Wish Upon

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: John R. Leonetti

Cast: Joey King, Ryan Phillippe, Ki Hong Lee, Mitchell Slaggert, Shannon Purser, Sydney Park, Elizabeth Röhm, Josephine Langford and Sherilyn Fenn.

Rating: Poor.

John R. Leonetti, director of the 2014 horror hit “Annabelle” brings “Wish Upon”, a horror film that has one of the most stupid premises I´ve seen in a while.

The movie tells the story of Clare Shannon (Joey King) a girl who lost her mom when she was very young and lives with her father Jonathan (Ryan Phillippe) a musician who lost interest on everything after the passing of his wife.

One day Jonathan while he is scavenging in the dumpsters finds an ancient Chinese music box and gives it to his daughter.

Clare is attracted to this box, but she is not aware of the powers of the box. She successfully finds out what is in that box and she has to make seven wishes.

Now every wish that Clare makes has fatal consequences. After she realizes this, Clare know must decide if she wants to continue making the wishes or gets rid of the box for good.

One of the reasons that I mentioned that this movie had one of the most stupid plots is because of the fact that involves a music box that has life and does very bad things. 

I had the feeling that this movie was going to be bad and I was not wrong at all. The premise of this film is awful and nothing works.

The screenplay written by Barbara Marshall was empty at all meanings. The story didn´t make sense and I felt that she wanted to make something similar to “John Carpenter´s Christine” where a car is involved.

The thing is that one of the reasons why “Christine” was successful back in the eighties is because of the fact that besides is a movie that was adapted by a Stephen King novel, not only had an interesting premise and plot, but had great characters.

Here the major problem were the characters and I do think that the movie could have had good things if more work would have been involved. For starters doing it with something that is not a music box.

John R. Leonetti´s direction was all over the place and he did the same mistakes as he did with “Annabelle”.

I felt that he wanted to do a very visual film, but he did not achieve that either. At least “Annabelle” was visual but this one it wasn´t and the performances of all the cast were very flat starting with the main lead Joey King.

There were moments that were interesting but the execution and the direction that Leonetti was going didn´t work.

The movie was predictable from beginning to end. And the music in the box every time that it was happening instead of being frightened, I was annoyed by the sound of it.

The whole movie was laughable and yes it has the classical horror moments where a loud sound is involved and sometimes you jump off your seat but that was pretty much it.

I hope this is a big learning lesson from John R. Leonnetti for his poor direction and for Barbara Marshall for her poor screenplay, that looked like an amateur film.

With that being said “Wish Upon” is not only one of the worst movies I had seen in a while but it´s one of the year´s worst movies.  

The Big Sick

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Michael Showalter

Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher, Zenobia Shroff, Adeel Akhtar, Aidy Bryan, Kurt Braunohler, Jeremy Shamos, Bo Burnham and David Alan Grier.

Rating: Excellent.

Michael Showalter, director of last year´s indie comedy “Hello, My Name is Doris” joins forces with Producer Judd Apatow and bring “The Big Sick”, a romantic comedy that has very good results.

Based in true events, the movie centers in Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) a Pakistani stand up comedian and driver in Chicago that meets in a show a girl named Emily (Zoe Kazan).

Both of them feel an interesting attraction from the beginning and will form a true relationship.

The problem is that Kumail has an impediment in his culture, which is arranged marriage. When Emily finds about this she is devastated and have to break their relationship.

One day Kumail receives a call from a friend of Emily´s and informs him that she is in the hospital and has been diagnosed with a strange disease.

Now Kumail will be at Emily´s side no matter what and will try to do anything to get Emily in his life again, even if it means to be disowned by his family.

One of the things that made “The Big Sick” work is the fact that this movie is practically Kumail Nanjiani´s and Emily Gordon´s life and how they met. Both of them wrote a beautiful and crafted screenplay.

Michael Showalter´s direction was really good and knew how to get the best of his cast that included an Academy Award Winner (Holly Hunter).

Other element that made the movie work is that the way how they mention the culture and the traditions of Kumail´s family. Normally this kind of movies do not touch the subject and go straight to the facts. 

The way how the internal conflicts of both characters were triggered in the movie was very interesting and not only the movie is a comedy, but is also considered a drama.

I still feel that has a lot of Judd Apatow elements, like the fact that the movie is long. I did not mind this but again in a movie of this genre the timing is important.

I do have an enourmous respect towards Judd Apatow, who I consider one of the best romantic comedy filmmakers in the business but I think that he could be even better if he would watch carefully the length of his movies that he directs and produces.

Even though “The Big Sick” is a movie that the length is two hours long, you enjoy it and they go pretty fast.

There were moments in this movie that I was touched and the way how the love story between Kumail and Emily was portrayed was very original and didn´t had any cliché moments or over the top and this is another factor of the movie that made it work.

“The Big Sick” is a very enjoyable comedy, I put in the year´s best films and I give a huge recommendation to this sweet and tender movie.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Jon Watts

Cast: Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Martin Starr, Kenneth Choi, Jennifer Connelly and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Rating: Good.

Jon Watts, director of “Cop Car” brings “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. This is so far the most ambitious movie of his career and the results could have been much better but still I think the movie does deliver.

The movie takes place after the events of “Captain America: Civil War” and focuses in a young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) who is being mentored by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) in how to balance his life as an ordinary high school kid.

An anxious Peter is aware of his super powers and every day after school he is dressed as Spider-Man. With the outfit, Peter begins to fight crime and trying to keep the streets safe. At the same time Peter has the dream to become a member of The Avengers.

Eventually Spider-Man will face a major threat in the figure of The Vulture (Michael Keaton) a villain who uses all the advance technology to create weapons and sell them.

Now Spider-Man will be in a race against time to stop The Vulture before he takes total control of arms and used them for massive destruction.

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” like I mentioned is a movie that is entertaining but one of the major problems of the film was the screenplay itself.

Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers wrote a movie that it was totally focused on teenagers and they didn´t pay attention to the part of adults.

I felt the movie was too long and also there weren´t any action sequences except a few that happened during the second act of the film.

