New Film Review: Fantastic Beasts:The Crimes Of Grindelwald

1  star out of 5


If you follow my blog you know I am not usually a fan of middle movies. Middle movies of a trilogy are usually a holder for the big finale and this one may reach an all time low for middle films.


I surprisingly liked the first Fantastic Beast film. It was fun. Filled with magic. Had a great bad guy. It had a nice couple love stories. I had a lot of laughs. The story was interesting.


This film...
No longer was fun.
No relationship build up...in fact destroyed a relationships
No humor.
It lacked magic.
The story was annoyingly boring. At one point we just watched our stars for 15 minutes watch CGI....and do nothing.


Positives....it can only get better for part three....and Johnny Depp is a good bad guy.


Stunningly bad and what they did to one of the favorites at the end of this film and not give us closure!!! Inexcusable.


Stunningly up for worst film of the year for me.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: INSTANT FAMILY

INSTANT FAMILY
11/2  stars out of 5
This film is not a comedy. I makes you think that by the trailer...but definitely not a comedy.
It is a drama about the issues that happen, good and bad,  when bringing foster children into your home. So what you get is an hour and a half of kids and parents behaving badly, and are highly annoying. Like nails on a chalk board annoying. Yes we are suppose to feel sorry for the children, knowing the background they came from, but that is beyond what happens in this film.
Plus there are way too many storylines of...The mom of trying to get the kids back. The grandparents. The Foster group. The teenage foster child and a creepy boyfriend. Then for some odd reason...Joan Cusak shows up for 2 minutes at the end. What???!!! They had Joan Cusak and used her for only 2 minutes. What a mess.
I did not even touch on the acting...which was lacking.
So if I had to give anything a positive it was probably honest about how tough it is to assimilate foster kids and foster parents into one home.


This is worth waiting for home viewing, that is for sure...it is not fun.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Film Review: The Grinch

THE GRINCH


2 1/2 STARS OUT OF 5


LITTLE LATE ON REVIEWS...BEEN VERY BUSY.


This movie was not made for me I am aware of it....
Negatives? Well first is, why was this made? Why was this necessary? Clearly made to make money.
Was it necessary...not really. It felt long...it really needed editing.


But there is a lot here to be positive about...
I liked the look...very bright animation.
I like the expansion of Cindy-Lou Who's backstory. She is adorable.
I also think that Benedict Cumberbatch was fantastic here voicing the Grinch.

So there is enough to like, and it gives you the good feelings at the end. You could do a lot worse for sure.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: The Girl In The Spider's Web

THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB


4 OUT OF 5 STARS


I understand that my blinders could be on for this movie.
If you are frequent flyer on my blog you know that the Swedish version of the The Girl series is number 3 on my all time favorite films...
See this.......


http://theshadowsmoviecritic.blogspot.com/2018/01/number-3-out-of-my-20-favorite-films.html


As for this film...it is THE GIRL lite. It is not the Lisbeth Salander that I love...the Salander I love never shows emotions out right. She has really bad social skills, often hilariously so. Is often angry.
Here In The Web...she is just different, not giving too much away...still I have to separate this film from the others and review it for what it is...and this film is a really good as a thriller.
Well acted by Claire Foy as Salander. Also Sverrir Gudnason as Mikael Blomkvist is good in a limited role (Too limited if you ask me). Also this film has two good bad guys/girls played wonderfully by Sylvia Hoeks and Claes Bang. So it works...and again I could have my blinders on here knowing full well there are a couple holes in the script, I still liked it.


So you could do a lot worse so go see it, or better yet watch the trilogy on Netflix then go see it.


As always thanks for your time as always from the shadows.

New Film Review: BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
4 OUT OF 5 STARS


I really liked this film. It was very entertaining filled with many of Queen's hits. Actors, highlighted by Rami Malek and Lucy Boynton, do a wonderful job.
You go to be entertained and you sure are.
Now as for the script, it lacked a bit making the film feel like a shell of a film. It did not dig very deep into the songs and the writing process. It did not dig to deep in to his thoughts and relationships...we just see he has some relationships. We really do not know much about the other members of Queen, and yes I know the film is about Freddie, however they are a very important piece pertaining to who Freddie is.
So I can complain about the film not digging to deep, but in reality it is 2 hours and 15 minutes, it is a long film already. Adding more info would already make the film which is long...longer.  There was a bad decision to include most of their performances from Live-Aid. Cut some of the performances maybe, then add more insight to the script? I often thought while watching...I wonder if they put this in the hands of Cameron Crowe would the film not jump in time so often leaving out a lot of information.
I feel like I am trashing this film, but I really enjoyed it. Like noted before, it is very entertaining and what it did was made me go home and Google the major players and find out what happened to them. So maybe that is a good thing
.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time

New Film Review: MID90s

MID90s


1/2 star out of 5


Strong contender for worst film of the year.
Directed by Jonah Hill, we follow a bunch of skateboarders in..well...the mid 90's.
Poorly acted....by all the male characters (The skaters).
Poorly written.
Bad decisions like having a great actress like Katherine Waterston and barely using her!


Except for The Waterston character...there is not one...zero..likable characters in this film. Everyone is annoying...and again cannot act.


Just awful.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.

New Film Review: THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN

THE OLD MAN AND THE GUN


2 stars out of 5


Maybe one of my biggest disappointments of the year.
The film follows Forrest Tucker (Redford) as he robs banks with help of his posse, Teddy (Danny Glover) and Waller ( Tom Waits). The film also follows Forrest's relationship with Jewel (Sissy Spacek). It is great to see all four of these actors on the screen together!! However the film...lets them down.
The film lays there flat and moves at a snails pace...it is close to boring. I don't mind slow, if the script gives you something to keep you vested, I mean I just saw Colette and it was slow but her life was always filled with movement. Here, you know where the robberies are going, and shockingly those robberies, after the first one, are just flat. The relationship between Forrest and Jewel is just there. There is almost no point to Jewel being in the movie except to show Forrest had options, but that was not all the way laid out. Again, a disappointment.


Well acted by everyone, but somehow a sleeper.


From the shadows as always thanks for your time.