Movie Review: "Showgirls" (1995)

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Movie: "Showgirls"
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Year: 1995
Rating: NC-17
Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes

A dancer named Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) moves to Las Vegas to try to make it in the competitive back biting world of show dancing.  

Have you ever wondered what it's like backstage at a Las Vegas topless dancing show?
No?
Neither have we.

"Showgirls" is the first and possibly only NC-17 film to receive a wide theatrical release. It also has the distinction of being highest grossing NC-17 film of all time at the box office, pulling in about $20 million mostly powered by young men hoping to see Jessie Spano from "Saved by the Bell" naked. Despite having the honor of being the top NC-17 earner, it was still a box office bomb as it had a $45 million dollar budget which is something we'll never understand. It was also critically panned as it swept the Razzie Awards the year it was nominated. Since its massively disappointing theatrical run, "Showgirls" has gone on to become a cult classic and has earned over $100 million in home video and DVD sales.

So, how does a film go from box office flop to smashing cult success? Sure, as a drama, this film is horribly written, it is full of awful acting, and even worse, more horrendous dialogue. The film is far too melodramatic to be taken seriously, and yet, somehow, it's full of honest to god cinematic gold. The minute this film stopped being taken seriously was the moment it became a success elsewhere because it has the perfect formula to be an unintentionally great comedy and part of the "so bad, it's good" genre. Elizabeth Berkley stars in this movie as Nomi Malone, a young woman with a massive chip on her shoulder who wants to make it in the big time as a Vegas dancer. Everything related to Berkley's acting is over exaggerated, from the way she gets angry, to the way she gets sad, or the way she gets annoyed, and even as far as the way she has sex. In fact, her in-pool sex scene with Kyle MacLachlan is one of the most ridiculous sex scenes to ever be put on film, and strangely enough, we found ourselves rolling on the floor laughing at how amazing it is. Nomi Malone's rival in the film is Cristal Connors, played by Gina Gershon. Cristal is the lead dancer of the show Namoi eventually joins called "Goddess." For some unexplained reason, Cristal is a bitch to Nomi from the get go, constantly demeaning her every chance she gets, all in a rather thick, unnecessary, and fake Southern accent. Their entire rivalry and catty banter, much like rest of the film, is quite comical with dialogue such as: "You have great tits..." or, "I like nice tits, how about you?" or, "I like having nice tits." With sophisticated dialogue like this, c'mon, how can you go wrong? Beyond the bad acting and unpleasantly nasty, poorly crafted dialogue, the movie is entirely too long, clocking in at 2 hours and 8 minute, and why, we have no idea, but damn if we don't love every single minute of it in an ironic way.

Die hard cinema fans have to see "Showgirls" for the lark and for the trainwreck it is since simply talking about it won't do it the justice it deserves.

My Rating: 3.5/10 for its original intended purpose, 10/10 as a cult classic
BigJ's Rating: 3/10 for its original intended purpose, 10/10 as a cult classic
IMDB's Rating: 4.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 19%
Do we recommend this movie: AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE (unless you're watching ironically)
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One year ago, we were watching: "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2006)"

Weekend Box Office Results: November 27th, 2015 - November 29th, 2015

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" gobbles up the competition over Thanksgiving holiday

*all numerical information provided by boxofficemojo.com

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" seemed to have no problem holding onto the #1 spot over the Thanksgiving holiday, easily beating all 3 new releases by a sizable margin. Coming in second place over the holiday weekend was the second of Pixar's 2015 releases in "The Good Dinosaur," which made $39,192,000 over the 3-day weekend. After reviewing the entire "Rocky" series, we were excited to see "Creed" come in at the 3rd spot by making a solid $30,120,00. Impressive by any standards. In 4th place was "Spectre," which made $12,800,000. Finally, "The Peanuts Movie" rounded out the top 5 during the Turkey Day weekend, making $9,700,000 and a new domestic gross total of $116,757,472. Most of our predictions were right this weekend. It's interesting to note that the Thanksgiving 3-day weekend as a whole sits at a multi-year low as far as the cumulative top 10 total is concerned.

		This Week	Domestic Gross
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part  2	$51,600,000	$198,312,341
2	The Good Dinosaur	$39,192,000	$39,192,000
3	Creed	$30,120,000	$30,120,000
4	Spectre	$12,800,000	$176,056,967
5	The Peanuts Movie	$9,700,000	$116,757,472
6	The Night Before	$8,200,000	$24,102,536
7	Secret in Their Eyes	$4,502,000	$14,031,039
8	Spotlight	$4,495,290	$12,347,179
9	Brooklyn	$3,832,000	$7,289,949
10	The Martian	$3,300,000	$218,640,849

**See you at the movies!!**

Movie Review: "Rocky Balboa" (2006)

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Movie: "Rocky Balboa"
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Year: 2006
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is long retired from boxing and now runs an Italian restaurant in Philadelphia. His wife Adrian has passed away, but her brother Paulie (Burt Young) is still around and working at the meat packing plant. After ESPN runs a computer simulation showing Rocky beating the current heavyweight champion, Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), it drives public interest for an exhibition bout between the over 60 year old Rocky and the world champ. 

