Category: Reviews

Released: January 2020

Director: William Eubank

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 95 Minutes

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

Cast:
Kristen Stewart: Norah
Jessica Henwick: Emily
T.J. Miller: Paul
Vincent Cassel: Captain
John Gallagher, Jr.: Smith
Mamoudou Athie: Rodrigo

Ah, January: The month where movies that studios have no faith in go to die.  Seriously, though, January is never a good month for movies in general, let alone horror movies.  People usually don’t go out to see movies in one of the coldest months of the year, and movie studios generally know that.  Whenever they have a film that they feel won’t make them money or might not get the reception that it may deserve, they dump it in January where the film will almost certainly tank.  I’ve seen it happen with a lot of movies including Underworld and Split.  Now, that does not necessarily mean that all movies released during this month are awful.  Not at all.  There have been some pretty good films like Split that have surprised people, but for the most part, January is the WORST time of year for movies.  The box-office numbers are well below average and the overall quality of the films released during this period are not very good.  So, whenever something comes out in January that may look interesting, most people will assume that it’s not going to be any good, which is a shame for movies like Underwater, because sometimes you get a movie that is actually pretty damned good.

Underwater starts off with a bang at a deep-sea drilling facility at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.  During a supposed earthquake, the facility begins to crumble and implode under the immense pressure of the ocean.  Norah, a mechanical engineer tries to warn people to get out before the section she’s in collapses.  Norah manages to survive along with a handful of other survivors including the captain, Smith, Paul, Rodrigo, and Emily.  Realizing that they are on borrowed time in their current facility, the survivors have to get their deep-sea suits and try to navigate their way to another facility that may be more stable.  Little do they realize, that all the drilling in the trench has awoken something in the dark.  Story-wise, Underwater feels very familiar, especially since I’ve been a huge fan of underwater creature features for decades.  This film reminds me of movies like Leviathan and DeepStar Six.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I really love those two movies.  We don’t get a whole lot of these kinds of movies anymore and it’s a damn shame, because when done right, they are absolutely spine-tingling and intense.  There is something truly terrifying about being at the bottom of the ocean beneath thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch.  It helps immerse the audience in the isolation and claustrophobia of that part of the planet.  Yeah, it’s a pretty straight-forward plot about survival, but it really works.

After seeing three of the Twilight movies, I quickly wrote off Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as actors that weren’t very good.  How wrong I was.  Robert Pattinson turned in an incredible performance in The Lighthouse and Kristen Stewart does a fantastic job here as Norah.   Ms. Stewart has proven herself a more than capable actress.  I think she can carry a movie on her shoulders and Underwater is strong proof of that.  While there isn’t a whole lot to the characters, every actor brings their A-game to the film.  Vincent Cassel is pretty good as the captain, and doesn’t come across as the stereo-typical jack-ass that you tend to see with those roles.  He’s always been a fantastic actor.  T.J. Miller is…well, T.J. Miller, although he keeps is “Miller-isms” to a minimum here.  I’m not the biggest fan of his character, but he does pretty well with what he’s given.  I really like Jessica Henwick and John Gallagher, Jr. as Emily and Smith respectively.  I think they make a fantastic couple.  I have to say, it’s rare to see a film where every character is likable.  Usually in a movie like this, you have one or two that you can’t wait to see die horribly.  Here?  Not so much and I think that’s fantastic.  That’s a credit to the director and the writers of the film.

In the story section of this post, I said that the movie starts of with a bang, and I wasn’t kidding.  It’s not even three minutes into the film before everything starts going to hell.  Because of that, the film moves at a break-neck pace from beginning to end and it doesn’t really leave a lot of time for the audience to catch their breath.  The 95 minute run-time for this film is absolutely perfect.  From the moment the structures begin to collapse, it’s non-stop race for survival.  It gets even more intense when the creatures start showing up.  For a low-budget film, it’s a pretty CGI heavy affair, but it’s done in such a way that you barely notice it.  You’re so engaged with what’s happening with the characters on the ocean floor that sometimes you miss the scale of where they are.  The scale is very surprising given the low-budget nature of the movie.  It’s really quite spectacular what they’ve accomplished here.  In terms of violence and gore, it definitely has some.  While it is a PG-13 film, it pushes that rating to the limit at certain moments.  The creatures themselves are like something out of an HP Lovecraft story.  You rarely get a good look at these things, but when you do, you’re like, “Oh, snap!”  I love the creature designs in all honesty.  I would have loved to see more practical models, but considering what the film-makers had to work with, I’ll take what I can get.  I also love the set and costume designs.  Those definitely have an Alien-vibe about them.

