Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: David Soren

Cast (Voice): Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Thomas Middleditch, Nick Kroll, Jordan Peele, Kristen Schall, DeeDee Rescher, David Soren and Mel Rodriguez.

Rating: Very Good.

David Soren, director “Turbo” brings his second feature film and collaboration with DreamWorks Animation with “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” and I really enjoyed this movie.

Based on the series of books by Dav Pilkey, the movie tells the story of George (Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch) two imaginative pranksters who enjoy drawing and telling stories about the hero they created:  Captain Underpants.

The kids are very popular at school due to their humor and constantly making the Principal Mr. Krupp (Ed Helms) mad.

After a school prank that both do to their classmate Melvin (Jordan Peele) Mr. Krupp decides to put both George and Harold in separate rooms.

Suddenly George uses a ring from a cereal box to hypnotize Mr. Krupp, transforming him into Captain Underpants.

To make things worst for the two pranksters, their new teacher Professor Poopypants (Nick Kroll) wants to get rid of anything that provokes laughter in children.

Now both George and Harold will need of Captain Underpant´s help to stop this and continue with both humor and laughter.

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” is without a doubt a very enjoyable one . This was because of the great screenplay written by Nicholas Stoller, who wrote last year´s “Storks” and has written comedies like “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” and “Muppets Most Wanted”. He once again uses his humor in a very good way.

I like the way how Stoller adapted Pilkey´s children´s books, focusing not only in children but adults as well.

David Soren´s directing was really good again  and the choice for the casting of the characters was a good one.

The chemistry between Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch works at all levels and both actors bring their humor and wit.

Ed Helms as both Mr. Krupp and Captain Underpants is hilarious as well, making him one of the most talented comedy actors today and this is a result of it.

The animation by DreamWorks Animation was very well made and I feel this movie can be a contender for next awards season due to the quality of animation and the originality of the story.

Another thing that I really liked of this movie was the message about the importance of living every single day on your life and laugh about it, even if you are faced in a situation that involves anything but laughter. It  also involves how to laugh about yourself which is one of the most important things in life.

The reason why I think “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” is very original is because it´s the first time that we see in an animated movie how important is to have a sense of humor in every single situation that you are faced on with.

Yes, the movie has some vulgar humor but in a childish way that makes it enjoyable. I laughed really hard with this film and I hope we can still see this kind of movie more.

With that being said “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” is a movie for all ages, I highly recommend it and I hope you enjoy it.

Churchill

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Jonathan Teplitzky

Cast: Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Ella Purnell, Julian Wadham, Richard Durden, James Purefoy and Danny Webb.

Rating: Poor.

Australian Director Jonathan Teplitzky, brings “Churchill”, a biopic of one of the most influential and iconic figures in British history that unfortunately the results were everything but satisfying.

Based in real life events, the movie tells the story of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Brian Cox) working with the American army on defeating the Nazi´s in World War II.

At the same time Churchill has an obsession of going in to the battle field with the British Army to free the French resistance but both the American and British Armies do not want Churchill to interfere and tell him to focus on his duty as Prime Minister.

Now Churchill will have to lead the country on the darkest hour and to focus on how to win the war at any cost.

One of the major problems that I saw in “Churchill” was the screenplay written by Alex Von Tunzelmann.

I felt the narrative was to vague and most of the dialogue was to on the nose. The moments where Churchill wants to fight the war and we see Brian Cox´s character scream at all times I felt it was everything but organic.

The beginning and the end of the film it was completely useless and the movie should have been focused on Churchill and D-Day.

Brian Cox´s performance as an iconic figure in British history like I mentioned it was average and I felt if the screenplay would have been written better, the performance would have been a better one.

Jonathan Tepiltzyky´s directing was not that precise. He had a very good cast at his disposal and didn´t know how to get the best of them leading to unconvincing performances.

I felt that Winston Churchill was portrayed here as a man that was showing pity and throwing fits like a child. I don´t believe that this was an ideal personification of Winston Churchill and I felt that this was because of the poor screenplay.

On a positive note both the cinematography and score where very well. I liked how David Higgs captured Winston Churchill in all his facets of both his professional and personal life and portrayed a man who had an obsession.

The score by Lorne Balfe was precise and didn´t miss any cues. I loved the way he captured some of the most emotional scenes of the film.

As a history lover I felt that if more research would have been involved, the result could have been better and the movie could have been a good one since it had huge potential.

I hope that “The Darkest Hour” starring Gary Oldman, who is going to portray Winston Churchill directed by Joe Wright is scheduled by November is a better film than this one.

With that being said “Churchill” is a disappointment and unfortunately I cannot recommend it.

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

By Emilio Frenk. 

Directors: Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg

Cast: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Kevin McNally, Golshifteh Farani, David Wenham, Stephen Graham, Bruce Spence, Juan Carlos Vellido, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.

Rating: Poor.

Norwegian directors, Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, who directed “Bandidas” starring Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz bring “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”, the fifth installment of the Disney Franchise that started in 2003 and compared to the previous one this is a better film but still the results are unfortunate.

The movie is centered in the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) a drunk pirate who is approached by Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) who happens to be son of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is seeking for Captain Sparrow´s help for the quest of the trident of Poseidon that is capable of breaking any curse that is in the oceans.

As usual Sparrow is not interested but than he agrees on helping Henry and they will do it with the help of Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) an astronomer who is being charged with heresy by the British Society.

The major problem they will face is Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), a pirate hunter who wants to seek revenge against Jack Sparrow for taking something that it was very valuable to him and he will do it with the help of Sparrow´s nemesis Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Now Captain Jack Sparrow with Henry Turner and Carina Smyth  will work with Sparrow´s mates are in a race against time on obtaining the trident before Salazar and Barbossa do and that way curse of the seas is broken once and for all.  

“Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men No Tales” had the major problem of being too repetitive and having action sequences that were an exact same carbon copy of the previous films.

