Movie: Isle of Dogs (2018)**

Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion animated movie by Wes Anderson that essentially comes down to the relationship of a boy searching for his best friend, his dog. This movie started off visually dull and slow in its story blooming, so much so that I started to lose interest, think about other things, and eventually I fell asleep. The next night I picked up where I left off, from what was labeled as part 3, and that to the end was more exciting, but only compared to first half.
I'm not huge on animation, and I find that Wes Anderson is sometimes too quirky for my taste. For that reason, Isle of Dogs gets two stars**. I don't really care if I see this, again, and in fact, if I want to see a touching relationship between a child and their pet, I'd watch Okja.

Movie: Colette (2018)***

Colette is a joli film about the real-life writing career of Colette, a famous turn-of-the-century multi-talented writer and stage artist. If you didn't know this was based on a true story, its about a young woman who marries a family friend and becomes his ghost writer and together they create a bestselling series of books, but alas, he does not want to give her credit. What a shame.

The production of this film is beautiful: Stunning locations! I gawked and drooled at all the wallpaper. I’m kind of a home and garden fanatic in my middle age. The costuming and styling was rich and detailed.

The story was interesting, but combined with the direction and action it lacked depth. I feel that way about a lot of biopics: they try to fit too much into the film, but I would much prefer they just dive in deep on a certain time period in the person's life.

The music was good, too: Listening to and then checking the stats afterwards, I'm glad to see that the majority of the soundtrack was mostly time period music with some original work and imaginative arrangements by Thomas Ades.

Although the characters were French, this film is acted by mostly British actors, and I love the British. I enjoyed the performances of Kiera Knightly and Dominic West. I have never seen any of the director, Wash Westmoreland's other films so I cannot compare.

I could watch this again because it was enjoyable and a feast for my eyes, but I don't see myself every buying it or seeking it out. It falls on the Cinematic Masterpiece end of the scale and gets a standard good, or three stars***.

I checked this DVD out from my local library.

Eighth Grade (2018)***

Eighth Grade ended I felt different. I was and still am unsure how I feel about this movie, but the very fact that I'm still digesting it confirms that it did get its hooks in and well, I guess I like it. I even want to watch it again just to see if I get anything else out of it a few days later.

Eighth Grade follows Kayla's last few days of middle school and the viewer gets a gander into what felt like a realistic suburban-adolescent-not-popular girl's life. There's sooooooo much awkwardness! But I was able to ride along with her for the stomach clenching, the butterflies and irrational angry outbursts. Elsie Fisher was amazing and so authentic and intense as Kayla. I was very drawn into her character. The movie had an intensifying pace, building gradually, but without rushing to a feel-good ending.

This isn't a movie I can watch over and over, but I do think it is well-made and Elsie gave an award-worthy performance. Eighth Grade falls on the Cinematic Masterpiece end of the rating scale and gets three*** stars.

Ali's Wedding (2017)***

Ali's Wedding is a based-on-a-true-story dramedy about an Iranian-born guy living with his family in Australia who is trying so hard to please his family that he pushes his own desires to margins, leading him to tell a lie that snowballs into a crazy funny, but potentially life-long miserable situation. I'm not a huge fan of comedies, but this one was very charming. I loved the characters and the relatable look into Muslim-religious life, especially dating. If you want to simplify this movie, you could call it the My-Big-Fat-Greek-Wedding for Muslims!

This movie was definitely Fun, I wouldn't call it a Cinematic Masterpiece, but it wasn't cheesy either. It gets three stars*** because I would definitely watch it again.

I watched this on Netflix. If you decide to watch it, turn on the captions because some scenes include other languages that aren't translated on screen.

Coffee Shop (2014)***

Coffee Shop, starring kind-of known Laura Vandervoot and featuring a more-than-cameo appearance by Kevin Sorbo, is a Christian-lite cheesy romance that I found to be well-produced except for the terrible voice dubbing. A coffee shop owner in a small town is faced with possibly losing her place of business when three different men walk into the shop (not all at the same time), each of which present different pathways for her to choose from. Two of the options include romance. Choose your own business adventure... Coffee Shop!

This falls into the Fun category, so bad its good, and gets three stars*** because I could watch it again.

I watched this on Netflix.