Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare
Cinematic Sommelier
6.7
Female version of “The Big Short?” Perhaps a hybrid between “Magic Mike” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” J-Lo steals the show, as predicted. Film itself I felt could have been about 20 minutes shorter. Felt like it wandered a bit in the transition from second to third act. Overall, a solid addition to the cinematic stripper-verse, and not as bad as “Showgirls.”
6.7
Like, a totally rad movie. One of Nicholas Cage’s first (and best) roles of his career. Just enough lunacy to fit the character who’s a bit of an outsider, who gets the girl in the end. Amazing 80’s soundtrack. Hanging out at the mall. Neon color galore. Very 80’s. Somewhat of a John Hughes type love story, checking all of the character and storyline boxes as it moves along.
7.9
Spielberg’s genius on full display! A game of cat and mouse on the open road. Really, you could circumvent an entire road rage course by just showing this film as what can happen when things go awry on the highway. So simple, yet so effective! A master class in tension building and cinematography. Spielbergs eye for framing and storytelling are evident in even his earliest of works. And… it gave us the infamous noise from the shark death in “JAWS.” (I’m a film nerd, and yes, learned about this by watching all of the special features of both movies.)
7.9
A John Hughes-esque masterpiece! In the spirit of every teen “coming of age” story, this series hits all the right beats. A lot of unknowns combine for some amazing surprise chemistry as a cast and really pull the rabbit out of the hat with this one. Extremely cheesy, but equally entertaining and heartwarming. Strong dose of nostalgia.
6.5
Well… that was… strange. Definitely one of the more oddball films I’ve seen in my quarantine run thus far.
Major style points, as the setting of the film and the nostalgia of being able to be in a movie theater definitely won me over. The nude ghost/demon woman who is summoned like the girl from “the ring,” whose method of killing was… definitely unexpected. Very strange film overall. Still not quite sure what to make of it. Highly original, though. That much was a breathe of fresh air.
Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare 