Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Movie Reviews

Bruised – Movie Review

Leave a comment

Bruised

  • Director: Halle Berry
  • Screenwriters: Michelle Rosenfarb
  • Starring: Halle Berry, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Adan Canto, Danny Boyd Jr., Sheila Atim, Adriane Lenox

Grade: C-

Bruised is a film that’s filled with so many sports clichés that it may as well be called “The Invincible Hoosiers Rocky Miracle.” Some familiarity is to be expected within such a well-worn genre, but the film barely brings enough to the table to justify its existence. That’s not to say that the film is a total slog; Halle Berry’s directorial debut is pretty to look at and includes some likeable performances. But you’ve seen this film before, in one form or another, and that is what ultimately holds back its potential.

Continue reading Bruised – Movie Review →
Movie Reviews

Encanto – Movie Review

2 Comments

Encanto

  • Directors: Byron Howard and Jared Bush
  • Screenwriters: Jared Bush, Charise Castro Smith
  • Starring: Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, John Leguizamo

Grade: B+

The biggest issue that Disney has with Encanto is that the film is a Disney production. With the bar already set so high from the prolific animation studio, it’s becoming harder and harder for a new film to rise above what has come before. That’s not to say that Encanto is a bad film by any means; rather, it can’t help but be compared to Disney’s other recent entries. The film has all the makings of a great animated classic – and it may even be Disney’s best of this year – but when looking at the Mouse House’s total output, it’s hard not to be reminded of other, more unique visions.

Continue reading Encanto – Movie Review →
Movie Reviews

tick, tick… BOOM! – Movie Review

2 Comments

tick, tick… BOOM!

  • Director: Lin-Manuel Miranda
  • Screenwriters: Steven Levenson
  • Starring: Andrew Garfield, Alexandra Shipp, Robin de Jesús, Judith Light, Vanessa Hudgens

Grade: B+

In 2021 there will be a total of 9 musicals adapted from Broadway for the big screen. The world will also be subjected to 4 projects involving Lin-Manuel Miranda in one way or another in the same year (not to mention the hangover of Hamilton‘s premiere on Disney+ late in 2020). Those two worlds collide with Miranda as director in tick, tick…BOOM!. Say what you will about Miranda’s hegemony with his musical stylings, but he manages to distinguish himself with visual and dramatic flair in his debut film.

Continue reading tick, tick… BOOM! – Movie Review →
Movie Reviews

Eternals – Movie Review

Leave a comment

Eternals

  • Director: Chloe Zhao
  • Screenwriters: Chloe Zhao, Patrick Burleigh, Ryan Firpo
  • Starring: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee

Grade: B-

This post originally appeared on ObsessiveViewer.com

Who are the Eternals? And why did Marvel recruit Chloe Zhao, director of the film that won 3 Oscars earlier this year – including Best Picture – to direct a film about them? Fans of Zhao’s work know her penchant for methodically finding the humanity in stories that have often been told before. And those sensibilities stand at a stark contrast to the bulk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s modus operandi. We love Tony Stark and Captain America because of their charisma and their duty to serve, but what would happen if they ever questioned that duty? This is the question that lies at the heart of Zhao’s Eternals, and while this may stir an interesting debate, the answers likely will turn off mainstream MCU fans.

Continue reading Eternals – Movie Review →