76 Days (2020)


Raw and intimate, this documentary captures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan.

76 Days is a very disturbing watch it captures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan. To keep it short 76 Days is not an easy watch, it’s extremely devastating to see what both the patients and the medical professionals are going through. The first 10 minutes especially are quite disturbing and really set the tone for the rest of the film, the documentary is very straightforward and hits the point very well, it’s footage after footage of showing as I described before the struggles of both the patients and frontline medical professionals. The movie is very well crafted as well, I would definitely understand why one would not to watch this, the pandemic is still going on (at the time this was written) and there’s a lot of disturbing footage that will stick with you. 2020 has been a hard year for almost everyone so it’s completely understandable, but for those who are curious if you ever get the chance (hoping for a wide release date or VOD date soon) I recommend giving this one a watch.

(Saw this via Laemmle Virtual Cinema)

9/10 A

The Midnight Sky (2020)


This post-apocalyptic tale follows Augustine, a lonely scientist in the Arctic, as he races to stop Sully and her fellow astronauts from returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe.


Well that was disappointing, I’m going to be honest I really did not have a lot of hope for George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky going into it, especially after the reviews came out to be very mixed. Which is exactly how I feel about the film itself, what I did like was the filming, sound, visuals and the score I thought they were all pretty well done and matched the movie quite well. Unfortunately what bogs this movie down is the writing and acting, even the acting from George Clooney himself wasn’t exactly great. A lot of it reminded me of an episode of General Hospital which would be fine if this was were a made for TV movie, but it isn’t this got released into theaters and on Netflix so that really does nothing but end up being embarrassing (speaking of embarrassing there’s this one scene where Sweet Caroline plays and it’s honestly one of the most embarrassing scenes I’ve seen in awhile). There are some good moments but those are so far and few in between, the pacing really does not help the movie at all. It switches way too often from being slow to super fast, the ending is just sort of there with no real conclusion. Overall there really isn’t a whole lot to The Midnight Sky, it tries to do so much but barely accomplishes anything other then being a very below average film to add to George Clooney’s directing career.

5/10 C

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)


Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey, her ambitious horn player and the white management determined to control the uncontrollable “Mother of the Blues”. Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is quite a fantastic film, first off let me start with the performances everyone does such a fantastic job especially Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis. Viola Davis captures her role flawlessly it’s incredible to see how much she is into her role. You start believing she is Ma Rainey, which is something truly special. This is one of if not her best role to date, she’s one of the best actresses working today and this role only proves that even more. Chadwick Boseman like in several roles he’s been in does a fantastic job here. He’s completely invested into his role to the point where he becomes Levee, it’s also a perfect final role for such an incredible actor who is going to be missed in the coming years. The singing combined with the cinematography gives this movie a fantastic feel to it, it’s truly one of those films where you feel you are in the movie and the exact time it’s taking place as well. The film also does a fantastic job of looking like and feeling like 1927, a lot of films tend to miss that quite often but they did such a good job here. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is truly a remarkable film that is going to win several awards and rightfully so, Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis are most certainly going to be getting a ton of awards as well. Fantastic film please watch this one when you can.

10/10 A+

Ariana Grande: Excuse Me, I Love You (2020)


Ariana Grande takes the stage in London for her Sweetener World Tour and shares a behind-the-scenes look at her life in rehearsal and on the road.


I’ve really enjoyed shows and concert movies getting releases this year from American Utopia, Hamilton, Taylor Swift’s Folklore film and a few others! The Sweetener concert film was talked about for awhile now it just came down to when it was going to release, so it was a pretty exciting moment when it finally got a release date! To keep things short it’s exactly what you expect, Ariana Grande’s Sweetener Concert which takes some songs from certain albums, the film does what it’s sent out to do. It’s beautifully filmed and has so much energy to it, Ariana Grande shows her incredible talent and really shows how much she has evolved, her music has really improved over the years it’s actually quite amazing. There’s tons of favorites such as Dangerous Woman, God is A Woman, Thank U Next and a loads of others. I will say the movie absolutely shined with the beginning performance God is A Woman and ended on a fantastic high note with Thank U Next. We are given some scenes of Ariana interacting with her team which are very nice to see, her and her team seem like they have a beautiful relationship which is also incredible to see. The film is also some of the most fun I’ve had this year! Overall it’s a fantastic concert film that I definitely recommend checking out especially if your a fan of Ariana Grande.

10/10 A+

Education (2020)

Education is the coming of age story of 12-year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy), who has a fascination for astronauts and rockets. When Kingsley is pulled to the headmaster’s office for being disruptive in class, he discovers he’s being sent to a school for those with “special needs.” Distracted by working two jobs, his parents (Sharlene Whyte, Daniel Francis) are unaware of the unofficial segregation policy at play, preventing many Black children from receiving the education they deserve.

Education is the final film in the Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, the more I thought about this film the more I liked it. Education has a small runtime that does it just right for the film to get out all it needed, it’s shot beautifully especially when you combine with the setting! The story itself is quite powerful and leads to several moments that really make you think, it’s one of those films that sticks with you even after watching it. The performances are all very good as well as the writing and the character study aspect in the film is quite fascinating! Steve McQueen did a fantastic job with this series some were better than others but I can say that I loved 4/5 films! I can’t wait to see what he does next as a director!

