Spotlight

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I don't think I've ever given a film so high a rating for standing on the merit of it's plot and cast alone. I would give Spotlight a 9/10.

The plot of this film is such a great investigative study of the corruption and criminal system implemented within the Catholic Church, this is honestly a horrifying story that will hit most audience members pretty hard whether you're Catholic or not. As the film progresses you can't help but become more and more hooked upon the story, the pacing moves almost effortlessly as you become more attached to the findings of the investigation. I can't really express how much of an emotional reaction this film will illicit from you, it's filled with shocking revelations and a trip down a particularly nasty rabbit hole.

Michael Keaton, who played Walter 'Robby' Robinson, is someone I really enjoyed in this film once his character really jumped into the investigation; Keaton really showed this change quite well and suddenly his drive and determination were completely fascinating. Rachel McAdams, who played Sacha Pfeiffer, had some of the best scenes of actual investigative journalism; I liked seeing McAdams out in the field questioning victims and those affiliated with the crimes due to the way she could always create a great emotional response with her fellow cast members. Liev Schreiber, who played Marty Baron, played a role I don't normally see him in but one I enjoyed immensely; Schreiber's soft spoken yet hard working role was one that you really respect in this film. John Slattery, who played Ben Bradlee Jr, was the perfect person to play a gruff leader in this film; Slattery and Keaton shared some great chemistry and scenes within this film. Stanley Tucci, who played Mitchell Garabedian, was a character that you really see evolve throughout this film; I enjoyed seeing him so caged and opposed to interacting with Ruffalo at the start of this film but by the end he is emotional and so filled at rage aimed at the Church. Jamey Sheridan, who played Jim Sullivan, plays a lot of mystery around his character to the extent you don't need if he'll become a protagonist or an antagonist by the end of the film; some of the best scenes of the film are between him and Keaton. Neal Huff, who played Phil Saviano, really played a great survivor role in this film; I liked seeing the desperate outrage he expressed at the journalist characters for not reporting his story sooner. Billy Crudup, who played Eric Macleish, is quite a guarded smooth talker in this film which I really enjoyed; however the scene in which he snaps and confronts Keaton and McAdams with the knowledge that he already sent the Globe a list of dirty priests is one of the best of the film.

However the best performance of the film came from Mark Ruffalo, who played Mike Rezendes. Ruffalo gets this character and this film, you feel that from the first minute he;s onscreen. There is so much energy in his performance, this earnest desire to report on the big and important stories. Throughout Spotlight Ruffalo gets more and more frantic in his quest for the truth and mor exasperated at every hurdle that you share his frustration in many scenes. Ruffalo shared great chemistry with everyone he interacts with in this film and really does quite well to stand out in a film that is really an ensemble feature. My favourite scene of the film is the one in which Ruffalo expresses his downright anger and outrage that they can't write their story yet when so many corrupt priests are harming children in Boston, it's one of the most emotional and raw moments of the film.

The score for this film is repetitive and a little dull; I feel that there was more room to make a score that helped heighten the shocking nature of Spotlight. The cinematography has the potential to be quite good, unfortunately often the way the framing is set up brings out the worst of the shots. The editing is the worst quality of the film, the transitions are weak and quite jarring in a few places.

Brian d'Arcy James, who played Matt Carroll, is the only weak performance in the Spotlight investigative team; he lacks screen presence and is often forgettable in many of the scenes that he's in. Paul Guilfoyle, who played Pete Conley, is a character who enters part way through the film; unfortunately he's introduced too late and because we don't know enough about his role don't really feel the wight of him as an antagonist. Len Cariou, who played Cardinal Law, is an antagonist who wasn't given enough screen presence; I felt that the one thing that would have heightened this film further is seeing and understanding a bit more of the antagonists.

Dirty Grandpa

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At this point comedy films don't care, we have reached the seedy, raunchy bottom of the barrel. I would give Dirty Grandpa a 4/10.

This film for the most part is quite funny, a lot of the comedy is grounded in having no limits and being unafraid to use the most offensive material possible. The soundtrack for this film was another amazing display of comedy, the songs used really heightened scenes and made them that much more entertaining.

Robert De Niro, who played Dick Kelly, is completely different to any other role he has ever done in this film; I enjoyed that he could land the senseless comedy while also delivering some great insightful moments in places. Zac Efron, who played Jason Kelly, was quite convincing as the rigid timid and boring lawyer; it was nice to see his character grow and realise how unhappy he was in the life he was living. Aubrey Plaza, who played Lenore, had some of the best line delivery in the film; Plaza's sex scene with De Niro is probably the funniest scene of the film. Dermot Mulroney, who played David Kelly, was a really good authoritative and controlling figure in this film; I liked that he had some closure with De Niro at the end of the film. Adam Pally, who played Cousin Nick, was landing some exceptionally random and hilarious scenes in this film; I loved Pally role and his performance. Henry Zebrowski, who played Officer Reiter, was a really fun nonsensical character; I liked the sarcastic tone of his role and the run joke that he got along with the local drug dealer.

