Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade: F

Review: This film wasn't as bad as Rogue One. However that is the best thing I can say about this movie and in my mind that is not even a compliment.

This movie simply gave me no reason to care about anything that happened on screen. The new characters were devoid of anything resembling personality, and the old characters seemed to have lost any personality they once had. There were moments that I knew were supposed to be suspenseful but being left with no one to root for I kept waiting for them to end. There was not a side of this battle I wanted to see win or lose, because I felt no connection with any of them. This movie also seemed to lose the atmosphere that is so visible in the best Star Wars movies. What made the best Star Wars movies work is that the planets the characters stayed on felt so real and vivid, that you completely believe these places and picture yourself there. Every place that is seen in this movie is horribly undeveloped and simply uninteresting. I could never image any of these places as real, they simply felt like locations in a third rate science fiction movie. The one thing this does have over Rogue One was that there were some plot twists I didn't see coming. However I was so uninterested in anything I was seeing that they left no impact at all on me. This film also had some attempts at humor that would have been nice, if they were at all funny. Sadly they are just as bland and boring as the rest of this movie.

After this and Rogue One I have lost all hope in the Star Wars franchise. I know it is possible for the series to turn itself around, but I just don't see it happening. Simply put this movie is pure boredom and I simply just don't care about this franchise any more.

-Michael J. Ruhland     

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland











Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: Fantastic movie is incredibly moving and powerful.

This film could have so easily been a preachy one sided film about a woman standing against authority. However it was anything but this. The movie did not take sides or try to convince us of anything. Instead it showed us the problem in all its political and social complexity and come to our own conclusions. Writer and director Martin McDonagh isn't afraid to show our main character doing things that aren't quite admirable. It is never fully clear what kind of feelings we are supposed to have towards her. This again lets the audience come to its own conclusion, which is much more effective than the one-sided film this so easily could have been. Frances McDormand's performance makes this lack of clarity much more powerful. Her performance here is one of the finest acting performances of this year. She plays the part with such a feeling of conviction, that you believe her completely, no matter what over the top thing she does. This is needed for this movie since it is so much a character study of her.

However despite the serious and dark subject matter this film was very funny. There were many times I was laughing out loud watching it. The humor also perfectly complemented the story. Not only did it keep the movie from being to bleak and depressing, but since it was always tied so perfectly into the story and characters, it actually helps the story move along and feel more real.

This is by all means a must see film and one that I hope will go down in history as the great great movie it is.

-Michael J. Ruhland 

"CoCo" and "Olaf's Frozen Adventure"

Reviews Written By Michael J. Ruhland



CoCoMichael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: Incredible pure Pixar magic at its best and a must see for all movie lovers.

When I was watching Cars 3 for the first time (and yes I enjoyed that movie) I could tell you each little thing that was going to happen next. This is far from the case with CoCo. Just when I thought I knew where the story was heading it did something completely different. However not only was it completely different, but it was so much more powerful than what I saw coming. This is an extremely moving movie. This is hugely because the characters and environments felt so real. I believed from the bottom of my heart every little thing I saw on screen and accepted it as real. The characters could have easily been simple movie stereotypes, but they are so much more. Each facet of their personality is extremely well thought out and come together to make a completely believable character. The environments are likewise filled with an extreme amount of detail. I can't even imagine how much work probably went into something I probably saw on screen for no less than a second. The story itself is fantastic. As I stated before, you never know what is going to happen next. Despite this though each plot twist seems to naturally flow out of the story and characters and there is nothing in this film that feels forced.

It is hard to praise this movie enough, but every movie fan out there needs to see it.

Olaf's Frozen Adventure

       Michael's Movie Grade: B+

Review: This short was a delightfully enjoyable little film, and I was happy to get both this and a feature film for my money.

The best parts of this film were the humor and characters. While I know many people seem to be tired of Olaf, I find him a great character, whose ability to detach body parts reminds me of silent era cartoon characters like Felix the cat or Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He is extremely delightful here, as he is funny and good hearted and brings a classic cartoon energy to this film. This film is quite funny throughout much of it. While it is hard to describe why a film is funny, I found myself laughing at quite a few of these jokes. The short also gives us a greater insight to what happened when Elsa had to hide from Anna, and these scenes are very touching and flow naturally out of the characters, we already loved from Frozen.

