movie review
Relationships-focused film reviews of tearjerkers, rom-coms, love lost and love found.
Little Women (2019) (First) Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review the movies and limited series I watch. I have to admit, this movie was more of a slow-burn for me. I would say that for the first 45 minutes or so, I had a hard time getting sucked in. I thought the scenery was gorgeous and the acting was really good, but I had a hard time latching onto ANY of the characters for a while. I felt that their development was rushed at times, with some of them just suddenly escalating in anger with no reasonable cause, and the story wasn't that engaging at first. However, once a huge conflict occurs between two of the sisters over what one of them did to the other's writing, this movie got SO much better. In fact, by the time the third act began, the film had basically managed to FIX every single one of its problems. I haven't seen a movie manage to do that in a long time, but this movie absolutely did that to the point where I really want to see it again even though I just watched it. Moments in the third act, particularly some really heartwrenching editing choices, made me choke up and I loved that.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
The Irishman Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write movie reviews for everything I see. So, here's the thing... I don't like being the guy that says a certain genre or type of film is not the kind of film for them. Sure, I would definitely have said that even in middle school when I watched animated movies and didn't want to watch anything else, but now that I've become more interested in film, I like to think that I'm open to watching pretty much anything so long as its story and overall execution is engaging. There might be some movies that might be more "my kind of movie," like personal dramas or dialogue-driven movies for me, but I like to think that I am open to liking or disliking any film regardless of its content or genre depending on its execution. That being said, I've never 100% clicked with gangster movies. I admittedly haven't seen many of them, but they're just films that I don't really find myself going out of my way to see that often. I'm also really not a fan of longer movies in general, but if a movie can keep me engaged despite its runtime, I'm still there for it.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
I Lost My Body Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd page, where I review all of the movies I see. As I sit here writing this review, I'm still deciding what to rate this movie. I want to give it 4.5, but this is another movie that I feel is more of a 4-star film objectively speaking. Throughout the course of this review, I'm gonna be articulating my thoughts not just to you guys, but also to myself as I figure out what in the world I'm gonna do about that rating. Let's go on a journey, shall we?
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Dolemite is My Name
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write movie reviews for whatever I watch. Once again, objectively, this is probably more of a four-star film because of some story elements that aren't explained as well as I think they should have been that I'll talk about later. However, I just can't deny how much this movie made me smile throughout the course of its runtime. I just couldn't keep this giddy grin off my face as the events of this movie unfold, watching all of these really entertaining people come together to make something entertaining and working hard to get it in the public eye.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Klaus Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review all the movies I watch. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's not Christmas, but give me a break, I need to watch more Academy Award nominees and this is nominated for Animated Feature, so here we go. Besides, I'm the kind of guy that will listen to Christmas music or watch Christmas movies any time of year and not care because to me, the capturing of the Christmas spirit doesn't just have to be in December. This movie's capturing of the Christmas spirit is probably the most perfect I've ever seen in an animated movie. The best way to describe this film is charming. That's really the best word -- charming. It just puts a smile on your face the whole way through, and I would be lying if I said that I didn't choke up a couple of times during some of the more emotional sequences toward the end. In particular, the actual ending to this movie... god, what a powerful ending that perfectly ties the logic of this movie's Christmas into the Christmas we know and love today. Man, what a fantastic ending.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Fosse/Verdon Review
This review is from my Letterboxd profile, where I review all the movies and limited series I see. Wow, what a ride. This show has been recommended to me for a while now, and I should have watched it much sooner simply because of the slightly terrifyingly perfect timing. When this show started airing, our school's production of "Chicago" was about to open. I played an ensemble member, Chief Fogarty, and the judge during the courtroom scene. I participated in a lot of dance numbers and had the honor of announcing Velma and Roxie before they performed "Nowadays." I'm not a huge dancer, so being involved in such nuanced choreography was initially very annoying for me. By the end, however, I grew to really love the show and appreciated Fosse's choreography a lot more by the end of it. I'm probably never going to be involved in another Fosse production again, but I'm really glad I got the experience.