However the best performance came from Jason Mantzoukas, who played Tan Pam. I love comedic consistency when it's funny and Mantzoukas is constantly delivering brilliant jokes throughout the film. He is, in my mind, easily the funniest actor of the film. I just loved the absurdity of his role as local drug dealer operating out of a souvenir shop; it just sparked some great lines and interesting character interactions throughout the film.

The plot for this film is that Robert De Niro wants to have sex now that his wife has died, that is the whole plot. I have to be honest it's a cheap story and you know what you're signing up for going into this film so you can't expect much there. However worse than De Niro's story is the Efron subplots. You don't care that Efron is getting married in this film, that entire storyline feels redundant the minute De Niro's story takes over, and in the Efron/Deutch romantic subplot you get kinda bored because there is absolutely nothing there at all. I also felt that the film aimed to try and cram every type of joke into it's script, while this paid off most of the time you did get left with some awful, cringeworthy or offensive material in other scenes. At the end of the day this film was poorly constructed and didn't really boast a plot at all so the pacing was quite shocking. The cinematography was very classic of most comedies, bland and lacking imagination. The editing was filled with weak transitions and cuts, this really served to fail the pacing of the film even more.

Zoey Deutch, who played Shadia, was one of the most redundant characters of the film; her entire romance with Efron felt forced and bland. Julianne Hough, who played Meredith, wasn't a character you really cared about; she was never given much attention as an actual character so just felt like more of an obstacle. Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, who played Bradley, had no screen presence at all in this film; I also didn't like that his character's entire purpose was to be ridiculed for being gay I thought that was very weak writing. Brandon Mychal Smith, who played Tyrone, could not play an intimidating character to save himself; worse than that his line delivery was some of the worst out of anyone in the film. Jake Picking and Michael Hudson, who played Cody and Brah, were awful antagonists in this film; there were just beefcakes with flimsy character motivation at the end of the day. Mo Collins, who played Officer Finch, didn't feel really necessary next to Zebrowski's performance; I thougt she really failed to deliver an entertaining performance alongside her co-stars. Danny Glover, who played Stinky, gave what was a weak and not very interesting cameo in this film; Glover's performance was very forgettable and not at all funny.

Three Wise Cousins

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Most of this film feels like a cheesy extended tourist ad for Samoa. I would give Three Wise Cousins a 2.5/10.

In the last fifteen minutes of this film we're finally presented with a display of fantastic writing that exposes the main protagonist's flaws and leads him on an incredible arc of character growth. I was really impressed with the way this film turned itself around in this last small segment and I wish we had seen this level of quality in the other hour and fifteen minutes. The film also had a great soundtrack and score; it really played in with the location of Samoa and celebrated the cultural influence of the film.

Vesui Viliamu, who played Tavita, was the funniest character in the film; his ability to deliver lines really well was what set him apart from the rest of the cast.

However the best performance came from Vito Vito, who played Mose. Vito delivered a harder character in the film who challenged the protagonist and seemed to be the only role that acted half naturally. I really admired the scenes in which he confronted Amituanai and exposed his flaws; these scenes brought out the potential in the story and raised the quality of the film in my eyes.

This film started incredibly abruptly, there was no lead in at all, you are just dumped in the middle of a scene and swiftly delivered an info dump of character backstory before the opening titles actually roll. The romance story that initially drove this film was flimsy and poorly executed, it felt like a cringe article that you'd read online. Beyond that there is an onslaught of awful jokes throughout the film that consistently fail to land, worse than that is the continous return to slapstick physical humour that is practically begging for laughs. This film spends so much time trying to decide if it's a rom-com, a character story or an exploration of Samoan culture that it completely loses sight of it's plot and it's pacing; what you wind up with is a film that is under an hour and a half that crawls. The cinematography is sloppy work, this has a visual style that looks as if it were shot by a high school film student. The editing isn't much better, the film is riddled with sudden cuts and awful transitions.

Neil Amituanai, who played Adam, is such a cringeworthy awful protagonist in this film; he's running about carrying out downright terrible slapstick comedy while portraying one of the most dislikeable characters I've seen this year. Gloria Ofa Blake, who played Mary, is an actress I felt sorry for in this film because she's ultimately playing a fantasy; writing a woman up as an object to be obtained is weak writing and I think storytelling should be beyond this by now.

The Hateful Eight

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This could quite possibly be one of Tarantino's worst films. I would give The Hateful Eight a 6.5/10.

What I have to say about the plot is that there is some masterful set up that leads to a brilliant final act, and I'm not awfully surprised by this because Tarantino generally has some very intricate plots for his films. Another thing that Tarantino excels at is his camera work, in this film the way shots are crafted to display small settings are really visually appealing. The soundtrack for this film is quite good, however one of the greatest aspects of the film is it's score which is haunting and filled with haunting segments.

Kurt Russell, who played John Ruth, is a fantastic stern bounty hunter; I enjoyed how confrontational he was towards the other characters. Michael Madsen, who played Joe Gage, brought an entertaining role to this film; I liked that he was clearly a thug but that he was trying so genuinely to convince others he was heading home to his Mum's. Bruce Dern, who played General Sandy Smithers, was quite a calm solemn performance that I liked; Dern was probably one of the few actors who made the film better because he gave a performance that was grounded.

However the best performance came from Samuel L. Jackson, who played Major Marquis Warren. I liked that jackson came across as a humble bounty hunter content with his lot for a long portion of the film, he suited this well mannered performance. But then his strength came in a stand out scene between himself and Dern in which he taunted and ridiculed Dern relentlessly in an incredible fashion. From that point on Jackson seemed to slip between playing in character and acting as himself which led to some entertaining scenes and funny line delivery.

I've come to expect gore, racism and sexism in Tarantino films, and while I dislike censorship and can see the argument that this film was accurate to the time period, I just found that this film was excessive with this content. It felt like a basic Western setting with simple characters; add to that a senseless amount of offensive content for the sake of offensive content and you have a very average Tarantino film. I should probably mention that this film is nearly three hours long and it feels it; I admired the set up work in this film but there was a lot of unnecessary scenes and dialogue exchange. The editing for this film was set up in a unique way to resemble older films but it just felt completely jarring, there were several instances where the action would cut from one scene to the other extremely abruptly.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, who played Daisy Domergue, was quite a simple and two dimensional antagonist; spitting and screaming for half the film is never really going to make you stand out. Walton Goggins, who played Sheriff Chris Mannix, was giving a performance that was extremely over the top in this film; his line delivery was really annoying. Demian Bichir, who played Bob, was quite an out of place example of comedic relief; his character felt like a cartoon character rather than a member of the ensemble cast. Tim Roth, who played Oswaldo Mobray, was worse than goggins and Bichir put together; his over the top accent and performance was cringeworthy. James Parks, who played O.B Jackson, was very forgettable in this film; he really didn't display much screen presence. Dana Gourrier, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson and Belinda Owino, who played Minnie Mink, Sweet Dave, Charly and Gemma respectively, are the murder mystery victims that you knew about half an hour into the film; we really didn't need a scene with the character's themselves to validate Tatum's sudden appearance. Zoe Bell, who played Six-Horse Judy, is without a doubt the worst performance of the film; her line delivery is unbelievably awful. Channing Tatum, who played Jody, was introduced far too late to be interesting or relevant to the plot; I found Tatum's antagonist kind of weak and not very impactful. Quentin Tarantino, who voiced the Narrator, is the author of his own worst performance; I couldn't stand this narration that inexplicably started up after the film had already been playing for at least half an hour.

Brooklyn

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While this has a great cast and an interesting story it's ultimately a bit of a boring film. I would give Brooklyn a 6.5/10.

This film has displays of exquisite writing despite it's pacing issues, the story of Eilis' feeling of displacement after moving from Ireland is very gripping and I have to commend this film for one of the most natural romance storylines that I've seen in a while. The score for this film is exceptional, I especially liked that the soundtrack for this film had songs from the 1950s era that the film is based in.

Saoirse Ronan, who played Eilis, is a great protagonist in this film; I really enjoyed seeing her develop her timid and awkward role into someone who was more outspoken and confident in herself. Brid Brennan, who played Miss Kelly, was a great character to start the film off upon and an even better antagonist to close the film on; her unconstrained contempt for Eilis and most others made her a particularly nasty role. Jim Broadbent, who played Father Flood, was a really nice kindly role in this film; I liked the chemistry and supportive nature that he displayed in scenes with Ronan. Fiona Glascott, who played Rose, gave a very genuine performance; I was really shocked when her role died and it really brought the film up in my mind. Eileen O'Higgins, who played Nancy, had a great deal of energy in the scenes that she was in; O'Higgins really made the start of the film interesting when it was at it's blandest. Eva Birthistle, who played Georgina, was a very spirited performance; she entered the film and became a sort of icon to Ronan's role in a very powerful way. Jessica Pare, who played Miss Fortini, was quite an intimidating presence at first in this film; however it was nice to see her support and bond more with Ronan as the film progressed. James DiGiacomo, who played Frankie Fiorello, gave one of the best performances I've seen by a child actor in a while; his comedic berating of Ronan and Italian witticisms immediately made him a scene stealer.

