November Movie Reviews

Frozen Two

The sequel to Disney’s 2013 blockbuster Frozen was surprisingly dark for its young audience. Frozen Two included a plot about Elsa’s origins and her journey of self-discovery alongside her sister Anna, Olaf, and when it was convenient for him to appear on screen, Christoph.

The humor didn’t fall too flat, but there just wasn’t enough of it. Frozen did a great job at balancing the humor, fun, and suspense, but this wasn’t the case for the sequel. However, my personal favorite joke/gag came from Olaf as he hilariously recapped the entire first movie.

The conflict is intense, suspenseful, and occasionally dark. For instance, at one point it looks as if some of the characters “died,” which is hard for a young child to grasp. Due to the young age, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the “death” of your beloved characters.

As for the music, it doesn’t seem to live up to the first movie. Elsa’s big moment, a song titled “Into The Unknown” is curious and invites the plot that the movie is setting up, but it’s no “Let It Go.” Then, Christoph sings a late 80’s, early 90’s boy-band-like ballad alongside a choir of reindeer called “Lost In The Woods,” which was actually my favorite song in the movie, but then he practically disappears until Anna needs him next. Lastly, Anna sings a somber song called “The Next Right Thing” and if I’m being honest I only remember because a character was “dying” in this scene.

To summarize, Frozen Two was no Frozen, but it was enough to keep me entertained. However, since this movie is marketed to kids and there are dreary undertones of dark magic and death, I’d say it may be too intense for your 1 to 6 year olds.

Knives Out

Knives Out, a mystery film surrounding a family and their grandfather’s caretaker who are all accused of their grandfather’s murder after his birthday party. The film is truly a “who done it?” (similarly to the board game Clue) with plenty of options to guess from. Each of the family members have their own relations with their Grandfather from subplots including money, affairs, and genuine father-daughter connection that could possibly tie them to the murder.

The movie did a great job introducing these complex characters in a way that didn’t feel like the movie was dragging on. The certain colors that a character would wear, to the lighting they appeared in, to the order they were introduced, created a feeling of mistrust and created many diversions as to who actually did it.

While I thought each actor brought amazing light and depth to their character, the performance I was most charmed by was Daniel Craig who played the Detective working to solve the case. His accent was definitely unique, but worked since this movie is very simply, over-the-top. It was also interesting to see Chris Evans in a roll that was very much unlike his personality, but he was also great.

There’s some violence in this film including blood, knives, vomit, and poison, but there’s not enough to turn viewers who are easily queasy away. The plot was very character driven rather than action driven. There’s plenty of language, but I found it to bring more humor to the film and it actually built up some of the characters personality; for example, Chris Evans’ character, Ransom.

While I will not spoil the ending, the plot twist (at least for me) was slightly obvious. You can spot “who done it” fairly easy, but you won’t be able to guess how. For a movie that many thought would only appeal to people because of its star-packed cast, the movie has received mainly positive reviews. If you were to see any movies on this list, I would recommend this one.

Charlie’s Angels

Simply put, I found Charlie’s Angels to be a fun and entertaining film as long as you didn’t think about the plot too hard. The film sets up two major plot twists that slightly counter each other, so it’s best not to over analyze.

Something that bothered me while watching Charlie’s Angels was the same thing that bothered me while watching 2018’s Ocean’s 8. The plot felt old and fell flat. I think it’s possible that this movie could’ve been more successful if it had a new fresh plot. For example, Naomi Scott’s Elena creates a new technology that is being purchased by a company that decided to use the device as weapons. This isn’t a new concept or story, which could be blamed on the fact that this is a remake we’ve seen done a dozen times.

Obviously, this remake had strong themes of feminism as it is a story mainly focussed on the Angel’s bond with each other; however, I didn’t find it overly distracting, but rather authentic. I enjoyed how the Angels interacted with each other through witty commentary.

I thought Kristen Stewart had a roll that displayed the strengths of acting quite nicely. She was the sarcastic, full-of-wit character that always has something to say. I also thought Ella Balinska did well in her part as Jane Kano for this being her first time acting in a movie. She was the intense, guarded type of girl. That said, each of the characters in some way could resemble someone in the audience which is why I think this movie better appeals to teenagers.

There’s also a lot of action in this movie which I thought helped move the plot along especially when this movie was lacking on making sense. The movie has music playing during these action scenes. That said, if you’re not an Ariana Grande fan, this soundtrack isn’t for you.

While I didn’t love Charlie’s Angels and would prefer to see Diaz, Barrymoore, and Lui up on the screen as their iconic characters, it’s decent enough to watch.