Caro the Movie Critic

People say that, "Well, 2017 has been a disappointing year." And, I question in what aspect. I can agree with some aspects in today's world that people are either negative or divisive that I can mostly agree upon. But, I would not think that 2017 has been a disappointing year for the movies. If you think it is, then, you have not seen the right movies. I will grant that it had been an ok summer for the movie but overall, there have been some surprises and also potential bursts of brilliance throughout the year that has a probability of being classics over time. What I loved about 2017 in the movies and what defines 2017 in the movies is the diverse variety of movies that people will enjoy in whatever taste of genre they have an affinity for. Even though the sales are down, word-of-mouth and debates have been stronger especially compared to when Star Wars: The Last Jedi  came out. Critics loved it, audiences are mixed. Take a look at Rotten Tomatoes.  My initial opini

2016 was a tough year for director David Ayer who made Suicide Squad  because there were talks that Warner Bros interfered with the project and that Ayer had a concept that felt suited to the superhero movie. I actually wanted to see Ayer's cut of that movie and not the mess that was placed upon me that felt like a kid was scribbling Crayola all over the background setting up characters or in different scenes. Anyway, this movie is basically no different as the story felt a bit incoherent and too much going on in the style than in its substance. But, I have to be honest. I had enough fun with its characters and the action that I can recommend people to stream it. The movie takes place in the future in Los Angeles in which humans co-exist with elves, fairies and orcs. Officer Daryl Ward (Will Smith) has had a bitter working relationship with his partner, Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) because of an incident involving Ward being wounded on duty. Ward is struggling to keep his house

All right, director Ridley Scott has gotten this movie on time and I have to applaud his efforts by turning the movie around because of the allegations. Once the trailer came out, I was hooked because of the story and because I did not know it was Kevin Spacey underneath that makeup portraying J. Paul Getty so I was excited. Unfortunately for Spacey, multiple sexual assault allegations were leveled against him and the role was recast for Plummer, which was his initial choice. So, after all the reshoots and the recasting, did it pay off? The movie does not entirely pay off due to an awkward middling section but the performances and the whole story is what keeps the movie afloat thanks to Mr. Scott. The movie starts in an awkward state which Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) has gotten a divorce and Gail rejects the Getty Oil's money in the settlement but she still cared for J.P. Getty III (Charlie Plummer). Unfortunately, he gets kidnapped in Rome by an organized crime ring. The

I have to be honest. I did not see many documentaries this year which totals about five including the Spielberg documentary I saw earlier this year. Even though they are interesting subjects, two reached out to me, one is the Spielberg movie, because I liked how he used his personal life in his movies that I did not notice. So, I'm afraid to say this was not a strong year for documentaries as a whole but in other cases, it is still great to explore different subjects that is either poetic or horrifying. So, here they are. City of Ghosts, R, 3 stars This documentary is a profound and disturbing look of behind enemy lines in Syria as they attempt to expose the ISIS human rights violations. This is a solid documentary of how the power of journalism is used for potentially for the greater good, however, director Mathew Heinemann displays the corrupt evil as a way for democracy for their country. The last image is truly terrifying even there is unnecessary sentimental tropes a

Tonya Harding is a person who worked long and hard to pursue a dream of being the best skater in America and even the world. So, when I heard that a studio was pursuing a project about Harding, I thought ok, this will be interesting and we do not get many true stories about skaters often enough. I thought it might be a "by-the-book" kind of movie where it plays the same sort of beats you find in a sports biopic. For example, Raging Bull , the mother of sports biopics from Martin Scorsese, felt like poetry as it takes you both on the positive and negative sides of Jake La Motta's story both in the boxing ring and in the outside world in his low life. This movie does not reach those heights but it had echoes of that Scorsese film that becomes more lean, dark and exciting. I really had a good time with this movie. As a child, Tonya has been pushed by her mother, LaVona (Allison Janney), to join a figure skating class that is taught by Diane (Julianne Nicholson) since sh

