My Own Little World

I have no words. Guys, Annihilation is one heck of a movie. It doesn’t hold my hand through its runtime; instead, it forces me to think with the iron grip of its narrative. For that reason, it is one of the most unique movies I have had the pleasure of experiencing in a theater. Of course, this film goes nowhere without director Alex Garland. I remember watching his first film Ex Machina and getting floored by the points it made about human nature by using an artificially intelligent robot to demonstrate our unique ability of attachment and how that could eventually be our downfall as a race. Besides that, that film was beautiful and brilliantly crafted, a slow burn that exploded in a pitch-perfect climax. Annihilation changes the game a little for Garland as he continues his exploration into human nature. This time, the film centers on our desires and how they ultimately will lead us to our self-destruction. Jennifer Jason Leigh’s character posits at one point that ...

After having seen The Last Jedi three times, I finally have some concrete thoughts about the film. My overall positive impression of the film has not changed, but there are some things I have begun to notice that I’d like to share with you. Two of the three things I'm sharing here are going to seem harshly negative, and while they are more or less blemishes and might detract from the film, they don't  WARNING: spoilers for The Last Jedi follow. Please do yourself a favor and don’t spoil this movie for yourself. It is far better if you know nothing going into it for the first time. But really though: don’t spoil this movie for yourself. I knew nothing going in, and that made a lot of what happens in the film impact me that much more; if you want my spoiler-free thoughts on the film, you can find them here . Anyway, here’s my observations. Anytime after the first viewing, this film drags. I didn’t notice The Last Jedi ’s length the first time I watched it that mu...

Because of the complexity of The Last Jedi and how interwoven the film’s quality is with its major plot points, I am going to treat this a bit differently and more shortly than my normal reviews. After I watch this film a second or third time, I will publish a much longer spoiler-filled review; this is more of a first impressions post than anything, and I promise there will be ABSOLUTELY NO SPOILERS in the words that follow. I have never reacted to a film like I have The Last Jedi . I have never been so shocked by the way a film’s plot has progressed or by how one single movie can take the lore of an entire franchise as deep and rich as Star Wars and make you ask questions about its central core. I want to make one thing very clear, though: I still don’t know how I feel about this film. There’s too much for me to process after just one viewing for me to give it a specific score, and if you see it I bet you will feel the same way. So much happens in this film, and while that...

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. Without further ado, I present to you Part 2 of the Rest of 2015... San Andreas  - Watch it, but only if it's free.  I got more out of San Andreas than expected. Yes, it was a little silly at times, very CGI driven, and a pretty pointless movie. But that's the point: it's a "turn your brain off" film, and a pretty well-made one at that. Dwayne Johnson shows off his action star chops well, while Paul Giamatti does pretty decently too as a seismologist. The massive destruction we see is also well done with some unexpected restraint. No, San Andreas  isn't great, but it's not bad for killing time.  Grade: 45 ...

If you want the too long, didn't read version of this review, here it is: I just saw The Force Awakens again on Friday after seeing it Thursday night.  Like, this movie is seriously that good. And just to be clear, I was going to have no problems saying The Force Awakens was just good, decent, or even terrible if I thought so. But this movie is seriously incredible. I've never wanted to see a film more in my entire life. I've never pre-ordered tickets for any film except this one. I've never had higher expectations walking into a theater and had them fulfilled like this. This review is going to be very different from my normal style. Usually, I break up the components of a film and talk about them individually. While I’m still going to do that to a certain extent, I’m more so going to talk about this separately as a fan and a critic because it will allow me to collect my thoughts more easily.  As a Star Wars fan, watching this film excited m...