The other problem that I saw in the film was that characters didn´t had  obstacles in order to reach their goals and for moments I felt that everything was to easy for them. 

This time the screenplay was written by Jeff Nathanson, which credits include “Catch Me If You Can”, “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “The Terminal” all of them directed by Steven Spielberg.  Here the problem is that Nathanson didn´t raise the stakes to high with his characters and the film was flat by moments.

It had an interesting start with the 1st Act of the Film but everything went downhill after that. I felt that both Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg directing was too flat and the action sequences were to fake as well. There were filled with tons of CGI and when some of the sequences were trying to make an effort of being funny were just not that.

In the positive side there were moments with Johnny Depp´s character that were fun to watch. Without a doubt this is Depp´s most iconic character of his career and landed him his first Academy Award Nomination back in 2004. Is a fun character to watch despite the movies from the second installment got worse.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of The Black Pearl” was a great movie directed by Gore Verbinski and had the necessary elements of being an enjoyable film. The problem is after “Dead Man´s Chest (Second Installment) is that all the movie from the franchise got worse and it´s a shame because this movies have  enjoyable characters but everything was still the same and repetitive.

Compared to “On Stranger Tides”, “Dead Man No Tells” is a better film and has a better story but the problem was the lack of obstacles of the characters in order to reach their goals.

Javier Bardem´s performance as Captain Salazar was very good and his CGI was very well made. In fact he is one of the best things with the film.

The other thing that I was surprised was the third act that it was very well executed and had a very good ending.

Just I hope that this is the last Pirates of the Caribbean film or if they do another one please let it be original and with a better screenplay.

Despite of the efforts the filmmakers try to do with “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man No Tales” I cannot recommend it due to the weak story and direction.  

Baywatch

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Seth Gordon

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra, Kelly Rohrback, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jon Bass, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Rob Huebel, Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff.

Rating: Poor.

Seth Gordon, Director of “Horrible Bosses” and “Identity Thief” brings “Baywatch” and  my first statement is: It Couldn´t Get Any Worse.

Based on the Television Show from the early nineties, the movie centers on Lt. Mitch Buchanan (Dwayne Johnson) a lifeguard who protects the beaches of Florida with his second-in command Stephanie Holden (Ilfenesh Hadera) and C.J. Parker (Kelly Rohrback).

During the upcoming tryouts, Buchanan will meet Matt Brody (Zac Efron) a cocky Olympic Two Time Gold Medal Swimmer who will do anything to get on his nerves, Summer Quinn (Alexandra Dadario) a smart and tough girl who wants to join the team and Ronny (Jon Bass) a tech nerd who has a crush on C.J.

One day Buchanan finds out about  a plan that involves Victoria Leeds (Priyanka Chopra) a wealthy owner of a Club that uses her business for drug smuggling. Not only Leeds has this plan but wants  to take total control of the land that involves the beach so she can expand her operation

Buchanan will recruit his team and trainees to stop Leeds on taking total control of the beach and bring her to the authorities before it´s too late.

When I watch this movie I felt that I was seeing an exact episode of the tv show but with a longer version of course. The movie is too bad that yes I do think that it was made on purpose to be bad.

The screenplay by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift was poorly written. There are moments that the movie is funny but most of the time is too vulgar that stopped being entertaining.

The action sequences look to fake and there is an amount of CGI used in them that are very bad executed and some of them didn´t make any sense.

I knew this movie was going to be very dumb but they are limits. On the other hand if you compare it  with the tv show, by far this is more entertaining.

Seth Gordon is director that knows the comedy genre too well and movies like “Horrible Bosses” which is a good example of a funny film. The problem is that Gordon also focused to much on the action and one of the problems that I saw in this film is that you think is a comedy but has action in it. In other words the genre is not defined and that is a major problem.

Another positive note is that both Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron are very likeably actors but here the chemistry could have been better if the screenplay would have been written properly.

For fans of the show you might like it or you might hate but honestly don´t get your hopes to high.

“Baywatch” is one of the worst movies of this pre summer that is about to begin and I cannot possible recommend it.

Everything, Everything

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Stella Meghie

Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, Ana de la Reguera, Taylor Hickson, Danube Hermosillo, Dany Payne, Fiova Loewi and Françoise Yip.

Rating: Poor.

Stella Meghie, director of “Jean of the Joneses” brings her second feature film: “Everything, Everything” and I haven´t see a movie in the genre so predictable than this one.

Based on the novel by Nicola Yoon, the movie tells the story of Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) a girl who is confined on her home with a strange disease. 

Her life will change when she see´s her new neighbor Olly (Nick Robinson) a boy who immediately has an attraction towards her.

Despite of knowing Maddy´s condition, Olly will teach the real meaning of life and to cherish every single moment of it no matter in what condition are you in.

One of the major problems that I saw in “Everything, Everything” was the narrative of the film.

The screenplay written by J. Mills Goodloe who has written movies of this genre like “The Age of Adaline” and “The Best of Me” has again dialogue that was to much on the nose and it was filled by cliché moments.

Some of the moments of the film didn´t make any sense since they give pieces of information and then it doesn´t match to some of the things that were previously mentioned.

The use of the voiceover was totally wrong and for characters of this films that yes,  they are filled with internal conflict with action is the best way to portray it.  I wanted to see how she contracted the disease instead of telling it.

The direction by Stella Meghie was not that precise and the performances from the crew except from Ana de la Reguera were not convincing at all.

The performers try to hard to make their characters believable but they failed at all times. The sequences that involve an astronaut were too repetitive and honestly I felt this movie took forever despite of the length.

I admire the fact that Stella Meghie took a chance on directing new faces in Hollywood and that is very admirable but the key is to do it with a good screenplay and unfortunately this wasn´t the case.

I do think the movie could have been an interesting one if more time would have been invested in story but this wasn´t the case and I felt that I was watching a teen tv show from the nineties with too much drama that was not well established.

