Author: tlkabtmovies
-
Hotel Mumbai [2019] ★★★
Movies based on horrific real events tend to be hit and miss, but it didn’t take “Hotel Mumbai” more than 5 minutes to pull me in and keep me on the edge of my seat. Writer-director Anthony Maras isn’t content in telling things as they were. He wants us to be spectators to the horrors…
-
Five Feet Apart [2019] ★★
I bet you couldn’t wait for the next movie about two sick teens who fall in love. I’m kidding, of course, but if you’ve seen “The Fault in our Stars”, then you probably know what to expect from a movie like “Five Feet Apart”. Personally I’ve enjoyed the former and I don’t mind sentimentality in…
-
Captain Marvel [2019] ★★★
By now, you probably know that “Captain Marvel” will play a major role in the upcoming “Avengers: Endgame”. So it’s only natural that Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers gets a standalone film at this stage in the Marvel cinematic universe. And you couldn’t ask for a better movie to make your mouth water before the highly…
-
Isn’t It Romantic [2019] ★★
Sometimes movies that were originally scheduled for a theatrical release end up on Netflix, and for a good reason. I’m not saying that “Isn’t It Romantic” is a complete disaster, but it’s not worth 10 bucks either. I like Rebel Wilson, and I was rooting for this to be good. Alas, after an intriguing premise,…
-
Escape Room [2019] ★★½
If you’re a sucker for escape rooms, then this movie was especially designed for you. It’s formulaic for sure, and it borrows a lot from such movies as “Cube” and “Saw”, but it kept me on the edge of my seat. You can practically picture the filmmakers plotting their next move as soon as the…
-
-
Happy Death Day 2U [2019] ★★½
“Happy Death Day” caught me off guard with its intriguing premise and constant twists and turns. If you remember clearly, Jessica Rothe played a college student who keeps reliving the day of her murder over and over again. The “Groundhog Day”/Horror crossover worked well enough, and I found myself recommending it to a lot of…
-
Alita: Battle Angel [2019] ★★★
Judging from the early reviews, you’d think that “Alita: Battle Angel” is bound to flop. But now that I’ve seen it, I can tell you that it has enough visual effects and production values for two movies, and I had a good time with it. For one, it’s hard not to admire producer James Cameron’s…
-
Velvet Buzzsaw [2019] ★½
If you’ve seen Jake Gyllenhaal in Dan Gilroy’s terrific directing debut “Nightcrawler“, then you know why I was looking forward to their next collaboration together, this time on Netflix. But unlike their previous film, I couldn’t stand “Velvet Buzzsaw”. I admire what Gilroy was trying to do this time around, but I just couldn’t buy…
-
What Men Want [2019] ★½
“How bad can it be?” I kept asking myself before I walked in to see this movie. The 2000 movie “What Women Want” starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt wasn’t innovative in any way, but it was light and charming. But as soon as “What Men Want” started, I had an immediate reaction of annoyance…
-
-
Cold War [2018] ★★★½
This stunning movie from Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski is up for 3 Academy Awards, and deservedly so. Shot in beautiful black and white and set against the backdrop of the 1950’s Cold War in Poland, Pawlikowski tells an impossible love story between two musicians: Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a jazz musician putting together a traditional folk…
-
BlacKkKlansman [2018] ★★★½
I missed “BlacKkKlansman” on two occasions: first time in Montreal last summer and the second time was around a month ago when it was briefly released locally. So I might be coming late to it, but having heard all the good buzz (including the 6 Academy Award nominations), I expected nothing less than a good…
-
Stan & Ollie [2018] ★★★½
First a personal story: for as long as I can remember, Laurel and Hardy were always a part of my life. When I was a kid my grandfather made it his mission to introduce me and my cousins to the famous duo. Needless to say, we were all hooked. So on my way to see…
-
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part [2019] ★★★
I may be swimming against the current here, but I enjoyed “The LEGO Movie 2” more than its predecessor. The first one caught me off guard with its hectic action sequences. Here, I knew exactly what to expect, and I had a blast with it. It’s been five years since the events of the first…
-
Serenity [2019] ★
Behold. This preposterous thriller starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway is the year’s worst movie so far. I say that with disappointment because it had potential. And I admit: it had me going for a few minutes, up until a ridiculous turn of events that made no sense whatsoever. Let me start from the beginning:…
-
Dragon Ball Super: Broly [2019] ★★★
Something that I probably never mentioned on this blog is how much of a Dragon Ball Z fan I am. I still remember receiving Volume 13 on Christmas back in 1997 (why not start with Volume 1, mom?), and how immersive it all was. Naturally I ended up reading all the books over the years,…
-
A Dog’s Way Home [2019] ★★½
Dog movies tend to be hit and miss, with the most recent miss being “A Dog’s Purpose” a couple of years ago. “A Dog’s Way Home” doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way: it’s old-fashioned for sure, but there’s something irresistible about it. The story captures your heart from the word go, as do all…
-
Boy Erased [2018] ★★★
At a time when most movies playing at your local multiplex offer nothing but escapism, it’s good to encounter one that has something to say about modern society, and a solid cast to bring it to life. In adapting Garrard Conley’s 2016 memoir, writer-director Joel Edgerton takes a thought-provoking look at gay conversion facilities, and its…
-
Worst movies of 2018
T’is the season. Every year I prepare a list of the worst films of the year that I’ve seen. But I’ve decided to do things a bit differently this time. I added some Netflix films that deserve recognition for being the worst of the worst, as well as films that were truly disappointing in…
Let's Talk About Movies 