cgraves04 Reviews

Tiny Pretty Things (2020)

Entertaining, dancing is wonderful, don't get the negative reviews

[9/10 · 20 December 2020]

I don't get the bad reviews. This is a melodramatic teen show with amazing dancing. I don't understand what else people are expecting. The acting and plot are not going to win any Emmys, but they are not nearly as terrible as people are claiming. The story is titillating enough to keep your attention, and it's worth watching for the beautiful dancing alone. I grew up loving the movie Center Stage, and this show is like a slightly darker and sexier, up-to-date, serialized version of that. The only negative review I would agree with is that the age group is inappropriate. For the amount of nudity and sex, I would have made the characters college-aged and aimed the series at older teens and young adults rather than high school aged teens.

I think the show is worth a 7 just for being entertaining and heartfelt in its commitment to portraying the dance world, choreography, and diversity, but I'm giving it a 9 to help offset the bad reviews.

Bad Hair (2020)

A fresh and genius take on the creature feature!

[10/10 · 24 October 2020]

I gave this movie 10 stars because it's a fresh take on a genre of horror that I really enjoy--the creature feature! It's melodramatic, it's campy, and it's a lot of fun! I love that it takes a new approach to the genre by predominantly featuring black women and black hair culture, an unexpected but genius turn. I also love that it lightly touches upon social commentary without being heavy-handed. The cast was perfect-Elle Lorraine was the perfect ingenue, Vanessa Williams was amazing as always, and Lena Waithe elevated every scene she was in. Setting it in the 80s was also a super smart decision, allowing the costume and set designers to have fun while heightening the camp factor. The callbacks to old horror films using lighting and framing were nicely done.

My one and only complaint was that the exposition took too much time. I wish the filmmaker had shaved a little off the beginning so that we could dive a little deeper into the folklore related to the story, spend slightly more time developing secondary characters, and see the hair do a little more slashing! That aside, this is a movie I could watch over and over again (and probably will)!

Black Is King (2020)

A dazzling display of African talent - beautiful and well worth the watch

[10/10 · 28 September 2020]

I'm going to go ahead and say first off that I think most of the users giving this visual and musical masterpiece a low rating did so out of spite against Beyoncé and not because they gave it a fair shake. Their malice is unfortunate because it diminishes the incredible amount of collaboration and creative talent contributed by various artists from African countries. This is not just a Beyoncé visual album-many African musicians, artists, and dancers were also heavily involved, and the message of the entire project is one of love and support for black people around the world. A shame that people would diminish that out of mindless hate for one singer.

The music alone, a mixture of R&B, hip hop, and Afro beat featuring artists from across Africa and the US, is fantastic. I listened to it on repeat when it was first released. But the visual album is on a whole different level. The sumptuous cinematography and costuming is a feast for the eyes (to borrow a cliche), incorporating gorgeous African landscapes and integrating high fashion with traditional African garb from Nigeria, Benin, South Africa, and more. Many faces make an appearance, emphasizing the cultural diversity and beauty of Africa, and the dancers are out of this world. The theme continually returns to one of identity and homecoming.

To be clear, this is a visual album made up of disparate songs joined to form an overall arc based on The Lion King. In other words, each song is its own music video, and together they are a loose creative interpretation of The Lion Ling. It's not supposed to be THE Lion King (if you want to watch the actual movie, then watch the actual movie!). These are also Beyoncé music videos, so yes, she makes an appearance in most of them. Don't most artists appear in most of their music videos? This work is meant to be viewed as art, not as a traditional movie. On that note, I highly recommend watching and judging it for yourself. It gets ten stars from me.

Someone Great (2019)

Great acting, fun dialogue, okay plot

[8/10 · 3 July 2020]

It seemed like the actors had a lot of fun working on this film, especially with the witty, lively dialogue. The writing was sharp and really allowed their talent and chemistry to shine, which made it a pretty enjoyable watch. The three female mains (Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow, DeWanda Wise) were all on point, and Lakeith Stanfield was excellent, as always. The scene with RuPaul's cameo was worth the watch all by itself.

