jmgiovine Reviews

E.T. (1982)

As great as sci-fi adventures could get.

[10/10 · 1 August 2019]

While Spielberg already seemed to achieve the complete greatness in regards of the sci-fi genre, his newest installment seems to deliver twice the charm and delight, with a smaller scale, but bigger and compelling spirit, enough to make the average and passionate audience fell in love with its concept and execution, relaying on tone, family-friendly themes, and the now exploited traits such as the use of children to handle an entire adventure-like plot, E.T. is a timeless classic that still taught us the essentials of cinema.

1941 (1979)

Funny at times, Dull for the most part.

[6/10 · 1 August 2019]

Steven Spielberg's brand new take on comedy might be effective at times, considering how risky his use of over-the-top slapstick turns in the end, escalating until concluding in a extravagant and exaggerated third act, also including a compellingly funny cast, but with a certain use of absurdity in its humor, this could result in either a love it-or hate it- entry in the director's filmography, also considering its profane themes towards a sensitive subject as World War II.

Jaws (1975)

Intense, suspenseful and timeless.

[10/10 · 1 August 2019]

Immerse on itself by creating character, atmosphere, suspense, shock and even a riveting sense of joyful adventure, Peter Benchley's novel is crafted to life in a superb way, thanks in a great part to Spielberg's unique style and direction, along the timeless performances from Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, Jaws is an iconic masterpiece, the godfather of modern B-movies, and the mother of the entire blockbuster tendency, giving the film an immortal place in history, making of it a "must see" for either fans of cinema or regular spectators.

The Lion King (2019)

Unworthy and unnecessary

[5/10 · 30 July 2019]

Amazingly displayed in regards of its photorealistic animation, in the visual department, this remake of the 1994 immortal classic is mesmerizing, as well as it is impressive to appreciate, nevertheless, the substance and value that defined the original are gone, mostly due to its excessive-scene by scene-imitative structure, regardless of the potential of its voice casting, its uncanny value is the definitive element that makes Jon Favreau's latest an unworthy Disney entry.

The Lion King (1994)

It places itself among the best animated productions of all time.

[10/10 · 30 July 2019]

Oscillating between big and colorful, the newest member of the Disney Renaissance marks a higher mark in terms of the stakes of the animation house, with a grand and epic story that possesses all the great Shakespearean traits, as well as the beautiful animation and the scope behind it, filled with charming, catchy and memorable songs, an amazing score, a worthy voice-casting and the best and unique elements every single animated flick should showcase, all in amazing-great deliverance.

Where the Wild Things Are (2009)

Beautiful and all over the place

[6/10 · 19 July 2019]

Spike Jonze, while delivering a visually gorgeous and faithful adaptation of the short kid's book by Maurice Sendak, the story stretches into bizarre and distinctive corners, managing to deliver the story's main message, but losing track into what the script should be all about, and while the production design really stands out (particularly the monster design and exterior-filming), its main character and all-over-the-place themes get on the way of a more concise and straight product.

True Story (I) (2015)

Character dependent without enough substance

[6/10 · 13 July 2019]

Based on the infamous serial killer story, Jonah Hill, staring along James Franco, delivers a thrilling and engaging portrayal of the main characters, attached by a compelling and, at times, truly unsettling story that focuses on the potential it's drama and intrigue is capable of offering, depending mostly on the way things are narrated, but unfortunately, and while there's a visual engagement towards the viewer, this thriller doesn't necessary surpasses flicks with better execution and the same premise.

Joe (I) (2013)

A softly effective updated modern-western

[7/10 · 13 July 2019]

At first glance, this little indie drama might not seem as progressive as promised, but given time to flow, there's plenty of substance and directorial value by David Gordon Green, given also a lot of its credit to its lead star Nicolas Cage, in a pleasant return to histrionic shape, as well as youngster Tye Sheridan, all in order to craft a simple but captivating story that'll deliver plenty for the spectator to dig and, pretty much, enjoy.