16 years have passed since the poorly received "Rocky V" was released. With that unfortunate slip-up mostly out of the minds of the movie-going masses, Sylvester Stallone hops back in the director's chair to shoot his new script about his most famous character, Rocky Balboa. Rocky hasn't been in a boxing ring since facing Ivan Drago back in the 80's when Russia was still behind the Iron Curtain. Rocky spends his evenings at his restaurant, which he named after his now deceased wife Adrian. At this restaurant, he regales stories about his past fights with Apollo Creed and others, telling tales about the good old days. Most of the Philadelphia neighborhood has changed with the exception of Rocky's brother-in-law Paulie, played once again by Burt Young, who has a smaller part in this movie but is still the same belligerent drunk he has always been. Meanwhile, the current heavyweight champion Mason 'The Line' Dixon, played by real life former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver, is not a well liked or popular champion. Most people think he's a paper champion who has been spoon-fed his opponents in the hopes of padding his record. He hasn't been pulling good Pay-Per-View numbers, which as we all know is all that matters in the modern boxing landscape. After ESPN runs a computer simulation, inspired by the Ali vs. Marciano dream match, showing Rocky knocking out Dixon, it gives Dixon's manager and promoter an idea to make the simulation fight a reality. Luckily, continuity has never been a strong suit in the Rocky franchise. As it turns out, Rocky's life threatening permanent brain damage was not so permanent or life threatening after all. It seems to just disappear much like his eye injury from "Rocky III" did. The Rocky series has always been pretty dramatic, and in "Rocky Balboa," there's a lot of reflective drama as Rocky copes with the death of the love of his life, his wife Adrian. Rocky has also had a falling out with his now-adult son Robert Balboa Jr., played by Milo Ventimiglia, who is tired of being in his father's shadow. Rocky Jr. seems to blame a lot of his problems on his dad being famous and still carries a massive chip on his shoulder. This is a rather unfounded complaint and the character does come off as a bit of a whiner, but damn, Stallone and Ventimiglia look like they could be related! Great casting on the part of the film. The style of this movie is probably closest to that of the original "Rocky" rather than any of its subsequent sequels, and we welcome and enjoy this return to form after such a formulaic repetition over the decades. Overall, we really liked this movie. It is an entertaining, heartfelt film that is great return to form after the slump of "Rocky V." It made me cry at least once, but makes us wonder, what was Talia Shire so busy doing that she couldn't return even for a brief cameo? Who knows, and really, who care, because the film came out great. An unexpectedly great movie!

My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 76%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!
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To see our review of "Rocky," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky II," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky III," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky IV," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky V," click here.

Movie Review: "Bulletproof" (1996)

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Movie: "Bulletproof"
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
Year: 1996
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 24 minutes

Moses (Adam Sandler) and Keats (Damon Wayans) are best friends and thick as thieves, especially since they are thieves. When Moses tries to bring Keats in as a drug mule, it turns out Keats is actually an undercover cop trying to bust Moses's boss Colton (James Caan). When the bust goes bad, in the chaos, Moses accidentally shoots Keats in the head. Keats recovers, but obviously holds a grudge, and now years later, Moses has agreed to testify against Colton provided Keats is the one who brings him in. Colton will stop at nothing to make sure that doesn't happen.

When you heard the name "Adam Sandler," what do you think of? Probably not action. "Bulletproof" is an action buddy comedy starring Damon Wayans as an undercover cop that goes by the name of Keats, and Adam Sandler as a career criminal named Moses. Both Sandler and Wayans are veterans of sketch comedy, Sandler having been on "SNL" and Wayans with experience in both "SNL" and "In Living Color." This film came out pretty early in Sandler's film career while his star was still rising and shining bright. Damon Wayans, however, quickly declined post-"Bulletproof" and it marked the start of a large, long lull in his career. The plot of this film is simple and has been seen many times before. Partners in crime have a falling out because one of them turns out to be a cop and was trying to get to his partner's big boss, this time named Colton, played by perpetual bad guy James Caan. Eventually, Moses agrees to testify against Colton under the condition that Keats be the one to bring him in, but Keats is still holding a grudge from when Moses shot him in the head. Because you know, shit happens! With these movies about transporting witnesses, whether they be action, comedy, or both, you always have to wonder who is on the big boss' payroll, and we should never trust anyone as the audience. We never know who might be leaking Colton information so he can bump off that witness, and "Bulletproof" follows this very similar plot line. Much of the comedy in this film, like most in its genre, comes from the two main protagonists bickering back and forth with each other, saying what they'll do or how they'll hurt each other if they ever get the chance, until they eventually come to some mutual understanding. This type of comedy relies entirely on the strength of its two lead actors, how believable their relationship is, and how well they play off one another. Sandler and Wayans do a rather serviceable job at this, though neither of them is super fantastic in their part. There are some definite laughs to be had with the occasional moment of intense action, there is a lot of stupid and expected dialogue that makes this film rather tedious. Overall "Bulletproof" is just another mediocre "buddy cop" type of movie with many flat stretches of boringness. There are much better movies in this genre and better flicks starring both of these actors...well, at least from Adam Sandler, which is not something we ever thought we'd say.

My Rating: 6/10
BigJ's Rating: 6/10
IMDB's Rating: 5.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 8%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
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One year ago, we were watching: "How to Train Your Dragon"

Movie Review: "Home for the Holidays" (1995)

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Movie: "Home for the Holidays"
Director: Jodie Foster
Year: 1995
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Claudia Larson (Holly Hunter) heads home to spend Thanksgiving with her extremely dysfunctional family.

Boy, are we glad our families were never as dysfunctional as the one in this movie.

Claudia, played by Holly Hunter, has just lost her job, has just found out her teenage daughter Kitt, played by Claire Danes, wants to have sex with her boyfriend, just tried to kiss her boss when he fired her, and has lost her coat an the airport. Already, the odds are stacked against her. As soon as she is picked up at the airport, Claudia's chain smoking mom Adele, played by Anne Bancroft, starts to dig in on her with constant critiques of her life, as her father Henry, played by Charles Durning, seems blissfully unaware of what's going on around him and regularly rambles nonsensical things. Claudia's brother, the black sheep of the family named Tommy, played by Robert Downey Jr., who the family were not expecting to come home for Thanksgiving, randomly shows up with his friend Leo Fish, played by Dylan McDermott. Tommy is gay, but also has an odd habit of taking Polaroids of his sister Claudia in various states of undress. Uhhh, okay? Despite this, Claudia gets along with Tommy better than anyone else in her family and it's obviously the two share an intense connection. Also joining them for dinner is Adele's sister Glady, played by Geraldine Chaplin, who is quite eccentric and also has a thing for Adele's husband, which she happily announces smack dab in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. The final family member to join in on the holiday festivities is Claudia's sister Joanne, played by Cynthia Stevenson, who really seems to unequivocally hate her family and is completely bitter that her siblings have moved away. She also has some extreme bigotry towards Tommy because he's gay. Joanne appears to be unhappily married to an unpleasant man named Walter, played by Steve Guttenberg, and they have two annoying kids who also seem like real unhappy jerks, too. As you can imagine, once this motley crew of a family gets together, tempers flare immediately, arguments happen regularly, and fights break out at the drop of a hat, but apparently that's what happens in movieland when you get a group of people together who really can't stand each other. Once again, this is an example of a film where family members get together out of obligation and spite during the holidays rather than actually wanting to spend time with each other. Now, the acting in the movie might be solid, but the material they are working with is nothing exceptional. "Home for the Holidays" is a movie about a family who really doesn't like each other who gets thrust into an environment where they for sure will not get along and are all expected to fix their long seeded issues over cranberry sauce and gravy. The movie has an endless amount of chatter without any real strong dialogue. Even though it all feels lively, because let's face it, what holiday movie doesn't feel lively, really the substance is nothing more than something you'd see in any other holiday film about major dysfunction. The context of this film takes a massively cynical look at the family-centered holiday and never has any true redemption, leaving us wondering why a family like this would even bother getting together for a turkey dinner at all?? The holidays shouldn't be a burden. While director Jodie Foster tries her best to get the audience in a festive, laughing mood, ultimately, we wound up finding this film jaded and messy, despite some good performances by Holly Hunter, Robert Downey Jr., and others.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!!