One of the things that the Sam Raimi films had was tons of actions sequences and they were really well made and for a movie like this you need those elements.

Some of the dialogue of the film was too on the nose and I felt the movie could have had a shorter length.

I did like Tom Holland as Spider-Man. He really delivered an this approach was very interesting. Although I felt that it could have been much better if the characters were written better.

Michael Keaton´s characters as The Vulture was an interesting one and this is the third time that he portrays a character  with wings. He did it with “Batman”, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance” and now with “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. I did like the fact that he was not the typical villain that wants world domination. In fact in most of the film you feel for him and you understand why he is who he is.

I feel that Jon Watt´s directing was too focused on the visuals and how to make the movie look good. I understand this point since it´s a superhero movie but I felt that Watt´s should have been focused on the screenplay as well.

I think who really made the movie good was Robert Downey Jr. His addition to this film was too important and he portrays Tony Stark with so much wit and charisma that I think that is one great character.

I do believe that if Tony Stark would have not been in this movie, I don´t think it would have been this successful. I do see this relationship similar to the one  Daniel Larusso and Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid”.

The chemistry between Holland and Downey Jr works but I do think that it could have been much story if more time in story would have been invested.

I was not a big fan of the ending and I feel that the best scene of the film happened during the third act during the final confrontation of Spider-Man and The Vulture. 

I give “Spider-Man: Homecoming” a marginal recommendation due to the fails that it had in story and the length of the film. Again if this things would have been fixed, we would be talking about a much better film. 

A Ghost Story

By Emilio Frenk 

Director: David Lowery

Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Kenneisha Thompson, Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo, Grover Coulson, McColm Sephas Jr and Kesha.

Rating: Very Good.

David Lowery, writer/director of “Ain´t Them Bodies Saints” joins forces for the second time with Academy Award Winner Casey Aflleck and Academy Award Nominee Rooney Mara in “A Ghost Story” and the results are interesting.

The movie tells the story of C (Casey Affleck) a struggled musician who moves to a suburban house with his wife M (Rooney Mara).

One day C suffers a car accident that will cost him his life and M´s life will take a drastically turn.

Later C will wake up from the morgue in a sheet and will embark in a journey where he will answer questions about existence and life.

In that time, C will try to reconnect with his wife who still misses him and they will both learn to cherish and remember the times they had when they were together.

“ A Ghost Story” is a very interesting concept and an original one. David Lowery wrote a very good screenplay and I liked the fact thattell themes  like cherish and enjoy life as much as you can in a different way.

I felt the movie was a full frontal criticism towards the real meaning of life and that is what made it so different.

Lowery´s direction was interesting and both Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara did a very good job, even though Casey Affleck doesn´t speak to much in the movie but he delivers.

Like I mentioned previously, Lowery had the advantage on working with Affleck and Mara previously in “Ain´t Them Bodies Saints” and again both actors delivered convincing performances.

Other factors that made the movie interesting was the cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo. I liked how he played with the lighting of the film and the constrasts of each of the characters in the film.

The score is also very good and interesting by Daniel Hart, who worked with Lowery in “Ain´t Them Bodies Saints” and in “Pete´s Dragon”.

One of the things that I thought that worked in “A Ghost Story” was the use of Music with Imagery. I felt the movie was very organic and used the music in the moments it had to be used.

In another hand I feel this movie is not for everyone and before you watched be very patient and open since it´s an artistic film.

It has very long shots and yes part of them could have been trimmed down but I understand why Lowery wanted to have that approach.

I am not a big fan of having long shots in film because it takes to much time but here it does work and every shot of the film has a meaning.

For people who really love film this is a very good movie and I give it a huge recommendation to it for it´s visuals, performance and score.

The Beguiled

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Sofia Coppola

Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Oona Laurence, Angourie Rice, Addison Riecke, Emma Howard and Wayne Pére

Rating: Excellent.

Academy Award Winning Writer/Director  Sofia Coppola is back  with “The Beguiled”, a remake from the 1971 film starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel that hit the mark and brought very good results.

Set during the Civil War the movie tells the story of John McBurney (Colin Farrell) an Irish Yankee Corporal who gets wounded and is spotted by a girl named Amy (Oona Laurence).

She decides to take a wounded McBurney to a girls schol that is run  by the Principal Miss Martha (Nicole Kidman).

She at the beginning has her doubts on accepting the man into their property but ends up doing it until he heals.

McBurney will meet Edwina (Kirsten Dunst) a teacher and Alicia (Elle Fanning) a student who constantly flirts with the corporal every time she has a chance.

McBurney has his attention on Edwina and she begins to feel the same towards him. One night after the Corporal gets better, Edwina spots McBurney having sex with Alicia and she is in shock.

Now the girls and Miss Martha will try to get rid of McBurney once and for all before he does more mess again with the rest of the girls.

When I first saw that it was announced a remake of a classic movie like “The Beguiled” I honestly begin to have my doubts since most of this don´t work.

This one was the opposite and not only does work, but I believe that it slightly surpasses the original version.

Sofia Coppola created another fantastic film and adapted a beautiful screenplay with great characters in this version.

Coppola took us to the world of not only McBurney´s characters but the Miss Martha and the girls.

Compared to the 70´s film, this version of “The Beguiled” was darker and made you feel uncomfortable by moments when Colin Farrell´s character was in the house.

The movie was beautifully shot by French Cinematographer Phillipe Le Sourd, who has shot movies like “The Grandmaster (Nominated for an Academy Award in 2013), “Seven Pounds”, “A Good Year” and many more.

He captured every single detail and the composition of the imagery was beautiful. The way how he captured the contrasts between the characters was very sharp.

I liked the tone of the film that it was very dark and the use of the music cues came in the right moment.

Most of the film does not have a score and that is very difficult to achieve and Coppola was very smart in using all the tools she had in her disposal.

This can be Collin Farrell´s best performance till this day. I have been impressed with his growth and he did last year with “The Lobster” as well.

