Bird Box (2018)

A spin off of M. Night’s The Happening, with more coherency. I thought they did a pretty decent job of fleshing out the premise and keeping things suspenseful.

Rating: B-

The Voices (2014)

This one missed the mark for me. I get the dark comedy horror theme they were going for, but it wasn’t scary or funny enough to be either.

Rating: D

The Five-Year Engagement (2012)

A familiar cast that we all know and love. Full of funny lines and situations. It’s not going to win any awards, but you will be well entertained. I can’t get enough Emily Blunt.

Rating: C+

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

I did such a terrific job of avoiding all mentions of this film prior to seeing it, that I had myself convinced it was about a high school football coach leading his team to victory by using a set of special plays in the Silver Linings Playbook. Turns out I was way off, which is how I like it.

I love going into movies ignorant of what I’m about to see. So I instantly went from liking this movie to loving it once Jennifer Lawrence came onscreen. I enjoyed her character because I love girls who are honest, slightly crazy, and aggressive about what they want. (Ideally, that would be me, but it’s been a while since that was the case)

Anyway, all interactions and conversations between Jennifer and Bradley’s characters were golden. Smart, funny dialogue. We can thank David O. Russell for taking an average story and elevating it to an award winning level. After all, this is the man that brought us Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, and The Fighter. This is definitely the crowd pleaser I heard it was.

Rating: B+

Animal Kingdom (2010)

A moody Australian crime drama that's more depressing than exciting. Terrific acting across the board. Hard to watch at times. Not sure the ending was the silver lining I was hoping for.

Rating: C