Category: Movie Review

Director: Gary Ross

Writer: Gary Ross, Olivia Milch (Screenplay) George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell (Characters)

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Richard Armitage, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, Dakota Fanning, Awkwafina, Sarah Paulson

 

Plot: Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala.

Tagline – The plan is priceless.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Basic Heist Movie

 

Story: Ocean’s Eight starts when Debbie Ocean (Bullock) is released from prison, sister of Danny with the same habits, she heads to New York to connect with her oldest friend Lou (Blanchett) to put together a team to pull of a heist in the Met Gala. Debbie’s team includes celebrity Daphne Kluger (Hathaway), fashion designer Rose Weil (Carter), jeweller Amita (Kaling), computer hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna), street hustler Constance (Awkwafina) and retired thief turned tradeswoman Tammy (Paulson).

With the team together we need to learn the plan as Debbie teaches us about the motivation for the heist, can Debbie follow in her brother’s footsteps and prove she can put a team together.

 

Thoughts on Ocean’s Eight

 

Characters – Debbie Ocean is the one that get released from prison, sister of Danny, the heist work runs in her blood too. She puts the team together showing the leadership needed, while also risking the job for her own personal reasons to be involved. There doesn’t seem to be much more about her character though. Lou is the best friend and most reliable person in Debbie’s life, she has been working on her own money making ventures, with this being her chance to make a big payday by bank rolling the plan. She does have the most connection to help the job happen. Daphne Kluger is the famous actress the women use to help transport the necklace, the only way to get it out, she gets to poke fun at the celebrity culture we know, even though she is never in the plan. Rose Weil is the clothing designer in a need of a financial boost, she joins the heist by becoming the designer for Daphne. Amita is the jeweller that gets bought into the team to help make sure the necklace can be replicated, she has good banter with Constance. Constance is the pick pocket that street hustler that can’t sit still and must be on the move. Nine Ball is the tech wizard that likes her code name and helps show the ladies about the new modern way of tracking criminals. Tammy is the retired member of the team, she doesn’t get involved anymore, which gives her a reason to get back out there because family life just isn’t keeping her entertained enough. The problem here is the man the heist is against just doesn’t get anytime on screen to make us hate him.

Performances – The performances from the eight ladies are good throughout, each gets there moment in the sun, with Bullock showing good leadership, Hathaway enjoying playing into the celebrity idea, Blanchett doing her best Brad Pitt impression and the rest of the supporting team only increase the eyes on their abilities.

Story – The story here follows Danny Ocean’s sister Debbie who just like her brother can put a team together for a heist even with her own motivations. Now for an Ocean’s movie, this follows the basic heist idea, with the plan coming together and having to overcome problems. The story does lack a main villain, while we do have one, they are just bad guy, the previous films in the franchise have always made us hate them and they always had a feeling something was going on. It would be fair to say this is one of the more forgettable stories in the franchise with this falling into the third best in the franchise ahead of 12. The brief cameos from former members are fine, though it might have been nice to keep some of the bigger names around the franchise.

Action/Comedy/Crime – The slick action that we are used to in the franchise felt calmer and never gets us believing anything is going to go wrong. The comedy misses for the most part we get to see pokes at the previous films that never works. The crime world helps improve the film as we follow the check list for heist movies.

Settings – The film is set in and around New York which shows us the big city will always be the big setting for the film.

Scene of the Movie – The full heist.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The lack of villain, the Ocean film have always made us hate the mark, this one doesn’t.

Final Thoughts – This is another attempted cash in on the Ocean’s franchise, it is mostly an average heist movie, the lack of villainous figure just holds everything back.

 

Overall: Just an Average heist movie.

Rating

 

 

Director: Adam Rodgers

Writer: Glenn German, Adam Rodgers (Screenplay)

Starring: Andy Garcia, Vera Farmiga, Taissa Farmiga, Spencer Rocco Lofranco, Nicholas Braun, Tom Skerritt

 

Plot: Two parents fall in love over the course of a single day while playing hooky from their children’s college tour.

Tagline – You never know what you’ll discover on your first day at college.