If there’s really one major issue that I have with the film, is that we aren’t given enough time to really get invested in the characters.  Yeah, they’re kind of likable, but we really don’t have enough time to get to know them.  Granted, the film moves so quickly that we really don’t have enough time outside of a couple of lines of dialogue, but I would’ve like to have learned at least a little bit more about each character.  There’s also nothing particularly original about the film, from its set-up to its conclusion.  If you’ve seen movies like Leviathan and DeepStar Six, you kind of know how this going to end.  Truth be told, however, I don’t mind.  The fact that we managed to get another deep-sea monster movie after 20+ years is a minor miracle in my opinion.  From what I understand, this film was technically finished in 2017, but due to the fact that Fox got bought out by Disney, plans for the film were left high and dry, pardon the pun.  I don’t really think they knew what they had here, so they dumped it three years later in January of the new decade.  I honestly hope that people will get out to see this movie.  It’s a lot of fun and it’s a real ride from beginning to end.

My Final Recommendation:  I’m staying on dry land, thank you very much.  9/10

I know I said in my last post that The Best Movies of the Decade was going to be the final word on the last decade of movies.  However, and I’m allowed to do so, I changed my mind.  I was going to hold off on this one until I had seen certain movies and now I have.  2019 was a huge year for the industry.  The year signaled not only the end of the decade, but it also heralded the end of certain stories, shows, and films.  We saw the end of Game of Thrones with its eighth and final season.  We also saw the end of the current iteration of Marvel’s MCU with films like Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.  The 40+year journey of the Skywalkers concluded with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  While 2019 was a banner year for big blockbuster films, it was also a huge year for the indie and low-budget film scene.  While I wouldn’t say that 2019 was the strongest year for movies, it was no slouch.  There were a lot of heavy hitters and some of them are going to be making this list.  So, let’s take a look back at 2019 and see the gems that it delivered.

Joker

I know, I know, this one seems rather obvious.  The truth is, Joker was one of my most anticipated films of the year and it delivered on all counts.  This isn’t an action movie.  It’s a character study of how one of the most notorious Batman super-villains became what he is.  Honestly, there’s really nothing wrong with this movie and all the controversy surrounding it is very misleading.  Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a mentally disturbed individual who was abused not just by his mother but by the system that was supposed to help people like him.  Joker is a look at how a broken system fails people, but can inadvertently create a monster.  Joaquin Phoenix turns in one of the greatest performances of his career and the film is absolutely riveting.  It’s not an easy watch and it certainly isn’t going to be for everyone.  Anybody expecting an action film like Batman I urge to look elsewhere for your fix.  This is not that movie, instead it’s something deeper and more profound.

The Lighthouse

This was the movie that convinced me to do this list.  The Lighthouse stars Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson as two lighthouse keepers on an isolated island and must contend with not only with each other, but the rapid descent into madness that afflicts them both.  To say anymore about the story would spoil the surprise, but suffice to say, The Lighthouse is one of the most unique movies I’ve ever seen.  From the visuals to the audio and the performances, this is a powerhouse of a film that doesn’t always provide answers for what’s going on.  The film’s look is a black-and-white picture framed in a 1.19:1 aspect ratio which gives it a very old early 20th century film look.  Despite the fact that it’s in black-and-white, that actually helps certain details in the film standout.  The background sound of a fog horn that constantly goes off throughout the film helps immerse the audience into feeling like they’re going crazy.  Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson deliver some of the greatest performances of the year, with Defoe playing a curmudgeonly old lighthouse keeper and Pattinson playing the younger and more inexperienced one.  This is an absolute mind-bender of a film and is one of the best indie films of the year.

Avengement

While Jesse V. Johnson’s Triple Threat was absolutely one of my favorite action movies of the year, it’s Avengement that gets the nod here.  Scott Adkins, in a career-defining performance, plays Cain Burgess, the younger brother of a notorious gangster who was set up and sent to prison.  Being targeted and brutalized while in prison, Cain fights back and escapes, seeking revenge for what he’s been through, culminating in one of the most brutal bar fights I’ve seen.  Scott Adkins has proven over the past couple of years that not only is he awesome with action, but he’s actually become quite a good actor.  Some of my favorite moments in Avengement don’t involve action, but are smaller moments between Cain and his mother.  Those felt real.  This is a far cry from the Undisputed films, but I think that’s for the best.  It allows for a more visceral kind of action and allows Adkins to really stretch his acting muscles.  This is a crime thriller that absolutely must be seen.