People leaving bad reviews have complained that the movie is not realistic, but... have they ever seen a romantic comedy or buddy comedy before? Or, like, *anything* on TV? Did they grow up without screens? I felt the attempt to portray cool young people going through a dramatic time in life was pretty par for the course for this type of film. Some reviewers even oddly seemed a little jealous, if I'm being honest.

Where the movie suffers is plot. The flashbacks and scenes involving emotion and conflict were strongly-acted--they did hit home. But in my opinion too little time was spent on them so they didn't go deep enough to have the full power that they had the potential to have. I also agree with other reviewers that a bit much time was spent on drugs, but I feel this about most youth pop culture so maybe I'm just an old fart.

Overall, this was a solid film. It has wonderful highs, wonderful lows, and lots of laughs--I just wish there was more. I'm glad I watched it and would recommend it to fans of shows like Broad City, Shrill, and High Fidelity (the show starring Zoe Kravitz, although the original film is amazing too).

Haunted (2018– )

These people need help

[2/10 · 19 October 2018]

I don't know if the people telling these stories are actors or if they're real and they believe what they're saying. Either way, this show is freaking depressing. I've watched two episodes, and both hinge on small children who have suffered neglect and abuse witnessing violent murders. I have a feeling all of the episodes are going to be this way. If these people are real, then what they need is professional help, not a tv show exploiting their trauma and encouraging the delusions they created to cope with it. If they're just actors, then presenting the storytellers as real and their miserable stories as true is in seriously poor taste. This show is not scary, just sad. I love horror, and I love the types of stories that make me suspend--or even question--my disbelief in the supernatural. This show didn't make me suspend disbelief; it just made me want to get the storytellers to a therapist.

Explained (2018–2021)

'Explained' is an introduction different subjects, but the onus to learn more is on YOU

[9/10 · 19 September 2018]

I love this show because it touches upon issues I either didn't know about or have never seriously thought about. I enjoyed seeing how K-pop came into being, and I had no idea that water scarcity is such a growing concern for our planet. As a black woman, I felt a bit vindicated seeing the racial wealth gap and the gender pay gap discussed seriously on TV, and I sincerely hoped that other viewers would look into those subjects more. I wasn't interested in cricket, and as a person with an English degree, I've heard quite enough about explanation points, so I yawned through those episodes. But that's the beauty of 'Explained'--each subject is different, and there is something for everyone. Some of them are fascinating and will grab your attention and have you clicking through a Google vortex for the rest of the night. Some of them will bore you, but the episodes are so short that you won't feel like you wasted your time (and you'll still probably learn a little something). Whether it's good or bad, you won't be able to wait to see what they cover next week.

I've seen a lot of other reviewers complain that this show a) is too biased, and b) attempts to condense too much information into 20 minutes, thereby making the information it shares too incomplete to be meaningful.

'Explained' is not a book or a full-length documentary. It's meant to provoke your interest in the subjects it covers, to give you a summary explanation of them, and to prompt you to become more engaged with your world and go out and learn more about it, not to magically give you years' worth of knowledge through televised osmosis. If you actually think that can be accomplished in 20 minutes, then the problem isn't the show; it's you. 'Explained' offers a brief perspective based on the statistics and facts available. Could its interpretations be seen as biased? Sure. But, again, I'm not sure what else you expect to gain from 20 minutes. They pick an angle, and they run with it. If you don't agree with that angle, at least you've been exposed to it. And what's more--you'll be introduced to something completely different next week, anyway! Hopefully, either way, you'll be motivated to learn more about these issues on your own time.

Watch 'Explained' to get a crash course in a variety of subjects, some of which you've likely never thought about before. Take the show with a grain of salt. And most importantly, don't expect it to replace the work of doing research for yourself.

Emelie (2015)

Great idea, lazy writing **spoilers beneath the jump**

[3/10 · 29 August 2018]

Like many others, I was initially drawn in by Emelie's transformation from perfect babysitter to weird creep to total nightmare. I even found her motivation, once it was revealed, to be totally fine and believable. It wasn't a groundbreaking twist, but the concept and eerie beginning alone are enough to make this a unique movie. Sarah Bolger also did a great job as the sinister and deceptive conwoman. However, I just couldn't get past the multiple plotholes, which were made even more egregious by the fact that they were so easily solvable (see below if you want to see my rant about the plotholes). I was annoyed and yelling at my screen by the time the movie ended, and the bizarre, tortured and yet somehow extremely boring climax didn't help.



