Movie and Show Reviews

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

10/15/2018

Rating: PG

Run-Time: 1 Hour 42 Min.

[Google] Description: A man (Orlando Seale) with a timepiece for a heart ignores warnings that he must never fall in love after he spies a beautiful singer (Samantha Barks).

Director: Mathias Malzieu, Stephane Berla

Type of Movie: Drama/Fantasy

My Thoughts: Okay, a little backstory. Bianca and I just randomly saw this movie on Netflix, it had a beautiful cover, wonderful little snippet of the movie (because Netflix works like that), and it was PG, so we were like, “WHY NOT? LET’S GO!”

This movie was such an intense ride.

Like, for real.

Let me break it down by characters, story and execution, so you all can better understand.

Characters: The characters in this movie were so… alive and unique. Especially our main character, Jack. Do to special circumstances (which I won’t tell you because that’s literally the whole beginning of the movie), he was given a cuckoo-clock as his heart. Peculiar at first, but by that moment I was already hooked. I was wondering what that had to do with the rest of the movie and why his “mother” (those quotations will also be explained in the movie) gave him three rules to follow. Those rules, and whether or not Jack follows them, determine the COMPLETE AND UTTER outcome of how the movie plays out. Rule #1: Never touch the hands of your heart (meaning the hands on the clock). Rule #2: Keep your temper under control. Rule #3: Never fall in love. These rules pretty much CONTROL this boy’s life, in a very important way. But that’s for the story section.

Our antagonist is this really refined, emo, angsty “Edgar Allan Poe” kind of character, ‘cause when he gets in the mood/ EVERY TIME HE ENTERS INTO THE PICTURE, he makes some really dramatic poem in the dark of the night. Like, I can’t even express to you all how… how perfect he is as a character. The night and day difference between Jack and him is spectacular, which makes the story that much more amazing. (By the way his name is Joe, if you wanted to know that. I never remember, so I just call him either the eye-patch dude or the “Edgar Allan Poe” guy.)

Now, the last important character is the girl these two boys are fighting over. Miss Acacia. She is such a sweet character. She soft and gentle, but knows when to be strong and independent. She is loves Jack but WOOOO. OHMYGOSH this is where it gets CRAZY, but that’s in the story part of everything and makes a ton more sense if you watch it. Anyways, she loves Jack, but is engaged, or betrothed or something to Joe. I’m not quite sure what it is, but she couldn’t love Jack at the beginning because of it.

Story: Okay, the story is really Jack being kicked out of the town and traveling to find Miss Acacia. So, we being this creative, awe-inspiring journey to get to her, proclaim his love and finally be happy. We meet a lovey cast along the way as they help Jack to realize himself as a person, that he can love and that he isn’t bound by his cuckoo—clock heart. It’s quite a simple story really (you know, without spoiling anything), but the execution is where the movie really gets its unique flare.

Execution: This movie is, in short, stunning with their execution. You wouldn’t think that it’s anything fancy, but they take the imagination of the songs that are being sung (yes, there is music) and twist that with the travels of Jack and his thoughts that equal into something truly spectacular. Almost every moment is directly tied with Jack’s love for Miss Acacia and in every part of the movie, you see that. It is emotionally imaginative and that’s what really stands out.

Now, super big warning, this movie goes by SUPER quick. Incredibly quick, I might add. My two older sisters were questioning almost every moment because they were confused, but I told them, “You just have to role with it. Pretend like you know what’s going on, then, eventually, the movie will start making sense and fitting itself together.” It did eventually fit itself together and they were able to see what kind of masterpiece this movie is.

This movie truly is incredible. There weren’t a lot of moments to be super picky about, other than the speed and the some moments of cringe, but that is seemingly normal.

Overall, we give this movie a 4 ½ stars!

Have you seen the movie? If you have, what did you think of it? If you haven't, would you want to watch it? Tell us in the comments!

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The Greatest Showman

8/17/2018

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Rating: PG

Run-Time: 1 Hour 46 Min.

