Author: Daulton Meadows (Page 3 of 5)

Still from Hustlers — © STX Entertainment

Hustlers review “The best film of 2019 with the word hustle in the title”

3 October 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

This is going to be a difficult movie to review. Not because I don’t have clearly defined thoughts on it, not because I disagree with the consensus between both critics and audiences, it’s because this review is supposed to be family friendly and there were so many opportunities for jokes relating to the characters professions. So, I will attempt to make as little of said jokes as possible, but I think I can get can get the more inappropriate ones stripped off the list.

Gosh dang it.

Anyway, Hustlers is a film starring Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, and Cardi B for some reason, about a group of former strippers who drug Wall Street men to make a fortune and support their materialistic lifestyle. I can’t deny that even though I was excited for the film that I was pretty surprised when the film was getting positive reviews. Continue reading

Still from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark — © CBS Films

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark review “Guillermo del Toro makes a solid creepy movie! Shock!”

6 September 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

“Euhuheh” – A quote from me in four separate scenes in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. After either the first or second trailer, I can’t remember which, I was really worried about this movie. It appeared to be the standard scares that you’ll find in any PG-13 horror film like Escape Room or Happy Death Day 2U, as well as the pretty bad CG Ghost of Sarah Bellows, and that scared me going into it.

Then the reviews were positive and I became optimistic, so when I saw this film on opening weekend, I had a sense of cautious optimism. As the credits rolled, I found myself relieved, as this is the second best horror film of 2019. So, let’s get into Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Continue reading

Quentin Tarantino Movies: Ranked

15 August 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

This is the definitive guide to all of Quentin Tarantino’s films. Yes, you read that correctly. This is the correct ranking of the nine (Yes, nine. I’m counting Kill Bill as one like Tarantino does.) films from Quentin Tarantino. These are the correct opinion, and if you don’t agree with me, you are just wrong.

Oh boy, this is going to be difficult as I attempt to not be murdered for my opinions on this list. Tarantino is a great director who has made four amazing films, two pretty good movies, one okay flick, and whatever the heck Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood was. Now, comes the time to rank them as I’m sure that many will disagree with my rankings, mainly numbers 9 through 1, but as we now stand in a waiting period of possibly six years until the next one, it feels like now is the best time. Continue reading

Brad Pitt in Once upon A Time... In Hollywood — © Sony Pictures

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood review “What is the longest and most drawn out way to say it’s meandering?”

3 August 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

You may remember that in October 2018, I reviewed a film called Bad Times at the El Royale. I really enjoyed that movie, which took place in the sixties, featured a star-studded cast, and mainly revolved around a Charles Manson-esque serial killer. I called it “Tarantino-esque Fun”. Now, we have Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood from Quentin Tarantino himself, which takes place in the sixties, featured a star-studded cast, and was said to revolve around Charles Manson.

I can say there are a few differences here though, Bad Times is much more of a thriller while this is more of a dramedy. I also enjoyed watching Bad Times and found this movie to be a massively underwhelming, somewhat dull, and meandering disappointment. I mean, everything seemed like it was going to be great, right? Tarantino, a ton of great actors, a cool set-up with the Manson murders, as well as a character named Daulton, even if they did spell it wrong. Everything seemed to say that this would be an incredible movie, so went wrong? Well, allow me to tell you why in the review of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Continue reading

Disney’s Animated Films: Ranked

27 July 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 2 Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the fact that I have a little brother. 16 months and approximately 240 pounds, Maclane has the same passion for one movie in particular as I did, Toy Story. Similar to me, he watches it (intermixed with the sequels) pretty much daily. While I do believe that the Toy Story series are some of the best animated films ever made, taking up two of my top five slots, there is only so many times you can watch one movie back to back.

