Ryan's Movie Blog: November 2016

Sunday, 27 November 2016

Movie Review: Loving (2016)

Hello All,

We continue on with the holiday movie season. Today, we’re tackling another adaptation of a true life story. A touchy subject in some people’s eyes, especially with the creative liberties some people take with the source material. The story for the subject of today’s review is the case of an interracial married couple, whose story actually helped changed the law when it made it all the way to the supreme court. So how interesting can the subject of a court trial be on film, especially one with such resonating effects on the country? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton) is a construction worker living in 1958 Virginia. When he finds out his coloured girlfriend Mildred Jeter (Ruth Negga) is pregnant, the get married in Washington D.C., even though it is illegal in Virginia. When the local police find out, it sets them on a path that will see their story brought to the attention of the entire country.

Pros - The cast is really good in this, especially the leads. Joel plays Richard with a sort of quiet dignity, as a man who simply loves his wife and just wants to do so in peace. The supporting cast is good here too, especially Nick Kroll as one of their lawyers, in possibly the most serious role he’s ever done. The story is well told, and manages to keep an interesting pace. It does a great job of showing you the lead up to the conflict, and also how much the couple just truly love each other. It’s a good looking film as well, managing to capture especially well the beauty of the virginian countryside.

Cons - If you’re not a fan of slow dramas, then this film won’t change your mind.

Final Score - 9/10

I’m usually not a fan of these kinds of films, but I’ll admit the leads won me over a lot on this one.

Next: Manchester by the Sea - Hopefully, otherwise I have no idea, as I’m slightly confused on what’s actually coming out next week.

Links:

Last Review is Here: I’m running out of ways to summarize these things, click here for the last review.

Twitter Account is Here: You’ll get notices when the reviews are live as soon as I post them, plus any trailers, movie news, or updates on when I stream on Twitch. I’m always looking for new followers, and with more followers means more ways for you guys to contribute.

NEW!!! Suggestion Box is Here: Are you sick of gaps in my posts? Why not suggest a film or film series for me to watch? Suggestions will be completed in order received, and if you’d like to leave your name for a suggestion credit and anything you’d like me to promote (within reason) I’d be happy to do that too. This suggestion box will be a permanent fixture of the blog, as again I’d love any and all help you guys want to offer.

Twitch Channel is Here: I’ll admit, I don’t quite have a regular streaming schedule worked out, but if you follow either the Twitter account or the channel directly you will be notified whenever I go live.

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Friday, 25 November 2016

Movie Review: Allied (2016)

Hello All,

I really don’t have a good way to open these lately. Truth be told I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to grind these out as best I can so that I have more material for my year end lists. Admittedly, I was crossing Allied off my list while not expecting much from it. I’m pretty much set on skipping Rules Don’t Apply (Warren Beatty knows why), and so I figured I needed to get one of the two new friday releases covered. So I picked Allied, and did I make the right choice? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - In 1942 Morocco, Canadian Intelligence Officer Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) and french resistance spy Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) meet while on an assassination mission. Afterwards, they get married and have a child, but when news arrives that Marianne may be a spy, Max put everything on the line to find the truth.

Pros - This is more for me than anything, but I’m so happy to have a Canadian as a main hero in a film like this. Brad Pitt plays the role well, aiming mostly for a quiet reserved type of character. The film does a good job of capturing the look and feel of wartime Europe and London.

Cons - The story takes a long time to get going, and it overall lacks personality. The pacing is slow, the rest of the characters lack any real personality, and truthfully the real conflict of the film doesn’t kick in for over an hour, and the rest somehow feels minimal once it gets going.

Final Score - 5/10

It feels like this should’ve been so much better. I think if it had been tweaked a bit more and had been giving more opportunity for character development, it could’ve been more memorable.

Next: Loving - This will hopefully be sunday, as I’m squeezing in a retro screening for myself I may review as well.

Links:

Last Review is Here: (Insert last blog link, don’t say name of movie.)

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Thursday, 24 November 2016

Movie Review: Bad Santa 2 (2016)

Hello All,

So yeah, if you read the last review (link down below hint hint hint) I basically watched the first Bad Santa yesterday for the first time ever. I usually don’t like to do that, but I’m going to be on a very limited amount of time for the remainder of the year in terms of pretty much everything. I will say going in, even if I hadn’t seen the first one, I’m usually pretty hesitant on comedy sequels. If 22 Jump Street taught us anything is that if a comedy sequel does the same thing as the first movie, It’ll always be worse off for it. So how does Bad Santa 2 tackle this problem? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - Willie ‘Tugboat’ Soke (Billy Bob Thornton) is still living in Arizona, now basically alone except for a now grown up Thurman Merman (Brett Kelly). When his old partner Marcus (Tony Cox) comes calling about a job, they team up with Willie’s mother Sunny (Kathy Bates) to pull their biggest heist yet.

