Movies Graded

Director: Leos Carax Stars: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg Runtime: 141   minutes Synopsis:  A stand-up comedian and his opera singer wife have a 2-year-old daughter with a surprising gift. Verdict:  To fully comprehend Leos Carax’s intentions with his latest absurdist project is a nearly impossible assignment. On the surface, it’s a one-of-a-kind musical in which the ever-so-talented Adam Driver shows off his vocal abilities alongside the lovely Marion Cotillard. He plays a stand-up comedian, she plays an opera singer, and together they form a romantic unit that fuses comedy with drama, providing the audience with the film’s tone along the way. Their relationship takes a brusque turn when their daughter, Annette, is born. Introduced as a wooden puppet, she alone symbolizes the narrative’s strangeness, a common trait in Carax’s body of work that will surely leave audiences divided. Even though I can’t say that I fully understood what the eccentric director’s...

Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska Stars: Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Kinga Preis Runtime: 92   minutes Synopsis:  In Warsaw, a pair of mermaid sisters are adopted into a cabaret. While one seeks love with humans the other hungers to dine on the human population of the city. Verdict:  A gory horror musical about two mermaids who visit the surface with different goals in mind, “The Lure” is the type of movie that will stick with you no matter how you feel about it. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s guaranteed to leave a trace due to its unique blend of genres an unusual sense of direction. Quite obviously based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”, Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska perfectly understood how to remain faithful to the original story’s themes without it feeling like a rehash of the countless adaptations we already have. No pun intended, but it truly did stand on its own two feet thanks to its uncomfortable atmosphere, intimida...

Director: Jon M. Chu Stars: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace Runtime: 143   minutes Synopsis:  A film version of the Broadway musical in which Usnavi, a sympathetic New York bodega owner, saves every penny every day as he imagines and sings about a better life. Verdict:  Rejoice, everybody, for the season of Lin-Manuel Miranda is finally upon us! Following the success of “Hamilton” last year, he struck Hollywood gold by signing deals left and right that will see him write, produce, and even direct a bunch of upcoming projects. Directly adapted from the stage musical that made him the theater icon that he is today, “In the Heights” takes place under the heat of a Hispanic neighborhood in New York City and follows its community in their search for a better life. Directed by Jon M. Chu (“Step Up 3D”, “Crazy Rich Asians”), the film relies on an ensemble cast to bring an unmatched energy to its atmosphere. Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera are both standouts, but it’...

Director: Randal Kleiser Stars: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing Runtime: 110   minutes Synopsis:  Good girl Sandy Olsson and greaser Danny Zuko fell in love over the summer. When they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance? Verdict:  Released in 1978, the movie adaptation of “Grease” - which was, at the time, one of the most recognizable features in the musical productions business - defined an entire generation. The story of Danny and Sandy, played respectively by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, touched many due to their unconventional romantic relationship used to challenge gender norms or societal peer pressure in a typical 1950s American high school, although inhabited by actors who look well over 30. Fast forward to 2021, and the topic of gender fluidity has evolved to a point where it’s easy to see how outdated or even harmful the points presented in “Grease” are, especially w...

Director: Satyajit Ray Stars: Chhabi Biswas, Padma Devi, Gangapada Basu Runtime:   95  minutes Synopsis: Depicts the end days of a decadent zamindar (landlord) in Bengal, and his efforts to uphold his family prestige even when faced with economic adversity. Verdict:  Comparable to Shakespeare’s “King Lear” or Orson Welles’ 1941 classic “Citizen Kane”, famed Indian auteur Satyajit Ray’s “The Music Room” tells the tale of a middle-aged Zamindar consumed by his pride, vanity, and adoration for extravagant music concerts. Set in Bengal during the final years of the controversial Zamindari system, this magnificently crafted pillar of Indian Cinema serves as a character study of Chhabi Biswas’ Huzur Roy, a phenomenally acted wealthy landowner who has lived his entire life in the shadow of his own privilege. His fortune was inherited and he believes that his prestigious family name shields him from any mishaps. He is blinded by his arrogance and refuses to accept the reality of ...

Director: Jacques Demy Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Françoise Dorléac, George Chakiris Runtime: 125  minutes Synopsis:  Two sisters leave their small seaside town of Rochefort in search of romance. Hired as carnival singers, one falls for an American musician, while the other must search for her ideal partner. Verdict:  Following a vibrant stop at Cherbourg where I was introduced to Jacques Demy’s work, I immediately booked myself a ticket to Rochefort, the little French town in which the events of his following film take place. Starring once again the wonderful Catherine Deneuve alongside her real-life sister Françoise Dorléac (who tragically passed away only a few months after the film’s release), many similarities can be drawn to Demy’s “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, most notably in the film’s presentation. “The Young Girls of Cherbourg” is also filled to the brim with colors and music, all of which contributed to turning the setting into a reflection of the film’s ambianc...

