Ingrid Goes West (2017)

Directed by: Matt Spicer

Written by: Matt Spicer & David Branson Smith

Starring: Audrey Plaza & Elizabeth Olsen






After losing her best friend, Ingrid (Plaza) is on a search for someone to fill that spot.  She follows Taylor (Olsen), a designer, on Instagram and automatically wants to be her best friend from how interesting she finds her.  She moves to L.A. and hatches up a scheme to meet Taylor accidentally and become a part of her life.  But when she feels that she's being replaced, Ingrid hatches up more schemes and lies that eventually catch up to her.

This film was weird, but I liked it.  It basically emulated real life with how crazy people can get on social media from stalking someone to changing their personality to fit in.

This movie reminded me of "Rough Night," where Scarlett Johansson's character fought with Jillian Bells' character about how she wanted her own life and felt suffocated by Bell. That is basically this movie, but blown up.

Olsen played perfectly the L.A. girl stereotype and Plaza did too with her psycho obsession.  Not to mention the moral of the story where it doesn't matter how many people like you, you just have to like yourself.  Or the other moral that all those friends online are just that, online friends.

4 popcorns.

Shot Caller (2017)

Directed by: Ric Roman Waugh

Written by: Ric Roman Waugh

Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau







Jacob has it all.  He works on Wall Street, has a beautiful house, and a lovely family.  But after a drunken night, it all goes away and he gets stuck in prison.  In order to make sure he's not taken advantage of, he makes a name for himself "Money."  But once he gets out, he'll have to decide, is he Jacob or Money?

This film was amazing, mostly due to the possibility that this story could haven to anyone.  It's so realistic and played extremely well by Nikolaj.  In addition, this part is very different from his "Game of Thrones" one of Jamie Lannister.

The technicalities of the film are okay, nothing spectacular, but I didn't see anything wrong either.  The only reason for the 4 is because it drags in a couple of places.  But I highly recommend this movie due to the plot.

4 popcorns.

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

Directed by: Patrick Hughes

Written by: Tom O' Connor

Starring: Ryan Reynolds & Samuel L. Jackson








When Darius Kincaid (Jackson) gets summoned to give his testimony in court about an angry tyrant, he becomes the everyone's number one target.  Michael Bryce (Reynolds) gets hired to protect Kincaid, but their history may get in the way of him doing his job.

This film was both hilarious and had plenty of action.  Honestly, I can't think of anything bad to say about the film.  I didn't think there were any slow scenes and each actor gave a great performance, especially Salma Hayek.  Her character was great.

The plot was sound and the cinematography, special effects, and more was great too.  Probably the best technical feature was the editing, because they were able to hit all the sound points (which could be the sound technician rather than the editor), and they did a few scenes where they split the screen into three or so parts and have different scenes playing in each of them.  I love when editors do that, if done well and in this case it was done well.

5 popcorns.

The Only Living Boy in New York (2017)

Directed by: Marc Webb

Written by: Allan Loeb

Starring: Callum Turner, Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan, & Jeff Bridges






Thomas (Turner) has a difficult life.  He's stuck in the friend zone and he yearns for his father's (Brosnan) approval, always within reach, but never quite grasping it.

Once he finds out his father is having an affair, he becomes determined to put an end to the relationship, eventually falling in love with his father's mistress himself.  Torn between both men, Johanna (Beckinsale), the mistress, needs to decide if either is worth the effort and if Thomas should reveal the relationship to his mother.

The film was overall predictable, but as an audience member you took the role of sympathizer for the women that were Thomas' life.  Yes, he was the main character, but he also seemed a little bit like a jerk, but then again so were the women towards him.

Aesthetically, it was fine.  And the metaphor that ran parallel to the main plot line was sufficient enough to read between the lines.  The only living boy in New York is him and he's basically living a novel.

3 popcorns.

Kidnap (2017)

Directed by: Luis Prieto

Written by: Knate Lee

Starring: Halle Berry







Going through a custody battle, Karla (Berry) is highly stressed and just wants to enjoy her time with her child.  But as she becomes distracted at the park, her son is kidnapped and she'll do anything to get him back.

The film watched like a B movie.  It followed all the film making rules, but seemed amateurish compared to other films.  If Halle Berry wasn't signed onto this film, it probably wouldn't have been made otherwise.

There were a few scenes that were held too long, which was a bad choice on the editing and directing side.  Plus some of the music was distracting and felt too cinematic.