On the downside this does feel like a story we have seen before, and Anna and Elsa's part in the story seems too brief.

I have to be honest, I don't know why people hate this short so much. I find it delightful. I know many people complained about having to sit through a 21 minute short before the feature. However to me the short felt like it went by extremely quickly. Also to me to get a longer short and a feature just made it feel like I was getting a very special movie going experience that is too rare today. Personally I would love if Disney made more 21 minute shorts before their feature films, but sadly that doesn't look like it is going to happen.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Wonder

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: A-

Review: Fantastic heartwarming family film, of the type there are too few of today.

What makes this movie so fantastic is that every character is so fully fleshed out and given a prefect amount of time to shine, without the movie feeling too long or cluttered. This is all worked together perfectly to show you that each of the character has their own side to the story that is just as valid as anyone-else's. This is something that is very hard to capture in a movie as usually when it is tried the movie just feels like it is forcing too much in the film, but this filming is never felt in this movie. Instead we connect to every character in a personal way. This movie is also filled with great humor. The jokes with Chewbacca are especially very funny. The story is not only told well but is very charming. All the emotion in this film feels real and genuine. You care about everything that happens and the movie may even produce a few tears. While this movie has its sad moment the film comes together to be very uplifting. These type of family-friendly feel good movies are sadly becoming too rare, and most of the time when they come about they feel too forced and phony. There is nothing phony about this movie it is a genuinely charming movie and a delight for the whole family.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Lady Bird

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland












Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: Lady Bird is a profoundly moving and funny film, and one of the one of the finest American movies in recent years.

What really makes this film so incredible is its honesty and straightforwardness. Everything in this film feels so real in natural. This does not feel like you are watching a movie, but rather that you are seeing these characters' lives unfold on screen. These characters could have so easily become one dimensional stereotypes, but they are so much more. Like us they have fully rounded personalities that are sometimes admirable and sometimes much less than that. When we see a character make a bad choice, we don't just shake our head and think they are stupid as we do in so many other movies. We really feel sorry and regret for them. This is because as we watch the movie they become almost like friends and family to us and we feel legitimate concern for them. The relationship between Lady Bird and her mother is extremely real and powerful. All this is so important because this is a film that is much more propelled by the characters than the story. The story itself is really simple, and resembles stories we have seen in other films. Despite this the characters make it feel so unique and new. Besides just being profound and moving, this movie is consistently quite funny. There were many times and other audience members laughed out loud. The jokes were not only funny but very clever as in. Fitting into the spirit of the narrative, each joke perfectly comes out of the characters. This means the jokes are not only funny, but help us get more and more involved in the characters and story we see on screen. Though this movie does bring up politics and religion and uses them as the basis for jokes, there is nothing mean spirited here, and the movie never preaches to us on what we should think.

All in all this is just an incredible movie and a must see for all movie lovers.

-Michael J. Ruhland 

Thor Ragnarok

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: D

Review: Though this film tries to make Marvel's weakest cinematic series into something more enjoyable the film seems bland and lifeless.

The Thor movies are my least favorite Marvel movies. The main reason for this is that I find Thor and Loki maybe the two most boring major characters in Marvel's cinematic universe. There is little to make them more interesting here. Sure, Thor has more wisecracks than he did in the past, but a personality that doesn't make. There is just little reason to care about this character at all. The villainess is equally boring here. She is definitely very powerful, but her screen presence and personality just feels like many villains we have seen in many other superhero movies and there is nothing here to make her stand out among so many similar villains. The Valkyrie is one of the many characters in recent films (like ones we saw in Rogue One) that has a backstory instead of a personality. Bruce Banner is honestly the only character here I actually seem to care about. With the blandness of the characters there seems to be little reason to get into the action scenes, and they come off as boring. The movie does look really good, but all this amounts to little when all but one character are so boring.

One of the main selling points of the movie was the humor. It ended up being very hit and miss. There were some jokes that made me laugh and were the highlights of the movie (though the movie's best joke was already seen in the trailer). Most of the jokes that worked seemed to come from the Hulk. He was the only character in this film that made me laugh consistently. The bickering between him and Thor were easily the highlights of the film. On the other hand much of the humor just falls flat. Thor's wisecracks leave little to no reason to laugh, and Loki's humor is annoying rather than funny.

