robert Eggers Stars: Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson Runtime:  109 minutes Synopsis:   Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 10/10 Costumes/Makeup: 10/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Score/Soundtrack:  10/10 Verdict: "The Witch" being my favorite horror movie of the decade, I have been eagerly awaiting for Robert Eggers' return to his directing habits since 2015. Four years later and tons of research later, he finally came back with "The Lighthouse", a psychological horror film starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe as two wickies stranded on a New England island in the late 1800s. And let's just say that the long wait was absolutely, irrefutably worth it. The film, which is based on both real life events and Greek mythologies, is a nightmarish, creepy trip that challenged my sanity and left me...

Director: J.J. Abrams Stars: Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver Runtime:  141 minutes Synopsis:   The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Special Effects: 8/10 Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 5/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Entertainment Factor: 6/10 Verdict: Another year, another controversial Star Wars film. Some people loved the conclusion of the Skywalker saga while others are considering it to be one of the worst entries in the franchise. And to be quite honest, I sort of understand both sides and, similarly to "The Last Jedi", fall somewhere in the middle. Now it's important to mention that I am not the biggest Star Wars fan, but have seen every theatrically released film at least once. I don't consider myself an expert of the universe by any means, and haven't even rewatched any of the franchise's previous...

Director: Damon Lindelof Stars: Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Irons Synopsis:   Set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, Watchmen embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name, while attempting to break new ground of its own. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Special Effects: 6/10 Costumes/Makeup: 8/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  10/10 Verdict: Somewhere, in his residence in Northampton, Alan Moore is smiling. I can just feel it. His baby was given a worthy continuation in the form of a limited series run by Damon Lindelof, mostly known for his work on the critically acclaimed TV show "The Leftovers". Other than being beautifully shot and magnificently scored, what makes "Watchmen" such a fascinating watch is the way it presents its story. Set 34 years after the events of the comic series, every episode feels like a piece of ...

Director: Shane Black Stars: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice Runtime:  116 minutes Synopsis:   In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Costumes/Makeup: 9/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Entertainment Factor: 9/10 Verdict:  (+) One of the most hilarious movies of the decade. That's just an irrefutable fact that we're going to have to learn to live with. (+) Russel Crowe is fantastic, but Ryan Gosling delivers one of the funniest performances... ever? Crazy to think that this came out in the same year as "La La Land". (+) Angourie Rice, who plays Gosling's daughter Holly, is a standout. Somehow even more badass than Hit-Girl. (+) The chemistry between the two detectives leads to absolutely golden exchanges. (+) 1970s LA is replicated in a gorgeous way. (+) At its core, it...

Director: Woody Allen Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Liev Schreiber Runtime:  92 minutes Synopsis:   A young couple arrive in New York for a weekend where they are met with bad weather and a series of adventures and misadventures. Performances: 7/10 Screenplay: 5/10 Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Verdict: I've never been a fan of Woody Allen's work, and even less of the man himself. In fact, "Midnight in Paris" is the only movie of his that I genuinely love. His newest flick (he somehow still is able to make movies) features a star studded cast that includes the likes of Timothée Chalamet. Elle Fanning, Liev Schreiber, Jude Law, Rebecca Hall, or even Selena Gomez and sees a young couple setting foot in New York with plans of spending a weekend together there before they are stopped by a series of unfortunate events. And like most of Allen's work, I found it to be average. There...

Director: Jonathan Glazer Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Adam Pearson Runtime:  minutes Synopsis:   A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Costumes/Makeup: 6/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  10/10 Verdict: (+) One of the weirdest but also most unique science fiction movies of the decade. (+) Scarlett Johansson gives her best performance to date in it. (+) The score by Mica Levi is among my favorites of the last 10 years. Incredibly unnerving and definitely gets under your skin (I'm sorry, but I had to do it). (+) It's beautifully shot. The Scottish scenery is also absolutely breathtaking. (+) The attention to detail and subtlety showed by Jonathan Glazer is nothing short of extraordinary. (+) The atmosphere is haunting and plays a huge role in making us viewers unco...

Director: Michael Bay Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Runtime:  127 minutes Synopsis:   Meet a new kind of action hero. Six untraceable agents, totally off the grid. They've buried their pasts so they can change the future. Performances: 4/10 Screenplay: 2/10 Special Effects: 6/10 Editing: 2/10 Cinematography: 4/10 Score/Soundtrack:  5/10 Entertainment Factor: 3/10 Verdict:  I wouldn't qualify "6 Underground" as Michael Bay's worst movie to date, but rather his most obnoxious. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds and serves as the director's first contribution to Netflix, who had to spend $150 million to make it happen (making it the streaming service's second most expensive movie to date after Scorsese's "The Irishman", which cost $175 million). In it, the Deadpool star plays a billionaire who fakes his own death in order to assemble a team of mercenaries whose mission is to take down an evil ...

Director: Rupert Goold Stars: Renée Zellweger, Rufus Sewell, Jessie Buckley Runtime:  118 minutes Synopsis:   Legendary performer  Judy Garland  (Renée Zellweger) arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts. Performances: 7/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 4/10 Cinematography: 4/10 Score/Soundtrack:  5/10 Verdict:  Judy Garland is an icon. Her performance as Dorothy Gale in “The Wizard of Oz” is simply magical and eternal, but unfortunately came at a very heavy cost: her childhood. She was turned into a money machine at a very young age, and was denied the simplest joys of life in order to keep generating revenues for people who only saw her as a product. "Judy", directed by Rupert Goold, focuses on the latter years of her life, in which she finds herself at the an all-time low, and I honestly walked out of it mostly disappointed. The biography never succeeded in keeping me i...

