Best & Worst : 2015

As always...

Favourite movies

To Write Love On Her Arms

Inside Out

Worst movie

Aloha

Pleasantly surprised with

Spy

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Paper Towns
Trainwreck

Expected more from

Aloha
True Story

Honorable mentions

Furious 7
Southpaw
Straight Outta Compton
I Smile Back
The Intern
The Good Dinosaur
The Hateful 8
Hyena Road

Dishonorable mentions

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Jurrasic World
Goodnight Mommy (underwhelming)
The Barber

Movies I still want to see

Demolition
Everything Will Be Fine
Spectre
Taxi
Welcome to Me

Masterminds

A Walk in the Woods
The Night Before

Movies I wanted to avoid

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Star Wars
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 2

I’m Just Not That Interested
Avengers
Fantastic Four
Minions

2016 Movies I'm Looking Forward To:

Finding Dory

Pinocchio

Zootopia

The BFG

Suicide Squad

Beverly Hills Cop 4

Ghostbusters
Dirty Grandpa
How To Be Single
Zoolander 2
Triple 9
The Boss
The Nice Guys
The Little Prince
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations

A Year In Reviews: 2015

Just a recap of movies I saw with a 2015 release date (in the order I saw them)

To Write Love On Her Arms

Furious 7

Spy

Inside Out

Southpaw

The Diary of A Teenage Girl

Straight Outta Compton

True Story

Aloha

Pitch Perfect 2

Hot Pursuit

Man Up

Jurrasic World

Unexpected

I Smile Back

The Intern

Goodnight Mommy

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

The Good Dinosaur

Paper Towns

Children of Heaven

1997 - 4.8/5

Unless you’re E-ran, you probably haven’t heard of this movie… or you may remember that it was nominated for an Academy Award (best foreign film). Well, if that doesn’t jog your memory, the fact that it was nominated for an Academy Award should at the very least spark your interest.

So because you haven’t heard of this before, here’s the quick rundown: Ali loses his sisters pair of shoes; neither tell their parents so they end up sharing his shoes until the day comes that Ali learns of a race in which the 3rd place winner wins a pair of sneakers.

This is one of THE most beautiful and heartwarming movies I’ve ever seen! No, this movies doesn’t have the greatest acting, but my goodness, it will give you major feels! It just makes you want to cry every 5 minutes!

You feel for both Ali and his sister Zahra. You can tell that Ali is incredibly remorseful and wants to make it up to his sister after losing her shoes at the market. As mentioned before, the acting wasn’t the strongest point, but its not like the kids did terribly; you can just tell they were inexperienced, but at the end of the day, their acting was effective.

Black or White

2014 - 1/5

i could have sworn i wrote a short review for this; perhaps it didn't save. quick review it is:

this was okay. i liked how it attempted to tackle the black/white issue. however, the issue was brought up and then it kind of just was let go.

i will say that i do like Kevin Costner and i think he did a fine job. the girl playing his daughter was annoying but eh, anyone they cast would have been. i did like Octavia Spencer, but really, her character wasn't that great.

was this movie ground break? no. did it do a good job portraying the issue? not in full, but ya.

Girl Most Likely

2012 - 2.2/5

I’ve liked Kristen Wiig since Bridesmaids, and the only other movie I’ve seen her in was The Skeleton Twins. I still want to see Welcome To Me as well. Although I think her strongest point is comedy, I do think that she does dramas well. I especially like watching her in independent flicks too.

I thought Kristen Wiig did a great job at Imogene and that ____ did a really good job as Ralph, her brother. Nobody else had a ‘break through’ performance, but they all did as good as needed to be. I have to say that whole side story with George Boosh could have been left out.

I don’t care to write a long review for this, so I’ll say that this movie had the typical ups and downs, but the bumpy ride was worth it for one go.

SPOILER:
I have to mention that the part in which Imogene’s mother tells her why she had to wait 84 days after her actual birthday to celebrate her birthday on her brothers birthday was heartbreaking. When Imogene tells the doctor at the beginning that she had to wait until her brothers birthday in order to finally have a party, you think that “oh, the mom is such a cheap bitch”, but you then find out she did it because her brother Ralph had no friends, therefore nobody would show up for his birthday. That for me really struck a nerve and although that doesn’t excuse all the other crappy things her mom did, you get a sense that she did indeed love her kids and she did have their best interest at heart. A touching moment for sure.

Your Sister's Sister

2011 - 2.1/5

for a movie that i've never heard of, it was actually not bad. i only picked it because i like emily blunt (she's a very underrated actress). another selling point (if you can call it that) was mark duplass. i had never heard of this guy before i saw the movie Safety Not Guaranteed (which i also enjoyed). is this movie totally new and different than ones before it, well, considering you probably haven't heard of it, it has not broken any moulds. was it worth watching once? ya, i'd say so.

American History X

1998 - 5/5

For a movie that’s been at the top my favourite list since its release in 1998 (until Little Miss Sunshine came out in 2006), I have yet to actually write a review for it. Why? Because sometimes it’s hard putting into words how truly amazing something is. Saying that this movie is amazing is an understatement. Its been almost 20 years since its release and even now, I’m finding it hard to put into words what I think and feel about this movie. Speaking of feeling, this is probably the first movie that ever gave me the feels. It is such a powerful movie with such a powerful message, and it’s done so beautifully.