The cast of this film I see them that I have huge potential and of course a big future but I hope they choose their next projects wisely.

With that being said “Everything, Everything” is one of the cheesiest and predictable dramas I´ve seen in a while and I cannot recommend it for the direction, performances and the poorly executed screenplay.

The Wall

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Doug Liman

Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena and Laith Nakli

Rating: Very Good.

Doug Liman, director of “The Bourne Identity”, “Edge of Tomorrow” and “Swingers” brings “The Wall”, an action thriller film that is very well made. 

Set in 2007 near the end of the war, the movie tells the story of American Soldiers Allen Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Shane Matthews  (John Cena) who are sent to investigate a pipeline construction in Iraq.

While they are on watch, Matthews is shot by a sniper named Juba (Laith Nakli). He also shoots Isaac leaving him in a compromising position.

Isaac seeks shelter in a brick wall that is located in the premises. Juba will want to play a game of cat and mouse with Isaac and now the marine will need to use all his knowledge and wit in order to survive and  beat a very determined adversary who will do anything at any cost.

Doug Liman again directed a very well made and paced film with “The Wall”. The level of tension of this film is really high and Liman knew how to play with those levels at every moment.

Liman is a Director who in all his films has taken advantage of this element of tension wisely and here was no different.

One of the things that made this film very interesting was the script written by Dwain Worrell, who captured with dialogue and action the intensity of a marine soldier.  I can see the amount of research that was spent in developing this type of characters and of course to live a situation that literally implicates your life.

I also like the fact that there were only three characters in a film and that made it even more interesting because you can see the conflicts on all the characters. Making this type of movies can be really difficult because of the timing and pacing that is required; there can be a tendency of  this kind of movies to be really slow since all the film takes place in one location. Here was not the case and one of things that was very smart on part of the filmmakers was that they manage what was need to be said and shown in the screen.

Another element that made it interesting is that is not the typical Hollywood war movie, compared to the latest films of Doug Liman which are in a higher level. This is more a psychological thriller set in a combat zone.

Although the only part I was not that convince was the final scene of the film. I think it wasn´t necessary and I feel that at that point we understood as members of the audience what really happened.

The performance by Aaron Taylor-Johnson is solid. The way how he portrayed with character was real and convincing. We felt for him at the whole movie since he only has a goal and it´s to survive.

Yes, the movie is very violent and graphic and before you watch be totally open and prepared since it does have very graphic scenes.

“The Wall”  not only is very that it was very well shot.  It was well acted, directed and written. This movie has very good elements of a very good Thriller film and I highly recommend it.

Alien:Covenant

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Callie Hernández, Amy Seimetz, Alexander England, Nathaniel Dean, Guy Pierce and James Franco.

Rating: Excellent.

Ridley Scott, director of “Alien”, “Blade Runner”, “Prometheus” and “The Martian” brings “Alien Covenant” the second movie of the prequel series and I must say that I was very impressed with the result of this second installment.

Followed after the events of “Prometheus”, the movie tells the story of members of the colony ship Covenant that embark to another planet in what could be a major discovery by mankind.

What apparently looks like paradise, the crew will realize that are facing a major problem that will put their lives in danger and they will have to rely on David (Michael Fassbender) the only synthetic form that lives in the planet.

Now David will try to help the crew at any cost to survive and escape the planet before it´s too late.

One of the things that I really liked of “Alien:Covenant” was the fact that the essence of the original film also directed by Ridley Scott was not altered at any way.

Another factor of this film that made it unique is that the films of this genre have the tendency to be predictable and you know by the first moment what is going to happen and here it was not the case and this is because the movie not only had a great screenplay written by John Logan and Dante Harper that  was written with so much wit, detail and tried to make it original. 

Ridley´s Scott directing is sharp and not only he focused on production value of the movie but also chose the right material to direct a very good movie. In fact I put this movie at the same level as “Alien” and James Cameron´s “Aliens” since both movies not only have very good narrative but also they are both extremely well done.

One of the trademarks of Ridley Scott is that he is one of the few director´s that knows how to create tension with scenes and here he did an amazing job with it. Like in the 1979 film there were moments that you jump on your seat and Scott knew how to portray that world of paranoia and claustrophobia here with very good results.

Michael Fassbender again he is fantastic in playing both the roles of David and Walter the synthetic beings. He portrayed both characters with wit, charisma and he knew how to create fear in both his interpretations.

Before watching “Alien: Covenant” I suggest to watch “Prometheus” if you haven´t seen it since there is information of that film that is mentioned in “Alien:Covenant”.

The visual and special effects are impressive and the despite that this time the Aliens of the film were designed by computers there are still scary and creepy.

The third act of the film is one of the most impressive and well made that I have seen in a science fiction film for a while and has one of great reversal that I guarantee you that will blow your mind.  

Once again I was proven wrong since when I saw the first trailers back in January I felt that this film was going to be a carbon copy of the 1979 version but it wasn´t; in fact I consider it a homage and very well made one.

With that being said “Alien: Covenant” is one of the biggest surprises of this pre summer season and I give a huge recommendation to it.

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Djimoun Housou, Aidan Gillen, Freddie Fox, Craig McGinlay, Michael Hadley, Tom Wu, Annabelle Wallis and Eric Bana.

Rating: Average.

Guy Ritchie, director of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, “Snatch” and “Sherlock Holmes” brings “King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword” and frankly I was having to much expectations with this film which it could had a much better result.

Based on the legends of “King Arthur” the movie tells the story of Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) a young man who has being raised on the streets, becoming a hustler and fighter. Everything will change for Arthur after an encounter with people who are related to the English royalty.

Arthur will be forced to pull the sword in the stone, which he achieves and he will realize the secrets about his birthright that has been taken away from his uncle and the current King Vortigern (Jude Law).

Not only Arthur will try to reclaim what has been taking from him, but he swears revenge against his uncle and rule England as the rightful King.

