Moo Moo Movie Reviews

I figured I'd do a Christmas review considering it is Christmas. I could have gone with Die Hard , Elf, or Lethal Weapon  but I think Home Alone is appropriate considering its legendary status in the Christmas movie genre. I don't think I need to explain the plot but I will anyways: bratty 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) acts out the night before a family trip to Paris, his mother makes him sleep in the attic. After the McCallisters mistakenly leave for the airport without Kevin, he awakens to an empty house and assumes his wish to have no family has come true. But his excitement sours when he realizes that two robbers (Pesci & Stern) plan to rob the McCallister residence.  Well to begin, this review is obviously a little biased as Home Alone is not a phenomenal work of cinema but it is a classic whether you like it or not. For starters, Pesci is a joy to watch, as usual, his performance is engaging as hell. Fun fact, the reason why Pesci is constantly ...

American History X  is a hard watch; it covers social commentary that is very difficult to discuss. Racial issues are always a tricky subject when it comes to any form of media yet  American History X  handles it appropriately with respect.  With a brilliant performance from Edward Norton, the movie humanizes those who seem inhuman. The plot centers on Derek (Norton), who has served three years in prison for a hate crime, who tries to change the thoughts of his brother, Danny (Furlong), who is following the same path. We, as the viewer, begin to relate to Derek, a man whom we originally thought was pure evil. His arch towards redemption is justified. As we get flashbacks to his time in prison, we see the true him come out from underneath. The flashbacks are incredibly obvious, however, as the director opted to choose black and white whenever a flashback occurs, which I suppose makes it easier for the viewer to orientate themselves. Daniel's character arch, ...

Where do I begin? I went into the theater with a low bar of expectation set in my head. The reviews online weren't great, but some movies resonate differently with different people. I tried to put that preconception away and enjoy the movie.  I couldn't. The Rise of Skywalker is a bad movie.  I'm sure people will disagree with me on this, for instance, people who don't watch movies, but as someone who has a deep love for the Star Wars franchise, I didn't like this movie at all. It's hard to find something I like about it, but I'll try for the sake of a balanced review.  Emperor Palpatine is fucking badass, especially when he was attached to the crane. I wish they would have made a more dramatic reveal of the machinery that was keeping him alive because it was one of the coolest parts of the movie. It was grotesque and unnatural, perfect for a Sith lord. The way they skimmed over it felt like a huge waste of a big reveal. I think the whol...

I wouldn't call myself an expert on the anime genre yet Akira stands out immediately. From its brilliant animation and style to its social commentary, Akira is what every anime should strive to be. I feel like people not familiar with anime or even the use of animation view animation as a lesser form of film. I disagree wholeheartedly as animation can break barriers normal film cannot as does not need to abide by the laws that contain us. The plot runs as follows: In 1988 the Japanese government drops an atomic bomb on Tokyo after ESP experiments on children go awry. In 2019, 31 years after the nuking of the city, Kaneda, a bike gang leader, tries to save his friend Tetsuo from a secret government project. He battles anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists, and a powerful military leader until Tetsuo's supernatural powers suddenly manifest.  For one, Akira was one of the first anime movies to enter the western cinematic world. It revolutioni...

Usually, when a movie spans three hours and a half, I get bored. This was not the case for  The  Irishman. The Irishman  takes place in the 1950s and centers on truck driver Frank Sheeran (De Niro), who gets involved with Russell Bufalino (Pesci) and his Pennsylvania crime family. As Sheeran climbs the ranks to become a top hitman, he also goes to work for Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino) -- a powerful Teamster tied to organized crime. It follows Frank's entire life from his early twenties to his late eighties.  This was Scorsese's goodbye to the gangster genre, a genre in which he helped to mold and create with movies such as  Goodfellas ,  Mean Streets,  and  The Departed.  Yet  The Irishman  feels so different from the aforementioned movies for a multitude of reasons.  Let's start with the performances.  The Irishman  boasts a magnificent cast where Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Al Pacino all play ke...

Let me just start by saying, David Fincher is one of my favorite directors of all time. His movies, Fight Club and Se7en in particular, are some of my top 50 movies of all time. Needless to say, I went into this movie with high expectations. Bluntly speaking, it did not meet my expectations which is probably my fault for even having such standard for Fincher. This is not to say The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a bad movie but it simply isn't nearly to the level of some of Fincher's other work.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' s premise is as follows: Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist, is sued by a large Swedish corporation and takes a job in order to clear his name. Mikael hires Lisbeth Salander, a computer hacker, to solve the mystery of Harriet Vanger, a woman who has been missing for forty years. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 's color palette and cinematography are incredibly drab with strong use of a sickening yellowy-green to evoke dre...

