Category: Reviews

“Fifty Shades Freed” Ends E.L. James’s Trilogy By Liz Lopez Rating: B-/C+ Director James Foley (“Fifty Shades Darker”, “House of Cards,” “Perfect Stranger”) brings author E.L. James’s romance trilogy to a close with “Fifty Shades Freed” as fans have been following the relationship between Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). Since “Fifty… Continue reading Review: FIFTY SHADES FREED

By Mark Saldana Rating: 1 Star (Out of 4 Stars) With the Fifty Shades of Grey movie, uninitiated movie audiences were introduced to the courtship and “romance” between Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, while fans of the book series were able to see their beloved characters brought to life.  As for me, a film critic who… Continue reading Review: FIFTY SHADES FREED

By Liz Lopez Rating: B+ As a favor to your film – fan self, you can make a choice before viewing the biopic “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.” You can read all about the classic movie actress Gloria Grahame (“The Bad and the Beautiful”); newspaper articles, gossip magazines, books, etc. OR just view the… Continue reading Review: FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) During the 1940s and 50s, actress Gloria Grahame became well-known for her portrayals of film noir vixens.  Her performance in Crossfire would earn her a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination , while her performance in The Bad and the Beautiful would win that particular Oscar. … Continue reading Review: FILM STARS DON’T DIE IN LIVERPOOL

By Liz Lopez Rating: B-/C+ “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” is the third of the sci-fi movie franchise that began with “The Maze Runner” that premiered in 2014, followed by “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” (2015). They are based on the James Dashner’s YA novels and this third movie in the series is best viewed… Continue reading Review: MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE

By Mark Saldana Rating: 2.5 (Out of 4 Stars) 2014’s The Maze Runner adaptation offers audiences a tense and mysterious dystopian story that ends with a cliffhanger leaving them wanting more.  The sequel (titled The Scorch Trials), on the other hand, greatly disappoints, as it staggers and nearly fails to move the story to even greater… Continue reading Review: MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE

Gerard Butler and Pablo Schreiber star in “Den of Thieves”   By Liz Lopez Rating: B-/C+ There are only so many ways to tell a story about robbers pulling off a heist without it going into territory where it is compared to other great heist films from the past. Many times an audience will then… Continue reading Review: DEN OF THIEVES

By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) From the first frame to its very last, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread is an aesthetically elegant affair.  The production design, the exquisite costumes, the fantastic score by Jonny Greenwood, and the gorgeous cinematography done by Anderson, himself, all play their part in bringing a breath-taking… Continue reading Review: PHANTOM THREAD

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Between 1972 and 1973, Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward covered the Watergate break-in and the subsequent scandal and their investigative reporting helped uncover a conspiracy within the White House.   This actually wasn’t the first time that the reporting of the Washington Post would… Continue reading Review: THE POST

By Mark Saldana Rating: 4 (Out of 4 Stars) Paddington is love.  Paddington represents an ideal that all humanity should try to achieve.  To quote The Room‘s Tommy Wiseau, “If a lot of people love each other, the world will be a better place to live.” I know that quoting the enigmatic filmmaker, who made… Continue reading Review: PADDINGTON 2