stuie299
Cinema Addict - 1453 Film Ratings
Member Since: 21 Oct 2010
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
TCI: not enough ratings
Films in Common: 0
Not in Your Top 1000 TCIs
Recent Ratings
Check out stuie299's...
| 65 21% | Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) - Rated 18 Apr 2024
"I'm usually a fan of over the top cheesy 80's movies like this, but I really fail to understand how this reached classic status. Sure the premise seemed enjoyable enough, and Reeves and Winter make for compelling leads, but beyond that I'm just so confused. A lot of the writing is unbearably stupid and not in a fun way either. The screenplay is a complete mess that could have heavily benefited from several more passes. Not even George Carlin playing against type could save this mild disaster."
|
| 80 60% | The Death of Stalin (2017) - Rated 18 Apr 2024
"The Death of Stalin has a great cast, and some really good lines of dialogue. The tonal balance on display is superb. I just think some of the plot and character elements aren't afforded the proper time to develop, and thusly give the film a smaller more trivial vibe. Ultimately though, it is a well made and enjoyable film, despite feeling more slight than what you would have expected from the premise."
|
| 80 60% | Self Reliance (2024) - Rated 11 Apr 2024
"Self Reliance is really a high concept mumblecore film dressed up and marketed as a big budget comedy, and overall I really like what's going on here. Jake Johnson is great in the lead role, and he has fantastic chemistry with Anna Kendrick. Biff Wiff sometimes steals the show as James/Walter the drifter. Unfortunately I think it can be a little messy at times. Ultimately though it is a mostly fun and somewhat contemplative movie that makes me excited to see how Jake Johnson grows as a director."
|
| 75 46% | The Blues Brothers (1980) - Rated 28 Mar 2024
"Finally got around to watching the Blues Brothers, and I gotta say it's another example of a classic 80's comedy not living up to the hype. The movie is way too long with the first half being especially drawn out. Even a plethora of A list musical cameos can't help. The second half almost makes up for it though. If only the rest of the film was even remotely as good as that car chase scene then I might have been able to understand the acclaim. Also Bonus points for Carrie Fisher's character."
|
| 85 76% | Love Lies Bleeding (2024) - Rated 28 Mar 2024
"Love Lies Bleeding is a movie that either needed to do more or less. At its core is a really good relationship. Stewart and O'Brian have great chemistry together and give great performances. I also love how 80's it is stylistically. Unfortunately the movie just keeps adding on unnecessary plot elements. IMO the film either needed to be longer so it could better flesh out those elements or scale things back to better fit the runtime. Though Overall I do like it and found it very entertaining."
|
| 80 60% | Drive-Away Dolls (2024) - Rated 19 Mar 2024
"I like the premise and a lot of the component parts, but Drive-Away Dolls didn't really grab me at first the way I was expecting it to. I found Margaret Qualley's character to be rather affected and slightly over the top. However as the movie progresses I think her character as well as the rest of the film becomes a lot more enjoyable. Geraldine Viswanathan is as lovely as always. While I ultimately ended up liking the movie, I think the screenplay is just missing that extra spark."
|
| 90 90% | BlackBerry (2023) - Rated 07 Feb 2024
"BlackBerry is just a fun and at times thrilling business centric Biopic. Glenn Howerton's performance really is worthy of all the hype. Jay Baruchel turns in a good Joe Pera impression as well (but seriously he's also great in this). Stylistically It's not a very flashy movie, but technically everything is just so grounded and done extremely well. I guess it just suffers from being a smaller Canadian film, because otherwise I really would have expected it to have gotten more awards buzz."
|
| 85 76% | The Adults (2023) - Rated 01 Feb 2024
"The Adults is a rather quirky unassuming family drama/character study. The casting is excellent. Michael Cera, Sophia Lillis, and Hannah Gross all have amazing chemistry together. The movie can be a bit simplistic, but in a very stylish Indie way that that I'd like to see more often. A few scenes have really interesting cinematography. The poker stuff doesn't always work for me, and can sometimes break up the film's momentum, but for the most part this is just a straightforward enjoyable movie."
|
| 85 76% | Eileen (2023) - Rated 25 Jan 2024
"Yes, there are crime elements but for the majority of its runtime Eileen is simply a character study. I think this is one of the rare example of a movie actually needing to be longer. They could have definitely fleshed out stuff with the prison and the father more, as the movie mostly focuses on the relationship between McKenzie and Hathaway's characters. Overall it's a good quick watch. Hathaway is the real standout along with an absolutely beautiful score, and well done production design."
|
| 85 76% | Maestro (2023) - Rated 21 Jan 2024
"I'm kind of surprised by the reaction to Maestro. I totally get that the movie can be rather slow at times, and the screenplay has a lot of Oscar bait, but it seems like most people are massively underselling the visuals. I was simply not expecting such stunning production design and cinematography. Bradley Cooper gives a career best performance, and Mulligan is also terrific. Ultimately, Maestro is such a beautiful movie that I almost don't care about the issues with the pacing and screenplay."
|