**spoilers**

1. At no point do any of the kids call the cops, their parents, a family member, a neighbor, or ANYONE to get help. In the beginning, Emelie appears to disconnect the answering machine, but not the phone (which is a plothole on top of a plothole--I thought it was the phone at first, but the mom calls later and at least two of the phones are still connected, so...), but the kids still make no attempt to call anyone. Wtf?

2. The kids have unlimited opportunity to escape and/or to defy Emelie's orders and get help, particularly when their usual babysitter stops by. They never try anything except to make one sad attempt to pass the other babysitter, Maggie, a note. There's no reason why they couldn't have just blurted out "Help!", and Emelie could have dealt with it from there. Their unwillingness to speak up wasn't at all believable. Maybe if Emelie had been holding the gun behind her back to scare them into silence, it would have been, but they definitely had the upper hand in that moment with Maggie standing right at the door. Anyway, even when Jake escapes the house and meets up with his friend, neither boy bothers to find an adult, which defies all sense. Their neighborhhod was FULL of people. I can't for the life of me figure out why the writer didn't just have them live out in the country, and, perhaps, make the other boy's house far enough away that running home and alerting his mom would take long enough to allow for the denouement. Would have been an easy fix.

3. Sadly, in this world, there are way easier ways to steal or even to buy a child. I find it hard to believe Emelie wouldnt't have just stolen or bought a baby instead of putting herself through the trouble of finding out someone's babysitting plans, kidnapping and killing their real replacement, faking her identity, and then terrorizing a bunch of kids just to steal a boy who was already old enough to remember his real parents. I could buy it if I believed that Emelie was sufficiently nuts and obsessed with Christopher, but her weak explanation of her backstory as a bedtime story didn't convince me that she was that insane.

4. Her friend tries to buy her time by crashing his car into the parents' taxi and killing himself. Just... What?! Why?! How does he expect her to escape with Christopher without him and the car to help her? Is he daft? He couldn't have just tapped the damn bumper and then gotten out and made a huge fake fuss? He couldn't have flagged them down and pretended to need a jump? Hell, he even could have tried to pretend to be the taxi! And he had the real replacement babysitter's body in his trunk, which, if anything, would immediately alert the cops that something was amiss at the house and send them straight there, giving Emelie LESS time. It made absolutely no sense.

The other holes I could live with, but these disappointed me because they would have been so simple to address. It was just too much for me. Anyway, that's it. Rant over.

Terminal (I) (2018)

Interesting idea, mediocre execution

[4/10 · 30 June 2018]

This was a decent idea for a film, but it was just disappointing to watch. I won't repeat what other reviewers have said. I'll just say that the film dragged on for so long that it took all of the oomph out of the twists, especially because the twists were lazily developed to begin with. They were easy to guess not because the movie is full of clever clues that subtly point you to them but because they're the only logical explanation for some events and/or the set up is so blatant that it's hard not to see them coming. I really love being surprised by a good twist, but nothing in this movie surprised me. The script was a tortured parody of a Guy Ritchie film peppered with heavy-handed references to Alice In Wonderland, and half the time I just wanted the characters to shut up. I kind of liked the stylized design, but there was nothing unique about it. It just kept making me think of Sin City or Brazil.

It was worth the watch if only for Margot Robbie and Simon Pegg, whom I thought both delivered nice performances and whose scenes together were by far the most compelling. Tbh, you could've just plucked them out and made an excellent movie with just the two of them alone--although I like the idea of overlapping, semi-related stories taking place and coming together to provide a background for why everything is happening. I also like that it isn't obvious who exactly this film is about until the very end. But overall, I think it's too middle of the road, so it comes across as either trying too hard or not trying hard enough. I wish they had either a) kept it simple and forgone the overwrought script and most of the goofy atmospheric stuff in favor of something a tad bit more realistic or b) pushed it to the extreme and made it ten times more campy and crazy.

The Shrine (2010)

To watch or not to watch...

