2019 has been a big year for Movie Reviews 101, we have seen the highest number of visits, the most amount of content and we are looking to continue to grow this year. We have always varied our content from big blockbusters to indie movies. The ABC Film Challenge has gone on stronger than normal and will be returning next year with the following subjects.

January – Catch Up 2019
February – Oscar Nomination
March – Favourites
April – Action
May – World Cinema
June – Sci-Fi
July – Romance
August – Animation
September – 80s Movies
October – Horror
November – Comedy
December – Anticipated

If you want to join in just get in contact with us at moviereviews101@yahoo.co.uk

I would like to thank everybody who has visited, given us a chance to watch upcoming releases early for their support this year, we want to continue working with everybody and will continue to bring as much as possible, when it comes to new content with upcoming releases.

Director: Dan Gilroy

Writer: Dan Gilroy (Screenplay)

Starring: Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Lynda Gravatt, Amanda Warren, Hugo Armstrong, Sam Gilroy

Plot: Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defence attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.

Tagline – All rise.

Runtime: 2 Hours 2 Minutes

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Slow Lawyer Heavy Movie

Story: Roman J Israel Esq starts as legal defence attorney Roman J Israel Esq (Washington) who doesn’t attend the courtroom and helps his partner win his cases with his legal mind. When his partner falls into a coma, George Pierce (Farrell) takes over the business, looking to close the firm, but he sees something in Roman, believing he could be hired to help with his own case load.

Roman agrees to help with a charity with young lawyers, run by Maya Alston (Ejogo), while needing to learn how to be part of a team, rather than using his knowledge to put people down, being one of the few people that wanted to be a lawyer for the right reasons.

Thoughts on Roman J Israel Esq

Characters – Roman J Israel Esq is a genius in the law field, he can memorise every case, knows how to solve the case with logic before getting into a courtroom, only he doesn’t go to court, he helps his partner do the lawyer side of the cases. This does make him come of anti-social at times too, he does want to help people when other people don’t listen to their voices. He goes through his own Epiphany which will see him changing, because of one incident, this will see him facing a conflict in his head about his future. George Pierce is the lawyer for the big firm assigned to close the small firm, he sees the skills Roman has, deciding to hiring him to help with his own cases. Maya runs a charity for people who can’t afford lawyers, she is happy to let Roman help out, she sees the good he has to offer people and in him.

Performances – Denzel Washington was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in this film, he doesn’t really shine on the levels we know he could, he handles the character well though, considering he is in nearly every scene of the film. Colin Farrell as the lawyer for the rich firm is strong as always in the supporting role, while Carmen Ejogo completes the main cast well.

Story – The story follows Roman J Israel an attorney that works for a small firm only to see that one close down and him getting a chance in a big law firm, where his own good natured mindset can be left behind when temptation comes his way. The problems with the story are clear, because we don’t get to see Roman doing any real courtroom lawyer work which seems like why he is hired, the mindset he has isn’t bought forward soon enough to see his change for enough of an impact either. We are meant to be dealing with one man going to far which just doesn’t end up being as interesting as it should be.

Crime – The crime side of this film comes from what Roman does, leading up to his crime before showing us the consequences.

Settings – The film is set in the locations you would expect to see a lawyer operate, we see the small firm, the big firm and the charity firm he could work for, where he is driven to make his own choices.

Scene of the Movie – The homeless man.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We didn’t believe how good-natured Roman was meant to be.

Final Thoughts – This an interesting if not slow moving lawyer based movie, it tries to do something different which should be praised, but it never reaches the potential it had.

Overall: Doesn’t hit the required marks.

Rating

2019 has been one of the best years for horror, I have found myself enjoying most of the horrors this year, this is just going to be the ones I enjoyed the most in no particular order. There will be a few films missing off this list, first The Lighthouse, which hasn’t been released in the UK yet and secondly, IT Chapter Two and Midsommar, two I didn’t really enjoy.

Us Us follows a family that start getting haunted by their doppelgangers who act in murderous ways, we see how the family is trying to survive against them in what is a horror with a killer twist, the best performance of the year from Lupita Nyong’o and an ending that will stop to make you think for hours, days or even weeks when it concludes.

Doctor Sleep Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining, it has been years since we saw that one, we have waiting for Stephen King to write his own sequel book, while Mike Flanagan manages to balance the original film, with King’s sequel, giving us one of the best horror sequels made, it builds up a bigger world, has one of the most shocking deaths in horror, along with a breakout performance from Kyliegh Curran, with a scene stealing performance from Rebecca Ferguson.