But, the movie was highly suspenseful with tension and good acting.  Berry did an excellent job portraying a caring mother trying to get her child back.  Throughout the film, as an audience member, I wanted to know what was going to happen next.  I was eager for more!

Even at the end I wanted more and was unsatisfied with how they left things.  Personally, I would have liked some more information about the custody afterwards and how this kidnapping affected it, but I guess the director thought otherwise.

Nevertheless, 4 popcorns!  I thought it was a great plot.

The Glass Castle (2017)

Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton

Written by: Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham, & Jeannette Walls (novel)

Starring: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, & Naomi Watts







At first I was apprehensive about this film.  I originally wanted to see it and was very excited about it, but then I saw that "Rotten Tomatoes" gave it a low score and considered it "Rotten."  I was shocked and saddened.

Nevertheless, I went to see the film and understood their low score, but I loved it; hence the 5.

Jeannette (Larson) had a childhood of freedom and instability.  Her and her family moved from place to place, sometimes starving and trying to survive.  Despite, their anger with their parents for not taking care of them, Rex (Harrelson) and Rose Mary (Watts) had their moments.  As Jeannette grew older, she began to distance herself from her past life and deny it.  But running away from your problems sometimes has the ability to catch up with you.

Now the film felt like a moment after moment, trying to make you feel all these things at once, accomplishing the exact opposite.  But after the middle of the film, that stopped, or at least I didn't notice it anymore.  But those moments were relatable, at least for my life and that's why the film was so good.  But if you cannot relate to the family, then of course, you'll hate it, which is my guess about the "Rotten Tomatoes" critics.  Plus, some of them said that they've seen this story before, but I haven't.  What they said the story was, was not what I thought it was.

Anyway, all in all you'll hate it or love it.  Not sure if there is an in between.

5 popcorns.

Annabelle: Creation (2017)

Directed by: David F. Sandberg

Written by: Gary Dauberman

Starring: Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, & Stephanie Sigman








I recommend, before watching this film, you to watch the first one first.  Otherwise you might be lost or not see the connection between the films.

A group of orphans move into a new home where weird things begin to happen to Janice (Bateman) and her best friend Linda (Wilson) after discovering a strange doll in the closet.  After a while, the doll becomes more dangerous and needs to take a human soul in order to live on and become stronger.

Now that's where I became confused.  Apparently, the doll is not possessed, it's just attached to an evil spirit.  I thought the doll had the demon inside it, but note to self, it just waits for a host a.k.a. one of the girls.

The film was very tense for the most part and had a complete plot that gave you that "aha" moment at the end.  You can see how the films connect and even get a sense of the true story as well.  (Since if you didn't know, the real doll is a raggedy Ann doll.)

Other than that, there isn't much else to say.  I didn't get scared as much as I was creeped out and tense.  I guess knowing something is coming helps with the fear.  The best part though was the ending because, like I said, it had the connection between the films.  That's what pushed it up to a 4, otherwise it would have been a 3.

4 popcorns.

Atomic Blonde (2017)

Directed by: David Leitch

Written by: Kurt Johnstad

Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, & John Goodman




In 1989, the Cold War is finally ending, but Lorraine Broughton (Theron) has a mission to find out who is the double agent a.k.a. Satchel in MI6, as well as discover a list with every name of the secret agents.

To be frank, the movie was confusing for about 3/4ths of it.  As an audience member, you knew that she was on hunt for this list as well as Satchel, but the connections to the "bad guys," didn't make sense all that well.  In other words, it was a little difficult to keep up until the end, where you have an "ah ha" moment and just figured everything out.  But in my opinion, that's way too long.

In addition, most of the film was a flash back, which seemed unnecessary.  I think it would have been better and less confusing if they had kept the storyline linear.  Plus, there's a moment in the film where you don't know if it is the past or present.  They should have at least gave some indication as to what it was.

Furthermore, Theron's fighting was iffy.  What I mean is that it seemed so robotic.  Like punch here, kick here, yadda yadda yadda.  There wasn't enough spontaneity until the end where the fighting seemed to have improved.  Not sure what that was about.

Along with the fighting was a lack of music.  Most of the scenes were quiet where you just hear the action grunts and breaking glass, etc.  I wonder if there was action music, like shown in the trailer, if the fighting would have been better and more fast paced rather than slow boring movements.

But despite all these negatives, the actors performed well and the cinematography was great.  Beautiful cool tones filled the screen and the ending gave you a shocker.  The first part of the ending was predictable, but then it took twist that you just don't see coming. (Or at least I didn't.)

4 popcorns.