Movies Graded

Director: Wim Wenders Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell Runtime:  145 minutes Synopsis:  Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 9/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 9/10 Score/Soundtrack:  9/10 Verdict:  Paris, Texas. The pause in the middle is almost a word of itself that, when hinted at, completely changes the meaning of the phrase. Without it, anyone's mind immediately travels to the French capital, but, with it, questions begin to arise. For a split second, you're left in a state of confusion, asking yourself why that dramatic halt is there, and that's pretty much what experiencing Wim Wenders' iconic film feels like. That sense of mystery is set up from the very first scene in which we see a man wandering in a state of shock in the Texan desert. He's dirty, tired, thirsty, and wea...

Director: Park Chan-wook Stars: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Tae-ri Runtime:  169 minutes (extended edition) Synopsis:  A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 10/10 Editing: 10/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Score/Soundtrack:  9/10 Verdict: In 2019, "Parasite" propelled Korean Cinema into the international scene by deservedly being a box office hit and winning countless awards including the biggest of them all: The Oscar for Best Picture. Bong Joon-ho became an overnight sensation, and people started to slowly discover his very rich and diverse filmography. But Korean Cinema is far from being restrained to Bong's projects. From Lee Chang-dong to Kim Jee-Woon, the country is the birthland of many of today's most talented filmmakers. And with iconic films such as "Oldboy" or "Thirst", Park Chan-wook without a doubt belongs in that category. When it come...

Director: Rebecca Zlotowski Stars: Mina Farid, Zahia Dehar, Benoît Magimel Runtime:  92 minutes Synopsis:  Naima is 16 and lives in Cannes. She has given herself the summer to choose what she wants to do with her life. Then her cousin Sofia, with her alluring lifestyle, arrives to spend the holidays with her. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Verdict: Being   16 is tricky, and Naima won't tell you otherwise. The pressures of choosing a career path start to take a toll on high schoolers at that age as they start to realize that adulthood is knocking at their door. She's no different, and, like most of her peers, she's still confused as to what the future holds for her. That is until she receives an unexpected visit from her 22-year-old cousin Sofia whose mother recently passed away. Sofia's motto is "Carpe Diem", which translates to "Seize the Day" (if you've seen "Dead Poets Societ...

Director: Charlie Kaufman Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams Runtime:  124 minutes Synopsis:   A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 10/10 Editing: 10/10 Cinematography: 9/10 Score/Soundtrack:  10/10 Verdict:  I've been dreading this day ever since I started writing about films. "Synecdoche, New York" is my favorite movie of all time, and I can't pinpoint exactly why. I don't even know how to put to words the effect it had on me and the reasons I hold it so dear to my heart, and I've always had the feeling that whatever I write about it won't do it the justice it deserves. Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut is certainly not for everybody, but I still vividly remember the first time I watched it, about three years ago, and thinking to myself that while I didn't...

Director: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman Stars: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan Runtime:  90 minutes Synopsis:  A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary. Animation:  10/10 Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 9/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 9/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict:  In 1999, the world was introduced to Charlie Kaufman's genius with "Being John Malkovich", a magnificent film in which human beings are treated like puppets. About 15 years later, Kaufman came back with "Anomalisa", a movie in which, ironically, puppets are treated like human beings. Being only his second directorial feature and his introduction to stop-motion animation, a lot was at stake for the writer recently turned director. We are very quickly introduced to Michael Stone, voiced by David Thewlis, as he checks into a hotel called The Fregoli, a sneaky clue as to what the general themes of the movie are. To those who are not fa...

Director: Spike Jonze Stars: Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper Runtime:  115 minutes Synopsis:  A lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by  Susan Orlean  for the screen. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 10/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Verdict: Three years after the success of "Being John Malkovich", Charlie Kaufman was given an impossible task: adapt Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief" into a movie. While writing the script, he started to notice how unfit for the big screen the book was and therefore decided, without telling anyone and with the conviction that his choice was going to end his young career, to turn the film into his personal struggle to adapt that book. In other words, he's the protagonist of his own story, which follows the difficulties he encountered while writing that very same script. It's half-fiction, half-autobiographical, and possibly on...

