Reviews

This series starts so strong. It's creepy and the mystery is mind-boggling. But therein lies the problem. I haven't read the book, but sometimes I feel like Stephen King comes up with original premises and then can't really deliver the goods because he doesn't have a good explanation for the why and how. It just is so because the writer said so. So while this starts so strong, it falls apart for me because by the end, the reveals aren't that good.

This is a well-produced documentary that highlights many things about the Woody Allen molestation case(s) that previously weren't widely known. It's sad and hard to watch at times, but it's also an important perspective. Draw your own conclusions after you watch it.

Yes! Kate Winslet shines as Mare of Easttown. It's enjoyable to get to see a female actress play the type of faulty hero that is usually reserved for men. The murder mystery is well done, and the characters are fantastic with great dialogue. A couple emotional scenes happened off camera (big pet peeve of mine), but I'll forgive that because the show was very good otherwise.

It's fascinating to hear from the (now) adults behind some of TV and movie's biggest childhood stars. Everyone's experience of childhood fame is different but it all comes back to the fact that their childhood was anything but different. Years later, it's interesting to see how that impacted them and how they processed it, for better or worse.

A bit weak on character development. This movie trades gritty and atmospheric for something with more depth. Not bad but it just didn't grab me and take me on a journey.

It's slow to start. A lot of setup. I feel like this was a very interesting story and the cinematography and archival footage and interviews were top notch. It was a 4 hour mini-series though, and I feel like this story would have been best told in a 2 hour movie, because it's a little slow and repetitive at times.

This film centers on the terrible Penn State sexual molestation of young boys by a man who was at one time on the Penn State coaching staff and an esteemed, respected community member and coach. What makes this different though than any news coverage you've seen is that it goes inside Joe Paterno 's life to show the downfall of a community and sports icon from the inside (or at least what is imagined, since I doubt the real Paterno contributed his thoughts on this. I think the family has been pretty mum on it). Riley Keough does a great job in her role as reporter who breaks the case. Al Pacino is stellar too - you'll forget you are even watching Pacino and just get lost in the story.

The feeling of this film is really cool. It feels like cultural slice of life in New York. It worked for me more as dramedy than a romance, because I never really felt incredibly invested in the characters. They weren't entirely likeable/sympathetic, but they were still interesting.

Sweet Home Alabama is one of Reese Witherspoon's most endearing (yet sassy) roles, and it's Josh Lucas when he was a rom-com hero too. Their chemistry is fab and the witty banter and explosive arguments are super fun. It's a silly movie overall but it has a few moments here and there of seriousness, with themes like divorce, loss, homosexuality, identity, roots, family loyalty, and acceptance. Patrick Dempsey is great as the third point in the love triangle.

This was a great film that I watched on a day where "I couldn't find anything to watch." It showed me a culture/demographic/area that I knew little about (and subsequently did additional reading on afterwards). It's dramatic with serious elements, but there are also really funny moments. A great sports story that is also an inspiring story about a struggling community.

Vile characters but a cool, stylized look. It's just hard to care when there's no one worth caring about. Too bad because it had some entertaining scenes when watched as stand alone scenes. But when taken as the sum of its parts, it's a movie that's hard to stomache.

Gritty, indie romance that's kind of slow but also has that raw, real feel that people who love indie romances also love. Good performances but it took awhile to fully pull me into the two main characters' personal sagas. Good but not great overall.

I was really into this mystery throughout it. Guy Pierce is fabulous. It has a dramatic mystery feel that makes you want to guess and solve and find out what's happening next. All that said, I felt let down by the ending. I won't say why because that would be a spoiler, but I'll just say that proceed with caution with this one. If the ending had been better, it would have been an 8 or 9 for me.

I guess I'm "Free Britney" too. While the movie covers aspects of her controversial conservatorship, the most interesting stuff was when it dove into the topic of females - esp. Female celebrities - have been treated unfairly in sexist, misogynistic, intrusive ways. It is no wonder that she eventually had a mental health breakdown. Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner with how crazy her life was and the complete lack of privacy or respect for her as a person. The doc also makes good points about mental health and shows that while we have a ways to go, at least we are more sensitive now to it and don't just laugh at people when they are suffering (at least, the media is more sensitive; obviously nasty internet trolls still exist). FREE BRITNEY!

