Category Archives: Like It

Movies I liked but likely won’t watch again. Something was off that I wish had been done differently.

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Devil’s Candy (2017) Movie Review

A family of three move into a quaint rural home that was once the site of a double homicide, perpetrated at the hands of a man (Pruitt Taylor Vince) who hears the voice of the devil in his head.

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Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry), father and husband, is a contract painter and metalhead. He’s a young-at-heart, hippie-looking pot smoker who hates painting flowers for banks. And he also picked the wrong house to move into.

Sean Byrne, whose directorial debut The Loved Ones provided an Continue reading The Devil’s Candy (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Power Rangers (2017) Movie Review

After a practical joke goes wrong, Jason Scott (Dacre Montgomery) has to come to detention every Saturday in order to graduate. There, he meets a prep-turned-punk Kimberly (Naomi Scott) and an “on the spectrum” nerd Billy (RJ Cyler).

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When Billy helps Jason with his house arrest bracelet problem, Jason agrees to drive Billy to an abandoned quarry, which happens to be the site of Continue reading Power Rangers (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Movie Review

In anticipation of April’s release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth installment in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, CineFiles is taking a retrospective look back on all of the series’ films. In this edition, we look at the third entry into the series (but the sixth film chronologically?), The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

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The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is widely considered the black sheep of the now incredibly successful Fast & Furious franchise. This is due mainly to the film’s tangential narrative from what has essentially become a testosterone-infused soap opera.

But let’s not judge a book by its preconceived notions.

Tokyo Drift opens on a car race over the ownership of a woman. So…it’s not looking good so far. Unlike the previous two Fast & Furious films, however, this opening race Continue reading The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Lights Out (2016) Movie Review

At CineFiles, we like to stay current. We try our very best to see the big new releases right as they come out, so that we can get reviews out to you lovely readers in a timely manner. This task is not always easy, especially given that our choice of pronoun can be deceiving in terms of number agreement.

So, yeah, we didn’t see Lights Out last Summer. What’s it to you?

All joking aside, Lights Out is the number one genre movie that I regret not seeing last year. As such, I’m back almost a year later to pick up the slack. I watched Lights Out (thanks, Cinemax), so let’s talk about it.

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Lights Out is the feature length film from David F. Sandberg adapted from the short film by David F. Sandberg. The short film is an intriguing game of Continue reading Lights Out (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Like It, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Beauty and the Beast (2017) Movie Review

Beauty and the Beast is the Disney live action remake of the 1991 animated hit. The tale as old as time is one of ostracism and romance. A sorceress condemns the arrogant Prince (Dan Stevens) to the realm of beast until he learns to love, and it will take the only other literate person in miles (Emma Watson) to break this spell (because, really, the only thing Belle and the Beast really connect on is their shared ability to read).

The 2017 Beast is a faithful adaptation, its added flourishes coming in the form of Continue reading Beauty and the Beast (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Fast and the Furious (2001) Movie Review

As a precursor to the April 14 release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in the Fast & Furious franchise, CineFiles is taking a look back at the 16 years of Fast films, starting here with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious.

 

What can be said about a film centering around underground drag racing, in which characters risk their lives for the respect of the win? Hopefully a lot given that film spawned a billion dollar franchise.

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The Fast and the Furious, as a franchise, has developed into an enigmatic phenomenon of action schlock. But in 2001, The Fast and the Furious the film was merely a Continue reading The Fast and the Furious (2001) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Like It

Toni Erdmann (2016) Movie Review

A father’s (Peter Simonischek) desperate, juvenile attempts at reaching his over-worked white collar daughter (Sandra Huller) is the subject of Toni Erdmann. Dressing up in fake teeth and a wig, the father becomes the titular character, a fictional businessman who is occasionally a life coach and occasionally a German ambassador. He follows his daughter around, sending her work life in flux during a time where securing a client is pivotal.

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Toni Erdmann is a film that boasts its Continue reading Toni Erdmann (2016) Movie Review →

2017 Academy Awards, All Movie Reviews, Documentary, Like It, Short Films

4.1 Miles (2016) Short Film Review

Over recent years, a massive influx of refugees trying to cross the water boundary between Turkey and Greece has caused chaos for the Coast Guard. They pull in hundreds of people per day. But they cannot possibly take everyone.

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Life on these waters are depicted as harrowing. People are separated from their families. People slip into the water and drown. And all the while the Coast Guard Continue reading 4.1 Miles (2016) Short Film Review →

2017 Academy Awards, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Short Films

Joe’s Violin (2016) Short Film Review

“How long can you live with memories?”

This is one of the first lines of Joe’s Violin, coming from the eponymous Joseph Feingold. It is an expression of his carefree attitude about donating one of his most prized possessions: a violin. What Joe’s Violin aims to do, however, is supplant that throwaway notion with the creation of new memories.

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Joe’s story is one of Holocaust tragedy. At the age of 17, in eastern Poland, Feingold was taken by the Russians and put into a Siberian labor camp. Of the few things he had after his time in the camp his violin becomes, in retrospect, a Continue reading Joe’s Violin (2016) Short Film Review →

All Movie Reviews, Like It, Short Films

La Femme et le TGV (2016) Short Film Review

A woman named Elise (Jane Birkin) who lives by the train tracks with her pet bird, an irresponsible youth in a sports car, and a series of correspondences with an unseen train engineer are the backdrop of Switzerland’s La Femme et le TGV.

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The film strikes a great tone of Continue reading La Femme et le TGV (2016) Short Film Review →