The Big Short (2015)

Directed by: Adam McKay

Written by: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay, & Michael Lewis (novel)

Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, & Brad Pitt






So remember how in my last post about Joy, I said I was a Business major, well you need to be something for this film.

Now if you don't know, The Big Short is all about the housing crisis in 2007-2008.  The story centers around four...not men, but other stories I guess that all know that the housing market is going to collapse.  Bale's character, Michael Burry's, story was simple enough in the fact that he makes this prediction and unfortunately faces the heat from all those around him. Jared Vennett (Gosling) somehow finds out through the grapevine about Burry's bet and takes a look into the situation himself.  He's more the narrator.  Then Mark Baum (Carell) is approached by Vennett on accident and comes into this information as well.  As for Ben Rickert (Pitt), he comes across the story through his neighbor that asks for his assistance in handling this situation for betting against the market.  (It isn't really Pitt's story at all as it is for his neighbor and neighbor's friend, but he's a big name so he gets on the poster.)

The way the four stories are put together is perfect.  They flowed nicely together and nothing felt out of place.

The whole movie was great, except for the explanation as to what was going on.  Now if you were young during this crisis, didn't pay attention, or didn't have a mortgage, then you might be lost.  If you were in the midst of this crisis, well hopefully you're doing better now, and you will understand the film.  What made the film difficult to understand was the lingo.  I'm not in the real estate profession, and I have yet to get a mortgage, but I got most of it for being a Business major.  You really have to pay attention to get it.  Now apparently this film was a good explanation as to what was going on because they were, for lack of a better term, dumbing it down.  But I must be really dumb, because it took me at least an hour after the film to actually understand it.

Don't get me wrong, I mostly understood everything, except how these men who bet against the housing market (not really a surprise if you watch the trailer) got their money from these companies if they were apparently broke.  (Hopefully none of this is a spoiler since it's history.  If it is, sorry.) But then I got it, the government did a bailout so that is where these companies acquired the funds to pay these men.  Ahhh, that darn government.  It made sense then.  So hopefully this review will help in understanding the film.  (As for the lingo, I already forgot what they were and their meanings.)  If not, well I'd suggest reading the book?

Other than that, I thought everything else was great from the acting to the camera shots to the directing.  I can see why this was nominated.  4 popcorns.

Joy (2015)

Directed by: David O. Russell

Written by: David O. Russell

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper







Joy is based off the real life story of Joy Mangano, who is the inventor of many products, such as the Miracle Mop.  In the film, Joy is a divorced mother of two who is trying to stay above water.  With paying bills and taking care of her children, her ex-husband, and parents, she's barely making it.  One day, after a sailing trip, Joy gets this idea to create a mop that is easy to use and does not continuously break.  After attempting to sell her products to stores and random people on the street, she finally gets her big break, but does it pay off?

Lawrence and Cooper have so much chemistry, it's surprising they aren't a couple yet.  Anyway, this film is no exception.  Both compliment each other's personalities as does Lawrence with her other co-stars.

The story was slow to get off the ground, but once she found the idea to create this mop, the pacing sped up.  The only problem that came up was the understanding of the patent.  The person I went with to the movies did not understand what was going on there.  I understood it, being a Business major, but I can see how it was confusing.  (If you have questions, feel free to comment below.)  But other than that, everything was great.

My favorite part was any part with Joan Rivers.  Seeing Melissa Rivers play her mother was genius.

There isn't much more to say about the film without giving something away, so I'll stop here.  4 popcorns.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Directed by: J.J. Abrams

Written by: Lawrence Kasdan, J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt, & George Lucas (characters)

Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, & Oscar Isaac






Prior to the film release, I had watched all six movies within four days.  I had never watched them in my life and the only thing I knew about them is what I had heard from other films and television shows.

Now since everything is relatively recent in my mind, I was set to watch the seventh one.  I was super excited, and am now a super fan.  R2D2 is my favorite.

(But before I begin my review, I'm sorry for not having it up sooner.  Tickets sold out.  I was doing a cross country road trip.  Crazy past couple of days.)

Anyway, this film starts further in the future than where the last one ended, the last one being episode VI, but the third film to come out in the series.  The film was really well done in the fact that there weren't many looming questions and all the time gaps were mostly filled to where you didn't have any questions about what had happened throughout the years.

What I especially liked about this film is how Disney is introducing a black lead as well as a strong female lead (no offense to Carrie Fisher or Natalie Portman, but Ridley is who I'd want to be when I grow up compared to the royalty), which has yet to be done in the series before.  It breaks away from the stereotypes and introduces an interracial couple, well hopefully anyway.

Besides that difference, another change that Disney made was the editing style.  They seemed to try to stay with the trend of these awkward swipes, but only accomplished about three, while previous films had many more.  But I doubt people notice this.  I only did because I just recently saw the others and have an interest in editing.