Pros - The cast is pretty solid, especially Brett who still does Thurman amazingly well. It does have some funny moments as well, and the new cast members do add to the story quite well.

Cons - I hate to say this, but it’s basically the same plot as the first one, but it is lacking in humour for at least two thirds of the movie.

Final Score - 5/10

It’s not the worst comedy sequel I’ve seen, but If the first one didn’t interest you, this one won’t win you over.

Next: Allied - I really, really, really, don’t want to see Rules Don’t Apply. Warren Beatty directed the thing and I still have Dick Tracy nightmares.

Links:

Last Review is Here: Remember that last review I plugged? Read that here fools.

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Wednesday, 23 November 2016

Movie Review: Moana (2016)

Hello All,

Hooray, movies released on Wednesdays, what could possibly go wrong with that? Okay that’s a bit harsh, it’s really no different than movies being released on Fridays, it’s just surprising is all, especially with one of them being a Disney movie. So how good can a Wednesday movie be? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is young island princess whose bound to become chief herself one day. However, she is drawn to sail the ocean, and gets her chance when she is tasked to find the Demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) in order to return order to the world and save her island.

Pros - As always, the animation is spot on. The voice cast does a phenomenal job, especially newcomer Auli’i as Moana. The songs are varied and interesting, even getting Dwayne Johnson himself to sing one of the better songs of the film. The story is great, and even has a few surprising moments in it as well.

Cons - There’s kind of one unexplained moment, and a couple of the songs are a bit meh.

Final Score - 9/10

It’s not the greatest Disney film, but it’s definitely one of the better ones.

Next: Bad Santa 2 - Not gonna lie, literally just watched the first one before writing this. It wasn’t bad, hopefully this one will be okay.

Links:

Last Review is Here: (Insert last blog link, don’t say name of movie.)

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Monday, 21 November 2016

Movie Review: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Bleed for This (2016)

Hello All,

I’ve done a lot of travelling today, as I basically went the long way back home. I hate doing these trips to the other side of the city, but I only do it whenever there’s a double feature to be done. These ones are kind of weird films, one is a war film of sorts shot with brand new (for film) higher framerate tech. The other, is a boxing movie that only really started to get promoted less than a week before it’s release. So was my crosstown trip worth it? Let’s find out together shall we?

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Review

Plot Summary - Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn) is an army specialist, on tour back home after coming back from Iraq. He and his squad are being honoured for their heroics at a halftime show, where during the day Billy contemplates life, love, and more as the day progresses.

Pros - Joe Alwyn is phenomenal as Billy, as he manages to perfectly capture the senses of every emotion he faces over the course of the film. It’s also a rather good looking film, making the most of the colours of every scene to their fullest potential especially. The story at it’s core is a rather interesting one, and it does at time seem very intriguing.

Cons - The rest of the characters aside from Billy seem very one note. We also learn barely anything else about his comrades, and there’s this weird subplot with his sister that brings up PTSD almost out of nowhere. It feels like it’s unfortunately suffering from having nothing to really contribute to the conversations these types of films want to bring to the table. The 120fps technology, as much as I hate to say this, doesn’t feel like it contributes anything to the experience of the film. Perhaps this was the wrong type of film to showcase it in, but it remains to be seen in my mind.

Final Score - 4/10

Overall, it’s an interesting concept wasted in watered down familiarity and squandered story lines. Feel free to skip it.

Bleed for This Review

Plot Summary - Vinny Pazienza (Miles Teller) is a two time boxing champion who, after breaking his neck after a severe car accident, begins training all over again to keep on fighting.

Pros - Miles Teller is the best thing about this movie by far, as you can tell he’s giving this role everything he has.

Cons - it’s really unfortunate that the rest of it is cliched, confusing, poorly structured, and does such a bad job at maintaining even the littlest amount of consistency in it’s production. I didn’t know his coach’s name until an hour into the movie and by then I didn’t care. The structure of the film is, he has something bad happen, he wins a championship, he has something bad happen, he wins a championship. That’s right, he wins two in one movie and it’s still boring. It’s basically impossible to become invested in a film when it feels like the film itself has no idea what it’s doing.

Final Score - 1/10

God I hated this movie. Luckily I was the only one in the theatre for this so I got to complain as loudly as I wanted to.

Next: Moana - Probably. I still admittedly have to watch the first bad santa before I see the new one.

Links:

Last Review is Here: The last review was for a coming of age movie that was actually pretty good. You can read that here.

