Caro the Movie Critic

I have been waiting for a taut R-rated action movie and we do not get many movies with carnage and bloody action violence with an action star nowadays. When I heard Mel Gibson was coming back to act in a movie, I thought, well, I have to put my notions on how I feel about his personal antics aside because the guy can act. For example, if you remove him from Braveheart ,  Ransom  or replace him with another actor in the Lethal Weapon series, the charm and conviction would be missing. Now, this is a movie that came out of the blue this year and I have to say for a B-action film, this is a pretty solid action film. Lydia (Erin Moriarty) is on the run after she commits an error by accidentally shooting Jonah (Diego Luna), her boyfriend, on the neck during a raid because the tenants supposedly have stole the drug cartel's money. Many miles away is Lydia's father, John (Mel Gibson), who is an ex-con and a recent parolee. He is a tattoo artist living in his trailer living in a ne...

Onto the second installment of the franchise... After watching the first movie in theaters, I was still in awe as to how detailed and truthful the movie captured the essence of the book. From we last left off, we find out that when Harry was confronting Professor Quirrell/Voldemort, he destroyed his opponent by turning Quirrell into rubble. Dumbledore explains as to why Harry defeated him, it is because his mother gave him a magical, love-based protection which allowed him to not be killed. I liked that it is a piece of the puzzle as to where the journey will end. But, the second movie, again directed by Chris Columbus, is bigger and in my opinion, better than the first movie because of its mystery and also a fantastic sequence towards the end that was scary and awesome to behold, especially in the theater. Dobby: "Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts this year." Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) spends the summer lonely in his relatives' home, without receiving ...

Hmmm...I don't know what is with me against Warner Bros. Animation that gets me to meet lower expectations against their projects. With The LEGO Movie , I thought it was a marketing ploy and a cash-grab but after watching that movie, it was a big surprise and it was a funny, delight film that was easily the best animated movie of that year. With this latest movie from their studio, I had, again, low expectations based on their promotion and also when it is released. I have to admit that I am actually surprised how much I enjoyed this movie regardless of their logic. The movie is funny and sincere. Storks had a record of delivering babies around the world but not a corporate company has merged with their business and has now become home of a e-commerce website in which they deliver packaged goods. Junior (voiced by Andy Samberg) is the top delivery stork and has been called in to his boss' office, Hunter (voiced by Kelsey Grammar). Hunter is having a big promotion and is con...

Oliver Stone is one of the most, if not the most, controversial directors out there, however, he can make conspiracy theories entertaining. But, the problem is that his conspiracy theory movies are uneven in terms of entertainment and storytelling structure. My favorite "conspiracy theory" movie of  his is JFK  and because even though controversy will be heavily regarded, we, the moviegoer, will still not know who assassinated John F. Kennedy. Like Jim Garrison, "It's up to you." But, also, he has made Natural Born Killers , Nixon , Savages... movies that have moments of greatness, especially Natural Born Killers  but somehow is not navigated as a precise product of interest nor aggression since Natural Born Killers . I thought that Savages brought his aggressive filmmaking style back in some moments of the movie, however, I felt that this movie, while it is entertaining and engaging at times, the movie feels too laid back in its prime storyline and its aesthe...

Honestly, I tried my hardest to accept the first Bridget Jones movie: Bridget Jones's Diary  and even though the movie has its charm and an attractive cast, I could not pinpoint as to why people enjoy the movie. You can put this story at any location and twist it with some good storytelling and it would have been a better movie. But, then I realized after watching the disastrous second movie, she is an interesting woman. But, to add to that, she is accident-prone and when the franchise relies on her being so accident-prone and doing the wrong things, it feels like watching a tired cartoon. And, this latest film is a tired cartoon about a single woman having flaws with an interesting situation but is dragged down to cliched scenes and comedy. In a hilarious opening, Bridget (Renee Zellweger) is waking up on her 43rd birthday and her mother reminds her that her time to have children is running out. Bridget now works as a television producer and is close friends with the anchor o...

Did you know that the 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven  is a remake of Seven Samurai , a masterpiece from Akira Kurosawa? Well, even if you thought it is irrelevant to the review, it is not. Again, this is the year of pointless remakes or sequels and a few of them are in consideration for that list of trashy concoctions that I compile at the end of the year that people or executives would define it as entertainment. This movie is a disguise for a fun summer western movie and even though the movie does not deliver comparably to its two preceded films, the movie aims exactly for what it aspires to be. I understood, after the film was over, that director Antoine Fuqua, wanted to make a fun western with not much poetry and he did it. Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) and his henchmen are terrorizing a town called Rose Creek because of low profits. When the townspeople congregate in the church, Bogue and his men come in to say that there is little profit in the town and even...

