Jojo Rabbit (2019)

A young boy in Hitler’s army finds out his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Taika Waititi is a director who has shown time and time again that he’s one of the strongest directors working today…and he proves it yet again with this movie! Jojo Rabbit is a true satire, these days people tend to call everything in the kitchen sink satire even though it clearly isn’t. However this movie makes sure you know that it is, first off the acting was really strong. Waititi as Adolf Hitler was bizarre but yet really great, he turns someone who was a terrible terrible human being into a satire version and just the way they completely poke fun of him is just incredible, they do it in such clever ways which I’m really glad they did. The direction is also fantastic, it tells a pretty interesting story but throws in some very bizarre elements into it. Which is what I feel stood out the most about this movie it sets itself apart from a lot of other movies by bringing something very odd to the table that it actually works really well. The writing is very well done, it’s definitely some of the strongest I’ve heard so far this year, the jokes are dark but the movie makes fun of the jokes because of just how easy they are to make (at least that’s what I got out of it.) the only issue I have with this movie is it does suffer from a weird tone shift towards the end that I do feel was a bit unnecessary. However that does not stop this movie from being one of the standouts of the year so far!!
9/10 A

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon. I thought I would never say Eddie Murphy is back but here I am now in 2019 saying just that! It’s such a great feeling to, Eddie Murphy has always been one of my favorite actors but he has been struggling for awhile now. This movie shows Murphy’s talent at the highest level, I think what I especially love about this movie is just how positive it really is, it gives you this positive feeling, also a motivational feeling as well. Even when certain events in the movie aren’t looking so good someone in the movie will bring something positive to the table. The writing is just fantastic and seriously well done, I haven’t laughed this hard at a movie since Booksmart. They really knew when to place their jokes throughout the film, the acting from everyone is really strong. Especially Eddie Murphy the guy really delivers and is just a master at comedic timing in this film. He’s really grown as an actor and now he just might be getting nominated for some awards. The movie is a celebration to Dolemite (1975) kind of like how the Disaster Artist was a celebration to The Room. It’s just such a wonderful movie that will make you smile, laugh and leave you with a heartwarming feeling. Hands down one of the strongest films of the year!
9/10 A

Greener Grass (2019)

Suburban soccer moms find themselves constantly competing against each other in their personal lives as their kids settle their differences on the field. Greener Grass is something you are either going to like or hate, with that said it’s kind of hard to go into deep detail about this one but I’ll try my best. I thought the acting overall was pretty good, some of the humor worked pretty well in this movie and the style it went for was pretty smart. The movie does feel like it drags on for a bit at times especially during the third act where it just goes from bizarre to completely insane which in this case didn’t really work well for me. But I completely understand why it would work for someone else, for the most part I thought it was solid but just know that it’s not going to be for everyone.
6/10 C+

The Laundromat (2019)

a cast of characters investigate an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of a flamboyant Panama City law partners exploiting the world’s financial system. Steven Soderbergh definitely tried his best with this movie, however it’s just nowhere near as good as a lot of his other films. Gary Oldman is fine which is one of the saving graces of this movie, my biggest issues are the writing, the humor and the pacing. The writing was really poorly done and just felt like it was put together at the last minute, the humor wasn’t funny at all. I’m not exactly sure what they were trying to go for with the humor but whatever it was they completely missed it. The movie is only 90 minutes long but as a lot of other people say it feels like a 5 hour movie, it doesn’t help that this movie never becomes really interesting. I mean yes a few scenes will pop up every once in awhile that are okay but that’s it, oh yeah and for whatever reason there’s a scene where Meryl Streep does brown face….
3/10 D-

The Art Of Self Defense (2019)

After being attacked on the street, a young man enlists at a local dojo, led by a charismatic and mysterious sensei, in an effort to learn how to defend himself from future threats. I knew little to nothing about this movie before I watched it, which is probably the best way to watch it. Jesse Eisenberg gives a very solid performance here, he’s actually genuinely funny here and really delivers on being believable. Alessandro Nivola also gave a strong performance as well, this movie strangely plays out as one of those “what the hell am I watching” movies, but it actually really works. I think mostly because of the dark humor combined with scenes that are kind of unexpectedly brutal makes this movie standout from a lot of other films, it’s bizarre nature gives this interesting atmosphere that really gives this film character. The direction and cinematography are both beautifully done and really detailed, the only knock against this movie is that the last act isn’t as strong as the first two acts. It’s hard to talk about this one without spoiling, you wouldn’t expect this movie to be that type of film! But overall Art Of Self Defense is a very solid film that I would recommend a very underrated one too!
8/10 B+

Little Monsters (2019)

A washed-up musician teams up with a teacher and a kids show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies. Little Monsters is an interesting little movie, It’s one of the most heartwarming zombie movies I’ve ever seen (something I thought I would never say) what isn’t heartwarming is the first 20 minutes of this movie, which I did not like at all, I really thought this was a terrible sign and the movie was going to disappoint. Luckily that wasn’t the case because after that the movie gets quite good. Lupita Nyong’o is absolutely fantastic in this movie and is easily the best thing about this movie, Alexander England also did a fairly good job after the first 20 minutes you start to like his character, which is quite honestly something that hasn’t happened for me in awhile. I do wish there was a bit more interaction with the zombies but it’s forgivable because I completely understand what this movie was going for, and for the most part it worked. The writing is pretty solid, it’s not as effective as One Cut Of The Dead or Train To Busan but it’s really solid stuff that actually does have some humor in it that works very well. Overall a very strong zombie film that I would definitely recommend!!
8/10 B+