But overall this film had everything.  Romance, comedy, drama, adventure, and even a horror moment here and there.  I fell in love with the characters all over again and even loved the new ones. It left me wanting to watch the next one.  The film just made me happy and excited to the point I was hitting the person next to me and tried to predict what would happen next.  My predictions were all wrong by the way.  So that's a good thing.  I'm usually very good at figuring out the next climax or hidden secret is.

Anyway, the last great thing about this film is that you don't have to watch the others to understand it.  As long as you know the basis you can get by and who doesn't know the basis with all the references to the series these days.  If you do want some spoilers from the previous films to get a sense of this one, feel free to comment below and I'll answer any questions you have.  Otherwise enjoy the film.  5 popcorns.

The Danish Girl (2015)

Directed by: Tom Hooper

Written by: Lucinda Coxon & David Ebershoff (novel)

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, & Matthias Schoenaerts







The Danish Girl revolves around a lovely couple that are profound artists in Denmark.  Einar Wegener (Redmayne) mostly does landscapes, but is well known, while his wife Gerda (Vikander) does portraits and is up and coming.  Both fit together like a glove, knowing the other almost too well, until, as a joke, Gerda dresses up Einar as a woman named Lili as they attend the artists' ball.  While at the ball, Einar/Lili begins to prefer being a woman, admiring the attention from men and a woman's style.  But considering that this story takes place in 1926, it is not necessarily the norm to come out as transgender.  Can Einar/Lili handle this transition taking place within him/her?  Can Gerda?

I enjoyed this film very much.  Despite knowing that Einar/Lili was the one going through the transition, I sympathized more with Gerda.  Vikander was the one that made the film more than anything.

The film reminds me of Redmayne's previous film The Theory of Everything, where he played Stephen Hawking.  Of course, not the same in character or story, but the couple's relationship is similar.  But so is Redmayne's acting.  He did a superb job as Hawking and again as Wegener.  For all I know, he might win again for Best Actor.

Even though the story is great, some of the cinematography was too lavish.  The camera shots were wide in the beginning and showed off too much of the scenery in my opinion.  It was as if they wanted to try these excessive shots just for their reels and not to push the story along.  It was starting to get annoying by the middle.

I'd also like to point out Schoenaerts, who played Hans Axgil.  Technically he is important to the film and I just love his acting.  I recently saw him in Far From the Madding Crowd and thought he was great.  It could also be because he looks a little bit like Ryan Gosling, without the cockiness.  Anyway, keep an eye out for him because he seems to be appearing more and more these days.

But back to the film.  The whole storyline was great, but because of the cinematography and that the film didn't make me cry, 4 popcorns.

Spotlight (2015)

Directed by: Tom McCarthy

Written by: Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

Starring: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, & Rachel McAdams

Have you ever seen the film Doubt?  It's a fantastic film if you haven't seen it.  But it has the same premise as this film, except that this film is more political than it is personal.

Spotlight revolves around the controversial rumor that priests from various Catholic churches around the world have molested children throughout the years.  In this particular film, they focus on the priests in Boston after the new editor-in-chief, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), takes over for The Boston Globe.  

The film starts off pretty quickly and gets to the point of what it is all about.  You get to see how they develop a case around the priests and how the church has been involved with this horrific news.  With this great cast, you can see that they are deeply invested within this story and where it takes them.  It begins affecting their personal lives and you can see it too.  

Despite this being a great film, it didn't make me feel anything.  Everything was great about it, don't get me wrong, but I didn't cry nor laugh really.  It was shocking, but I think it was shocking more to religious people as well as an older audience.  Despite needing to feel something in order to give it 5 popcorns, it was too good not to give 5 popcorns to.  You could feel in the theater that people were disgusted and disturbed by this information as well as the end statistics.  

I recommend this film for everyone, but be wary that if you are religiously Catholic, you may have a change of heart at the end of the film.  5 popcorns.

The Night Before (2015)

Directed by: Jonathan Levine

Written by: Jonathan Levine, Kyle Hunter, Ariel Shaffir, & Evan Goldberg

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, & Anthony Mackie





This film was hard to pin point.  Some of the parts were 4 popcorns, some were 2, so I'll go with the middle, 3 popcorns.

Here's why:

The whole film was a complete change in tone.  As the characters changed, the tone changed too.  It was weird.  The beginning was comedic filled with drugs, partying, friends, etc, a typical Rogen film.  But as it went on, it began to get more moralistic.  It wasn't as funny and it was more about the meaning of friends and family, Christmas, you know?  Which I liked, but at the same time didn't like.

The Night Before is about three best friends.  Gordon-Levitt plays Ethan who unfortunately has nothing going on in his life.  As for his friends, Isaac (Rogen) is starting a family, and Chris (Mackie) is starting his NFL career.  Because of their new found lives, they make a deal to have their last Christmas tradition.  Unfortunately things do not go as planned.