“King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword” is a movie that does entertain but at the same time is a movie that has to many flaws.

One of the major flaws that I saw in this film was the screenplay written by Guy Ritchie, Joby Harold and Lionel Wigram. It had to many problems in terms of sequence and by moments didn´t make any sense, specially the opening scene where Elephants are being seen attacking the King´s men and none of this wasn´t mentioned in any of the King Arthur books.

Also by moments it was lack on detail and some of the dialogue was to on the nose as well as some scenes.

The abuse of flashbacks were another problem. With one it could have been enough but using flashbacks it´s not the way to illustrate conflict. The best way to do it is through dialogue and actions.

There is no doubt that Guy Ritchie is a very talented director but I felt that with “King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword” he was more focused on Production Value than story itself.

The things that I did like of the film was the way how Ritchie managed how to intercut the scenes with dialogue and real action. Ritchie is one of the masters of using this tool and it´s one of his trademarks in all of the movies that he has done and nobody in the industry can do it better than him.

The editing was really well made but the use of CGI was excessive and by moments it was completely unnecessary since I felt that it didn´t mean anything for the story.

Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law are really good in their respective roles and it was very good seeing them portraying this kind of roles.

I was having very big expectations towards this movie since I do consider Guy Ritchie one of Hollywood´s most talented filmmakers but I must say that after “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”, this is his weakest film.  

I feel that if more time would have been invested in story the movie could have had another result and it would have been a great one.

With that being said I´m giving “King Arthur: Legend of The Sword” a marginal recommendation due to the flaws that I previously mentioned.

Lowriders

By Emilio Frenk

Director: Ricardo de Montreuil

Cast: Gabriel Chavarria, Demián Bichir, Theo Rossi, Tony Revolori, Eva Longoria, Montse Hernández, Noel Gugliemi, Yvette Monreal, Cress Williams and Melissa Benoist.

Rating: Very Good.

Peruvian director Ricardo de Montreuil brings “Lowriders”, his first English spoken feature filmand brings very interesting results.

The movie tells the story of Daniel Alvarez (Gabriel Chevarria), a young street artist from East Los Angeles that wants to express himself through his art while he still leaves with his father Miguel “Ghost” Alvarez (Demián Bichir) a recovered alcoholic mechanic that wants to compete in the annual lowrider event in Elysian Park.

Everything will change for Danny when his brother Francisco (Theo Rossi) is released from prison with the purpose on luring Danny into his dangerous world and will also participate in the car competition.

Now Danny´s loyalty will be tested in either to be in his father´s side or his brother´s.

One of the things that I really enjoyed of “Lowriders” was the fact that the movie goes deep into the world of Lowriders and honestly I was not aware of what it really mean until I saw the movie and indeed was a huge learning experience. 

Both Cheo Hodari Coker and Elgin James wrote deep and true characters. We instantly felt an immediate connection with them. Like I mentioned before both of them were engaged in the auto world and their  work really paid off.

Ricardo de Montreul´s directing was solid and knew how to get the best out of his cast with magnificent performances specially by both Gabriel Chavarria and Demián Bichir, who is one of the most talented Mexican actors today.

The way how de Montreul directing powerful and dramatic scenes speacially the ones that involved Demián Bichir and Theo Rossi were powerful and they reminded me a little bit from the movie “Warrior” directed by Gavin O´Connor since it involves a family matter and a father who was absent when his sons needed him the most.

I was very moved with this movie and has a powerful message that is related to forgiveness and second chances.

Not only the movie it´s a drama but also has very good moments of humor in it and a lot of heart.

The chemistry between all the actors was very good and that is of the direction that de Montreul gave tohis cast and knew how to get the best of them.

“Lowriders” is a movie that you don´t want to miss and I give a huge recommendation to the film for it´s story that is really original and for the strong and powerful message.

Snatched

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Jonathan Levine

Cast: Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Randall Park,  Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, Oscar Jaenada, Damion Scandrick, Tom Bateman, Sergio Sánchez, Chritopher Meloni and Joan Cusack.

Rating: Average.

Jonathan Levine, director of “50/50” and “The Night Before” brings “Snatched”. A movie from the comedy genre that despite of having very dumb moments I really enjoyed it.

The movie tells the story of Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) a New Yorker who recently lost her job and gets dumped by his rock star boyfriend Michael (Randall Park). Later in the story sheseeks the comfort of her over protecting  mother Linda (Goldie Hawn). 

Soon Emily tries to convince her mom to go on a previous trip that she booked with her ex boyfriend to Ecuador. At the beginning Linda is having second thoughts about the trip and finally she accepts on going with her daughter to South America.

Everything goes perfectly fine for both Emily and Linda until one day they both get kidnapped and their lives are now at stake.

Now both women have to figure out a way to survive this ordeal before it´s too late.

Jonathan Levine is a director that know this genre pretty well and once again with his direction he knew how to get the best of both Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn.

The main problem that I saw in “Snatched” was the screenplay itself written by Katie Dippold, who wrote last year´s reboot of “Ghostbusters”.  By moments there were moments the movie was not that funny.

I think that some of the jokes and gags could have been more original but some of them were very repetitive.   If a little bit more of time in the dialogue of the screenplay would have been invested the result could have been much better.

The pacing and time of the film is really good and I was pleased with it. For a genre like this one the pacingis critical is and there has been a tendency with comedies lately that some of them have been either too long or too repetitive. Here was not the case.

It was very good to see Goldie Hawn after years of absence and I´m happy that she did it with one of Hollywood´s most talented comedians: Amy Schumer. After the success she had with “Trainwreck” two years ago she has been at the peak of her game.

The chemistry between Schumer and Hawn works at all levels and yes the movie keeps it´s main purpose which is to entertain and make laugh with some goofy moments.

There were characters in the movie that I felt that there were not necessary and didn´t contribute to anything.  Despite of the movie being dumb it had very watchable and enjoyable moments.