Director: Spike Jonze Stars: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener Runtime:  113 minutes Synopsis:  A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star  John Malkovich . Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 10/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Verdict: Charlie Kaufman's Hollywood story started in 1999 with what is perhaps one of the most ambitious debuts ever. "Being John Malkovich" adopts an incredibly unique concept as it follows a puppeteer who stumbles upon a portal that directly leads him to the titular character's head and allows him to see the world through Malkovich's eyes for a good 15 minutes. Directed by Spike Jonze, for who this serves also as his debut, the movie manages to be both hilarious and depressing, enjoyable and meaningful, at the same time. It's such a fascinating look at manipulation, perspective, and consciousness that fully utilizes its creative concept to ask important, philosop...

Director: Egor Abramenko Stars:  Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov Runtime:  113 minutes Synopsis:  The lone survivor of an enigmatic spaceship incident hasn't returned back home alone-hiding inside his body is a dangerous creature. Performances: 5/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Entertainment Factor:  6/10 Verdict: John Carpenter's "The Thing" served as the inspiration to many modern sci-fi horror hybrids. Off the top of my head, "Apollo 18" and "Life" are examples of films that very clearly borrowed a few ideas from the classic. Egor Abramenko's "Sputnik" is the latest addition to the alien symbiote hunting people down list and, without being spectacular, achieves what it was aiming to do in a rather effective manner. What I liked most about "Sputnik" is by far the horror element of it all. The scenes involving the mysterious symbiote are intense, and backed b...

Director: Stanley Kubrick Stars: James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon Runtime:  153 minutes Synopsis:  A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a fourteen-year-old nymphet. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: Released in 1962, only 7 years after the release of the controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov it is based on which, full disclosure, I have never read but did have a slight idea of the delicate subject at the center of it, "Lolita" is yet another daring project supervised by the one and only Stanley Kubrick. If you're not familiar with the synopsis, allow me to summarize it for you. The film follows Professor Humbert, an academic and perhaps one of the most despicable characters in modern literature, as he develops a relationship with a widow only to get closer to her 14-year-old daughter, for who he starts developing feelings for. It's a crazy concept that only Kubrick could g...

Director: Stanley Kubrick Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou Runtime:  88 minutes Synopsis:  After refusing to attack an enemy position, a general accuses the soldiers of cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 10/10 Editing: 10/10 Cinematography: 9/10 Score/Soundtrack:  10/10 Verdict: I wouldn't go as far as calling "Paths of Glory" one of Stanley Kubrick's forgotten gems, but it's certainly one of his least talked about films. Loosely based on true events that occurred during World War 1, it sparked controversy at the time of its release in many European countries due to its powerful stance against war, a recurrent theme in many of Kubrick's projects. The film follows a general who, after witnessing his soldiers' refusal to carry a losing attack ordered by him that would've resulted in the troops' massacre, decides to arrest some of them on the basis of cowardice to set an example to ...

Director: Stanley Kubrick Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee Runtime:  185 minutes Synopsis:  An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 9/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Score/Soundtrack:  10/10 Verdict: "Barry Lyndon" is one of those acclaimed movies I kept postponing for no other reason than it coming off as intimidating. I mean, a 3-hour long period piece, even directed by Stanley Kubrick, doesn't seem like something I'd be into. But deep down, I knew that I was going to watch it one day, and it was upon reading a statement suggesting giving it a shot even if the premise scares you that I decided to finally sit down and watch it. I don't exactly know what it is about what was initially a Napoleon biopic that did it, but God am I glad I finally crossed it off my watchlist. "Barry Lyndon" is impressive on so ma...