However the best performance came from Julie Walters, who played Mrs Keogh. Walters delivered a knockout comedic role in this film, gossiping and keeping the conversation of her lodgers in check. I loved seeing her take Ronan under her wing and support her while she was in Brooklyn. Ultimately Walters was a firecracker onscreen and brought out some of the best line delivery of the film.

This film was very slow, the beginning was kind of dreary and tame while the last act of the film was boring and almost undermined the Brooklyn storyline as well. The cinematography was exceptionally average, the choice of shots were constantly getting simpler and simpler to the extent that it looked like a student film on a large budget. The editing was quite similar to the cinematography, I felt the film suffered for the simple cuts and fade transitions.

Jane Brennan, who played Mary Lacey, never truly felt like an important role in this film even though she should have; it was all made worse by the fact that Brennan had absolutely no chemistry at all with Ronan. Emily Bett Rickards, Eve Macklin, Nora-Jane Noone and Mary O'Driscoll, who played Patty, Diana, Sheila and Miss McAdam respectively, was a weak ensemble that didn't really rise to the level of Walter's performance; they were very generic and didn't show much character beyond being a group of gossip girls. Jenn Murray, who played Dolores, didn't have very much screen presence in the film; Murray's scenes were awkward and very forgettable. Emory Cohen, who played Tony, gave a performance that was a bit too over the top; I felt like Cohen was a bit artificial and didn't really engage with the script. Ellen David, Christian de la Cortina, Paulino Nunes and Michael Zegen, who played Mrs Fiorello, Laurenzio, Mr Fiorello and Maurizio respectively, felt like a backdrop to Cohen's character in this film; they never really stood out or made their mark upon the film. Domhnall Gleeson, who played Jim Farrell, has been very hit and miss with his roles of late; in this film Gleeson just doesn't seem to want to be here and he doesn't show much engagement with his role or Ronan's at all. Karen Ardiff and Gary Lydon, who played Mrs and Mr Farrell, only helped to strain the already absent chemistry between Ronan and Gleeson; the scene between the four of them is one of the worst of the film.

Oddball

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This is quite a charming tale of a dog and the uniting of a family. I would give Oddball a 6.5/10.

This film has a really loveable plot at the core of this film, it's very simple but it shows a family trying to save a penguin snactuary with the help of their dog. There are the classic themes of family uniting over the course of the plot that makes this such a prime example of a family film. For the most part this film has some great pacing with a very natural flow, the story progresses in a really natural way. The cinematography in this film is pretty good, there are some examples of very clever shots throughout. The score for this film doesn't have a lot of presence but is pretty good for the scenes in which it appears, I really enjoyed the music used within the training sequence.

Sarah Snook, who played Emily Marsh, is one of the most grounded characters of the film; I enjoyed that the problems with the penguin sanctuary led to a lot of visible stress and conflict for her role. Coco Jack Gillies, who played Olivia, is such a great child actress; her scenes with Jacobson are high points for this film. Shane Jacobson, who played Swampy, is a really good protagonist for this film; his line delivery is superb and he's incredibly comedic.

However the best performance came from Alan Tudyk, who played Bradley Slater. Tudyk's role was interesting because he made a very likeable role for most of the film but played the role sinister enough that we were temporarily deceived into thinking he was the antagonist. I like that he was constantly trying to fit in and connect with the rest of the cast, this meant that he had some funny awkward scenes within the film. I think his best scene was when he advocated for the whale watching centre with such an earnest salesman pitch.

This film never had exceptionally high stakes and as an audience member it was hard to be worried, it was a very safe film and quite a simple family film. The editing for this film was terribly basic, the cuts especially came at awkward moments during the film.

Deborah Mailman, who played Mayor Lake, wasn't a very noteworthy role in this film; I found the fact that there were romantic undertones between her and Jacobson a strange and out of place choice for this film. Terry Camilleri, who played Judge Burns, was a very forgettable antagonist in this film; Camilleri didn't have a great deal of screen presence in this film. Richard Davies, who played Jack Jones, was another unnecessary romantic subplot which Snook really did not need in this film; the gag with Davies being shot with a tranq gun was rather weak as well. Frank Woodley, who played the Dog Catcher, didn't really seem to know how to play his role; it was such a bizarre and confusing performance. Tegan Higginbotham, who played Zoe, was the weakest antagonist of the film; the worst part was there was no set up that she was going to be the villain. Dave Lawson, who played Sergeant Gosch, had no screen presence in this film; Lawson just sort of showed up when the plot demanded it.