The Death Of Dick Long (2019)

Dick died last night, and Zeke and Earl don’t want anybody finding out how. That’s too bad though, cause news travels fast in small-town Alabama. What exactly happened here? This is by one of the directors of Swiss Army Man one of my favorite films of the decade and quite honestly a hilarious film. So when I heard that one of the directors had a new movie coming out I was pretty excited and well yeah this blows. The more I thought about this movie the more I didn’t like it. The acting was all over the place, there’s a few moments that I found okay but everything is either overacting, acting stupid, or just being down right ridiculous. What really hurts this movie however is the plot….it’s been done before but they definitely had the opportunity to make it interesting but they went with something so juvenile and nowhere near as smart as anything from Swiss Army Man. The writing is almost unforgivable, it feels like they were trying to play way too safe but ended up being horribly written. It doesn’t help that the characters themselves are either unlikable or very annoying, they are pretty much walking talking stereotypes. It pretty much boils down to “hey I’m a stupid character because I make stupid decisions” what happened to the well written and thought provoking characters from Swiss Army Man? This movie also lacked the natural and non manufactured feel that Swiss Army Man had, if I have to say any positives I would say a few moments of the movie are laughably bad because of some of the poor decision making that occurs, some of the acting is okay as I said before and I guess the final act did try to work with what it had. But overall The Death Of Dick Long never fully comes together, it really doesn’t have anything to say and just doesn’t have the strength to carry itself throughout the film. I can now see why this had next to no advertising…
3/10 D-

Wrinkles The Clown (2019)

In Florida, parents can hire Wrinkles the Clown to scare their misbehaving children. Pretty much what happens every time the media blows things out of proportion, the tide pod/bird box challenge, the momo statue where the media claimed some people died. But the reality is nobody actually died but this movie focuses on the clowns that were said to be stalking children back in 2016. It also focuses on one particular clown named Wrinkles, I thought it was pretty well done for the most part. Although I would had like to see a lot more scares, the first two acts weren’t too bad there was some jumping the shark moments but it wasn’t too bad…that is until the third act where this movie for whatever reason has a twist and starts going a little too crazy with the dialogue. It starts to become not very believable especially with some of the lines the kids start speaking. There were several moments where I just said out loud “kids do not talk like this” as for the twist I thought it was incredibly unnecessary the movie would have been just fine without it. Overall the movie is a good time killer but not much more.
6/10 C+

Corporate Animals (2019)

Lucy (Demi Moore) is the egotistical megalomaniac CEO of Incredible Edibles, America’s premier provider of edible cutlery. In her infinite wisdom, Lucy leads her staff including her long-suffering assistants, Freddie (Karan Soni) and Jess (Jessica Williams), on a corporate team-building caving weekend to New Mexico. When disaster strikes, not even their useless guide, Brandon (Ed Helms), can save them. Trapped underground by a cave-in, this mismatched and disgruntled group must pull together in order to survive. The fact this came from Patrick Kack Brice who directed Creep and Creep 2 is unbelievable, because this is the complete opposite of what those two films were. Corporate Animals has a fine enough set up and actually has a few okay jokes at the start but as the movie goes on…it starts to feel like a parody movie and a terrible one. There’s a few okay performances here Jessica Williams is pretty okay, Karan Soni is by far the best in the movie and Demi Moore is enjoyable. The writing could have a been a lot stronger, when the movie reaches the middle of the movie it pretty much gives up scenes that are unnecessary, terrible jokes, a painful third act that feels worthless. It doesn’t help the movie is very predicatable as well, if you have seen any of these survival movies you know exactly what’s going to happen, also the blending between horror and comedy is dreadful, the movie is definitely more of a comedy which is fine but as I said before it’s not very funny. They even resorted to make some cannibalism jokes, which fall flat because how painfully predictable the jokes are. Overall Corporate Animals is a mess of a film, If you are looking for something that’s so bad it’s funny then you will probably like this just fine. Otherwise I recommend giving this one a pass.
3/10 D-

Between Two Ferns The Movie (2019)

Zach Galifianakis and his oddball crew take a road trip to complete a series of high-profile celebrity interviews. I’m a bit conflicted on this one, on one hand the cast is pretty solid and does have some pretty decent jokes as well. But on the other hand the movie feels just kind of average a lot of the time, the premise is done pretty well at times especially with the cameos like Keanu Reeves, Brie Larson, Chance The Rapper and a lot of others, but it feels like when the movie isn’t centered around those cameos it loses a lot of steam. It’s definitely fun for what it is, it just doesn’t really go all out on the premise like it should. The jokes can be a hit or miss a lot of the time, there really isn’t a whole lot more to say about this one. The movie will have it’s fans and then it will have some people who won’t like it.
6/10 C+