Midsommar

Director Ari Aster first made himself known with 2018’s breakout horror film, Hereditary.  It’s a film that did affect me on a personal level, despite how bleak and dark the film was.  It was a real humdinger of a film featuring some of the best performances and intense situations of the year.  Well, Mr. Aster did it again with 2019’s Midsommar, which is kind of his take on the Wicker Man’s cult-based horror.  It’s a slow-burner and at two and a half hours, it may seem like forever, but it keeps you engaged with some real stunning visual imagery as well as a powerhouse performance by Florence Pugh.  It’s definitely got its gory moments, but I wouldn’t say it’s a scary movie.  Like The Lighthouse, this is film that gets under your skin and makes it crawl.  It’s rare for a film to open with such a gut-punch, but it does set up the characters and the story to come.  Oh, and let’s not forget that the majority of the film takes place during the day, which is very unusual for a horror movie.

Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood

It’s hard to believe that Quentin Tarantino has directed only nine movies.  NINE.  But each film that he’s directed has never been a failure.  Sure, some like Death Proof aren’t his strongest, but if those are his worst movies, I’d say we’re in good shape, since he only plans on directing one more movie before calling it quits as a director.  It shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody that none of his movies are of the original variety.  It’s how he brings those movies to life that makes them unique.  He’s unique writing style, especially when it comes to dialogue, is unmatched.  He only casts the best in his movies and Hollywood is no exception.  Starring Leonardo Decaprio as Rick Dalton and Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, Hollywood follows television star Rick Dalton as he fears being left in the dust by newer stars and an ever-evolving industry.  This is an utterly fantastic piece of 1960s Americana that really nails the era in which it is set.  Tarantino, ever the master of attention to detail, outdoes himself in so many ways in terms of characters, sets and overall style of the film.  He even managed to transform Hollywood Boulevard into the 1960s version of itself and it’s all done without the use of visual effects.  The acting is fantastic and the story is just incredibly well-written.  Quentin Tarantino is a master film-maker and while Hollywood isn’t his greatest, it’s still a hell of a movie.  If you’re a fan of Tarantino, then you’ve either already either seen the film or own it on Blu-Ray/DVD.

There’s a lot of other movies that I saw in 2019, but these are the ones that really stood out to me.  I didn’t bring up Avengers or Star Wars because I don’t think they were really as strong as a lot of other films this year.  Yeah, Avengers: Endgame was a powerhouse of a comic-book film with some really emotional moments, but at its core, it still felt like a comic-book movie, and I was looking for a bit more than that for my Best Movies of 2019.  Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, while enjoyable, felt incredibly rushed.  It didn’t really allow for much character development as it decided that a break-neck pace was in order.  It rushed from set-piece to set-piece without giving the audience to process what was going on.  Outside of being a Star Wars fan and the fact that Episode IX was the end of a 40+ year journey, I didn’t get a whole lot from it other than it being a top-notch action movie.  So, yeah, the movies that I picked as the best ones from 2019 aren’t exactly the big blockbuster movies that most people would expect.  So, those are my favorite movies of 2019, and this concludes my Best of 2019 series.  Thank you all so much for reading and here’s hoping to a spectacular 2020.

Released: July 2009(USA)

Director: Darryn Welch

Rated R

Run Time: 81 Minutes

Genre: Crime/Thriller

Distributor: Phase 4 Films

Cast:
Sam Page: David Dunsmore
Natassia Malthe: Georgie
David Gant: Mohamed Azis
Michael Maxwell: Robert Dunsmore

Before I begin, I would like to apologize for not getting to my Best Movies of 2019 list.  Looking back over my Best Movies of the Decade, I think that was the list that I wanted to end the year on, because it wasn’t any easy one to, having to go through each year and picking out the best one for that year.  If you were expecting an actual Best Movies of 2019, you’re probably not going to see it, at least for a while.  With that out of the way, it is a new decade.  I want to do something special for this month.  It is the National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month, made official by President Barack Obama back in 2011.  For the next month I want to focus on films that deal with human trafficking in some fashion or another.  It’s a topic that I’m very passionate about and something that more people need to be made aware of.  Slavery didn’t vanish when Congress ratified the 13th Amendment, proposed by Abraham Lincoln.  Oh, no.  It went underground and is seen in every country around the globe, even here in the United States.  So, to do my part, I’m going to talk about movies that deal with this subject.  It’s a backdrop that’s been used by many action movies, thrillers, dramas, and horror movies.  I will be reviewing and discussing both the good and the bad.  That brings me to my first review of 2020: Slave.

