Caro the Movie Critic

All right. Here we are. It all ends with these last two movies but have to do with the same plot line as Harry, Ron and Hermione does not return to Hogwarts as they find the remaining Horcruxes, which are particular objects that can be a puzzle piece to someone's soul. In this case, they have to find Horcruxes that will attempt to wound him a bit so Harry can kill him. When reading the final book of the series, I just could not put the book down as the story to finding them was interesting and real exciting as we join them on the journey. But, also hearing the unprecedented news of the final movie being divided into two parts, I was excited because we get more material. With Part 1 , the movie provides solid filmmaking coupled with real-good performances from the the three main actors. But, sometimes, the story does get set aside to set too much mood and filler as they build up to the conclusion. The movie starts off as the Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour (Bill Nighy...

Oh. I remember Ouija, that awful movie. I was cringing while I was hearing the news or watching the trailer to this latest sequel. Actually, because this was a banner year for horror films on a bad year of movies in general, I was giving this movie a little bit of a benefit of the doubt. So, what happened was I got in, purchased a ticket, strolled into the assigned theater, sat down, watched some previews and opened my mind hoping that this movie has at least a shred of good scenes. I will say this: the movie is a bit surprisingly scary with a memorable performance from a child. So, I can say that I liked it enough with reservations. Alice Zeander (Elizabeth Reader) is a fortune teller working from her house hosting séances, however, the customers do not know about them. Her teenage daughter, Lina (Annalisse Basso) and nine-year old daughter, Doris (Lulu Wilson) helps her out. Alice explains that she does not mean to scare her customers, instead, she tries to help them. Lina sugges...

Halloween is around the corner and a lot of flesh will be skinned or slashed when it comes to the horror movies talked about on this post. Jk. You know what? A lot of people like to have fun either spooking people or just dressing up in whatever costumes they want to fit in and embody. The horror genre is not my favorite because there are too many horror movies nowadays that somehow are cliched and you can also see the jump scares coming. Now, for 2016, even though it has been a bad year for movies, it has been a banner year for horror movies. Now, for many directors who have the task to direct these horror films, it is hard to execute a great idea to entertain an audience. You can either surprise, entertain or bore them and most of them I tend to get a bit bored but there are some out there that will get me excited that I went on a full ride with the concept or story. There are some classics or solidly entertaining scary films out there and here are my personal favorites. The ...

Hold on. I thought the title was called Jack Reacher: NEVER GO BACK. Hmmm...ok. While I was watching the first movie a few years ago, I thought the action sequences were well-crafted and well-choreographed with the hand fighting and the car chases. But, somehow, the story did not as engage me like Cruise's action films such as the Mission Impossible franchise or Minority Report . It felt like that the story somehow was not crafted as well that the villains by Werner Herzog and Jai Courtney amped the film up a bit. With the sequel, there is not much with its filmmaking, it is just that the story felt predictable that its execution was marginal and does not offer anything original or exciting. And, that is a shame because this is a Tom Cruise action movie that we are watching. Police arrive at a scene in which four people have been beaten down to the ground and an onlooker tells the officers that one man pummeled them all within seconds. Sheriff Raymond Wood (Jason Douglas) and ...

We're onto the sixth movie and even though I was let down on the last movie which was Order of the Phoenix , I wanted to give director David Yates another chance because I felt like his first effort did not translate well from the book into the material and the balance of the film. However, while reading some parts of the book again, the book had more mystery and intrigue surrounding Tom Riddle's past as a youth and really gets you to speculate what his plan was to become the most all-powerful wizard ever. The challenging task was to keep you intrigued by the plot starting to foil and also be enchanted by some of the humor thrown at you as raging hormones are noticeable in the book and the movie. I liked this movie more than most people because it has sumptuous magical wonder along with some light humor and interesting storytelling. The movie opens with Death Eaters threatening London by destroying one of their bridges and also threatening Diagon Alley as they burn O...

Well, when hearing about the story and watching the trailer, I thought it was an interesting concept of having a character having a syndrome that makes him twitch but is capable to do things at a higher level of him being an accountant. But, also, he is a freelance assassin taking care of some evil, dastardly deeds that propels the movie into some generated tension and excitement. Even though its narrative storytelling is not as structurally intact than advertised, the movie has enough energy to grab your attention to weave through the violence and deception that each character holds. Plus, it takes its time correctly to solidify the characters and the story. Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a math savant and an accountant in his own, small practice. He has a few small twitches like tapping his fingers and blowing on them.  He is a talented accountant as he helps out a farmer and his wife with their house. As a thankful gesture, the farmer lets Christian have a plenty of space ...

We're about halfway through the Harry Potter franchise and this is the turning point in which I found the material to be darker and more mature when the storyline surrounding Lord Voldemort grows. And, also we see another new and fresh direction as David Yates comes into the spotlight to finish off the franchise with the last four movies. I remember watching the trailer in the theaters and I was excited for this movie as it was mostly action-packed. The bottom line is despite the camaraderie between the young Hogwarts characters and a real-good action sequence in the climax, it is a choppily edited and more grounded movie that does not provoke much magic or memorable scenery. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is enduring a hot summer and Dudley (Harry Melling) provokes him by making fun of the fact that Harry is haunted by Cedric's death from The Goblet of Fire and also his mom's death. As a storm approaches, demeanors come into the tunnel sucking Dudley's so...