The way the movie was put together: the camera angles, the black and white scenes used for the flashbacks and full colour for the present day, everything, and I mean EVERYTHING was spot on. Needless to say, this movie was snubbed at the Academy Awards.

Oh my god, Edward Norton. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know what I’m about to say without reading on. This guy I tell you. Of the many, many, many movies I’ve seen before I saw this movie, and since I saw this movie, I can without a doubt say that his role as Derek Vineyard was the best acting I have ever seen. The look on his face (again, if you’ve seen this movie you’ll know which part I’m talking about) when he turns around is so horrifying and it stays with you.

As for Edward Furlong, he was fantastic in this too as Danny, Derek’s younger brother. The movie is told from his point of view and you see how much of what his brother did had an impact on his life as he follows in Derek’s footsteps. Furlong had sooo much potential after this, but unfortunately, his acting career didn’t seem to extend into the 2000’s in a notable way.

It’s rare when every aspect of a movie, the plot, script, acting, cinematography, ect, line up so incredibly well. This movie is such a brutal, but honest depiction of racism and all the bullshit that goes along with it. This is just one of those movies you have to see at least once in your lifetime.

It is such a captivating movie that you get pulled into it and there’s no going back. It’s a thought provoking movie that actually leaves you speechless; hence why its taken me almost 20 years to write this review.

Paper Towns

2015 - 2.3/5

Wow, I was ready to harp on this movie with a fine-toothed comb. Going in having disliked The Fault In Our Stars (2014), I’m not even sure why I picked this movie.

Long review short, I actually liked this movie. Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are. Albeit, it did have its fair share of cheesy/typical teenage crap thrown in, but overall, the plot was interesting and the acting was good enough for me to enjoy it.

I will say, even though I liked how the movie ended, the execution of it fell a bit short; I got what they were going for, but it wasn’t put together well, it didn’t flow, it was a bit bumpy.

Run

2013 - 0/5

This movie was HIGH-LARIOUS! The funniest movie I’ve seen all year. I’m tempted to spoil this movie for you and tell you all the funny parts. To say that I was howling throughout the entire movie is an understatement. There was this one part… oh… wait a minute… this wasn’t a comedy? Are you sure? Well… that would explain a lot actually.

I get it, parkour was gaining popularity fast 2 years ago and people were (and are) jumping (no pun intended) on the bandwagon. Was it worth it though to make a movie about parkour? Well, maybe not this movie… a documentary would have been better. Oh and to name it Run! #original #justkidding #thatswhatthekidsthesedaysaresayingright?

I want to say that I’m not sure the narration was going to help or hurt the movie… but really, I’m sure YOU can make that call without even having seen the movie.

Within 1 minute, the words “Saved by the Bell”, “Blast from the Past”, and “Live Free or Die Hard” were actually used in a conversation between 2 people. Has dialogue in movies resorted to using movie names?

I really don’t think I need to write anything else about this movie for you to know what I think: everything was a joke. This movie doesn't even get points for the parkour because I've seen better parkour on YouTube and it didn't have a stupid story to waste 90 minutes of your life. If you’re interested in parkour, I suggest you just continue watching videos on YouTube... however, if you insist on watching the movie, just skip to the credits.

The Company You Keep

2012 - 2/5

#Netflix&Chill right?

When I saw that Shia LaBeouf was in this movie, I decided to watch it. Within the first 6 minutes of the movie, we see Susan Sarandon, Terrance Howard, Stanley Tucci and Robert Redford! From that point on, the casting just gets bigger and bigger! Anna Kendrick, Chris Cooper, Nick Nolte, Richard Jenkins! Ya, this movie does have a lot of actors casted, however, that doesn’t mean there in the movie for the entirety of the movie; that’s not to say that that is a downfall in any way though. Each actor was used to the extent needed.

I like movies that involve someone trying to uncover something. And that’s exactly what Shia’s role was. He was journalist trying to piece together bank robbery gone bad in the 1970s. Although he’s gotten a bad rap as an actual human being, you can’t deny he’s a good actor… well, at least in my books. I think he worked very well in this movie. He was a fast talker and it went well with the character and being a journalist.

At the 30 minute mark, it hit me that it was filmed in Vancouver! So bonus points for that (but not really).

For a movie that I have never heard of before I came across from it on Netflix, I did like it – but only for a one time viewing, it doesn’t have repeat value.

The Good Dinosaur

2015 - 2.8/5
(did not watch in 3D)

Loved the short, Sanjay’s Super Team.
It was super cute and I like that Pixar/Disney are branching out in terms of character ethnicity (first being Big Hero 6).

From the get-go, this movie reminded me of The Land Before Time and Bambi. At some points, I was even reminded of The Lion King and Homeward Bound. So if you’ve seen those, then this is just an updated, recycled plot.