[Google] Description: Inspired by the imagination of P. T. Barnum, the Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of of show business & tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation.

Director: Michael Gracey

Type of Movie: Drama/Romance

Trailer:

My Thoughts: Welp. Okay.

I might get a lot of backlash on this, but this is entirely my opinion. I'm speaking for myself, personally.

But, um. I didn't really like this movie.

Like at all.

There was a lot of potential to it, but the execution was terrible and... ugh. Let me just break it down.

Plot: It was pretty good. It was the normal, someone rises from the ashes, gets fame, gets burnt down, then they rise up again. (If you'd seen as many Jane Austen movies and the many other movies that I've seen, you'd understand.) I was expecting a new plot, but I didn't really get that. And with this movie, I was expecting a WAAAY more magical and breath-taking performance, but that isn't what I received, but this will be talked more about in Execution.

Characters: The characters were good, too. My favorite characters were Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), Phillip (Zac Efron), and Anne Wheeler (Zendaya). The were so real. They had emotions, heartfelt determination, etc. Though I didn't feel that with Hugh Jackman's character, P. T. Barnum. Like, at all, really. It was weird. I went into the movie hoping to love and adore this character, but going out as if I was cheated off of a character that had an AMAZING actor. It was strange. I had never had this happen before.

Execution: I hated it. I absolutely hated it. Now, as someone who watches a LOT of games and movies, I've seen my LOVELY FAIR SHARE OF CGI. Marvel uses CGI a WHOLE HECK TON. BUT THEY DO IT RIGHT. Do you see anything CGI? Do you see anything that looks remotely fake? NO!! You don't! But I did in this movie, and it bugged me so. bad. As a viewer, I'm not supposed to tell the reality from the fantasy, I'm just supposed to be immersed. Actually, for this movie, I wasn't immersed at all. OKAY ACTUALLY. Before I continue on, let me tell you how BAD they did with the CGI and their execution and stuff.

OKAY.

For this movie, they spent 84 million dollars for their budget. These movies spent less:

AEON FLUX - 62 Million Dollars
MATRIX - 63 Million Dollars
LUCY - 40 Million Dollars
A QUIET PLACE - 17 Million Dollars

I've seen Aeon Flux and the Matrix movie series (hopefully I'll do a review on them soon, but wow. Those movies were amazing! Their use of CGI is so unmatched and it truly is an immersive, suspenseful movie. I truly loved every second of those movies. They were amazing, I can't give them enough praise. (For Lucy, my older sisters and mother LOVED it. And I watched a trailer and wow? That was amazing too! For the Quiet Place, I haven't seen that, my oldest sister has and I think she liked it...)

Lastly, Songs: These songs were really good. Like really good. My favorites were Never Enough, A Million Dreams and Rewrite the Stars. Ooooo, I LOVED Never Enough. It was such an emotional, heart-throbbing song. Loved it. A Million Dreams was super sweet, like, I got to see everyone grow up and marry and be happy, etc. And Rewrite the Stars was just the song everyone wanted.

But all in all, I didn't like this movie. Therefore, I give it 3 stars. Did you like the movie? If so, why did you like it? Tell us in the comments!

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Jumanji 2: Welcome to the Jungle

1/21/2018

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Rating: PG-13

Run-Time: 1 Hour 59 Min.

[Google] Description: Four high school kids discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game's jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose. What they discover is that you don't just play Jumanji - you must survive it. To beat the game and return to the real world, they'll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, discover what Alan Parrish left 20 years ago, and change they way they think about themselves - or they'll be stuck in the game forever.

Director: Jake Kasdan

Trailer:

Type of Movie: Fantasy/Action

My Thoughts: When I entered into this, I really just wanted to comedy AND THAT'S. WHAT. I. GOT. OHMYGOODNESS.

*clears throat* Now to the actual review...

This was a great movie. There were so many good things about it that I'm going to break it down by CGI/graphics, plot and characters, not in this order.

