THE OPTIMIST - MOVIE REVIEWS

The Movie Super Bowl is upon us! Below you will find my predictions for the 2017 Academy Awards! 2016 had so many awesome movies and a ton of amazing performances! Last year I guessed 10 correct winners out of 24. Not too bad, but this year I'm hoping to maybe double that! It's tough to separate the picks you think will win and the picks you want to win. Had to use the head, not the heart. Here's to being optimistic! The Oscars will be held Sunday February 26, so tune in and come back on Monday the day after to see how well I did! *UPDATED 2/27/17 - This year's Oscars were pretty interesting, with an ending that will go down in history as one of the craziest! So, I've updated the list below. Selections that won will be highlighted in BLUE , my incorrect guesses will be STRUCK OUT IN RED , and the selections I thought would be cool to win or one's I wanted to win despite what I voted for are in GREEN . When all is said and done, 2016 had some amazing fi...

     This weekend marks the directorial debut of Jordan Peele, one half of the comedic duo Key and Peele. His film Get Out is a horror/dark comedy that touches on some fairly relevant social and racial aspects we deal with today (unfortunately), but without coming off offensive or pretentious. The movie is about a young African-American man named Chris (played brilliantly by Daniel Kaluuya) who visits his Caucasian girlfriend's mysterious family estate. A twisted fish-out-of-water tale, Get Out satirizes certain stereotypes that exist, both concerning black and white people alike, while delivering a creepy, as well as hilarious film that I am sure will become a cult classic quicker than you might think.    What is great about this movie is the brave perspective the narration takes. We don't see this kind of storytelling in genre films very much, and when a good one comes along it's worth every penny to watch it. Jordan Peele successfully shows that h...

   I'm just gonna say it right off the top. People, go see The Lego Batman Movie ! It's brilliantly funny and probably one of the better solo Batman movies to date! No, seriously, the genius minds behind The Lego Movie have returned to expand the franchise (which will get even bigger in September with The Lego Ninjago Movie ) and they've delivered a wonderful movie that hits all the right notes. There was a time in the early 2000s where the parody genre seemed to find its niche. Movies like Epic Movie , Meet the Spartans , and the Scary Movie franchise spoofed not only their real movie counterparts, but pop culture as well. However, a lot of these movies focused on the gimmick of their existence, packing in joke after joke and cameo after cameo in order to attain relevant laughs. What the Lego movies have done, and what they possibly can do in the future, is deliver not only a joke-filled spoof that pokes fun at certain tropes, but they also place story and character i...

   So...there's this movie that is currently playing that happens to be nominated for a few Academy Awards, Best Picture included. For whatever reason, it isn't getting as much buzz as some of the other nominated films and that is a cryin' shame. The Garth Davis-directed adaptation Lion is one of the most emotionally-driven and well-made films of last year. The movie is based on the true account of a five-year-old Indian boy who gets lost on the streets of Calcutta, thousands of miles from his home. He survives many trials and tribulations before being adopted by a couple in Australia. Twenty-five years later, he decides to search out his lost family, weaving a narrative that is so touching, so moving, I dare you not to cry.    I'm not even going to save what is best about this film for last, because when it comes to this movie there is one main standout, and that would be young Sunny Pawar. Sunny plays the young version of the main character Saroo. From h...

   As horror franchises go, The Ring films don't really float towards the top of the high-quality pile. I remember watching the first one (the American version) and thinking it was super creepy. It came out in the early 2000s when chain letters were still relevant, making the concept of a killer video that can be suppressed if you copy it and share it with someone else relatable. The Ring was corny, creepy, and it was nothing more than it intended to be. I don't know if I even saw the second one. If I did, then it must have been extremely forgettable. Since we live in a movie world where there are more sequels produced than original content, it's no surprise that another movie in this franchise would emerge. Rings is an updated, almost sci-fi-esque iteration of what was more of a ravaging franchise. Is it scary? Well, it has jump scares, I can tell you that much. Is it forgettable? Well...     Rings is very much an updated version of the first film. A ...

   I went into Silence with high expectations. The movie was Martin Scorsese's passion project, and let's get real...it's Martin Scorsese we're talking about. It's bound to be amazing. In many ways, Silence is amazing. In many other ways, it isn't. Set in the 1600s, Silence tells the story of two priests played by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver, who travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor (played by Liam Neeson) and to propagate Catholicism. It's a story about standing for your faith, your morals, your beliefs, while staring the ultimate level of opposition in the face. The movie is extremely well-acted. Adam Driver and Liam Neeson give really powerful, but short performances. This was in every way a platform for Andrew Garfield to showcase what he can do, and he kills it. Both this film and Hacksaw Ridge hold powerful performances from Garfield that are stunning, remarkable, raw, and real. The acting across the board is by far the best...