Darkest Hour

LOGAN ***1/2
The new Joe Wright movie focuses on the first month of Winston Churchill's prime ministry, and man, what a movie it is.  The clear star of this film is Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, who gives quite possibly the best performance this year.  Not only is the makeup impressive on him, but his raw, emotional performance grabs you by your collar and demands attention.  The other actors do good as well, the music is captivating, it is shot incredibly well and for the most part, it is paced very well, despite a couple of slow parts. It's interesting, it's technically well-made, it's one of my favorite movies this year.

BRYCE ***
CHASE ***
LANDON ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

The Man Who Invented Christmas

CHASE ***
This is one of the more interesting Christmas movies out there.  As much as we have seen many "A Christmas Carol" stories been told and retold, we never get to see the story behind the story.  Hence comes "The Man Who Invented Christmas," which follows Charles Dickens and how he wrote the famous "A Christmas Carol."  Everything that's done in the movie is done extremely well.  Everyone is well acted (especially Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens), the production is well-designed and the screenwriting is pretty solid.  It also helps that finding out the story behind the classic is inherently interesting, and it's fun to see the characters from the book who interact with Charles Dickens during his writing process.  The movie is done in such a way where we get to see how Charles' life had influenced his story.  My only criticism is that while everything is done well, there's not really anything that felt outstanding to me.  But overall, I enjoy "The Man Who Invented Christmas" and for those who love "A Christmas Carol" should definitely give this one a go.

LANDON **1/2
I agree with Chase on just about everything.  This film does a lot of good things, but not a lot of great things.  Dan Stevens is great and it's a pretty interesting narrative.  The reason why I teetered down to my current star rating is its ending, where everything just seems rather piled together in a similar fashion to Dickens' acclaimed  novel.  Instead of resonating, it comes off as pretty sappy.  Nevertheless, this is a very decent film and one I think audiences everywhere would like.

BRYCE ***
LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

CHASE ***1/2
The wait is finally over as we have the eigth episode of the "Star Wars" saga with "The Last Jedi."  The million dollar question is: is it any good?  The answer is a total yes.  Taking place directly after "The Force Awakens" we see the Resistance trying to escape from the First Order while Rey is trying to get Luke to join the fight.  The strongest points in the movie, by far, are any scenes that have to do with (coincidently enough) the Force users: Rey, Kylo Ren, and Luke.  Mark Hamill is excellent reprising his role as the aged Luke Skywalker and his performance feel raws and authentic and I think his character has a great arc.  The stuff with Rey and Kylo Ren is just great as we learn more about both of those characters and what their connection is.  It left me wanting to see what happens to both of them in the next one.  I love how they expand the universe of "Star Wars" in ways that feel surprising, yet right at the same time.  The space battles were exciting, and I like how Poe's character has his own arc in the story.  While I think there is a lot to love about it, it unfortunately doesn't live up to "The Force Awakens."  The first problem is the pacing which felt a little bit wonky.  This movie is probably a lot longer than it needs to be and it could benefit from shaving off a few minutes.  There are some moments that feel a little bit silly for me, even by "Star Wars" standards.  Especially in the Canto Bite part of the movie, where some parts are pretty enjoyable while others felt a little weird.  Lastly, I felt like that Finn and Rose's arcs didn't feel as satisfying as they should be.  Despite these complaints, however, the strong points are just too strong for me and I love a lot of it.  This is definitely one that is worth checking out.

BRYCE **1/2
LANDON ***1/2
LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Goodbye Christopher Robin

LOGAN **1/2
"Goodbye Christopher Robin" can be summed up in two words: It's nice.  That's basically all I can say about it.  The story focuses on the creation of the beloved children's story "Winnie-the-Pooh," and does so in a charming, innocent way.  The actors do a very good job portraying their roles both emotionally, and even in comical moments.  The film's editing, on the other hand, can sometimes come out of left field, especially with Domhnall Gleeson's character experiencing PTSD throughout the film.  It can suck you out of the experience pretty fast. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me very much.  It's your average run-of-the-mill biopic, but a nice one at that.  If that's your type of movie, you'll definitely enjoy this one.  It's nice.

