We‘ve added a couple of movies to Stoski's Ultimate Movie Ratings Guide this month. Not as much as I'd have liked personally, but that's just how it goes sometimes. Highlights for this month feature a sci-fi thriller (Source Code) and a monster-suspense-horror that makes use of something that's often given second-rate treatment in Hollywood. If you're looking for some underappreciated gems, you might just find them here.

A Quiet Place (2018)

John Krasinski - Jim from hit American television comedy The Office (though he has done a lot more than that) - brings us a film that serves as a reminder that musical-oriented cinema isn't the only genre that can bring sound to life. The Quiet Place follows a family of four through a world decimated by unearthly beings who have no sight but instead posses, and hunt with, a keen sense of hearing. Any sound louder than a whisper means certain death for the few remaining humans left living in isolated communities around the globe. This isn't a story of triumph or heroics, but one of survival, and of the lengths that a parent will go for their children.

I have some questions about specific details in this movie, but a great watch nonetheless. My eyes were glued to the screen.

3.5/5

Central Intelligence (2016)

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson usually makes such solid choices as to what he appears in. The Fast and the Furious franchise is right up his alley, San Andreas lets him flex his nonviolent chops, and even though he isn't known for his vocal cords, he did a great job of winning us over with his role as demigod hero, Maui, in in Disney's Moana. Here? This? Well. This is not a good choice, and not a good movie. Your run of the mill "good guy who seems bad and needs to redeem himself" story, starring Kevin Hart and The Rock. Kevin does his whole "thing" and while Dwayne steals the spotlight, the whole thing comes up short.

This movie does nothing new or exciting. Dwayne brings his usual charisma to the role, and Aaron Paul (Jessie Pinkman in Breaking Bad) says “bitch!” but it isn’t enough.