Category Archives: Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) Movie Review

November 17, 2016 Alex Brannan

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a researcher of magical creatures, travels from Britain to New York in this Harry Potter expanded universe film. When one of his creatures escapes his person at a bank in a delightful opening set piece, Scamander gets apprehended by the equivalent of a magic police officer (Katherine Waterston) and a Nomag (aka a Muggle) gets away with Scamander’s briefcase full of creatures.

This all set in a 1920s period piece landscape including a dangerous wizard criminal, a conspiratorial anti-witch Muggle, and a looming dark presence.

David Yates returns to direct this Rowling-verse film (Yates directed the final four Potter films). Beasts has a similar feel to the Potter films in their warmer moments, although the film doesn’t Continue reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) Movie Review →

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

Tickled (2016) Movie Review

November 13, 2016 Alex Brannan

Journalist Davier Farrier has made a career out of seeking out the obscure fringes of society. So, when Farrier stumbles upon the world of Competitive Endurance Tickling, of course he decides to find out more.

Little does Farrier know that the strange “sport” is something that participants do not want surfaced and broadcast to the public. An innocent documentary about tickling as sport thus morphs into a very different, less silly monster involving homophobic threats and lawsuits.

Tickled is nothing that one would expect. Unique as its subject matter is, it is impossible to Continue reading Tickled (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Arrival (2016) Movie Review

November 11, 2016 Alex Brannan

Before getting started with my review of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, I would like to take a quick moment to address some website housekeeping. This review marks my 400th article on CineFiles, this tiny blog I began almost two years ago.

Incidentally, today also saw the site surpass 100,000 site views. I understand 100,000 seems minuscule in a worldwide internet environment, but given the large number of outlets for movie reviews and entertainment news online, it is a number I never expected to reach. Continue reading Arrival (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

American Pastoral (2016) Movie Review

November 10, 2016 Alex Brannan

Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut (he also stars) comes from source material penned by Philip Roth. As has become custom with adaptations of more high brow author’s works, American Pastoral has been called unfilmable. While the “filmable” quality of a book is a mere talking point, McGregor’s Pastoral suffers at its core from its story of a quiet rural American family turned upside down by the departure of a daughter (Dakota Fanning).

The film’s narrative flies through nearly two decades in a span of 30 minutes. In nearly a blink of an eye McGregor’s factory owner and former beauty pageant winner turned farmer Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) go from being Continue reading American Pastoral (2016) Movie Review →

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

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Movie Review

November 10, 2016 Alex Brannan

War is Hell.

This is the age-old sentiment, a mantra for both the wearied soldier and the rallied activist. The opening montage of Hacksaw Ridge, captured in slow motion between dusty explosions that haze the screen, is the visual incarnation of this well-worn phrase. Flamethrowers and gunfire making charred puppets out of people. It is no storming of Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan, perhaps the modern framework of the war battle sequence, but it is still something.

Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), after being raised in a contentious household with an abusive father (Hugo Weaving, in a powerful but short turn), joins the army with the hopes of Continue reading Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Movie Review →

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

The Story of 90 Coins (2015) Short Film Review

November 8, 2016 Alex Brannan

The premise of The Story of 90 Coins, the romance short film from director Michael Wong, is beautifully simple. A couple at a crossroads (Dongjun Han and Zhuang Zhiqi) give themselves 90 days to make a decision of whether to marry or part ways. Of course, reality sets in, and the poetry of the situation is threatened by real-world pressures.

This initial contrast of dual tones is pleasantly surprising. The film begins with a feeling of melodrama, that this will be a short overwrought with heavy lovelorn emotion. In a sense this is what we get, but there is also Continue reading The Story of 90 Coins (2015) Short Film Review →

A Movies, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

Moonlight (2016) Movie Review

November 4, 2016 Alex Brannan

Moonlight begins with a beautiful steadicam shot that literally revolves around a denied drug deal. One of the dealers involved, Juan (Mahershala Ali), gets cut off by a child being chased by bullies. Chiron, or “Little” (Alex Hibbert), finds comfort in Juan as a father figure that he does not have elsewhere in his life.

Little, quiet though he is, shows a conflicted desire to fit into the Continue reading Moonlight (2016) Movie Review →

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

Doctor Strange (2016) Movie Review

November 3, 2016 Alex Brannan

Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), a cocksure neurosurgeon with the mind of a savant, becomes victim to a (rather excessive) car wreck. His hands smashed through the windshield and succumbing to massive nerve damage, he may never practice surgery again. Wonderful parallel shots show his fall from grace in a shot structure that seems almost too elegant for a Marvel film.

When a physical recovery becomes impossible for him, Strange seeks Continue reading Doctor Strange (2016) Movie Review →

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

UFO: It is Here (2016) Movie Review

October 31, 2016 Alex Brannan

German indie horror flick UFO begins in true Blair Witch fashion, with a young group of students filming a documentary. Coming from a film student who is learning similar production techniques, I can appreciate these opening shots. One person holds up a plastic card to gauge the white balance while another assesses the costuming of the subject of the interview while another asks for a sound level check.

As the group prepares and begins the interview of two workers at a zoo, the animals start going crazy over what appears to be a comet falling out of the sky. The film crew makes the democratic decision to ditch their zoo documentary in order to chase the fallen space object.

Even with the knowledge of the film being a found footage “student” film in the footsteps of The Blair Witch Project (itself receiving the reboot/sequel treatment earlier this year), UFO does not Continue reading UFO: It is Here (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Inferno (2016) Movie Review

October 27, 2016 Alex Brannan

Inferno begins with an ethical quandary: “There is a switch. If you pull it, half of humanity will die. If you don’t, the human race will go extinct in 100 years.” The words are uttered by Ben Foster’s eccentric millionaire Bertrand Zobrist just before he plunges himself from a tower, backed into a corner by a pursuer wanting some sort of confidential information.

Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) wakes up in a hospital, delirious and hallucinating deformed people and a black plague-era doctor. He thinks he is in Boston, but he is in Florence. Of course, there is little time for explanation, as Continue reading Inferno (2016) Movie Review →

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