One of the most groundbreaking movies of the 20th century which dealt with controversial topics that involved mental illness, lobotomy, and electric shock therapy. I have never watched a movie like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and I will probably never watch a movie quite so unique.  The movie's plot runs as follows: McMurphy, a convict, who fakes insanity and is shifted to the special ward for the mentally unstable. In this ward, he must rise up against a cruel nurse, Ratched. To start with, Jack Nicholson's performance as McMurphy is mesmerizing; he oozes a dangerous charisma that makes the audience trust him. His character is almost mysterious as the viewer tries to determine if he truly is insane or simply suffering from an antisocial personality disorder. One scene sticks out in particular, in which McMurphy is the chance to finally escape yet the camera sticks on him for around 20 seconds. It shows this inner struggle as he cares deeply for these men. The s...

A movie directed by Tom Ford which brilliantly parallels our protagonist’s mundane life with an exciting revenge thriller. I enjoyed this movie but found that it lacked in major areas. The contrast between the exciting revenge thriller and our protagonist’s actual reality creates a sense of discontinuity as it draws away from what is real and adds less emphasis to the thriller that unfolds. Nocturnal Animals  is an incredibly meticulous and stylish movie. The cinematography is dynamic, as the reality of the story uses lots of black and white colors, with strong contrasts and dark hues that foreshadow existential dread. The thriller, on the other hand, is filled with vibrant colors. Reality is dark and grimacing with strong use of the color red or burgundy. Scenes beautifully cut from the book into reality. The premise is incredibly unique as Tom Ford crafts two entirely different worlds yet are fully able to illustrate the purpose and direction of both. We are introduced to ...

As a fan of Elton John's music, I was curious to see Rocketman . I got exactly what I expected, a film that strongly follows convention. The 2019 biopic on the prolific Elton John falls short as its combination of melodrama and musical elements muddle the movie's predictable story.  I have a big issue with musical biopics as they tend to follow predictable formulas where the protagonist begins as a nobody before the world is exposed to their amazing talents. What happens next is the protagonist becomes insanely rich but unfulfilled with their saturated lifestyles. They dive into drugs, sex and booze to find purpose where they then push people out of their life.  Something causes them to go sober and the best possible person they can be before reconciling with. This is step by step story of Straight Out of Compton, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Rocketman. Hollywood has the tendency to take popular and financially successful genres, like music biopics or superhero movies, and satu...

I'd like to preface this by saying that my review of Joker may share parallels between Gus' and that's both the beauty and shortcoming of reviews. Because we are individuals, with our own individual views of the world, it is impossible for us to objectively review movies. Some movies resonate differently with me than they would with him, and this differing in perspective is important to realize when reading any review of art. Because my views on Joker in particular are different from Gus', I think it would be valuable to give my perspective on this polarizing movie. I went into Joker not knowing what to expect. The character itself is so compelling, that the trailers could get away showing shots of Joaquin Phoenix doing his thing with thematic music to fit, without actually showing anything about the movie. Because of this, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. A lot of people expected an action movie, and while it definitely does not lack the violence th...

To play the role of Joker is already an incredible feat as the role in itself is held up to the standard of the late Heath Ledger. Joker is an incredibly dark movie that isn't as deep as it thinks it is. I went into this movie expecting to see the best movie of the year and I would be lying to you if I said it was. It was a great movie but fell flat in certain areas.  Joaquin Phoenix completely blew me away with a truly unsettling performance. The way he spoke throughout the movie managed to creep under the skin of viewers as it is almost childlike yet eerily dangerous. What I admire most about Phoenix's portrayal was how different his interpretation of The Joker was compared to previous performances. Ledger's Joker was amazing and yet Phoenix was still capable of creating an entirely new dimension to a previously explored character. Ledger interpreted Joker as a terrorist, Nicholson a mobster and Phoenix as a serial killer.  The difference between Arthur and...

Introduced to 007 at a young age, I harbor a special love for Bond films, even the cheesy ones. Casino Royale is far from cheesy, with amazing set pieces and a breath of fresh air from its predecessors. This movie is essentially a reboot of the franchise and Bond's origin story as it dives into his first real mission. Bond, just promoted to 007, finds a link to Le Chiffre, a man who finances terrorist organizations. Upon finding out that Le Chiffre intends to host a high stakes poker game in order to raise money, MI6 sends Bond to play against him, hoping that their newest double o will topple Le Chiffre's organization.  Casino Royale grabs onto the viewer and never let's go. To start with, this movie has phenomenal set pieces and locations. From Madagascar to the Czech Republic, this movie thrives in creating environments that are equally beautiful as they are intriguing. The opening scene is gritty and entirely in black and white. Bond fights for his life against an...