The Girl on the Train (2016)

Directed by: Tate Taylor

Written by: Erin Cressida Wilson & Paula Hawkins (novel)

Starring: Emily Blunt






Have you seen the film Gone Girl?  Well this film is a lot like that film.

Rachel (Blunt) is devastated.  She has been for two years ever since her divorce.  Because of this, Rachel drinks constantly.  On her way to work.  On her way home.  At home.  In the street.  She is always drinking or drunk.  When a woman goes missing, Rachel becomes a suspect for being seen nearby and causing trouble.  Unfortunately for her, she can’t remember a thing. 

The movie dragged until about ¾’s a way in.  There was just a lot of talking and trying to figure out what happened during the time she blacked out. 

I thought the best thing about this film was Emily Blunt’s acting.  She was a great drunk. 

When I said it was a lot like Gone Girl, it is in terms of twists and secrets, etc…, but to be honest, Gone Girl was better. 

This film would be better rented.  3 popcorns.

The Birth of a Nation (2016)

Directed by: Nate Parker

Written by: Nate Parker & Jean McGianni Celestin

Starring: Nate Parker

Unlike the 1915 version, this film follows the slaves’ point of view rather than their white masters. 

Nate Parker, director, writer, and star of the film, did a superb job.  I definitely think this film should be nominated for the Golden Globes and Academy Awards.  If you don’t know, it shows the uprising of slaves against their masters in an attempt to become free.  The preacher Nat Turner, leads them after witnessing various events that persuade him that they way they are living is not how they are meant to be.

It’s interesting to see the 101 years difference between the original and the remake.  The differences including point of view, perspective, director, the technicalities, etc… If you’re interested, you can watch the original on YouTube.  It’s about 3 hours long.

Anyway, I liked how it showed the gruesomeness that you don’t usually see it movies like this.  In others, there aren’t close ups of the slaves’ expressions even if it’s from their point of view.  Parker was able to provide more emotion than others. 

Despite this praise, there needed to be more of a balance between Nat’s personal life and the war he was fighting.  I understand that Parker was trying to incorporate both, but it seemed that towards the end, his personal life was pushed aside.  There were barely any more scenes of him and his family.  I also would have liked to know what happened to the other slaves that were with him as well as Sam’s mother. 

Nevertheless it was good.  4 popcorns.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)

Directed by: Tim Burton

Written by: Ransom Riggs (novel) & Jane Goldman

Starring: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, & Samuel L. Jackson




To start off, I’ve never read the book.  And to be honest, now after watching the film, I don’t want to.

Jake’s grandfather just died.  But he didn’t just die; he was murdered.  In an attempt to reconnect to his late grandfather, Jake follows his grandfather’s directions and goes to a small island near Wales.  While there, he discovers that all the stories that his grandfather told him were true.

The story is great for a book, but not a movie.  Or maybe they put too much of the book in the movie.  It just felt overwhelming. 

Also there’s the subject about the loop.  In the film, Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) has to make a loop so that way her and the children stay in the same day forever.  I felt that there needed to be more explanation as to why they stayed in a loop.  In the film they just explained that they would never grow older, but that didn’t seem like a good enough reason.  Maybe I missed something.

The CGI was cool though and the powers the children had.  But it just wasn’t as exciting as I thought.  It just seemed too complicated for me to concentrate on. 

2 popcorns.

The Dressmaker (2015)

Directed by: Jocelyn Moorhouse

Written by: Rosalie Ham (novel), P.J. Hogan, & Jocelyn Moorhouse

Starring: Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, & Hugo Weaving




Tilly (Winslet), after years of staying away and traveling the world, decides to come back to the horrible small town that she grew up in.  While there, despite her reputation of being a murderess, she begins to get clients that want her dressmaking skills to transform them into beautiful confident people.  But just because she can change them, doesn’t always me they’ve changed.

I thought this film was excellent.  It reminded me a little of Baz Luhrmann’s filmmaking because the people seemed out of place in that small town and there were a lot of close ups.  Maybe it’s an Australian thing. 

Anyway, besides that the clothes were beautiful.  I also thought Liam Hemsworth’s character and Winslet’s provided a nice contrast of how people who are both outcasts can come together.  But at the same time, it seemed odd their age difference.  Usually in films having an older woman and younger man isn’t seen, not that I’m complaining.  I like it.  But it seems like the director tried to make them the same age, but Hemsworth a few years younger.  It’s obvious though it’s more than a few, especially if you know their real ages.  So overall it seemed odd.

The plot is different than I’ve seen and I loved the mother, Molly, played by Judy Davis.  I also appreciated that it wasn’t a “and she lived happily ever after” type story.  It was more real than that.