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Charming Drama

 

Story: Just One Day starts as we meet father George (Garcia) who is taking his son Conrad (Lofranco) to Middleton and mother Edith (Vera Farmiga) who is taking her daughter Audrey (Taissa Farmiga) on the tour too. Starting off clashing over little things, soon George and Edith spend the day touring the campus together as they both must deal with the parenting issues they are facing with their children’s choice in college.

As the day goes by George and Edith get to show their personal frustrations as they see what they could have had, while their children start learning about what they will be stepping into when going to college.

 

Thoughts on Just One Day

 

Characters – George Hartman is a surgeon that is taking his ambitious son on a college tour, he tries to come off tidy and organised, but it is Edith that helps him open up and express himself. Edith is taking her daughter on the tour, she comes off strong minded, but after spending time with George, we start to see how she really feels about her life. Audrey is the daughter of Edith, she only wants to go to Middleton even though she is attached to her phone most of the time, even though she is piling on the pressure at a way too early age. We also have Conrad who is George’s son that wants to make his own decision on where to attend college, he does try to help Audrey with her decisions on this day.

Performances – Andy Garcia isn’t an actor you would know for romantic comedies, but here he nails it perfectly, giving us a likeable character with his own troubles. Vera Farmiga is great to in her leading role and between the two they have great chemistry. Taissa Farmiga is good too showing us just how obsessed parents can become when heading to college.

Story – The story follows just one day in the life of to adults who are about to send their children to college, we see how important this day is for the children and how the parents can see a moment of freedom away from responsibility, but also see where things could have gone to make them happy.  This story is sweet when it needs to be, serious when it needs to be, but never sticking to just one, showing us just how to reflect life on the viewer who can connect with any of the four main characters.

Romantic/Comedy – The romantic and comedy genres do mix together nicely, we have two maybe romantic storylines, one between two married people and one between two potential students, the comedy comes into the film as we see how things go through the day, it isn’t laugh out loud funny, but funny that will leave a smile on your face.

Settings – The whole film is set on the college campus, this helps the one day feel to the story and shows how big of a step college is for any teenager about to make it to the world.

Scene of the Movie – Acting class, we get a real moment for both the characters who are also teaching the class with this moment.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Ruining everything with a drug storyline.

Final Thoughts – This is a film that came out of nowhere for me, I couldn’t help but love how sweet it felt, even if I couldn’t connect with the college tour idea, it shows how certain moments show you something in life that will change how you see it.

 

Overall: Charming and sweet from start to finish.

Rating

 

 

Director: James Ojala

Writer: James Ojala (Screenplay)

Starring: Stephen Tobolowsky, Carlos Alazraqui, John Hennigan, Lisa Sheridan, Tiffany Shepis, David Mattey, Ann Hearn, Bruce Bohne, Faust Checho

 

Plot: The first film to expose unsolved wildlife deformity outbreaks and where they may lead.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Suspenseful Sci-Fi Shocker

 

Story: Strange Nature starts when single mother Kim Sweet (Sheridan) returns home with her son Brody (Beres) to live with her father Chuck (Bohne) and it doesn’t take long before the locals start locating deformed frogs, which leads to Kim investigate just what is happening with the local wildlife.

Soon an unknown creature starts picking off the residents of the area which takes Kim’s investigation to the Mayor Paulson (Tobolowsky). Joined by local teacher Trent (Checho) we see how the species being deformed are evolving into deadlier animals showing they must stop the cause before it is too late.

 

Thoughts on Strange Nature

 

Characters – Kim Sweet was once a rising popstar whose life didn’t turn out the way she had planned, she finds herself a single mother returning home to care for her dying father, once home she gets to see just how bad the situation back home has become and must lead the fight to save the town from a threat causing deformities in its locals. Mayor Paulson is trying his best to keep everything under wraps in the town, to stop the people panicking even if he does have his own reasons for doing so. Sam is one of the locals who sticks with his kind, he doesn’t like people that are different only for it to become clear he isn’t even safe from the deformities himself. Trent is the closest to a scientist we have in this film, a school teacher that helps Kim with her investigation.