I know I am hugely in the minority on this movie but I found the film quite bland.

-Michael J. Ruhland

All I Can See is You

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: This movie some big flaws, but it still ends up being a good movie thanks to great direction by Marc Foster and a very moving performance by Blake Lively.

Thus film really looks great. However this not only makes the movie pretty to look at but makes the story more effective. These visuals often allow you to see the world through the eyes and mind of our main character. When she sees or feels distorted, we can see that visually on the screen and when things are less distorted for her we see things in a rather normal way. With this the main character feels more real to us, and we believe the story more because of this. Also helping make this movie more believable is Blake Lively's performance. Critics seem to be split on this performance but I love it. You feel the emotion in her face. There is not a scene of this movie where she ever feels fake or unreal. Instead even when she doesn't say a word she conveys every emotion perfectly and pulls you into the movie. Why this film works is that with the direction, cinematography and performance all working together this main character feels undeniably real and this makes for some very emotionally effective moments.

However this film does have some huge problems. One of these is as real as our main character feels, her husband doesn't feel real. Though there are some interesting ideas with him, he is never believable. His dialogue often is the film's most forced and there is little knowing what he would be like or do if his wife wasn't in this movie. On top of this some of the side characters simply seem to be there to show us how the relationship between these two is having trouble. (slight spoilers though these events don't take place that far into the movie, so you won't have the ending ruined) How sexually satisfied the sister and her husband are is supposed to contrast with the awkward sex life of our two leads. However it becomes obvious that that is the only reason those two side characters exist. Likewise the peep show scene is supposed to symbolize their troubled sex life, but that scene is instead just awkward and hard to watch, while only telling us what we already know. (spoilers over) There is also another character who only exists for a similar reason, but I won't talk much about him so I don't spoil something that happens late in the movie. Again though while this problems are big, there is more than enough good here to make it worth watching.

-Michael J. Ruhland    

Geostorm

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade: F

Review: Horribly clichéd and very uninteresting movie.

This film feels like the filmmakers simply went down a checklist of every movie cliché and made sure to use every single one of them. When these clichés are used there is nothing inspired or interesting about how they are done. They are instead either forced in or done with no attempt to make them interesting. The characters here are really bland. They feel like weaker versions of characters we have seen in plenty of other movies. There is nothing here to make them stand out or make you ever believe they really exist. There is also a horribly forced environmental message. This is so forced that if you took out the horribly written opening and closing narration there would be no message. It is like this is done to make the film important and if this is true it doesn't work. There is plenty of humor in this movie but not one of these jokes is actually funny. The only moment I laughed was at a scene that was supposed to be taken seriously (it involved a boy and his dog), and this scene was so forced in I couldn't help but laugh.

Overall this movie feels like it is just going through the motions, and there is nothing interesting behind all the clichés.    

Blade Runner 2049

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: A-

Review: Dark, complex and uncompromising film is also extremely involving and powerful.

One thing that is so incredible about this movie is simply the atmosphere. Unlike many sci-fi movies this film feels so real. This is because the world it takes place in is so intricately thought out. Everything about this world even the smallest things was so well thought out and this is unbelievably effective. While this does help make the movie extremely beautiful looking, that is not the only purpose these settings play. They help pull us into the world and feel like we have been transported there and helps us believe everything that happens on screen as a result. The characters are also very well thought out. Each has their own individual personality. These personalities are not just little character traits, but fully fledged personalities. Again all this feels completely real to us and we believe each and everything they do. This is because none of this feels like it was done for the sake of the story but because it flowed naturally out of the characters. This is not only true of the main characters but of each individual one no matter how small their part is. The story itself is quite complex and compelling. While it is hard to fully discuss this story without providing spoilers, the twist and turns again seem perfectly natural. Often times you have no idea where this story is going and when you think you do it is proven wrong. Despite all this when at the end you see how it all works out it makes perfect and complete sense and not forced in to keep the audience guessing.

This is a fantastic movie and proves that a much belated sequel can actually be a great movie, even if that isn't usually the case.

-Michael J. Ruhland      

Til Death Do Us Part

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: A very effective suspense thriller, but not a great one.