Therefore, I decided to watch some other Disney films my family owns in order to find some others he may like. This eventually evolved into attempting to watch every single Disney animated film from Aladdin to Zootopia. There are some exceptions, as I either wasn’t able to find some of these films, mostly being the direct to DVD sequels like Brother Bear 2 or older films like Ichabod and Toad. However, besides those, I did a pretty good job finding these, as I watched a total of 69 animated Disney films since May 1st, 2019, (disregarding the six I had seen before and did not rewatch for this event) and boy was it difficult! Continue reading

Still from Booksmart — © Annapurna Pictures

Booksmart review “A surprisingly realistic fantasy”

10 July 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

Having gone to three high schools myself during my teenage tenure, I feel like I have more knowledge about different kinds of high schools than the average person. That being said, if the things that happened in this movie happen, I must have missed out because Booksmart is freaking insane. It’s a good insane, one of my favourite comedies ever made insane, but insane regardless. The directorial debut of Olivia Wilde is the best comedy I’ve seen since Game Night, which was also among my favourite films of the year. Enough lollygagging though, let’s dive into Booksmart.

So the best thing about Booksmart is the comedy, and it is so funny. For a movie to actually get an audible laugh from me is rare. Does it happen from time to time? Yeah, I audibly chuckled a few times in Long Shot, and I had probably one or two extended laughs during Isn’t it Romantic, but my laughter in Booksmart was just constant. The lengths that our heroes go to in order to prove that they’re cool is astounding and the ways that they mess up in this endeavour are even funnier. Continue reading

Movie still from After — © Aviron Pictures

After review “Fifty Shades lacking steaminess”

23 June 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

Okay, I’ve said this four times this year so far, but this has gotta be the worst movie of the year. First, I said it for Captive State, then I said it for Hellboy, then The Challenger Disaster, and now, we’ve wound up here at After. How exactly did this movie come to be made?

For those who don’t know, this is based off of a One Direction fan fiction created on Wattpad (Which has previously given us movies such as The Kissing Booth) which eventually spun off into a five book series including one installment called After Ever Happy. So, somehow this turned into a movie starring Selma Blair from Cruel Intentions for a whopping five minutes and that kid who played Tom Riddle in The Half Blood Prince. There is no use in prolonging this any longer, let’s get into After. Continue reading

Keanu Reeves & Halle Berry in John Wick 3 — © Lionsgate

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum review “Have you ever heard exclamations of disgust and awe?”

21 May 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

When John Wick came out in 2014, most people had written off Keanu Reeves as something of a Steven Seagal or a Jean-Claude Van Damme type, being big in the late 80s and throughout the 90s and now only starring in really bad movies, but after John Wick, Keanu Reeves is… well he still stars in a lot of awful movies like Replicas, but now he is also in an actually good franchise with the John Wick films.

The first film is an action-packed thrill ride which delves into a dark criminal underworld with a secret alliance of assassins and mysterious coins. The second film dives deeper into the world building and mythology of the John Wick Universe with learning more about the Continental hotel and the process of being excommunicated. Soon, we’re getting an entire TV Show about the Continental. Before getting into that though, let’s start with the third movie in the franchise, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, or as I call it, “John Wick and the movie with too many subtitles”. Continue reading

Tolkien movie still — © Fox Searchlight Pictures

Tolkien review “We Get It! You’re Pretentious!”

9 May 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

Imagine a thin sheet layer of ice spread over a super deep lake. Now imagine that a person steps on the ice and falls through. When they try to get out, they can make some small dents, even punching holes through the ice at points, but at the end they remain stuck in the water. That’s how I’d describe Tolkien.

There is this thin layer of a really boring biopic about the life of J.R.R Tolkien, writer of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and that person is this enjoyable romantic war film that I think is what this film should have been. Heck, it’s not like the Tolkien family actually worked with the filmmakers, they actually disowned the film! Well, that’s besides the point. Let’s dive right into Tolkien. Continue reading

Baby Driver vs Drive: Celluloid Clash

18 April 2019 / Daulton Meadows / 0 Comments

Two films, two usually silent main characters, two British-born actresses as love interests, and two super awesome jackets. Both Drive and Baby Driver are among my favorite films of all time, with their immense style, amazing direction, top-notch editing, and truly thrilling action.

However, the debate rages on about which of the two films is better, the 2011 Ryan Gosling vehicle or the 2017 Ansel Elgort film. Now, while I do have a preference, I decided to see examine them in five key categories to see what was truly the best. Those five categories are storytelling, acting, characters, visuals, and overall enjoyability. All there is left to do is compare the two, and now it’s time for our first ever Celluloid Clash. Continue reading