With that being said I give “Snatched” a marginal recommendation due to the fails that I previously mentioned specially in terms of screenplay and story but I finish by saying that it was such a delight seeing both Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn in the big screen.

The Promise

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Terry George

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale, Charlotte Le Bon, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Daniel Giménez-Cacho,  Marwan Kenzari, Tom Hollander, Numan Acar, Alicia Borrachero and Jean Reno.

Rating: Very Good.

Academy Award Winner Terry George brings “The Promise”, a powerful drama that delivers outstanding results.  

Set in the last days of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, the movie tells the true story of Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac), an Armenian aspiring Physician who has the desire to study in The Imperial Medical Academy in Constantinople.

His wish comes true and she will meet Ana Khesarian (Charlotte Le Bon) an Armenian girl who was raised in Paris.

From the minute that Mikael meets Ana there is an instant connection between them and Ana falls for him despite having a relationship with American Journalist Chris Meyers (Christian Bale). This will set up not only a real conflict but also a love triangle.

To make things worst Mikael has to go back to Armenia since he kept his promise that involves the marriage of a wealthy woman.

Now Mikael has to decide in either going back to his country or stay in Constantinople risking his life.

One of the things that I liked of “The Promise” was the tone of the film and the originality of the film as well since it´s set in The Ottoman Empire and it is seen by a different point of view.

The screenplay written by Terry George, who joined forces with Academy Award Nominee Robin Swicord (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Memoirs of Geisha”) was beautifully crafted and you can tell that both filmmakers got into deep on the genocide between Turkey and Armenia and of course in the love story.

The characters of this film are so rich and everyone has a very unique and different level of conflict that makes it even much interesting to see.

Terry George is one of the masters of this genre. We have seen it in movies like “In The Name of The Father” and “Hotel Rwanda” where he not only created characters with both internal, external conflicts but unforgettable ones.

The performances by Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon are top of the nutch and Oscar Isaac I confirm that is one of the most talented actors in recent years and every time I see a performance of him is a gem and a blessing.

The cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobewhose most notable work is “Blue Jasmine”, “The Others” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is outstanding. The way how he captured with his imagery the love story and the genocide was sharp and this makes him as one of the greatest cinematographers in the industry today.

Honestly I was not having any expectations on watching “The Promise” and I thought that it was going to be cheezy romantic story but I was proven wrong and I was very satisfied with the result.

If you are a history lover I can guarantee you that you are going to love this movie and even if you don´t I still you are going to enjoy it.

One piece of advice before watching “The Promise” is to be prepared, open and most of all be aware that is a movie that contains very hard and graphic imagery that involves violence.

Yes the movie has a slow pacing but is for a purpose and it´s one of things that I really appreciated of this film that it had to be long since not only involves a love story but also as a member of the audience you can understand the conflict between Turkey and Armenia.

Terry George directed a great film with “The Promise” and it´s one of the biggest surprises of this year. I highly recommend this movie and this movie indeed will make you cry.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2.

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: James Gunn

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gilian, Pom Klementieff,  Sean Gunn, Tommy Flanagan, Chris Sullivan, Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell.

Rating: Excellent.

James Gunn, Director of the First Installment of “Guardians of the Galaxy”, which became one of 2014 Box Office hits in the summer brings the second part with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and again I was blown away.

The movie centers again in the Guardians  Peter Quill, aka “Star Lord” (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and the new add on in the Guardians  family Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) who after an unsuccessful mission they are being followed by a celestial and mysterious cosmic being named Ego (Kurt Russell).

After the Guadians have this encounter, Ego reveils himself as Peter´s father. This surprises Peter which not only this statement from Ego will set him to a journey of self discovery were he will know the truth and how special his powers are.

What made the first “Guardians of the Galaxy” a fun and entertaining movie to watch were the characters and for any movie no matter what the genre is you need to have solid and memorable characters.

Here with this second part not only James Gunn directed a brilliant sequel but wrote another wonderful screenplay and we saw tha main characters with even bigger struggles.

About the plot, Gunn was very smart on engaging two main plots into one movie and it did work. Normally this can be a very risky formula since it can confuse the audience but this was not the case here.

Here we got the chance to see one of the major conflicts on Chris Pratt´s character and again we route for him in the entire film. The scenes where Pratt is with Kurt Russell are the best scenes during the movie and Russell´s character  I must say is fascinating. We see a complete character here and we really believe his true intentions towards Pratt´s character during the film.

The movie not only is entertaining from beginning to end but one of the things that Gunn was really smart is using the comedy with the characters and works at all levels, specially with the character of Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper who has very funny moments and here is even more funnier than in the first film.

Normally sequels have the tendency to fail due to mediocre screenplays  but here it was totally the opposite and I must say that this second part surpasses the original since we see a more solid and concise story.

I feel the movie if it would have had a shorter length would be still a great film but other than that I had no problem with it and I really enjoyed. 

I mentioned in this space that “Logan” is so far the best adaptation from Marvel Comics to the big screen, well I put “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2” at that same level and are the best adaptation of comics that I have seen so far in this present year.

One piece of advice before watching is this film is if you haven´t seen the first part, watch it since it does have a sequence in terms of storyline and the fact that you will be entertained with it.

“Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 2” is indeed an enjoyable and entertaining experience and I highly recommend it.

How To Be A Latin Lover

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Ken Marino

Cast: Eugenio Derbez, Salma Hayek, Rob Lowe, Linda Lavin, Raquel Welch, Kristen Bell, Raphael Alejandro, Mckenna Grace, Rob Hueble, Rob Riggle, Omar Chaparro, Renée Taylor, Rob Corddry and Michael Cera.

Rating: Good.

Ken Marino, makes his directorial feature film and teams up with Mexican comedian Eugenio Derbez, who´s “Instructions Not Included” was a big hit in the box office in 2013. Together they bring “How To Be A Latin Lover” and it brings funny and good results.