Nicole Kidman as usual she is fantastic and it won´t be a surprise seeing her nominated in a Best Leading Actress next awards season as well as Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning, who has had a very good 2017 so far and has growth as an actress.

Not only “The Beguiled” is a very good drama, but a very good thriller and I was very pleased to see this film.

Sofia Coppola is one of the most important female filmmakers today and again she proved it.

“The Beguiled” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend this picture. One piece of advice that I give is if you can watch the original picture from 1971 even better. That way you can decide which one you like more and also is a movie that you are going to enjoy.

Despicable Me 3

By Emilio Frenk. 

Directors: Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin

Cast (Voice) : Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Nev Scharrel, Steve Coogan, Jenny Slate, Andy Nyman and Julie Andrews.

Rating: Very Good.

Gru and the Minions are back with wacky and fun adventures with “Despicable Me 3” and again the movie brings hilarious results.

Again the movie centers in Gru (Steve Carrell) a former villain turned agent who  is after Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker) a villain who was very popular in the eighties by having his own tv show. 

In an attempt to get Bratt, Gru is fired from the agency with his wife and agent Lucy (Kristen Wiig).

Out of the job, Gru receives a surprising news: he finds out he has a twin brother. 

At the beginning Gru doesn´t believe any of this but then is he is shown proof of existence through pictures that he really has a brother and he is requesting his presence.

Gru meets his twin brother Dru (Steve Carrell), who happens to be the opposite as Gru. Dru makes Gru a proposition: To make one final heist to keep the tradition of the family.

Gru doesn´t accept at the beginning but he ends up doing with a double intention, that is to steal a diamond that Balthazar Bratt just stole and it´s a valuable one.

Now Gru will help his brother on the heist and stop Bratt who wants to dominate the world with his diamond. Gru is on the clock and has to perform both tasks before it´s too late.

Like the second part, “Despicable Me 3” has very funny and entertaining moments. This in part of the screenplay written by Cinco Paul and Ken Duario, who have both written all three movies and “The Minions” as well.

You can tell that this two know the characters from head to toe and this wasn´t the exception.  Once again the screenplay had very good dialogue, interesting characters but still I believe that of all three is the weakest because it was too predictable.

You can play with a certain level of predictability but here by moments was too much but I didn´t mind. What really helped on this third part was the use of the comedy and it came in the right moments of the picture.

The direction by both Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin was very good and the way how both directed their actors to share their voices was precise. Again they both knew how to direct their actors in the most important moments and created a very good piece.

Steve Carrell was hilarious again in sharing his voice on both Gru and Dru and he is the character of the film.

One of the major flaws that “The Minions” had two years ago when it was released is that there aren´t as funny as they are with Gru. In fact the yellow characters can be annoying and not as funny when they are by themselves then with Gru.

Also Kristen Wiig was funny as Lucy and what can we say about Trey Parker as Balthazar Bratt. Parker has been very well known thru “South Park”, who is the creator with Matt Stone and uses a lot of humor with his character in this film.

Sometimes the movie is repetitive and Dru´s can be annoying. That could have been the part that I believe needed work the most but still it´s enjoyable.

So far “Despicable Me 2” is the best of the trilogy but this one does deliver the goods. The soundtrack is again a highly recommend it one and for eighties lovers this is one you got to own in your collection.

The quality of the animation was very good and I must say that this movie can be a contender for next year´s award season. Be careful Disney Pixar because Illumination Entertainment will want to win an Academy Award next year.

For fans of the “Despicable Me” you are not going to be disappointed with this third party and I give it a huge recommendation.

The House

By Emilio Frenk 

Director: Andrew Jay Cohen

Cast: Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas, Ryan Simpkins, Nick Kroll, Allison Tolman, Jessie Ennis, Cedric Yarbrough, Rob Huebel and Jeremy Renner.

Rating: Poor.

Director Andrew Jay Cohen, makes his directorial debut with “The House”, a comedy that unfortunately didn´t hit it´s mark.

The movie tells the story of Scott Johansen (Will Ferrell) and his wife Kate (Amy Poehler). A happy couple who with their daughter Alex (Ryan Simpkins) receive the news that she just got accepted in the college of her dreams.

The main problem starts when both Scott and Kate realize that they don´t have any money to cover Alex´s tuition since they spend her college fund.

In a desperate situation they seek the advice of their best friend Frank (Jason Mantzoukas) and proposes them to be partners with him in a casino that Frank plans to open in his house.

 Both Scott and Kate begin to make money and they are having a good time working with Frank.

The problem again will rise when Bob Schaeffer (Nick Kroll) a City Hall council member  begins to have suspicions against the couple.

Now both Scott and Kate will have to be discrete in order to keep their earnings and fulfill Alex´s dream.

The major problem that “The House” had was the fact of despite being a comedy there was not a moment of laughter with this film.

In fact the only moment of laughter came at the Second Act and it was after the midpoint of the movie.

The screenplay written by both Brendan O´Brien and Andrew Jay Cohen, who both have written successful movies like “Neighbors” and “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” didn´t deliver the goods this time.

Both of them completely forgot about the humorousness that made them popular with the previous mentioned films and made the opposite.

The film had good elements like having comedy talents like Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler, who are both very talented and funny but here there weren´t at all and in fact there were annoying by moments.

Jason Mantzoukas is another comedy talent who has made us laugh in the past and he could be one of the funniest characters of the film.

Again the main problem is story and it doesn´t matter the cast you have in the picture. They won´t be able to save it.

It´s a shame that Andrew Jay Cohen´s directorial debut was an unfortunate one. He didn´t knew how to get the best on his cast and the characters he created with Brendan O´Brien were weak and vague, that by the second act of the film we don´t care about them anymore.

I hope this is a huge learning lesson for Jay Cohen and hopefully we can see more movies of him in the future since he has the talent for comedy and we have seen that before but not here.

“The House” is one of the worst comedies I have seen in a while and I cannot give a recommendation to it.

Transformers: The Last Knight

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Michael Bay

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Laura Haddock, Santiago Cabrera, Isabela Moner, Stanley Tucci, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Erik Aadahl, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Jim Carter, Steve Buscemi, Omar Sy, Reno Wilson, John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny, Jess Harnell, Mark Ryan, Steven Bar and Anthony Hopkins.