8/10 B+

Wolfwalkers (2020)


A young apprentice hunter and her father journey to Ireland to help wipe out the last wolf pack. But everything changes when she befriends a free-spirited girl from a mysterious tribe rumored to transform into wolves by night.

Wolfwalkers is such a beautiful film, everything from the message of the film to the animation it’s quite breathtaking. The writing is absolutely fantastic, with griping emotional moments from the characters. Plus you have such a simple but fantastic story that manages to expand throughout the film, the animation is absolutely impressive the style they went for was spot on and I don’t think the animation would have been nearly as effective if they went with computer animation. The details give so much life to the characters and the film, everything pops out and drags you into the film! The movie has a very familiar premise but it does so much to that premise to the point where the film makes it it’s own, Wolfwalkers really gets to you towards the end with several emotional moments and with some really interesting character development that makes you appreciate the characters. Overall Wolfwalkers is a fantastic film that I seriously recommend, I can definitely see this winning best animated film at the Oscars!

10/10 A+

Greenland (2020)


A family struggles for survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster.

I thought for sure Greenland was going to be bad, it had everything it needed to be bad. An apocalyptic movie starring Gerard Butler, Ric Roman Waugh the director of Snitch and Angel Has Fallen, plus the movie looked awful. But life is full of surprises and Greenland happens to be one of the better apocalyptic movies in awhile, first off Gerard Butler is actually not bad here, after being in several bad movies such as Geostorm or any of the “Has Fallen” series he finally ends up being in something quite good. I feel what makes Greenland actually decent is it focuses more on the characters rather then special effects or the destruction, it’s a lot less cheesy and actually hits some emotional moments well. There’s some very decent action in the film and the special effects that are used are actually quite good, the movie does have it’s flaws such as having a slow start and some of the writing could have been better. But with these types of movies you get what you signed up for. For what Greenland is it’s refreshing to see an actual good apocalyptic movie especially since last week was the horrendous Songbird, Greenland definitely won’t break any new ground but it is a very decent watch that I recommend giving a go!

7/10 B

Hunter Hunter (2020)

Joseph and his family live in the remote wilderness as fur trappers, but their tranquility is threatened when they think they are being hunted by the return of a rogue wolf, and Joseph leaves them behind to track it.


What saves Hunter Hunter is the last 20 minutes, everything else before then is nothing noteworthy at all. Once again this is another film that I feel IFC Midnight hyped up way too much for whatever reason they tend to do that a lot. Hunter Hunter starts out with nothing special outside the atmosphere that was actually really well done. Once the film reaches the last 20 minutes it actually starts getting pretty crazy and very suspenseful as well, there’s some really decent character structure and a lot of unexpected events happen it’s quite great. It’s such a shame that the rest of Hunter Hunter could not be like the last 20 minutes. However that doesn’t mean the movie is bad, there’s some decent acting and writing which keeps the movie going. I do feel Shawn Linden has a lot of potential as a director and would love to see what he does next, but this was disappointing.

6/10 C+

Skylines (2020)


When a virus threatens to turn the now earth-dwelling friendly alien hybrids against humans, Captain Rose Corley must lead a team of elite mercenaries on a mission to the alien world in order to save what’s left of humanity.


The Skyline Trilogy is something that did not need to happen at all but it did and it’s come to an end. The first Skyline was a very bad and forgettable movie, Beyond Skyline was a terrible sequel and this one is just your below average alien action movie. There really isn’t anything in here that’s very noteworthy, there is some very decent action which is sort of surprising given the film’s budget. The acting is fine everyone does a decent job in their roles, what drags this movie down is the writing. It’s very very basic and really doesn’t offer anything interesting, there are ideas in Skylines that I feel could have worked but I feel the movie just went on and on until it just ended. This is definitely a fine enough movie if you are looking for something very flawed but sort of fun to watch and it is the best of the trilogy, so at least it has that going for it. But much like it’s predecessors it’s something you are going to watch once and then completely forget about.

5/10 C

The Killing Of Two Lovers (2020)


David desperately tries to keep his family of six together during a separation from his wife. They both agree to see other people but David struggles to grapple with his wife’s new relationship.

I saw The Killing Of Two Lovers via virtual screening from The Lincoln Center. The Killing Of Two Lovers right from the beginning captures you in this hypnotic atmosphere, there is truly something unsettling about the atmosphere that really works well for this movie. The plot is simple yet brings so much meaning behind it Clayne Crawford plays David a man who really tries to keep his family of six together during his separation from his wife. Throughout the film David completely loses it and can’t handle his wife’s new relationship, the film keeps things very grounded and makes the characters as realistic as possible. It’s almost like a character study of David we are given this POV of David on what he’s feeling and what he’s going to do. When the film reaches the final act that’s when everything goes down and the film manages to keep things grounded. It’s brutal and actually pretty terrifying due to how realistic and grounded it really gets. The direction from Robert Machoian is flawless and really does a good job of giving the film tons of strength! Overall The Killing Of Two Lovers is an incredible film that I highly recommend checking out when it comes out on February 23rd 2021.

10/10 A+