Caro the Movie Critic

This is...SPARTA!!! I say it is also...OVERRATED!!! In years of reviewing and watching different movies, you can help notice some movies that you feel that you are not in the majority of whether or not you are agreeing or disagreeing with them. But, it sometimes feels lonely when you are against in the majority. Nevertheless, here are the 10 movies that I think that are overrated and the 5 movies that I am ashamed to say that I like despite how ridiculous the film is. OVERRATED MOVIES 300 I do not think that this movie was naturally appealing plus it was visually distracting because Zach Snyder produces tons of slow-mo effects with men running, men killing each other, blood splattering, men jumping, and a sex scene. Also, there is a lot of style over substance with the battle sequences with monsters in the Battle of Sparta. WTF?!? Gerard Butler gives a natural presence, however, he yells frequently and sometimes loses the accent. This movie just does not work for me. Shak...

Gwyneth Paltrow and the curly-mustached Johnny Depp. Let's talk about Johnny Depp. He was a marvelous revelation when he entered Hollywood when he was involved in a TV show, 21 Jump Street . Then, he made his movie acting debut in the first A Nightmare on Elm Street and Oliver Stone's Platoon . Since then, he has been in numerous films, largely thanks to Tim Burton such as: Edward Scissorhands , What's Eating Gilbert Grape , Ed Wood, Donnie Brasco, Chocolat, Blow, etc. However, ever since The Tourist in 2010, his choice of picking movies has gone to hell. The only movies I liked out of his filmography in that time is Rango and Into the Woods , which he has a very small role. But, his streak of lousy movies continues. Lord Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) is an art dealer who meets with Fang (Junix Inocian) at a casino at a Hong Kong meeting to sell a rare vase. However, after a misunderstanding with Fang regarding their last transaction, Fang's goons start a shooto...

J. Lo and this hunky boy having a little...sensual moment. Have y'all seen Fatal Attraction , Obsessed, The Girl Next Door  or Risky Business ? If you take all of those four movies and little components and mix them all up, you get this product. Of course, stalkers and sexual predators would be all over the area or in a neighborhood. This movie is that ad of that particular warning. Therefore, it is an ad that has a hunky guy that should belong in modeling, a very beautiful woman, sex, innuendo, and a flashback of a car accident that adds up to a miscalculated, lugubrious "erotic" thriller. I'm not going to waste time typing this large summary. Ok, Jennifer Lopez plays Claire Peterson, a high school literature teacher and Ryan Guzman plays a high school kid named Noah Sandborn. Noah moves next door (duh!) with his uncle and is attracted to this vulnerable and lonely older woman who is very pretty because she is J. Lo. As things begin to click between them, Clair...

Let's run from...bad guys, I guess? Isn't he a hacker? Have you ever discovered your money from your checking or savings accounts stolen or used in one occasion? You never know what will happen or who is out there to leak the information or steal your money. It is easier for an intelligent hacker to monitor and code a program that can ruin your life for a  while or the rest of your life if you do not do something about it. But, it is also easier because everybody uses digital technology and even one mistake can make you vulnerable. Movies have come out as to how filmmakers show the negative sides of digital technology, good and bad and very bad movies. This movie falls under the category between bad and very bad and it is disappointing because this film is made by one of my favorite directors. A nuclear plant in Hong Kong and the Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago are hacked. The Chinese government and the FBI ascertain that it was hacked by a Remote Access Tool (RAT). ...

Hart and Gad are "turning down for What!" It's January. It's one of the two months that I would consider the "kisses of death" for movies, the other being September in my humble opinion. Because in those two months, respectively, the Oscar season and summer season for movies are over and studios just want the movies to come out to play and be presented and not care on how it will do and how audiences will react to the movie. However, some surprises rarely come about once every two or three years. And, I think this movie falls into that category because I came into the movie with very low expectations. Doug Harris (Josh Gad) is a lonely man who is calling his old classmates to search for a best man for his wedding. None of his classmates knew him well enough to call Doug a friend, therefore, he has no luck. Meanwhile, Jimmy Callahan (Kevin Hart) is giving a speech at a wedding reception. Being the best man, he gives a speech to the bride and groom with ...

Let's cut right to the chase and then you can read my thoughts after reading the entire list. So here are the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards: BEST PICTURE: American Sniper Birdman Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash BEST DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson  (The Grand Budapest Hotel) Alejandro González Inñaritu (Birdman) Richard Linklater (Boyhood) Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher) Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) BEST ACTOR: Steve Carell (Foxcatcher) Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) Michael Keaton (Birdman) Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) BEST ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) Julianne Moore (Still Alice) Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) Reese Witherspoon (Wild) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Robert Duvall (The Judge) Ethan Hawke (Boyhood) Edward Norton (Birdman) Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher) J.K. Simmons ...

Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sitting on the bench. Anybody would have a confession to make whether or not they have gone into a work facility for a day being stoned. I think that the whole movie is a stoner and it is intentional. However, when trying to solve a case in the end of an era stirred me up as to how each person is an accessory to the crime. But, what lampoons this whole genre of crime thrillers is that the movie is placed in somebody's frame of mind as a crazed person smoking cigarettes a lot and it is the end of the 1960s. The movie is almost entirely ambitious as to what the filmmakers and the author of the book are trying to do, however, it seems that they substitute the story with humor and period piece episodes and product placement so much that the products goes astray from what it wants to achieve. It does not have the balance. This is probably one of the most confusing movies that I have to review and I had to see it twice and try to accept it, but...

And the Oscar goes to...well, we'll see, on February. But, for now, I am going to predict the Oscar nominations to see who will be in the Dolby Theater on February to anticipate whether they will win or not. Here are my predictions for the MAJOR categories... BEST PICTURE : (Could be 5-10 movies) Birdman Boyhood Foxcatcher Gone Girl The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Nightcrawler Selma The Theory of Everything BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro Gonzalez Inñaritu (Birdman) Richard Linklater (Boyhood) David Fincher (Gone Girl) Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) Ava DuVernay (Selma) Potential nominees: Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher) and James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) BEST ACTOR: Michael Keaton (Birdman) Steve Carrell (Foxcatcher) Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) David Oyelowo (Selma) Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) Potential nominees: Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Buda...

Liam Neeson convincing Maggie Grace that he didn't do it. It's the start of January and Liam Neeson's run of films in the first three months of any year are promising. Look at his record: Taken , Unknown , The Grey , Non-Stop . That is not bad when it is considered to release on either January, February or March. But, I'm afraid that this latest entry in the Taken franchise has ended his hot streak of good films coming out in the first three months. This movie is not as suspenseful or as tense due to the very thin mystery as to why Neeson has been set up. The movie begins with endless introductions and build-ups as Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) brings and buys a giant panda bear to Kim's (Maggie Grace) birthday. When he arrives to the party, moments later, Kim's boyfriend, Jamie (Jonny Weston), and Kim comments that Bryan is predictable and cannot accept the gift. Jamie does comment on that as well. (I sense a little bit of predictable foreshadowing.) Meanwh...