My Rating: 5.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 5.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 63%
Do we recommend this movie: Meh.
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One year ago, we were watching: "House at the End of the Street"

Movie Review: "Jack Reacher" (2012)

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Movie: "Jack Reacher"
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Year: 2012
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

A man seemingly shoots five people at random with a sniper rifle. Shortly after, an ex-military sniper named James Barr (Joseph Sikora) is arrested for the crimes with a mountain of forensic evidence against him. During the interrogation, he writes one name on a piece of paper that reads Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). After a beating in a transport van, Barr winds up in a coma. Jack Reacher shows up out of the blue, and Barr's attorney Helen (Rosamund Pike) thinks Reacher is an old friend, but soon finds out he is a military investigator who had previously arrested James for a similar crime. Why Barr asked for an old enemy she isn't sure, but she hires Jack to look into James's case anyway. 

Here we go again with the mildly misinformed trailers, the main reason why we skipped this film at all. The first trailer released for "Jack Reacher" made this seem like a "Taken" style vigilante film where Jack Reacher, played by Tom Cruise, goes on a kick ass quest for justice no matter what gets in his way. The second trailer gave a much closer idea of how the film actually is, but it was still slightly misleading. While there are some action elements, and while Jack Reacher does get to kick some ass in the movie, there is also a larger dose of criminal investigation where characters must look at crime scenes while Jack replays the incident in his mind, including short interludes of action when those trying to frame Barr, played by Joseph Sikora, start to mess with Reacher. We know some of the people who read the book were upset with the casting of Tom Cruise as Reacher because Jack is described in the book as 6'5" and 250 lbs, a far stretch from the 5'7" Tom Cruise, but when push comes to shove, can you think of a more consistent action star with an impressive ass-kicking resume who wasn't already tied up in other projects than Tom Cruise? We also understand why filmmakers chose to go with someone like Cruise as Reacher's mind plays a much bigger part in story versus his muscle. It was important to cast a good actor and not just put it on someone like Dave Bautista, who may have been more physically accurate, but not so much psychologically speaking. It also makes the film it more believable when people attempt to pick a fight with Cruise as they would naturally underestimate his physical ability, and would be far less likely to pick a fight with someone with the same physical stature and size as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Overall, the story consists of a better than average crime thriller. It's not really a whodunit since we know from beginning James Barr is innocent, and that Charlie, played by Jai Courtney, was the one who did the shooting. The bigger question here is: why did they do it and why did they frame Barr? This is what Jack helps Helen, played by Rosamund Pike, find out. He also helps uncover who else is in on this sinister conspiracy. The mystery of the crime juxtaposes itself between some really flashy action and car chases, as well as some great acting. In the end this film is an intriguing and exciting ride.

My Rating: 7.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 62%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?

Movie Review #344: "The Night Before" (2015)

Movie: "The Night Before"
Director: Jonathan Levine
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes

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Ethan's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) parents died on Christmas eve in 2001. Every year since then, he and his two best friends Isaac (Seth Rogen) and Chris (Anthony Mackie) get together on that day so Ethan won't have to be alone during the holiday. Usually, the three lifelong pals drink to excess and party all night, but this year is different. Ethan has stolen 3 tickets to the Nutcracker Ball, an exclusive and elusive New York City party they have been trying to get into for years, and since Isaac's wife Betsy (Jillian Bell) is about to have a baby and Chris is a famous NFL football player and no longer has time to hang out, they decide to do it up right and see what mischief they can get into with only the Christmas spirit, 3 goofy Christmas sweaters, and a tiny box of drugs supplied by Betsy for their final hurrah, and things don't quite go as planned.

This has not been a good year for new Christmas movies. "Love the Coopers" left an extremely sour taste in our mouths, and lately, we have been sort of cautious when going into movies starring Seth Rogen. He has a habit of making the same movies over and over and over again where he and his bros get together and take copious amounts of drugs and get into hijinks. Well, the only real difference in "The Night Before" is that it involves the Christmas holiday, but we are pleased to say this film is a riot. We laughed waaay more than we expected to, and even the portions of the movie showcased in the trailer made us laugh again once actually watching it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Ethan, a 33 year old man who lost his parents to a drunk driving accident in 2001. His best friends Isaac, played by Seth Rogen, and Chris, played by 2015 workaholic Anthony Mackie, have spent every Christmas since with him to ensure he's not alone during the holiday. This year is the trio's final hurrah as Isaac and Chris are growing up, moving on with their lives, and starting families and careers on their own. Upon stealing tickets to the illustrious Nutcracker Ball, the three, armed with only tradition, Red Bull, and a little box full of every drug imaginable, they set off on a wild night they won't soon forget.

