November 2015

The Final Girls
Stars - Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman
Plot - The daughter of a B movie scream queen gets transported to her mom's most famous horror movie where she must survive a killer and come to terms with her mom's death.
Thoughts - This is the sort of movie you might only enjoy if you really love horror movies (as I do). It's clever and fun, but I also think the idea is a lot better than the execution.
Grade - B-

Z for Zachariah
Stars - Margot Robbie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine
Plot - The possible last surviving woman in a post apocalyptic world finds herself in a love triangle, because sure, that would happen.
Thoughts - I actually really liked the storyline,  no matter how ridiculous it was. Too bad the whole thing was just so damn boring.
Grade - C+

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Stars - Olivia Cooke, Thomas Mann
Plot - A teenage filmmaker who hates everything is forced by his mom to hang out with a classmate dying of cancer.
Thoughts - I really loved the book this is based on, and while the movie never quite gets as good, it is still a pretty solid, funny, heartfelt movie.
Grade - B

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
Stars - Jennifer Lawrence, et al
Plot - Katniss must finally bring down that nasty Capital.
Thoughts - The first thing it has going for it is that it's better than Part 1 although that's not hard. Despite the fact that it starts mid-scene, and is too long (Attn: Hollywood, stop splitting movies into 2 parts. I know you make twice the money, but is it really worth it to make two disjointed movies filled with filler when you could make just one bad ass (albeit long) movie?), Mockingjay is filled with action and heart. Part 2 may noy be the best of the bunch (see Catching Fire), but it is a pretty good ending to the series. 
Grade - B

Spotlight
Stars - Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams
Plot - The true story of a group of Boston journalists who investigate and uncover the decades long cover up of priests molesting children in the Catholic Church.
Thoughts - I know it doesn't necessarily sound like the kind of movie you would want to rush out and watch, but it's easily one of the best movies of the year. The cast is incredible, the performances are stellar, and the script is fast paced which helps make this movie intensely watchable. Maybe a little difficult to keep track of all the secondary characters though.
Grade -  A-

Pitch Perfect 2
Stars - Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson
Plot - The Bella's are back and trying to win the a capella world championship.
Thoughts - The first film is not necessarily good, but at least compulsively watchable. This is a pretty terrible follow up. Plot wise, it's terrible. Just fast forward to the music, which is fun.
Grade - (a pretty generous) C-

Creed
Stars - Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone
Plot - The son of Apollo Creed enlists his old frenemy, Rocky Balboa, to train him as a boxer.
Thoughts -  Truth? I've never seen a single Rocky movie. But, alas, the only thing I love more than a boxing movie is Michael B. Jordan, so I was in. And luckily, this is a really well done, really heartfelt, funny, wholly crowd pleasing film. Sylvester Stallone might be an Oscar contender come nomination time. And, finally, Michael B. Jordan's biceps, ya'll.
Grade - B+

Brooklyn
Stars - Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson
Plot - A young woman in the 1950s moves from Ireland to New York for better  opportunities.
Thoughts - This might be the best movie I see this year and if it's playing at a theater near you, call off work or school and run to the theater right now. I told myself I wouldn't give out an A+ until I saw a movie as good as or better than The Social Network, and while this isn't quite that, this is as near to perfection as you can get. It's funny and sad and romantic and just completely entrancing. I loved this movie so much and if you ever listen to me about anything, go see Brooklyn now.
Grade - A

July 2015

Fifty Shades of Grey
Stars - Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan
Plot - A virginal college girl falls for a billionaire businessman who is a little on the kinky side.
Thoughts - Anyone who knows me, knows that I was not a fan of the poorly written book. It's not even the fact that the writer seems to hate women, it's just that a fifth grader has a better grasp of the English language. I feel like director Sam Taylor-Johnson really wanted to make a better movie, but the source material just wouldn't allow for that to happen. Dakota Johnson is a star waiting to happen, but mostly this was just a bad, unsexy movie and Dornan has the personality of a rock.
Grade - D-

The Loft
Stars - James Marsden, Karl Urban, Wentworth Miller
Plot - A group of friends share a loft where they can take their mistresses, but when a woman turns up dead, they all suspect each other.
Thoughts - I mean, interesting idea. This movie definitely had potential, and despite being shot like some cheesy Telemundo soap opera, it actually kept me interested. Still, there were absolutely no likable characters and it was hard to care about the outcome with no one to root for.
Grade - C-

The DUFF
Stars - Mae Whitman
Plot - A high school girl finds out she is the Designated Ugly Fat Friend and decides to change her life.
Thoughts - Sure, this is a cliche filled high school comedy that pales in comparison to much better, classic teen movies. But I've always felt like the ugly fat friend, and I still feel like an outcast, so this movie hit a little close to home for me. Maybe I related to it a bit too much and maybe I'm being too kind, but I would recommend it.
Grade - B-

Southpaw
Stars - Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams
Plot - A boxer struggles to get his life together after a tragedy puts him in a self destructive tailspin.
Thoughts - Relatively speaking, this is no Raging Bull or Rocky, or even The Fighter. But I do love a good boxing movie, and I think Gyllenhaal is our best young actor, someone who constantly challenges himself and betters himself. He is so exciting to watch.  Even when the script feels overly sentimental or overly cheesy, his raw and devastating performance pulls everything together.
Grade - B

Dark Places
Stars - Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Corey Stoll
Plot - The lone survivor of a horrendous murder rethinks the testimony she gave which put her brother in prison for killing their entire family.
Thoughts - Mostly this movie just made me want to read the really great, perfectly plotted book by Gillian Flynn again. It's not that the movie is bad, per se, it just feels long and sluggish and boring sometimes. The book was a non stop page turner, but this adaptation is just okay. Come for Corey Stoll, though, who steals the show.
Grade - C

Trainwreck
Stars - Amy Schumer, Bill Hader, Tilda Swinton
Plot - A hot mess journalist who likes a good one night stand falls for a nerdy and sweet doctor, even though she is a mess and incapable of loving or being loved and she is uncomfortable with intimacy and the idea that her sister is having babies A.K.A. the story of my life.
Thoughts - I was super excited for this movie because I RELATE, man, but I was slightly disappointed. I mean, I laughed, I cried, I fell even harder for Schumer. Still, it just didn't totally get there for me. I think all Judd Apatow movies are about 30 minutes too long and a little editing would have gone a long way. Still, the movie is funny and feminist and breaks rom-com conventions. It's probably the type of movie that will grow on me (like another Apatow movie, Knocked Up, which I despised the first time I saw it). Also, a nearly unrecognizable Tilda Swinton steals the whole movie. (Like, I'm seriously not even fully convinced that it was really her.)
Grade - B-