Echeverria Reviews

This is one that I had been waiting for and I am happy to report that it did not disappoint. Sony seems to finally have a franchise on their hands that they can successfully expand upon, and with sequels already being reported, it’s no surprise given the critical success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse . This had everything that a comic book fan could dream of. A beautiful and unique animation style, stunning action sequences, superb voice acting by the entire cast involved, a great plot, and an awesome soundtrack to go along with it all. This film follows Miles Morales’ journey after being bitten by a radioactive spider and beginning his own journey as Spider-Man. Along with the help of Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy, Peni Parker, Spider-Noir, and even Peter Porker, Miles must find the strength within himself to save Brooklyn and help the other spider people return to their own universes.             There is so much to love abo...

Well, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald might be where the magic has worn off. Once again directed by David Yates who has handled all of the wizarding world films starting with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , and once again starring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald, Ezra Miller as Creedence, and introducing Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore, Crimes of Grindelwald takes us on the journey of Newt Scamander who has been given the task by Dumbledore to go and find Creedence before he can cause any more harm to himself and to others. I have seen every wizarding world movie up to this point. I loved the original eight Harry Potter tales. I thought Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them was a fun, whimsical tale and a good prequel, but something felt off here. Crimes of Grindelwald starts off hot with a fantastic opener, and it concludes with a solid ending, but the rest of the film feels muddy and stagnant.     ...

We finally get the sequel to the fun and successful Wreck-It Ralph in the shape of Ralph Breaks the Internet . Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, and once again distributed by Disney, Ralph Breaks the Internet brings back the fun cast of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch, and Jack McBrayer, while also welcoming Gal Gadot, Bill Hader, and Taraji P. Henson. The film initially revolves around Vanellope’s game Sugar Rush breaking and her and Ralph decide to go on a journey through the internet to purchase the part needed to repair the game from eBay. The film is fun and colorful, with a stunning execution of the world of the internet. It took the elements that The Emoji Movie tried to use to appeal to kids, but it uses them in a way to compliment the film, not be the sole reason for watching it. The ensemble cast does a wonderful job of voicing these vibrant characters, and it is always a welcome to have Bill Hader in anything.        ...

Christmas time is in full effect and what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than with our favorite Grinch?! The Grinch stars Rashida Jones, Pharrell Williams, Kenan Thompson, and Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular Grinch, and it is essentially everything you would expect it to be. It was the standard formula for what any Grinch tale typically is, albeit with a few modern twists thrown in, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To put it simply, is this movie anything special? No. Was it enjoyable for kids and adults alike? Yes.             I can’t tell you too much about the story that you don’t already know. The Grinch has a small heart, Cindy Lou is adorable, Grinch’s heart grows, merry Christmas. That’s basically every Grinch tale, but this particular Grinch tale introduces a new character that adds a nice heartfelt subplot not found in the original, Cindy Lou’s mom. Obviously, something was going to be added to t...

Well, Disney tried to kickstart the holiday season with its new take on the old Nutcracker tale, but unfortunately it falls flat with subpar characters, a forgettable plot, and not much substance to sustain its 100-minute runtime. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms starts off centering around what most Disney Christmas movies tend to center around, family, and it is this message of family that follows the heroine of this journey to fight forward when she discovers a magical realm filled to the brim with snow and wonder. It is in this world where she discovers that she is a princess and that her mother created this world as a young girl, but that an evil woman by the name of mother Ginger is out to cause evil in the four realms.             Overall, there wasn’t much that I enjoyed about this. Keira Knightley is lovely as The Sugar Plum Fairy, and the visuals can be a bit stunning at times, but there just isn’t much depth to this...

So, this will be the first in a series of lists that I will be doing from time to time. It will generally consist of my rankings of certain films within certain genres or criteria. This list is my top 10 favorite movies of all time, which keep in mind, it changes periodically. Also, I have random taste. Anyway, here we go. 10. Prisoners Prisoners is a movie that after I saw it, I sat down again the next day and watched it again. It was such a dark mystery thriller that just engrosses you in with amazing cinematography by Roger Deakins and phenomenal directing by Denis Villenueve. That doesn’t even include the gut-wrenching performances by the entire cast, but mainly Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman. Now, I love Jake Gyllenhaal. It is no secret that he is my favorite actor working today, and he just absolutely nails the role as Detective Loki, but he’s not even the best part of the film. I’m not the biggest Hugh Jackman fan, but dammit if he didn’t put on the greatest performa...

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is a fun, somewhat horror comedy directed by Ari Sandel, and it stars Jeremy Ray Taylor, Madison Iseman, and Caleel Harris as three kids who accidently get entangled in Slappy’s plans to unleash a permanent Halloween on the world, and must work together to save the city they live in. The film ends up being a fun fantasy tale that doesn’t exactly lean on the scary side, so kids will not be particularly spooked throughout this movie, unless they fear talking puppets (I do). Something I enjoyed about this film was the pacing and run time. It doesn’t take long for the movie to set itself in gear and it doesn’t overstay its welcome, so kids and parents alike will not become bored watching this. The young actors, while decent enough, come off wooden and uninspired. They don’t add much to the experience and don’t give you any real reason to care for them. They try to rope a college essay story to Iseman’s character to give you a sense of connection with her ...

Damien Chazelle is back and looking just as good as ever with First Man . Reuniting with Ryan Gosling, First Man is a wonderful, gritty, realistic look at the events that led to the moon landing in 1969. Let’s start with the absolute positives about this film, mainly, the effects. This is the most realistic a sci/fi film has nailed space travel in just about ever. The effects have such a sense of realism, and it shows the struggle that astronauts must endure to fulfill all the tasks that are asked of them. If you ever wanted to get a clear idea from a movie of how space travel works, this is it. Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy give great performances here, dealing with pain, loss, fear, frustration, and anger. I didn’t particularly think that they had the best chemistry, but they certainly worked well together. The screenplay that they worked with was solid, and they delivered it with such realism. Make no mistake, the acting in this is good on all fronts, but what everyone will be talk...

A star is born indeed. Close the “best picture” category at this year’s Oscars. It’s over. Done deal. We have ourselves a clear winner. A Star Is Born is not only the best film I’ve seen all year, it may just be one of the best films I’ve ever seen in my life. This might just be the emotion still pouring through, but this easily must go down as one of the best remakes of all time, and one where the remake completely blows all other incarnations out of the water. Let’s start off with the obvious, Lady Gaga is talented. Not just as an incredible musician, but she has clearly shown a talent for acting, and with this being her first leading role in a big movie, she absolutely knocks it out of the park. She approaches this role with such a fierce realism that it is hard to separate real from fiction. She is the absolute star in this role, but Bradley Cooper himself was no slouch. Pulling double duty as lead actor and introducing himself as a director in a triumphant way, Cooper is at his...