Now, a movie full of drug abuse and alcohol consumption probably won't ring any Christmas bells to most moviegoers. "The Night Before" surprisingly managed to capture and embody the spirit of the holiday season much more than the traditional cookie-cutter Christmastime films of the past few years. Unlike "Love the Coopers," which is a miserable, awful, depressing, non-joyous and non-joyful movie masquerading itself as a feel-good Christmas comedy, "The Night Before" actually has laughs a-plenty, bonding, Christmas cheer, and shows that family is what you make it, even if it doesn't include blood relatives. Rogen, Mackie, and Gordon-Levitt, though drunk or coked out of their gourds almost the entire film as characters, have excellent chemistry with one another, and even though they clearly bonded out of necessity in the beginning, they truly became the best of friends over time. We believe these three as people who would do anything for one another. Arguably the best part of this movie, though, doesn't involve the three main actors. Michael Shannon, who we have really come to love this year between "99 Homes" and this, has a hilariously wonderful supporting part as Mr. Green, a drug dealer who worked at their high school and seemingly knows everything about the intimate details of their lives despite not having seeing them for over a decade. Through his magical weed, he takes each of the guys on a "Christmas Carol" type of adventure of their present, past, or future. That's another really great quality of this film: it references and pays homage to the great holiday classics that came before it, like "Home Alone," "It's A Wonderful Life," and the greatest Christmas movie of all time, "Die Hard." It never uses those references willy nilly. Each of those observances, product placements, and other holiday fare (such as Christmas trees, Christmas lights, or Santas in the background) either have a point within the context of the story or are done in a self-aware, meta type of way. None of them feel thrown in like they did in "Love the Coopers." I'm starting to think this is less of a review for "The Night Before" and more of a hate speech written about "Hate the Poopers."

In the end, "The Night Before" is a great Christmas film and one we wouldn't mind pulling out each holiday to re-watch. It's much more funny than you might think, but still manages to be heartfelt and sweetly sentimental, even if the end portion featuring a cursing, drinking, clearly try-hard Miley Cyrus is the only thing that doesn't fit. Give this one a go, but not if you're really sensitive to bad language, nudity, anti-religious holiday themes, drug use, and general blasphemy.

My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 8/10
IMDB's Rating: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 65%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!

Movie Review: "Rocky V" (1990)

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Movie: "Rocky V"
Director: John G. Avildsen
Year: 1990
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Rocky's (Sylvester Stallone) battle with Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) has left him with permanent brain damage, leading Rocky to finally retire or risk dying. Upon returning home from Russia, Rocky is surprised to find he accidentally gave power of attorney to his accountant, who then lost all of Rocky's fortune in a risky real estate scheme. Now, forced out of his mansion and back onto the streets of Philly, Rocky makes a living running Mickey's old gym, where he trains a new young prodigy named Tommy 'The Machine' Gunn (Tommy 'The Duke' Morrison), who asked for Rocky's help. Meanwhile, shady boxing promoter, George Washington Duke, is trying to goad Rocky out of retirement for one last payday. When Rocky says no, Duke turns his sights onto Tommy in the hopes of stealing him away from Rocky. 

After three movies in the director's chair, Sylvester Stallone relinquishes control of the fifth installment in the "Rocky" franchise back to the original "Rocky" director John G. Avildsen, though Stallone himself returns as writer and as Rocky himself in the titular role. After two movies being a millionaire sports star, Stallone needed to find a way to return Rocky back to a more relateable character. His solution was to have Rocky accidentally hand over power of attorney to his accountant, who immediately loses Rocky's entire fortune and all his property in the blink of an eye. This whole situation is way more than a little contrived to say the least and it's actually quite stupid when you stop to think about it. Of the "Rocky" sequels, this is probably the least formulaic in that Rocky isn't preparing for a fight, but it is also certainly the worst of the bunch. This film is about him dealing with brain damage from his bout with Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV," which leads to his definite retirement. Rocky himself, as well as his son Rocky Jr., have both undergone growth spurts of miraculous proportions in the few months Rocky was away in Russia. Oh, and speaking of Rocky Jr., Stallone felt it was necessary to pull a mistake of Coppola-esque proportions in casting his real life son Sage Stallone in the part. He certainly wasn't the best actor, but watching him in this film and knowing what befell him many decades later, it's sort of sad in retrospect to see them fight on screen. Rocky and his son have a falling out when Rocky takes a young boxing prodigy named Tommy 'The Machine' Gunn, played by real life boxer and nephew of John Wayne Tommy 'The Duke' Morrison, under his wing and into his home. Rocky trains Tommy and treats him like a son, but simultaneously ignores his own kid along the way. This causes Rocky Jr. to head down a rebellious path full of chips on his shoulder and anger in his heart. Surrounding all of this is the story line with a shady boxing promoter named George Washington Duke, who is obviously inspired by real life shady boxing promoter Don King. Duke will stop at nothing to get Rocky into the ring just one more time. If Duke can't get Rocky, he is willing to settle for taking Tommy away from him to use as a pawn to achieve his end goal.

It some ways, it's nice to see a deviation from the formulaic, inspirational sports franchise we have known and loved, but by 1990 and after the 4 previous "Rocky" movies, it just isn't enough. The move back to a more personal drama that started the series is refreshing, but the story just doesn't have the same emotional oomph the previous films had. It would have been suicide to give Rocky permanent damage from the Drago fight and then make him step into the ring one more time in this film, so we welcome the deviation, but wish it would have been executed much better. It really could have been something inspirational, life after the ring and all that jazz. Couple this with the fact that Sylvester Stallone really, really mumbles a lot here, and Sage Stallone overacts every. single. line. he is given, this is definitely the weakest link in the series. This is also the first PG-13 film of the bunch, but it doesn't really have to be as there's nothing that constitutes the need for a PG-13 rating in our opinion. Despite all of this, it's still sort of enjoyable, especially if you're marathoning the entire franchise like we are. There are a few "fall from grace" moments for Rocky that are worth sticking around for, even though most of it is super cheesy at this point.

My Rating: 5/10
BigJ's Rating: 5/10
IMDB's Rating: 5.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 26%
Do we recommend this movie: Meh.
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To see our review of "Rocky," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky II," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky III," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky IV," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky Balboa," click here.

Movie Review #343: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" (2015)

Movie: "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2"
Director: Francis Lawrence
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 17 minutes

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The rebels continue their assault on the Capitol as they unite more and more districts under the Mockingjay. Meanwhile, Peeta (Josh Hutchinson) must go through rehabilitation for the psychological torture that President Snow (Donald Sutherland) put him through to turn him into a weapon. Now, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) has only one goal left: kill president Snow at all costs. 