[10/10 · 2 April 2014]

Don't read the reviews of this movie because there's a good chance reading them may ruin it for you. Just use the following advice to decide whether or not to watch it:

DO watch if you have some extra time and want to give something you wouldn't normally watch or are simply curious about a chance. People with high expectations seem to tend to hate this film and people with low ones adore it. I adore it, and it's now in my top 10 all-time favorite horror films.

DO NOT watch if you plan to dissect it as you're watching it or if you need something gratifying from start to finish. Come back to it and give it a chance when you're more ready to be open to something a tad bit different.

After Earth (2013)

More Like a Novel than a Movie

[10/10 · 13 March 2014]

If you are a fan of sci fi/fantasy novels, I think you might really enjoy this film. It seems to me that most major criticisms of this movie come from people who have certain distinct expectations of big budget Hollywood sci fi flicks, and this film does not deliver on that. Instead, it is unique, creative, and ambitious.

I like Will and Jaden as a father/son team. Will is more serious and stoic than usual in this role. He does come across as a little stiff, but overall I bought him as a loving father who was dealing with trauma and had some trouble relating to his children. Contrary to how most people judged Jaden, I thought he was AMAZING! He was an awkward and insecure but determined teenager placed in a life or death situation, and I thought he performed fantastically! Most beautiful of all was Zoe Kravitz, who did a lovely job with a very minimal role. And the story itself was one I found captivating--a family trying to keep it together after a great tragedy, a son seeking his father's approval, an impossibly dangerous situation in which the father must rely on and trust the son to be the savior. The film is not "too deep" for the average viewer; it's just very different. It really took me back to when I was in middle school reading sci fi novels with a flashlight under the covers.

If you're going to watch After Earth, please don't expect a typical plot with a lot of explosions and witty one-liners. It is NOT a typical Hollywood film! If you suspend that expectation, you will appreciate the acting and story a lot more!

Giving it a 10 out of 10 because you don't get many films like this in Hollywood.

Mamitas (2011)

Super sweet, heartwarming film, but not overbearing

[10/10 · 27 October 2013]

Okay, this film deserves WAY better than the rating it has on this site. I actually can't believe it only has 5.6 out of 10 stars, and all I can say is people are crazy and must not have been watching the same movie I watched.

First of all, the writing is superb. Hats off to Mr. Ozeki for a beautifully written and directed film. I hope he has a big career ahead of him! And while I've seen a few people say that the story is cliché (bad boy + good girl), I actually didn't find it to be cliché at all. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that the two main characters' relationship isn't based on one trying to help the other be popular or pass a class, which is usually how these types of stories go. Their relationship just happens, no hackneyed pretense involved. It's refreshing. It also was way more dynamic than your typical high school romance, and I found the main character's subplot to be very endearing.

The film was also subtly political. Primarily, I think it made a point not to involve any gang banging, because Hollywood seems to only want to cast Latino actors in roles as gang bangers, which is a discredit to the range of these actors' talent. It also touched upon the struggles Latinos have in American society--from drop-out rates, to mass incarceration, to discrimination in the workplace--without beating you over the head with them. Again, I think that's because Hollywood tends to have tunnel vision when it comes to portraying people of color. Finally, I loved the nod to feminist literature! The two leads (E.J. Bonilla as Jordin and Veronica Diaz-Carranza as Felipa) are unbelievably talented! They're both cute and charming, and they're so natural in their roles that their lines seem unscripted at times. They come across as really genuine, and I would LOVE to see more of their work. While they're the stars, every character in the movie has a distinct, three-dimensional personality--which is hard to find in films these days--and leaves an impression on you. There's something beneath the surface of each character, and I love that. Jordin's grandpa (Tata) was particularly great.

I'm giving this movie a 10 out of 10 because I really long to see more like this one.

America Before Columbus (2009 TV Movie)

The title is misleading

[6/10 · 12 August 2013]

Much of this documentary is NOT about America before Columbus. They spend a lot of time talking about parallel developments in Europe and the European "discovery" and invasion of the New World. They also were not detailed or comprehensive in their discussion of pre-Columbian civilizations. I wanted to know more about the many diverse and advanced societies that rose and fell across two continents prior to Europeans but that I've only heard a little about, but it was more of a shallow overview of only a few small areas. How do you title a documentary "America Before Columbus" and then spend the majority of the time talking about Europe?