Director: Ciro Guerra Stars: Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson Runtime:  112 minutes Synopsis:   A Magistrate working in a distant outpost begins to question his loyalty to the empire. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 6/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: Ciro Guerra is a director whose work I find fascinating and multilayered. "Waiting for the Barbarians" is only his third feature, but I consider those who came before it to be two of the best films of the 2010s. "Embrace of the Serpent" and "Birds of Passage" both went under the radar of many people, but serve as some of the most grounded portals into unknown civilizations I have seen. He has a certain flair for detail that is the result of thorough research on the subject of his movies, almost giving them a sort of fictional documentary atmosphere that is both captivating and bewitching. His latest project sees Guerra take a major Hollywoodian step. Not only is ...

Director: Brandon Trost Stars: Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook, Molly Evensen Runtime:  88 minutes Synopsis:  An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn. Performances: 5/10 Screenplay: 2/10 Editing: 4/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  4/10 Entertainment Factor:  2/10 Verdict: Hershel Greenbaum was a worker in a pickle factory in 1919 when he accidentally fell in a tub of cucumbers and was left there for 100 years. He is found, intact and alive, in 2019 where he has to adapt to a future that is foreign to him, helped by his great-grandson and only living relative of his. Pretty original concept, right? I mean, that idea hasn't been done to death on TV and movies in the past. If you can't tell due to the text format of that sentence, I'm being sarcastic, and "An American Pickle" is possibly one of the most forgettable and generic films to come out this year, which is saying quite a lot. Other ...

Director: James Cameron Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane Runtime:  194 minutes Synopsis:  A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 6/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:   9 /10 Verdict: Aw, man. "Titanic" is a movie I will always cherish dearly as I consider it to be one of the very first films that initiated my love for the art form. Not only was I impressed by the technical side of the Box Office record-breaker, but it was the first time I experienced a roller coaster of emotions while watching something on any screen. Cinema for me was just another vessel for entertainment, but that changed after I experienced James Cameron's epic for the first time. I was 14 years-old back then (11 years ago!), and I haven't watched it ever since. It's safe to say that its success didn't age very well with audiences as the wo...

Director: Quentin Tarantino Stars: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster Runtime:  154 minutes Synopsis:  A middle-aged woman finds herself in the middle of a huge conflict that will either make her a profit or cost her life. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: "Jackie Brown" was the last film in Quentin Tarantino's short but rich filmography that I had yet to see. Its long runtime and status of being one of the director's weakest efforts were the reasons why I never found myself interested in checking it out. But after watching "Death Proof" - which is widely regarded as being Tarantino's worst film - and absolutely loving it, I decided to give the Pam Grier led movie a shot. "Jackie Brown" came out at a time in which Tarantino was still mostly a director with a penchant for the crime genre. An obvious homage to the blaxploitation era, it follows a middle-aged flight in...

Director: Samuel Kishi Stars:  Martha Reyes Arias, Maximiliano Nájar Márquez, Leonardo Nájar Márquez  Runtime:  95 minutes Synopsis:  Two children emigrate to the US with their mother. Their days pass in a tiny flat waiting for her to come back as they hold on to the hope of visiting Disneyworld. Performances: 7/10 Screenplay: 6/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Verdict:  This hyperrealistic look at a few days in the life of a Mexican mother and her two sons who have recently allocated to the US in search for a better life sold me at first but, unfortunately, didn't lead anywhere that made it stood out from other similarly themed films. The performances were believable, the cinematography serviceable, but the narrative was predictable from the get-go. Definitely not a bad movie but I don't see it sticking with me in the long run. FINAL GRADE:  6/10

Director: Richard Linklater Stars: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy Runtime:  109 minutes Synopsis:  We meet Jesse and Celine nine years on in Greece. Almost two decades have passed since their first meeting on that train bound for Vienna. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: Nearly 2 decades after they met on a train and 10 years after they reunited in Paris, Jesse and Celine are now married with kids and on vacation in Greece, the ideal setting for what is easily the most tragic entry in the Before trilogy. This one's not a one day/night fling, they've been living with one another for years now, have to share responsibilities, and saw the worst in each other, not only the good. The previous two entries were almost dream-like fairytales in which they spent hours discussing topics that were of interest to both of them, but this one sees the couple take a reality check as tension grows between them. And for that re...