As we steam through November into the heart of the year-end “good movie” season, here are ten reviews — each summarized in a single sentence — rated on a scale from 0 (“The Dreaded Fist of Badness”) up to a “high 5,” an outstanding film you do not want to miss.
Steve Jobs – 2 fingers. Computer geekisms yield snoozy dialogue in any movie, and enigmatic egocentric geniuses don’t always make for good cinema—as director Danny Boyle learns the hard way in this plodding, unemotional sort-of-biopic about Apple’s late egomaniacal front man.
Room – 5 fingers. This gripping, visceral drama—and probable Best Picture nominee—forces us to absorb the tedious act one’s confined realities of a captive mother and 5-year-old son locked and living in a tool shed, but rewards us with a remarkable build to a powerful, thought-provoking conclusion.
Trumbo – 3 fingers. This biopic about politically scorned screenwriter Dalton Trumbo stars Bryan Cranston in a fact-based story about the post World War II Hollywood blacklist, and his long road to professional redemption, but sermonizes a bit too much to maximize its compelling back-story.
SPECTRE – 3 fingers. Skyfall was a memorable treat and proves a tough act to follow for director Sam Mendez and Team 007, as the predictably good work of Daniel Craig and bad guy Christoph Waltz cannot overcome an inconsistent script, uneven editing, and disappointing sound track.
Miss You Already – 2 fingers. This sad story of lifelong best friends (Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette), whose tight and carefree lives are suddenly imploded by a devastating and uncontrollable turn of events, is predicable in parts and tedious in others.
Spotlight – 5 fingers. One of the finest movies of the year, this perfectly assembled ensemble cast does a terrific job as the Boston Globe investigative team that blew the lid off Boston’s 200+ Catholic priest pedophiles and the disgusting cover-up of more than 1,000 innocent children in a fraud the church arrogantly perpetrated for decades.
Everest – 4 fingers. Breathtaking cinematography showcases this fine ensemble drama about the tragic mistakes and fatal misfortune surrounding the horric storm that swarmed the world’s highest mountain and inspired Jon Krakauer’s best-selling mountaineering story Into Thin Air.
The Night Before – 3 fingers. Seth Rogan comedy ensemble cronies provide enough laughs to carry this predictably crude story of three pals whose longstanding tradition of going on a night-before-Christmas buddy-bender culminates in what each man realizes will be its final performance.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 – 2 fingers. The final installment of this popular fantasy series—which would have been more effectively produced had the segments been collapsed into one fewer movie instead of protracted to create one too many — runs out of gas and shows its fatigue despite a nostalgic look at the last released work of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Creed – 4 fingers. This outstanding and fitting finale brings full circle closure to the storytelling of Sylvester Stallone’s iconic boxing character Rocky Balboa; and very well might be the franchise’s best installment since the original Rocky won an Oscar for Best Picture nearly 40 years ago.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Feel free to let me know if I got them right or wrong, as everyone’s opinion is always correct. I hope to see you at the theater. Up next: Saoirse Ronan’s much talked about performance in Brooklyn, a recent release that’s generating a heck of a lot of Oscar buzz. I’ve already got my tickets and cannot wait to see this highly regarded work.
Take care and enjoy the holidays, especially if you can find a parking place.