After four long years, "The Hunger Games" film franchise has finally come to an end. We have cried, we have cheered, we have been angry, and now, it is done. Now, we wish we could say this final installment was the best in the series. We wish we could say it contained the grand, epic finale filled with fire, fighting, and flawlessness we fully went in expecting, but unfortunately, that's not how we feel, though our reasons are different than most. While this film is very good, for us, "Catching Fire" still sits steady at the top of the heap when compared to the other movies in this series. It is hard to judge "Mockingjay - Part 2" on its own merits because it is really just the second half of a much larger film. It's incomplete without the first portion, and as a stand-alone movie, it obviously lacks a lot of what we have come to expect from these split-series movies: the aforementioned epic battle and a strong, worthwhile finale. Just because this doesn't exist in "Mockingjay - Part 2," doesn't mean we disliked it as a whole because we quite enjoyed it.

Just in case people haven't realized it yet, "The Hunger Games" is an extremely dark series that often deals with some surprisingly complex political, philosophical, and psychological issues. The entire premise of the books and its subsequent films are based on the notion that the government appoints and sanctions child murder every year...not exactly the proper subject for a dinner table conversation, right? So, when the series comes to its conclusion, moviegoers should not expect some super uplifting and cheerful message in the wake of the franchise's previous 3 films worth of slaughter. In fact, know you probably should expect something a little more somber and cynical, not a Disney fairytale ending where everything turns out okay in the end. Unlike most of the world, we relish in dark, depressing endings and appreciate them because they happen so rarely in a cinematic climate where movies are content to churn out cookie-cutter happiness and expect us all to believe that's the way the world works. Given the tone of the series as a whole, it really couldn't of ended any other way than it does here, and we actually liked how it ended. While the acting is still as good as it has ever been, even for a rather propaganda-powered and molded, sort of unremarkable character like Katniss Everdeen, played for the final time by Jennifer Lawrence, many of the characters who were built up over time have become footnotes in this second potion of "Mockingjay" to allow Katniss time to extract her revenge on Snow and the Capitol. With many of her allies and friends already dead and gone by this point, Katniss has always been the star of the show, even if she doesn't want to be. People have died for her, and she simply wants the killing to stop, be it in her name or not.

As we mentioned above, this is a great film, though it's not the best in the series. The real error came in the choice to split "Mockingjay"  into two separate parts for little less than an attempt to suck as much money out of moviegoers as possible. We are all too aware of the studios ploys to squeeze every last bastardly dollar out of us poor, unsuspecting saps, but everyone should know this is the case by now. There's really no excuse for this from an audience member's standpoint. If these two parts were combined into a single, slightly above average time wise movie, we can't help but think that the result would have been much more compelling, less weak, more thought out, engaging and in depth, concise, and filler-less. A book with less than 400 pages does not constitute a split between films, in our opinion, and we would have preferred it to be one nearly 3 hour movie instead of two 2 and a half hour ones. There is some good action, but there's not as much as many expected there to be as Katniss and her small team of allies navigate the Capitol through blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks of traps all meant to kill them in spectacular fashions. With no major climactic ending, we can see why "Mockingjay - Part 2" will leave some people disappointed and hoping for a lot more than what they got, particularly considering this franchise has been 3 years of build up in the making. We did enjoy the film's different, grim, less formulaic approach, but then again, we thrive on newness and difference when we have been saturated with the same damn boring thing time and time again, especially in the young adult novel movie adaptation genre. Most have called this film a slog time-wise, but we never felt this way about it and thought it was really well paced and didn't feel tedious or long, especially when compared to something like "Transformers: Age of Extinction," which is 30 minutes longer than "Mockingjay - Part 1" and infinitely less meaningful and enjoyable.

My Rating: 8/10
BigJ's Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB's Rating: ~7.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: ~70%
Do we recommend this movie: Yes!
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To see our review of "The Hunger Games," click here.

To see our review of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," click here.

To see our review of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1," click here.

Weekend Box Office Results: November 20th, 2015 - November 22nd, 2015

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" worst opening in franchise history, but still stomps out the competition with its rebellious finale

*all numerical information provided by boxofficemojo.com

It's no surprise that "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" was the front-runner this weekend at cinemas nationwide. The final installment in the franchise brought in a timid $101,025,000 compared to its early projections (some were upwards of $150 million). Coming in second place this weekend was "Spectre," which made another $14,600,000, bringing its domestic total gross to an impressive $153,702,879. The third place film this weekend was "The Peanuts Movie," which is no surprise since most school-aged kids are now off for the holiday week. It made $12,800,000, bringing its domestic total gross to nearly $99 million. Another newcomer this weekend, the #4 film, "The Night Before," made a weak $10,100,000. Seems like everyone just stayed home. Last but not least, the final newcomer from this weekend "Secret in Their Eyes" rounded out the top 5 by making $6,633,000. Next weekend sees only one new nationwide release, so we think it's safe to say "Mockingjay - Part 2" is not done soaring yet, but we shall see.

		This Week	Domestic Gross
1	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part  2	$101,025,000	$101,025,000
2	Spectre	$14,600,000	$153,702,879
3	The Peanuts Movie	$12,800,000	$98,943,137
4	The Night Before	$10,100,000	$10,100,000
5	Secret in Their Eyes	$6,633,000	$6,633,000
6	Love the Coopers	$3,925,000	$14,909,225
7	The Martian	$3,700,000	$213,039,442
8	Spotlight	$3,603,466	$5,879,577
9	The 33	$2,240,000	$9,900,692
10	Bridge of Spies	$1,945,000	$65,177,412

**See you at the movies!!**

Movie Review: "Rocky IV" (1985)

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Movie: "Rocky IV"
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Year: 1985
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

When Soviet amateur boxing champion Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgrin) comes to the U.S. to challenge Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) steps in to take the challenge. When Apollo winds up on the losing end of a deadly beating, Rocky decides to take up the fight against the seemingly indestructible Russian in his home country.  