The plot. Now, I haven't seen the first Jumanji, but you don't have to watch it to understand what's happening. There's a game that sucks you in unless/until you finish the game. But, since it was in a later century, it had to adapt, so it became a video game. WHICH IS SUPER COOL!!! It changed it's form into something that was similar to a Super Nintendo game cartridge. I shouldn't be as impressed as I am, BUT I AM. Anyways! When the characters entered into the game, they are sucked into the story-line, which is very interesting. Dr. Smolder Bravestone (our main character and the Rock) knew the antagonist and they never expand on that, which is disappointing for me because I like to know the backstory of the characters.

The characters were great, goodness. I'm always a fan of characters actually having a dramatic change of thought and I get to experience their change with them. And that's what those characters got to go through, but you know what was the best thing of it all? It wasn't in some chees-y, "Oh, they completely failed that" - type of thing. It actually worked! It was subtle growth that you kind of just flowed with, but in the contrast of beginning to the end, every. single. character. got what they needed to get out of going to Jumanji.

The CGI was really good! I'm very pleased to see a movie execute their CGI motions well enough that I'm not able to tell what's real and what's not (unlike the Greatest Showman, but that's for another review). There was one time where I could tell that it was CGI, but I mean, that's one time. Out of the whole movie. That's pretty impressive! (Though you should never be able to see it... cause it's a finished movie... but whatever, I guess...)

All in all, this movie was great! I will definitely re-watch this movie (the comedy was GOLD) and relive the adventure in a heartbeat!

We give this movie 4 stars!

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Guardians of the Galaxy 2

7/5/2017

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Rating: PG-13

Run-Time: 2 Hours 18 Min.

[Google] Description: Peter Quill and his fellow Guardians are hired to by a powerful alien race, the Sovereign, to protect their precious batteries from invaders. When it is discovered that Rocket has stolen the items they were sent to guard, the Sovereign dispatch their armada to search for vengeance. As the Guardians try to escape, the mystery of Peter's parentage is revealed.

Director: James Gunn

Trailer: We are not providing a trailer to this specific movie. I watched the movie before I watched the actual trailers and while I was researching for the images and such for this specific post, I had watched both of the available trailers. Much to my disappointment, both of them summed up the entire movie.

Type of Movie: Science-Fiction/Action

My Thoughts: The movie was great. I liked it a lot. We got new characters, new planets, and constant characters. Yet, there was a lot that didn't please me about the movie. Lack of development and unanswered questions. But before we get into the bad stuff, let's hear what I liked about the movie.

PROS:

Some of the characters came back strong and ready. In the last movie, we were getting to know everyone. Yet in this movie, we were able to see development in the backstory and growth within some of the characters.
The setting was beyond amazing. There were new planets and new creatures to accompany the new and wondrous worlds. One planet, in particular, was beyond beautiful. There were so much life and energy specifically to that one planet that I was astounded (I'm really not sure how to describe the planet for you).
The villains were better than ever in this movie. They had more life and vigor to them and there was a whole lot more determination in this group than in the past.
The songs that they chose were catchy, upbeat, and applicable. I, personally, felt as though there was a lot more in this movie than in the previous one, which made it more exciting and enjoyable.
The graphics and visuals were strong and booming. I cannot stress to you ENOUGH how gorgeous this movie was. Take my word for it.
There were lots of funny parts and they cursed a whole lot less, which is very nice.

Now, we're on to the things that I didn't like about the movie.

CONS:

Gamora felt flat. In the first movie, she was a headstrong woman and she was fierce. But in this movie, she was still that, but once they got onto the main planet, she became incredibly soft. Having such a major character becoming flat is very sad. Maybe it's only me, but that was incredibly disappointing for me.
They did not answer many to most of the questions from the last movie and then they went on to add more questions. I hated that. I want to watch a movie where I know at least a few of the questions will be answered. Yet none was.
They introduced a few characters and they acted as though you already knew them. NO. How am I supposed to connect with characters, who I obviously know are going to be MAJOR CHARACTERS if I don't know who they are? J-Just none of that is right! I got really mad at that fact.

