The Quintessentialist

The Christmas Chronicles Movie Review A conflicting Christmas Film So, a little while ago I watched the movie, The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix, and I'm very conflicted on my feelings about this film.  The Christmas Chronicles follows Teddy (Judah Lewis) and Kate (Darby Camp) as this older brother and younger sister duo attempt to prove once and for all that Santa Clause is real. They set up a camera and film their fire place, put when jolly old Saint Nicholas (Kurt Russell) drops in, they end up on an adventure that they did not except to be on that night.  I'm honestly surprised by how good of a  rating  this movie has gotten. For a Christmas movie, I didn't think it was that great. Don't get me wrong, the film does have some strong points, but it's no  Miracle on 34th St.  and it really could have been better.  Yes there are some funny moments in the film. It doesn't necessarily make it a good movie though. I will admit there was a...

Robin Hood (2018) Movie Review The most cringe film of the year So, the other day I saw the movie Robin Hood, and by Robin Hood I mean the new new one that has just come out in theaters. This movie is bad, it's really bad, and I understand why it's been getting such a  low  score by other film critics. This film follows Robin of Loxley, as he is sent to the crusades and then after returning, his house was taken by the Sheriff of Nottingham. So now, with a new friend who was once an enemy, Robin and friends seek to bring about liberation of the people from the oppressive Sheriff and the other evils that plague their town. Robin Hood seeks to fill some sort of savior complex but the movie sets it up so poorly. I understand that this is a more "fantasy" version of the story, but hot damn they could have at least put a sherd of effort into the blasted thing! All of the characters were completely and utterly static, even Robin. This movie is trying to be somewha...

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Happy Thanksgiving from me to you! Hey guys I'm not doing a normal review post today, and since it's a holiday, I'm taking the day off. So, eat lots and I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Leon: The Professional Movie Review A good film, with some odd moments Leon: The Professional is a film that follows a young girl named Mathilda (Natalie Portman), as her family is murdered, and she seeks the help of a hitman named Leon (Jean Reno), who just so happens to live right next door. I found myself enjoying this 1994 film greatly, even though there are some awkward moments in the film. I still have a lot of good to say about Leon The Professional. So, I believe the was one of Natalie Portman's first rolls, and she does very well in the film. Granted there are a few 90's cringe scenes that they have her portray, but I don't fault her, more the script itself. Jean Reno, as Leon, is an interesting non-static character, which could be viewed as surprising by how dynamic he really is. The interaction between Natalie Portman, and Jean Reno is seamless, and natural. I found myself engrossed in the relationship that was built between the characters and it adds t...

Happy National Have A Bad Day Day :( !!! Yet another weird holiday So, if you haven't heard, today is National Have A Bad Day Day, and gosh mister, isn't that just the worst :) !!! But in all seriousness guys, this just another dumb holiday someone made up, but it sure is fun. So guys, have a bad day!

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Movie Review A decent sequel to the first Fantastic Beasts film So, I just got back from seeing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and it was a pretty good film, with a few flaws. The Crimes of Grindelwald starts off as Grindelwald is supposed to be transferred from America to Britain for trial, but he ends up escaping. Three months later Newt is tasked by Dumbledore to go to Paris and figure out what Grindelwald is up to. Alright, this is a pretty good movie, and if you are a fan of this overarching series, then you will enjoy this film. Are there problems in the movie? Yes. Though for the most part I did end up finding myself enjoying the film overall. The acting was pretty good, and the effects were good, but the movie did drag on in parts. So the actors did a good job of portraying their characters. I do like the character Newt, and his... well, team. However I wish we got to see the characters interact more with each ot...

Why do people like Drake? Can someone explain why people like this "rapper" Alright unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the past year or two, you've heard of a Canadian Rapper called Drake. He's been blowing up the music charts for the past couple of years, and I don't really understand the appeal of this guy. I would say that my musical tastes are somewhat  broad , but I mostly like rock, and sometimes  other  styles that reinvent older music. Before you say, "Well guy, you just hate rap music you hater!" No, I will admit I don't like most rap music, but there are some  songs  I do like in the  genre . Frankly I respect more of the rappers from the 80's and 90's more so, over most today. But this article is not about the state of rap, just Drake. So, Drake... why? Just why? Why is this boring monotone so popular. His music makes me want to fall asleep of boredom. He has probably the most uninteresting voice out right no...