The actual plot of the movie is been done over many times; someone ends up getting lost and needs to find their way home, in the meanwhile, learning some life lessons along the way. The only catch (if that’s the proper word) is that the someone is a dinosaur, fearful and timid Arlo, and his sidekick is a human, Spot. Basically, the dinosaurs act like humans, and the humans act like animals. Not very creative and not the standards I hold Pixar to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I hated that, I'm just saying that it was an interesting twist that wasn't perfectly developed.

I was a tad bit annoyed that the dinosaurs looked too cartoony, especially considering the scenery in this movie was amazing! I looked as if they filmed these places and added the dinosaurs in after the fact.

I could see that they were trying to get some laugh in the scene that Arlo and Spot (what a stupid name by the way; Pixar is better than that) ate the rotten fruit and tripped out. I was pretty surprised to see that in a movie meant for kids. I didn’t like how some of the side characters had Southern accents, while some had cowboy accents.

The plot and script were not the movies high points, the animation bumped up my score a bit. Overall, the animation aside, it was fine.

Apparently the Pizza Planet truck was in there somewhere, but I didn’t see it.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

2015 - 3.2/5

Just a heads up… I never intended that this review be a comparison to The Fault In Our Stars (2014), but I couldn’t help it. So I apologize in advance that this is what this review has turned out to be.

This movie is exactly what I wanted The Fault In Our Stars to be (although I had read the book when it first came out and didn’t like it). Where that movie was too pretentious for its own good, this movie is a breathe of fresh air. I really enjoyed this movie. It reminded me of Juno (2007). To put it in the most simplistic terms, TFIOS is like McDonalds (January 2016 update: I actually don't mind McDonalds, so I'll change 'McDonalds' to 'crap'), and ME&tDG is like the awesome hole-in-the-wall restaurant you never knew you needed in your life.

The characters in this movie were far more believable than TFIOS. Greg’s wit and the bond he had with Earl and the bond he developed with Rachel (aka, the dying girl) didn’t seemed forced or make you want to rip your head off. Greg, Earl and Rachel weren’t using “profound” speech mixed with “typical teenage talk”; the dialogue seemed more genuine, authentic, and not at all cliché.

This is a very heartfelt movie. The movie was quirky and on the independent side and never felt like a Hollywood flick. It was a very grounded movie that stuck to its roots.

Goodnight Mommy

2015 - 1/5

So I don't remember how I heard of this movie, but I intended to watch it just before Halloween; well, that didn't happen, and I'm still interested in watching it.

I am going to assume that the majority of you who read this review have probably never heard of this movie. I will mention that there are going to be spoilers, but considering this is the first time you’ve heard of this movie, I’m thinking most of you aren’t going to bother watching it anyways.

This movie is set in an isolated house where 9 years old twin boys live with their mother. The mom comes home after having some sort of major facial surgery, and the twins begin doubting that she’s indeed their mother. This is not a horror movie. This is not an “artsy” movie. If I had to categorize this movie, I’d say drama.

By watching the trailer, I thought this movie would be about the twin boys trying to figure out if the lady that came home was their mom. What I got was a movie in which nothing amounted to anything. The director just added the scenes for the sake of them being there. They didn’t build on the ones before or after; everything that happened was compartmentalized, vague and unexplained. Needless to say, this movie left a lot of loose ends. Case in point: 

Why did the mom eat the cockroach?
What was with the mom stripping in the woods and the whole demon thing; this part was even shown in the trailer – but did it amount to anything? No.
Why did the mom kill the cat?
The boys walking through the cave with all the human bones – did that have a point?
I found the Red Cross part to be ridiculous. Did they add that to add tension in the movie? Because I saw it more of a joke.

You know when you were in elementary school and the teacher writes a sentence on a paper, covers it up, and tells each kid to write the next sentence and eventually, it becomes a story? Ya, that’s what the plot of this movie felt like. As if it had 20 different people were dictating what the next scene should be only knowing the general premise of the movie and having no clue what the person before did.

There wasn’t much to the script; and just after the half way point, it did become a bit repetitive, so I can’t give the movie any points for that.

When it comes to the acting, I’ll say that this was the strong point. The twins, Lukas and Elias were really good. Although they portrayed 9 year old boys, I think they looked more along the lines of 12.

I will admit that I didn’t catch that Lukas had died, but looking back, the boys at the lake, the mom only serving breakfast to Elias, the mom only talking to Elias, the mom only punishing Elias, it should have been obvious.

Overall, I did spend $4.99 and although I wouldn’t watch it again, I don’t feel completely cheated out of my money.

The Place Beyond the Pines

2012 - 3/5

Okay, so this review is going to have spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it in the last 3 years, my suggestion to you is, watch it. As for the rest of you who have seen this movie, read on.

I’ve been meaning to watch this since it came out, mainly because I really like Ryan Gosling. His role in this movie seems similar to this role Drive (2011). We all know that this guy has acting range. Bradley Cooper seemed to be a good fit as well. I figured the weak link would be Eva Mendez, but she held her own; not saying it was Oscar worthy, but it worked.

