Movies Graded

Director: Janus Metz Stars: Sverrir Gudnason, Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsg å rd Runtime:  107 minutes Performances: 8/10 Screenplay:  6/10 Special Effects: N.A. Costumes/Makeup: 8/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10  Verdict:  Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been dominating the tennis courts for years now, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was two other giants of the sport that were destroying everything and everyone who stood in their way: Bj ö rn Borg and John McEnroe. "Bjorn McEnroe" is the story of the historic Wimbledon final that opposed the two players back in 1980, and serves also as a character study of the ice cold Swede and the fiery American. One thing I really liked about this movie was the general atmosphere. I really felt like I was watching something that was taking place in 1980, and this is mostly thanks to great costume and set designs. Sverrir Gudnason and Stellan Skarsg å rd b...

Director: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore Stars: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn Runtime: 104 minutes Performances: 2/10 Screenplay: 1/10 Special Effects: N.A. Costumes/Makeup: 5/10 Editing: 4/10 Cinematography: 3/10 Score/Soundtrack:  2/10  Verdict:  I honestly don't know what I was expecting from the sequel to last year's "Bad Moms". Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, and Kathryn Hahn returned as the three underappreciated mothers, only this time, they are joined by their own moms played by Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, and Susan Sarandon. I wasn't a big fan of this movie's predecessor, as I found the characters to be unlikable and the jokes to be unfunny. "A Bad Moms Christmas" checks all the boxes of a typical Hollywood sequel. It is basically a remake of the first movie, only with twice as many moms. The jokes were lazy, unfunny and repetitive, the characters, old and new, unlikable, and the plot non-existent. "A Bad Moms Chr...

Director: J.D. Dillard Stars: Jacob Latimore, Seychelle Gabriel, Storm Reid Runtime:  99 minutes Performances: 5/10 Screenplay:  2/10 Special Effects: N.A. Costumes/Makeup: 6/10 Editing: 5/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  5/10 Verdict:  I remember watching Josh Trank's "Chronicle" a couple of years ago and being pleasantly surprised by it. The first five minutes of "Sleight" led me to believe that the experience was going to be similar. Jacob Latimore plays Bo, a street magician with incredibly fast sleight of hand and a special ability that no other magician has. But the only trick he managed to pull was to lose my interest within the first 10 minutes, as the plot takes a completely different road and becomes about a drug deal that goes wrong. "Sleight" started strong and could've been a fun movie with a nice premise, but unfortunately turns into yet another drug-deal-gone-wrong film, with cheesy dialogue and a bor...

Director: Andrey Zvyaginstev Stars: Maryana Spivak, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Aleskey Rozin Runtime: 127 minutes Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 9/10 Special Effects: N.A. Costumes/Makeup: 7/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10  Verdict: Matvey Novikov shines as Alyosha, a child victim of his parents' divorce, who goes missing mysteriously in this Russian Oscar-nominated film. "Loveless" floored me. This is a movie that requires patience and attention, and that ultimately rewards you for it. All the performances, and especially Maryana Spivak's, are excellent and layered. But this movie would not have worked without the genius of director Andrey Zvyaginstev. He made one of the most beautiful movies of the year, using the cold Russian climate as a way to showcase the main themes of the film, which are divorce and hate. The score, or lack of it at times, is perfectly used to heighten the tension in a movie that depends on it ...

Director: Jeff Baena Stars: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci Runtime:  90 minutes Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 3/10 Special Effects: N.A. Costumes/Makeup: 5/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 7/10 Score/Soundtrack:  6/10 Verdict:  "The Little Hours" takes place in a convent, during the Middle Ages, in which the behavior of the local nuns gets the gardener to quit and be replaced by Massetto, a young servant escaping from his master. The movie stars a bunch of comedic talents, including Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Kate Micucci, Aubrey Plaza, Nick Offerman and John C. Reily. Talents that unfortunately all played versions of themselves in religious clothes, which got boring after the first 15 minutes. And this is why I found the film quite disappointing. It felt like a 15-minute sketch stretched into a 90-minute comedy, which resulted in the movie becoming repetitive really fast. In addition, a lot of jokes didn't land for me, and I felt sometimes ...

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy Runtime:  119 minutes Performances: 7/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Special Effects: N.A. Costumes/Makeup: 6/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  N.A. Verdict:  "The Birds", based on a novelette by Daphne Du Maurier, is the story of Melanie, played by Tippi Hedren, who while visiting a small town in the hopes of meeting Mitch, portrayed by Rod Taylor, finds herself in the middle of bizarre events as birds start attacking the residents of that same town. The movie was directed by the master of suspense himself, Sir Alfred Hitchcock. This 1963 flick might not be as brilliant as some of his earlier work (Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest...), mostly because of some performances and special effects that feel sometimes dated (but were nonetheless nominated for an Oscar that year), and an ending that a lot of people, me included, will find frustrating. However, "The Bir...

Director: Guillermo del Toro Stars: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon Runtime:  123 minutes Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 7/10 Special Effects: N.A.   Costumes/Makeup: 10/10 Editing: 8/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  9/10 Verdict: Sally Hawkins is perfectly cast as Elisa, a mute janitor who works at a secret government laboratory which receives a humanlike amphibian creature, played by the always unrecognizable and equally brilliant Doug Jones. Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Richard Jenkins, and Michael Stuhlbarg (who has been on a roll this year) are also in the film, and all of them deliver. "The Shape of Water" moved me like very few other movies did. And this is not only due to a very touching story written by Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, but also thanks to Alexandre Desplat's mesmerizing score, which is my favorite of the year without a doubt. Behind the camera, del Toro made sure that the movie's qua...