Disney is on a roll with inspirational films such as Miracle , The Rookie  and recently, McFarland, USA . What the filmmakers and writers do is 1) respect the characters and the material as the story would take off and not make it as overbearing. The true story has to be organized but with some emotional impact surrounding the story. 2) They also translate the story into a remarkable sports film and even though you could treat it as a sports movie, people would argue it is not a sports movie. But, I think of chess as a cerebral sports movie as that sport trains your mind harder than ever because it is like a brainy battle board on a chess board. It is a phenomenal product of feel-good triumph that its performances and environment upgrade the movie beyond its formulaic points. Phiona Mutes (Madina Nalwanga) is a young Ugandan girl who lives in an impoverished slums of Katwe in which she makes her ends meet by selling corn and other vegetables rather than going into school. Her m...

Let's be honest. It has been a while since I've seen a great Tim Burton movie and Sweeney Todd  has been almost 10 years ago. I liked Big Eyes  and I think that this is an underrated movie: A small, respectable film about the true story about artistry. When watching the trailers for his next movie, I was mostly a tad excited because I thought that Burton could bring back his signature style mixed with the action sequences and maybe potentially make a fantastic movie. Well, the title can be intact as this was a peculiar movie because even though the production design and visual effects are darkly weirdly magical, the story and villains bring it down a notch or two. Florida teen Jake Portman (Asa Butterfield) is living a mundane life. He gets a call regarding his grandfather, Abe (Terence Stamp). When Jake calls Abe, the old man sounds frightened and crazy. As they make it to Abe's home, Jake and Shelley (O-Lan Jones) sees a mysterious man with white eyes (Samuel L. Jacks...

We move on to the fourth chapter as we now see a more mature development on its franchise, story and characters. As I was reading the fourth book, actually, I was more engaged in the story because of the competitive edge and also the evolving story surrounding Harry Potter's legacy and Lord Voldemort. Times have grown and are changing as the franchise becomes darker and a bit emotionally challenging as Harry struggles with his scar more than ever as Voldemort's presence is getting closer. The movie and the book's tone is quite deciphered as best as they can and even though there are patches of flaws and manipulation, the result is nearly an epic addition to the franchise. The Four Champions. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is dreaming of a caretaker of the Riddle household being killed by Lord Voldemort as he overhears his plans with Peter Pettigrew (Timothy Spall) and another man. He lodges with the Weasleys at their house: Ron (Rupert Grint), Ginny (Bonnie Wri...

I heard so much publicity: both good and bad. So, I will begin my review with the publicity surrounding the movie and then move forward to concentrate on the art and nothing else. People were raving about this movie on January at the Sundance Film Festival as it got a standing ovation for Nate Parker because this was a few days after the once-again controversial Oscar nominations in which no one of color in the acting or directing nominees was African-American. (I did not say "foreign" because Alejandro G. Inñaritu was nominated for best director and won for The Revenant .) But, it was great for the movie that Fox Searchlight purchased it for $17 million. But, the flip side of the coin is that Parker was faced with controversy surrounding alleged rape accusations and there were a few scenes that concentrated on that subject. So, will it hurt its Oscar chances? Most likely. Even though it has flaws with its screenplay and its direction, Parker has demonstrated his sheer ambi...

The best-selling book was on many shelves and was spreading the word as to how deeply drawn a reader can get attached to the characters or to the mystery itself. However, I did skim through most of the book and I found myself not as attached as I thought in comparison to last big hit, Gone Girl , which is a far better movie and book than this. However, I was highly anticipating this film because of that familiar vibe of Gone Girl  and we can figure out who killed the woman who is in a relationship with someone as the girl commutes. The main problem is that the movie is lifeless that even though that there are moments of brooding suspense and a good performance, the story plods along with filmmaking structures that is fluff and does not build upon the conclusion. Rachel (Emily Blunt) is an alcoholic who has violent outbursts that causes her ex-husband, Tom (Justin Theroux) to cheat on her and divorce her. Rachel explains that she has been on the train for years in the same seat,...

I don't recall the event of Deepwater Horizon having an accident and killing 11 men on the oil rig in 2010 but I do recall the impact that the accident has caused. The unfortunate event has caused a major oil spill, the worst in history, that lasted for 87 days and spilled over 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But, also many people know it as the BP oil spill as executives were blamed for the decision for potentially inciting manslaughter but also making some questionable and rash decisions. But, even though the movie highlights the BP executives in the first half, the movie does not focus on the politics but on the event itself to provide both solid entertainment and a gripping disaster thriller. Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) lives with his wife, Felicia (Kate Hudson) and their daughter, Sydney (Stella Allen). Before he leaves for the rig, Sydney asks Mike to bring her back a dinosaur tooth to back up her presentation up of saying that he works at an oil rig...

When the news of director Chris Columbus departing came about, I was a bit skeptical as to who would helm the third movie or potentially take over the franchise. As the news of director Alfonso Cuaron was discovered, I thought, at the time, I have not heard of this guy except he directed the 1995 version of A Little Princess , which is an underrated and fantastic children's movie. When I first saw the movie when I was an adolescent, I thought it was a pretty good movie but not better than the first two. Now, as I progressed with my age and I matured over the years, I watched the movie a few more times over the years and the movie has grown on me as Cuaron's signature filmmaking style and vibrant cinematography took over the magical world of Hogwarts. And, out of all of the movies, I can make the case that this movie is probably the most accurate representation of the magical world of Hogwarts depicted on-screen. It felt like a Harry Potter movie when I can insert most of the...