Rating: Poor.

Director Michael Bay, brings “Transformers: The Last Knight”, the fifth installment of the Transformers franchise and I have to say that this films keep getting worse.

In this fifth installment the war between the Autobots and Decepticons continues but this time the Autobots are considered a threat to humanity and the army wants to get rid of them once and for all.

The problem is that the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime is gone in search of his creator and they are in real trouble.

There is only one human being on the planet who still believes in the Autobots and that´s Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) a single father and inventor who joined force with the Autobots in the previous film.

Now the Autobots rely on him and Cade realizes about one of the secrets of the Transformers: Merlin´s Staff.

Cade will have to embark in a journey to England a seek the help of Viviane Wembly (Laura Haddock) an English Literature Professor and expert on the legends of King Arthur and Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) an Astronomer and Historian. Both of them with the help of the Transformerswill help Cade to get Staff.

The leader of the Decepticons, Megatron wants the staff as well for his own benefit and have total control. Now Cade is on a race against time to get the staff, save the planet and the fate of the Transformers before it´s too late.

I was not surprise with this fifth installment of the Transformers series. And one thing I´m going to start saying is: What on earth has the legends of King Arthur have to do with this story? Well the writers thought it was a good idea but it wasn´t.

This indeed is an insult to literature and to filmmaking itself. This so far is one of the most stupid plot points I´ve seen in a movie and it doesn´t work.

The screenplay written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan was totally idiotic and there was not an improvement whatsoever.

Michael Bay´s direction is out of the place and the imagery that he uses with his sepia tones is ridiculous.  

The movie again is too long unnecessary and again the dialogue in the screenplay and the plot itself didn´t make any sense.

One thing I do acknowledge on Michael Bay is that he knows how to sell a movie and I give him credit for that. But let´s not be confused here, just because you´re good in selling something doesn´t mean you´re good in what you do. This proves once again my point.

I´ve been very critical towards Michael Bay´s work and I sustain that he is a director who doesn´t care about story. His movies do make a lot of money and unfortunately is the only thing that matters in this days.

This installment of the Transformers franchise is again a disaster and I had the funny feeling that it was going to be that way.

In terms of cast I think that Mark Wahlberg is way to much a better actor and he´s talent was wasted here; so as Anthony Hopkins who practically explained 50% of the movie with his voiceover what was going to be about, making it predictable from beginning to end.

With that being said “Transformers: The Last Knight” is one of the worst movies of 2017 and think again before watching this infamous film.

Cars 3

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Brian Fee

Cast (Voice): Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Cristela Alonzo, Nathan Fillion, Larry The Cable Guy, Armie Hammer, Tony Shalhoub, Lea DeLaria, Kerry Washington and Chris Cooper.

Rating: Very Good.

Disney Pixar brings this summer “Cars 3”, the third installment of the franchise and I was very surprised with this film after the disaster of the previous one.

Again the movie centers in Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) a race car that after losing a race with Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) begins to notice that his racing days might be over.

Refusing to believe this, McQueen embarks in a journey to seek the help of Smokey (Chris Cooper) a race car who was at the prime and is very good acquaintance with McQueen´s mentor Doc Hudson.

McQueen will ask Smokey to train him for a race that will take in Florida. Smokey agrees and he will do it with the help of Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonso) who will get McQueen in shape and help him out to win the race against his new nemesis and show to the world that he is not done yet.

“Cars 3” like I mentioned before I was not having expectations towards the movie whatsoever. The first trailer that I saw back last year begin to generate a lot of doubts and for moments I was thinking that this part was going to be even worst than “Cars 2”, which so far is the worst Disney Pixar movie ever made.

I was wrong and “Cars 3” does deliver. You can tell that the studios learned their lesson from their previous failures and put together a much better film.

Like Cars 1 and 2, this movie has it´s flaws and one of them is the length. By moments it felt that it was long for an animated feature film and predictable but it does work.

The screenplay written Mike Rich, Kiel Murray and Bob Peterson was very well written and I liked the fact that the character of Lightning McQueen we see him with a big internal struggle and fear that is retiring from what he´s real passion.

The way how the conflict develops in McQueen is very good and the journey of the character was interesting.

The addition of characters like Jackson Storm also works and it was not like in the previous film that you had characters that didn´t bring anything to the film. The villain was not that fun and here the villain is really good and has that charisma that Armie Hammer printed it with his voice.

This also happens to be Brian Fee´s directorial debut, since he has been involved with the animation department in many Disney films and it was a very good one.

The way how he captured the emotional moments through the animation and imagery was very well made and the execution of the message of the film that happens at the climax of the third act worked pretty well.

One note that it could have been better was the opening of the film, that could have had a better pacing and not to see that until the second act of the film where the story begins to build.

“Cars 3” is one of the biggest surprises of this year and I give it a huge recommendation.

Rough Night

By Emilio Frenk

Director: Lucia Aniello

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoë Kravitz, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs, Ryan Cooper, Eric André, Enrique Murciano, Dean Winters, Colton Haynes, Ty Burrell and Demi Moore.

Rating: Average

Lucia Aniello, writer/director of the tv show “Broad City” brings “Rough Night”, a comedy that by moments bring laughter but lacks in originality.

The movie tells the story of Jess (Scarlett Johansson) a woman who is running for congress and is engaged with his fiancée Peter (Paul W. Downs).

Her best friend from college Alice (Jillian Bell) is putting together a plan for Jess´s bachelorette party in Miami. She then invites Blair (Zoë Kravitz) and Frankie (Ilana Glazer) which they end up joining.

Later in Miami, Jess´s friend from Australia Pippa (Kate McKinnon) joins the group and everything goes well until the girls hire a male stripper to perform for them.  

Alice accidentally kills the stripper and everything goes wrong for the group. Now the girls are involved in deep trouble and need to figure out how to fix the problem before their history.

“Rough Night” like I mentioned before is a movie that yes it does have good moments, but the major problem was that it was too predictable.

