The Rest of 2016, Part 2

In closing the door on 2016, I realize that there are a lot of films that I have seen that unfortunately I was unable to review for one reason or another. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't want you guys to know what I think of most of these films, so just like the last couple of years I will be doing a few posts over the next month or so wrapping up all of the films I got a chance to see from this past year. This time, I've got Emma Watson, some birds with hot tempers, and musical Irish boys for you...

 Colonia - Skip it. 

Quite bland. Emma Watson is decent as usual, and Daniel Bruhl does a pretty good job too. However, they're not able to really do that much with their characters because of a poorly written script and a lot of cliched moments. The filmmaking isn't terrible, as the pace works quite well, but on the whole there's a lot more justice that could have been done to make this interesting topic an interesting movie. Grade: 39 
The Angry Birds Movie - Skip it. 

Let's be real: Angry Birds is passable child fare. It looks pretty decent, and the voice acting is OK. However, it does lack a compelling story, and the shift between the second and third acts is way too sudden and alters the film's tone too much. The humor is also all over the map; it's really easy to tell that the film is just trying to keep the adults interested with some of the references it makes. On the whole, Angry Birds is inoffensive, but it's not worth watching for most of us. Grade: 28
Sing Street - Buy it (but it's also on Netflix, so...)

 I don't think I've seen a more surprisingly great film than Sing Street. I expected an endearing music-driven film, but there's so much more than that here. This is a very well-made drama with some incredible child performances and a very believable script. The characters are well fleshed-out as well, and the music might be some of the best in any film, with all the numbers being very catchy and well-integrated. It is a familiar storyline, but the execution is so perfect that it makes up for it. Grade: 96

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