"Rocky IV" brings Cold War politics and ideals into the boxing ring in a battle between America and the then Soviet Union being represented by two boxers...well, really three boxers when you think of it. Of course, on the American side, we have Rocky Balboa, again played by writer and director Sylvester Stallone, who is now a man of opulent wealth living in a mansion in Los Angeles. He buys his brother-in-law Paulie, played again by Burt Young, a robot servant for his birthday, and his wife Adrian, played by Talia Shire, an expensive watch as an early anniversary present. He is a self-made man and a capitalist's wet dream who pulled himself up by his bootstraps to get into the place he now finds himself. The other representative of America is Apollo Creed, Rocky's two-time opponent, played by Carl Weathers, who is the epitome of American extravagance and excess as he puts on an over-the-top display when he walks out to face his Russian opponent (for all you MMA fans out there, very reminiscent of the PRIDE heydays with lights, sparkles, dancing, music, and showboating). Here, Apollo comes down a riser from the ceiling in front of a giant bull as he and showgirls dance to James Brown "Living in America," complete with James Brown actually there. Their opponent from the Soviet Union looks like he was built by the government in a lab. Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, unlike Rocky's previous opponents, is a cold and stoic man, standing at a towering 6'5" and weighing 261 pounds of solid muscle. He can deliver a punch with about triple the force of the average heavyweight boxer. The man is a destroyer, and it becomes clear early on that he is Rocky's toughest opponent ever. This really helps in selling the conflict and the challenge of this film, especially after ****SPOILER ALERT**** Drago beats Apollo to death. ****END SPOILER ALERT**** Unlike opponent Clubber Lang from the previous "Rocky" film, Drago actually feels like a tough test and we watch Rocky do all he can to prepare for the literal battle of his life. If Drago will have anything to do with it, his machine-like power will crush Rocky in an instant.

This movie without Drago is essentially "Rocky III" all over over again. There is no denying this film, and really this series of films at this point, have become formulaic as can be, complete with a "bummer" remix of the movie's theme song and a reflective montage; it also has an inspirational training montage as Rocky prepares to face his opponent where he crushes weights and does sit-ups and pulls heavy objects through the snow. Come to think of it, as we sit here writing this, have these movies been almost entirely comprised of montages???? Yes, but does that mean we like them any less? Hell no, and the fact that we buy Ivan Drago as such a dangerous foe really adds to that excitement factor. The Cold War politics involved in making "Rocky IV" fit right in with Stallone's previous works and sets it apart just a hare from the last movie, not to mention a robotic Lundgren, who is really quite excellent at being stiff and bionic, and a kick ass, outstanding 80's style soundtrack for the ages. This one is definitely better than the last one.