There is still cursing in the movie, but I think that was the only bad thing about this movie.

And those are my thoughts! If you've watched the movie, what did you think about it? Did you enjoy it or were there some parts that you didn't like?

Overall, I'm rating this movie 3½ stars.

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Guardians of the Galaxy

7/5/2017

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Rating: PG-13

Run-Time: 2 Hours 2 Min.

[Google] Description: Brash space adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finds himself the quarry of relentless bounty hunters after he steal an orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain. To evade Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with four disparate misfits: gun-toting Rocket Raccoon, treelike-humanoid Groot, enigmatic Gamora, and vengence-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when he discovers the orb's true power and the cosmic threat is poses, Quill must rally his ragtag group to save the universe.

Director: James Gunn

Trailer:

Type of Movie: Fantasy/Action

My Thoughts: Guardians of the Galaxy is, quite honestly, a breathe of fresh air. With all of the crazy things that have been happening in Marvel's Cinematic Universe (MCU), Guardians of the Galaxy came into the picture when Marvel needed something new and interesting. The plot is the same as other movies, ragtag team saves the world (generally that's how it goes, though this movie is different because they're saving the universe), but how they delivered it was what made it such a stellar movie. That's what really caught my attention. From the soundtrack to the new elements they added into the flowing plot line from the previous Marvel movies, it was all fantastic. But the soundtrack. That's what really carried it.

  The soundtrack in the movie was all 80's music or an instrumental, background music, for those moments that couldn't quite be captured with 80's music. 80's music, though. Who includes 80's music in modern day movies? Guardians of the Galaxy does. The soundtrack escalated the movie so much, because it captured you along with the characters' emotions and their feelings. It was the perfect edition.

Another refreshing factor was that it wasn't set in New York. I find that everything, or the current things, are set in New York, so getting to go into space, getting to see different species and planets was really cool and unique. The detail and attention they gave the stars in the galaxy, though. That's something to just marvel (heh, see what I did there??) at. They crafted each one with such effort, and it's all so immersive and deep.

  I should mention, because this is a PG - 13 movie, so there is cursing and swearing. PLEASE BE WARNED.

  Overall, it was a really great movie. Together, Bianca and I have decided to give this movie 4 and a 1/2 stars.

P.S. Bianca will upload the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 movie review later this week.

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Young Justice

7/26/2016

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Rating: TV-PG

Seasons: 2

[Google] Description: The lives of teenage heroes members of a covert operation team-called Young Justice.

Executive Producers: Greg Weisman, Sam Register, Brandon Vietti, Jay Bastian

Trailer: Well, I couldn't find a trailer, sorry about that. This show is too old to have one. (The first season aired in 2011.)

Type of Show: Action-Adventure

My Thoughts: This is one of the most fantastic shows I have ever seen. This show focus's on the "sidekicks" of the Justice League, such as Robin and Superboy, as can be seen in the picture, while the Justice League members are

in the background as the side characters. This type of approach instantly captured my attention because people didn't usually give a whole show dedicated to the sidekicks. They might've gotten an episode or two, but that was really it.

Because of the way this show centered around a team of teenagers, there was going to be a lot of ups and downs in the show. Things that teenagers usually dealt with, but nothing bad. There wasn't any inappropriate language, inappropriate topics, or anything of the like, though. They're teenagers so, you know, they're moody, have trust issues (especially if the team was brought together only for covert missions and was to report everything to the Justice League), and with those two things, they didn't really play nice with the newcomers.

As you move forward into the show, you start to develop feelings for the characters. The world already loves Robin (Dick Grayson) and you can't not love Kid Flash (Wally West) because he's hilarious and spices up the show with his humor. But the rest of the characters were completely new and had their own stories to tell. I was really excited to find out everyone's backstory and how it would all tie into the overall plot line.

