MoviesMillers

Soul - Movie Review Critics Score - 8 of 10 General Audience Score - 9 of 10 Soul, the latest Pixar movie from Pete Doctor, the mind that brought us some of Pixar's best work, from Inside Out and Up to Monsters Inc. He is a creative mastermind and filmmaker that can reach right into your chest and play your heart strings like a fiddle. But how well does he do that with his latest movie, Soul? PROS - Soul is a perfectly beautiful film that looks and feels very fresh yet similar to Inside Out. Of course we're accustomed to such extremely high quality animated work from Pixar and while Soul is neither a letdown visually, I see no need to write home about it. It meets the Pixar standard of excellence. And the music, both songs and original score are very well done, with the movie being about **spoilers** death and music, it exceeds many other animated films in the sound department. The voices and characters are very good and well constructed, the screenwriting and dialogue is sharp...

Boy State - Movie Review Critic Score - 8 of 10 General Audience Score - 6 of 10 There exists a program for young men and women that teaches them the basic elements and principles of the U.S. governement. The program for the young men is called Boys State. This documentary tracks the progress of several young men as they progress through this week long program. But is that premise enough to hold together a full length feature film? PROS - This movie explores the ins and outs of democratic government through the lens of high school students. As a documentary, getting to experience the roller coaster ride of feelings of these young men as they go through this journey makes for a very engaging experience. It's also very informative and even at times riveting to see the seeds of politics in these young mens lives. They have debates, vote for positions and even have "hype men" to get the crowd pumped up for individual members of the party. The portrayal of this model governmen...

Sound Of Metal - Movie Review Critic Score - 7 of 10 General Audience Score - 7 of 10 Losing one's hearing is a simultaneously horrifying and fascinating concept for a film. To take a deep dive into the mind and thought processes of someone losing their hearing is a storyline among the most interesting of the year. But is this film among the best of the year? PROS - The Sound Of Metal excels in a few key areas of it's filmmaking. The first area is the acting, this movie is well on it's way to garnering at least one if not two acting nominations. The acting work of the main protagonist is really captivating, trying to understand what he's experiencing and him guiding us to where the film is heading is really where it excels. Alongside the acting is the sound work. The sounds are really effective at drawing us into the world of someone going deaf and I found myself captivated many times during some of the sequences of sound work. It will almost assuredly be nominated if n...

Wolfwalkers - Movie Review Critic Review - 8 of 10 General Audience Review - 8 of 10 Is the spectrum of animated cinema, there's a wide variety of films that achieve the highest levels of filmmaking. They come around every so often and demand to be considered along with the live action counterparts in the cinematic universe. Is Wolfwalkers among them? PROS - This movie is visually stunning in virtually every moment of every frame it presents to us on screen. To look at this movie is to view a work of art and revel in its beauty. The visuals are by far the most impressive of all the aspects of the film but several others really help to elevate this film as well. The music and soundtrack are really great at working alongside the visuals of the film. The screenwriting and overall storytelling is really solid but there are some issues with the pacing of the film I'll get into later. But the characters are well developed, the story is well rounded and really picks up steam into the ...

Babyteeth - Movie Review Critic Score - 9 of 10 General Audience Score - 8 of 10 Babyteeth is a fantastic, if not incredibly under the radar movie that is exteremly moving and emotionally deep. This film is simply among the finest of the year and it is such a shame that nobody is talking about it and making it a point to watch it. PROS - This movie is really one of the more complete packages as far as film and storytelling goes. The character work in this movie is truly impeccable, we can relate to these people, even if we're not suffering their same fate. The story is simple enough and not entirely spelled out but engaging enough to keep us going even if the dialogue isn't first class. An extremely well rounded story and character arcs and without any spoilers, the powerhouse ending is among the years best. Without the A list celebrities front lining this film, it's easy enough to see why more people haven't made the leap to watch this film, I myself only watched it af...

Pieces Of A Woman - Movie Review Critic Score - 5 of 10 General Audience Score - 5 of 10 Pieces Of A Woman is the latest release by Netflix in its race to get every possible Oscar nomination come awards season. It's a story of a home delivery gone wrong and the ensuing fallout and aftermath. But will you enjoy watching it? PROS - This movie has a lot going on in the acting department. Most people in search of FANTASTIC performances will have to look no further than this, just the acting at work in this film make it a must watch movie for many. The direction is also solid and some good directional decisions are made at times, but there's simply not enough going on with the story and writing for him to make it work. More on that to come. But the movie has so much potential and so many interesting emotional beats that it hits on and would make for a really great piece of filmmaking, but it loses it's way the further it goes. The birthing sequence is absolutely riveting, the fi...

