Straight Outta Compton

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First off, let me say this. Biopics are very hit and miss. For every Ray, you get an Alexander. I can honestly say that I loved this movie. The actors who play the core members of N.W.A. (as well as some of the surprise cameos you may or may not have expected) look and/or sound almost exactly like the real-life people they are portraying on-screen, as well giving pretty strong performances. Paul Giamatti gives an incredible performance. F. Gary Gray does a pretty solid job with the direction of the movie. For the most part, the screenplay is pretty tight. However, certain parts of the movie do feel a little glossed over that maybe should have been expanded more. On the other hand, the movie is two and a half hours long, so in terms of timing, I can understand certain things needing to be cut. The fact that Dr. Dre and Ice Cube have producing credits on this movie could also be part of it. No, this isn’t the most historically accurate movie ever, but what biopic ever truly is. It’s still a strong biopic and period piece that doesn’t really hold back any punches. For me, this is easily one of the best movies I have seen so far this year, and wanted to watch it again almost immediately after leaving the theater, and that may be just about the highest praise I can give a movie. I teetered for a little bit, but I think my rating should be obvious by now. 

10 / 10 

Trainwreck

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Trainwreck was a movie I didn't necessarily know what to expect out of it. After all, romantic comedies are very hit and miss for me. Ultimately, I really liked this movie. Amy Schumer is somebody I'm not too familiar with, but based on this, I'm liking what I've seen of her so far. Bill Hader is good in the movie. But for me, by far the best parts of the movie were John Cena and Lebron James. These two were just hilarious. At first, I was going to say I thought the dramatic moments were a bit overblown, but really thinking about it, I din't think they were. A lot of them present some pretty real issues in life, and handle it really well. The movie is a little too long, and probably could have had ten or fifteen minutes cut out of it, but I still thought this movie was a strong movie. For me, this might be the first great comedy I have seen this year. Trainwreck is most certainly, a movie I recommend to anyone who is interested.

9 / 10 

The Breakfast Club (1985)

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Recently, I had to ask myself a pretty huge question. Did keeping The Breakfast Club strictly in the 80s and for the most part, dating it actually make it more timeless? For the most part, I think it did. This is actually a very simple movie, but that's why I think it is so good, maybe even one of the best I have ever seen. The number of characters was sparse. The setting is simple. The movie does cut pretty with some of the dialogue. This movie really touches on some topics that are still relevant today, like peer pressure and suicide. The pop culture references maybe dated now, but it doesn't matter to me. This movie also created what I consider to be one of the greatest movie theme songs of all time in Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me. The acting is so good. There's a dynamic and chemistry that couldn't possibly be rivaled if the movie were to, for whatever reason, be remade today. Writer and director John Hughes really does a fantastic job balancing the touching and relatable dramatic moments and characters and the hilarious moments and comedy. One of the things I find most interesting about this movie to me is that it only took John Hughes 2 days to write it, and I think it might be one of the best written movies I've seen. I hold true to the statement that I do not believe there is truly such a thing as a truly perfect movie, but, as far as I'm concerned, The Breakfast Club is pretty damn close. As a statement to how good I think this movie is, when I was posting my series on my 50 favorite movies, I forgot this one (and it takes the place of Demolition Man for me.)

10 / 10   

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

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The Masque of the Red Death is one of those horror movies that made me realize that just don’t make horror movies like this one any more. Recently, I got the chance to watch on the big screen during my local film festival. Everything in the movie is very over the top and theatrical, from the sets and costumes to the acting. Vincent Price is fantastic in the movie. The ending of the movie was pretty haunting and sends a message that I thought was a great message. Some of the images and scenes in the movie took me aback and left scratching my head, thinking ‘what the hell’ I can’t really say that the movie is particularly scary, just very surreal. Strangely enough, there were moments of violence and gore that I did not except. Some of the ADR in the movie was awful, and pretty jarring. In spite of the fact that there was some truly atrocious ADR that actually had audience members laughing (which I don’t believe was the ultimate intent), I still this was a good movie. I respect Roger Corman’s direction, and thought this movie was really well-directed. The plot did meander a touch, but nowhere near enough to prevent from enjoying this movie.   

8 / 10  

Good Kill

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Good Kill is a pretty good movie, albeit a little rocky in certain areas. I liked the acting in the movie, especially Ethan Hawke who has really started to show that he is probably one of the best actors working today, at least in my opinion. The movie mostly suffers in the plot area, as it was little hard to pinpoint. Sometimes it felt like the main plot of the movie was the main character’s interactions with his wife (played by January Jones, in one of the better performances of her career) and his possible PTSD. At other times, the main plot of the movie seems to be the elements involving the drone strikes. The drone strike scenes are my personal favorite scenes in the movie because of the tension built up in each scene. Andrew Niccol’s direction is pretty good, but his writing feels a little shaky to me, with the movie. Overall, I did like the movie, in spite of its pretty noticeable problems.  

8 / 10