My Own Little World

There are times when I will be watching a film, really enjoying it, and suddenly feeling like something is off. I often cannot put my finger on what exactly the flaw is, but because I can’t put my finger on it I dismiss it and still say the movie is good. There are other times, however, when after talking with other people about the film, I understand exactly what the flaw is. Watching Murder on the Orient Express was one of those experiences. I love myself a good old-school mystery in the vein of Hitchcock films like To Catch a Thief , and my prior experiences with star and director Kenneth Branagh (in particular his four-hour unabridged adaptation of Hamlet ) as well as the rest of this star-studded cast made me very excited to see this film. I didn’t expect a fantastic film, but I was secretly hoping that it would revitalize this largely dead genre. Unfortunately, Murder has one really big flaw that makes it largely forgettable: it doesn’t know how to balance knowledge ...

I won't talk for too long about how much I love Christopher Nolan's directing, but the long and short of it is that the man is my inspiration for even examining the technical aspects of film and seeing how they impact the emotions I feel while watching a movie. I have rated five of his films before this one, and four of them are tens (the odd one out is The Dark Knight Rises  at a nine, for what it's worth). I kind of like him a lot. That being said, I never expected him to release a film like Dunkirk . One of the hallmarks of Nolan's films is how they wear their emotions and philosophy on their sleeve. I really like this because it helps me see the connection between the filmmaking and the other stuff. The Dark Knight  does this a lot thanks to Heath Ledger's Joker, as does Interstellar  with all of its talk of the link between love and time. Now, when I heard Dunkirk  was actually a thing, I figured it would be similar in this aspect to Nolan's other fil...

I've taken a little more time in prepping my year-end wrap-up this year, mostly because I was making sure I had seen everything I wanted to in theaters before publishing. Like last year, I've written mini-reviews on all the films that I either saw too far into their theatrical run to do a full review on or after their home video release. Tomorrowland  - Watch it, but only if it's free.  There's something to be said for making an original film in today's industry. Too bad this one didn't quite pan out. Tomorrowland is able to highlight a couple good performances from George Clooney and Britt Robertson, but Hugh Laurie's villain seems a little thin. Brad Bird's direction is great too, but the third act makes the plot and characters of the first two acts seem incredibly thin. There's such a good build-up to the film's climax that when it fizzles out, it feels like a huge letdown. Grade: 59 Cinderella  - Watch it.  Cinderella succeeds sol...