When Luke (Gosling) died 50 minutes in, I actually checked how much time is left in the movie. His story was really interesting. He was the main character and I was blindsided that he was killed. Enter Avery (Bradley Cooper). At this point, the movie picks up on his life. I wasn’t expecting that to happen; ie, Luke actually dying, mainly because the impression I got from the trailer is that Avery (over several years) is trying to catch Luke… little did I know! Then eventually, the 3rd main character is Jason, Luke’s son! Although the movie did emphasize that Luke and Avery’s son’s were the same age, it didn’t even pop into my mind that Jason, Luke’s son obviously still lived in the same area of Avery and A.J.

The movie has 3 main characters, and it’s just amazing how they made it work. It was incredibly interesting that this is how the plot went because when you think about it, this could have not worked at all. But my goodness, it did! This made me like the movie even more because the trailer didn’t give anything away. In essence, it made you think it was going in one direction, but it took a turn you weren’t expecting… in a good way.

Side note (irrelevant to my review), but now I see the look/attitude Justin Beiber was going for when he started to become a shitty person. He had to have watched this movie!

The Intern

2015 - 3/5

I loved the pair – Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro. They worked SO well together. You could tell just by watching the trailer that it was going to work. Robert DeNiro as Ben Whitaker was perfect for this role. He’s an old school guy: charming and chivalrous. He embodies the 70 year old persons’ generation so well. He’s a great balance to Anne Hathaway’s character, Jules, in which things needing to happen in a matter of minutes and her life is go-go-go.

I liked how the main focus of the movie wasn’t “old people having troubles with technology”, rather, it mainly focused on Ben and Jules relationship. I’m happy it wasn’t old clashing with new because this movie could have easily gone in that direction and could have included all the cheap jokes and one-liners possible. The plot was simple and humble. Even though it was a 2 hour long movie, there were no pacing issues, nor did it drag at any point…albeit, there was 1 particular scene that could have been taken out and it wouldn’t have changed anything in the movie (when Jules accidentally sent an email to her mom). I enjoyed watching Ben and Jules relationship grow, and I especially loved that there wasn’t a huge falling out between the 2; the director saw that there didn’t need to be and kept it that way.

This movie makes you appreciate the old school class, and that anything and everything you want doesn’t always exist at the tip of your fingers. I wouldn’t classify this as a comedy, and I wouldn’t classify this as a drama. There’s a good mix of each.

This Is the End

2013 - 1.5/5

This movie was great – for what it was and that is all. Although this movie does have a plot, it seems like a lot of things were added in because they just wouldn’t fit in other movies. It started out like Entourage in which there were several celebrity cameos and nothing was actually happening, then it turned into the first season of Lost in which they’re trying to figure out what to do and stay alive.

I enjoyed watching each actor playing a realistic/fictional version of themselves. At times it was really good, at other times it wasn’t.
The Michael Cera parts were funny. It was nice seeing him in a role that you know is so incredibly over the top, but it worked.
The Jonah Hill parts trying to be friends(?) with Jay were high-larious! He did that so well.

It did drag and at times you think you see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that’s not the case. There just isn’t that much substance to keep the plot afloat, but I did laugh half a dozen times.

I understand why some people would write Seth Rogen off after this movie, but in my books, I really don’t put this movie in the same category as Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express and Zack & Miri Make A Porno. It goes in the same category as The Interview.

When I say that this was a hot mess, I mean it was 30% hot and 70% mess.

I Smile Back

2015 - 1.8/5

Sarah Silverman as Laney was amazing. She portrayed the bleakness of the character so well. Even the guy that played her husband and her kids did a good job too.

One thing that I didn’t really get was whether or not her husband knew about her drug addiction/cheating ways before she woke him up. It’s hard to tell because her husband seems to sweep the issue under the rug and doesn’t want to talk about and he seems to have the “can’t you just be happy” approach to whatever mental issues Laney was going through (why she was taking pills in the first place).

I do like how it ended (Laney walking out of the house) because it seemed more realistic than her staying at home and everything being okay. When it comes to what lead Laney to have a bloody face, I think that wasn’t really necessary; she could have just fallen down a flight of stairs after she had sex with that guy in the bar.

There were a few parts of the movie that when it happened, I thought it wasn’t necessary, however, as a whole, it did work. That’s not to say that this movie is groundbreaking in any way.

Unexpected

2015 - 1.5/5

I would have never watched this movie if Cobie Smulder wasn’t in it. With that being said, if she’s the only reason you’d want to watch this movie, let me tell you, you’ve probably seen it already; just with a different title.

Although this movie is well acted, well paced and pretty realistic, its simplicity is its downfall. When it comes to movies like this, you really can’t add much to what already exists.

Its nice to see 2 characters build a relationship, but if you’re expecting anything beyond that, you will be disappointed.

Saw VI

2009 - _/5

review pending

Jurrasic World

2015 - 0/5

Silly and cheesy.

Terrible kid actors.

Crappy plot.

Nice CGI.

Nothing like Jurassic Park.

The Monitor

2011 - 1/5

I had never heard of this movie before I saw it on Netflix; and the only reason, I happened to notice it was because Noomi Rapace was on the cover. I absolutely LOVED her in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

To keep this review, short, I wasn't a fan of this movie; the only saving grace was Noomi. The plot wasn't something that was any different from other movies already out there.