The movie tells the story of Maximo (Eugenio Derbez) a man who made a career by seducing older rich women who  has being dumped by his wife after 25 years of marriage.

Maximo is surprised about this and decides to move in with this estranged sister Sara (Salma Hayek) and his nephew Hugo (Raphael Alejandro).

In that time he will learn about the real meaning of what family is all about and this will also represent an opportunity of for Maximo to bond with his nephew and to cherish all what life con offer.

Ken Marino´s debut as a director did really cause a good impression in me and honestly I was not having any expectations of the movie. Honestly I kind had a misjudgment that it would be a silly comedy with over the top moments but once again I was wrong.

The performance by Eugenio Derbez as Maximo is hilarious and at the same time it´s moving. At the beginning I had the feeling that you don´t feel anything for his character and of course he is portrayed as a bum but then when the second act of the film starts, it´s when we route for him.

Salma Hayek is wonderful as well in this role and her scene during the second act of the film is by far one of the best ones of this film.

The flaws that I saw in the movie that I noticed was that by moments was too predictable. Like I have mentioned before in this genre you can get away with it and at the same time this genre is generous in allowing some levels of predictability; but like everything in life there are limits and this was not the exception.

The  characters that I feel there were useless were both Rob Riggle´s, who is always the same character in every single movie I have seen and I hope he does something different and Rob Huebel´s who is over the top and both of them are not funny at all and the worst is that they both make a huge effort on doing so but they fail.

Despite of the flaws “How To Be A Latin Lover” had I think that is a really funny and entertaining film. At the same time is moving and we saw this in “Instructions Not Included” and Derbez is one actor who knows how to portray this type of characters and combines both comedy and drama in here.

“How To Be A Latin Lover” is guarantee of having a good time and I hope you have that feeling once you see it.

The Circle

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: James Ponsoldt

Cast: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Patton Oswalt, John Boyega, Karen Gilan, Ellar Coltrane, Glenne Headly and Bill Paxton.

Rating: Poor.

James Ponsoldt, director of “The Spectacular Now” and “The End of the Tour” brings “The Circle”. This is so far Ponsodt´s most ambitious project to this day but delivers unfortunate results.

Based on the novel by Dave Eggers, the movie tells the story of Mae (Emma Watson) a young girl whose life will change when she lands her dream job at The Circle, a powerful tech and social media company.

Once she is in the circle she will meet the founders Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt).

In there  she will find out that the decision that she makes in the company involve a matter of privacy, surveillance and freedom. Eventually Mae will realize that every decision she makes will determine the future of humanity.

The main problem that I saw in “The Circle” was the characters. They were too vague and I didn´t see any conflict at all in this film. This is one thing that surprises me the most since James Ponsoldt is a filmmaker who gets deep in inner conflict in all the movies he has done since “Off The Black”, but here I didn´t see any.

The screenplay was too predictable and also one of the things that I didn´t see was that  there wasn´t a villain which surprised me as well.

The novel I do think is a great piece of modern literature and for people who are interested in tech and social media it´s worth a read. Also the theme with human rights and privacy it´s very touchy and I wanted to see a full criticism  or the consequences of not using social media wisely but I didn´t see that here.

On a positive note the movie is very well shot by Matthew Libatique, who has worked with Darren Aronovsky in movies like “Black Swan”, “The Wrestler” and “Requiem for a Dream”. The way he played with the lighting and colors of the film were really good and it´s the only good thing I saw in this film.

“The Circle” is a movie that without a doubt I was expecting good things since I am a big follower of Ponsoldt´s work and  all the movies he has done are really good, in fact “The Spectacular Now” I consider it as one of the best films of 2013 since it´s a very powerful drama that not only it was well directed, but it delivered brilliant performances by Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller.

I believe if the movie would have been written by Ponsoldt only instead of him writing with Dave Eggers could have been a different result. I do believe that Ponsoldt try to do his best effort on making this film good but I think that he was more focused on making the film look good than in story.

Here he had a more ambitious cast and unfortunately they could not save the movie since the characters were too vague and I didn´t see any emotion in here.

James Ponsoldt is one of the most talented filmmakers today and I hope this is a huge learning experience for him.

“The Circle” is a big disappointment this year andunfortunately I cannot recommend it.

Free Fire

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Ben Wheatley

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Michael Smiley,  Sam Riley, Enzo Cilenti, Babou Ceesay, Noah Taylor and Jack Reynor.

Rating: Good.

Ben Wheatley, director of “Kill List” and “High Rise” bring “Free Fire” an action/comedy that despite being absurd at all levels, it has good and funny moments. 

Set up in Boston during the late 70´s, “Free Fire” tells the story of Chris (Cillian Murphy) and Frank (Michael Smiley), two IRA members who have a business meeting with weapon dealers Vernon (Sharlto Copley), Ord (Armie Hammer) and intermediary Justine (Brie Larson).

The meeting takes place in a deserted warehouse and everything goes wrong when a member of Vernon´s gang Harry (Jack Reynor) snaps when he see´s Stevo (Sam Riley) one of the drivers of Chris and Frank since he  attacked Harry´s cousin leaving her in the hospital.

Now the two sides begin a shootout in the warehouse and not only both gangs will try to recover a briefcase full with a lot of money but will have to manage to survive in order to get out of the place.

“Free Fire” is a movie that I feel that director Ben Wheatley was very influenced by Quentin Tarantino`s “Reservoir Dogs” since the plot is similar but this movie was not even close to Tarantino`s masterpiece.

The characters of the film I felt that there were absurd but at the same time I admit that were fun to watch.

The most funny and interesting character of the film was Vernon played by Sharlto Copley which you can barely understand a word he is saying but is one of his trademarks. 

On the other hand I felt Brie Larson´s performance was anything but spectacular. In fact I don´t see the point on having a female character in the film. Larson is without a doubt one of the most talented actresses in Hollywood but I felt her character was too vague.

