Ratings Central - Movies

Let's start by saying I enjoy Elton John's music, but I'm far from a fanatic. I knew I would recognize some of the music in the film, and I was always interested in the life of the man Elton John, so I went in with expectations, but small ones. This movie delivered so well. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie as a whole. As I stated, I'm not a gigantic fan, so the film impressed me that as a casual fan, I was able to know most of the songs still, and still maintain the emotional responses that go with them. The lead actor/singer Taron Egerton is simply spectacular in this role. I came out of that movie believing he was Elton John, Obviously knowing otherwise. He sang the songs himself, which is also a rarity in these kinds of films. I easily found the intensity, creativity and value that he emphasized throughout all of the presented material moving. This movie was different from most of these kinds of biopics in that the filmmakers integrated real fantasy elements into t

I should start off by saying, yes, I like Godzilla movies. Even the old-school Japanese ones without subtitles or voice-overs. Godzilla movies always gave me the sense of the possibility of something larger than life is out there somewhere; maybe just sleeping. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2014 reboot of Godzilla on it's-own but was almost mesmerized as I learned about the monster-verse that was being created. The fans of Godzilla have always wanted a good, American made (No prejudice, I just speak English is all) Godzilla movie. I say "good" because there have been plenty of attempts on American soil, with little, to no good coming from them (Looking at you Godzilla 2000). This movie, however, is not lumped into those movies. This is a great monster movie. This movie has all the things that made me love the original Japanese versions of Godzilla with the added flair that only Hollywood can deliver. I felt for the humans, I felt for the monsters, I felt for the planet at

I have stated before that drama is simply not my favourite genre of movie. However, I do find myself watching more and more of these movies as I grow ever older in life. Beautiful Boy is a movie about drug addiction and how it affects a family, specifically in this case a father and son. Though I won't be rating this film as high as many other film-critics have, it was a good movie overall. Being a father myself, I was easily drawn into Steve Carell's (the father's) shoes as to how I might react if one of my children were quite literally throwing away their life. The family moments were very touching and I loved Steve's performance. I was curious to see how he would do in a serious film as I've really only seen him in comedies. He absolutely nailed the role. The film has some issues for me though. My first real problem was the way Timothée Chalamet's character Nick (the son) seemed to only have his addictions while he lived with his father. He moves in with

Halloween. Easily one of my favourite horror franchises. I've been a fan through all the twists and turns Michael Myers' backstory has taken throughout the decades. I love the Shape. I always have. I remember the first time I saw the original Halloween. The terror I felt, the almost awe I was in due to the soundtrack. The Shape truly scared me, especially when he broke through the closet door, proving that he'll do anything to get his victim. This new edition to the series is set 40 years after the first movie, basically saying the others don't exist. And, I'm ok with that. None of the movies after the first captured the magic of the original. They all have their strengths, but they also all have more weaknesses. From explaining Michael's family lineage to the cult of the Thorn, all the way to those dastardly remakes, I stayed true and kept watching. With the 2018 release basically retconning all the sequels and Blum House Productions being involved, I had hi

Although drama movies are not my main genre, I do still thoroughly enjoy them. I like a good cry sometimes, or to really feel a movie hit you in the gut, or question who you are or how you view the world. From the raving reviews I've read and heard about Eighth Grade, I assumed I was in for some of what I love. That just didn't end up being the case. Eighth Grade is a story about a young adolescent girl's last week of middle-school (for us here in Canada, Public School eighth grade) and the trials and tribulations that come with that, or so the synopsis would have you think. It is about the last week of school, but the girl really doesn't go through a whole lot. She's not ridiculed in school or in public, she's not beaten, abused, neglected, forgotten. Sure, she's an outcast, but she's not even bullied in school. There are two different times throughout the movie that I said to myself, "Ah here we go. Something is finally going to happen," the

I grew up reading comics. All kinds of comics, but my favourites were always Spider-man. I always found that the villains seemed to hold more weight in those comics. The Green Goblin, Tombstone, Doctor Octopus, and of course, Venom. Venom for me changed how Spidey had to fight and deal with a villain because Venom held most of the same abilities as Spider-man, and more. But, he was also so much more violent than most villains Spidey had to fight. But, this is about Venom, not about Spider-man. The Venom most of us knew from the comics is not in this movie. That doesn't mean that it's a bad movie, let's get that out of the way right now. It's just... Not what you might expect from Venom. There are certainly hints of that creature throughout the movie. There were many times where I thought, "Oh yes! He's going to bite this guy's head off" and... then the camera cuts away. You still knew it happened, but it really lost the feeling of how vicious and bruta

Being the old man that I am, I grew up playing Rampage in arcades, Commodore 64 and NES. Later on, there was also a few other adaptations like the more popular one from the Nintendo 64. This movie I was kinda' afraid for as not only is it a video game adaption movie, but it's based on a game that doesn't really have a story behind it. For those of you that are not familiar with the game, three creatures, George the ape, Ralph the wolf and Lizzy the lizard, grow to gigantic proportions and destroy city after city. That was basically the premise being Rampage until the Nintendo 64 version where they introduced the creature's backstories and the main villain. The movie seemed based loosely (very) on this version of the game, understandably. I went into the movie expecting a simple blow 'em up, destroy the monster kind of movie, but was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. More and more I found myself thinking about the characters involved, feeling for the anima