Caro the Movie Critic

I have to be quite frank questioning what happened to the characters in the first two movies because the YA adaptation genre is dead in the water unless another Harry Potter or maybe Hunger Games movie will be made. However, I guess I am jumping into the review here now because I find this franchise to be a bit forgettable in spite of the well-made and well-choreographed action sequences. I found the conclusion to be my favorite movie of the series whereas there are stakes but ultimately, I did not care about its main characters. Thomas, Newt and Frypan (Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Dexter Darden) are the last of the "Gladers" immune to the Flare virus that has wiped out most of the world's population. They try to save Glader Minho (Ki Hong Lee), who is on board of a WKCD transport train. They take the wrong cargo as Minho is taken to the "Last City", its base of operations. In the WKCD headquarters, they test Minho's blood, created into a...

Well, as they did so, the Academy of Motion Pictures and Science released their Oscar nominations for the 90th Oscars early this morning as Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish read the nominations aloud. To be honest, there were some surprises in most of the top categories than anticipated because there was one movie that scored big that came out late in the year. But, I guess, that movie got sent to the right people for it to be nominated. Anyway, here is the full list of nominees in the 90th Oscars... Best Picture: Call Me By Your Name Darkest Hour Dunkirk Get Out Lady Bird Phantom Thread The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Best Director Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk Jordan Peele - Get Out Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird Paul Thomas Anderson - Phantom Thread Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape of Water Best Actor Timothée Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour ...

When going into a heist thriller, I try to temper my expectations down a notch because this is one of my favorite genres. I think the ultimate masterpiece that might get a GREAT SELECTION essay in the future is the 1995 Michael Mann movie, Heat , with legendary actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino facing off. It was a tense stand-off between criminals and cops especially in a masterful heist sequence that I think gets overlooked. But, I digress. I think director Christian Gudegast has seen this movie a little too many times to get another cinematic similar heist film with similar tools. However, I cannot lie. It was an entertaining time watching this B-level heist thriller. The movies sets in Los Angeles as a team of robbers led by Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) attacks the guards and break into the armored truck. However, one of the robbers, Donnie (O'Shea Jackson Jr.), kills the first guard and the police arrives engaging them in a shootout. Unfortunately, the robbers escape with...

I am not an expert of blaxploitation movies because honestly, I have not seen many. But, I have seen a couple of movies that started the genre such as Shaft  and Foxy Brown , starring Richard Roundtree and Pam Grier respectively. I was glad I enjoyed it once but I have not revisited them. But, the genre died down and filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino made movies giving their homage to that genre such as Jackie Brown , which I thought was quietly dynamic because of the dialogue. But, unfortunately, Shaft was remade in 2000 with Samuel L. Jackson. I'll give that remake most of the performances like Jeffrey Wright's however the plot was forgettable. I was enamored by Taraji P. Henson's charisma and positive attitude to make this movie but in spite of her performance, it falters in many categories that it went downhill from the opening scene. Expert assassin Mary (Taraji P. Henson) is guilty after killing a target that is related to his son, Danny (Jahi Di'Allo Wins...

Daniel Day-Lewis. One of the best actors in history. Period. It is melancholy to see a great actor retire because we rarely have any actors/actresses dedicated to his craft by forming his character, staying in character (method acting), choose consistently solid projects, work with fantastic directors, etc. You can look at his filmography and you cannot select one bad performance. Now, for his final movie, he is working with director Paul Thomas Anderson for the second time after their collaboration in the masterful There Will Be Blood . I am not a big fan of period dramas because I feel like sometimes the characters are going through the motions, however, I did not see an aspect of a story coming and the movie becomes so twisted that it becomes psychologically fascinating and riveting despite the movie being a tad overlong. In 1950s London, a renowned fashion designer named Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) makes outfits for upper class citizens and socialites, having establis...

I have to be quite honest. It is going to be an unpredictable awards season since there is no consensus as to what movie will take the Best Picture Oscar. I do believe, except for Best Actress, that all the people who have been getting awards are set for getting their deserved award. Getting back to the Best Picture race, I do believe it is between three movies and we'll see if they will get nominated. (I think they will.) So, I will predict who will get nominated in the top categories and may potentially get nominated and also for the first time, I will predict some hopeful, wild card nominees in other categories. Best Picture (The committee can pick 5-10 nominees.) Call Me By Your Name Dunkirk Get Out I, Tonya Lady Bird The Post The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Potential nominees: All the Money in the World, The Big Sick, Darkest Hour, The Florida Project, Logan, Mudbound, Phantom Thread, Wonder Woman Best Director: Guillermo Del Toro...

The cuddly, talkative Peruvian bear is back and even though I did not review or have not seen the first Paddington  in theaters, I watched the first movie for the first time recently. (It is on Netflix.) I cannot believe I overlooked that first movie because it was such a charming and harmless movie. That first movie almost reaches the level of Toy Story  material where it is so grand in its achievement that both kids and adults will enjoy this movie. I must admit even though some of the advertisement was quite too silly, I went in with an open mind and I came out thinking, if they make a third movie and makes it as good as the first two, this might be in contention for the most underrated trilogy ever made. However, we have the second one and this is a heartwarming children's movie that we rarely get at the movies, especially a very good children movie sequel. Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) has been comfortable and has been popular around the Windsor Gardens as he is...