Caro the Movie Critic

Eddie Redmayne as a transgender Einar Wegener. Let me confess. I mean even though I understand the psychological emotions and depth of people who want to transform his/her body to another gender counterpart, it is a daunting challenge to both one's life and a family's life. It is crazy. However, there has been news in the media, mostly about the Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn Jenner transformation, regarding the transgenderism and sexuality that people tend to oppose themselves as natural human beings. I do not know how many people in the population has become the opposite sex but I was waiting for a movie that explores the perceptions and emotions of the process. Despite some self-indulgent camerawork and predictable arc, this is a solid, well-acted and moving film behind that process both physically and emotionally, thanks to two great performances. Einar and Gerda Wegner (Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander) are artists or painters who are talented and happy with their lives in D...

Angelina being consoled by Brad because her movie is a bore. First off, I'm not a marriage counselor. But, this is a painful outlook of a marriage crumbling at the pitfalls of hysteria and devastation. However, we know that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are a great couple and also, separately, have great careers in the movies and also in charitable work. Brad Pitt has been on a roll with some recent movies like Fury ,  Moneyball and a small role in 12 Years a Slave . Angelina Jolie has not done much but she has had some solid work. Even though their reputation has been well-established since their pairing in the action-comedy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith , the movie itself is so painful to watch that I had to take my eyes off of the dreariness that was very difficult to conceive. It was so difficult that it gave me a headache after is over and wanting to cry...and not in a good way. This is a small story that takes a risk about an unhappy couple of Roland and Vanessa (Brad Pitt and Ang...

Adonis Creed and Rocky Balboa.  "Do we really need another Rocky movie?" We keep asking that repeatedly for the last 25 years ever since Rocky V ended in 1990. I think Rocky is an absolute fantastic movie that is inspiring for never want to give up and also as a great rags-to-riches story as an Italian boxer who is not really going anywhere in his boxing career. But, it's a great romantic movie and it produces a fantastic boxing match between him and Apollo Creed. Personally, I think Rocky II still has the boxing fight in the series and it's a good movie. Rocky III had moments, but it was a bit forgettable. Rocky IV is cheesy montage fun with him going against the massive Russian. Rocky V was horrendous and Rocky Balboa redeemed itself with inspiration. This seventh entry does not focus on Rocky, however, this new entry focuses on a newer generation with the same attributes and settings as the first movie and it is the best movie since the very first one. Adon...

It's the most wonderful time of the year for these stoners. Let's recap my  Love the Coopers  review. I am a sucker for Christmas movies again but that experience with that film with Diane Keaton and John Goodman was such a dull nightmare that you can see every cliched scene coming but it's a side with an awkward dinner with such stale dialogue that you want to retreat from the dinner table and throw the leftovers in the trashcan. That film felt like a leftover that was in the refrigerator for 5 years. Putrid. But, after a cup of alcoholic eggnog (just kidding), I badly wanted a good Christmas movie to return to form. Even though it is a raunchy holiday comedy with a few predictable jokes, this is a well-balanced Christmas comedy with some truth and heart that is served with a side of hilarious stoner jokes. On Christmas Eve, 2001, Ethan Miller (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) lost his parents in a car accident. His best friends, Isaac Greenberg (Seth Rogen) and Chris Roberts (...

The Spotlight crew. Investigative journalism is a very tricky and difficult business to process a story that contains some lurid detail of a story and not leak any rumors or opinions of a controversial matter that could possibly impact someone, a group of people or the entire nation. These journalists have to get everything on point from the interviews of the victims to the grammar of how each sentence is meticulously crafted. It is an immediate interest because we witness a newspaper joint working on the clock on the story and nearing deadlines. However, what is the risk of delivering a controversial story to the nation? Maybe, your life and your family's life in jeopardy. This movie is in the same league and same breath with another brilliant movie about investigative journalism, All the President's Men, directed by Sydney Pollack starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford. This is a movie you cannot take your eyes of and it feels like you're in the newspaper room and...

Saoirse Ronan needs some love. From the point of view of immigrants trying to start a new life in America, they would not know where to start. They have to go all in, if we want to use a poker analogy, to use their knowledge from another country to place themselves as both an American citizen and a citizen from their home country. It also brings a self-assured maturity in both life and in the movie as how the character or citizen will change in perspective in where he or she is heading while working in another field, trying to identify the American customs between people in general and in the workforce. This coming-of-age drama is a beautiful portrait of a self-assured mature woman trying to accommodate herself into 1950s America and being identified as a self-assured mature individual in the workforce. A young Irish immigrant, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) tries to navigate her way through 1950's Brooklyn as she departs from Ireland to her mother's (Jane Brennan) home of N...

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) in her final stand against President Snow. Another end of an era for another YA series but this series, as a total package, somehow, has been inconsistent and bringing different pieces of the Hunger Games  puzzle from a technical and narrative angle. The first movie brought a very good concept with a relevant theme of a society being in the pitfalls of a post-apocalyptic era that has borders and rules of engagement. To bring some cheer from every district, another competition of the Hunger Games would emerge. However, the vision and camerawork was an interference from being great instead of being a solid movie. The sequel is fantastic with a thrilling cliffhanger and a good balance between the media and politics. The first part of this Mockingjay  movie was just a huge political build-up with some thrilling moments that was unsatisfying. However,  Mockingjay - Part 2 has enough substance to balance the politics, the performances, the acti...