While I was watching this, I was mostly trying to find the references that were occurring in the film, such as Home Alone, A Christmas Carol, and more, so I didn't pay attention to the technical elements.

It's a stupid funny kind of sweet movie that is typical for Rogen.  Plus James Franco is in it.  Doesn't that say it all?  There's not much else to say other than the film is weird, but I liked it.

3 popcorns.

Brooklyn (2015)

Directed by: John Crowley

Written by: Nick Hornby & Colm Toibin (novel)

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, & Domhnall Gleeson







This is my kind of movie.

Brooklyn stars Ronan as Eilis, a young girl from Ireland who moves to America in the 1950s.  When tragedy strikes she has to choose between her new life in America or her past from Ireland.

Okay, so that does not sound so interesting.  But seriously I loved this movie, but I think I was the only one that did in the theater.  I was laughing.  I was crying.  I was smiling like an idiot at the romantic parts.  But like I said, I think I was the only one.

It's definitely a chick flick guys, but not a romantic comedy kind.  It is more sophisticated and heart wrenching than other movies, especially since it is all from an immigrant's point of view.

I suppose I liked the movie so much because it's similar to what I'm going through, not exactly, but there were subtle similarities in terms of emotion.  But that's personal.

Anyway, what made the movie was the editing, the cinematography, and the acting.  And because of all that, it also includes the directing.  Crowley is pretty amazing.  The shots were gorgeous and illuminated the beauty in both countries.  The editing made them flow together perfectly and even made the characters more interesting from the expression that they portrayed, especially Ronan.  From the shots and editing decisions, you can see that she's always thinking even if she doesn't say much, her expression says it all.

I definitely recommend this movie.  But, let it be known that there is no action, not much comedy (a little), and is for sure a drama chick flick.  So if that does not sound appealing, don't watch it.  Also since it occurs in the 1950s, you have to pay much more attention to what the characters are saying in order to understand what's happening, if that makes sense.  5 popcorns!

Secret in Their Eyes (2015)

Directed by: Billy Ray

Written by: Billy Ray, Juan José Campanella (film El Secreto de sus ojos), & Eduardo Sacheri (film El Secreto de sus ojos)

Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Julia Roberts, & Nicole Kidman






The main thing that comes to mind when I think about this film is "I knew it!," but only a few seconds before it actually happened.

What I mean is that I knew what was going to happen, but only a few moments before it actually happened.  I could not tell otherwise.

Jess (Roberts) unfortunately found her daughter dead in a trash bin.  After 13 years, Ray (Ejiofor), Jess' partner, tries everything he can to find the murderer.  When he comes across the same face from 13 years prior, he tries to get Claire (Kidman) the new D.A. to reopen the case, but as Ray keeps searching he figures out that not everything is what it seems.

This movie was great!  It was heart wrenching and the ending was unexpected.  I was like Dang!!! the whole time.  What made it this way was mostly the actors' performances.  You could see the distress and anguish in their eyes.

The reason though that this film is not 5 popcorns, but 4, is because of all the close ups.  There were multiple scenes where it was close up after close up.  There were barely any wide shots or medium shots to show the audience where the scene was taking place.  The director had too many in there and the film needed more variety.  I'm not saying that there weren't any, but there needed to be more.  I'm guessing the reason for all the close ups is that the director wanted the viewers to see their eyes because the film is Secret in Their Eyes.  Get it?

Another reason for the 4 popcorns is the cross mixing between the past and present.  It did not really get on my nerves all that much, but the person I went with did not like it.  It could bother some of you too since the only way to tell if it's the past is through Ejiofor's hair color.  Is some of it gray?  Then it's the present.  If not, then the past.  It bugged him more than it did me, but I thought I'd mention it since it may get on your nerves too.

Other than that,  I really enjoyed the film.  4 popcorns.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

Directed by: Steve Martino

Written by: Bryan Schulz, Craig Schulz, Cornelius Uliano, & Charles M. Schulz (comic strip)

Starring: Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, & Francesca Capaldi






The characters are sooooo cute!  I love Charlie Brown, Lucy, and the rest of the gang.  But this movie was not great.

Charlie Brown and the rest of his friends are in school, when a new girl shows up.  We never get the name of the new girl other than her being referred to as the little red-haired girl.  For most of the film, Charlie Brown tries to impress her in order to get her attention.

Even though the characters are super cute, we didn't get to see the little red-haired girl's face for half the movie!  She was pretty much never around or always in the audience.  I was just tired of waiting for this budding romance that took forever to happen, well kind of happen.  I think another problem was that Charlie Brown was trying to impress her with too many things too many times.  He tried dancing, talent show, book report, going to her door, flying a kite and probably some other things that I forgot.  It was just too much.

