John Carney once again reveals that he is capable of perfectly meshing emotions and music in his new movie, Sing Street.  Sing Street is a beautiful coming of age movie that tugged all of my emotions through its characters and its music.  Personally, I think the 80s had the best music and Carney proves my point.  Put any grouping of 80s music in a movie and it is going to be hard for me to dislike it.   But what really struck me in this film was the original music.  The movie focuses around a young man who forms a band to get a girl.  There is a bit more complexity to the story than that, but I leave the rest for you to watch on your own.  If I had seen a band this good when I was in high school, I probably would have instantly become a groupie.  The music was so good that I would have cried, but I was next to two of my friends and no one likes to cry in front of their friends.

Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Jack Reynor, and Lucy Boynton must also be applauded for their fantastic character portrayals.  As the main character, Walsh-Peelo (who plays Cosmo) creates a very believable struggling high school kid whose main goal is to get the girl (Lucy Boynton).  This concept is not fully original, but it sure is done well because of Walsh-Peelo!  He continually changes his influences, adding a sense of humor to the film.  But really, the best actor in this film is Jack Reynor.  He plays Cosmo's brother, Brendan.  This is the brother that everyone has always wanted to have.  Or maybe its just me, whatever.  Reynor proves that he is a very skilled actor and now I really hope that he gets the role as young Han Solo.

The Bottom Line: So far, this is my favorite movie of the year.  Maybe its just because I'm a sucker for music films but you need to see for yourself.

Score: 9.6/10

Wow, its been over a month since my last blog review...  Time really does fly when you are keeping busy.  Well, I am back with another riveting review for the new sci-fi film Midnight Special.  I would like start off by applauding Jeff Nichols for this original story.  It is nice to see this type of creativity in modern cinema.  I have not seen Mud or Take Shelter, but definitely look forward to watching both films after seeing Nichols's newest film.

What I really love about this movie were the technical aspects.  So much clearly went into making this film which played beautifully.  One of my favorite shots seems to be taken from a drone rising up over the road.  I have been seeing more and more of these types of shots in Youtube videos and really enjoy how they seam the videos together.  Overall, Midnight Special has fantastic direction by Jeff Nichols and is shot superbly.

Furthermore, the acting is heartfelt and helps to bring the audience into the film.  But setting that aside, the story has various plot holes that detracted from my enjoyment.  As an original story, this is a very complex film full of details.  However, a lot of the details are lacking such as certain characters's backgrounds that are only lightly brushed and then set aside.  If there were just some more clarifications, I would have truly loved this movie.  

The Bottom Line:  This is a well acted sci-fi film, but it annoyingly forgets to fill in the facts for the audience to truly understand what is going on.

Score: 7.5/10