La Bamba (1987)

Enjoyable but overall by the numbers

[6/10 · 12 July 2019]

Like plenty of other biopics, both previous and further to come, the Ritchie Valens film plays most of its resolutions in a safe mode, offering the typical props and traits of every other artist take, and while some moments in the film seem to hit the target, most of the film's content is overshadowed by a lack of effective direction and poor acting, being only Lou Diamond Phillips as the lead role the one who rescues this humble but passable flick.

Easy A (2010)

One of the funniest-smartest chick flicks.

[9/10 · 12 July 2019]

By all means the movie could work alone just by Emma Stone's hyper-charisma and excelling appeal as the lead role, but thankfully, Easy A is a comedy that knows exactly what it is, what it tries to say and the means to achieve it, in such fancy and hilarious way, benefit by the presence of a great casting, all suited for a small but subtle indie flick that, good enough, transcends the barriers of a casual average chick flick in order to become universally enjoyable.

Fences (2016)

Strong lead performances, slow flow

[7/10 · 10 July 2019]

Denzel Washington both, stars and directs this Oscar-worthy drama with extreme confidence and reduced set-places in order to make this flick completely strong and almost dependent of the performances, which are top-notch coming from Washington and Viola Davis, providing excellent character, dialogue and acting in general, which unfortunately are the strongest cards of the film, overall, since it won't possess enough strength to flow as other superior flicks.

Pigsty (1969)

Once digested, plenty of a experience to dig.

[7/10 · 10 July 2019]

Pasolini's drama possess a strong sense of both, humor and commentary, told in the particular way only the director could be capable of, with great poetic-like dialogue, and strong-thought-provoking themes all over the two stories presented, about cannibalism and human relationships, and while the whole flick could be hardly digestible for most audiences, for the small-but-self-aware section that won't mind the twisted-raw depictions over the director's ideologies, this will represent quite the experience.

Cobra (1986)

Exhilarating and silly

[5/10 · 3 July 2019]

Conceived as another dumb-80s extravaganza-action flick, Cobra combines Stallone's acting and writing, along George P. Cosmatos direction, offering little to no originality or uniqueness, not even for the action it goofily handles, with almost no style or substance behind either the story or the action sequences, and failing to provide its lead star anything worthy of previous entries, but as it is silly, it is cheesy and entertaining enough to be valued as a guilty pleasure.

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Funny, odd and smart, and one of Mortensen's memorable roles.

[9/10 · 3 July 2019]

Viggo Mortensen terrific performance, among the rest of the cast members, is just the tip of the iceberg of this unconventional and highly satisfying touching-comedy, written and successfully directed by Matt Ross, with a unique focus, view and tone that'll provide enough identity and style to endure among other "odd" indie flicks, approaching themes such as social commentary, true freedom and the need for an exit of the world's exhausting conventionality.

Toy Story 4 (2019)

Unnecessary as it is effective!

[8/10 · 27 June 2019]

Despite it's obvious studio-by-the-numbers conception, this fourth installment in the believed "concluded trilogy" dig some of the already explored traits in the beloved franchise, but despite being purely unnecessary for continuation purposes, first timer-director Josh Cooley successfully captures the effectiveness and heart of the original films, giving new life, characters and full circles onto a worthy sequel of PIXAR's unbeaten-now official-saga.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

A close-to-perfection third installment from a close-to-perfection franchise

[10/10 · 24 June 2019]

Lee Unkrich manages to achieve the best out of a third installment, accomplishing something so far unknown for animated flicks, providing the same quality, the style but perfecting its animation and visual elements to an excelling degree, managing to deliver the best out of what makes this franchise so successful, as well as its own emotional engines that'll move both, little ones and the now-grownups that grew with the franchise with wit and genuine attachment.

Toy Story 2 (1999)

Improved visuals but equally effective in essence.