I laughed, I cried.  I loved this film.  If it’s playing near you, I recommend you see it.  5 popcorns.

Masterminds (2016)

Directed by: Jared Hess

Written by: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, & Emily Spivey

Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, & Jason Sudeikis



David Ghantt (Galifianakis) a guard at an armored car company.  After being persuaded by his crush Kelly (Wiig) to rob the bank that the company works for, he finds himself in a load of trouble with the law and an assassin.  In hopes to win the girl of his dreams and get the police off his back, he needs to figure out if he should turn himself in or get the real mastermind behind the operation caught.

This film was funny, but not as funny as I thought.  Like usual, the funniest parts of the film were in the commercial.  There are a couple more, but nothing to laugh hysterically over.

It's hard to believe that this was a true story because these characters all seem like idiots.  Their acting, especially McKinnon's was great and hilarious.  I didn't see any technical issues though.  All in all it was an okay movie.  Meh.  3 popcorns.

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Directed by: Peter Berg

Written by: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Matthew Sand, David Rohde (article), & Stephanie Saul

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O'Brien, & Kate Hudson




Dang guys.  This movie was crazy.

So the BP oil spill in 2010 is the main plot of this film.  How it started, how it ended, etc...

What I loved about this film is how it just shows all the horrific events that these men and women went through during the BP oil spill from explosions to lifeboats.  It was pretty in-depth filmmaking.  It even showed what occurred under water, CGI of course, but still it looked awesome.

Another thing I loved is that it was multiple stories.  True, Wahlberg took the lead and he's on the poster for IMDB, but he wasn't the main star.  The star was the oil rig.

Also I liked how Gina Rodriguez's character, Andrea, wasn't the eye candy and the sex object for the guys on the rig.  She was a part of the team and yet everyone looked out for her.

What I didn't like was the lingo.  I don't know oil rig/science lingo.  I'm not a scientist nor oil rig worker.  So that made it a little hard to understand.  What helped was the visuals that went along with the lingo so the audience could make the relationship between the two to understand what was going to happen next.

4 popcorns.

Snowden (2016)

Directed by: Oliver Stone

Written by: Kieran Fitzgerald, Oliver Stone, Anatoly Kucherena (book), & Luke Harding (book)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt




If you haven't heard about Snowden, he is a man in which the government hates.  From my understanding he revealed to the public that the government has been secretly spying on us through our phones, computers, and more.  They have their own database that can reveal everything about a person.  Crazy stuff, but I believe it.

Anyway, that's what the film is about.  Based on a true story, Snowden (Gordon-Levitt) goes through life starting in the army to various government agencies such as the FBI, CIA, etc...  He learns an enormous amount of information and has to decide on his own morals whether to reveal to the public what he has learned or to keep going with his highly stressed life in the government.

I thought the concept of the film was very interesting.  I was intrigued to know more, but the way it was put together was boring.  I fell asleep at least twice and so did the person I went with.  We had to go get a soda, it was that bad.  I think the main thing about why I fell asleep is because there was a lot of talking and repetition of Gordon-Levitt deciding if he should or shouldn't.  For a person's life, it makes sense to go back and forth about a big decision.  But for a movie?  I don't think so.

Another issue is that it had too much information to where it made it a little confusing.  I can tell you the beginning and the end, but as for the details of what Snowden and the government knew, I'm lost.  I don't know all of the tech lingo nor the government lingo.  If you do, then you'll probably love this film, but I'm not one of those people.  2 popcorns.

Bridget Jones's Baby (2016)

Directed by: Sharon Maguire

Written by: Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer, & Emma Thompson

Starring: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, & Patrick Dempsey




Bridget (Zellweger) is back!  And pretty much still in the same mess that we left off, but a few years later.  After celebrating her birthday alone, she decides to go on a fun weekend with her coworker.  While at a festival, she runs into Jack (Dempsey), a internet love guru who has sparked an attraction towards Bridget.  Unfortunately, he has some competition with Mark (Firth) who Bridget will always have a place for in her heart.  But when Bridget finds out she's pregnant, she has to decide on who she wants to be with: on old flame or a new spark?

I love Bridget.  I recently just did the three fictional character challenge and I picked her as one.  She's clumsy, real, and honest, which I adore.

Unfortunately I did have the bummed out feeling of missing Hugh Grant.  From what I heard, he didn't like the script and that's why he was not in the film.  But hopefully there will be a fourth film and he'll arrive.

Other than that, the film is a rom-com that satisfies all the emotions from tears to joy!  It's definitely a chick flick and you will probably see yourself rooting for one man or the other.  Hopefully yours wins.  4 popcorns.