Eighth Grade (2018)

Photo from Variety

Eighth Grade surrounds Kayla (Elsie Fisher) last week of being in the 8th grade. Kayla makes YouTube videos giving tips to other people her age on how to be confident or how put yourself out there, but Kayla struggles to take her own advice. She’s quiet, awkward, and miserable, and just hopes that her high school experience is different from 8th grade.

When watching this film you’ll end up reminiscing about your own 8th grade experience, reliving awkward moments, and overall being so glad that you’re no longer in middle school. But this film gives you insight into what 8th graders today are going through with social media, and even though social media was around when I was in 8th grade (I think Twitter was becoming big thing then), it’s nothing to how it is now.

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Christopher Robin (2018)

Photo from NBC News

Christopher Robin revolves around a grown up Christopher Robin who has now forgotten his precious friends of Winnie the Pooh and the gang as an adult. Robin’s work has consumed his everyday life, straining the relationship he has with both his wife and daughter. Put once Pooh comes to find Christopher Robin, he remembers how to be a kid again.

As a kid I absolutely adored Winnie the Pooh, so I was excited to see everyone again. Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, and the rest all managed to put a smile on my face in the film. The film is sweet, however, it ends up being generic, which is kind of a let down for me as a big fan of Winnie the Pooh and friends.

Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)

Photo from Polygon

Mission Impossible: Fallout surround Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) as he must track down three nuclear bombs with his team Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), and Isla (Rebecca Ferguson), but this time he is accompanied by Agent Walker (Henry Cavill) from the CIA, who may have a different motive. The team is constantly running into trouble trying to find the bombs and keep it out of the wrong hands.

Wow. This is one of the best action films I’ve seen in recent memory. And it’s probably the best of the franchise, the action here is amazing and constantly kept me on the edge of my seat, specifically the helicopter sequence. Tom Cruise really is fearless and all the stunts he did in this film were bonkers. It’s also great to see Ferguson return as well as the rest of the team. And Henry Cavill may be the best that I’ve seen from him here.

Life of the Party (2018)

Photo from the Wrap

Life of the Party surrounds Melissa McCarthy as Deanna, who decides to go back to college once her husband reveals that he wants a divorce. Unfortunately for her daughter, she decides to go to the same college and is embarrassed by her mother hanging out with her and her friends.

This movie is not good and it is not funny. The jokes largely missed for me and McCarthy herself has been a miss with me lately. I enjoyed her in Paul Feig’s film Bridesmaids, The Heat, and Spy, but since she’s been working with other directors for the past two years the quality of these movies have been plummeting. McCarthy has always sort of done a character that is a version of herself and I guess I’m just over it now.

The Death of Stalin (2018)

Photo from Metro UK

The Death of Stalin revolves around, well, the death of Joseph Stalin. After word of Stalin’s illness, his committee scheme and bumble around trying to save their leader and his ideals, but also ready to take over and steal some of the other’s power.

The film stars Steve Buschemi, Jeffrey Tambor, Simon Russell Beale, among many others. All giving pretty fantastic performances. Buchesmi and Beale are more of the masterminds, while Tambor comes off a weak, not knowing what to do as Stalin’s next in line. The committee also constantly tries to sabotage each other, giving each other tasks that anyone or added work that these people clearly do not want to do.

One thing that does bother me about this film (and about many films) is that this film is supposed to take place in Russia, but absolutely no one in this film speaks Russian or uses a Russian accent. All the actors speak using their usual voices, though the film does make up for this with the setting. The Soviet armband is used, red is constantly seen throughout the film, casual mentions of killings are also used, so the viewer does know that this takes place in Soviet Russia.

The comedy however does work very well in the film, though nothing is really inventive or new in the way comedy is used in the film. If I were to describe this film in one word it would be dysfunctional. If you are a fan of the show Veep, which I have recently gotten into, I would suggest checking this film out, the director, Armando Iannucci, created the show and the film has the same style of humor.

I give Death of Stalin a B.

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Photo from Star Tribune

Sorry To Bother You revolves around Cassisus “Cash” Green (Lakeith Stanfield) trying to make some money by becoming a telemarketer at Regalview. However, he finds that it’s a bit harder than expected, until someone explains to him to use his “white voice” (David Cross). Only then does Cassius rise through the ranks at Regalview and makes some big bucks, but when he finds out that they are corrupt, Cassisus must choose between doing what’s right or to keep making money to survive.

My synopsis above does not capture the tone of the film at all. This is one of the most original films I have ever seen, and I have never seen a movie like this before in my life. This is film is majorly quirky, bizarre, and thought provoking. It is also hugely satirical.

The Dark Knight (2008)

Photo from Deadline

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. It’s hard to believe that this film came out 10 years ago, when I was only 10 years old!

The Dark Knight surrounds Batman (Christian Bale) when a new foe named the Joker (Heath Ledger) wrecks total havoc on Gotham City. With the help of Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the district attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), they do their best to stop the Joker and the chaos erupting all over Gotham.

The Godfather & Godfather Pt. 2 (1972, 1974)

Image from Consequence of Sound

The Godfather and The Godfather Pt. 2 are iconic films that has influenced dozens of films since it was released, some say that it is the greatest film of all time. This is my first time seeing both films and while I already knew some of the story bits and seen some clips, there’s nothing like watching the whole film. And I don’t really know what I can say that hasn’t already been said.

The Godfather surrounds the Corleone crime family, with Vito (Marlon Brando) as the head. His youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), reluctantly joins the mafia after his father gets hurts buts gets sucked in too deep and takes his father’s place. Part 2 picks up with Michael trying to maintain the family business and flashes back to Vito as a young immigrant coming to America, this time played by Robert De Niro.

RBG (2018)

Photo from Kveller

RGB is a documentary about the life of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was a shy law student who worked her way up to the top and has become an icon for women in the United States and in government.

As someone who is familiar with the Justice’s internet fame, I never really knew her story and I had no idea how much she accomplished for women to get equal rights, winning five out of six cases that she argued in front of the Supreme Court. She’s also known as the “dissenter,” her dissents on cases are a huge part of her legacy and are where many her convictions lie. So, she deserves to be a pop culture icon, especially for women, and has rightfully earned the nickname “The Notorious RBG,” a spin on the famous rapper, The Notorious B.I.G.

Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)

Photo from MovieWeb

Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place after the events of Captain America: Civil War where Scott Lang aka Ant-Man has been on house arrest. Hope Van Dyne aka The Wasp and her father, Hank Pym, are trying to travel through the Quantum Realm in order to get Hope’s mother, Janet, back and they recruit Scott to help.

Ant-Man and the Wasp was an easy breezy good time. It filled with tons of humor and is a great palette cleanser from the darkness and gravity from Avengers: Infinity War. Paul Rudd once again is really great as Ant-Man, he brings a lot of laughs and some heart with the scenes involving his daughter. Evangeline Lilly though has more of the spotlight and deservedly so. As the Wasp, she is much more graceful and bad ass than Ant-Man, I’m interested to see her interact with the other Avengers in the future. Michael Douglas again is good and so is the rest of the supporting cast like Laurence Fishburne and the villain, Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen. Ghost isn’t very developed though so she doesn’t cut it as one of Marvel’s best villains which we got with Killmonger and Thanos recently.