Saw V

2008 - _/5

review pending.

Saw IV

2007 - _/5

review pending.

We Need To Talk About Kevin

2011 - 2.3/5

When I first heard this title, it was with regards to the book. It wasn’t a book that I knew I had to read so I’ve never gotten around to it. I heard that the movie existed (apparently 4 years after it was made) and figured I may as well give it a shot.

I knew it was about a boy named Kevin who killed his fellow students at school, but the movies main character was Kevin’s mom, Eva, and what went on her in life after the fact. I was expecting this to be a psychological drama, but all I really got was a drama.

It should have given you more at the very start to hook you; the tomato scene left the viewer searching for meaning. It didn’t have a definitive point to show the direction the plot was going in. What it established for me was that Eva was a free spirit that loved to travel; which eventually lead to the viewer understanding that she never really wanted a kid and she had zero patients to deal with one. I don’t think it was an appropriate way to start the movie. It was not a good way to set the flow.

Tilda Swinton did an amazing job as Eva. You could see the emptiness in her eyes. She portrayed the bleakness so well in her mannerisms. However, my one gripe with that would be that those types of shots happened so often and it was pushing the boundary of “okay, this is getting to be a bit much”.

When it comes to teenager Kevin, I thought Ezra Miller did a great job. You can tell that he’s not new to acting, but he’s not as polished as he could be.

As for John Riley, I think he did a good job, but realistically, as the dad, he should have noticed how Kevin was treating Eva.

Some scenes were too long; some didn’t belong at all. This did make the movie drag at these points.

When it comes to Kevin’s behaviour (from birth to teen), it’s a hard pill to swallow that he was evil from the get-go. There are SO many factors that can play into this and the movie didn’t really touch on them. Why wouldn’t anybody else that interacted with Kevin pick up on it (for example, his teachers). Does that mean he was more manipulative than we think - not just towards his mother? But that’s what I’m trying to get at; the point I’m trying to make, there are SO many ways you can interpret this movie, and the movie needed to have it more focused. I understand that people with mental issues are all different regardless of the fact that they can be diagnosed with the same illness, however, considering this movie is about Kevin, it should have focused more on him and I just don’t think the movie did that by leaving everything up to the viewer to figure out.

I found it odd that the director attempted to add tension (not sure if this is the best word to use though) in the 3 interactions Eva had with town folk: when she gets slapped in the face, the eggs, and her coworker saying nobody would want her at their Christmas party. I just don’t get why she would think that that’s what she deserved. Obviously I don’t understand what someone in that position would truly be thinking, but my point is that the movie presented it in a really odd way.

Overall, I did enjoy it, but it did drag at times and it left a lot of things open to interpretation. I wouldn’t bother watching it again, but I would recommend it to select people.

Maniac

2012 - 0/5

At first, I thought it was interesting how it was filmed in first person (you see what Frank see’s)… but that wore off pretty quickly.

I got 30 minutes and got completely sidetracked with watching drum covers on YouTube. When I finally decided to go back to the movie, I had to grab a beer.

Every situation seemed incredibly convenient.

I want to say that this movie was sick, twisted, disgusting, disburbing, ect., but you can tell it was all for shock value.

To say this movie was terrible would be an understatement. It wasn’t enjoyable on any level.

Saw III

2006 - _/5

review pending.

Saw II

2005 - _/5

review pending.

Saw

2004 - 4/5

I keep saying every October that I’m going to watch the Saw series in its entirety during the month, but I never actually do so. Well ladies and gentlemen, this is the year.

When this movie first came out in 2004 I loved it. I thought it was an incredibly new type of scary movie and it had me hooked. To say it’s a scary movie isn’t 100% accurate, I would lean more so towards a gory serial killer… but I’m sure you’ve all either seen it or heard of it.

For people that I never heard of before, they were pretty good actors. There acting got better as the movie progressed.

I really like this movie mainly because everything is so though out. It is very much a plot driven movie and everything flows very well. The connections between things are presented really well. Incredibly original idea – something I had never seen before.

Before We Go

2014 - 1/5

I didn’t think there was any chemistry between the two. Their interactions seemed forced.

The sound was off, but that could have been because I watched it on YouTube.

This movie was long; and I hate to say that at the half hour mark, it started to drag. When you start looking at the time a half hour in, you know it’s a bad sign.

The whole telephone-time travel thing was supposed to be meet-cute, but it just came off as super cheesy.

It is SO typical. I really wanted to like something about this movie… Chris Evans aside and I can’t say I did.

I want to say it was a good attempt at a romantic comedy, but honestly, all I can say that it was an attempt.

Nothing about this movie stood out: the plot is not original, nothing about the script was different, new or fresh and the acting was just meh. Overall, this movie was just bare bones without any meat to really sink your teeth into.

Safety Not Guaranteed

2012 - 2/5

I’m finding it hard to use my own words to explain what I think of this movie, so what I’m going to do is copy and paste bits and pieces of other reviews from IMDB.