What works about this movie is the main protagonist and antagonist as well as the suspense scenes. Our protagonist is a very likable character and one that we can fully relate to and care about. On the other hand our antagonist is quite scary and effective. With these two pluses fully set in place it is no wonder the suspense scenes work as well as they do. These suspense scenes are easily the highlight of the film. They are well shot and excellently paced. Most of all though these scenes do keep you on the edge of your seat. All this is helped out hugely by great performances from Stephan Bishop and Anne Ilonzeh, who make these characters feel so real to us.

Unfortunately though a major fault with this movie is that these two characters are the only ones who seem real. None of the other characters are ever fully fleshed out and just feel like characters we have seen in previous movies. This is especially problematic as our protagonist finds a new lover. This character is very awkwardly written and is given much corny and forced dialogue. You can see Taye Diggs is trying his hardest to make the character work, but unfortunately he is not able to pull it off. This sadly makes a major plot point come off as unbelievable which really hurts the movie. He is not the only character given forced dialogue, but he is given more than any other character. Even the best characters though occasionally have this kind of dialogue and sometimes it is sad with how well written our two main characters can be at times.

Despite these faults this movie does what it is supposed to, and does that pretty well. The suspense and two main characters are fantastic, and the movie has an important message about domestic abuse. However this will not go down as a great suspense movie, even if it is still a quite enjoyable movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland      

My Little Pony The Movie

Review By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: B

Review: A highly enjoyable adventure movie, but those who have seen enough of the TV show it is based off of will know that show does outshine this film by quite a bit.

The highlights of this movie are the returning characters and animation. The characters are just as well developed and likable as they are in the TV show. Twilight is given the biggest role and is handled very well. While it is unfortunate that her geekiness is toned down here, she is extremely likable and relatable. At all times you fully understand what she is going through. She may be a hero but she is far from perfect and does things that she soon regrets. The other members of the mane six are also very well written but are not given as much development as they have received in episodes of the TV show as this film is mostly Twilight's story and there is nothing wrong with that. The animation is the one thing that really is an improvement over the show. This animation is absolutely incredible. It stays true to the TV show's roots but does something quite different with the look here. The film beautifully combines 2-d animation with 3-d animation. This never feels forced and the two look perfect together giving the film a bit of scope not seen in the show. The character animation is equally effective and just by looking at the animation you can tell just what the characters are thinking. They tell you everything with just a look. The story itself is quite charming and fun. It is not anything that rises above anything the show itself has done (and in fact repeats what episodes of the show have already done), but is still a lot of fun. It has a great sense of adventure, and scope.

However this film does have problems the main one is many of the new characters. The Storm King himself is a very disappointing villain. Despite his great power and how much he intimidates other characters he does not feel the least bit threatening when appearing on screen. This is strange considering how intimidating the villains in the show were (Discord, Quenn Chrysalis, Tirek). The fact you know they have done so much better on this front makes him all the more disappointing. His character is also given some humor but this falls flat. Speaking of unfunny villains Grubber a "comic" sidekick to the villains is extremely unfunny. Every one of his jokes feels forced and annoying. This character also talks in a very modern "hip" style that will soon date each scene the character is in. Tempest however is a fairly strong villain even if she treads ground already done in episodes of the series. Despite this she is quite enjoyable and a nice addition. Capper is another strong new character. On another downside Songbird Serenade feels like just what she is a forced celebrity cameo.

There is nothing (besides the animation) here that makes it stand out among all the episodes of the TV show. In fact some of the show's best episodes are better. However for what it is this is a very enjoyable movie. It is a lot of fun to watch and fans of the TV show (myself included) will have a lot of fun watching it. Newcomers should enjoy the movie, but will not understand the huge obsession the show's fanbase has as well as if they had watched A Canterlot Wedding (for a quick example). So just understand that the show is better and sit down and enjoy a fun movie, because there is still a lot to recommend here.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Lego Ninjago Movie

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade:D

Review: Sadly an extremely disappointing film after the last two Lego movies, and just not a very good movie period.

The major problem with this movie is that is simply extremely clichéd and predictable. The only thing that is really surprising in the story comes quite early on and everything that happens after that can easily be seen coming. This is equally true of almost all of the film's jokes, most having a punchline we see coming from a mile away. There are some good jokes here, but sadly they are not as common as the weak jokes are. However these weak jokes are rarely that bad they just don't invoke much laughter. The characters are similarly very familiar. They aren't bad characters but they feel like characters from so many different films, and have little to make them stand out on their own (yes I do know this is based off a TV show). However the weakest part of the movie is the live action opening a closing sequences. These really feel out of place in this movie and like they were tacked on at the last minute. They add nothing to the movie and the film wouldn't lose anything if they were cut. The inclusion of these scenes feel more puzzling than anything.