I think people who have never read Howard Zinn and don't know the true history of the conquest of the New World will learn something, but I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. I don't know about anyone else, but I get tired of learning about every country and land's history based on its contact with Europeans. I thought this would be different, but it wasn't. I was very disappointed. However, I'm giving it 6 out of 10 stars because others could stand to learn something from this documentary.

Epic (2013)

Funny, exciting, and inspiring

[10/10 · 20 June 2013]

I didn't think I'd like this movie, but I took my 10-year-old cousin to see it anyway, and I really loved it.

I've heard this film compared to everything--FernGully, The Borrowers, Avatar, etc., and while it is another film in that genre and it may be a little cliché, it does create its own fascinating world and tell its story in a unique way. Its themes are heavy (family and belonging, the balance between growth and decay/life and death) but are handled in a successfully child-friendly manner.

The animation and design are gorgeous. I love the cute fairy-like flower and leaf people; I even love the design of the goblin-like bad guys (the Boggan). I want to see more stories set in this incredible little world. I also appreciate how much care went into animating that forest.

While the characters are pretty familiar, they're still delightful. I thought the choice of voice actors was particularly good. I liked Amanda Seyfried as the main character, M.K. (Mary Katherine), I looooved Colin Farrell as Ronin, and I have to say, I was really pleasantly surprised by Beyonce as Queen Tara. She has a voice just like honey, which fits the queen's sweet, playful personality. Queen Tara emerges as one of my favorite animated characters of all time (and NO, I do not find her voice "too ghetto." I don't appreciate people sniffing down their noses at others that way) because she carried so much of the movie with what turned out to be really minimal role. Plus, I always love to see people of color portrayed positively in children's films.

I would definitely take kids to see this again, although it might be too scary for kids younger than 6 and too slow for kids older than 12. Folks have to admit, this is a fun movie to watch, and highly imaginative kids especially will love it.

The Karate Kid (2010)

Good Lord, stop comparing it to the original

[10/10 · 3 June 2013]

Let me say first off, I hesitated to see this movie because as a child I wasn't a fan of the original Karate Kid, and I thought this one would be just like it. The original really didn't appeal to me. I mean, it's about an Italian kid who doesn't fit in among some WASPs in California, and some kids, like me, found that more than just a little cheesy. Sorry to say it.

But this version is a really excellent movie for kids today. It's not for nostalgic adults, and I'm surprised that so many people seem to think it was made for them. (Actually, my main problem with the movie is the title. I think they should have just called it the Kung Fu Kid. Then it wouldn't be kind of a slap in the face to Chinese culture, and it could function as the first installation in the next generation of children's martial arts movies without getting nostalgic peoples' panties in a knot.)

What I personally love most about this film were the decisions to a) cast people of color as the leads and b) set the film in China. Hollywood is notorious for its exclusion of actors of color, so to see a mainstream film with black and Asian actors in the main roles was like a breath of fresh air. Even though it's pretty obvious that racism plays a role in how Jaden Smith's character is received by some of the boys in his new neighborhood in China, it was handled with the kind of subtlety I thought was necessary for a semi-lighthearted children's film. And while I recognize that every aspect of Chinese culture portrayed isn't entirely accurate, the scenery was gorgeous, and I found myself pausing the film a few times to look stuff up on Google and marvel at a culture that I know very little about. I think it's nice for kids to get a taste of various people and cultures, and this movie was as much a learning experience as it was entertaining.

Aside from that, the acting is, for the most part, of the quality you would expect for a film geared towards children, but the writing was surprisingly well-done for such a simple, typical storyline. I laughed, I cried, and I was taken back to when I was an awkward twelve-year-old. The action was convincing and exciting, and I was extremely impressed that Jaden Smith did most of his own stunts (in addition to being a super funny and charming kid).

If you want to watch the old Karate Kid, then that's what you should do. Remakes aren't usually supposed to be shot-for-shot like the original. They have a new context and a new audience, and I think this Karate Kid was a solid film for a new generation. I found it to be colorful, suspenseful, and touching, and I'm giving it 10 out of 10 despite its flaws to counterbalance the adults who I think judged it unfairly.