Director: Jacques Demy Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon Runtime: 91  minutes Synopsis:  A young woman separated from her lover by war faces a life-altering decision. Verdict:  With "La La Land" being one of my favorite movies of all time, it only made sense for me to check out the French classic that inspired it. And while the similarities between the two films are more than apparent, it was a relief to see that they both stand out on their own two feet. In fact, Jacques Demy's "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" filled me with the same wonder I felt when I watch Damien Chazelle's masterpiece for the first time and it wasn't until the very end that the parallels became clear to me. For approximately an hour and a half, I was transported into a world of music and striking bright colors. A world that for a second made me forget about the one we currently live in and which, more than ever, is devoid of everything that made Demy's univers...

Director: Agnès Varda Stars: Corinne Marchand, Antoine Bourseiller, Dominique Davray Runtime: 90  minutes Synopsis:  Cleo, a singer and a hypochondriac, becomes increasingly worried that she might have cancer while awaiting test results from her doctor. Verdict:  It's in its raw simplicity that "Cléo de 5 à 7" managed to capture my heart. My first viewing of it happened to also be my introduction to Agnès Varda's filmography, and I instantly fell in love with the prolific French filmmaker. Divided into several short chapters, the movie follows the titular character in real-time as she awaits medical tests that will determine if she has cancer or not. A superstitious singer who clearly knows how to enjoy life, Cléo jumps from location to location to kill the time, bumping into a number of characters with whom she has pleasant conversations. And "pleasant" is a keyword here because, despite her actions coming from a place of worry, the film is a surprisingly t...

Director: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers Stars: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton Runtime:   100  minutes Synopsis:  A musician who has lost his passion for music is transported out of his body and must find his way back with the help of an infant soul learning about herself. Verdict:  Have you ever taken a bite out of a pizza slice and found the crust to be fresh and crusty but the toppings to be lacking in flavor? Because that's what watching "Soul" felt like. Borrowing some elements from 2015's "Inside Out", the film touches on heavy material by exploring themes such as the meaning of life. In it, we're introduced to Jamie Foxx's Joe Gardner, a jazz pianist struggling to reignite his love for music. An unfortunate incident detaches his spirit from his physical body and sends it to the Great Before, where he teams up with an unborn soul in the hopes of finding his way back to his earthly being in time for a career-defining gig. It's an ambitious co...

Director: Henry Selick Stars: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara Runtime:   76  minutes Synopsis:  Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion. Verdict:  Whenever December is around the corner, I promise myself to go on a binge of Christmas movies to get into the holiday spirit... only to end up watching one or two. This year was no exception, and considering the current status of the world, I found it most appropriate to put on the movie whose title best encapsulates it: "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Now, this is not my first time watching what I thought for a very long time to be a film directed by Tim Burton, though I believe that I've only seen it once a while ago. I was eager to check if it held up to this day, and I'm glad to report that it absolutely does. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" contains some of the best stop motion animation and char...

Director: George C. Wolfe Stars: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo Runtime:   94  minutes Synopsis:  Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious horn player and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable "Mother of the Blues". Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's play. Verdict:  When the world learned of Chadwick Boseman's untimely passing this late August, a feeling of shock and sadness united people of all demographics to mourn the loss of a true star. His acting career was still young, but his charisma, talent, and kindness allowed him to conquer many hearts in the few years during which he made a name for himself in Hollywood. The path he took eventually led him to become the role model he was destined to be when he snatched the role of T'Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has kept him busy for the past 4 years. Based on August Wilson's play (who also wrote "Fe...

Director: Darius Marder Stars: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci Runtime:   120  minutes Synopsis:  A heavy-metal drummer's life is thrown into freefall when he begins to lose his hearing. Verdict:  Darius Marder's directorial debut has been garnering praise for a while now, and I, for one, had been eagerly waiting for its VOD release to finally see what the fuss was all about. A lot of that praise was aimed at the film's sound design as well as Riz Ahmed's career-defining performance, and while I do agree that these elements are the highlights of the movie, it was also frustrating to see that it didn't have much else to offer. About a drummer who sees his life crumble when he begins to lose his hearing, the film captures the protagonist's struggle by inviting the audience to experience his condition. We begin to view the world through his eyes, and most importantly listen to it through his ears, an ingenious method to make us sympathize with him and understand...

Director: Glen Keane, John Kahrs Stars: Cathy Ang, Robert G. Chiu, Phillipa Soo Runtime:   95  minutes Synopsis:   In this animated musical, a girl builds a rocket ship and blasts off, hoping to meet a mythical moon goddess. Verdict: The latest Netflix animated feature was a disappointment. Directed by Glen Keane, a pioneer in Disney's animation studios, and starring an all Asian cast which includes names such as Sandra Oh, Ken Jeong, John Cho, or even Phillipa Soo, "Over the Moon" follows Fei Fei, a young teenager who, after being struck by a great tragedy, builds a rocket to get to the moon in the hope to meet Chang'e, a mythical goddess she believes will help her overcome her problems. The biggest issue I had with the movie is its try-hard approach to follow the same formula that made so many Disney films successful during its renaissance era. There are no princesses per se, but you do get the traditional cute sidekick pet, comic relief, catchy songs, or recurrent ...

