Now on Letterboxd!
Hey there! Thank you for your interest in checking out my brilliant film reviews. ;)
As of December 13, 2023, I am no longer updating this page. You can find my film ratings/reviews over on Letterboxd.
All the best,
Andrew
2022 Movie Report Card
She Said - A
The Banshees of Inisherin - A-
Barbarian - A-
The Fabelmans - A-
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - A-
Hustle - A-
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris - A-
Top Gun: Maverick - A-
Ambulance - B+
The Automat - B+
The Black Phone - B+
Emily the Criminal - B+
Everything Everywhere All at Once - B+
The Good House - B+
TÁR - B+
The Batman - B
Elvis - B
The Good Nurse - B
The Lost City - B
Nope - B
Scream - B
Texas Chainsaw Massacre - B
Vengeance - B
The Menu - B-
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - B-
The Whale - B-
Jurassic World: Dominion - C+
White Noise - C+
Deep Water - C-
Halloween Ends - C-
2021 Movie Report Card
CODA - A
The Lost Daughter - A-
Passing - A-
Worth - A-
Dream Horse - B+
The Eyes of Tammy Faye - B+
Halloween Kills - B+
House of Gucci - B+
King Richard - B+
The Many Saints of Newark - B+
Nightmare Alley - B+
Pig - B+
A Quiet Place Part II - B+
Respect - B+
Spencer - B+
Being the Ricardos - B
Nobody - B
The Power of the Dog - B
The Humans - B-
Malignant - B-
Mayor Pete - B-
The Tender Bar - B-
Moxie - C+
Don’t Look Up - C
Belfast - C-
Father Christmas Is Back - C-
The Woman in the Window - C-
2020 Movie Report Card
Da 5 Bloods - A
The Father - A
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom - A
Nomadland - A
Hillbilly Elegy - A-
Judas and the Black Messiah - A-
Let Them All Talk - A-
The Life Ahead - A-
Palm Springs - A-
Soul - A-
Sound of Metal - A-
The Invisible Man - B+
Mank - B+
Promising Young Woman - B+
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm - B
The Lovebirds - B
On the Rocks - B
One Night in Miami - B
Pieces of a Woman - B
The Trial of the Chicago 7 - B
Fatal Affair - B-
I Care a Lot - B-
The Little Things - C-
Capone - F
2019 Movie Report Card
I’m afraid, for now at least, I do not have the time to pen my usual reviews for 2019’s film releases - odds are, my Oscar coverage this year will also prove a tad sparse.
I shall, however, keep this list of the year’s pictures I’ve seen updated with simple grades - and, no doubt, you’ll hear me raving and/or bitching about some of them on Twitter.
Happy moviegoing! :)
Parasite - A+
Jojo Rabbit - A
Marriage Story - A
Dark Waters - A-
The Farewell - A-
The Irishman - A-
Knives Out - A-
Long Shot - A-
1917 - A-
Richard Jewell - A-
Terminator: Dark Fate - A-
Crawl - B+
Dolemite Is My Name - B+
Hustlers - B+
Judy - B+
Ma - B+
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - B+
The Secret Life of Pets 2 - B+
Toy Story 3 - B+
The Two Popes - B+
Uncut Gems - B+
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - B
Booksmart - B
Brittany Runs a Marathon - B
Child’s Play - B
Ford v Ferrari - B
Good Boys - B
Happy Death Day 2U - B
Joker - B
Little Women - B
Pain and Glory - B
Bombshell - B-
Late Night - B-
Pet Semetary - B-
Us - B-
The Good Liar - C+
What Men Want - C
2018 Movie Report Card
Can You Ever Forgive Me? - A
Eighth Grade - A
Won't You Be My Neighbor? - A
Black Panther - A-
Boy Erased - A-
Creed II - A-
Hereditary - A-
If Beale Street Could Talk - A-
Love, Gilda - A-
Love, Simon - A-
Mission: Impossible - Fallout - A-
A Quiet Place - A-
Roma - A-
A Star Is Born - A-
Widows - A-
The Wife - A-
Annihilation - B+
Book Club - B+
Chappaquiddick - B+
Isle of Dogs - B+
The Old Man & the Gun - B+
Ready Player One - B+
The Rider - B+
Tully - B+
Vice - B+
BlacKkKlansman - B
Crazy Rich Asians - B
First Man - B
Sorry to Bother You - B
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - B-
Bohemian Rhapsody - B-
The Favourite - B-
Halloween - B-
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - B-
First Reformed - C+
The Other Side of the Wind - C+
Unsane - C+
Review: "The Favourite"
Two years ago, I came close to ranking Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster as the worst picture of 2016. What (inexplicably) enamored countless film buffs stuck me as dreary bombast, made only faintly tolerable by Colin Farrell’s committed leading turn.