The Skeleton Key (2005)

It's racist. It's just really unacceptable.

[1/10 · 6 September 2010]

I'm going to come right out and say it: this movie has an incredibly racist point of view, and it seems completely unaware of its own racism.

Forget the blonde, lily-white protagonist -- that's not unusual for a Hollywood horror film, though it is indicative of that incredibly annoying old habit of Hollywood's to elevate the pale blonde as the standard of beauty. The problem here is that the dark and terrifying world of the film was created by angry blacks and their twisted bastardization of good religion, the hoodoo historically practiced by some blacks in the South. The villains a pair of servants from the turn of the century who sought their revenge on their white masters by cruelly appropriating the masters' innocent children's bodies using dark magic. The children are then murdered within the bodies of the black servants, while the servants live on disguised as white children. We feel sympathy for the children. We feel no triumph in the cleverness of the servants, only their stinging cruelty. Now, decades later, these "wolves in sheeps' clothing" are on the hunt for new vessels -- white ones, it should be noted -- and our heroine's body is to become the home for the female in the pair. The servants prolong their existence and achieve acceptance and power by whitewashing themselves -- which in and of itself could make a touching statement in the context of American history -- but they use this power for evil, for vengeance, for robbing others (whites) of their right to live.

It's absolutely despicable, but what makes it worse is that we're meant to acknowledge and minimally sympathize with the plight of the black servants while still accepting them as and ridiculing them for being pure evil. This is a sophism. It's just not OK.

Obsessed (2009)

Not spectacular, but it was certainly entertaining

[9/10 · 26 May 2010]

There are a lot of negative reviews of this movie, and I have to ask: why the hell did you watch it? It is EXACTLY what it seemed it would be based on the previews. A girl becomes sexually obsessed with her boss and stalks his family. Nothing more to it.

I've seen a few people comment on the race factor -- hmm, I didn't think race played a huge factor at all. If you think so, I think you need to reexamine why you're so sensitive to the idea of a black man being in the lead role and being stalked by a white woman rather than a white man. Would you have the same negative reaction? Probably not. Get over it.

I've also seen a few people comment on how crazy Beyonce turned out to be. Not really. Her husband works in an industry in which men cheat on their wives ALL THE TIME, and there is temptation around every corner. No matter how much I trusted my husband, I would never trust that his coworkers wouldn't put on tons of pressure, nor would I trust the little vipers who might be sniffing out well-to-do men in his field of work. I would be just as suspicious of any female assistant or woman who seemed too interested in my husband. Sharon didn't get upset until she realized her husband had been hiding the truth; she DID trust him and HE wasn't honest. And I would also kick the crap out of any person who threatened me or my child. Just sayin'.

Otherwise, I thought both the story and acting were average but still entertaining. Beyonce was BEAUTIFUL and powerful, and, say what you will, I really want to see her in more roles. I LOVED Beyonce in the end -- I'm all for strong, butt-kicking women who save the day. It doesn't always have to be the men who do it! My biggest complaint is the soundtrack. It was awful.

Normally, I'd give the movie a 6 or 7 out of 10, but I'm giving it a 9 just to tip the scales a teensy bit.

Lords of Dogtown (2005)

it's a movie, not a documentary

[9/10 · 30 January 2007]

I understand why you might want to compare Lords of Dogtown to Peralta's documentary Dogtown and Z-boys, but I feel the need to point out that Lords of Dogtown is a movie, not a documentary. It's not the movie version of the documentary; it's simply a movie, and it should stand alone as one. That being said, I found it moving, artful, and entertaining. I grew up watching my brother's skateboard videos, and they never held my attention for long. I stumbled upon Lords of Dogtown while flipping through the channels and couldn't look away. The structure has been called too messy and abrupt, but that didn't bother me at all. It lent itself to the messy and abrupt turn of events in the lives of the boys, especially after their "discovery." The movie also took care to chronicle their emotional development while keeping its distance, which kept it from becoming sappy or contrived. The skateboarding clips were "cool" to me, and the acting was spectacular, especially Emile Hirsch. Heath Ledger was obviously asked to take his accent a little too far, but he was playing a pretty eccentric character. All in all, as a movie, it's fantastic.