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Holiday Special Announcement! New holiday special for Netflix's new show! So, you may have read my review of  Season 1  of The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, and if you yourself enjoyed the show, you will be happy to discover that they are coming out with a holiday special!  The special will come out  December 14th , and it's just a 1 episode event. I will make a review of the episode once it's released.  I think that releasing a holiday special for The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina is a good move on Netflix's part. The reason being is that for a show that is gaining in popularity, it just keeps the ball rolling and I think it's a smart thing for them to do.

Outlaw King Movie Review Outlaw King is a fantastic historical film Outlaw King is a 2018 historical film on Netflix that follows the tale of Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine), as he strikes up another rebellion against the English Crown. The film opens at the end of the Scottish rebellion that involved William Wallace. The Scottish lords are re-swearing their allegiance to the English crown, and Robert the Bruce is to be married to the king's goddaughter. After a bit of time, once they populace discovers that William Wallace has been executed, Robert the Bruce strikes up another rebellion against the English, but will it work this time? So, first off I want to say that I love historical films. From what I gather, this film is very  historically accurate , and I love that! I don't know much about this time period in history, I myself learn more about  Roman , specifically I'm interested in late Republican times, and I'm also interested in the  American Foundi...

Review of Tales That Broke My Brain - Malevolent Pursuit A short film by David Black David Black has made a few short films on his  youtube channel , and one of those films is called Malevolent Pursuit. It's part of a short film anthology called, Tales That Broke My Brain. I have watched three of theses short's and today I'm going to be going over my favorite short film of the bunch. Now you may remember that I did an  interview  with David Black a while ago, and I must say it was very pleasant to interview him. So, it's a good idea to go over one of his pieces of work, and I'm happy that I did! So, in the film,  Malevolent Pursuit , it gives off a sort of film noir feel to it, and I highly enjoyed the artfulness of this film. It should be noted that it takes on a darker tone, as the plot follows a serial killer, stocking their prey.  The narration of the film is delivered in such a clean and crisp way, that I found myself being intrigued and pulled i...

The Exception is a 2016 WWII film that follows the former Kaiser Wilhelm II during the year of 1940, and his personal guard. The Exception follows from the perspective of Captain Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney), of the Germany Army during WWII as he is assigned to protect the former Kaiser. Kaiser Wilhelm II  (Christopher Plummer) in the film wishes to retake the crown yet there is still subtle undertones of him disliking the Nazi's. Then while the Capitan is protecting the Kaiser, him and his men are trying to find a British spy, all the while the Captain is having a fling with one of the servants, Mieke de Jong (Lily James). So when people think of WWII they usually think about the Axis vs the Allies, but one interesting story is overlooked, and that's of the former Kaiser of Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm II was still alive during the beginning of the war, and protecting the Kaiser was more of a publicity stunt of the Nazi's. The Kaiser wanted to reclaim some sort of title, bu...

The Americans is a fantastic spy drama show that ran from 2013 to 2018. Alright, I finished binge watching this show a little while ago, and I have to say, The Americans, is fantastic! The Americans follow Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings as they act as spies for the KGB in the 80's. They have been in the US for many years and have kids, and a regular business. Their operations are going well, but a little speed bump comes in, in the form of an FBI agent named Stan (Noah Emmerich) moving in right across from them. Can they befriend this FBI agent, and keep up their activities as KGB operatives? Watch and find out! Okay so first off I want to state that this show is amazing! It has great tension, drama, acting, and cinematography. I was a little hesitant to watch at first, but I'm sure as hell glad that I did! The Americans grabs you and pulls you in for the ride of this show and it never lets go, from minute one. I was so impressed with even t...

Some Like It Hot is a 1959 comedy which ifs probably one of the funniest films that I have seen in the past few years! Some Like It Hot follows two musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis), and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) as they witness the St. Valentines Day massacre and they have to ditch town so the gangsters don't come after them. The duo decide to do the most practical thing, and that's dress up as women and join an all women's band heading down to Florida. Joe becomes Josephine, and Jerry becomes Daphne. While on the train the two befriend a musician named Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), and even though both of them desire her, they must keep reminding themselves who they are now. Can they keep their cover and get the girl? Watch and find out! I watched this movie twice within the same week, just because it was such a good film. There are some real gut busters in this old film. The jokes really land in this movie, and I mean it! This film is hilarious! It takes about a half hour to g...