My Rating: 7/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 40%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
~~~~~~~~~~

To see our review of "Rocky," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky II," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky III," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky V," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky Balboa," click here.

Movie Review #342: "Miss You Already" (2015)

Movie: "Miss You Already"
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes

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Milly (Toni Collette) and Jess (Drew Barrymore) have been best friends since grade school. Everything Milly does, Jess does too, and the two are always together. The years have seen these two friends put through trials and tribulations. Milly is now married to a man named Kit (Dominic Cooper) and has two young children, and Jess and her boyfriend Jago (Paddy Considine) are trying for a baby. When Milly gets diagnosed with breast cancer, Jess must put her dream of being a mother on hold to help out her best friend, but she can only do so for so long before she has to do what's right for herself and her own relationship.

BigJ and I weren't even sure if we were going to see "Miss You Already" since we have a deeply personal connection to something similar that happened in our lives. In fact, we put it off until the last minute and only went because it fit into our schedule for this week's movie-going. With two very talented actresses in Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore, the caliber of acting was definitely not the reason we wanted to skip this one. We were cautious of its super depressing subject matter....and had our suspicions confirmed when about 3 minutes into the movie, I began to cry and didn't stop the entire film, not because the movie itself was sad, but because my outside feelings were only heightened by this film's often moving script. Milly and Jess, the best of best friends, have their relationship tested when Milly gets diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40. Obviously, this comes as quite a shock to Milly and her husband Kit, played by Dominic Cooper, who have two young children together. At first, as audience members, we do feel bad for her plight. It is gut-wrenching to watch her have to do things like tell her kids she was sick and might not be around for their entire lives. This would be understandably hard for anyone. From there, we watch Jess and Milly go to chemotherapy, together almost every step of the way in Milly's illness, in what seems to be a life reinvigorated by the odds stacked against her.

In many ways, what happens on screen here is exactly what happens in real life. This film gets a lot of it right and does so in a sometimes heartwarming way, mixed with some darker humor that won't be for everyone. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there. It's obvious from the start of the movie that "Miss You Already" never tries to hide the fact that it wants to make its audience members cry their eyes out and wants to make people appreciate every second they have here on this earth to the fullest extent. Milly reaches a point in her life right after she finds out she has to have a procedure done where she goes into full blown YOLO mode, cheating on her husband with a barman, not coming home for days, taking an impulsive trip to the Moors and dragging a pregnant Jess along with her (even though Milly doesn't know she's pregnant). We get that being diagnosed with a terminal illness might make you want to live life to the fullest and do things you wouldn't normally do, but it's no excuse for being an asshole, which Milly is for the last half of the film. All of this drama is infused with Jess and Milly's very odd and aggressive friendship where they flip each other off for fun, call each other names, and can be quite snarky both in private and in public. I totally get this sentiment because that's how I am with my group of friends and we love each other for it, but here, it simply seems done for theatrics sake, favoring these over-the-top gestures and goings on in lieu of a more authentic relationship. Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette do well with what they have to work with, and though we believe their friendship, individually and off on their own is where the film begins to fall apart. We understand that both Milly and Jess would want to be selfish during such a horrible time in life, but Milly's selfishness is rather unforgivable and makes the audience fall out of favor with her when she's clearly dying. With a bit of a tighter script, this film could have been so much more impactful than it was.

BigJ's mother passed away from ovarian cancer in 2012. The sting of that loss hasn't ever really gone away for either of us. "Miss You Already" was an all too painful reminder that loss is permanent, which seems silly to say, but when you think about it, it's really not. No matter how much or how hard you keep people in your heart, at the end of the day, they are still gone. What they did in this life cannot be forgotten, but memories fade, and life, eventually, goes on. While this film was able to capture some of the more realistic, glossed over moments of someone's illness we don't usually see in movies (for example: going to chemotherapy and going to the doctor, vomiting and other side effects, the depression a spouse goes through, etc), it also takes terminal illness diagnosis to the nth degree in an overly dramatic fashion. In the end, it's a story most will identify with, but it could have been much better.

My Rating: 6/10
BigJ's Rating: 6/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?

Movie Review #341: "Suffragette" (2015)

Movie: "Suffragette"
Director: Sarah Gavron
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes

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A laundry house worker named Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) joins the Suffragette movement in England in the early 1910's. After many years of peaceful negotiations, the Suffragettes starts to resort to civil disobedience to try and garner attention for their movement. Joining the movement costs Maud her job, her husband, and so much more, but on the other hand, she also gains a life of great importance and purpose.  

I am woman, hear me roar!

This film takes place in 1912 in England, a time when women were treated as second-class and were struggling for equality. Their first step was to attempt to acquire the right to vote. With no vote, they had no voice and their destinies were left entirely in the hands of those who oppressed them. Carey Mulligan stars as Maud Watts, a fictional character that is inspired by many of the working class women who fought for the right to vote. Mulligan delivers a superb, layered performance in this role. Maud started at a very young age working in the harsh conditions of the laundry house where she had been the majority of her life. An entire arm covered in burns, she often remembers her mother, who would strap her to her back when she was just a wee child. In those times, women were forced to bring their kids to work and pray no one got hurt. Timid at first, her character grows more and more restless watching her things around her go from bad to worse, such as her boss fondling an underage coworker. She becomes angry with the system of inequality that allows her to be paid 13 shillings a week for a much more toxic and dangerous job to a man's 19 shillings, working in the fresh air biking clean laundry to local houses. Does this sound familiar at all??!?? After attending a meeting and after trying to distance herself from the movement, the Suffragettes seem like the only people who understand her struggle and she finds herself more drawn to them over time. Though her husband Sonny, played by Ben Whishaw, doesn't want her participating in activities that might make her seen as sullied in the neighborhood, Maud risks her job and the life she knows to attend and eventually participate in the meetings and sometimes misdoings of the Suffragette movement.

The majority of the characters in this film are fictional and merely inspired by real life counterparts. Besides Maud Watts, the other two primary characters are Edith Ellyn, played in a more subdued yet striking manner by Helena Bonham Carter, whose character is mainly inspired by Edith Garrud, and Violet Miller, played by Ann-Marie Duff, who worked with Watts in the laundry and recruited her into the movement. The real life characters portrayed here are Emmeline Pankhurst, played by Meryl Streep, who despite being a big marketing ploy in the trailer and posters for this film as well as a frequent featured selling point, has less than five minutes of screen time; and Emily Davison, played by played by Natalie Press, who plays a major part in the climax of the film, but is more of a secondary character throughout the rest of it. Though these two woman are not the focus of the movie, they are two extremely pivotal characters in the movement to allow women the right to vote and serve as gigantic points of inspiration for others struggling in a world that under values them. Much like the movie "Titanic," "Suffragette" chooses to use fictional characters and their personal struggles to try and drive an intimate emotional punch against the backdrop of pivotal historical events with true life characters filling out secondary roles. The high point of this film is Carey Mulligan herself and her performance is stellar. We watch her go from a meek-minded mother and merely an observer to a full-fledged participant in getting woman the right to vote. Mulligan has some excellent back and forth exchanges with Brendan Gleeson's character Inspector Steed over the Suffragettes methods of civil disobedience to attain their end goal. Steed doesn't see why women want or need the right to vote and doesn't think they have the same mental capacities as men to take part in such a prestigious right.

Though the film obviously has only good intentions at heart and an all too poignant relevance for the state of the world right now, unfortunately, "Suffragette" isn't perfect. It often feels long and slowly drawn out for emphasis's sake, but winds up feeling more like a tedious after school special at time. Director Sarah Gavron also made some odd editing choices and favored shaky camera work and the all too dreaded tight zoom-in shots over something much more traditional. This seems to be done in a way to make us feel like active participants in the movement, especially in scenes featuring brutal police protests where women were often beaten for speaking up out of turn, but this isn't a movie we need to feel physically; all we needed to do was feel the emotional spark, which we did wholeheartedly. As feminists, we appreciate this film for bringing the story of the Suffragettes to life and giving characters, even fictionalized versions of those who fought hard for the right to vote, a voice, a name, and a face to their struggles. It shows us simultaneously how far some women sections of the population have come and how little things have changed for others. With an award-worthy performance by Carey Mulligan, "Suffragette" is worth a watch, but still isn't the perfect, flaw-free feminist movie we were looking for and hoping it would be.

My Rating: 7.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 7/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 72%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?

Movie Review: "Rocky III" (1982)

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Movie: "Rocky III"
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Year: 1982
Rating: PG
Running Time: 1 hour, 39 minutes

Since defeating Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), Rocky's (Sylvester Stallone) career has finally begun to flourish. He's had 10 title defenses, multiple endorsement deals, and is now living life in the limelight. Now, a new contender named Clubber Lang (Mr. T) has risen through the ranks and is hungry for his shot at the title. Rocky must prove he still has the hunger, the determination, and the drive to beat his latest challenger, and he might have to turn to an old enemy for help. 

The "Rocky" series has dealt with many aspects of a boxer's career. "Rocky" was the true underdog story of a man who was given the opportunity of a lifetime and falls just inches away attatining greatness after a hard-fought, uphill training battle. "Rocky II" showed how little Rocky had to show for the amazing efforts he put forth in the first film, as well as his continuing financial struggles post title shot. It also dealt with his eventual rise to the top and actually winning the world title in a come-from-behind victory. Now, here we are at "Rocky III," which again, follows the same formula in a truncated version of the first two films. Rocky, once again played by Sylvester Stallone, is now the undisputed, 10-time defending champion and has everything he has always wanted financially: a big house, tons of nice cars, the motorcycle he always wanted, even a statue in Philadelphia in commemoration of his sports efforts. With all that fame and fortune comes his loss of privacy, extremely high expectations, his loss of hunger to win, and a big fat target on his back. As a more civilized suit wearing type of man, he has to find a way to get that 'eye of the tiger' back the way he had it when he was living hand to mouth. Much of "Rocky III" can be summed up with the word "montage." The 80's were known for montages, and this is the truest of true for "Rocky III." As this film progresses, there are multiple training montages, as well as a bummer remix and self-reflective montage. Partially because of this, there is far less meat to the story itself, especially when considering Stallone, once again the writer, star, and director, seems to have put little effort into crafting anything of substantial difference other than his rival. This is not to say the film is void of all drama, because it isn't. There are a couple of scenes with some emotional punch but it doesn't quite have the tenacious bite of the previous film, and it's also far cry from the original "Rocky." One of the higher points in this film is that we get a better look into the character of Apollo Creed, played again by Carl Weathers, beyond the Muhammad Ali archetype. We get see him as a person and understand his mentality more, finding out as the audience what drives his character and how he comes to grips with losing his last fight with Rocky. Stallone as Rocky plays the same, slightly mumble-mouthed protagonist, just with flashier stuff than the previous films. Finally, the main opponent Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T in his film debut, certainly had the 80's tough guy look down. If you thought Apollo Creed was a hype master and crap talker, well, you've never seen Clubber Lang talk. He is a master mean mugger, the ultimate boxing villain filled with a nasty mouth but the skills to pay the bills. Unfortunately, though all the talk, it never felt that Lang was Rock's toughest test ever, no matter how often the movie wanted us to believe he was. This time around, Rocky's struggles had less to do with Lang's talent and more to do with his internal struggle for desire and the feeling of loss when one of his closest allies passes away. Rocky's mental state was gone from the beginning of Rock and Lang's first fight, and no amount of montages can fake heart and desire in a man. In the end, "Rocky III" is an unfortunate formulaic sequel and a definite step down from its predecessors. Again, there are still a couple of entertaining moments, but with a less relateable Rocky in the lead role, it never quite feels like the odds are as stacked against him as they were in the past.

My Rating: 6.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 6.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 61%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
~~~~~~~~~~