If Lanthimos’ latest picture, The Favourite, is also hardly my cup of tea, it is at least an exquisitely designed and memorably acted picture. If anything, it most recalls last year’s Phantom Thread, a film unimpeachably not without merit that ultimately left a far greater impression on most of my fellow moviegoers.
The Favourite, which despite this middling review is destined for a healthy awards season run, opens on England toward the beginning of the 18th century. The nation remains at war with France and presiding over the throne is Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), the fragile, volatile leader who is immeasurably assisted by friend and adviser Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), the Dutchess of Marlborough.
Throwing this world for a loop is the entrance of Sarah’s cousin Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), who has arrived at the castle in search of employment. Sarah looks down upon Abigail, whose gambling father ravaged the family name, but agrees to provide her with humdrum work. Abigail gradually wins over Sarah and especially the Queen and, before long, plots to win Anne’s favor at the expense of Sarah. When Sarah becomes conscious of Abigail’s manipulations, a battle of wits is set in motion to dispose of the other and secure a place alongside the Queen.
The Favourite is a feast for the eyes, sumptuously photographed by Robbie Ryan, with lavish costumes and art direction by Sandy Powell and Fiona Crombie & Alice Felton, respectively. Weisz does some career-best work as the increasingly irrelevant Sarah, while Colman does not allow an inch of scenery to go uneaten as the disorderly Queen.
Less convincing is Stone, who portrayal rings as strained vis a vis the lived-in turns by Weisz and Colman. Where Weisz especially is able to convey so much through so little, Stone’s performance is more elaborate, yet less full of surprises. The screenplay, by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, provides Colman with a handful of zesty zingers, yet otherwise makes for an only intermittently uninvolving picture, one which provides the rest of the cast, beyond the central trio, without much of anything to do.
There’s no denying the visual beauty of The Favourite, nor the spunk with which Weisz and Colman approach their roles, but it otherwise never takes off as it should - another clumsy effort from a filmmaker whose cinema I evidently just don’t much like.
B-
Review: "Creed II"
Three years ago, following decades of languishing in junk cinema, Sylvester Stallone rebounded with a magnificent, career-best performance reprising his iconic turn as Rocky Balboa in Creed. His loss in Best Supporting Actor, and to the lackluster Mark Rylance of all people, remains for me one of the more heartbreaking Oscar decisions of recent years.
If Creed II does not quite find Stallone reaching Oscar-caliber heights, it does prove the 2015 picture was no fluke - he again turns in one hell of a performance and is matched every step of the way by the brilliant Michael B. Jordan, who too richly deserved recognition for his work in the first film.
Creed II opens on Jordan’s Adonis Creed riding high. He has scored a series of high-profile boxing victories and, more importantly, successfully proposed marriage to girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson). Adonis is torn over Bianca’s desire to begin a new life together in Los Angeles, a move that would bring them closer to his adoptive mother Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) but create enormous distance between Adonis and Rocky, who will surely never leave Philadelphia.
While Adonis considers his options, an old foe from Rocky’s past has the young boxer in his sights. Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren, reprising his role from Rocky IV), the former Soviet boxer who killed Adonis’ father in the ring and went on to lose to Rocky in a Moscow showdown, is hellbent on getting his son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) into the ring against Adonis. Viktor issues a formal challenge, which Adonis ultimately accepts - despite Rocky’s refusal to support and train him for the match.
With Rocky on the sidelines, Adonis and Bianca indeed make the move westward, settling down in a lavish apartment near Mary Anne and preparing for the upcoming fight. When the face-off produces no winner but leaves Adonis riddled with injuries and overwhelmed with melancholy, Rocky agrees to travel to LA to get him back on his feet in preparation for a rematch against the pugnacious Viktor.
Creed II was directed by Steven Caple, Jr., who proves himself a plenty capable filmmaker, albeit not a master at the same level as Ryan Coogler, who so vividly directed the first picture. Likewise, the Sylvester Stallone-Juel Taylor screenplay is a more familiar, less engrossing effort than the writing from the 2015 film - but that’s hardly to say it’s a disappointment. Stallone is deeply invested in not only Rocky and Adonis but also the supporting players, providing Thompson, Rashad and even Lundgren grand opportunities to shine and flex their talents.
For fans of the Rocky franchise, Creed II is a downright must-see that delivers the goods in a fashion far more stirring and satisfying than most entries in the series. If you haven’t yet seen it, go soon - and with as full and ebullient an audience as possible.
A-
Review: "Widows"
About half an hour into Steve McQueen’s Widows, I found myself questioning whether the filmmaker could really pull this picture off - will it, with its topsy turvy plot and clown car of characters, prove a haphazard and bloated endeavor or a deliciously dizzying heist yarn? The answer, I am pleased to report, is far more the latter than former.