The Big Short

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I learnt a lesson watching this film, one that I think is valuable and should be viewed by anyone and everyone if you can. I would give The Big Short an 8.5/10.

Straight off the bat this film has a phenomenal plot with incredible dialogue and a goal to instruct the viewer while also providing a story. The fourth wall is constantly broken so that we may be educated by the cast over how the 2007-2008 recession came to be, this is a very unique tactic and one I was suitably impressed by. The film is filled with a lot of comedy or horrifying reveals that allows this film to flow very smoothly; I can't express how long it has been since I've watched a well paced film. This film is shot in a way that is very erratic and has an almost documentary quality, the cinematography practically acts as an agent to the plot. The editing in this film is some of the best I've seen in a while, I really enjoyed the speed of the cutting as well as the insertion of popculture videos and photos. The score for this film is pretty good but ultimately what really sets this film apart is the soundtrack; the soundtrack creates a fun quality to the film that heightens the scenes and makes some jargon intensive scenes easier to understand.

Ryan Gosling, who played Jared Vennett, is the perfect person to provide a lot of narration and audience interaction within this film; I loved that he was a showman and was constantly talking to the rest of the cast like a salesman. Christian Bale, who played Michael Burry, gave a great performance as this socially awkward role; I think Bale was one of the most sincere and honest characters within the film. Tracy Letts, who played Lawrence Fields, creates a great amount of conflict for Bale in this film; I enjoyed seeing his barely restrained anger in this film. Jeffry Griffin, who played Jared's Assistant, was such a great source of comedy in this film; Griffin really played well off Gosling in their scenes together. Anthony Bourdain, Richard Thaler, Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez, who played themselves, presented some of the greatest cameos within the film; they were used as a funny way to explain some of the harder jargon in the film and it made for some of the best scenes. Brad Pitt, who played Ben Rickert, was a character who was crucial in presenting some of the harsher realities of this film; I thought Pitt's best scene was when he reminded Magaro and Wittrock that people were going to lose their jobs and homes. Max Greenfield and Billy Magnussen, who played Mortgage Broker 1 and 2, gave another example of the film's incredible ability for casting incredible cameos; they're boisterous and ignorant roles made for a really fun scene between them and Carell. Byron Mann, who played Mr Chau, had a really great scene with Carell in this film; I enjoyed watching him confess his greed to Carell and create another great example of an antagonist for this film.

However the best performance came from Steve Carell, who played Mark Baum. Carell's feisty cussing role was such an enjoyable character to watch onscreen. I really appreciated that he was one of the people with the most unwavering set of morals in the film, you felt as tired as he did by the end of the story. I think Carell' breaking down over the death of Baum's brother at the end of the film was a really powerful scene, you feel pretty moved by this character at that point. Carell ultimately presents a crusader who you are rooting for this entire film and who is constantly being faced by the twisted corruption of the banking world.

My only real criticism about the film itself is the jargon, which is really a necessary evil for the film. The jargon can be exceptionally hard to follow and difficult to understand but at the end of the day the film wouldn't be what it is without it so I respect the film for what it is.

Marisa Tomei, who played Cynthia Baum, is a board for Carell to bounce his amazing acting off; she literally does nothing in this film. Adepero Oduye, who played Kathy Tao, is a role that I wish had gotten more scenes because she could have been phenomenal in this film; as it was she got maybe six minutes screen time with Carell which just wasn't enough to make her stand out. Rafe Spall, who played Danny Moses, was one of the most forgettable of Baum's entourage; he had very little screen presence in this film. Hamish Linklater, who played Porter Collins, was someone I found cringeworthy to watch; his comedy really paled in comparison to the rest of the cast and it felt like he was trying too hard. Jeremy Strong, who played Vinnie Daniel, was almost as abrasive as Carell but it didn't really work as well for Strong; Strong lacked the presence of Carell so he just felt like a similar but lesser role. John Magaro and Finn Wittrock, who played Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley respectively, carried an entire storyline but it was easily the weakest of the film if you remove Pitt; these two are just introduced too late and don't impact the story enough for you to actually care about them. Karen gillan, who played Evie, was one of the few weak cameos of the film; you didn't care much about her role or what she was talking about.