The movie has its good points though. The animation is excellent, as should be expected from these Lego movies, the voice acting is quite good, there are a few good jokes (even if they are in the minority), and the characters are pretty likable if not exactly memorable.


This movie doesn't leave much of a bad taste in your mouth, but instead just leaves one with little if any impact. This unfortunately though does make this a huge disappointment after the last two Lego movies.

-Michael J. Ruhland   

Tulip Fever

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland


















Michael's Movie Grade: D


Review: Though this movie has its charms, they are sadly greatly overshadowed by the film's faults.


This movie's faults sadly are much too bad to overlook. The main problem with this movie is the characters. They are simply bland and boring. They feel too much at service to the plot and the plot not enough at service to them. They seem to exist simply to tell the story that we are seeing and nowhere in this film can we picture them as real people. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if this movie wasn't a tearjerker, but it is and simply doesn't produce tears because in the end we have little to no idea who these people actually are. Another problem is that we have a couple of side plots that are not interesting at all and simply make the movie longer without adding any substance. There is also the problem that this movie often times becomes too reliant on contrivance. If a characters had not been in a certain places at a certain times this movie would be a much shorter one. However they see things the interrupt as other things and hear things at exactly the wrong moment. While this sort of thing can work at times, here it does not because there is little feeling behind it and therefore this makes much of the plot seem forced.

This movie does have some good things about it though. The sets and costumes look lovely, and the cinematography looks excellent. As well as this Danny Elman's musical score is quite good. However again, the faults in this movie overshadow these good things and it winds up as a poor movie.


-Michael J. Ruhland.

Leap! (Ballerina)

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland













Michael's Movie Grade: B-

Note: I was only able to see an English dubbed version of this movie so far. Since this movie was originally in French I will not be mentioning the voice acting in my review, and it has no effect on the grade I gave this movie.

Review: Maybe not a new animated classic but a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

The animation here is absolutely top notch. This is of course very important for an animated movie that centers around dancing. Each movement when these characters dance is extremely precise and done with the upmost care. Yet it always flows naturally and never feels forced. As well as the dancing animation the animated acting is also excellent, letting these characters truly come to life through that animation. Our main character is very likable and relatable. At every moment in this film you believe her love for dancing, because her passion feels completely real. The story of this movie is very clichéd and there is no getting around that. At almost every moment you know what is going to happen next. However because of the believability of our main character and moments where you can feel the filmmakers passion the story is actually pretty effective. While this movie has a clear message that we have heard a million times, the filmmakers understand that the audience is intelligent enough to get what the film is trying to say and because of this it never hammers the message in but it seems instead to just come naturally from the story.

This movie certainly has problems. I have mentioned above that it is clichéd and no where is that worse than with the villain. In fact there is no need for this movie to have a villain and having one alone feels forced. The villain herself is extremely bland and pretty much just wastes screen time. While the other clichés are still handled pretty well, this one is handled horribly and it is definitely the worst part of the film. The humor in this movie is another big problem. It is never funny and there is a lot of it. However the good in this movie outshines the bad and it is definitely well worth a watch even if it probably won't become a classic.


-Michael J. Ruhland     

Ingrid Goes West

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: Ok, I'm calling this, this is the best movie of the year. True it is only August, but I simply don't see how any upcoming movie is going to top it. This is a very intelligent, fascinating, funny and thought provoking movie, that will keep your eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end.

What really makes this movie work so well is the main character, Ingrid. Never for a second is this character not absolutely fascinating. We are allowed to view her as a comedic figure, a scary person, a very tragic case and most importantly a human being. Though through all this we never get to know fully who the real her is, because to be honest she doesn't know either. We get bits and pieces, but there is always something missing. Like Michel from Breathless is a character we are not certain could exist as he is without movies, we are not sure Ingrid could exist if not for social media. Her life is dominated by social media and she too often views it as real life. Because of this what we see of her through a lot of the film we are not sure whether it is real or a façade. However with this we still relate so fully to this character. Sadly this may be because there is more of us in her than we care to fully admit, and what we see of ourselves in her may not be something we are always comfortable with while watching. As you might guess this is not an easy character to play, however it would be impossible to find a better actress for the part than Aubrey Plaza. She plays this role to absolute perfection and hugely because of this performance the character feels so completely real to us.  