To see our review of "Rocky," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky II," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky IV," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky V," click here.

To see our review of "Rocky Balboa," click here.

Movie Review #340: "Spotlight" (2015)

Movie: "Spotlight"
Director: Tom McCarthy
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours, 8 minutes

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In 2001, the Boston Globe's Spotlight team, consisting of Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), Robby Robinson (Michael Keaton), and Matt Carroll (Brian d'Arcy James), looks into child molestation allegations within the Catholic church spanning as far back as the 1970's.

Started from "The Cobbler," now director Tom McCarthy's here.

"Spotlight" is an impactful, powerful drama that shows what it used to mean to be an investigative journalist in this country. When the Boston Globe newspaper gets a new editor named Marty Baron, played by Liev Schreiber, he assigns the Spotlight team, who specialize in investigative journalism, to look into several local civil lawsuits against a Catholic priest, whom many now-adult victims claim molested them when they were children. The team is lead by Spotlight editor Walter 'Robby' Robinson, played expertly by Michael Keaton. Robby and his team, made up of three journalists named Mike Rezendes, played by Mark Ruffalo, Sacha Pfeiffer, played by Rachel McAdams, and Matt Carroll, played by Brian d'Arcy James, begin to look deep into the case and start to find out these lawsuits go well beyond just one priest and may even lead up as high as the Vatican. Since these abuses and molestations took place in Boston, an extremely prominent Catholic town where Catholicism and daily life go hand in hand, many devout Catholics, even those in very high places, often didn't want to know about what was going on in the church itself, especially if it could shake their faith. The more people the team interview and the deeper their research takes them, the higher this scandal seems to go as it looks like the church knew about priests molesting children and did their best to cover it up for several decades. Instead of relieving the guilty priests of their godly duties, the offending priests would simply be moved from parish to parish, allowing more and more kids to be exposed to harm in the process. Though the Boston Globe was not the first paper to look into the molestation accusations against the Catholic church, they were able to apply resources and painstaking time into the investigation which some smaller papers could not. They were able to really shine a light on the controversy and show how widespread the problem truly was, triple checking facts and talking to actual witnesses and those involved instead of merely speculating or taking findings at face value.

Obviously, "Spotlight" deals with the dirty, seedy, depressing, and shocking reality of both the Catholic church and the abuse of children at the hands of priests within the Catholic church. It would only be a normal reaction to be emotional about a story such as this, and at times, BigJ and I felt both angry and sad, enraged and heartbroken, and I even broke down in full-fledged tears twice. This subject matter will be difficult to digest for some moviegoers and even the hardest of hardened souls will writhe in discomfort. If, like us, you can see past the harsh actualities this story exposes, what you'll find is a flawlessly executed, remarkable, brilliantly crafted piece of art. Though the outcome of the Spotlight team's research has been known for over a decade, it doesn't lessen the impact of it all to watch it being played out on screen. The writing is sharp, the editing rather flawless, and after seeing it unfold in a starkly dramatic yet painfully honest manner, it's hard to believe the person who made this film also made "The Cobbler." There are some instances when McCarthy frames his shot so well, it truly gave me chills and reminded me why I love the movies so, so much. For example, there is one scene in particular were Rachel McAdams's character is questioning a victim about their abuse on their second floor apartment balcony. The shot pans out to reveal a massive Catholic church right behind it, complete with ringing church bells. Talk about symbolism!! Additionally, both Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo give commanding performances worthy of awards and accolades for years to come. Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery and Brian d'Arcy James give more subdued performances, but are all just as excellent and worthy of praise.

In the end, we hope "Spotlight" will be a huge hit come Oscar season next year, and deservedly so. This is a fantastic film, even though its subject matter is a hard pill to swallow. It never feels the need to be showy, rarely fudging facts or dramatizing events, favoring the truth and honesty instead because the story itself is so dramatically fantastical and unbelievable that it doesn't need embellishment. Sublimely acted, perfectly directed, excellently written, and elongated for a purpose, this is definitely one of the best films of 2015, and mark our words, eventually, this movie will be on a list as one of the best movies ever made about journalism, right up there with "All the President's Men." We have gone to 340 movies in the theater over the past 3 years, and only one other time in this movie going history can we recall the audience fervently clapping like they did as the credits rolled on "Spotlight."

My Rating: 10/10
BigJ's Rating: 10/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 97%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!