Another issue I had with the film was Snoopy and Woodstalk's own little story.  The film kept intercrossing between the two and I just wanted to focus on Charlie Brown's story.  Maybe if it was a different Snoopy story other than him writing a book it'd be better.

It's cute and all, but boring and tedious.  1 popcorn.

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

Directed by: Peter Sohn

Written by: Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Meg LeFauve, Kelsey Mann, & Bob Peterson

Starring: Raymond Ochoa & Jack Bright






I think out of all the Pixar movies I've seen, this one is the least liked.  I'm not trying to say it was the worst and make it sound bad because Pixar films are never bad, but every other Pixar film that has been made is better.

Arlo, the good dinosaur voiced by Ochoa, is the smallest and most cowardly of his family.  He tries to impress them, but he ends up being too scared to actually prove himself.  One day, his father grows tired of Arlo's fear and tries to make him stand up for himself, but fails.  Later, when Arlo gets separated from his family due to a caveman human named Spot, voiced by Bright, he has to face his fear if he is ever going to get home.

This movie is beautiful.  The colors, the lighting, the landscape are all gorgeous.  Some trees and water actually looked real; it was that amazing.

As for the actual plot, I was a little disappointed.  For some reason I thought it would be more heart wrenching.  Before seeing this film, I did get some sneak peaks from my school when a Pixar employee visited, but I didn't think that affected my viewpoint of this film.

The film kind of dragged and it seemed pretty obvious of what was going to happen.  Maybe it was supposed to be obvious, I mean it is a children's movie, but it was just a tad boring.  But still beautiful.  That's pretty much all I can say about it.  Boring and beautiful.  2 popcorns.

Creed (2015)

Directed by:  Ryan Coogler

Written by: Ryan Coogler, Aaron Covington, & Sylvester Stallone (characters)

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone,  & Tessa Thompson






Thanksgiving.  What a wonderful holiday to eat, spend time with family and friends, and especially...go to the movies!  Well for this film, I actually went the day before, but same thing almost.

Creed stars Jordan playing Adonis Johnson, the child of an affair between Johnson's mother and Apollo Creed, a great boxer way back when.  When Johnson wants to make a name for himself and get into the boxing world, he turns to Rocky Balboa (Stallone) who fought Apollo Creed three times before.  They were rivals and friends.  Johnson tries to fight his way to the top with his biggest opponent being himself.

So I've seen all seven of the Rocky films.  I love Rocky.  And this one was good too, but not 5 popcorns good.

I enjoyed the story and where it went.  It reminded me a lot of the first Rocky with a similar plot of a nobody fighter fighting someone really well known.  Of course there are differences with Johnson having family issues while in Rocky, Balboa was just trying to get recognized with Adrian and Mickey.  But wait...now that I think about, it is the same too.  Johnson trying to get recognized by Thompson's character Bianca as well as him trying to get Balboa to train him.  So yeah, pretty much the same film.  Which may be why I was not so impressed.

So I guess the main difference between the movies is just the main character.  Rocky versus Adonis.  They have different personalities, but other than that, it's pretty much the same film as the first one. with a few different scenes.  But those new scenes are really other scenes from previous Rocky films.  

As for technical differences, this film was directed by Coogler, who also did Fruitvale Station.  He has not made many films, but for being so young, he's pretty good.  But for this film, his directing style, mainly camera and editing montage, bugged me.  With the Rocky films most of the shots are medium and a little far away.  In Creed, there were close ups and how do I explain this...like point of view shots, but they seemed like they were from the wrong point of view.  There was just something off about it.

Also I'm not sure what the director's motives were for the training montage.  Just like Rocky, Johnson trains for his big fight with running, chicken catching, jump rope, etc...but it wasn't successful.  Maybe that was Coogler's intentions to throw the audience off with a different montage, but it was just too similar to the original and it did not use important shots like running up the steps or any air punching.  Maybe Coogler was trying to show the different personalities between the two men.  I don't know, I just didn't like it.

Another issue I had was the emotional part.  I understand that this film is supposed to be about Adonis and his issues with being a Creed, but everyone, of course, goes to see this film because of Stallone playing Rocky.  Everyone knows and loves Rocky.  That's just how it is.  And, as shown in the trailer, Rocky is by himself.  Adrian and Paulie are dead.  In the trailer, he seemed really torn up about it, more so than the actual film, but I think it was was too much of a quick cut.  The editor should have let that scene breathe more and it could have been more emotional therefore could have been bringing it up to 5 popcorns.

Other than that the story was good and so was the acting.  The casting department really picked a great choice with Jordan as well as the other new characters.  But with those issues that I had with this film, I'll give it 4 popcorns.  If you liked the other Rocky films, you'll like this one too.