While this movie is hugely a comedy, there is little that is light about this movie. While some of the Batman jokes (many of which are very funny) wouldn't seem out of place in a typical light comedy, the majority of this film's humor is extremely dark. Often I laughed at a joke, but felt a little like I shouldn't be laughing, because of the sad or frightening nature of these jokes. However this does not diminish that the humor in this movie is really good and often laugh out loud hilarious.

This is the feature film debut for director and co-writer Matt Spicer and what a debut it is. I am very much looking forward to what this guy will do in the future as he has brought us a true work of cinematic art here.

This movie probably won't receive the mainstream popularity it completely deserves, but make sure you dear reader do not pass by this brilliant movie. I am sure there is much of this film that will stay imprinted in your mind like it will be forever imprinted in mine. This is certainly a movie you will never forget.

-Michael J. Ruhland.    

Logan Lucky

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland














Michael's Movie Grade: A

Review: Often times the films that stand above the rest are the ones that take the most chances and are the most original. With Logan Lucky that is not quite the case. This movie stands above so many other movies coming out of Hollywood today, not because of being original but because it does what other mainstream Hollywood movies do even better.

This is a movie filled with pure energy and even more important pure fun. There is never a scene in this movie that is boring. Every scene is filled with excitement and humor. The characters are fantastic. Again they are not the most original characters but they are handled with real sincerity and therefore feel more real to us than other similar characters from other similar movies. It doesn't hurt that the whole cast does a fantastic job. The movie has very clever script that ingeniously mixes a crime drama with a comedy and it does this perfectly. The movie works perfectly as both and neither the crime drama nor the comedy ever get in the way of each other. They in fact complement each other and make the other work all the better. The humor in this film ranges from very subtle to very broad and both are very funny. I simply laughed out loud a lot while watching this movie. The story contains a lot of movie clichés but they are handled with so much sincerity that they are completely believable. Steven Soderberg's direction is of the highest caliber. It moves the film along at a brisk pace that helps fill the movie with so much fun, but it never moves too fast to ever feel rushed.

This is a definite must see movie and just a lot of fun.

-Michael J. Ruhland.     

Atomic Blonde

Review Written By Michel J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade: C+

Review: A fun cold war thriller with a great visual style and lead character, but the story leaves a little to be desired.

Maybe the best thing about this movie is its great visual filmmaking. While there is little groundbreaking about this style does keep your attention and enjoyment even in the film's weakest moments. This visual style carries over to so much. Even the way certain hotel rooms and clubs look is absolutely beautiful. On top of that these set designs create a fantastic sense of atmosphere that can be seen throughout the whole movie. The cinematography is equally effective. It is great to look at but never shows off, but simply adds to the atmosphere. This is not like a Jean Luc Goddard film or a Alfred Hitchcock film, where the visual style astounds you and even expands the way you think of cinema, but it adds a lot of fun and enjoyment to this movie. Also important to this movie is that the main character is really interesting. She is a bit of a complex character, but what ever she does is fascinating and believable. Sadly she happens to be the only interesting character in this movie, as the rest are rather bland.

The story on the other hand seems like it could have used more time. Since we know the main character is going to survive in all the flashback scenes (which make up most of this movie), we need something else to gain suspense. Sadly this something else is kind of missing. The story isn't bad, per say, in fact it is kind of enjoyable. However we left with little to make suspenseful scenes work because our main source of suspense has been eliminated and replaced with very little.

This is a very violent movie. The fights are made realistic and bloody. While I am not a fan of this as I prefer either off-screen violence or bloodless violence and get a little uneasy with gore, it does have a problem that reaches beyond that. This is that the movie often uses 1980's pop songs on the soundtrack. This kind of a thing worked for the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, because the action there is stylized. However with more realistic action the use of pop songs feels at odds with what we see on screen.

However big this movie's faults are I still enjoyed it because I really like the main character and the visual atmosphere. The movie also has a really good twist ending which I won't spoil here. It is very faulted but fun.