 I'm Thinking Of Ending Things - Movie Review Critic Review - 6 of 10 General Audience Review - 3 of 10 This movie can be compared in a lot of ways to a piece of abstract art. You can look at it and find appreciation in what there is to be enjoyed about it, or you can dismiss it all at once because it's not your type of art. Or you may not be into art at all. Either way, the point is that art, and cinema, among many things, are subjective in nature. One can look for and find meaning in many things in a piece of art and this movie qualifies as one. One can also dismiss it entirely or even find it extremely frustrating and annoying. Many critics have and will continue to praise this film and the things it’s doing, the questions it raises and ponders, the questions it leaves unanswered. Other will leave this movie very unhappy and feel it was a waste of time. The point is, if you look at the good qualities of this film, you can most certainly find them. The screenplay and dialogue...

Mank - Movie Review Critic Score - 8 of 10 General Audience Score - 5 of 10 The 2020 movie Mank, directed by David Fincher, is a very impressive accomplishment, even as David Fincher goes. The movie has so many things a cinephile can revel in, from the sets and production design to the wonderful camera work and truly beautiful cinematography. The direction on display in Mank is really spectacular, the vision that David is able to convert to the screen is superb and stunning on many levels. But this movie is simply not for everyone. If you have any amount of cinephile blood coursing through your veins, your eyes will enjoy the masterpiece this movie lays before them. Your brain will work tirelessly to fill in the blanks the screenwriting and story leave behind as we follow the story of "Mank" Herman Mankiewitcz, even if it boils over into the realm of frustration and annoyance. The movie thrusts you into the world of pre-Citizen Kane and with very little backstory or expositio...

 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Movie Review Critic Score - 7 of 10 General Audience Score - 7 of 10 The 2020 movie Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a wonderfully engaging feature film based on a stage production of the same name. The film entry is a very competent and skillfully managed adaptation by the writer and also by the director who is able to do a lot with the material. The strongest points in the movies favor are the performances, of which this film will almost certainly get strong Oscar consideration for Davis and Boseman. While either or both of the two are on screen, they do most of the heavy lifting for the film, its difficult to turn away from watching what they're doing. Its really some of the finest work we've ever seen from either of the two. Some of the other aspects of this film such as the writing, directing, sound work, editing and production design can also be praised. Some more than others. For cinephiles all these things make the film impressive, albeit ...

Wonder Woman 1984 - Movie Review Critic Score - 5 of 10 General Audience Score - 7 of 10 Wonder Woman 1984 or WW84 is the sequel to the 2017 Wonder Woman movie, however, as I can recall very little of the original movie, the sequel works very well as stand alone film for those not familiar with the franchise or the other DC movies. The latest installment of the DC superhero movies does little to either elevate or degradate the DC universe. It works perfectly well if not taken very seriously, it can be an amusing and even, I dare say, vaguely entertaining movie, when its working at its best. Many people just looking for a good time at the theaters, or in this day and age, in their homes, will be perfectly satisfied queueing this film up and watching with family and friends as most anyone will find some amount of entertainment in this movie, created almost entirely with the masses in mind. This movie has the look and feel of the mainstream summer blockbuster, which was what it was origin...

Son Of Saul - Movie Review Critic Score - 9 of 10 General Audience Score - 7 of 10 A truly epic movie that doesn't just tell a World War 2 story, the somewhat first person perspective the camera occupies through almost the entirety of the film helps one view the events surrounding an individuals experiences during the war. The movie won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with good reason, it really is a fantastic piece of filmmaking that may not live up to the scope of The Pianist or Schindler's List as a epic holocaust film, but it comes close. Son of Saul is a real gem of a film that many will never get the pleasure of experiencing, simply because of the reservations many have as the film is subtitled and with the dialogue almost completely in Hungarian, reading is a requirement. As such this movie will appeal to many mainstream cinephiles and movie critics and will get very little attention from almost all others. Many of the films technical aspects, production design,...

 Promising Young Woman - Movie Review Critic Score - 9 of 10 General Audience Score - 8 of 10 Promising Young Woman is a film that will captivate audiences of all kinds. This movie is doing so much and so little at the same time. Our main character isn't doing anything extraordinary, in fact, she's never seen doing anything that many would label as extreme through the first two acts. But the acts our protagonist does do are very specific, they are like pieces of a puzzle that we're working through and putting together as we collect them. The pacing is very good, even if it does lag for a brief moment here and there. But this screenplay and story are top notch with some good, if not great, dialogue to keep us in the moment with her. But the movie is very hard to get a good read on, as soon as you think it's heading in a certain direction, you can be assured a great plot twist is about to smack you in the face. The overall story is really fairly simple once you understand...