CHASE ***

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

Wonder

LANDON **1/2
Based off the book by the same name, "Wonder" tells the story of a 10-year old boy born with Treacher Collins syndrome going to a public school for the first time and struggling to make friends and fit in.  At least that's what it's mostly about.  This is where the film loses a lot of steam for me.  It insists that it must also tell the story of the boy's older sister and her perspective of neglect from her parents.  And even a little of perspective from her best friend as well.  This all would've been fine if it had been wrapped together in a unified conclusion, but it never does.  It's pointless filler.  It's only purpose is to fill in time.  It also doesn't help that when it does focus on our young protagonist, it's usually very syrupy and aggressively-sweet.  I hate to make it sound like I'm ragging on this movie, because this is by no means a mediocre film.  It has a cast of very good actors and actresses (especially Jacob Tremblay, quickly becoming a star after his brilliant performance in "Room").  And even with the syrup, it does manage to bring out some pretty raw emotion.  It doesn't resonate as well as it should have, but you understand why most characters act the way they do.  I guess that is the goal of the filmmakers is to help audience understand these people, so they accomplished their goal.  This a very decent film honestly.  If you liked the book or if you want a wholesome movie to bring your family or a date to, this is probably a good choice.

BRYCE ***
Yeesh.  I'm surprised you gave it two and a half stars after that review!  To me, the fact that the story focused on other key people in the boy's life was actually a strength and not filler.  I think a typical movie in this vein would've focused entirely on the plight of the boy, with everyone else relegated to the periphery.  I think the film is effective in showing how having this kind of physical abnormality is really challenging not just for him, but for everyone close to him.  Some people handle it really well, some handle it terribly and most are somewhere in between.  That being said, I agree that it was a bit syrupy and trite at times, especially towards the end as is common in these kinds of family-friendly dramas.  It's nothing groundbreaking, but I thought it was engaging and sincere and definitely worth checking out.

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

Coco

LANDON ***
I don't know what it is about Pixar, but they seem totally incapable creating anything that's less than decent (save for "Cars 2").  "Coco" is no exception, and while it may not be one of the best the studio has to offer, it's a very good addition to their library.  Perhaps my favorite thing about it is its cast of lovable characters, especially Miguel, our young hero with a love for music and his family.  The animation is gorgeous.  There are shots in this film that will take your breath away.  It's fun to watch and it has a very good, touching story.  The things that keep it from being a great film, however, are mainly in the ways it presents itself.  It's very predictable.  Not to be confused with clichéd, but you can pretty easily guess what's going to happen next.  And there are some plot points that are placed very conveniently in important moments.  It unfortunately doesn't mesh with the overall picture very well.  With that being said, I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it people of all ages.  It's a good movie.

BRYCE ***1/2
I think you're selling this one short.  This is absolutely among Pixar's best and the best film I've seen all year.  This is, as you point out, a gorgeous movie with a richness and depth of field you don't see very often in any movie, animated or otherwise.  But beyond that, this is a profound story about the bonds of family through the generations told with an uncommon amount of humor and heart.  It all culminates in an incredibly poignant conclusion that dares you to hold back the tears.  I agree that a couple of the plot points leading up to that conclusion were a little too convenient, but the final impact completely overshadowed that for me.  It's a fantastic movie.

CHASE ***
LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***

Justice League

LANDON **
Here we are.  The much-awaited (depending on who you talk to) "Justice League" film is here to counter Marvel's "The Avengers."  And what a counter.  Every film in this franchise save for the very good "Wonder Woman" has been mediocre.  And I am going to put most of the blame on Zack Snyder.  The man is apparently incapable of directing an engaging narrative.  Even his visual spectacle, which most audiences give him praise for, is totally cluttered and feels completely fake.  This movie is all kinds of boring.  It's flat story, monotonous villain, lack of character depth; all completely boring.  It does keep itself from being bad with, admittedly, some action scenes that can be pretty entertaining.  Nonetheless, this film is not worth it.  It's a whole lot of nothing.  I don't recommend it.  In fact, I recommend giving up on the franchise altogether because it's not going places anytime soon.

LOGAN *1/2
I have to say: even though I had my expectations low for this one, it was actually worse than I thought it would be.  I agree with everything Landon says except for the action, which I didn't find that entertaining.  The reason being that since the movie is so boring, and we don't know anything about most of these characters, there isn't any weight to the action that would have me invested in it.  I didn't care about hardly ANYTHING that was happening in "Justice League" for that reason.  Some technical aspects are pretty neat, but in terms of characters, action and story, I didn't care.  I have a feeling that DC is not going to impress again anytime soon.

CHASE **

BANGERANG SCORE: **