2019

Eighth Grade

87/100
I loved it. Josh Hamilton for best supporting actor! It had me confused because the Actress' name was Elsie Fisher, but she reminded me more of Georgia Hill.
Reviewed on January 7, 2019

They Shall Not Grow Old

79/100
As interesting and well made as it was, I found the constant narration from different voices exhausting. It made it hard to connect to without any clear characters to identify with. Might get it for Dad for Christmas so I can watch it again.
Reviewed on January 7, 2019

Sorry To Bother You

72/100
It's starts off like Office Space and ends up like Idiocracy. It scared me a bit how weird it was, yet isn't that far away from where we are as a society, so I didn't find it that funny.
Reviewed on January 14, 2019

Pick of the Litter

80/100
It's an extended ad for training guide dogs, but it's a very good ad. I thought I'd cry more.
Reviewed on January 13, 2019

Instant Family

78/100
It's got a similar tone to if the dog survived through Marley & Me, but the preview gave away too much of what was going to happen. Why are previews so long these days? And they're so hard to avoid if you go to the movies a lot.
Reviewed on January 13, 2019

How To Train Your Dragon : The Hidden World

70/100
Visually, it's amazing. But what little dialogue and storyline it has seems so obvious it's hard to connect to.
Reviewed on January 13, 2019

Lego Movie 2

68/100
It had a good message, but hid it far too much by trying to prove how clever they could be. Plus they took most of the fun and the funny out of it.
Reviewed on February 9, 2019

Escape Room

78/100
The first half is pretty fun and exciting, but it gradually gets more and more ridiculous as it twists so much it spins out of control. Much better off just doing an escape room yourself, especially if you haven't done one.
Reviewed on February 9, 2019

Green Book

82/100
Surprising sweet movie about the absurdity of rasicm. It grew on me as it went along.
Reviewed on January 24, 2019

Vice

70/100
It seemed like they were so scared people wouldn't find it interesting that they had to use all these gimmicks and tricks. Just tell the story in chronological order like a normal person and I would've enjoyed it more.
Reviewed on January 24, 2019

Bohemian Rhapsody

72/100
I was too young to remember Live Aid or much of Queen as a band. I know all the songs though, so it would've been nice to know more about the stories behind the songs. Was a bit hard to see through the heavy layer of sugar coating.
Reviewed on January 14, 2019

If Beale Street Could Talk

78/100
It's well made and engaging, but I'm starting to get worried I have an allergy to violins. Everytime I hear them I start thinking about how melodramatic the movie is.
Reviewed on February 19, 2019

Arctic

86/100
Simple, yet so effective. The kind of movie I have to watch at the movies, because if I'm at home I get distracted and miss all the subtle touches that make it great.
Reviewed on February 19, 2019

The Hate U Give

80/100
It's got some impressive moments, but it's very heavy handed with it's message. It depressed me that it wasn't based on a true story. It's based on too many true stories these days.
Reviewed on February 12, 2019

Everybody Knows

62/100
It spent far too much time showing off and/or going round in circles that it never got to a satisfying destination.
Reviewed on March 18, 2019

Capharnaum

87/100
It's a tough one to recommend, because it's not that enjoyable to watch a movie about kids in poverty. It'll be deeply rewarding if you do give it a go though.
Reviewed on March 18, 2019

Mid90s

76/100
Every time I thought I loved it, something would happen I didn't like. I think the good outweighed the bad in the end. If I had've watched it at home I would've been forever turning the volume up and down.
Reviewed on April 8, 2019

The Guilty

89/100
Danish movie that's proof that you can sometimes do so much more with so much less. Amazing the first time through, but not sure how it'll go on a rewatch, because it's all in the suspense.
Reviewed on April 8, 2019

Shazam

83/100
Like a cross between Big, Instant Family and the Trollhunters cartoon. Funny and sweet is a great combo for a superhero movie, and they do it really well here.
Reviewed on April 4, 2019

Us

75/100
Why did everything have to take sooooo loooong? I realise it was to build tension, but there weren't enough payoffs to warrant it. Luckily it saved itself at the end.
Reviewed on April 4, 2019

Captain Marvel

67/100
I felt like the characters found themselves a lot more amusing and clever than I found them. And a lot of stuff seemed to be overly convenient.
Reviewed on March 25, 2019

2040

82/100
Surprisingly optimistic doco on climate change. I like Damon Gameau's style as a filmmaker. There's plenty of info to take in, but he does it in such a way that makes it interesting and not overwhelming.
Reviewed on May 28, 2019

Long Shot

79/100
It's Knocked Up, but instead of a pregnancy it's a presidency campaign. Had a fair few funny moments, but it was a bit uneven and unlikely to keep it from being great.
Reviewed on May 6, 2019

Woman at War

85/100
Like an Icelandic Hunt for the Wilderpeople. I liked the movie, but I loved the score. The should have on screen bands in every movie.
Reviewed on April 29, 2019

Burning

67/100
I've had to avoid the preview so many times at Palace Nova I had such high hopes. I kept thinking it was going to get good like iit threatened to do many times, but it just never quite got there.
Reviewed on April 29, 2019

Avengers : Endgame

72/100
It's just so slow and overly dramatic. I mean do you have to write "Five Years Later" on the screen if it takes five years to come up. Fans of orchestras and head nodding will love it though.
Reviewed on April 24, 2019

John Wick : Chapter 3 - Parabellum

77/100
The action sequences themselves are great. The type of intense violence that can make you chuckle in a good way. The story linking them together could use some variety though. And maybe a bit of time for him to recover.
Reviewed on May 31, 2019

Parasite

83/100
It's like a sequel to Shoplifters, where the kids grew up and thought up some better scams. Engaging and tense, it adds more weight to my theory that you can't go wrong with a Korean movie.
Reviewed on July 1, 2019

Wild Rose

81/100
It was a bit heavy on the depression, but it won me over in the end. Not sure it counts as uplifting if it spends most of the movie dragging you down, and then takes you back to your normal level.
Reviewed on June 17, 2019

Rocketman

80/100
I liked it much better than Bohemian Rhapsody, mostly because it didn't try to sugar coat everything. I liked the lighter first half more than the downward spiral though, so maybe they should've sugar coated it a bit.
Reviewed on June 12, 2019

Toy Story 4

79/100
It never hits the heights of the other ones, but it's still worth watching. I just feel like it starts to get a bit too repetitive. Not only within the series, but within itself.
Reviewed on July 1, 2019

Midsommar

64/100
Unsettling more than scary, the slow pace adds to the sense of dread, but also makes it an ordeal to watch. Glad I went to Sweden for a wedding and not a Midsommar festival.
Reviewed on August 8, 2019

The Lion King

72/100
I could write almost the exact same review that I wrote about Apollo 11 yesterday, so just read that one. And then I knocked a extra few points off because my legs got sore watching it at the drive-in.
Reviewed on July 19, 2019

Apollo 11

77/100
Visually spectacular. Worth watching to put the real faces to the stories. But you already know the plot and a lot of the dialogue, which makes the suspense a bit pointless.
Reviewed on July 18, 2019

Booksmart

66/100
Like a Lady Bird version of Superbad, but fails to hit the heights of either one. Occasional flashes of brilliance, but also large chunks I didn't really enjoy.
Reviewed on July 18, 2019

Spiderman : Far From Home

73/100
I'm not a big superhero film guy, but I do like them when they're funny like Homecoming and Shazam. Although it seemed to try really hard, I just didn't find it funny. It was nice to see Europe again though.
Reviewed on July 8, 2019

Ad Astra

58/100
Kinda like Apocalypse Now in Space, I found the rhythm really slow and boring. If it's meant be a big metaphor, then it's probably good. I can only judge it on what actually happens though, which I didn't like at all.
Reviewed on September 24, 2019

Good Boys

82/100
The marketing makes it look like it'd be really raunchy, but I found it to be quite sweet. Coulda been a prequel to Superbad.
Reviewed on September 24, 2019

The Farewell

65/100
I get that the moral dilemma it focuses on is worth exploring, but I found it way too repetitive.
Reviewed on September 10, 2019

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

78/100
Three quarters of the storylines seemed like a bit of a waste of time, but it saved itself with a brutal ending that I quite enjoyed.
Reviewed on August 15, 2019

Danger Close : The Battle of Long Tan

79/100
Most war movies you get to know the characters first, so you can care about them in the battle. This is battle right from the start, which was actually pretty effective too.
Reviewed on August 8, 2019

Ride Like A Girl

84/100
It's probably selective history, but the bits they did select were pretty good. Nice Rudy style uplifter and the score got boosted from a few tears at the end.
Reviewed on September 29, 2019

Ford vs Ferrari

72/100
I thought the first half was really slow, drawn-out and over-acted. Once the racing started in the second half it was fine.
Reviewed on November 14, 2019

Ballon

85/100
I took a big risk going to see a movie with subtitles on next to no sleep. After almost nodding off a few times early, by the end I was right into it. Great mixture of tension and heart.
Reviewed on November 3, 2019

Joker

81/100
Oscar worthy performance. Bit confronting, but I enjoyed the dark humour. Wasn't a big fan of the ending, so it lost a few points.
Reviewed on October 17, 2019

Buoyancy

68/100
A little too bleak and dreary for me for a little too long. That did make the ending much more satisfying though I guess.
Reviewed on October 13, 2019

The Gentlemen

65/100
I wasn't a big fan of the structure or how smart it thought it was. So much dialogue with such a small percentage of it witty. And twists you could either see coming or you've seen before. A bit of a waste of talent.
Reviewed on December 15, 2019

Machine

75/100
Doco about the fine line between the benefits and dangers of new developments in AI. It often straddles the fine line between interesting and tedious, but comes out a winner. See AlphaGo first though, because there's massive spoilers.
Reviewed on December 5, 2019

Happy Sad Man

77/100
Doco about mental illness that's like an Aussie version of 42UP. It has an important message, but I'd love to see a follow-up film in a few years to both see how they are doing and give it a bigger arc.
Reviewed on December 5, 2019

Doctor Sleep

70/100
Started out great, like a couple of episodes of tv show Carnivále. But as it became more like/about The Shining I liked it less and less.
Reviewed on November 17, 2019

Better Days

89/100
Chinese drama about high-school bullying and exam pressures. Bit confronting at times, but twists and turns it's way into a really high quality movie.
Reviewed on November 17, 2019

Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker

58/100
I'll have to add it to the pretend they don't exist pile with VII and VIII. I might have to give Rogue One another go, because at least it adds something to the original trilogy. The rest just try to milk them for all they're worth.
Reviewed on December 19, 2019

Knives Out

88/100
My review of The Gentlemen, but pretty much the exact opposite. Lost a few points for being a bit slow and too drawn out. Both the movie and Daniel Craig's accent. Otherwise, I really liked it.
Reviewed on December 15, 2019

Jojo Rabbit

82/100
I found it a bit uneven, but it grew on me in the end. Tears bonus too, which I wasn't expecting.
Reviewed on December 29, 2019

Sorry We Missed You

78/100
Too real and bleak for me. It got a couple of tear bonuses to get it up to a reasonable score, but I wouldn't be that keen to sit through it again.
Reviewed on December 29, 2019

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

73/100
I'm hopeless at painting, and it seems I'm not that good at watching someone else paint either.
Reviewed on December 29, 2019