Solomon Kane is a 2009 action film that is perfect background noise. Solomon Kane follows Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) as he seeks to redeem his soul and save his homeland from all the devils that see to plague it. So this isn't the first time I've seen this film. I watched it once when it came out all those years ago, and I forgot about it, until I noticed that I could stream it. There are some flashy action scenes and some of the sets are creative. I thought that it had some decent fight scenes but still it was pretty standard. I was surprised to find out that the lead actor who played Solomon Kane is Jams Purefoy. If you don't remember him, then maybe you'll remember that he played Mark Antony on HBO's show Rome. He looks and sounds almost completely different in this movie compared to some of his other works. If you didn't see Rome, then you might recognize him from the show, The Following, as he played Joe Carroll. This is a pretty basic indie ...

Monty Python's Life Of Brian is a 1979 British comedy that takes place in biblical times, and man this film is as good as any Monty Python film. Life Of Brian is about a man named Brian that wants to help liberate his fellow Israelites from the Romans. Then he mistakenly is taken for the messiah. Alright, I'm a little surprised that this is the first Monty Python film that I'm reviewing. I was sure that I would have review The Holy Grail first, but nope, Life Of Brian is first. As always with Monty Python, this movie is super funny. There are plenty of laugh out loud jokes and they just keep them coming, one right after the other. I don't know how they pulled this off, but somehow they did it again.  The acting in this film is superb. I don't think there was one bad performance in the entire film. Heck, how do you even do a bad performance in a Monty Python film. Is that even possible? Again, I've said it before with many films in the past, and I'm...

If you haven't read my review of the movie Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, I would recommend you to read my  review  of the movie. This damn movie has been on my mind for the past few months, and it's really pissing me off. I originally gave the  movie  a score of 2/5, but I just can't get it out of my mind that I should have given it a lower score, as it deserves it. So, the new final score is: 1/5

Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 boxing film directed and staring Clint Eastwood. Million Dollar Baby follows the journey of a girl named Maggie (Hillary Swank), and she has a strong desire to become a boxer. She trains at a gym run by a man named Frankie (Clint Eastwood) and his friend Eddie (Morgan Freeman). Maggie constantly tries to get Frankie to train her, but he keeps resisting, until eventually he finally agrees to train her. I want to say this right off the bat and that is every actor in this movie does a great job! Hillary Swank is amazing! Clint Eastwood, as always is a fantastic actor, and his character is really well rounded. Morgan Freeman also does a great job, and his character sort of acts as the narrator of the film. Million Dollar Baby is such an engrossing film, it demands every second of your attention and it holds it with an iron grip. The film almost says, if you look away then it's going to give you an uppercut. Clint Eastwood is a fantastic director, and...

The Untouchables is a 1987 historical crime film that takes place during prohibition, and it's a pretty decent film. The Untouchables follows Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) as he is an agent for the treasury department, and is tasked with taking down Al Capone (Robert De Niro). At first he has a hard time with getting things done, and that's until he teams up with a beat cop, Jim Malone (Sean Connery). Together, they form a team of untouchables, as they try to take down Capone. Alright, this is a good movie. I wanted to get that out of the way first. Is it perfect? No. Is it good? Yes. Each actor in this film does a fantastic job, as this film has an all star cast with, Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, and Sean Connery. Each actor brings something to the table that the other doesn't and each of them balances each other out, and it works great. Prohibition was an interesting era in American history, and especially the downfall of Capone is a great topic to be presented on th...

The Lost City Of Z is a 2016 historical adventure film, that does take you on a fun experience. The Lost City Of Z follows Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) in 1906 as he is a Major in the British Army and is tasked with surveying a border in the Amazon Rain Forrest. During his time spent there, he uncovers some artifacts that lead him to believe there's a lost city in the jungle, and he becomes determined to find it. This movie was fantastic! I had such a fun time with the adventure and history. The film starts out in 1906 but it does go beyond and skips around going forward a few years. Don't worry, it's not jarring like some films are when they skip ahead in time, this film does it naturally. When I was watch The Lost City of Z I thought to myself, that the lead actor who plays Percy, gosh he looks familiar. But turns out he was in another film I greatly enjoyed, but didn't receive much praise, that  King Arthur  movie that came out last year. I love Charlie Hunna...