…the point of the screenplay isn't finding temporal paradoxes nor playing with historical chronology, but gradually discovering the nature and interaction between interesting characters, each one of them focused into their own "adventure".

At first glance, this film seems to focus on hidden past of people, but I felt a strong message about how to live and deal with regrets in the present time.

[It] manages to tell a story that is more sincere than one would expect and feels more real than a dramady that is trying to be the most realistic of human stories.

Actors Duplass and Plaza are so great radiating weirdness off of each other. The two form an unusual friendship that rings true in every detail.

…it’s a script-driven indie romcom and it does what it’s supposed to do very well.

…the big de-virginizing is a yawn as seen in every teen comedy featuring a male who must be rescued from his virginity by a more experienced male.

The casting was superb.

Unique and quirky plot line.

However, not sharing spoilers here, the film sort of ended on a high note - but no real closure.

This is the story of two damaged souls who form an unlikely bond and make each other whole, and that in itself was utterly touching.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

2001 - 0/5

The ruins(?) of Atlantis seemed to be a mix between Asia and the Mayans; it was neat to see the 2 combined.

It had okay animation. Disney has done better.

I think this is the first animated Disney movie that had partial subtitles.

I felt as if nothing was fully explained; as a viewer, you were just expected to believe how everything came to be.

You could tell that whoever wrote the script didn’t spend a whole lot of time doing so.

I found this movie to be a little more violent and mature than other Disney movies: people getting cut, shot and the old lady smoking!

Not sure why the movie never told the view what Mole’s story was.

Some of the characters were very stereotyped.

It reminded me of Avatar – which is not a point in favour for this movie.

Overall, it wasn’t that interesting to watch. The dialogue couldn’t keep my attention and the plot was incredibly predictable. I liked the idea of this movie more than the actual execution of it.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

1993 - 3.8/5

23 years after its release I am finally getting around to watching this movie. To be fair, I’ve always meant to; I just never actually got around to it. For someone that has only now watched this movie for the first time, I can say with ease, that it truly does stand the test of time.

I’ve always thought the animation looked beautiful through the pictures I’ve seen - the movie looks much better if possible!

This is very much a Tim Burton film, and you can always count on Disney to be so creative as well. This movie has a really interesting storyline and you can’t help but feel Jake’s woes.

The song at the beginning was really fun and really set the tone for the rest of the movie. The singing parts were very well incorporated and really did move the story forward. I loved the forest with the trees that had the different holiday occasions; it was very enchanting.

I’m not a big fan of Halloween or Christmas, but I will say that both are portrayed whimsically. I really did enjoy watching this. I now have the appreciation for this movie that many people have had for such a long time.

Elephant Song

2014 - 0.5/5

It reminded me of Don’t Say A Word, and considering I loved that movie, I was hoping it would be just as engaging.

This is a perfect example of why Canada can’t have nice things. You have this wonderful idea for a movie… and then we get this.

You know, I get it; we’re not American, we don’t want our movies to be so Hollywood, we want our movies to be bare bones good, not sparkles and unicorns… but when you have a movie build up the suspense and build up even more suspense and have it amount to absolutely NOTHING, you wreck that movie.

On a positive note, the acting was really good (only reason this movie got a 0.5). The psychologist Dr. Toby Green (Bruce Greenwood) and the patient/suspect Michael Aleen (Xavier Dolan) both did a great job with their roles. And they were pretty much the only characters in the movie (Dr. Green’s wife and the nurse aside).

This could have been such a great cat and mouse psychological thriller, but it broke and ended just as suddenly as glass would break if dropped on a hard floor.

Man Up

2015 - 2.2/5

Never heard of this movie before, but when I saw Simon Pegg on the cover, I was intrigued. Considering I hadn’t heard of it, I’m sure you probably haven’t either, so to fill you in…

A girl and a guy were supposed to meet for a date in a train station. Our main actress ends up standing in that exact spot and on a whim, she decides to go on a date with this guy that thinks she’s someone else. Interesting right? 

I don’t care to write an in-depth review, but I will say that overall, it was a good movie. Nothing that hasn’t been done before (in terms of highs and lows), but a new premise.

Hot Pursuit

2015 - 0.2/5

It’s not like this movie was screaming for me to watch it – it just happened to be one of the very few movies Air Canada had available on my flight that I wouldn’t mind seeing. And it worked to my advantage considering it was the third movie I had watched on the plane and it was about time I needed to turn my brain off.

I do think that Reese Witherspoon was not a good choice for this role; they should have picked a nobody.

Sofia Vergara seems like she was the exact same character she is in Modern Family; loud and obnoxious.

If you’re looking to watch a good movie, this isn’t it. if you’re on a 7 hour (or longer) flight and your eyes need to watch something while your brain is turned off, this isn’t terrible.

Pitch Perfect 2

2015 - 1/5

So usually the 2nd movie in a franchise isn’t as good as the first. Was that the case for this movie? Yes. Yes it was.

The first movie had effortless laughs, whereas this movie, yes, it did have a lot of good chuckles throughout the movie (mainly to do with Rebel Wilson; obviously), but it seemed a bit more forced and it just seemed more noticeable that they were trying to live up to the first movie.

