I have always enjoyed film as long-time readers can attest. Occasionally, I get so far behind in my reviews that I have to play a little catch up. Well, its usually a combination of not enough time for review and films not being worthy of taking the time. I will let my ratings be your guide to where I stand on the films mentioned here.

Midway

This wasn’t so much a remake of the 1976 film of the same name. It was more a different take on it. As a fan of period pieces and war films, this one earned a few stars even before the opening title rolled. Overall, I was impressed with the storytelling and the visuals. It was a bit disjointed at time making it hard to follow what was happening in terms of the war strategy. And before you write that off as me not understanding the Battle of Midway. I wrote term papers on the battle as a Senior in high school and a Freshman at University… I think I understand what happened.

7 stars

The Lighthouse

Yes, another period piece… and this one filmed in black and white… what could be better? Well, pretty much any of it. The Lighthouse had the feel of an art film. It harkened back to a creepy genre of film and to that end, it did great. Willem DeFoe seemed to be made for this role as he was at once believable. Robert Pattinson though is the one that surprised me. I have never been a fan – his rise to fame in those sickening vampire films have made me dislike him from the start. He did a great job in this role and fit right in with Weird Willem. Too dark. Too weird. Not worth a darn. The only stars it earned were for the authenticity and acting. This was not my cup of tea.

3 stars

Joker

I have to admit I didn’t even finish watching Joker. Yes, Joaquin Phoenix sold the role. Yes, he is a good actor. But you know what? Even though I have never been the kind of person who likes the bad guys in film, I even felt like he was robbed with this script. The entire film was just too negative. There is nothing redeeming about this movie.

2 stars

Fighting with My Family

I basically just watched it because I was bored one day. While I do like wrestling, I have never liked Paige. It’s not that I dislike her… just never connected. The film does a decent job of telling the story of how she got her shot at the big time as well as all the drama surrounding her family. I think Nick Frost and Lena Headey did a really good job as her parents and Jack Lowden as her brother. The best part though had to be Vince Vaughn as Hutch Morgan, a recruiter and coach for the WWE who’s quips were some of the best.

6 stars

Ad Astra

Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones give us two hours of introspection and self-talk. What could go wrong? Well, this film looked to have so much potential. It showed flashes of brilliance throughout… just as I was ready to write it off as a rambling mess, something cool would happen. Literally, that happened a half dozen time. In the end though, it was too in love with itself always at the expense of being an entertaining story. Yes, there were some cool scenes. Yes, there was even a little action mixed in. Waaaaay too much narration. Waaaaaay too much trying to be deep. Mix in some questionable science at times and there wasn’t a lot of positive left. At the end of the day (and thee film) this was just another in a long line of recent downer films that paints a bleak picture of humanity.

5 stars

Parasite

Director Bong Joon-ho‘s film Parasite won the Oscar for Best Picture of 2019 and despite not seeing it before the award was announced, I felt it wasn’t the best. Clearly, I feel that 1917 was much better.  And before you decide that I didn’t like it because it had subtitles, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I have no issue with subtitles. I absolutely loved Best Foreign Film Oscar winner Cinema Paradiso and thought it should have won Best Picture in 1990. I liked it better than Driving Miss Daisy (which I thought too was a great film.) I think the Academy gave the Best Picture Oscar to Parasite to show that they are “woke.”

In the end though, I was expecting this to be a horror film based on the director’s past and the title. Yes, it was interesting at times but it has no characters I could root for – and I just don’t like film or TV without at least one good person.

5 stars