The screenplay written by both Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs, who stars in the film as Scarlett Johansson´s fiancée has very interesting and fun characters but I felt the execution of the film was not the correct one.

I felt the movie was an exact carbon copy of Peter Berg´s “Very Bad Things” from 1998 but this last one I felt that it was better.

When the movie got to the midpoint it had bit of humor but it was not that funny and honestly I was getting tired of seeing women who were doing something really stupid without a solution.

Lucia Aniellos´s direction had similarities with some episodes she did from “Broad City” but I think she didn´t took the best out of her cast that she had at her disposal.

The chemistry between the girls does work by moments, but the real character that does work is Kate McKinnon´s, which confirms her as one of the best female comedians right now.

I remember when I saw the trailer of the film and honestly I thought it was going to be worst but when I watched the film it wasn´t the case.  

Although, I feel the movie could have had a better execution if the screenplay would have had more revisions. For starters the characters needed more depth.

The addition of Ty Burrell and Demi Moore was very funny and I felt they could have been more screen time  since the chemistry of both actors really worked in the film.

I was surprised with Scarlett Johansson, who can be really funny. Yes, she has done this genre before but here she was really good at it and the rest of the casting choices were really good but like I mentioned before the main problem was story wise.

With that being said “Rough Night” is a fun comedy that I recommend if you just want to be entertained but don´t expect to see a masterpiece since it isn´t.

All Eyez on Me

Director: Benny Boom

Cast: Demetrius Shipp Jr, Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, Annie Ilonzeh, Lauren Cohan, Keith Robinson, Jamal Woolard, Dominic L. Santana and Hill Harper.

Rating: Poor.

“All Eyez on Me”, directed by Benny Boom tells the story of rapper, activist and poet Tupac Shakur and I was very disappointed with the final result of this film.

The movie centers as I mentioned on a young Tupac Shakur, who is in prison serving a sentence and is being interviewed. In a series of flashbacks we see the origins of this talented young artist, how he started his career with the group “Digital Underground” to becoming one of the most influential voices in hip hop who unfortunately left us soon.

One of the reasons why I mention that “All Eyez on Me” was disappointing was because of the screenplay written by Jeremy Haft, Eddie González and Steven Bagatorian. I felt that the writers didn´t know exactly what they were creating and just throw things without having enough resources.

Demetrius Shipp Jr, who gave life to Tupac Shakur was everything but convincing. He had the looks exactly like him but just because he has the looks doesn´t mean that he can portray a character of this caliber .

It was not entirely Shipp Jr´s fault but this also has to do with the poor direction given by Benny Boom and the material that was poorly written.

Other factor of this movie is the fact that it starts with an interview and honestly this is one thing that doesn´t work.

I liked the fact that we see historical facts like the “Black Panther” movement and the motivations that Tupac Shakur had to become an artist. That´s how the movie should have started in the first place and not with an interview of Shakur being in prison.

One of the reasons why “Straight Outta Compton” released in 2015 was so successful was because of the screenplay. It went straight to the facts and this movie try to do it but unfortunately it didn´t.

At the same time the movie was too slow and this I believe because of the poor material that was written.

I loved “Straight Outta Compton” without being a hip hop follower because the characters had a lot of depth and they were true. Here this wasn´t the case and I was expecting not to see the same thing as the film from 2015 but at least the filmmakers could have made a better effort.

I admire the fact that Benny Boom took a risk on using fresh blood but again he didn´t do it with the proper material.

The movie had a lot of potential since it involved an iconic figure but the execution was very poor.

There were moments of the film that I just wanted it to be over and it became boring and predictable. This is due to a poor direction by Boom and the writing of the film.

“All Eyez on Me” is one of the biggest dissapointments of this year and I cannot give it a recommendation.

47 Meters Down

By Emilio Frenk

Director: Johannes Roberts

Cast: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Chris Johnson, Yani Gellman, Santiago Segura and Matthew Modine.

Rating: Poor.

British writer/director Johannes Roberts brings “47 Meters Down”, a movie that should have made it straight to Video on Demand instead of having a theatrical release and I´ll start by saying that this is a movie that is a waste of time.

The movie tells the story of Lisa (Mandy Moore) a girl who just recently broke up with her boyfriend and is joined by her sister Kate (Claire Holt) in a trip that both girls took to Mexico.

Both girls are invited by two locals to scuba dive in a cage and see sharks. Lisa is reluctant by this idea but she is being convinced by her sister at the end.

Kate is excited but Lisa is worried about this since it´s her first time. They both get in the cage and all hell breaks loose when the girls are stuck in the cage in the bottom of the ocean.

Now there are in a situation of survival that not only will have to deal with the oxygen in their tanks but they need to figure out a way how to get out of the cage without being caught by the sharks who are circling it.

Besides of being a exaggerated and predictable movie, “47 Meters Down”  is not entertaining.

By the opening of the film when Johannes Roberts put his title above the movie´s title I said “Give me a Break”, like if it was in an 70´s or 80´s film. 

The screenplay written by Roberts and Ernest Riera was so lame and with characters that are vague.  I see that this girls pretend to be cool and then Many Moore´s character deciding to do the 47 meter down cage and take pictures of herself to show her ex-boyfriend she is worthy and having a good time is only laughable.

I didn´t care about the characters of the film and most of the movies that involve sharks have been getting worst and worst.

The only movie that involved this animal that it was not only a fantastic film but iconic is “Jaws”. This movie did had an effect and I felt that Roberts wanted to create the same one but he failed and badly.

Another good movie involves sharks was “The Shallows” by Jaume Collet-Serra. Here in this film like in “Jaws” the screenplay made the whole difference, as well as the direction and you have characters with real conflict and not with ridiculous moments that were portrayed in here.

The concept did look interesting and again I felt that more time in the writing should have been more invested but it wasn’t the case.

From the moment the second act of the film started it was only laughable. Yes, I admit there were moments that I jumped from my seat but at the end of the day it didn´t mean anything.

The ending was also really bad of the film; performance wise was very poor and I felt that Johannes Roberts cared only on making the film look good but it was not even close.

