Reviews by Stehako

Director: Jonathan Levine
His 4th Movie
My 6th movie watched from the director

This is a little better than expected. It's actually kind of a sweet story which makes it strange with the post-zombie apocalypse setting. I suppose that's what they were going for, so it works. The two leads are pretty good and the chemistry is there, also strange. Still, the production overall didn't really impress me - it's not bad, just basic filmmaking.

Added to Lists:
Top Ten Performances - Nicholas Hoult
Stuck in One Place

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Location: Montreal, QB, Canada

Director: Kasi Lemmons
Her 6th movie
My 4th movie watched from the director

This movie was kind of a mess. Lemmons' most recent work, "Harriet" was her best, so I thought she was about to really hit her stride here. Instead it looks like it's made by a novice filmmaker. There are too many little things that screwed it up, but the most notable ones were the rough character arcs and relationships that didn't make any sense, especially the lesbian relationship that begins the piece giving us viewer the idea that "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" might be about her in love with a woman but then never truly being able to love her because of fill-in-the-blank. Instead the movie's title is irrelevant, only named after one of her popular songs. The movie also made her very unlikable and turned her death from sad to "she had it coming, I guess" which is terrible. Then the movie ends on a scene that's trying to be powerful like the ending of another music biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody", except the poor filmmaking just leaves us viewer confused as to why we needed to sit through that melody.
I really "wanna" love this movie, but can't.

Added to Lists:

The Music Biopic: Ranked
Top Ten Performances: Stanley Tucci (Honorable Mention)

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Location: New York, NY, USA; Los Angeles, CA, USA

Director: Michael Bay
His 15th movie
My 11th movie watched from the director

I was really hoping this would bring Bay back to days of "The Rock" and "Bad Boys" and while it's not bad, it definitely didn't hit those marks. The Action is good, of course, that's what we want. The acting is a little rough, even from Gyllenhaal - Plus he wasn't believable in this role. The pacing and editing is absurd, part of the 'Mayhem' appeal for some, but it actually ruins it. Actually what ruined, as with most Bay films, is the script. It was awful - dialogue and story.

Added to Lists:

Top Ten Performances - Eiza Gonzalez
Speeding Along - Movies set in vehicles not on a road trip
Top Ten Films - Michael Bay

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Location: Los Angeles, CA, USA

Following an unneeded but, at least, decent reboot of the Spider-Man saga, this movie makes the same mistakes as 'Spider-Man 3' with having too many villains/storylines. It's not because it's confusing it's because they short-change every character; and by the end I don't really care about any of them.

The main actors are still entertaining and the production is still impressive, which is why this superhero movie is still better than average and better than 'Spider-Man 3'.

Chris Rock is funny and the supporting cast is strong enough, although Tracy Morgan needs a larger role.

There wasn't really anything inventive about the film, pretty standard stuff. The areas in which they seemed to want to be different ended up being awkward and over-the-top.

Director: Justin Lin
His 10th movie
My 4th movie watched from the director

This movie was just so ridiculous and not in as fun of ways as in previous installments. Yes, this is a guilty pleasure, but there are things that can ruin even those, like a Cardi B appearance, Jon Cena infiltrating another franchise, and taking the franchise to space. They jumped the shark into space.

Added to Lists:

"Fast" Movies: Ranked
When the Franchise Goes South

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Location: Several

Director: Kirby Dick
His 10th movie
My 3rd movie watched from the director

A very important subject told in an affective enough way. At times it felt amateurish, but overall it covered the topic and showed the issues in a varied way without feeling too long.

Added to Lists:

Best Documentaries of the 2010s
The Dark Side of America through Documentary Films

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