The stark, white, clinical setting of this film gives it a cool dystopian feeling. Kristin Stewart is fantastic. It's the kind of film that makes you think. I would have ranked it a 7 or 8 but I wasn't in love with the way it ended. The ending didn't ruin it for me, but I did feel it could have been better.

Yeah, that's a lot of genres rolled up into the title of my review. This movie is hard to define, but it is pretty interesting. It's not a fast-paced thriller by any means and at times, I'm not even sure it makes much sense (just suspend disbelief), but it gets high points for originality and two likeable leads.

I didn't realize this was from the filmmakers of Hereditary. About 10 minutes in, the heroine was scream-crying and the way it was directed and shot, I said, "This is exactly like the scene in Hereditary. Exactly." The person I was watching with shortly thereafter looked it up on his phone and said, "That's because it IS the filmmakers of Hereditary."

If you liked Hereditary, you might like this. It's a slow, bleak, disturbing indie horror movie. It's way overly long (easily could have cut AT LEAST 20 minutes out of it). That distracts from its full potential because it's never good to make your viewers bored.

This is a movie best appreciated by adolescents. It's about the pains of feeling awkward as you grow up, and you don't have to be a tall girl to appreciate that message. It's a sweet story. Not a groundbreaking teen movie by any means, but a nice one.

This movie was so well-done. Lucas Hedges in the lead role as Jared is so likeable in a real way. Raised in a religious family, Jared is sent to a gay conversion therapy program so they can pray the gay out of him.

The conflicted feelings that Jared has about his own sexuality and his relationship with his pastor father are complex and moving. The bond that is shown between mother and son is even more so moving. This is a heavy movie in terms of subject matter and themes, yet it's also an enjoyable movie (when it's not breaking your heart) because the performances are so solid and pull you right in. Actor/director Joel Edgerton has a lot of talent, and this movie showcases that.

This show just didn't live up to how good it should have been.... Chris Pine. Love him. The lead actress... she started with promise, but I kept wondering when her outer façade would break and we'd begin to see genuine emotion (we never really did). Ultimately, it set up such an eerie, creepy mystery with real world inspiration, old Hollywood setting with awesome costumes and sets... but along the way, it totally lost my interest. I was curious enough to see the ending, so I stuck with the limited series to the end. But it felt like a mediocre show that should have been great.

I didn't realize I was a Woodstock fan until I saw this documentary on Netlflix. LOL. Everyone alive has heard about Woodstock, seen photos, etc. THIS documentary takes you inside with phenomenal concert footage? Why the '8' rating and not higher? It was a little slow to start. Stick with it and you won't be disappointed.

This film has so many dream sequence scares that by the time something suspenseful and scary happens in real life, they've cried wolf so many times that you assume it's fake for so long that you don't have the opportunity to be scared. Just a so-so thriller.

Full disclosure: I am not a Lifetime watcher, but the buzz surrounding this and the constant questions at work: "Have you seen Surviving R. Kelly?" led me to the channel. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of this series while simultaneously repulsed with the crimes R. Kelly has committed and (so far) gotten away with. I think that's coming to end soon, thanks to this series. Well done.

This isn't really that thrilling for a movie that's supposed to be a thriller. It kept me somewhat engaged due to the lead actor (Dylan Minette) who I've liked for awhile. There are also some great supporting performances, particularly Patricia Bethune in a nutty role. But ultimately it meanders through the storyline and has an underwhelming ending.

This is more a continuation story than one that stands alone as its own amazing piece. Really slow first half, but the second half is much better. It was really cool to see the little boy from Unbreakable all grown up and playing a critical role as the adult son to Bruce Willis in this. Pretty fun for fans of the first two, but not a great stand-alone movie if you're new to this "franchise."