The film, McQueen’s first effort since 12 Years a Slave barnstormed the Oscars five years ago, is a dazzling piece of entertainment that expertly puts to work its starry cast. To know it is presently struggling to catch fire at the box office is a disheartening development to say the least.
Viola Davis, in one of her very best big screen turns, headlines the proceedings as Veronica Rawlings, a lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union who is widowed following the death of husband Harry (Liam Neeson), a notorious thief killed amidst a police shootout. Shortly after his passing, Veronica is approached by crime boss and aspiring politician Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), who informs her Harry robbed him and his partners of $2 million. Manning presents Veronica with a deathly deadline - get him his money or face the consequences.
Rattled by Manning’s entrance into her life, Veronica comes upon a notebook Harry left behind, detailing a heist plan that, if executed, would secure $5 million. Unable to carry out such a mission on her own, Veronica reaches out to the widows of the other gunned-down thieves to assist in the operation. Two - Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) - reluctantly accept and get the ball rolling on this daunting assignment.
Meanwhile, amidst their undertaking, there is a contentious local election being waged between Manning and Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), the latter the son of a seasoned Chicago politician (Robert Duvall). Manning is counting on those millions from Veronica to finance his campaign, while Mulligan, no surprise, will also find himself tangled up in the madness at play.
Like a roller coaster ride, Widows proves an anticipation-building slow burn through much of its early-going, only to gradually accelerate into pitch-perfect pandemonium. The script, written by McQueen and Gillian Flynn, is sharp and unpredictable and provides every actor, from Davis and Debicki to Daniel Kaluuya and Jacki Weaver (in memorably menacing turns), with heaps of meat to chew on. Henry continues to prove himself one of today’s great up-and-coming actors, while the veteran Duvall vibrantly plays every precious moment on screen like a possible Oscar clip.
Widows is an all-around marvelous picture that should be a grand crowd-pleaser…if only such crowds would get their asses into the theater to see it.
A-
Review: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
Once in a blue moon, Joel and Ethan Coen will deliver a picture that is far more stimulating on the screen, in a purely visual sense, than on the page. A film like The Man Who Wasn’t There, for instance, was less a triumph in screenwriting than a brooding feast for the eyes, made all the more captivating by Billy Bob Thornton’s masterful leading turn.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs marks one of these instances, except it lacks a performance on Thornton’s level. It’s a western anthology and, like so many anthology pictures, is a mixed bag, its half dozen chapters ranging from droll and delightful to uninspired and anti-climatic. The lone bright spot that lingers throughout the proceedings is how drop dead gorgeous it all is, Bruno Delbonnel’s photography richly deserving of Oscar consideration.
The film’s six stories are presented through an ancient book, titled The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Tales of the American Frontier.
Kicking off the series is, well, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” a chapter equal parts funny and gruesome as the title character (Tim Blake Nelson), an outlaw cowboy, sings and shoots his way through the glorious Monument Valley. Nelson’s buoyant turn is irresistible stuff, so it’s a shame the entry flies by in no time. Likewise, the second story, “Near Algodones,” is terrific but fleeting. It features James Franco as a bank-robbing cowboy but it’s Stephen Root, as the plenty prepared bank teller, who steals the show.
“Meal Ticket” has heaps of promise but, despite a intriguing turn from Harry Melling, never takes off as it should. It sports Liam Neeson as a struggling impresario who travels from town to town with his performer Harrison (Melling), a limbless man who recites classic works of poetry and literature. As Harrison increasingly proves less of a draw, the producer must consider alternative talents to support a living. It’s a fine concept that isn’t sufficiently fleshed out.
The very best story comes next - it’s the prettiest (like, jaw-droppingly splendid) and most absorbing and expertly performed. “All Gold Canyon” is centered on an old prospector (Tom Waits) on the hunt for gold in a magnificent mountain valley. Through tireless work and determination, he finds precisely what he was looking for…and don’t you dare try robbing him of his findings.
The fifth story, “The Gal Who Got Rattled,” is headlined by Zoe Kazan, portraying Alice, a young woman venturing across the prairie to Oregon with her brother (Jefferson Mays). When he dies, she decides to continue on westward and becomes close to the wagon train leaders (Bill Heck and Grainger Hines) in the process. If Kazan rings too contemporary to quite convince in her role, Hines is pitch-perfect as the seasoned Mr. Arthur.
Last and least is “The Mortal Remains,” a chatty tale about a quintet of stagecoach travelers (Tyne Daly, Brendan Gleeson, Saul Rubinek, Jongo O’Neill and Chelcie Ross) en route to a mysterious destination. The novelty of seeing Daly, per usual giving it her all, in a semi-major motion picture isn’t enough to much lift this uninvolving dud.
In the end, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs emerges more a haphazard curiosity than anything close to top-tier Coens. It is a must-see for Waits fans and sure is a pretty picture but otherwise - mark this down as one of the more disappointing efforts of 2018.
B-