Idris Elba as the Commandant.  Child soldiers have been a subject of bad news in what the world is training future kids who have the potential to change the world in a positive manner. However, it is a bad influence into manipulating kids to change the world in their home continent of Africa and becoming a powerful nation that can make a difference. Commanders are forcing and scaring kids into military tactics for life and it is more risky to get some of them killed in grisly ways. But, this movie is a horrifying outlook of how a child has to survive in his country during a war by becoming a soldier, no matter the obstacles he has to go through. This is a riveting piece of filmmaking most of the way through, but ends a bit conventionally for my taste. War is taking over Africa threatening a small village which persuades the mother, sister and baby brother of Agu (Abraham Attah), to flee and Agu and his father, older brother and grandfather to stay behind. Unfortunately, all o...

Love the actors, hate the movie.  Ah, Christmas. "It's the most wonderful time of the year" and also there has not been many Christmas movies in a while and counting on the movies, there are four or five coming including this movie I will review. But, now, I did not say that there has not been a good Christmas movie in a while, well, now, I'm saying it. Arthur Christmas was a true delight 4 years ago. However, even though I'm a sucker for Christmas sentiment in some movies (hey, I actually liked The Holiday ), this movie sucked me down into the pitfalls of very bad Christmas movies. It is one of the worst Christmas movies for sure. This movie, as advertised, feels like another movie in the Garry Marshall canon of insipid and terrible holiday ensemble films. Watch both Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve  for about 10 minutes, any section, then, turn it off. Where do I begin, because there are multiple storylines? Most characters are part of the Cooper...

Charlie Brown and Snoopy.  Nostalgia is the first word that comes to mind when I was watching this movie because I am still a fan of the Peanuts movies and comic strips. They are basically artistic masterpieces of both American literature and entertainment. I was excited and skeptical simultaneously when I was watching footage and trailers of this next movie because I was concerned whether or not they will stay faithful to Charles Schulz's material and spirit. Maybe, it was the 3-D animation that got me a bit skeptical or the fact that TV specials or series does not translate well to Hollywood movies. But, I happy to announce that this movie stays faithful to Charles Schulz's idea of the characters and the world and not become too innovative in its material. It was a wonderful treat to behold. Charlie Brown, again, is frustrated with the fact every subject and endeavor he attempts ends in disaster whether if it's sports or kite flying. However, in the middle of winter...

Years in one single room cannot be ALL that BAD. It is a scary feeling for anybody to have a feeling of getting abducted in the middle of the day in the middle of a neighborhood where you are not familiar with, but worse, in where you are familiar with. You underestimate the dangers around the suburbs. But, put yourself in the victim's point of view, you will have no idea of how long you are going to be with your kidnapper: a month, six months, a year, six years? Plus, you cannot figure out how you can get yourself out of his/her place and out of the situation. Well, the victim(s) has to realize how to get themselves out of reality and try to find the goodness in every way, even if you have a child in your hands. Room provides a emotional heft in the everyday reality that the innocent characters go through and make the situation better. Without corny sentimentality and forced manipulation, the movie delivers a heart-tugging drama that will persuade you to grab someone else'...

All of the James Bonds. "The name's Bond...James Bond." Ah, yes, the classic response to a card dealer's question of who he is in a perfect first impression of the iconic character he is today. How about that? We have one of the longest franchises going, and, at times, we were getting tired of suave humor and innuendos and puns from the man in the tuxedo. However, we almost have fun in each of the 24 movies that we have had the pleasure of watching going on the adventure with him, seducing women and drinking martinis: shaken, not stirred. But, there were great Bond flicks, good ones, bad ones and a few awful ones. However, I have taken the liberty to assemble my favorite 10 flicks. One or two are a bit crazy to put on the list, but no matter, here we go. 10. Tomorrow Never Dies I'm probably the only person ever to put this underrated movie in my top 10 but there are two reasons I put this in the #10 slot, beating Live and Let Die and Dr. No  is because...

Daniel Craig as James Bond again. Skyfall  left such a great impact after the movie was over as the whole film was slick, hair-raising, tense and psychologically complex as Raoul Silva played brilliantly by Javier Bardem tries to push both M's and James Bond's buttons. It was an epic Bond movie for the ages.  Spectre leaves off where the previous movie ended in which the MI6 building is still left isolated and M (sorry, spoilers) is now a new M. In comparison with two of the Daniel Craig movies, it is a disappointing outing, however, as a movie in the franchise, it is a passable action-adventure with a sort-of sloppy organization of its villains and a subplot that is a bit uninteresting. However, it is still a recommendation because of the action sequences and a still credible role by Daniel Craig. On a mission in Mexico, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is ordered unofficially from the last M (Dame Judi Dench) to kill two men who are about to blow up a stadium in the middle of...