Movies Graded

Director: Greta Gerwig Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh Runtime: 135 minutes Synopsis:   Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women each determined to live life on their own terms. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 8/10 Costumes/Makeup: 9/10 Editing: 9/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  9/10 Verdict: I'm not the biggest fan of period pieces. And while I liked "Lady Bird", which was Greta Gerwig's massively acclaimed directorial debut, I can't say that I loved it. I wasn't sure what to expect from what is the fourth adaptation of a novel I'm not familiar with at all. And to be honest, I'm glad I watched it with next to no expectations, because I ended up absolutely loving every second of it. "Little Women" may be set in the mid-1800s, but that's hardly what the movie focuses on. It's much more interested in recounting t...

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton Stars: Brie Larson, Michael B. Jordan, O'Shea Jackson Jr. Runtime:  137 minutes Synopsis:   World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner. Performances: 8/10 Screenplay: 4/10 Costumes/Makeup: 6/10 Editing: 4/10 Cinematography: 5/10 Score/Soundtrack:  4/10 Verdict: Back in 2013, Destin Daniel Cretton gifted us with a wonderful surprise by the name of "Short Term 12". Since then, the Hawaiian director, aside from a timid outing a couple of years ago that saw him reunited with Brie Larson in "The Glass Castle", sort of disappeared from the Hollywood scene and it wasn't until a few months ago, while I was randomly checking if he was up to anything new, that I discovered that he was adapting the true story of Johnnie D., a wrongfully convicted man sentenced to death in Alabama. And while the story itself is one that has a lot to say about...

Director: Fred Durst Stars:   John Travolta, Devon Sawa, Ana Golja Runtime:  88 minutes Synopsis:   A rabid film fan stalks his favorite action hero and destroys the star's life. Performances: 1/10 Screenplay: 1/10 Costumes/Makeup: 2/10 Editing: 3/10 Cinematography: 3/10 Score/Soundtrack:  2/10 Entertainment Factor: 8/10 Verdict: Remember "Joker"? Now imagine if it was written by a 9 year old and starred someone who turned up high to set every single day. You get "The Fanatic", a film starring John Travolta as a mentally challenged fan turned stalker. And yes, it's absolutely amazing. The film made a mere $3,153 at the box office, and that's quite frankly one of the biggest tragedies in Cinema history. Because this is a film I'll most definitely be revisiting more than once, preferably with a bunch of drunk friends. The fact that Travolta actually started a For Your Consideration campaign hoping that this masterpiece woul...

Director: Trey Edwards Shults Stars:   Taylor Russell, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Alexa Demie Runtime:  135 minutes Synopsis:   Traces the journey of a suburban family - led by a well-intentioned but domineering father - as they navigate love, forgiveness, and coming together in the aftermath of a loss. Performances: 9/10 Screenplay: 6/10 Editing: 6/10 Cinematography: 8/10 Score/Soundtrack:  8/10 Verdict: As a big fan of Trey Edwards Shults' "It Comes at Night", I was eagerly waiting for his follow up project, once again produced by A24, a studio that never fails to deliver. And one thing the young director proved for sure with "Waves" is that he has range like very few others do, because this particular one's style is vastly different than the one used to create an atmosphere of dread in "It Comes at Night". Fueled by incredible performances all over the board, gorgeous cinematography that played with aspect ratios in a very s...

Director: Taika Waititi Stars:    Roman Griffin Davis ,  Thomasin McKenzie ,  Scarlett Johansson Runtime:  108 minutes Synopsis:   A young boy in Hitler's army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Performances: 7/10 Screenplay: 6/10 Costumes/Makeup: 6/10 Editing: 7/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  5/10 Verdict: Taika Waititi is an international treasure and every movie of his is a little gem. "Jojo Rabbit", which marks the first time that one of his feature films gets recognized by the Academy (6 times, nonetheless!) is no exception, despite the fact that it's probably my least favorite entry in his already rich filmography to date. The self-proclaimed "anti-hate satire" follows a young, determined boy in Nazi Germany whose life is changed when he discovers that his mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in the walls of their home. In old Waititi fashion, the film is mostly a comedy, but is also hi...

Director: Terrence Malick Stars:  August Diehl ,  Valerie Pachner ,  Maria Simon   Runtime:  174 minutes Synopsis:   The Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II. Performances: 6/10 Screenplay: 3/10 Costumes/Makeup: 6/10 Editing: 3/10 Cinematography: 6/10 Score/Soundtrack:  7/10 Verdict: Terrence Malick is a polarizing director to say the least. I for one have seen all of the movies he released in the past decade and while I absolutely adored "The Tree of Life", I also couldn't stand "Knight of Cups" and "Song to Song". The premise of his newest film sounds promising. It's the true story of an Austrian man's struggle to fight for a cause he doesn't believe in during World World 2. That cause being of course the Nazi regime. And while the premise was indeed promising, watching it felt like some sort of punishment I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy. Ob...

Directors:  Waad Al-Kateab ,  Edward Watts Runtime:  100 minutes Synopsis:   FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. Verdict: "For Sama" broke my heart, man. I can't stress how brutal, raw, and tragic that documentary is and I'm going to take this chance to warn you that it contains images you'll probably have a hard time forgetting as the sight of hopeless children losing their loved ones is one I wish I never had to see in my life. But sadly, this is happening on a daily basis, and being aware of the atrocities the totalitarian Syrian regime is committing feels almost like a duty. "For Sama" lets us experience that from both the comfort and discomfort of our own house, through the eyes of Waad Al-Kateab, one of the bravest women the world has ever seen. As soon as the protests against Bashar Al-Assad's regime broke in 2012, she grabbed a camera and never let go of it, documenting every sec...