MovieGawd Movie Reviews

“Bohemian Rhapsody” Directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men, Usual Suspects) screenplay by Anthony McCarten (theory of Everything, Darkest Hour) Story by Anthony McCarten & Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon & The Last King of Scotland) Starring Rami Malek (Short Term 12, The Master) Lucy Boynton (Sing Street, Miss Potter) Joseph Mozzello (Jurassic Park, The Social Network) & Mike Myers (Austin Powers, The Love Guru).  Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury. Freddie defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet. The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but in an unexpected turn Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with h...

“The Hate You Give” Directed by George Tillman Jr. (Faster, Notorious) Screenplay by Audrey Wells (The Game Plan, A Dogs Purpose) Based on the Novel by Angie Thomas. Starring Amandla Stenberg (The Darkest Minds, The Hunger Games) Regina Hall (Girls Trip, Scary Movie) Russel Hornsby (Fences, Meet the Parents) & Anthony Mackie (Avengers, Captain America: Winter Soldier) Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds: the poor, mostly black, neighborhood where she lives and the rich, mostly white, prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Now, facing pressures from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and stand up for what's right. This is not a horror movie in the slightest but seeing this film on the big screen and the material and how the incident went down is absolutely terrifying. This movie is ver...

“First Man” directed by Damian Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) screenplay by Josh Singer (Spotlight, the Post) Based on the book by James R Hansen. Starring Ryan Gosling (La La Land, Crazy Stupid Love) Claire Foy (The Crown, Breathe) Jason Clarke (Planet of the Apes, Mudbound) & Kyle Chandler (Argo, Super 8) A Biopic on the life of the legendary American Astronaut Neil Armstrong from 1961-1969, on his journey to becoming the first human to walk the moon. Exploring the sacrifices and costs on the Nation and Neil himself, during one of the most dangerous missions in the history of space travel. Damian Chazelle is a master when it comes to incorporating story with music and has proved it with La La Land and Whiplash. Here he is again working with Ryan Gosling on a character piece and thinking about it now all of his movies focus solely on character more than anything else. There has been controversy about is this movie patriotic why the flag was not shown planted and all this...

“Halloween” Directed by David Gordon Green (Stronger, Vice Principles) ScreenPlay by David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Jeff Fradley. Characters developed by John Carpenter & Debra Hill. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies, A Fish Called Wanda) Judy Greer (Ant-Man & Jurassic Word) Andi Matichak (Replicate, Underground) & James Jude Courtney (Far and Away, The Hit List) Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. This movie takes place 20 years after the original Halloween film and Michael Myers is back and Lauri Strode has been waiting for him to finally finish what was started. David Gordon Green did an amazing job capturing the feel of the original film making it tense and terrifying. The way that he shoots and captures Michael Myers in this film is absolutely beautiful. The fear is there the play on his shadow the motiva...

“Beautiful Boy” Directed by Felix Van Groeningen (Belgica & The Misfortunates) ScreenPlay by Felix Van Groeningen & Luke Davies. Based on the book “Beautiful Boy” by David Sheff and the book “Tweak” by Nic Sheff. Starring Steve Carell (FoxCatcher & Little Miss Sunshine) Timothee Chalamet (Lady Bird & Call Me By Ur Name) Maura Tierney (Liar Liar & Forces by Nature) & Christian Convery (Descendents 3 & Venom).  Based on the best-selling pair of memoirs from father and son David and Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy chronicles the heartbreaking and inspiring experience of survival, relapse, and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years. Timothee Chalamet has made a name for himself over the last year. Last year he was nominated for Call me by ur Name after an amazing performance and he is back with a performance that is even better with beautiful boy Alongside Steve Carell who is always great and magnetic. This movie is something special be...

“A Star Is Born” Directed by Bradley Cooper (American Sniper, Guardians of the Galaxy) ScreenPlay by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters. Based on a Story by William A. Wellman & Robert Carson. Starring Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga ( American Horror Story, Machette Kills) Sam Elliot (Road House, The Big Lebowski) & Greg Grunberg (Alias, Hollow Man).  Seasoned musician Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) discovers-and falls in love with-struggling artist Ally (Gaga). She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer - until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons. This movie has been done 3 times before and Bradley Cooper is tackling it for the 4th time. Is that a bad thing? Not really. Is the movie formulaic? Yes it is but again that’s not a bad thing. The directing of Bradley Cooper is really gr...

Venom Directed by Ruben Fleischer (ZombieLand, Gangster Squad) ScreenPlay by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner, Kelly Marcel & Will Beall. Based on the Marvel Comics by Todd McFarland & David Michelinie. Starring Tom Hardy (Warrior, Locke) Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine, Take this Waltz) Marcella Bragio (Sorry to Bother You, Ride) & Riz Ahmed (Four Lions, NightCrawler).  When Eddie Brock acquires the powers of a symbiote, he will have to release his alter-ego "Venom" to save his life. This movie is very difficult to talk about and in some ways I am torn about it. I think the biggest mistake this film made was not sticking to the rated R theme and you can see it with the way the characters are being portrayed. Some make it seem like this is a dark gritty movie and some are more light hearted knowing it’s PG-13 and that takes a lot away from the film. Tom Hardy as venom especially doing the venom voice is the best part of the film. The action scenes are real...

“Bad Times ay the El Royale” written and directed by Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, the Martian) Starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Heart of the Sea) Dakota Johnson (50 Shades, The Social Network) Jon Hamm (Baby Driver, The Town) & Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart, True Grit).  Seven strangers, each with a secret to bury, meet at Lake Tahoe's El Royale, a rundown hotel with a dark past. Over the course of one fateful night, everyone will have a last shot at redemption - before everything goes to hell. First off if you have not seen any promotional material for this film or trailer or know nothing about this movie make sure you keep it that way. Go into this film not knowing anything about it at all and thank me later. Cabin in the woods is one of my favorite movies made and that movie came out of nowhere and was a huge surprise. With that said it didn’t surprise me to see Chris Hemsworth in this film since they worked on that film together. Drew Goddard when he has something ...