It was good to watch once, especially if you liked the first, but I wouldn’t watch it again.

Aloha

2015 - 0/5

For whatever reason, 5 minutes into this movie I knew I wasn’t going to like it. Yes, I did watch it on a plane, but no, I wasn’t tired. It was the first movie I picked on my 7 hour flight.

I don’t even know how I made it through 30 (or was it 40) minutes of this movie. I guess I was just holding out that it’ll get better and it just didn’t. This movie was supposed to be good: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams! ...and lets not forget, HAWAII!!!

No. Just no.

True Story

2015 - 1/5

Any time I see a movie with Jonah Hill and James Franco, I want to watch it. This being a dramatic movie that’s based on true events, it went to the top of my list.

After seeing Jonah Hill in Moneyball, I knew he’d nail serious roles; this guys got variety in him. And for whatever reason, I think James Franco was a really good pick for this role. He just seemed to embody his character so well.

It was a really interesting premise, but I have to say that I don’t think it was done as well as it could have. The whole movie stayed pretty level in the sense that there wasn’t much build up to add any suspense.

Overall, the acting was good, but there wasn’t anything about the characters or plot that made this movie stand out.

Straight Outta Compton

2015 - 3.5/5

In early 2015 I heard that this movie was going to be released in August and I knew I had to see it as soon as it came out. This group was widely influential when they first came out and they really did change the face of music forever. I love how the movie was released in theaters 27 years after (almost the exact date) as N.W.A.’s album Straight Outta Compton.

I grew up with my brother listening to N.W.A., so I have an appreciation for this music (80s & 90s rap); especially compared to the crap rap we have today. I will admit that the only people I knew were Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy E, but considering the movie mainly focused on those 3, I didn’t feel too out of the loop.

Going into it, I had no idea it was well over 2 hours long, so I’m pretty sure that at the 1:50 mark, I started looking at my watch to see when it would end. There were several parts that could have been left out and it wouldn’t have affected the storyline in anyway (the most obvious was being everything to do with Dr. Dre’s brother). On the flipside, I do think that the movie should have added more on Tupac and Snoop Dogg.

I really liked all the actors picked; not because most of them looked like the people they were portraying but because for people that I’ve never heard of before, they did a fantastic job! O’Shea Jackson Jr. was on point when it came to impersonating his dad Ice Cube.

When it comes to the soundtrack (Compton by Dr. Dre), I was really hoping that it would be the next album I buy, but that wasn’t the case. I liked hearing the old N.W.A. songs while watching the movie, but I thought the new songs in the soundtrack would be just as memorable.

I loved how this movie showed the racism the group faced; it was raw and unapologetic. Sadly, this issue is still relevant to this day.

It was a solid movie on all aspects.

The Diary of A Teenage Girl

2015 - 1/5

Going into this movie, the only thing I knew about it was the title and the trailer I had watched the night before I saw it; otherwise, I had never heard of it. I was pretty happy to see that Kirsten Wiig was in it.

I don’t really remember exactly what I thought of the main girls acting (I have a feeling that I felt that she wasn’t the best choice). As for the rest of the actors, I think they did a fine job, but there wasn’t anything outstanding about the characters for the actors to excel in their roles in any way.

It was kind of uncomfortable to watch at times considering the girl was 15 (in the movie)... so I take it being a pedophile in the 70s was okay?

I think this film was to artsy fartsy for my liking; especially when some of the it was animated (hand-drawn).

I honestly didn’t find it overly entertaining, but that’s not to say it was a bad movie… it just wasn’t for me.

Southpaw

2015 - 3/5

Although I've read twice (not full reviews) that this is an average movie, I still really want to see it. Mainly because I really like Jake Gyllenhaal and he is jacked!

When I first saw the trailer of this movie and heard the song, I immediately thought of 8 Mile. When I checked IMDB trivia, it said that the film was originally considered as an unofficial follow-up to the movie 8 Mile with Eminem reprising his role.

If I had to sum up this movie in one mathematical equation, it would be this:
(Mrs. Doubtfire + 8 Mile) x Warrior

If you’re looking for a gritty movie, I wouldn’t say this is it. It has a dark undertone, but it isn’t gritty. This movie does follow the typical plot path, and there isn’t anything outstanding about the script, but the acting from all parties is this movies high point.

Gyllenhaal’s performance was as solid as his muscles. I want to say that he carriers this movie, it was a good movie on its own, Gyllenhaal just enhances it. He is obviously so dedicated as an actor and he takes on the character of Billy Hope so well. He is such a versatile actor and I enjoyed watching him on screen.

I found it hard to understand Gyllenhaal and 50 Cent at times because they were mumbling. It’s clear that 50 Cent isn’t an actor, but thankfully he didn’t have a huge role.

***SPOILER ALERT***
I think the whole Hoppy thing could have been left out. It was kind of shoehorned in, so it didn’t have the full effect it could have. Also, this movie didn’t need a side story like that anyways.

Cut Bank

2014 - 0/5

I got about 10 minutes in and I had to turn it off. The only good part about me watching this movie was that I had a beer in my hand. And 10 minutes in, I could tell that this movie was going downhill as fast as my beer.