Welcome to my Harry Potter review series as I review or re-review every Harry Potter film in the franchise leading up to the Fantastic Beasts movie in November. So, I'm re-reviewing another series like I did with Star Wars  last year. So, the first movie to review is Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone . A new phenomenon and a new chapter was opening in cinematic history when the first movie in the series was coming out back in 2001. Many children including myself were reading the books before we knew that a movie surrounding the fantasy world in Hogwarts was coming out. When I first read the news on a Harry Potter series franchise being done, I read the books immediately and mostly all of them were page-turners. This movie set up the franchise real well delving into the magical world with enthusiasm and gumption that at times, I forgot I was watching a movie and I thought I was being a participant in the era of Harry Potter. This is a solid opener for the franchise. ...

Well...a modern Blair Witch movie. When The Blair Witch Project  came out in 1999, in a year of glorious cinematic and unique work such as Being John Malkovich , Fight Club , The Sixth Sense, The Insider  and American Beauty , even though the five I mentioned were talked about, this movie was one of the main highlights of that year due to being one of the first found footage movies ever made. It was the talk of the town at one point of the year because many people were thinking that the movie could have been a real "snuff" film in which maybe the cast did not survive the experience because it felt real. I remember the marketing campaign was substantially big regarding news of teenager missing on the Internet and newspapers and just clips from the film on television. Well, there have been so many tired found-footage movies since then and now we revisit with a surprising sequel 20 years after the events of the first one. Except for the last 20 minutes, the movie is moderniz...

Sully on the phone after a plane "landing". I remember the event which is now titled, "Miracle on the Hudson", in which a pilot landed on the Hudson saving 155 passengers and crew in which multiple geese struck the engine causing a failure and Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenger took the initiative to land the plane on the Hudson. When I was watching the news on CNN, I thought I hope nobody got hurt or even worse, suffered fatal injuries. Luckily, everybody was saved despite a few getting injured and being hospitalized but it was a event to witness and to recognize Sully and his staff to calm the passengers aboard and getting everyone safe. But, the movie revolves around not just the event, but also the NTSB investigation of the event as they question whether or not Sully took the right course of action. This is a quietly triumphant movie that chronicles a solid actor-director foundation to deliver a tribute to the man who does not want to be accepted...

I'm so glad that the summer movie season is over because this is one of the most disappointing and lukewarm summers in some time. There was about two or three great movies and some good ones but a myriad of disappointing or bad movies. The standouts were two genres: horror and indie. They produced the best quality as it focused more on the substance than the style which favored me over all of the formulaic and by-the-numbers genre films. Most of the movies were crafted nicely, however, it seemed like that most filmmakers forgot that they were telling a story or producing good dialogue with the audience. Oh, well... So, here are my 5 FAVORITE Summer Movies... 5. Finding Dory 4. Star Trek Beyond 3. Kubo and the Two Strings 2. Captain America: Civil War 1. Hell or High Water My 5 LEAST favorite movies of the summer...ugh... 5. Warcraft 4. Ice Age: Collision Course 3. Alice Through the Looking Glass 2. Nine Lives 1. Independence Day: Resurg...

Ex Machina 2: The Machine Strikes Back Again. Artificial intelligence androids and robots could potentially threaten our existence as we become more reliant on technology and then we expand to create human beings. We explored that last year with one of the best movies of the year, Ex Machina . That movie was an exploration about the experiment regarding sexuality between human and robot. What could cause an attraction between them? However, this latest sci-fi film does not explore anything deep regarding the psychological traits of an android. The movie is a mystery sci-fi thriller regarding a seemingly "human" robot triggering an attack against another human and they investigate where the experiment went wrong. The movie boasts a strong cast but the product overall does not present a satisfying result with an Alien type of story. I wonder why the director set up the movie like that. Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) is an artificially intelligent creation that is seemingly huma...

The storyis about Vikander's and Fassbender's chemistry. No, really. Derek Cianfrance has made two movies about relationships in a lower-middle-class world that I was personally affected and moved. Blue Valentine,  not a Valentine's Day movie for couples to see, is about the uprise of a relationship and the depressing downfall of a marriage starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. It is a movie that I cannot personally revisit because this is a movie that left me cold despite two great performances which makes the film. And, The Place Beyond The Pines , which is 2/3rds of a great movie with a decent enough last third that explores the father-son dynamic. I have seen it a few more times and I enjoy it a little more with reservations for the last third of the movie. Cianfrance, in his latest movie, explores the isolated relationship between man and woman that is accustomed to unpredictable events. However, even though the movie boasts three sublime performances, I fel...