Caro the Movie Critic

Bradley Cooper as this year's chef.  This is a sample that tries to get your attention of you haven't seen before, putting in a little of food metaphors. However, there are numerous food and chef reality shows that tries to get you into the passion of cooking and baking something that you or others have never experienced before. It's fusion of flavors and taste that will get you craving for more. However, I have seen some movies regarding cooking and passion for cooking and food itself that stirred my creative vibes and taste buds into a soul search for something different. But, this is not a movie that earns a Michelin star for originality because this movie does not urge to crave for more. Adam Jones (Bradley Cooper) is a rising chef who had the ambition to become a great chef with a great reputation in the culinary world in Paris. However, his background is dark as he succumbs to some tempestuous activities such as alcoholism, sex and drugs and destroys the relatio...

Listen to me, Spider-Man. You're in a real movie. The house market is inconsistent and not as solid as in the past which creates angst and stress for real estate workers. However, in the process of evicting owners, real estate operators and repo men have to do their duty but maybe deep down inside, I mean, real deep down, they feel bad towards the evicted home owners as this puts a blockade in their lives financially and physically. This is a movie that experiences the situation placed on a former home owner dealing with the consequences of financial strain. However, the director wants to place you in that dark situation, and even though, it has a strong statement to say about that, the movie throw aways that solid piece of reality and puts the material down with a mixed message towards the last third of the movie. Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), has been recently let go from his job as a construction worker in Orlando and is a single father. He and his son, Connor (Noah Lomax...

Vin Diesel trying to combat another bad movie.  Um, Vin Diesel, as a witch-hunter, is cursed with eternal life in the 14th century? Sounds sweet, eh? Not really. This is the second movie where eternal life is brought upon a character, the first movie being the better, but not quite unforgettable The Age of Adeline  with Blake Lively and Harrison Ford. Eternal life is sad because you have to persuade yourself to witness about every event and every tragedy in your life, parents' life and friends' life. You don't get to go on that same parallel journey. But, let's not talk psychology and philosophy. This is just another general wasted film in a niche of fantasy movies. But, who is the niche? Kaulder (Vin Diesel) is an 800-year-old witch hunter cursed with eternal life by the Witch Queen (Julie Engelbrecht). A bunch of dudes enter a lair like it is another LOTR sequence except the whole sequence is incomprehensible and not as engaging. But, then we have to wait until ...

Jack Black and the kids in trouble.  I must confess that I have not been a fan of R.L. Stan's Goosebumps series because when I read the books, I never could connect to the humor and the parody of the horror genre as how kids witnessed the all these type of mawkish Halloween characters spooking the younger characters into terror and belief. But, I believe R.L. Stein said that they never put the characters into situations where they are involved with death or something life-threatening. I believe that is refreshing. It is sort of a premise for a Saturday morning cartoon. We do not get as many fun Halloweens for younger audiences as we should but this movie is right for that demographic as this version contains enough fun material and source to control our attention and center ourselves into that ride. It is an admirable and fun movie. Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) and his mom, Gale (Amy Ryan) move to Madison, Delaware where Gale heads a new job as a vice principal at a high scho...

Tom Hanks defending a Russian guy.  Steven Spielberg: He is a master of crafting a blockbuster that will entertain movie audiences and get them jittery and excited throughout the whole experience: Raiders of the Lost Ark , E.T. , Jurassic Park , Catch Me if You Can . Also, he knows how to craft exceptional dramas: Saving Private Ryan , Munich , Lincoln and of course, Schindler's List . But, also, he has a little bit of sci-fi background: Close Encounters , Minority Report , War of the Worlds , A.I.  I could list about the filmography for him but that will be for later in the year or maybe next year. But, the Cold War itself is a hard topic to tackle because we are too familiar in what happens from a general perspective. However, he found a hidden story in the history of the Cold War that is suspenseful in a quiet manner and makes into a well-crafted and solid thriller with some issues in the second half. It's not top-tier Spielberg, but it's a very good Spielberg movie....

Snow? But, I thought it was a Halloween movie. Guillermo Del Toro is a director that is sort of overrated and I emphasize "sort of" because he is definitely a heck of a great and visionary art director. However, his vision and artistry overcomes the material and the pace becomes slow and self-indulgent. He's too infatuated with his vision and his material. He has sort of an inconsistent record with his films, his great movies being Pan's Labyrinth , the Hellboy series and Pacific Rim . Mimic and Blade II did not do it for me. Now, with his latest movie, as I was anticipating this whole movie as the trailer was scary, the movie, as a whole, had too much interest in its visuals but very little interest in its storyline, as it is neither scary nor interesting. Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) has encountered a terrifying visual experience seeing his mother's ghost, who warned her, "BEWARE OF CRIMSON'S PEAK!" Now, later, in her adult youth 14 years l...

Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs. Wow! It is sort of ironic and a bit of deja vu as I am typing this review because the first Jobs movie with Ashton Kutcher is the movie I first reviewed on the blog and it is a little skeptical and humbling to review another movie about the genius behind Apple and its products. But, biopics have become a bit too epic and bloated in its material and retreats to the Hollywood conventions of inserting romance and too much substance into the movie and becomes safe for Oscar consideration. With this movie, it goes for the throat with the pitch-perfect dialogue and non-merciless characteristics. This movie is extraordinary to behold. Director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have structured the movie into three different events. They are all behind-the-scenes before the product launches of the MacIntosh in 1984, the NeXT cube in 1988 and the iMac in 1998. Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) has to deal with the situations on-hand regarding his pro...