This is an absolutely gorgeous movie. Truly beautiful to look at and if I were rating it on aesthetics alone, it'd be a 5/5. But I'm not. And there was just entirely too much in this that had me rolling my eyes: kingdoms at war, shape shifting, fantasy creatures (beyond just the expected dragons), a fucking magic rock, and even fart humor. Ugh. Also, Raya is an idiot and the film's entire plot revolves around her doing something utterly stupid,…

Leading up to awards season, I was vaguely aware of this film and of the accolades Antonio Banderas had been receiving for his performance in this semi-autobiographical Pedro Almodóvar flick. I didn't, however, know anything of Almodóvar's life and had previously seen only Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (which I was not especially fond of) and The Skin I Live In (which I loved).

I didn't really know what to expect, but I given the subjects of those other…

This film was released in theaters in the spring of my senior year of high school. My friends and classmates absolutely raved about it. So I watched it. 

With its slick costumes, Sci-Fi premise, slow-motion stunts, characters with names like "Neo," "Trinity," "Cypher," and "Morpheus," and a soundtrack that features the likes of Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, Massive Attack, and Rob Zombie, The Matrix came off to me then as tryhard "hey, look how edgy I am!" bulls***. I…