Director: Jake Kasdan Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Kevin Hart Runtime:  123 minutes Synopsis:   In Jumanji: The Next Level, the gang is back but the game has changed. As they return to rescue one of their own, the players will have to brave parts unknown from arid deserts to snowy mountains, to escape the world's most dangerous game. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Special Effects: 3/10 Costumes/Makeup: 5/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 5/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Entertainment Factor: 6/10 Verdict: Entertaining and funny at times, but ultimately a lesser replica of its predecessor. That's how I'd describe the sequel to 2017's reboot (yes, it's a reboot) of Jumanji. I wouldn't really go as far as calling it bad. In fact, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy myself at times during the movie, but this is most definitely my least favorite entry in the Jumanji franchise. There was no real twist on...

Director: David Fincher Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake Runtime:  120 minutes Synopsis:   As Harvard student  Mark Zuckerberg  creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea, and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business. Performances: 5/5 Screenplay: 4/5 Editing: 5/5 Cinematography: 5/5 Score/Soundtrack:  5/5 Verdict: There are about 2.5 billion active users on Facebook every month. At this point, it's an unstoppable power that is part of most people's lives, whether directly or indirectly. But just like every business, it started with an idea and took off from there. The question of who came up with that idea is one that is constantly asked through "The Social Network", a film I have been calling an instant classic for years now. David Fincher's dramatization of the birth of that empire can be divided into th...

Director: Abe Forsythe Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Alexander England, Josh Gad Runtime:  93 minutes Synopsis:   A washed-up musician teams up with a teacher and a kids show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 4/10 Score/Soundtrack:  4/10 Entertainment Factor: 5/10 Verdict: "Little Monsters" is the third zombie comedy to come out this year and probably my least favorite of the lot. Directed by Abe Forsythe and starring Lupita Nyong'o and Alexander England, the film follows a teacher and a musician as they attempt to protect a group of children from a zombie outbreak. The first 15 minutes of the film were absolutely hilarious and left me hopeful for what was coming next, but unfortunately it quickly dropped in quality as soon as the zombies are introduced to the narrative and it becomes an incredibly uninspired, cliché, and...

Director: Noah Baumbach Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Merritt Wever Runtime:  136 minutes Synopsis:   Noah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 9/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  9/10 Verdict: Netflix has blessed me this year with the two movies I responded emotionally to most: "Paddleton" and now "Marriage Story", which is a deep look at the ugliness of divorce, in part based on director Noah Baumbach's own separation from then wife Jennifer Jason Leigh back in 2013. That movie absolutely broke me, and recovering from it will not be an easy process. We've all been through heartbreaks, and we all cope with them in different ways. But at their core, most of them have the same blueprint. And that blueprint is at the center of what I personally believe is Noah Baumbach's best and most relatable film ...

Director: Paul Downs Colaizzo Stars: Jillian Bell, Jennifer Dundas, Patch Darragh Runtime:  104 minutes Synopsis:   A young woman decides to make positive changes in her life by training for the New York City Marathon. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Editing: 5/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  4/10 Verdict: "Brittany Runs a Marathon" is pretty much exactly what you expect it to be. It's a light, harmless, feel-good film that falls victim to a familiar script, predictable jokes, cartoonish supporting characters, and a lot of cheese and clichés. It's not really the type of movie I usually connect to or find entertaining, and I can't really say otherwise about that particular one. And that's too bad because for a while I was sort of invested in the main character of Brittany, played by Jillian Bell as I found her to be overall likable and to some extent relatable. Until she wasn't. The second half of the comedy cancele...

Director: Scott Z. Burns Stars: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm Runtime:  119 minutes Synopsis:   Idealistic Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones, tasked by his boss to lead an investigation into the CIA's post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program, uncovers shocking secrets. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 5/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 5/10 Score/Soundtrack:  4/10 Verdict: Adam Driver season is upon us and I am here to witness it. The first of three films he's starring in released during award season tells the true story of Daniel Jones, played by Driver, as he leads a team of investigators tasked to shed some light into the controversial interrogation methods used by the CIA post 9/11. While the story itself is interesting enough to justify a watch, I can't really say that I was wowed by the way it was presented. The movie felt incredibly flat and formulaic, which led to it feeling more like an adaptation of a Wikipedia article than a ...

Director: Mati Diop Stars: Abdou Balde, Aminata Kane, Ibrahima Mbaye Runtime:  106 minutes Synopsis:   In a popular suburb of Dakar, workers on the construction site of a futuristic tower, without pay for months, decide to leave the country by the ocean for a better future. Among them is Souleiman, the lover of Ada, promised to another. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 5/10 Editing: 5/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Verdict: The winner of this year's Grand Prix at the Cannes Festival, which is now available to stream on Netflix, was definitely not bad, but rather a little underwhelming. "Atlantics", directed by Mati Diop and starring Aminata Kane, takes place in Senegal and follows Ada, a young woman forced to leave behind her lover to marry a wealthy man. On paper, the movie sounds like a socio-political commentary about the livelihood and social pressure faced by women in Africa, and in a weird way, it kind of is, but I couldn...

Director: Rian Johnson Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas Runtime:  130 minutes Synopsis:   A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Costumes/Makeup: 8/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Entertainment Factor: 8/10 Verdict: When it was announced that Rian Johnson's follow up to "The Last Jedi" was going to be a whodunit starring a cast of A-listers, I was instantly sold. Anyone who knows me is aware of my admiration for that particular genre, and it was to my immense pleasure that Johnson delivered what is probably my favorite since Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight". The tone set by the acclaimed director is one that is reminiscent of the whodunits of the 1970s and 1980s ("Clue", "Murder on the Orient Express"). In fact, Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc was clearly inspired by Hercule Po...