Not even a high caliber and talented actor like Matthew Modine could save the picture, but again it doesn´t matter of you have A List actors in project if you don´t have good material.

“47 Meters Down” is one of the worst movie of this year and one of the summer´s biggest flops.

Baby Driver

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Ansel Elgort, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, CJ Jones, Flea, Lanny Joon, Paul Williams, R. Marcos Taylor and Kevin Spacey.

Rating: Excellent.

Edgar Wright, director of “Shaun of the Dead”, “Hot Fuzz”, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and “The World´s End” brings “Baby Driver”. Not only I consider this the best movie of Edgar Wright´s career but so far I consider it the best movie of 2017.

The movie tells the story of Baby (Ansel Elgort) a partially deaf getaway driver who drives for robbers and works for his boss Doc (Kevin Spacey), whom he has a debt and works for him in this heists.

Baby also likes to make music from conversations that he listens and uses them as music for every score he is involved.

Everything will change in Baby´s life when he meets Debbie (Lily James) a waitress that immediately becomes Baby´s love interest.

This eventually will represent a conflict for Baby since it can jeopardize his working relationship with Doc. Now Baby will risk anything to gain Debbie´s heart even if it means to risk his own life

I describe “Baby Driver” not only as an action film, but is also a comedy, thriller and drama that worked at all levels.

Edgar Wright´s movies have the tendency to be very fast paced,  with strong editing that goes to contain multiple cuts and this was no different.

The opening of the film was spectacular, which pretty much sets the tone of the film and from the minute I started I was completely blown away.

Again not only Edgar Wright directed a hell of a movie, that delivered fantastic performances specially by Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx who were magnificent in their respective roles, but also Wright wrote a phenomenal screenplay.

The journey of Baby is very interesting and Ansel Elgort gave so far his best performance of his career. The way how he portrayed Baby was real and we felt for him at every time.

Another element that made me “Baby Driver” enjoyed it so much was that the movie was not predictable and Edgar Wright is one of the most smartest director´s that knows how to manage well that element of surprise that we see in every single one of his movies.

The score of the film is one of the most entertaining I´ve heard and reminds me pretty much of the music that Quentin Tarantino uses in his films. I can see that Edgar Wright also uses music very well in all five of his films that he has directed.

I was very excited on watching this films since I have enjoyed all of Edgar Wright´s films and I was not disappointed.

The love story of the film does work and you might think that the character of Debbie, portrayed by Lily James is naïve and dumb but she is someone who is in love with and is a very good character who does unexpected things that you will find out once you see this movie.

For fans of Edgar Wright I can guarantee you that you will not be disappointed with this movie.

“Baby Driver” is so far the best movie of 2017 and if any movies that come later this year are even as good as this one, “Baby Driver” for sure  will be in my top list and I  highly recommend.

Beatriz At Dinner

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Miguel Arteta

Cast: Salma Hayek, John Lithgow, Chloë Sevigny, Connie Britton, Amy Landecker, Jay Duplass, John Early, Sean O´Bryan and David Warshofsky.

Rating: Excellent.

Miguel Arteta, director of “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” brings “Beatriz at Dinner”, indeed it is the movie of the “Trump Era” and brings very good results.

The movie centers in Beatriz (Salma Hayek) a healer that attends a dinner of her wealthy clients in Newport Beach, California after her car breaks down.

In that dinner she will meet people who are indeed wealthy including Doug Strutt (John Lithgow) a business man with who has some problems with environmental groups.

Indeed the dinner will be not only a day that Beatriz will remember but the rest of the guests as well making it an unforgettable one.

The thing that made “Beatriz at Dinner” a very interesting movie centers not only was the story but it is told in a very interesting and original way.

The screenplay written by Mike White, who has written movies like “The Good Girl”, “School of Rock” and the upcoming “The Emoji Movie” again wrote a very interesting screenplay that consisted in characters that at the same time they have something in common and they don´t. White made a huge statement with his writing about how we are living in America with this movie and it´s a criticism of how you can be in a society with people who only think of what they own and how useless are without those elements.

Miguel Arteta´s directing was phenomenal and knew how to chose the right material in directing a great screenplay but also directing fine actors like Salma Hayek and John Lithgow.

John Lithgow´s performance is one of the most brilliant ones I have seen in his illustrious career and he is the personification of the typical unscrupulous business man and I hope he can get an Academy Award Nomination for this performance as well as Salma Hayek who gave so far the best performance till this day and she is fantastic.

I was completely fascinated with the setup from this movie and it has one of the most unexpected ending which I am not going to spoil but is a movie that is also a huge criticism towards society how we live today, specially in America.

And also is a criticism about immigration this film specially in one of the scene when they are at the dinner table they talk about the subject and it´s been told in a very original way.

The cinematography, editing, performances and score of the film are great ones and another thing that I liked is that has a lot of humor in it and very good and funny moments despite of being a dramatic film.

Miguel Arteta directed a fantastic film in “Beatriz at Dinner” and I put it as one of the year´s best films and this is one that you cannot miss.

The Hero

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Brett Haley

Cast: Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Nick Offerman, Krysten Ritter, Patrika Darbo, Frank Collison, Doug Cox and Katharine Ross.

Rating: Excellent.

Brett Haley, director of “I´ll See You in My Dreams” brings “The Hero”, a very powerful drama that delivers very good results.

The movie tells the story of Lee Hayden (Sam Elliott) an aging actor who gained fame for one film that discovers he has a terminal illness.

This indeed will change Lee´s life and know he wants to make amends with his daughter Lucy (Krysten Ritter) and in the way she will meet Charlotte (Laura Prepon) a stand up comedian that will change Lee´s life and teach him to cherish every single moment of life.

“The Hero” is a very well directed movie by Brett Haley that is about life and second chances that it can offer you.

The screenplay also written by Haley and Marc Basch was written with very good detail and both filmmakers created very good and moving characters.

Brett Haley´s directing again led to fantastic performances, specially by Sam Elliott who I think gives one of the most remarkable performances of his career on portraying a man that is trying to reconnect with his love ones before it´s too late.

