Beasts of No Nation: its interesting to think if the Academy had just nominated Idris Elba for an Oscar for this movie, they could have eliminated a lot of controversy over diversity they are dealing with now. However, these conversations need to happen. Unfortunately, Elba was very much deserving of a nomination for his role as a charismatic yet evil leader of a rogue army that recruits children as its fighters in Africa. Elba makes what could have been a throwaway two dimensional villain much more complex. The lead of the film, young actor Abraham Attah is also excellent. The film loses a few points because I can only see so many war scenes before it feels gratuitous and I get bored.
Beasts of No Nation: 7 out of 10
Sicario- I love Emily Blunt. I think she is one of the most underrated famous actresses. That said, I didn't love this movie. I had a hard time following it because it mostly did not catch my interest. The last half an hour where all is revealed (and not that surprising) brought me back, but not really enough for me to strongly recommend it. It is slight progress that a movie was made with this kind of female lead. I'm not too disappointed Benicio del Toro was not nominated for an Oscar since it felt like a character he'd played before in Traffic.
Sicario 6 out of 10
Vacation 2015-
I was excited about this because I thought it was a good franchise to reboot which is something I don't say often. It also had a great cast. However, it has none of the charm of the original film even with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo cameos. It tries using gross out humor but nothing in this goes beyond mildly funny. It's pretty much terrible and disappointing.
Vacation 3 out of 10
The Stanford Prison Experiment
It's about the well known study where participants play the roles of wardens and prisoners and the simulation starts to feel like a real prison. While it serves as a reminder of the evil that men can do, there isn't really anything special about it. It has a great cast of young actors though, and I'll be excited to see what they all do over the next few years. Ezra Miller especially!
The Stanford Prison Experiment 6 out of 10
Bread and Tulips
In this Italian film made in 2000, a woman gets tired of her family vacation and escapes to a different life in Venice. It's a charming movie, but it is also slight. It also feels like a film that has been made many times before
Bread and Tulips 6 out of 10
Infinitely Polar Bear- the great Mark Ruffalo was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy for this film. That shows you how dumb the Golden Globes are. He plays a bipolar parent and there are only glimpses of humor in a fairly dramatic film. The acting is all great which I've come to expect when Mark Ruffalo is involved, but this is actually a movie that could have benefitted from being longer. There definitely was more story to tell here.
Infinitely Polar Bear 6 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment