Hello, Love, Goodbye: Movie Review

A romantic drama with something to say about immigrants and emigrants.

In Hello, Love, Goodbye, Joy (Kathryn Bernardo) is living in Hong Kong; a temporary stop in between her family in the Philippines and her future in Canada. There are some obstacles in the way, primarily that she needs money for her visa and immigration paperwork but her work permit in Hong Kong only allows for work as a domestic helper, so to make more money, she’s working illegally.		2019 Directed by: Cathy Garcia-Sampana Screenplay by: Carmi Raymundo, Cathy Garcia-Sampana, Rona Co Starring: Kathryn Bernardo, Alden Richards

Frozen II: Movie Review

Beautiful scenery plus characters we know and love.

Can Frozen II live up to the perfection of the original? No? I mean they tried really hard and it’s a thoroughly great movie, but lightning doesn’t strike the same spot twice. It would be hard for anybody to accurately judge Frozen II on its own terms without a comparison to Frozen. I was so blown away by what they accomplished with the first movie, and I couldn’t help but go into Frozen II looking to see what they could replicate, re-create or what new magic they could capture.		2019 Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee Screenplay by: Jennifer Lee Starring: Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell

Noelle: Movie Review

Good-natured comedy.

What starts out as a mundane, cloying, seen-it-a-thousand-times-before Christmas movie turns into a genuinely funny and charming modern update to the seen-it-a-thousand-times before Christmas movie; all thanks to the wildly different comedic charms of Anna Kendrick and Billy Eichner. In Noelle, Santa Claus has been in the Kringle family for 10 generations, when the latest Santa Claus passes away, it’s up to son Nick (Bill Hader) to step up and save Christmas.		2019 Directed by: Marc Lawrence Screenplay by: Marc Lawrence Starring: Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader

Jojo Rabbit: Movie Review

Very funny absurdist comedy.

Jojo Rabbit begins at a Hitler Youth Training Camp. Boys are taught important life skills like how to stab people and how to throw hand grenades which comes right after how not to throw hand grenades. While the girls are taught how to get pregnant. These are 10 year-old girls. During a time of war, and really just at all times, German women can best serve their country by producing more Nazis. If it’s not obvious, and I really hope it is obvious, this is a satire. A satire set in Nazi Germany during World War II.		2019 Directed by: Taika Waititi Screenplay by: Taika Waititi Based on the novel by Christine Leunens Starring: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie

Parasite: Movie Review

Daring and inventive tale of class inequality.

One might wonder during the beginning of Parasite if the title is a loose translation from a Korean word which doesn’t have a direct English counterpart. The Oxford English Dictionary offers two definitions of parasite: “1. An organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense; 2. A person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return.” Not too long later, it’s clear that writer-director Bong Joon Ho meant the exact title he chose and Anglophones can assume nothing is lost in translation.		2019 Directed by: Bong Joon Ho Screenplay by: Han Jin Won, Bong Joon Ho Starring: Woo-sik Choi, Kang-ho Song

Last Christmas: Movie Review

Sweetness and charm carrying a movie about nothing.

Marketed as a romantic comedy with the possibility of a twist, most viewers are shrewd enough to know that Last Christmas does indeed have a twist, otherwise the movie would be about nothing. And nothing is generally not enough to win audiences over. All three things are going on in this movie: it is a romantic comedy, except very light on the romance. There is a twist, more on that later. And apart from the twist, nothing happens. That’s not entirely fair, but the main issue is how slight the movie is in terms of plot and story.		2019 Directed by: Paul Feig Screenplay by: Emma Thompson, Bryony Kimmings Starring: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding

Motherless Brooklyn: Movie Review

Classic film noir without an intriguing story.

Writer, director and producer Edward Norton has assembled a large cast of prominent actors, all very adept at comedy, and gave very few of them anything interesting to do. Motherless Brooklyn is a classic film noir played out on the Tourette's spectrum – and that's the comedy. Norton plays Lionel Essrog, a private investigator suffering from multiple vocal and physical tics often erupting at awkward moments, and again – that's where the comedy is. With this cast and premise, the movie was ripe for a dark comedy take on a film noir, but Norton chose a less comfortable, less interesting route.		2019 Directed by: Edward Norton Screenplay by: Edward Norton Based on the novel by Jonathan Lethem Starring: Edward Morton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin and Bobby Cannavale

The Laundromat: Movie Review

Smart, funny, zany and unimpactful.

The Laundromat is a fast-paced satire of the rich and the financial frauds that they willfully commit. It fits right in line with Adam McKay’s The Big Short. However, director Steven Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns wanted to make it quicker and less impactful. Less impactful is definitely what it is, this is a Meryl Streep and Steven Soderbergh collaboration that is smart, funny, illuminating, debuted on Netflix and yet most people don’t seem to know it exists.		2019 Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Screenplay by: Scott Z. Burns Based on the book by Jake Bernstein Starring: Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, and Gary Oldman

Falling Inn Love: Movie Review

Cheap ploys, nice romance.

Falling Inn Love is another generic Netflix rom com/dramedy. It’s hard to call these pure rom coms when it’s very light on the comedy, and the conflicts are always built up as if they’re dramatic. But it’s all there, romance, comedy and the usual, predictable conflicts, all wrapped up in an easy-to-watch package.		2019 Directed by: Roger Kumble Screenplay by: Elizabeth Hackett, Hilary Galanoy Starring: Christina Milian, Adam Demos

The Lion King: Movie Review

Rich visuals adds to the original.

I was a teenager who saw the original Lion King in theaters and probably saw it a dozen more times in the years that followed; however, I haven’t seen it in around twenty years, and haven’t given the film that much thought since. I don’t have any kids and feel no great attachment to the original. It was a film I liked at the time, and then grew up. I give this backstory only because it feels necessary since so many reviewers (and viewers alike) are coming at this remake from different places.		2019 Directed by: Jon Favreau Screenplay by: Jeff Nathanson Starring: Donald Glover, Beyoncé, Seth Rogen, and Billy Eichner

Booksmart: Movie Review

Smart, funny and entertaining.

Booksmart straddles the very difficult line of entertaining but still remaining within the realm of reasonability. Well, the characters start centered within our reality and while things go further out of control than they would for those of us who don’t live in movie universes, the characters are still tethered to relatability, and as a result the movie can just take us for a ride.		2019 Directed by: Olivia Wilde Screenplay by: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel Starring: Beanie Feldstein, Kaitlyn Dever