Performances – Lisa Sheridan in the leading role is strong through the film, we get to see her show the parental side, independent side and remains strong though the challenging subject matters. Stephen Tobolowsky always makes for a good political figure and this is no different, while John Hennigan brings us a different character we are used to seeing, a villainous one that fits the trouble maker in town. The rest of the cast are good through the film.

Story – The story here brings us to a small town which has started to get birth defecates on the first small animals soon becoming more serious and deadlier. This gives us the small-town community that begins to point fingers at what or who is causing everything going on, which of course brings moments of panic. The scientific side of the investigation is interesting because we do get to see different potential answers over the cause and by holding back on the biggest reveals and side effects we get to be left to see just how far up the evolution chain the defects will go. As we mostly follow a single mother we get to see extra protection and concern being shown, while other members of the town want to turn a blind eye to what is happening. The story does try to ask us the question about what we think about potential problems we might be causing to our environment and how the side effects could bring something terrible towards us.

Sci-Fi – The sci-fi side of this story comes from just showing us how the defects are affecting the environment, this is something we are seeing in real life, just this side goes that little bit further with everything.

Settings – The film is set in one small town, this brings us a sense of community which only makes us understand how tight knit the people are.

Special Effects – The Effects give us plenty of practical ones showing how different animals will look if they were to become deformed. They only make things look more disturbing through the film.

Scene of the Movie – The afterbirth effects.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – That final twist.

Final Thoughts – This is a sci-fi thriller that does ask questions, it holds back any big reveals until the final third of the film which keeps us guessing to just what we will be facing once the battle gets made clear and shows that pointing fingers never solves anything.

 

Overall: Sci-Fi for the thinkers.

Rating

 

 

Director: Joseph Sargent

Writer: Michael De Guzman (Screenplay)

Starring: Lorraine Gary, Lance Guest, Mario Van Peebles, Karen Young, Michael Caine

 

Plot: Chief Brody’s widow believes that her family is deliberately being targeted by another shark in search of revenge.

Tagline – On Friday June 17, man’s deepest fear will rise again

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Just Bad

 

Story: Jaws 4 The Revenge starts as we head back to Amity Bay, as Sean (Anderson) now works on the police department with Ellen (Gary) carrying on her life after Chief’s death (off camera), when Sean is killed in a shark attack, Michael (Gust) returns to offer as much comfort as he can.

Michael takes his mother of Barbados for a change of scenery with his family wife Carla (Young) and daughter Thea (Barsi), with an island full of characters including pilot Hoagie (Caine) and local Jake (Van Peebles), when a great white appears in research area, Ellen believe the shark is following and hunting down the family.

 

Thoughts on Jaws 4 The Revenge

 

Characters – Ellen Brody has lost her husband and now she has lost her youngest son to a shark attack, she believes the shark is now tracking down the family in an act of revenge, wanting Michael to give up his job in the ocean. She also starts a relationship with pilot Hoagie that shows her a new look on life. Michael is the eldest son of Ellen, he works in the ocean and has his own family in Barbados, he uses the opportunity to study the shark which has never been located in the waters around Barbados. Hoagie is the pilot and gambler living on the island, that starts a relationship with Ellen.

Performances – Lorraine Gary isn’t the strongest in her role, she had been a weaker part of the previous films and making her the lead doesn’t work for the film. Lance Guest is a forgettable with his performance because we don’t see anything fresh. Michael Caine enjoyed his payday here.

Story – The story plays out like the shark is now following the family and hunting them down in an act of revenge, the family move to Barbados to escape, but it follow them. This is a low key story, that turns funny for the most part of the movie, it has the typical peril moments but never becomes the film you expect it to be.

Adventure/Horror – The adventure takes us to a new setting, which is fine, but the horror comes from sitting through the film.

Settings – The Barbados settings was popular for Michael Caine, it does just end up being more water related location which is all you need.

Special Effects – The effects are terrible and we even see the failure to remove the use of props for the shark.

Scene of the Movie – Caine the pilot introduction.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The rest.

Final Thoughts – This was a pointless sequel in an era where any movie that made money should only be made cheap so they can be funny bad, rather than big budget disaster.

