We present our top movie picks this year.
Top 10: Mary, Queen of Scots
Geek Score: 3.50/5.00
There are historical inaccuracies with the film, with some scenes made just so for cinematic effect. It also failed to portray with justice some of the important events of Mary’s life in Scotland, due mainly to its limited running time. But the film shines best when it focused on the relationships of the historical characters, and how their stories shape Britain and Scotland during that time. Absolving Elizabeth at the end is a great crime, in my opinion. I mean come on, she wanted Mary dead, we all know that.
Top 9: People Like Us
Geek Score: 3.55/5.00
“People Like Us” proves that you don’t need a complicated story about siblings to be a good film. The very simplicity of the story is what makes this film stand out. It resonates with real life and the actors did an amazing job in bringing justice to the film.
Top 8: Taare Zameen Par
Geek Score: 3.68/5.00
There’s a part when the art teacher was telling a story about a boy who had difficulty reading and writing. Ishaan, thinking that he was the one his teacher was talking about, was trembling. The teacher then named the boy as Albert Einstein. Later, when he talked to Ishaan he revealed that had the same problem too as a child. That was the scene that makes this film memorable. “Taare Zameen Par” tells the importance of understanding a child amid the hardships children with dyslexia, or any similar condition, face.
Top 7: End of Sentence
Geek Score: 3.69/5.00
“End of Sentence” will definitely touch the audiences’ heart but not in a melodramatic way. Adalsteins’ direction makes the best out of the plot but also allows the actors to shine. Logan Lerman really knows how to choose his films well.
Top 6: Ang Henerasyong Sumuko sa Love
Geek Score: 3.76/5.00
Laxamana’s films have bright moments of wit and humor. When tearfully Hadji chases after Juna Mae, begging her to stay, the film becomes a candid portrait of a man fully emasculated by a woman. That Denzel’s happy-go-lucky outlook on sexual relations is one-upped by a man who desires to put a label to his preference for multiple sexual partners is quite an ingeniously conceived comeuppance. -Rappler
Top 5: White Tiger
Geek Score: 3.83/5.00
“Straight and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, all at the same time,” Balram says of the formula for success at the beginning of “The White Tiger,” Bahrani’s fish-eye lens giving us a warped sense of perspective. When Bahrani visually breaks the fourth wall again in the film’s final moments, evoking the grander themes of disruption he’s mined during the preceding two hours, the deliberate provocation he offers is as successfully acidic as the rest of “The White Tiger.” –rogebert.com
Top 4: Kung Paano Siya Nawala
Geek Score: 3.98/5.00
By way of a typical love story between individuals pulled together by their faults and fallibilities, Kung Paano Siya Nawala reveals a refreshing soul, one that doesn’t scream it is unique and different from the rest but solemnly and silently proves it by its many resounding heartbeats. – Rappler.com
Top 3: On the Basis of Sex
Geek Score: 4.22/5.00
The film highlighted this pivotal moment in the life of Ginsburg. By doing so, “On the Basis of Sex” avoided the pitfall common to films with a biographical theme, that is to relay the story of a person from point A to point B. It made us know Ginsburg more than just presenting her life in a linear way.
Top 2: The Way Back
Geek Score: 4.38/5.00
“…The game had some divine texture beyond the reach of ordinary players (although sometimes even ordinary players felt it, and were transformed for a brief while into gods and goddesses, every bodily defect seeming to disappear during their transitory divinity), a texture that on special nights could be touched: some rich and marvelous drape such as much adorn the hardwood halls of Valhalla.” If you think that’s melodramatic or corny, you don’t understand high school basketball. Its director Gavin O’Connor does. –rogebert.com
Top 1: Operation Finale
Geek Score: 4.49/5.00
By all intents and purposes, “Operation Finale” stayed true to the real events where it was based, with just a few cinematic changes. The ethical discussions were sparse but in-depth, with the writers carefully toeing the line on this political issue. Both sides were given enough airtime here, with the final judgment being left to the audience.
Reignell Francisco
I’m a Filipino content creator with passion for travel, history, football, and anything on TV. Visit my YouTube channel onelostgeek for my travel stories. Business inquiry: geekgodreview@yahoo.com
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