The pacing of the film was very good and again this type of movies sometimes they can get in too much detail and most of the time they don´t work but this one it sure did.

I was impressed on seeing an actress like Katharine Ross in this movie, who as you know is a true legend on Hollywood bringing to life characters like Elaine Robinson in “The Graduate” and Etta Place in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. Again it was a blessing seeing her in the screen and indeed she did delivered a very good performance.

The editing of the film was very well made and the way how Haley intercut some scenes specially in the sequences where Lee is in the set of his movie was very well made and made sense at all times.

I liked the fact that they didn´t show the typical cliché moment of a dream sequence where we see the main character struggling. Here is the opposite and we see a character that despite having a terminal disease tries to enjoy as much as he can.

This film did very well in the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and I understand why since it has all the elements to succeed in a very important festival of that caliber.

“The Hero” is one of the year´s best film, with a magnificent performance by Sam Elliott and I highly recommend it.

Megan Leavey

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Cast: Kate Mara, Tom Felton, Ramón Rodríguez, Bradley Whitford, Common, Geraldine James, Will Patton and Edie Falco.

Rating: Very Good.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite, director of the documentary “Blackfish” brings “Megan Leavey”, her most ambitious project till this day and I was very pleased with this movie.

Based on true events, the movie tells the story of Megan Leavey (Kate Mara) an Upstate New York girl who is bored with her life and decides to join the United States Army to become a Marine.

While she´s on the Marine Corp she will meet with Rex, a German Shepard. whom she will  form a special and unique bond.

They are both send to Iraq with the rest of the United States Army and in one event Rex saves Megan´s life and the bond will grow stronger and will lead to Megan´s perseverance and persistence in adopting Rex, making their bond even stronger and Megan will understand what real love means.

When I first saw the trailer for “Megan Leavey” I said to myself not another Lifetime movie but I was wrong like many times and I found it very touching.

Gabriela Cowperthwate´s directing was fantastic and not only was very smart on capturing the moments on Iraq, both also directed in her cast fantastic and moving performances.

The screenplay written by Pamela Gray, Annie Mumulo and Tim Lovestedt was very well written and illustrated a character who had many conflicts in a different level. I love how the writers played with the progressive complications of the character in order to achieve her goal and the bond between Megan Leavey and Rex was really well told.

Some of this movies have the tendency to sometimes over explain things, leading them to boredom but this was not the case. Here we saw only the necessary details which made Megan Leavey a very interesting character and we feel admiration for this brave human being who risked her life for her country.

This is by far the best performance of Kate Mara´s career. She brought to life a messed up character at the beginning and we felt up for her. The chemistry she has with Edie Falco, who portrays her mother Jackie is very well executed and works at all levels.

I have been impressed with women director´s this year. We saw it recently with “Wonder Woman”, which was directed by Patty Jenkins and did a remarkable super hero movie and now Gabriela Cowperthwaite directed another great picture. I think it is  admirable to have women directing this days and I am very happy we see more movies like this directed by female directors.

The cinematography, editing and score play a key role in this film since the use of the camera was very well executed and the editing was very sharp and had interesting cuts.

“Megan Leavey”  without a doubt is an example of true inspiration and bravery in America and this is a movie that you cannot miss. Indeed you will be moved and touched with this picture.

It Comes At Night

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Cast: Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough, Kelvin Harrison Jr, Griffin Robert Faulkner and David Pendleton.

Rating: Very Good.

Trey Edward Shults, writer/director of 2015´s “Krisha”, which catapulted his career brings a more ambitious project with “It Comes At Night” and again Shults delivered with a very good thriller.

The movie tells the story of Paul (Joel Edgerton), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo) and son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) a family that is lives in an desolated house in the woods hiding from an apparent disease that is threating the world.

Everything will change for the family when Paul discovers that Will (Christopher Abbott) a man who broke into his house thinking that it was not occupied

Will asks for Paul´s help since he is seeking shelter for his family. At the end Paul agrees but once Will and his family are in their house strange things will happen and know Paul will have to figure with his family a way to survive before it´s too late.

Trey Edward Shults like I mentioned before directed another great film with “It Comes At Night” and is a homage to movies  like “The Shining” and “The Thing” which I saw that Shults was influenced by this two pictures for this movie, since both of the mentioned films are psychological horror films. 

The screenplay also written by Shults is very original and the characters he created were organic from beginning to end. You can see the conflicts in all the characters in all levels and the movie is not the typical and predictable thriller that we have been tired on seeing over and over again.

One of the things that really impressed me of this film was how Shults played with the tension in each scene and the way how he intercut the scenes worked at all levels with his editing.

Another key element that has been lacking in horror and thriller films are psychological elements and here were used wisely. You need those elements for a movie of this genre, otherswise it won´t work and here Shults used those elements and made a very good product. 

The performances by Joel Edgerton and Christopher Abbott are rock solid and gave life to very interesting characters.

The Second Act of the film is one of the best developed that I have seen in a while and Shults was very smart in using every tool he had in his disposal to make an interesting film.

The performances he took out with his directing were really good and real at the same time. The movie for moments can be confusing; so it is very important to pay attention to every single detail.

“It Comes At Night” is a very smart and frightening thriller that it will fulfill the expectations for both thriller and horror lovers and I hope you are pleased with this movie.

My Cousin Rachel

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Roger Michell

Cast: Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, Holliday Grainger, Iain Glen, Poppy Lee Friar, Andrew Knott, Andrew Havill and Tristram Davies.

Rating: Very Good.

Roger Michell, director of “Notting Hill” and “Venus” brings “My Cousin Rachel”, a drama,  mystery thriller that delivers interesting results.

Based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, the movie tells the story of Phillip (Sam Claflin) a young Englishman who finds out that his cousin has passed away under mysterious circumstances.

Now he is planning a revenge against the wife of her cousin Rachel Ashley (Rachel Weisz) who he hasn´t met and claims that she is responsible for his cousin´s death. 