The Screenplay written by Ben Wheatley, who joined forces with Amy Jump had an interesting setup but I felt the story was too repetitive and weak.  I understand there is a reason for the shootout but then the same things happen over and over again. 

The addition of other characters who want the same as the two gangs  was  completely useless and I think that with the characters of both gangs would have been enough.

For fans who like camera handheld in film I think you are going to enjoy it but I do think the execution of the film could have been better.

I did had a good time watching this movie and I laughed of how absurd it was and some of the dialogue and scenes didn´t make any sense but I was entertained.

If more time would have been invested story wise the movie could have been a better one since I felt that I was watching a carbon copy of “Reservoir Dogs” but much weaker.

With that being said I give “Free Fire” a marginal recommendation. Do not expect a masterpiece on this movie but I can guarantee you that you are going to be entertained and you are going to laugh with some of the humor, specially if you like a very dark one.

Unforgettable

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Denise Di Novi

Cast: Rosario Dawson, Katherine Heigl, Geoff Stults, Robert Wisdom, Whitney Cummings, Simon Kassianides, Jayson Blair, Isabella Kai Rice and Cheryl Ladd.

Rating: Poor.  

Producer Denise Di Novi, makes her directorial debut with “Unforgettable” and the first line I´m going to start with is that I´ve seen much better movies than this one. 

The movie tells the story of Julia Banks (Rosario Dawson) a blogger from San Francisco who moves  to South California with her fiancée David (Geoff Stults).

Julia will meet David daughter Lily (Isabella Kai Rice) and David´s ex-girlfriend and mother Tessa Connover (Katherine Heigl).  

Tessa cannot move on with her life after her break up with David and is determined to make Julia`s life a living hell and will try to win David back at all costs.  

“Unforgettable” is one of the most ridiculous and stupid movies I have seen so far in this year. And when I mentioned before that I have seen better movies, what I mean is that this movie is clearly a rip off of “Fatal Attraction” which is far superior.

There is nothing to expect from this film since it´s written by Christina Hodson, who wrote last year´s “Shut In”, which I considered as one of the worst movie from 2016 and this was exactly the same thing.

The dialogue of the film is totally over the top and I never cared from any of the characters of the film.

The setup from the film doesn´t make any sense and the first scene should have never happened in the first place. All the backstory and how was her Rosario Dawson´s character´s life in San Francisco is totally useless.

She is  a very talented actress and I don´t understand why she accepted to be in a movie like this.

Katherine Heigl´s performance as the villain of the film was empty and too overacted. I never bought it from the beginning. I understand it´s the first time we see her in this role but she didn´t deliver a good performance.

Denise Di Novi´s debut as a director was a very unfortunate one and she has been involved in movies like “Crazy, Stupid, Love”, “Edward Scissorhands”, “Batman Returns”, “Ed Wood” and many others as a producer  but this film she made the wrong choices in directing her cast and I hope this is a big lesson for her in the future.

“Unforgettable” is the opposite of the title of the film: Forgettable, and is so far the worst movie from 2017 and please do not waste your time and money on watching this piece of trash.

The Lost City of Z

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: James Gray

Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Edward Ashley, Ian McDiarmid and Franco Nero.

Rating: Excellent.

James Gray, director of “The Yards” and “We Own The Night” brings “The Lost City of Z” and indeed this a worth movie to watch.

Based on true events the movie tells the story of British Explorer Col. Percival Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) who embarks to a mission of finding a mysterious city in the jungles of South America.

He will be joined by Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson), Arthur Manley (Edward Ashley) and later on by his son Jack (Tom Holland).

Eventually the quest will become an obsession for Fawcett that not only will bring him consequences to him and his family but also will lead to his disappearance.

“The Lost City of Z” is a movie that combines both drama and thriller in an interesting way and James Gray achieved that with his smart directing.

The movie was shot completely in film and most of it in Colombia and Gray knew how to capture the moments of both drama and thriller.

Gray adapted the book by David Grann as realistic as possible in a well crafted screenplay that not only has interesting dialogue but Gray knew how to play with the progressive complications with his characters specially Percival Fawcett´s.

I was blown away with the cinematography of the film by Darius Khondji, which credits include “Se7en”, “Amour”, “Midnight in Paris” and many others. The lighting and the way how he played with the contrasts of the characters was really interesting and when I was watching the movie I had the sensation of enjoying a painting.

On the other hand there were scenes of the film that were not necessary but I understand why James Gray wanted to have them since he wanted to make the movie as realistic as possible. Still I do believe if the length of the film would have been shorter it would still be an amazing film. To be exact some of the scenes happened during the second act of the film.

Charlie Hunnam´s performance is so far the best I have seen in his career. His portrayal as Fawcett  is played with so much realism and truth that you immediately feel a connection with his character.

Also I have to mention that this is so far the most ambitious film in James Gray´s career but he knew how to capture every single detail and without a doubt he directed a winner.

With that being said “The Lost City of Z” is one of the best films of this year and I give a huge recommendation to it.

The Fate of the Furious

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: F. Gary Gray

Cast: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodríguez, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Statham, Nathalie Emmanuel, Charlize Theron, Luke Evans, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Elsa Pataky, Kristofer Hivyu and Helen Mirren.

Rating: Very Good.

F. Gary Gray, director of “Straight Outta Compton” and “The Italian Job” brings “The Fate of the Furious”, the eighth installment of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise and again the results were positive.

While Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his wife Letty (Michelle Rodríguez) are enjoying their honeymoon in Cuba, a mysterious woman named Cipher (Charlize Theron) seduces Dom.

Later in the movie Dom and his crew conformed by Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Letty steal an artefact in Berlin where Dom betrays his crew, goes rogue and is recruited by Cipher in a world of cyber terrorism.

Eventually Dom will learn the secrets of Cipher´s plans and will try to manipulate him at all costs.