Slave follows young David Dunsmore and his girlfriend, Georgie as they head to Spain to meet David’s father, Robert.  Shortly after arriving in the country, the couple head to local club to have a good time.  When David comes back from the restroom after a few minutes, he sees no signs of Georgie and nobody in the club claims to know him or her.  Unable to persuade the local police to help him, he tracks down a local bartender who says that David’s girlfriend was abducted by the White Arab, a psychotic Russian mobster known for trafficking in women.  After telling his father about what happened, David and the bartender set out to rescue Georgie.  Before anybody thinks that this film was actually inspired by Pierre Morel’s Taken which was also released in 2009, Slave was actually released in Spain 4 years earlier under a different name: Wish You Were Here.  The story is pretty straightforward and easy to follow, but in no way is it as compelling as Taken or other similar kidnapping films.  Strangely enough, this is as much of a family drama as it is a thriller, if you can call it that, but none of it was done particularly well.

Part of the problem with this movie is the writing.  The concept behind the film is good enough, but the talent that’s required to craft a compelling narrative isn’t there.  There are some interesting bits here and there, but for the most part the writing is very sub-par especially when it comes to the characters.  Most of the characters are just badly written.  The film’s main character, David, is nothing more than a whiny little bitch.  Every time he confronts people, he’s constantly told that he’s a wimp.  They’re right, he’s wimp that has no backbone.  How Georgie hooked up with this loser is beyond me.  Georgie isn’t a terrible character, it’s just that she’s not given much to do outside of being someone that needs to be rescued.  The most interesting characters in this movie are the side characters.  Robert Dunsmore, who is David’s father, is surprisingly given the most depth despite the fact that he comes across as a sleazy drug dealer.  The other really interesting character is the film’s villain, the White Arab.  This guy is an unhinged psychopath that has no compunctions about what he does.

That brings me to the acting.  For the most part, it’s okay.  There’s nothing that’s going to win any awards here.  Natassia Malthe is decent as Georgie.  She’s obviously a beautiful woman and that kind of helps, but again, Natassia isn’t given a whole to do.  It seems like a thankless role.  The two actors that really seem to be enjoying their roles are Michael Maxwell and David Gant.  Michael plays David’s father and gives the character a brutish, slimy, yet charismatic quality that makes you wonder if he’s actually worth hating.  David Gant, on the other hand is clearly having some fun with his role as the White Arab.  When the character goes ballistic, he goes all out and definitely across as an intimidating force.  Sam Page, on the other hand, though, just really isn’t that convincing and I don’t mean any disrespect to the actor.  He’s doing the best he can with what he’s given, but what he’s given is a whiny little shit that deserves to get smacked left and right for not having a spine.

When you look at the DVD sleeve of the film, you would expect there to be some sex, nudity and violence in the film.  You definitely get some of that, but a lot of it is surprisingly tame compared to other thrillers.  The pacing is also way off.  For a film that runs 81 minutes, it feels longer than that.  It’s too boring to be a thriller, but too tame to be an exploitation or horror film.  What we have here is a film that lies somewhere between “meh” and “bleh.”  It’s not an awful film, I’ve seen a lot worse.  Look, I’m a huge fan of direct-to-video indie films.  Some of my favorite movies never made it to theaters, in this country or any other, but Slave comes across as an overly generic thriller that thinks that it’s more than what it is.  Not only that, it really has nothing important to say about human trafficking or anything of that sort.  It’s something that’s just……there.  At most, it’s only worth a rental, if you can find it.  If you can’t, you’re not really missing anything.

My Final Recommendation: 6.5/10.  It’s not the worst way to spend an hour and a half, but Taken did it better.