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Punch Drunk Love Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review every movie I see. Well... that was... something. I'm not even sure if I fully comprehend what in the world even happened over the past hour and a half, but I know that there's something here that just completely sucked me in. To me, there's a definite difference between a movie that turns you away because of its weirdness and a movie that sucks you in because of its weirdness. The former makes its plot and characters so nonsensical and so unbelievable that you don't care about what's unfolding on the screen. The latter immediately hooks you in with some strange occurrence, character, or choice that you WANT to know more about and keeps you hooked even if you don't know what you're watching. Punch-Drunk Love is most certainly the latter category for me. I don't think I've pieced everything together by any means, but I WANT to. I guarantee you they're there, but I have no idea where to even start looking for them.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Swiss Army Man Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review every movie I see. It's been a couple of years since I saw this film for the first time and fell head over heels for it. Rewatching it after all this time affects me even more now. Swiss Army Man is most certainly not a movie for everybody. It's an almost alienatingly strange movie, but in my opinion, it's all the better for it. Its premise is one of the most unique I've seen in a long time, if not ever -- Paul Dano's Hank Thompson finds himself saved from being stranded on an island when a corpse played by Daniel Radcliffe washes up on the shore, and this corpse (who becomes affectionately known as Manny) serves as Hank's guide and multi-purpose tool as he makes his way back home. This is the example I'm going to use for years to come of a movie that shouldn't work at all, let alone as well as it does. However, somehow, in my opinion, Swiss Army Man absolutely nails its universal message with an off-kilter execution that is somehow heartwarming and bizarre at the same time.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Phineas and Ferb: Candace Across the Universe Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review all of the films I watch. Baby, they're back!! It feels so good to say that and to finally see it for myself!! For those of you who don't know, I absolutely ADORE Phineas and Ferb. It was my absolute favorite TV show growing up, and it has a very special place in my heart. Rewatching some of the episodes recently, it's stuck with me just how charming, well-written, and likable the show still is with great characters, fun contraptions, and a self-aware formula that somehow always manages to keep itself interesting. The show is still genuinely good, but it's still always bothered me how it ended. It started off with "Last Day of Summer," which was the absolute perfect finale to cap off a show that was admittedly starting to lose a bit of its steam. Then, it briefly came back with "The OWCA Files," a standalone special that disappointed and at times even angered me with its lackluster plot points, writing, and character moments compared to the original show. That additional special has always left a kind of bitter taste in my mouth since it aired, despite how perfect the ACTUAL finale of this show was. Then the characters were brought back in the new Dan Povenmire and Jeff Swampy Marsh show Milo Murphy's Law, some even staying on as secondary characters, which I honestly didn't even love that much and didn't really get through the first season. So, yeah, there's always been a part of me that always wanted just a little bit more. Then this movie was announced, and I got a little frightened because I anticipated a Phineas and Ferb movie back in 2013 and it was canned, so I didn't want this to be the same scenario. Then sneak previews released, then trailers, then songs, and I realized this was actually finally happening. Now, after finally getting a Disney+ subscription and finding the time to watch this movie, I can say it is absolutely the second finale I so desperately needed.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Enola Holmes Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I review whatever movies I watch. You know what? This movie managed to surprise me. I thought Enola Holmes was going to be another stereotypical Netflix movie that was good, but nothing particularly memorable. However, I gotta say, I debated giving this 4.5 stars not necessarily because I think it deserves that score on its merit, but because it rises above and beyond what I think most people associate with a Netflix film nowadays. This movie feels like it has its own particular style and energy, and it felt really fresh because of that. If it were released in theaters, I'd probably be harsher on it, but for a movie released on Netflix, this is actually a very pleasant surprise.
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
Two Distant Strangers Review
This review comes from my Letterboxd profile, where I write movie reviews consistently. I would love to have respectful discussions about people's potentially polarizing opinions on this short because let me get this out of the way now, I am a white, cisgender, straight male. I'm not going to lie about how I felt about a film on the first watch, but I also want to be open to discussing why it may be a problematic watch in general. If I get off balance in any way with my cluelessness here, I would love to have a respectful discussion about it because I think discussions like that are important. However, I can't lie about what I thought about this short film on the first watch. So, what did I think?
By Jamie Lammers5 years ago in Humans
