Caro the Movie Critic

They wonder if their stripper years are outnumbered. Doesn't it feel sometimes when you have that glimmer of success and glory that you feel like you are on top of the world for a brief span of time or for about a few weeks? Nowadays, it is equally frustrating that your success is so short-lived that sometimes you have to start the next chapter quickly and you have no plans whatsoever and you are basically dead and are going to be bored for the rest of your life. Mike, even though he retired himself from stripping in the first film, has been in a normal life of running a furniture company but most of the time he misses his infamous life. However, this movie has some entertaining value of characters interacting with each other and trying to become better people during their road trip, but the movie has enough charm to propel enough entertainment. But, the movie is inconsistent in its pacing and does try too hard on what it wants to be as a motion picture for its demographic. M...

Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff talking at Cost-Co. A friend comes along and makes an impression on you that could last a brief time or a lifetime. Let me emphasize: this person could probably turn your life around in a positive way. Sometimes, a group of friends would like to hang out with you when going to the movies, out for a drink, on a road trip and probably studying with them. But, there could be that one person that can catch a twinkle in your eye and may be have a chance to make your relationship more than just being friends. It could be something special. Even though there is not much logic provided into its story, this coming-of-age tale inspires enough imagination and complexity into its main characters to fully appreciate the movie. Quentin (Nat Wolff) narrates how Margo (Cara Delevingne) changed her life as she is adventurous, popular and can do whatever she likes. He has had a huge crush on her since the day she and her family moved next door. However, they were not ...

Jake Gyllenhaal confronting 50 Cent.  The rise and downfall of boxing is cut-clear from many of the movies from its "niche genre". As I define a "niche genre", it means that it is a specific genre of sports in a category of sports films. Nevertheless, I categorize this movie as another addition to the boxing genre because there have been many and there have been a lot of good ones. My personal favorite two are easy: Raging Bull , a masterful film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring an excellent performance by Robert De Niro and Rocky , an underdog story starring Sylvester Stallone. I can name off the top of my head right now: Million Dollar Baby , Cinderella Man , The Fighter , etc. But, however, all boxing movies are not created equal because there has to be a story to back the fighting up that we want to root for and care about so we can try to identify with the character(s). Even though this recent boxing film has some of those powerful elements, it beco...

Joseph Fiennes and Nicole Kidman struggling. There have been a lot of missing teenagers and little children in the media and in the ads because these young people run away with a lot of subjects in their minds. However, teenagers can blossom right in front of the parents' eyes and that brings a teenage boy or girl in another stage and also the parents on a different stage trying to protect children from more harm. So, what can opt them to run away from their parents? The movie tries to bring its eerie and delicate atmosphere into its ambiguity that sometimes the mood becomes so depressing that you even will care less on what the fates of each character will be. Tommy and Lilly (Nicholas Hamilton and Maddison Brown) live with their parents, Catherine and Matthew Parker (Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes) in a desolate town on the Australian outback. Lilly is a 15-year-old girl who is being promiscuous as, for example, she greets an aboriginal repairman at the door during breakf...

Run away from the Pac-Man! This movie has the most creative and interesting premise with video game arcade characters attacking the city and the people. I mean, why not? That's not a bad idea. However, when something creative and inventive comes up in the conference room, everyone, including the top movie executives, will agree to it because all they could think about are dollar signs in their head. Money is essential and great to the SONY company, from which this year they have not a good year with their movies. Even though I predict they'll probably get a lot of earnings, the material inside the creative premise meshes into one great disappointment that I wish the PAC-MAN could eat up. Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) is a former arcade video game aficionado who works for a company that installs software. And, Will Cooper (Kevin James) is the President of the United States, who gets mocked constantly for not running the country properly and also is teased because he failed to...

Amy Winehouse. This is a short movie review. Is it or is it not a cliche to document musicians as subjects for documentaries? Yes and no because we would want to get to know the musician(s) in their personal and professional lives in terms of working, loving the music industry, fame and struggle. However, when a musician remains on the terms of just being talented to write/create songs and perform them as artistically as he or she can, then you "gotta leave him/her alone to perform it". Even though Amy Winehouse is not an artist I listened to often, I now understand how life treated her unfairly and we lost a very talented musician that could've brought more sensational work. We take on a journey in director Asif Kapadia's (director of Senna ) documentary as we take a journey through the obstacles of fame and privacy above and under the tabloids as she tries to prepare and process in her mind how to perform on-stage and off-stage in her personal life. We see t...

Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, not his likely choice. A lesser known superhero or lesser known group of superheroes can come out of nowhere to surprise and delight an audience. Look what happened last year with Guardians of the Galaxy . Flawed, yes, but it was a total fun entertainment from beginning to end and as I watched the movie more times, my initial reaction was in the past and I enjoyed it more and more that I put it on my honorable mentions list last year. Every time I watched that movie it was the exchange of dialogue between the main cast that kept me laughing repeatedly and the action, of course, is exciting. We were never familiar with the next superhero that is released this weekend, but despite a sluggish first third, the movie achieved in something rare that it got a lot better as it went along. The movie is off-beat and in small scale, but it is still a fun superhero movie. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is a thief who just got out of prison staying over at Luis' (Michael Peñ...

Amy Schumer and Bill Hader having a good time. As a tool for this latest comedy this year, the movie's execution made me realize whether or not "monogamy isn't realistic". It depends on the person's, regardless of any gender, characteristics and status in terms of one's dedicated career and life. Is this person happy enough with his or her life to engage some intellect to accrue to oneself that monogamy is not realistic...for now? Maybe...maybe not. But, the next question is: When is the right time to find the one that you want to spend the rest of your life with? The comedy is a smart and vulgar movie that engages a bit of intellect into the witty screenplay that captures your attention and makes you laugh and it's all thanks to a comedian who is going to definitely make her mark thanks to this film. The movie opens with a flashback of Gordon (Colin Quinn) telling to his daughters Amy and Kim that he and his wife are getting a divorce and have them ...

Don't be scared. It's just a play.  Found-footage movies...wait a minute, let me be specific, found-footage horror  movies...it's like novocaine for the mind. The movie experience will make you numb when the whole experience is over because after going through all the contrivances and cliches we had to suffer through. We get a painful headache in the end because of the screaming, visual effects, camera-shaking and jump scares that ultimately sell it as a product. The reason I am giving this a worthy rating is that have an idea in the horror genre but they did not execute it well and the whole movie goes down the drains with some blood. In 1993, a high school play called "The Gallows" is premiering and a kid named Charlie gives a worthy performance but near the end of the play, a door is lifted beneath him as he is about to be "hung" at the gallows and he is actually killed in front of the parents and the audience. Well, that's a foreshadowed tr...

That's a good boy, Max. Stay there so he can pet you. A dog can change everything regarding your life in general or your depression. But, a canine companion who has been at war with a soldier is different because he is a dog at duty. Also, the dog is soldiers is surrounded by gunfire, dirt and explosions. Plus, *spoilers*, but it's in the trailer, the main character's brother died at war and the dog who arrives back in America and sees his friend and mentor in a coffin and whimpers a bit loudly. That's sad. However, when you have a movie involving a dog, you can see all of the excitement and tragedy coming a mile away. Even though it is a bit unpredictable, it is a kid's movie that is rehashed into an Oliver Stone movie with drugs and a dog and it was an unpleasant experience to watch. Max is a German Shepherd helping U.S. Marines in Afghanistan. His handler is Kyle Wincott (Robbie Amell) and has a good relationship with the dog. Kyle keeps in touch with his f...

Stuart, Kevin and Bob before Gru. The Despicable Me  franchise, compiled of two movies, has started its inception with a neat concept of a bad guy forced to be turned into a good guy because he had to raise three adopted girls. The first movie was funny, clever and sweet because of its human nature and irreverent satire. The latter can be brought up because the secondary characters, Gru's minions, provided some childish but comic humor and also you cannot resist how cute and small they are while they are reciting their own gibberish talk to Gru and to each other. But, the question is: how did they get to know Gru and how did they exist? The spin-off gave us some answer to those questions and with a spin-off, you need to have a story. Well, the minions are adorable but the story is a TV special that is suited for only the young crowd. It is a product that carries itself too far. The narrator (Geoffrey Rush) provides a brief history to us, the audience, as how the Minions (voic...

Arnold's back. But, is the franchise back? Sci-fi and time travel. What a combination to propel either a film, phenomenon or franchise to gear that can hook you as to figuring out and solving the puzzle. The question is how soon can you figure out the puzzle using clues such as foreshadowing, sci-fi elements, hidden dialogue and a timespan to classify it as a thrill ride but a nice challenge. I mean, Inception and the Back to the Future trilogy was a fun ride to solve their situation in a dream which I figured as a maze and also solve their situation in a fun and humorous timeline. But, when you have to solve a situation that is not fun and is confusing and you do not even care and you try to have fun, we have Terminator: Genisys . From the get-go, I have a tough time typing this review when I'm trying to figure out what is going on in the timeline. So, you have to bear with me, please. In 1997, Skynet took over and unleashed Judgment Day upon the world as we witness ex...