I hope everyone’s holidays were fantastic and I certainly hope people didn’t drive drunk after last night’s festivities.  I do still plan on doing a Best Movies of 2019(should’ve done it sooner, I know), I want to do something special for today.  Since it is a new decade, I want to take stroll down memory lane and talk about what I consider to be the best movies of the decade.  I’ve seen a ton of movies over the past 10 years, so picking out my favorites is not going to be an easy task.  For that reason, I will only do one movie per year starting with 2009 and going until 2019.  Here’s hoping to a fantastic new year with some really fantastic movies!  Let’s get the new year started off with a bang!

2009: Avatar

While James Cameron’s Avatar isn’t anything new in terms of story, how that story was told is what mattered.  James Cameron was always a pioneer when it came to visual effects technology.  The Abyss and Terminator 2 are elegant proof of that.  He’s not just interested in telling a story, but also upping the ante in terms of visuals.  Avatar took what The Lord of the Rings did with Andy Serkis’ motion-capture performance and took it to a whole new level.  Avatar is one of the most stunning films I’ve ever seen.  The CGI is great and the photo-realistic environments of Pandora are without equal.  Avatar was also the first movie to utilize a new form of 3D called Real 3D.  It was the first film I ever saw in 3D, and it was one of the most captivating experiences I’ve ever had in a film.  Yeah, the story is Dances with Wolves in space, but the technological prowess of the film is what lands it on this list.

2010: 127 Hours

127 Hours tells the story of Aron Ralston, an experienced canyoneer who gets trapped in a slot canyon in southeastern Utah.  What makes 127 Hours such a good movie is that it doesn’t take its eyes off of the main character, played to perfection by James Franco.  The film does have a bit of a sense of humor, despite the terrifying situation that Ralston finds himself in.  Despite the fact that the film is based on real events and knowing the outcome of those events, it’s still a riveting tale of survival in one of Utah’s harshest environments.  The moment that Ralston has to make a decision in order to live is one of the most harrowing and brutal sequences I’ve seen in a non-horror movie.  This was one of my favorite movies of 2010 and it stands out as one of the best survival movies I’ve ever seen.

2011: Haywire

Haywire is one of the most underrated action films of the decade for a number of reasons.  For one, this was Steven Soderbergh’s first action movie, but you wouldn’t be able to tell with how he frames everything.  Secondly, this is the first leading role for former MMA-superstar Gina Carano and she carries this film incredibly well.  Featuring an all-star cast that includes Bill Paxton, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Fassbender, Haywire is a smart and tightly written tale of espionage and betrayal.  It’s absolutely one of my favorite action movies of 2011.

2012: Lincoln

2012 was truly a banner year for film.  A year that saw a large number of incredible action films like Dredd and Skyfall also saw the release of some of the greatest dramas I’ve ever seen.  Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is one of my favorite films, period.  It’s a story focused on Abraham Lincoln and his efforts to pass the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  This amendment is about the abolishment of slavery.  Lincoln is every bit as political as it is dramatic.  Some of my favorite scenes involve Abe telling stories, which is what he was known to do and he had a keen sense of humor.  The scenes in Congress are every bit as riveting as any battle sequence in any war movie.  Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a career best performance as one of the greatest Presidents in American history.  It really looked like you were peering through a window into history with how Day-Lewis performed as Lincoln.  That is how great this movie is and we also have Steven Spielberg to thank for it.  It’s definitely an astounding film.

2013: Prisoners

When it comes to kidnap thrillers, Prisoners is in a league of its own.  The film follows two families as they search for their daughters that have vanished.  The premise is simple enough, but what really sets this film apart is its deliberate pacing.  The movie runs at a hefty two and a half hours.  There’s a reason for that.  Like the characters on the screen, the film moves at such a slow pace that it gets under your skin so you understand exactly how these characters feel.  What also makes this film so damn good are the performances.  While the side characters are really good, it’s Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhall who are the focus here and they deliver some of the best performances of their careers.  This movie is incredible.

2014: The Salvation

The Western is a tough genre to really bring to life, mostly because there really aren’t a whole lot of original stories that you can tell within the genre.  That’s why you don’t really see a whole lot of traditional Westerns anymore.  While we have seen Westerns from American film-makers, we rarely see these kinds of films from folks in different countries, which is why The Salvation is such a breath of fresh air.  This is a Dutch-made Western set in the United States.  Starring Mads Mikkelson as Jon, a former Dutch soldier who came to the west for a better life.  After his family is murdered, Jon runs afoul of a man named Delarue played to slimy perfection by Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  This is a straight-forward revenge tale that just happens to be a Western and it’s an incredibly effective film featuring some amazing performances.  The real surprise is Eva Green as the mute Madelaine.  She says more with her eyes than she ever could with dialogue.  If you like Westerns, seek this one out.