-Michael J. Ruhland 

War For the Planet of the Apes

Review Written by Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: B+

Review: It is incredible how misleading this movie's previews were. They made it look like just another bland cliché action movie of the type I am honestly getting a bit tired of. However what we have here is quite different. This is instead an excellent and intense drama with some action scenes.

One of the things that makes this movie work so well is the main character. Cesar is a fascinating and very complex character. Not everything he does is always admirable, but it is always very well relatable and real. This is a character of many different sides and even though you don't always know what he is going to do next, you always believe him doing it. I respect that this movie is not afraid to be things drastically different from the average Hollywood blockbuster. This is shown heavily through the complexity of the Cesar, however that is not the only place it is shown. While there are explosions and big action scenes, there are also plenty of quiet scenes that add so much mood and atmosphere to the film in a way that most summer blockbusters would avoid (because "if they stop making noise for a second the audience will be bored out of their minds" says Hollywood filmmakers). There is also the fact that the movie asks the audience to do some work for themselves such as *gasp* reading subtitles. Adding to all this is how much effort was put into making this world. The world of the film feels so real while watching out, almost like you could reach out and touch it.

The film does have its faults too. Every attempt to add comedy into this movie falls flat, and most of the side characters don't have much in the way of personality (though the little girl is fantastic). One of the side characters (an ape from the zoo) is even kind of annoying. However these are a small price to pay for an excellent movie.

-Michael J. Ruhland

The Big Sick

Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland



















Michael's Movie Grade: A

Review: It is no secret that many romantic comedies today simply feel rushed out with no real heart or effort. Even many of the best ones feel very formulaic. When you think about this context, The Big Sick is all the more amazing. While this film definitely dives into some of the clichés seen in almost every romantic comedy, there is such a feeling of believability and charm here that these clichés feel like they are naturally coming from the story and characters and not from a checklist.

What really makes this movie work is simply the characters. Each one even the most minor ones feel completely real. They are extremely well fleshed out. Very quickly in this movie we grow to really care about these people. That makes every tearjerker moment feel so natural and real. Because of this unlike so many other romantic comedies we never feel we are being manipulated at all. Throughout this whole film the characters never stop feeling real to you. This is only helped by the great performances by the whole cast.

Also helping is that the humor is actually funny. Again so many of today's romantic comedies never make me laugh even once. Here however I laughed plenty of times. There were a few jokes that missed but they were few and far between. This humor is not only funny but always comes out of the characters themselves. In turn this humor again makes the characters feel all the more real.

Overall this is a fantastic movie and definitely one that shows great romantic comedies can still be made.

-Michael J. Ruhland.     

Dunkirk

Review written by Michel J. Ruhland










Michael's Movie Grade: A-

Reviews: A fascinatingly experimental and moving movie that actually overcomes some Christopher Nolan's usual faults as a filmmaker.

What makes this movie so particularly fascinating is that there is often very sparse dialogue. While this is very different for almost any film today, it is even more shocking to be seen in a Nolan film. While I like some of his films (particularly Following and Batman Begins) a huge fault in many of them is an over reliance on dialogue. This dialogue can often feel un-cinematic as it explains things we could have easily seen and often dissects scenes in a way that should be left up to the audience not the characters. With all this much of Nolan's dialogue in previous movies comes off as pretentious and pointless, even when the movies themselves are good despite that. However here that fault is much less prevalent, because there is so little dialogue in this movie. This works to its full advantage here as we are still drawn into what the characters are going through and no dialogue is needed to make us do this. With this we have a fully cinematic film and in many ways a very effective one because of that. We make our own judgements on what we are seeing and the result feels more satisfying because of this.

All in all this film is a different kind of character study than many other movies out there. Instead of it being a study of a specific character it is the study of a group. We see their reactions to the war and how different it is for many of them at times, but also what panic can do to them as a group. This is quite fascinating and great to watch. At the end while we do not fully know any of these characters as individuals, we still know them quite well as a group. This makes this movie an experience rather than just a simple war story.

However this film does have some faults. The camera never stays still. This can be very distracting and kind of hurts the film. There is also on the camera side too much of a reliance on close ups, which can also be a little distracting. However despite these faults this is a really good movie and I highly recommend it.

-Michael J. Ruhland.