The Last King is a 2016 inspired by a true story historical film originally titled Birkbeinerne, and. boy was this movie a real missed opportunity. The Last King follows Skjervald (Jakob Oftebro) and Torstein (Kristofer Hivju) as they must get the King of Norway's infant son to safety before those that murdered the king would seek to kill his son as well and claim the throne for themselves. Alright so being Norway and all, you might think this would be a viking style of film, but it's not. It actually starts just after the viking period had ended. The movie takes place in 1206 during winter. The sets and battle sequences are pretty cool. Actually some of the battles are very cool, as you have essentially warriors skiing down slopes and fighting each other. Now onto the acting in this movie. Here's where things get tricky. The actors in the film did a fine job and I give credit to them. Though I watched the English dubbed version, and they just did a piss poor job of d...

Men Go To Battle is a 2015 civil war era history film which turned out to be pretty good. Men Go To Battle follows two brothers Francis (David Maloney) and Henry (Timothy Morton) as they struggle on their farm during the beginning stages of the civil war. Though they have their hardships, they end up taking different paths. Alright, so Men Go To Battle is a good film, but slow. The pacing could have been better. I think they could have improved this by developing the characters a little more. The movie shows the point of view of the common person during this era. It does have some interesting stuff when it comes to it's presentation. The acting is well done in this movie, which for a low budget film is very impressive. Granted I could not find the budget for the film, but I did find how much the film grossed. It made $17,950 as of September 13th 2016, and I found this on  IMDb . I honestly think that the film deserved to make more than that, especially for the quality of the ...

Hostiles is a 2017 historical western film, that was everything I wanted... but in a different way. Hostiles follows US Army Capitan Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale) in 1892 as he is tasked with transporting an old enemy of his to safety Cheyenne Chief, Yellow Hawk(Wes Studi). Capitan Blocker and Chief Yellow Hawk fought against each other at one point. Now Capitan Blocker and a group of soldiers must safely escort Chief Yellow Hawk and his family to Montana. Along the way they meet a woman named Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike) whose family was killed, and she joins them on their journey. When I went into this story, I thought it would be this grand adventure, and it is but not in the way I expected. This movie was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed how Hostiles demanded my attention and kept ahold of it all the way through the journey. There's just a vibrance about this movie, which is, in a way, beautiful. I should note, that this movie is not based on any historical event, and ...

The Duchess is a 2008 historical drama which surprised me on how good it was. The Duchess takes place in the latter half of the 18th century , in which Georgiana Spencer (Keira Knightley) became the Duchess of Devonshire. The film focuses on her marriage and her life. Going into this film I wasn't expecting for it to hold much appeal for me, and I admit that I presumed it would be a long boring film. Granted this is a long film, or it least it does feel long at times. Yet there is a level of class to The Duchess which I greatly appreciate. The sets and costumes are very beautiful and they really immerse you into the film. All of the actors in this movie do a good job... well for the most part anyways. There are a couple minor performances that are a bit dull. Keira Knightley does a fantastic job in this film, and I think she just does a great job in any historical film that she's in, as it seems as if it comes naturally to her. The other main actors also do a fine job in ...

The Physician is a 2013 historical period piece film, that was somewhat entertaining. So, The Physician follows  a young man named Rob Cole (Tom Payne), as he sets out from England to the Middle East to study to become a physician. Alright, I'm not entirely sure if this movie was based on any true history but it doesn't seem like it. The Physician is more of a period piece than anything, and from a storytelling perspective it is entertaining. I was surprised to see Ben Kingsley (no I didn't pay attention to the poster) in this film. If you watch the television show, The Walking Dead, then you might recognize the main actor of this film, Tom Payne, as he plays Jesus on The Walking Dead. Most of the actors do a fine job, however there are a few times at which some dialogue doesn't really come out exactly right, and that can be a little annoying. Also some of the audio levels are just slightly off at certain points, which makes it harder to hear what the actors are t...

Phew! 31 Posts Of Halloween went by pretty fast, and there were some decent horror films in there too! Yet now, it's time to move on, and so, from November 1st through the 7th, I will be posting a review for a historical based film everyday!