But that story plot line, though. I wasn't expecting any of those plot twists. Oh, no. None of them. (Anyways, moving back...) The story line was very solid and kept the questions coming, answering when they thought necessary (which was slow, but was acceptable to keep the viewers watching), and keeping you at the edge of your seats, while throwing in those beautiful moments of hilarity. Though the second season is so much crazier, I don't know where to start with that. The story plot line is just one huge string. There is an ultimate goal that is noticed in parts and pieces, that is only noticed when you watch the 2 seasons over and over again.

In the grand scheme of it all, this show is fantabulous! But is has one MAJOR flaw. The second season is left with a (kind of) cliffhanger and there is no season 3. That's why everyone needs to binge the show so we can get a third season. Because, like I had said previously, the plot line is one huge string, and the plot line string wasn't finished with season 2. At all. They actually presented more unanswered questions in season 2 than in season 1!

I would give this show 5 stars in a heartbeat! (ドキドキ!)

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Voltron: Legendary Defenders

7/18/2016

2 Comments

Rating: TV-7

Seasons: 1

[Google] Description: Teenagers transported from Earth become pilots for robotic lions during an intergalactic war.

Executive Producers: Joaquim Dos Santos, Lauren Montgomery
Trailer:

Type of Show: Action-Adventure/Science Fiction

My thoughts: Voltron: Legendary Defenders is actually an old 1984 Japanese anime (that, of course, had an English dubbing), so fans of the show will not be disappointed Since this was obviously an anime, I immediately had some idea of what kind of show I was getting myself into. But, this show was full of surprises. The first episode was an hour long, which meant more excitement for the watchers as they were able to have time to connect with the characters and fully immerse themselves with the story. There were no curse words, nor any bloody or gruesome images, there wasn't anything bad in this show at all.
The story, in particular, was quite fantastic. The main characters were transported to different types of planets and each one had something special about it that made it unique from the rest. The story plot line became very intense around episode 3. That's when the plot decided that it didn't like the watchers and it wanted to shove a lot of back story in that single episode alone.

Overall, this show was fantastic. The fans of the original Voltron, I believe, would appreciate and enjoy this Voltron reboot. I would rate this show 4 and a half stars.

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X-Men: Apocalypse

6/2/2016

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Rating: PG-13

Run-Time: 2 Hour 27 Min.

[Google] Description:X-Men: Apocalypse is a 2016 American superhero film based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics. It is the ninth installment in the X-Men film series and is a sequel to 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Director: Bryan Singer
Trailer:

Type of Movie: Fantasy/Science Fiction

My Thoughts: Um... wow? This movie was extremely intense and had a lot of depressing and sad factors to this movie. There were a few curse words, one use of the F-word, a few decapitations (I wasn't able to see blood when the decapitations were happening), overall, I felt as if this movie was much more grim and a lot bloodier than the previous movies. I don't believe there was any partial nudity either.
The story for this particular movie was absolutely great. It was the perfect sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past. I believe the movie was placed ten years after Days of Future Past. But this great thing must have a sad component, but this is all I will say about it. The characters were beautifully developed, as well as the locations the cast went to, so it felt very immersive.

Other than the fact it had a lot of blood, a few curse words, along with a few other things, I would rate this movie 4 star.

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Song of the Sea

3/2/2016

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Rating: PG

Run-Time: 1 Hour 34 Min.

[Google] Description: An Irish youth discovers that his mute sister is a selkie who must find her voice and free supernatural creatures from the spell of a Celtic goddess.

Director: Tomm Moore
Trailer:

Type of Movie: Fantasy/Animation

Wow. This movie certainly... was something else.

Okay, this movie was not something I was prepared to watch. I had watched the trailer and it looked magnificent! The magic, the Celtic mythology, the adventure, the whole thing! After watching that trailer, it took Bianca and I a few months to actually watch this movie.