Little Monsters Little Monsters might well be the lightest horror on the list and it brings us a zombie comedy with music, not a musical though, we follow a school teacher and chaperone who find themselves trapped in a petting zoo when zombies arrive, this is one of the few films that manages to not have annoying kids, and does have the important message about letting people know who you really are, yet another wonderful performance from Lupita Nyong’o.

Crawl Crawl is a creature feature follow a father, daughter that get trapped in their crawlspace by alligators while the flood waters rise around them. This film is filled with jumps, thrills and bloodshed, sure it might have a couple of poor decisions, but you can have a lot of fun with this one.

Eli Eli is a horror that follows a young boy with a auto-immune disorder that finds himself going through special treatment, only for things to spiral out of control, with a twist you simply wouldn’t see coming, this film does shine from the final third where everything is unleashed.

Ready or Not Ready or Not starts with what should be the perfect day for Grace, her wedding turns into an extreme game of hide and seek, which is life or death for her, to help follow a family curse. Samara Weaving shines in the leading role, which does balance the horror with the comedy too, however outside the box certain moments in the film are.

Rabid When the Soska Sisters got their hands on the remake of the David Cronenberg cult classic, we knew we were in good hands, we follow a young lady that gets infected by a cure to her facial injury, only to learn that she does have anew blood lust, one that leads to deadly consequences.

Escape Room Escape Room was the third movie of the same title I had seen within 12 months, thankfully this one was enjoyable, bringing us a deadly game that does feel like it is a soft version of Saw at times, but does build a world that is much bigger, one I can’t wait to see the next chapter of.

Brightburn Brightburn is the anti-superhero origin story, this shows us how an alien being can become the biggest threat to humanity, the opposite to a superman. This is one that slowly builds up, it has some brutal kills, that could easily happen with somebody with superpowers and now we have one that could be some fresh in the world of superhero movies.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Being a huge fan of Andre Ovredal, this was going to be a film I would be supporting all day long, when it came to this one we are get a string of scary stories happening to the victims, which all introduce a new figure that is more terrifying than the last one, kept for a younger teenage audience, it still is filled with fear.

Mentally Apart Mentally Apart is one of the most recent horrors I have seen, one that should be available to everybody in 2020, it follows a relationship, through some good and bad times, it does have a sense of unease throughout the film, one that will keep us wondering just what is happening and one that doesn’t waste a scene, when it comes to the truth.

Blood Craft Blood Craft follows two sisters that were abused by their father and decide to use witchcraft to bring him back to life, only to punish him for what he did to them. This film does tackle domestic abuse well and show us just how much damage it can do if it isn’t treated on a smarter level.

Room for Rent When you see the name Lin Shaye attached to any horror thriller, you know you are in for a treat, this is no different as she plays a lonely widow who rents out a room where she starts to become obsessed with her latest guest, one that will see her become more deadly.

The Dark Within The Dark Within is a horror that follows a man who has been struggle to control his psychic abilities, which sees him trying to learn about his past, which only unleashes more demons into his mind, with some great scares, complex storytelling, this is one you didn’t want to miss this year.

The Village in the Woods The Village in the Woods does follow a couple that are moving into the village, only for them to learn just how creepy this village is, with what the people want from the new residents. This is a horror I did enjoy and it also has a personal landmark for me, one of the quotes for my review was used on the cover, for the review on Ready Steady Cut.

The Tokoloshe The Tokoloshe follows a young woman in a Johannesburg hospital that ends up getting haunted by a ghostly figure that will follow its victims wherever they will go, waiting for its chance to strike. This is one horror that brings a ghostly figure from another culture to the limelight, which is always great to see.

Annabelle Comes Home Annabelle Comes Home takes us to the Warren house, filled with artefacts which have different haunting effects about them, this opens up the Pandora’s box of horror figures, which does give us hope this franchise could go on for years to come, with some unique original creations, even if certain parts of the horror are by the book jumps.

The VelociPastor Where do we start with this movie, we have a priest that gets infected with something that gives him the ability to turn into a dinosaur and uses it to fight crime and ninjas. Yeah, this movie is sooooo bonkers it just works and is one you could laugh along with the blood splatter too.

Echoes of Fear Echoes in Fear follows a young woman that inherits her grandfather’s house, only to find herself being haunted by ghostly figures, which makes her look into the clues, where she learns the shocking truth about her grandfather. This is a nice ghost investigation film, which is my personal favourite sub-genre in horror.

Child’s Play Child’s Play was a film that I was against seeing, knowing it was a remake going in, I didn’t expect much from the film, this film manages to be completely different, well it has a killer doll, but it is technology over a serial killer, which brings a unique modern twist to how everything unfolds. It breaks the mould of a pointless remake, by being original and bringing a modern twist to the story.