Now the remaining crew from Dom´s team will try to stop Cipher who intents to create a nuclear war before it´s too late and of course they need to find Dom as well. They will do it with the help of assassin Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) who has a personal score to settle with Cipher as well.

“The Fate of the Furious” like the previous films of the film entertains and that´s the whole point of this movie.

F. Gary Gray knows how to direct this kind of movies. He did it with “The Italian Job” were not only interesting characters were brought to the big screen but the action sequences he directed were very well made specially the chase involving Mini Coopers that took place in the streets of Los Angeles and was the climatic scene of the movie.

Honestly the First “Fast and Furious” film had a very interesting premise and a good script, but I feel that the franchise begin to be better from the fifth film to the last one.

The screenplay of this film again was written by Chris Morgan, who precisely begin to write the films from the fourth movie and despite having over the top moments and some of them redundant the movie delivers.

I liked the fact the movie was not obvious and some of the other “Fast and Furious” films were having those elements of being too predictable.

This wasn´t the case and this was the opposite which also made it an enjoyable experience.

The journey from Vin Diesel´s character was very well executed and honestly was not expected since we see him as the main hero of the film but for other choices he decides to do what he does during the movie.

Charlize Theron plays a very good villain. She is pure evil in this film but at the same time I do consider a blessing seeing this talented actress portraying a very interesting character.

I understand why this movie had to be a little longer than it should be but I do believe if some of the scenes would have been trimmed it could have been still a good movie.

F. Gary Gray proves to be one young director who is very talented in directing this type of films and the way how he played with the internal and external conflicts of all the characters was very smart and again we route for them.

“The Fate Of The Furious” is a slick, fun and entertaining film and I recommend it despite of the over the top moments that were previously mentioned and I can guarantee you that you will have a great time watching this movie.

Their Finest

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Lone Scherfig

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Billy Nighy, Jack Huston, Paul Ritter, Rachael Stirling, Ricahrd E. Grant, Henry Goodman, Eddie Marsan, Jake Lacy and Jeremy Irons.

Rating: Excellent.

Lone Scherfig, director of “An Education” brings “Their Finest” a British drama that brought very good results.

The movie tells the story of copywriter Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) who one day is asked by The British Ministry of Information Film  that they want to make a propaganda film about the evacuation of Dunkirk, which took place in the British Islands during World War II.

She will team up with Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) and together will put up a movie that will leave a message to the British people about the meaning of the war.

“Their Finest” is a movie that I consider how things were in the industry in that time and of course they are in a similar way now.

Lone Scherfig was very smart in not only telling a story from the main characters point of view but she showed the film world in a very interesting and original way.

The screenplay by Gaby Chiappe, which is based in novel “Their Finest Hour and a Half” by Lissa Evans was written with so much detail and she created original and true characters in this film.

In movies that are based on events like World War II we only see the suffering from the people and  the soldiers who are fighting the war; this time was different and this is one of the elements that made “Their Finest” a very interesting movie.

The performances by Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin and Billy Nighy were outstanding and the  way how they portrayed their characters was so real that you immediately feel identified with them.

The movie did surprise me specially by the end of the Second Act which is one of the major turning points of this film and it did really work.

Sometimes this kind of movies have the typical cliché of the love story that two people who don´t like each other end up falling in love. This happened by a moment  but then it had interesting surprises.

The chemistry between the actors worked at all times and this was an enjoyable film to watch.

“Their Finest” is one of the major surprises of this year and Lone Scherfig directed another great picture.

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Fall of a New York Fixer

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Joseph Cedar

Cast: Richard Gere, Lior Ashkenazi, Michael Sheen, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Josh Charles, Harris Yulin, Dan Stevens, Steve Buscemi and Hank Azaria.

Rating: Very Good.

Writer/Director Joseph Cedar brings “Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer”, a drama that brought  interesting results and very good performances.

The movie tells the story of Noah Oppenheimer (Richard Gere), a New York Strategy Consultant who befriends Micha Eshel (Lior Ashkenazi) a politician from Israel.

Three years later, Micha Eshel will become the Prime Minister of Israel and Norman´s life will change forever since he did a good thing and help someone who was in a low point in his life.

However Norman´s relationship with The Prime Minister  will bring him problems to his life and he will need to help himself instead of helping other before it´s too late.

One of the things that I enjoyed of “Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer” was the characters of the film and that it was very straight forward from the beginning.

The screenplay by Joseph Cedar and his directing were very sharp and he got the best of his actors in this film and directed brilliant performances.

The narrative that Cedar used for this film was very interesting since it was told in a very original way and we see in the character of Norman Oppenheimer a mysterious man that has a lot of struggle and a lot of internal conflict which is one of the elements that made the movie very interesting.

The journey for Norman´s character is very well written and we see a man who tries hard on reaching his goals and of course his credibility which by the midpoint of the film until part of the third act is tested and Cedar was very smart on using the elements that he had on his disposal.

I must say that this is Richard Gere´s most fine performance of his career for the way he played his character. He played with so much joy and as an audience member I feel for him and I enjoyed seeing him in this role. The last performance that I was convinced by Richard Gere was “Internal Affairs” where he portrays Dennis Peck, a terrifying character and totally the opposite of the characters that Gere usually plays.

Other elements that I liked from “Norman…” was the editing that it was very fast and sharp as well as the cinematography which I liked how the played with the contrasts ofeach and every single characters of the film.

I really liked the third act and the climax of the film that it was really smart and totally surprising since I never expected that ending.

Another interesting thought of the film is that I felt that it was a criticism of how we live in the society today and towards politics that most of the things are a house of cards and Joseph Cedar was very smart and how to portray both worlds from the perspective of a man that besides being lonely likes to help people and the other from the political world that it is a cruel and everybody  everybody wants a piece of the pie.

“Norman: The Moderate Rise and Fall of a New York Fixer” is one of the biggest surprises of this year and I give a huge recommendation.