 

Overall: Bad is being nice.

Rating

 

 

Director: Kenny Leon

Writer: Teena Booth, Suzette Couture (Screenplay)

Starring: Katharine McPhee, Mike Vogel, JoBeth Williams, Joe Massingill, Rachel Skarsten, Antonio Cupo, Jessalyn Wanlim

 

Plot: Natalie and Nick are frustrated with their luck in romance. After tossing coins into a fountain, the two then begin dreaming about each other. But, according to fountain mythology, they only have a week to turn those dreams into reality.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Charming Romance

 

Story: In My Dreams starts as we meet struggling restaurant owner Natalie (McPhee) and ambitious architect Nick Smith (Vogel), both have people interfering in their love lives, Natalie has Sharla (Wanlim) and Nick with his mother Charlotte (Williams). After the pair both make a wish in the local fountain they both start dreaming of each other.

Each night the two meet in their dreams learning more about each other as they soon start to fall in love with each other and must learn how they can meet in real life.

 

Thoughts on In My Dreams

 

Characters – Natalie is a struggling restaurant owner that has taken over the family business after her mother’s death, with business down she is encouraged to make a wish in the local fountain. With no luck in love she suddenly starts seeing a mysterious man in her dreams who helps re-create her restaurant. Nick is an architect in a role he doesn’t enjoy his work, goes through women after just one date never calling them because they don’t give him what he needs. He makes the wish too and after meeting Natalie in his dream who helps him see his own potential in life. In the supporting characters we have the interfering mother, work best friends and the cliched mean boss.

Performances – Katharine McPhee as our leading lady is great, we get to see the mix of business realism and dream like beliefs she is going through, like Katharine, Mike Vogel shows his full range through the film and the two work well to make us care about their characters. the supporting cast a good for an extra laugh at times and never take the spotlight off the main two characters.

Story – The story here follows two people down on life, both career and love who make a wish and start falling for each other in their dreams. This does give us a look how life can always be turned around no matter how down you might get, it tells us love can give you motivation for change. This may feel like something we have seen before, it does feel overly relying on a fantasy most people will never get close to experiencing and for a romantic movie fan we could see the fans of the genre enjoying this one.

Romance – The romantic side of the film show us how important waiting for the right person that will make you feel like out are the most important person in the world. it could be considered overly cheesy but sometimes that works.

Settings – The film keeps us in one city showing us how easily you could miss someone who is perfect for you in life without even noticing.

Scene of the Movie – Those missed meetings.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain supporting characters don’t have much going on in their lives other than being the leads friends.

Final Thoughts –This is a movie that anyone that enjoys a romantic movie will enjoy, it might have cliched moments, but it is just nice sweet romantic film.

 

Overall: Enjoyable and charming from start to finish.

Rating

 

 

Director: Joe Alves

Writer: Richard Matheson, Carl Gottlieb (Screenplay) Guerdon Trueblood (Story)

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett Jr, John Putch, Lea Thompson

 

Plot: The sons of police chief Brody must protect customers at a SeaWorld theme park after a thirty-five-foot shark becomes trapped in the park with them.

Tagline – The third dimension is terror

Runtime: 1 Hour 39 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: They Can’t Get Worse

 

Story: Jaws 3 starts as we follow the sons of Chief Brody, Mike (Quaid) who works at sea world with his girlfriend Dr Kathryn Morgan (Armstrong) as they receive a visit from Sean (Putch) who has followed in his father’s footsteps by being afraid of the water. With Seaworld getting a visit from celebrity Philip FitzRoyce (MacCorkindale) everything is ready for a new stamp of approval.

When it turns out that a great white shark has taken up home in the lagoon Kay wants to capture it for good reasons, while Philip wants to turn into a sport and kill it, can they find a safe solution?

 

Thoughts on Jaws 3

 

Characters – Mike Brody is the son of the Chief in the first two films, now grown up, he builds the worlds for Seaworld alongside his girlfriend who works with the animals, he is on the verge of a big transfer which will make serious money and his career, now he must work to save the park much like his father did, fighting a shark. Kay is girlfriend of Mike, she works with the wildlife in the park, wanting to do the best for the shark that appears there. Philip FitzRoyce is here to help with press as he knows how to add the crowds to the audience.