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Saturday, 19 November 2016

Movie Review: The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Hello All,

Folks it’s getting to become the busy season again, which means that there are going to be a lot of movie reviews coming in the next few weeks. God help me. For this review, this was basically the only day I had to see this, and truthfully I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this one. So how did it fair? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - High School Junior Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) suffers from a pretty awkward high school life, that gets worse after her brother Darian (Blake Jenner) starts dating her best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson).

Pros - The cast is pretty solid, especially Hailee and supporting actor Woody Harrelson, who is easily the funniest character in the film. The story feels refreshingly honest, as it doesn’t feel like it’s pandering to its audience like some coming of age films do. The story is good, and it moves along at an okay pace.

Cons - There are it’s cliche moments, as well as some really odds tonal shifts in scenes.

Final Score - 8/10

It’s better than average by a lot, and it’s definitely worth a look.

Next: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk/Bleed For This - That’s right folks, I’m going to try and do a double. I refer you to my earlier god help me statement.

Links:

Last Review is Here: Last time, I reviewed one of the most anticipated films of the year. You can read how that fared here.

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Thursday, 17 November 2016

(Spoiler Free) Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Hello All,

It is 1:15am at the time I start writing this, so I’m pretty eager to get to bed, and you’re probably all eager for me to get to the point. So let’s do just that shall we?

Plot Summary - In 1926, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in New York with a briefcase full of magical creatures. When some of them escape and begin to roam the city however, he draws the attention of the local American wizards, and gets drawn into a much larger plot that’s at hand.

Pros - For non Harry Potter fans, the film is rather quite easy to get into. There is a non magical character around most of the time so he provides a great opportunity for any narrative clarification that may be needed. For fans, it’s an excellent chance to see the wizarding world from a whole new perspective. The cast is solid, and nicely varied, and the chemistry blends well. The story moves along at a good pace, and tries to keep itself varied and interesting in locales, creatures, and narratively as well. The film captures 1920’s New York really well, and blends the fictional in with the real rather nicely.

Cons - The film is a touch long, with a few scenes feeling like padding. There’s also maybe a couple of minor things about the story that feel kind of off overall.

Final Score - 9/10

I rather liked it overall. Having been, admittedly, only a minor Harry Potter fan, this felt like a nice change from the stories that I will also admit I wasn’t really terribly fond of the first time around.

Next: The Edge of Seventeen - I might try and circle back to Trolls, but I also have to go do a double on Monday.

Links:

Last Review is Here: Last review was for a movie I can’t think of a joke for. You can read that through this link.

Until next time, I’ll see you folks at the movies.

Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Movie Review: Moonlight (2016)

Hello All,

Sorry this one took me longer than usual. I have had a long couple of days and I didn’t want to write the review for this one until I had a clear head. Why? Well, it’s because Moonlight is a film that mainly focuses on a topic that is still difficult to discuss nowadays, mainly being a male homosexual in hyper-masculine settings. I actually tried to see this film when I was down in the states, but unfortunately could not find a theatre close enough to me. I had heard about it’s overwhelmingly positive reviews, plus I wanted to try and diversify the types of films I see for this blog a bit as well. So with all this being said, how does the film hold up? Let’s find out together shall we?

Plot Summary - The film follows a young man named Chiron (played as an adult by Trevante Rhodes) through three phases of his life, starting at childhood, as he struggles with both his sexuality, and his world around him.

Pros - This might sound like an insult, but this is meant to be very high praise: The film is beautifully shot, by trying not to make itself overly complicated in its approach. The film takes a subtle approach to telling it’s story, by precisely setting every moment up perfectly to just let every moment hit you dead on emotionally. The story, told in three parts, is hauntingly beautiful, and yet full of tragedy. The cast is wonderful, including the younger actors who play the younger versions of the two main male leads. The film looks gorgeous, as the cinematography greatly balances between darker, and lighter cinematography moments.

Cons - The film is full off audibly quiet moments, that you might miss if you’re not paying attention. It’s also a slightly arthouse film in it’s approach to telling the story, so if you’re not a big fan, you probably won’t enjoy it much.

Final Score - 10/10

I truly think this is one of the better films I’ve all year. It’s really a testament in how to tell a story effectively without going into unnecessary details. I definitely recommend seeing this sooner rather than later.

Next: Trolls - At least I’m hoping to squeeze that in. There is a film having a Thursday night preview, unfortunately I can’t remember the name of it at the moment. It’s called ‘Fairly Adequate Animals’ or something, I’m drawing a blank.

Links:

Last Review is Here: The last review was for a movie that showed up on time. It’s best joke I got, you can read a review better than that joke through this link.

Until Next Time, I’ll see you at the movies.