I do not want to go into another rant as to why I am not a fan of musicals again. However, watching the first trailer, I was enthralled by the production and the movie felt like a happy end to a year full of hard times and divisive topics. I am a fan of Hugh Jackman's performances of recent years, especially his stellar performance in Logan  this year. However, a musical about the circus got me skeptical and nervous simultaneously as the genre and the subject don't cross well with me personally for some reason. But, I went in with an open mind and even though there are problems with the narrative, I could not resist most of the musical numbers in the movie that are well done and well choreographed. It felt like there was some magical coming on-screen with the most of the songs, so, I marginally liked it with a dumb grin on my face. We open with P.T. Barnum as a young boy in the 1800s who was working with his father, who was a tailor. One of the clients has a daughter named

Alexander Payne has made his last three strong movies and is one of the most underrated directors that should be more praised because of his concise narratives and interesting characters: Sideways , The Descendants  and Nebraska . So, he is marrying a social context/commentary with his next project  with a genre, science fiction. I thought his next project is a bold but different movie for Payne to tackle the social commentary as to why people are "downsizing" into another world. Unfortunately, his ideas are overshadowed by a big jumbled mess of problems that it does not become a total package. It is a package of ideas that does not cobble together. In Norway, Dr. Jorgen Asbjornsen (Rolf Lassgard) performed on shrinking lab mice and his experiment succeeds. Five years later, Dr. Andreas Jacobsen (Soren Pilmark) is speaking to the people regarding overpopulation, and thus, he and Jorgen have found a solution to create another world for another population. People all aroun

Aca-what? Another sequel? Sometimes, and we've seen this repeatedly every year, studios see the opportunities to look at the domestic and worldwide grosses and take advantage of making another movie and try to get the same audience. Rarely, a comedy sequel will be good and works. However, the audience will not want to revisit it again. Pitch Perfect  was a very good and successful movie, its sequel, even though it made more money than its predecessor, was ok at best. (I did not like that movie.) So, they want to wrap it up as a trilogy of riches and when hearing they are making a third movie, I asked why? What is next for these characters? Do I even care? Well, this is a comedy that makes you to give you your soul to these Bellas but this movie did not make my heart connected with these characters or make me want to sing. John and Gail (John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks) are part of a documentary crew that the Bellas are making, filming on what they are doing in their e

Even though movies starring Robin Williams always stay with me, the original movie, Jumanji , did not. The original had a fresh concept but the special effects are poorly done and basically distracted me from the experience. It had some fun moments and the character portrayed by Williams was well done but the rest of the movie was not too much fun and the story was pretty much forgettable. So, I had low expectations going into this movie because of its name and that it is sort of a video-game sequel and video-game movies have not done well at all. I think studios need to look at both Wreck-It-Ralph and this movie to know how they can put a story and some very good characters together. If you want some family entertainment this holiday season, welcome to the jungle of fun as you are part of the video game experience. Spencer Gilpin (Alex Wolff) is a nerd who helps his former best friend Anthony "Fridge" Johnson (Ser'Darius Blain) with an essay. Later, Spencer is calle

Here it is. We've been for a Star Wars  since...well, last year. But, a continuation from The Force Awakens a few years ago. When it opened, I did expect to be a big opening and a big profit because The Force Awakens  was not just a movie, it was an event. Heck, you can consider every Star Wars movie an event, if the results succeed or fail. After any episode of this saga, you are left with questions. Now, after watching The Last Jedi  twice (which I rarely do because my initial experience is my review), I had to process what this movie was about and if the choices were sane or logical made by the characters and also by the director, Rian Johnson. Despite some issues with the movie, this eighth installment of the episodic saga is an ambitious entry that will cause some discussions and debates for a while. THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW  and I will be as vague as possible with the plot. The First Order is planning to seize military control of the galaxy as General L

I have to be honest because years like this rarely happen for two reasons: 1. I did not have that many awful movies on the list this year which was sort of a blessing. Haha. 2. I had an easy time selecting which movies would go on this throne of pungent garbage. But, it was a "game of thrones" to select which movie would have that esteemed honor of being the worst movie of 2017 and that was a bit harder because 5 movies were in contention for that top spot. There have been a variety of movies, though, on my list that range from surprisingly an animated movie (not really, when you see the title or hear the premise) to a crime drama with the predictable mediocre comedies in between. Regardless of which movies are on the worst 10 or the dishonorable mentions, it was a tough time watching these movies amongst a very eventful year. A few were disappointing but all are just unbearable to watch again. Dishonorable Mentions: The Book of Henry (it is so bad that you have to s