[9/10 · 24 June 2019]

With a noticeable improvement over the animation and style, but preserving its best narrative and spiritual elements, John Lasseter continues the success from the first PIXAR installment, this time, expanding the horizons and creating a bigger environment for this wonderful characters to keep their essence, adding new histrionic elements and effective plot devices that continues the story in such a proper way, it is only the lack of Hanks-Allen shared chemistry what keeps this installment from 100% superiority over the first one.

Toy Story (1995)

Solid, whimsical and charmingly animated

[10/10 · 24 June 2019]

With a simple story but cheerful and whimsically energetic characters, John Lasseter provides an incredibly efficient and beautiful animated flick that'll represent PIXAR's quick-start full length feature, offering complex ideas that will be enjoyable for youngsters and adults alike, and delivering great voice casting that'll include the eternally appealing chemistry between stars, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, as the iconic duet; Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

The Perfection (2018)

Odd and intriguing in unexpected ways.

[7/10 · 23 June 2019]

Richard Shepard's thriller plays with the audience's expectations in kind of a unique way, defying what the film could be conceived as in the beginning, offering the intriguingly engaging performances of Logan Browning, Allison Williams and Steven Weber, and while some might find these turns of events satisfying and oddly-bizarre, some conventional viewers might find them provoking and uncomfortable enough to be non-pleased.

Romeo Must Die (2000)

Disastrously dumb.

[2/10 · 21 June 2019]

Sloppy directed and never taking itself to serious, and at the same time, trying desperately to be a relevant martial-arts flick, this crime drama does no good to the genre, wasting action-actor Jet li into a mediocre and almost cartoonist role, among a plot that's all over the place and disrespects insufferably Shakespeare iconic story in the worst idiotic way possible, Andrzej Barktowiak's film is so desperate to be a "Matrix" consequences, it inevitably suffers from it in every way.

The Lake House (2006)

Harmless and touchingly standard.

[6/10 · 20 June 2019]

Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock return to share an interesting romantic chemistry, with an original plot-approach that almost provides this the category of "sci-fi", but since this Alejandro Agresti offers a unique but normal and humble little love-tale, the film never goes anywhere either bigger or risky enough, to out-stand other entries in the genre, making it an average but although harmless little flick with tons of hearth in it.

The Girl on the Train (2016)

A considerable series of wasted potential

[5/10 · 14 June 2019]

Strangely uneven, considering its premise and story line, and while the source material isn't as solid as thought, plenty of the opportunity this flick had to improve is wasted on confusing progression, attached to messy editing and dull direction, wasting the presence of A+ cast members, specially lead role Emily Blunt, whose presence lacks the grappling hook of her previous works, giving the actual appeal to Rebecca Ferguson's performance in a film too small for her.

The Sugarland Express (1974)

Not bad, for Spielberg's first

[7/10 · 14 June 2019]

The film progresses with a certain premise that starts off as a bizarre crime-comedy and it maintains itself on that frame for the majority of its run time, but at times it stops playing with the goofs and pretends to be self-aware of what else it may accomplish in different territories, but even when Spielberg's direction is not always on point, Goldie Hawn maintains an enjoyable-naive presence throughout the whole film, adding plenty of its comedic element

Exposed (III) (2016)

Confusing and pretentiously messy

[4/10 · 13 June 2019]

Keanu Reeves presence is more than welcome and appealing as always, and Ana de Armas offers a great performance, but Declan Dale's psychological crime-thriller is messy and all over the place, toying with a confusing premise, an unorganized setting and stereotypical characters that adds zero to no benefit to the flick itself, not being sure what it is but delivering an intriguing resolution that could've come with a better development, the film is both, insecure and pretentious.

Something's Gotta Give (2003)

Great chemistry between stars with its respective charm!

[7/10 · 11 June 2019]

While not necessarily memorable or completely distinctive from other romantic-comedies, Nancy Meyers offers a clever and funny enough direction inside conventionality, but thankfully, it is Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton fantastic chemistry and performances what provides its uniqueness to the film's identity, providing more than interesting perspectives to the already complex subject of love, also adding the focus of romance between elders and youngsters with considerable charm.