They both will meet eventually and he will be seduced by her charm, which will eventually lead for Phillip to fall for her and eventually leading him to an obsession. Now Phillip will have to maintain his sanity before it´s too late.

Roger Michell directed very good performances by Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin in “My Cousin Rachel”.

The screenplay also written by Michell, which he adapt from the novel it was a good one but one of the things that I wanted to see is to open the movie which who is supposed to be the main protagonist, in this case Rachel.

We see her character in the beginning of the second act and I believe that is important to open you film with you main character at all times.

If this element would have been fixed, I believe the movie could have had a better result but still it was very satisfying.

The movie was beautifully shot by Mike Eley. He captured with his cinematography the country side of an English town and also played very well with the contrasts with both the characters of Rachel and Phillip when they were together and separated.

“My Cousin Rachel” I would put it as one of the most challenging films of Roger Michell´s career due to the theme that it was involved, the amount of dialogue that involved in the screenplay and the fact that is a period piece. 

The Production Design and Costume were very well made and we might see a potential nomination for next year´s awards but I´m aware that is very early to mention that but still I believe that has good chances.

The score by Rael Jones was very good. I love the way how he used music in the most touching and tense scenes of the film which were at the end of the second act of the film and I was very blown away for the use of the same.

“My Cousin Rachel” is a very well directed and acted movie and for those who are fans of Rachel Weisz I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed by her performance in this film and neither from Sam Claflin´s.

The Mummy

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Alex Kurtzman

Cast: Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari, Sean Cameron Michael and Russell Crowe.

Rating: Poor.

Director Alex Kurtzman, brings another movie to the Universal Monster World and he does it with “The Mummy” and by far this is one of the worst reboots I´ve seen for a while.

The movie tells the story of Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) a former Military officer who one day with his sidekick and closest friend Chris Vail (Jake Johnson) discovery the tomb of the Egyptian Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella).

This will bring the attention of the Archeologist Jennifer Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) who wants to bring the tomb to London.

The problem begins  when a possessed Chris opens the tomb of Ahmanet and hell will be unleashed. 

Now Nick and Jennifer with the help of Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) will try to stop Ahmanet before she unleashes her fury and compromises the entire world, which could mean the end of humanity.

“The Mummy” like I mentioned before is a very ridiculous movie and once the Second Act started  it proves my point.

The major problem of this movie is that 6 writers were involved including Academy Award Winner  Christopher McQuarrie who directed Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation”, by far considered the best of the franchise and “Jack Reacher” and the chances of everything getting out of control can be increased.

The screenplay didn´t make any sense at all and the inclusion of a character like Dr. Jekyll is completely useless. The use of voiceover is one of the worst I have seen as well and it was used in a very amateur way. The inclusion of a sidekick in Tom Cruise´s case was not even necessary and doesn´t work since it doesn´t bring anything to the story.

Tom Cruise is an actor this always fun to watch with but this is so far the worst movie I have seen in his career.

The directing by Alex Kurtzman was a complete mess and all over the place. The acting of his cast was awful and the poorly choices he made in the material speak for itself. 

I was disappointed that  Kurtzman had two powerhouse actors like Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe and he couldn´t deliver a good product.

In a  positive note the action sequences there are very well made and some of the visual effects but honestly that was pretty much it.

The movie was predictable from beginning to end and for starters The Mummy character should have been a man like in most of the versions. The shift to a woman doesn´t make any sense. It would have made sense if a better story would have been involved but this wasn´t the case.

“The Mummy” is one of the major disasters in this summer of 2017 and please think about it twice before watching this movie because indeed not only you will not get your money´s worth but you will be disappointed with this nonsense.

Wonder Woman

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Patty Jenkins

Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Danny Huston, David Thewlis, Saïd Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, Eugene Brave Rock, Elena Anaya and Lucy Davis.

Rating: Excellent.

Patty Jenkins, the visionary director who brought “Monster” in 2003, which Charlize Theron landed her first and only Academy Award brings “Wonder Woman”, a super hero movie that impressed me at all levels.

Based in the comic books by William Moulton Marston the movie tells the story of Diana (Gal Gadot) an Amazonian woman who has been trained all her life to become an unbeatable warrior.

Diana´s life will change one day when she saves Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) an American Spy who informs her about World War I, which is one of the major events that happened in history.

Diana is surprised about this and decides to leave the island to help Trevor, put an end to the war and save the world.

In that time Diana will discover her true identity and knows about her real destiny.

One of the things that made Wonder Woman worked is the screenplay written by Allan Heinberg who has written episodes for shows like Grey´s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, Sex and The City and many others. This time he made his feature debut and was outstanding.

Heinberg got into huge detail with the character of Wonder Woman and told the real conflicts of the character and of course the naivety of the main character. I also liked the way how he used comedic elements in the movie and the supporting characters that are shown here work at all levels.

Patty Jenkins´directing was outstanding as well and she got into every single detail of the film. The way who she shot the battle sequences, the fighting and the use of CGI was extraordinary and the result speaks for itself.

Jenkins was very smart in both the choices she made in camera and she got very deep in her characters getting the best out of her cast, leading it to very good performances.

Gal Gadot is magnificent as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. She played her character with realism, heart and we felt for her at all times. The chemistry between Gadot and Chris Pine works at all times and it was so enjoyable watching this two in the screen.

I was losing hope in the DC Comic movies after  “The Dark Knight Rises” back in 2012. And I haven´t seen a movie like “The Dark Knight”, which is so far the best adaptation of a DC Comics character film into screen. This one is almost at the same level but it´s outstanding as well.

I love the fact that the villains of this movie were represented in a very unconventional way and it was not the typical psychopath/criminal. It´s represented in another way and this made even more interesting.

Despite of the length of the film that is over two hours, it goes very fast and I hope that the movies of DC Comics go on this direction that it was missing.

It´s admirable that a director like Patty Jenkins was very brave on making a movie of this caliber and this represents the first time a female directs a super hero movie. She did it in an outstanding way and I hope we see this kind of movies again in the future.

“Wonder Woman” is one of the biggest surprises of this summer and I highly recommend it.