Bianca and I got emotionally attached as we watched this movie. The beginning for me was meh, nothing interesting was really happening, but the very start of the movie started with a question, so that what kept me going. As you continue to watch the movie, the deeper you get into the story, what happened to their mother, everything! It all concludes into one big blob of love!

AND SADNESS!!!!

I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS TO BE A SAD MOVIE, BUT I WAS CRYING AND THAT WAS NOT OKAY!!!

I love being emotionally attached to movies, but I don't like them being sad. (Which usually ends up happening...)

Overall, this is a wonderful movie and I would suggest this movie to everyone. (Literally. Do you know of Rotten Tomatoes, critics for movies - well, the appear on the Google movie page at least. Anyways, they rated this a 99% out of 100%. That's pretty good.)

Bianca and I rate this: 4 Stars!

Have you seen this movie? If so, tell us in the comments! If you haven't, would you want to see this movie? Tell us your thoughts in the comments as well!

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January 20th, 2016

1/20/2016

2 Comments

Rating: PG

Run-Time: 2 Hour 18 Min.

[Google] Description: A tiny nymph found inside a bamboo stalk grows into a beautiful and desirable young woman, who orders her suitors to prove their love by completing a series of near-impossible tasks.

Director: Isao Takahata

Trailer:

Type of Movie: Drama

This grand movie was based off of an old Japanese folk tale called 'The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'. The story is really nice but ends very sadly, and I guess I was expecting something else from Studio Ghibli, like to not make it such a sad movie, but alas, it must end the way it ends. And so here is my answer to this movie: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. That's all I have to say for that. NO. And here is my reason why.
Let's begin with the Pro's:

The voice actors and actresses are fantastic. We have the amazing Lucy Liu, Darren Criss, Chloë Grace Moretz, and many more and they were just amazing. Darren Criss was Sutemaru (he was really dreamy with long hair and calls Kaguya 'Little Bamboo'. SUPER ADORABLE). Chloë Grace Moretz was Princess Kaguya and I can promise you that is very hard shoes too fill.
The graphics are TERRIFIC. It's not the original drawing style the Studio Ghibli would use, but it was so intricate and so alive that it was still beautiful.

Now the Con's:

This movie ended very sadly. I won't spoil anything but if you do NOT want a sad story and want to keep away from anything of the like, I highly recommend that you stay FAR away from this movie. Nothing about it is happy (well, the beginning is and some parts of the end BUT THAT'S IT).

Yeah, that's the only Con I've got for it. Oh! And there is partial nudity at the beginning of the movie, so if you don't like watching scenes like those or anything of the sort, you should probably stay away from that. Hmm... I think that's all. But yes, this is a very sad movie and for that reason, I cannot give it a rating. I loved this movie SO much, yet at the same time, I wanted to cry my heart out and say "NOO. IT CAN'T END LIKE THIS!!!".

Have you seen 'The Tale of Princess Kaguya'? If not, will you watch it?

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Photo Credit Given To:

William Iven

Movie and Show Reviews

Bianca and Charisma will be reviewing movies and shows that pop up randomly.

Here is the review rating:

5 Stars - This was an absolutely wonderful movie or show! It was either funny, tore our hearts apart, or supercalifgrajalisticexpealidocious, or all of the above. :p

4 Stars - This was a great movie or show. It wasn't our absolute favorite, but it still made a great impact on me.

3 Stars - This movie was good, but not the best we've ever seen. There were some ridiculous parts about it, but it was still pretty good.

2 Stars - This movie was pretty bad. There wasn't a lot to keep it going and it didn't keep up interested.

1 Stars - This was the worst movie we've ever seen. It either tore our hearts into shreds, burned those shreds and stomped on the ashes or it was really silly and bad.

Movie and show suggestions are welcome!

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

The Greatest Showman

Jumanji 2: Welcome to the Jungle

Guardians of the Galaxy 2

Guardians of the Galaxy

Young Justice

Voltron: Legendary Defenders

X-Men: Apocalypse

Song of the Sea

January 20th, 2016

Movie and Show Reviews

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