Performances – Dennis Quaid is ok in this movie, he doesn’t reach the levels we know he can reach, Bess Armstrong is the strongest part of the film because you can understand both her and her characters reactions. The rest of the cast are fine to poor, they are not as annoying as the kids in the last film.

Story – The story has jumped a few years now, following the kids does make sense, we follow of a Seaworld that gets an uninvited guest in sharks move into the lagoon. The team must get them out, this is the story as the ambitious money hunger park owner puts lives at risk and a guy named Brody must try to save the day. There is nothing overly new here, it doesn’t build on the scale of the original two films and just feels almost a waste in the most part.

Adventure/Horror – This doesn’t have the feel of an adventure and sadly it doesn’t come off scary in anyway, this just turns out to be bland.

Settings – Having the film set in a Seaworld environment is something we wouldn’t see anymore because of the hatred towards them, but this setting almost plays out like a marketing campaign for them,

Special Effects – This film tried to do 3D, it failed.

Scene of the Movie – Watching someone get eaten.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Those effects.

Final Thoughts – This is a weaker sequel that just ends up being boring for the most part, it doesn’t build on the legacy in anyway either.

 

Overall: Just bad all around.

Rating

 

 

Director: Kevin Macdonald

Writer: Jeremy Brock, Penelope Skinner, Tony Grisoni (Screenplay) Meg Rosoff (Novel)

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, George MacKay, Harley Bird, Danny McEvoy, Anna Chancellor

 

Plot: An American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world around her.

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Surprisingly Good

 

Story: How I Live Now starts as American girl Elizabeth who wants to be known as Daisy (Ronan) heads to England for the summer with her cousins Isaac (Holland), Eddie (MacKay), Joe (McEvoy) and Piper (Bird) in their countryside home but busy Aunt Penn (Chancellor) who does have her hands tied with a potential new world war.

When the unthinkable happens and the war starts with a bombing in London the kids are left alone and Daisy must decide whether to take her ticket home or stay and look after her cousins with Eddie.

 

Thoughts on How I Live Now

 

Characters – Daisy starts off like your typical rebellious teenager from America, music loud, wanting to be alone, not wanting to have come to England or deal with younger cousins. When she learns to love the countryside, she finds herself needing to step up and look after the younger cousins when the war starts. Eddie is the next-door neighbour of the cousins that spends most of the time with the family, striking up a relationship with Daisy. He does look to take up the responsibilities once the war starts. Isaac is the eldest of the cousins living on the farm and is happy with the idea of living on the farm until the war comes to them where he gets taken with Eddie.

Performance – Saoirse Ronan is great in the leading role, she looks distant from the family but by the end of the film we see how she wants to be part of it. George MacKay does a great job in the eldest of the kids role where he shows the care needed for the leading role while Tom Holland gives us a glimpse at the talent he was to give us in the years to come.

Story – The story starts off in what you feel is going to be a generic girl goes to stay somewhere she doesn’t but soon becomes happy to stay there, this would be fine but the story stands out here because we then have the idea of war breaking out leave her to need to become the protector of the youngest cousin. This shows how the children, the innocent parts of war will face the hardest struggle to survive it.

Romance/Thriller – The romance is teenage love, which is at times comes off rather annoying but for the sake of the story this is everything you expect it to be. The thrilling side of the story comes from not knowing what has gone on outside of the world we find Daisy in.

Settings – The countryside is the setting for most of this film as we see the calm before the war, the chaos with the war and the peace away from the big cities that are fighting.

Scene of the Movie – The first bomb because it changes the tone of the whole movie.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – I know the point is to not know, but it would be nice to have known who the enemy was.

Final Thoughts – This was a film I didn’t expect too much of going in, but by the end of the film every ounce of my attention was drawn to finding out which ones of the kids will make it home, it what is a drawn out but impactful look at the consequences of war.

 

Overall: This is an impressively strong addition to the post-apocalyptic genre.

Rating