Mike Goes To Movies

TIFF: Knives Out (2019) It is no surprise that Rian Johnson enjoys his genre films, particularly those involving mysteries, twists and intricate plots. We have already seen him tackle classic noir with Brick and the big con with The Brothers Bloom, and with this year's Knives Out he moves on to an even older mystery genre - the detective caper. Like Brick did for Raymond Chandler, Knives Out is a contemporary retelling of a Christie or Conan Doyle story involving a high profile death, a cast of exaggerated characters - each with an intriguing backstory rife with possible motive - and, of course, a renowned detective. For the most part Johnson hits all of the right notes with this film, although the back half tends to meander more and loses some of its momentum as the plot focuses down on only a few of the characters as well as some long-winded exposition and explanation that guides the final moments. There is a lot to enjoy with Knives Out. As many have seen in trailer or pos...

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Yes, this might get a lot of flack from the masses who either love or hate this movie, but I figured I would give my two cents anyways, because I wasn't yet reviewing at the time of its release. To quickly put it out there, no I did not love The Last Jedi, but I did like much of it, and, in fact, I think the film has a couple of the best moments in all of Star Wars.  Let's get the negative stuff out of the way first. Similar to most, I am not a fan of the Canto Bight sequence. I felt that it is overly long, detracts from the film's main narrative and momentum and ultimately has no pay off as the whole plan fails. I get that this ending is Rian Johnson imparting the real-world spin into Star Wars, that things don't always go as planned, and sometimes fail, even for the heroes. However, I don't think such a large amount of time needed to be given for this message, as well, that the inclusion of Benicio Del Toro and his characte...