Beyond the Reach

2014 - 0/5

This is the exact type of movie that has so much potential, but the execution is where it fails miserably. There are times in which its setting you up for something really good, but what actually pans out just falls flat. Ugh, and I hated the whole girlfriend thing. You knew exactly what was going to happen in whatever scene she was in.

Obviously Michael Douglas was supposed to sell this movie because I've never heard of the kid that plays... well, I don't even remember his name in the movie (update: it's Ben). Douglas did okay, but the kid wasn't that great; at least he had a nice body.

Inside Out

2015 -  5/5

Lava:
Loved the animation.
Loved that it was Hawaiian’esque.
Didn’t really care for the song/narration (but that also had a Hawaii feel to it).

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

As always, I did not see this in 3D; I didn’t see a point in doing so.

When I first saw the trailer for this, I knew I was going to see it in theatres, being a Pixar movie and all. But I wasn’t incredibly excited to see it until about a couple days before its release. Just before it was released I became very eager to see it, and I’m not sure what caused that.

One thing I absolutely love about Disney Pixar is that they have a way of going beyond the typical plots; they push the boundaries in ways other animated movies haven’t done. Inside Out has an incredibly original storyline, especially when it comes to animated films and more so, I loved how they put it together.

What this movie boils down to is this: an eleven year old girls mental stability presented through 5 of our basic emotions: joy, sadness, anger, fear and disgust. Obviously these are very simplified, but, that’s exactly where this movie needed to stay. I liked how they kept it at the basic emotions; they didn’t add new emotions or veer towards mental illness. If they had, the plot would have gotten a bit to convoluted.

It’s hard for a young kid to have to up and leave everything they know and be put into a foreign environment. To leave everything and everyone you know behind is complicated, and this movie symbolizes that with the main characters emotions. As the viewer, when the goofy island crumbled and faded, we saw the moment in Riley’s life that she was no longer a kid. We see her struggle and as the movie progresses, she learns how to balance her emotions and cope with the reality of moving away from where you grew up and created your core memories.

I thought Amy Poehler’s voice was going to annoy me, but low and behold, she had the best voice. I was hoping that sadness would be my favourite character, but the moment her first words came out, I really didn’t like the voice of Phyllis Smith; it wasn’t what I imagined and that kind of took me out of it. The voice actor picked for anger was perfect, but I don’t like that guy’s voice. I didn’t mind disgust and fear; they were secondary characters anyways.

Some other things I liked that I wanted to mention:
-that the core memories were represented as islands
-loved how they presented her memories and how they were created
-how the console in Headquarters got bigger and more buttons/levers were added as Riley grew up
-liked how each emotions colour went with what the emotion it was representing (yellow for joy, blue for sadness, green for disgust, purple for fear and red for anger)
-loved the visual aspect of the ‘train of thought’
-long term memory and faded memory
-how each emotion character didn’t have solid lines as outlines
-that we all have that one stupid jingle from a TV commercial we can't get out of our heads
-I really liked how Riley's parents had different emotions leading the pack
-I really liked bing bong – it was neat seeing an imaginary friend in Riley’s subconscious.
-I think the part where Bing Bong, Joy and Sadness go into abstract thought was a bit rushed and not as developed as it could have been, but I got the point the movie was making
-I don’t think this movie had any connections to other Pixar movies; I didn’t feel as if there was much chance for it to begin with considering most of what we see was in Riley’s head
-I absolutely LOVED how this movie didn't have a villain

Everything combined, its the subtleties in Pixar movies that make them amazing. Guaranteed to win best animated flick. I would highly recommend this to anybody that’s 10+ years old. As I think about it more and more, I like it more and more.

Some of the lines I really liked:
Sadness: Crying helps me slow down and obsess over the weight of life's problems.

Bing Bong: Take her to the moon for me, Joy.

Spy

2015 - 3/5

I don’t think I’ll be able to truly tell you what I think of this movie; it’s kind of hard to put into words. As you may have expected, this will be an “all things Melissa McCarthy” movie. I’m fine with that because I do like her.

This movie did have a lot of funny moments, and that’s great; but at the same time, because it moves from one funny scene to the next, it doesn’t perfectly fit together. There was a LOT of banter in this movie with Susan (McCarthy) and the other characters. Some of it long, most of it funny. When the banter went on and on, it veered away from the plotline. This happened often enough to make it seem as if this movie was longer than it really was. There were some parts that could have been left out (the vermin situation in “the basement” and 50 Cent) entirely.

The casting choices worked very well. McCarthy had good chemistry with the other characters (Bradley Fine, Rick Ford, Rayna Boyanov). Jude Law, Jason Stathom and Rose Bryne played their roles very well too.

It had a good soundtrack that was paired well with the scenes.

I’m glad that they kept it at the R rating. I felt that if they scaled it back to PG13, it wouldn’t have been as funny because a lot of the dialogue and a few scenes would have been cut out. I didn’t like how it had a James Bond 007 feel to it. I don’t think that was necessary to mirror that in some ways because it would have been better if it wasn’t using that as a step-stone.