2015: The Hateful Eight

There’s just something about a Quentin Tarantino film that just captivates you.  Whether it’s the snappy dialogue or extreme violence that shows up every once in a while, you can be sure the film is never boring and The Hateful Eight is no exception.  Love him or hate him, you have admit that Quentin Tarantino is one of the most unique film-makers in the industry today.  This is not a guy that uses quick edits in his film-making repertoire.  Oh, no.  He lingers on certain scenes to the point where it feels uncomfortable.  Yeah, it feels indulgent at times, but I’d say he’s earned it.  The Hateful Eight follows a bounty hunter, Kurt Russell as he takes his quarry to be hanged, but he has to stay at a lodge with some other unsavory people, which leads to some very interesting moments.  An incredibly strong cast along with a well-written script makes for an incredibly entertaining film.

2016: Silence

Martin Scorcese is one of the greatest film-makers the world has ever seen.  While I can’t say that I entirely agree with what he recently said about what constitutes cinema, you can’t deny that the films he makes are just that: Cinema.  The stories that he tells are intimate, powerful and engaging.  Silence is no exception.  In fact, this might be the most soul-crushing film that Mr. Scorcese has ever made.  The film follows two Jesuit priests, played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, as they travel to Japan to find their missing mentor while trying to spread their faith.  Unfortunately, Japan at the time was cracking down on Western influence which included religion and the shogunate was more than willing to execute people of faith.  Silence is a powerful film about the nature of humanity and spirituality.  It’s a rough one to sit through, but it is ultimately rewarding at the end, but not in the way you think it would be.

2017: Logan

The first comic book film on this list, Logan is a very different beast from other films in the genre.  I loved the X-Men films, but Logan is something truly special.  This is the final appearance of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart as Wolverine and Professor X, respectively.  What a finale it is.  Logan has a Western-vibe in the style of The Unforgiven and is just as gritty.  For the first time, we get to see Wolverine truly become unleashed.  This is a very violent movie where limbs are sliced off and heads are wrecked.  It’s ultra-violent, but at it’s core, Logan is a character-driven drama about a man faced with his own mortality and what it means to be a hero.  We’ve never seen Wolverine this vulnerable before and when young Laura enters the picture as Logan’s genetic daughter, it becomes a bit of a family drama as well.  It’s not a movie that’s going to be for everyone, but it is a testament to Hugh Jackman’s talent that he’s played the character for so long.  This is as perfect a send-off for Wolverine as one could hope for.

2018: The Hate U Give

One of the greatest things about film and one of the reasons why I love talking about this medium is the ability for a movie to educate and engaging audiences so they can help effect change.  There are a number of films that deal with societal issues, some of which I’ve already mentioned on this list, but The Hate U Give is a film that I think needs to be seen by everyone.  Based on the young adult novel of the same name, The Hate U Give follows young Starr as she witnesses the shooting of her friend by a white cop.  What follows is a very tense and emotionally powerful film that allows Starr to find her voice so she can speak for her friend.  Amandla Stenberg’s performance as Starr Carter is a break-out performance.  She nails it.  Everyone else is absolutely fantastic.  It’s impossible to over-state how important a film like this can be, especially for members of the African-American community.  This needs to be seen by everyone.

2019: Joker

For some, it may not come as a surprise that I would put Joker as the best film of 2019.  It’s a comic-book movie that doesn’t feel like a comic-book movie.  In fact, Joker has more in common with Taxi Driver than it does with Batman.  Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is one for the record books.  His turn as Arthur Fleck is nothing short of electrifying.  While everybody that knows about the Joker as a villain would understand that the Joker is a mass-murdering psychopath, Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix give the character a more sympathetic edge which makes his transformation into the Joker all the more tragic.  The film also deals with mental illness in a way that feels realistic and surprisingly responsible.  The cinematography is absolutely incredible and makes for a gritty and powerful film that transcends its comic-book origins.  This one is required viewing for anybody that enjoys the character.

These are what I consider to be the best movies of the decade, and while some are pretty obvious, others aren’t.  I could’ve loaded this list with action and horror movies, but the medium is so much more than that and I really look forward to seeing what 2020 can bring us.  So, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and I look forward to bringing you more content this year.