Johnel: Your Friendly Neighborhood Movie Goer Johnel

Movie review for new Neon rated film "Ferrari". Directed by Michael Mann & written by Troy Kennedy Martin. Starring: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz & Shailene Woodley. Released in theaters worldwide December 25th, 2023.

Synopsis:



Ferrari is set during the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle and danger of 1950's Formula 1, ex-racer, Enzo Ferrari, is in crisis. Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for their one son. Ferrari struggles with the acknowledgement of another. His drivers' lust to win pushes them out to the edge. He wagers all in a roll of the dice on one race, the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

Movie review of new Netflix movie "Maestro". Written and directed by Bradley Cooper and c0-written by Josh Singer. Starring Bradley Cooper & Carey Mulligan. Limited release in theaters as of November 22nd, 2023. Available to stream on Netflix on December 20th, 2023.
Synopsis:


Maestro is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love.

Movie review on new Toho Internatioanl film "Godzilla Minus One". Written & directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Released on December 1st, 2023, worldwide.
Synopsis:
Japan is already devastated by the war when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster.

Movie review of new Lionsgate film "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes". Directed by Francis Lawrence. Starring: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler & Peter Dinklage. Released on November 17th, 2023, in theaters worldwide.
Synopsis:
64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem. THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES follows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray's charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts for both good and evil, Snow sets out on a race against time to survive and reveal if he will ultimately become a songbird or a snake.

Movie review for new Marvel Studios film "The Marvels". Starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson & Zawe Ashton. Released on November 10th, 2023 in theaters nation wide.
Synopsis:


Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol's estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as "The Marvels."

Movie review of new Focus Features film "The Holdovers". It stars Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph & Dominic Sessa. Released on November 10th, 2023 in theaters nation wide.
Synopsis:
THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) -- and with the school's head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da'Vine Joy Randolph).