Director: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook Stars: Wen Ming-Na, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong Runtime:  88 minutes Synopsis:  To save her father from death in the army, a young maiden secretly goes in his place and becomes one of China's greatest heroines in the process. Animation: 9/10 Performances: 7/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Editing: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict:  I'm not entirely sure why Mulan is considered a Disney Princess. To my knowledge, she doesn't have any royal lineage and, spoiler alert, does not end up marrying a prince as many others did before her. She's just the daughter of a man whose military duty sounds like a death trap considering his age and medical condition, and a warrior who gave up everything to save her father from certain death. And that's what makes her one of my favorite Disney characters ever. Before the live-action remake potentially ruins my memory of her, I decided to rewatch the animated classic one last time. And I can confirm that it's a...

Director: Billy Wilder Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon Runtime:  121 minutes Synopsis:  After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in. Performances: 10/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: Billy Wilder is a filmmaker that needs no introduction. Not only is he one of the best directors of all time with many timeless classics under his belt, but he's also one of the most versatile ones. It's difficult to believe that the same person who made "Witness for the Prosecution", "Double Indemnity", or "Sunset Boulevard" is also behind projects such as "The Apartment" or "The Seven Year Itch". And yet, he always delivers. "Some Like It Hot" is perhaps one of his most well-known and influential (especially in the censorship field) titles, and for good reason. In it, Tony C...

Director: Thomas Kail Stars:  Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo, Leslie Odom Jr. Runtime:  160 minutes Synopsis:  The real life of one of America's foremost founding fathers and first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Captured live on Broadway from the Richard Rodgers Theater with the original Broadway cast. Verdict: My knowledge of on-stage musicals not being as developed as I want it to be, I'm not entirely sure how to approach this review of what is perhaps one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of the current century. Unless you've been living under a rock (or away from social media), odds are that you've heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" and at least listened to a couple of songs featured in it. I personally never was a theater guy, and have probably only seen a couple of plays, both musicals, in my entire life ("Les Misérables" and  "Notre-Dame de Paris"). I'm not even sure how to approach it from a critica...

Director: David Dobkin Stars: Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan Runtime:  123 minutes Synopsis:  When aspiring musicians Lars and Sigrit are given the opportunity to represent their country at the world's biggest song competition, they finally have a chance to prove that any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Editing: 5/10 Cinematography: 5/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Entertainment Factor:  4/10 Verdict: To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Will Ferrell's approach to comedy. It always feels recycled and predictable, without any real depth or subtlety to them. And while "Eurovision" (I'm not going to bother with the full title) is not exactly his worst work, it pretty much serves as exactly what you'd expect from yet another comedy of his. The movie tells the story of two musicians with big dreams. Lars and Sigrit have always been the laughing stock of their hometown in Iceland but are given a once ...

Director:  Pablo Larraín Stars:  Mariana Di Girolamo ,  Gael García Bernal ,  Santiago Cabrera Runtime:  107 minutes Synopsis:  A couple deals with the aftermath of an adoption that goes awry as their household falls apart. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Verdict: Pablo  Larraín's "Ema" has been met with critical acclaim. Originally intended to get a wide theatrical release, the film instead was made available to the public through VOD due to the sanitary crisis that has abruptly closed cinemas around the world. And that's truly a shame because even though I couldn't connect to it as much as most people did, I would've loved to experience it on a larger screen as it can at least pride itself in its aesthetic and soundtrack. "Ema" follows a young mother's struggle to deal with the loss of her adopted child, which in turn resulted in growing tensions with her husb...

Creator: Jack Thorne Stars:  André Holland ,  Leïla Bekhti ,  Randy Kerber Synopsis:  A French club owner deals with the everyday chaos of running a live music venue in the heart of Paris. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 5/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: Damien Chazelle hasn't been around for long but has already proven himself in such a way that I'll watch anything he's involved in, even if it's an eight-episode long limited series that garnered mixed reactions. His involvement in "The Eddy", which is the name of a small bar in Paris in which the events take place, isn't immense as he only directed the first two episodes and executive produced the rest but his signature jazzy approach to filmmaking is felt throughout each segment, and that's what makes it a recommendable watch. I'll be honest, the Netflix show is probably my least favorite project he's been involved in, but that doesn...

Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee Stars: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad Runtime:  103 minutes Synopsis:   Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa's powers in order to save their kingdom. Animation: 10/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Editing: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Verdict: I'll be honest, I was actually looking forward to the sequel of the 2013 hit that took the world by storm. Not necessarily because I'm a fan of the movie, which I think is fine without being spectacular, but rather because of how beautiful the trailers looked. However, and since I'd rather be locked in a cage for a week than have to sit in a theater filled with energetic children high on sugar for 2 hours, I decided to wait for its digital release to check it out. As a 24-year-old man who isn't the biggest fan of the Disney formula, I clearly am not par...