Annabelle: Creation

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: David F. Sandberg

Cast: Brad Greenquist, Stephanie Sigman, Mark Bramhall, Lulu Wilson, Talitha Bateman, Grace Fulton, Philippa Coulthard, Tayler Buck, Samara Lee, Miranda Otto and Anthony LaPaglia.

Rating: Very Good.

Director David F. Sandberg, who gained critical acclaim with last year´s “Light´s Out” brings “Annabelle: Creation” so far his most ambitious movie of his career and again he delivered very good results.

This installment of “The Conjuring” series tells the story of Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) a doll maker who suffers the lost of her younger daughter Bee (Samara Lee).

Twelve years later he welcomes a Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) a nun who comes with a group of orphan girls including a young girl with a disability named Janice (Talitha Bateman) and her closest friend Linda (Lulu Wilson).

At the beginning everything goes great with the girls. But one night Janice begins to experience a series of events that are related to a vintage doll named Annabelle, that happens to be one of Samuel´s most valuable creations.

The doll is possessed and wants the soul of girls, especially Janice. Now Janice will have to save her own life before she´s possessed by the doll and hopefully she will have the help from Sister Charlotte and the rest of the girls.

One of the things that David F. Sandberg did with this installment of “Annabelle” was the way how he played with tension using both the cinematography and sound.

This two elements are basic for a movie of this genre since are the elements that help to built tension in between scenes.

Other factor that made the movie very good was the screenplay by Gary Dauberman who learned his lesson from 2014´s “Annabelle” and created a much better film.

For starters the characters that he created here were more special, had more depth and the level of conflict for every single one of them was more marked.

Normally prequels do not succeed but this one did and by far is more superior than “Annabelle”.

This is the kind of horror movies that have to be made that are more psychological and one of the things that has happen in the genre lately is that it´s only focused on blood and guts and that is what it doesn´t represent the horror genre. Horror is psychological and without that element there is no horror film.

David F. Sandberg surprised me with “Light´s Out” last year and he did again with “Annabelle: Creation”.

I haven´t seen a movie that has scared me the most in a long time and Sandberg did an amazing job.

I believe that Sandberg and James Wan are resuscitating this genre that was extinguishing and both went back to the origins and made this film special.

I consider David F. Sandberg as the next John Carpenter or Wes Craven in horror film and this is the result of it. To watch this movie watch first the original “Annabelle” and then this one.

For horror lovers you will not be disappointed with this film that I put it as scary as
“The Shining”, “The Sixth Sense” and other films from the genre.

“Annabelle: Creation” is one of the biggest surprises of this year and I highly recommend it.

Ingrid Goes West

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Matt Spicer

Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O´Shea Jackson Jr, Billy Magnussen, Pom Klementieff, Hannah Pearl Utt, Meredith Hagner and Wyatt Russell.

Rating: Excellent.

Filmmaker Matt Spicer made his directorial debut with “Ingrid Goes West” and indeed he started with the right foot.

The movie centers in Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) an unstable young girl from Pennsylvania who has been released from an insane asylum after she attacked a young woman.

Again she begins to use social media and starts to follow Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) an influencer who is becoming someone special in Ingrid´s life.

A determined Ingrid moves to Los Angeles and will try to befriend Taylor at any costs and become as popular as she is.

One of the things that I considered interesting in “Ingrid Goes West” was the fact of how social media can really affect people and the consequences if it´s not used in a proper manner.

I feel that both Matt Spicer and Co Writer David Branson Smith got really into deep into this subject, which has been a trending topic in modern society and I believe that they did a huge amount of research of people who get obsessed in social media and did payoff.

I like the fact of how Matt Spicer got into deep with Instagram, which has been one of the most influential social media apps and how it was illustrated in here.

Other things that I liked of Spicer was his directing towards his cast, specially Aubrey Plaza, who most of her career has been in supporting roles. She made her first leading one and did an amazing job.

I must say that this is one of the best performances of her career. Other actress that did surprise me was Elizabeth Olsen, who I recently saw in “Wind River” and was phenomenal. This I must say that is her year and all her hard work is paying off.

The story and the concept of “Ingrid Goes West” is very original and I liked the fact that it was more a comedy since normally when we see movies about an obsession they can be either a drama or a thriller.

There were moments in this film that I was uncomfortable and some people in the audience when I was watching the film felt the same way but that was one of Matt Spicer´s intentions on this film and did a great job.

The score of the film is really good, the cinematography and the editing is another element that played a key role in this film.

The way that some scenes were intercut in the film really worked and every single cut made since in this movie.

The ending of the film it was unexpected and I do consider that did payoff.

I knew what “Ingrid Goes West” was about but honestly I did not had any expectations when I went to see the film and saw with my mind totally in blank.

I was surprised at the end and I can say that this is by far one of the best independent films of 2017.

With that being said I highly recommend “Ingrid Goes West” and this is a movie that you cannot miss.

Good Time

By Emilio Frenk. 

Directors: Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Taliah Webster, Necro, Peter Verby, Saida Mansoor, Gladys Mathon, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Barkhad Abdi.

Rating: Excellent.

Benny and Josh Safdie, writer/directors of “Heaven Knows What” bring “Good Time” a both drama and thriller that delivers impressive results.

The movie focuses on brother Connie (Robert Pattinson) and Nick Nikas (Benny Safdie) who one day rob a bank in Queens, New York and goes wrong.

During that time Nick gets arrested and Connie tries to bail him out. The problem gets worse when the bail money for Nick is not enough and Connie finds out that his brother ended up hospitalized.

Now Connie is not only the run of the law but he needs to find a way to get his brother out of the hospital before everything gets worst.

“Good Time” is a movie that works in all levels, thanks to the screenplay that both the Safdie brothers wrote, followed by a brilliant direction that they both did.

The way how the characters were written and also how they portrayed New York as a character in the film was a very interesting approach for this film.

Not only the Safdie Brothers I considered them visually artists but knew how to get out the best of their cast, specially from Robert Pattinson, who has given the best performance of his career and it looks like the image that he had from the Twilight movies is fading away.

The score plays a key role in this film and is beautifully composed by Oneohtrix Point Never, who has also composed scores for movies like “The Bling Ring” and “Partisan” and did an amazing job.

I´m not a big fan of electronic music but here it was wisely used and the way how the score illustrated the main characters worked at all moments and the introduction of the characters is one of the best I´ve seen in film.

The conflicts of this two characters are constant and this is one of the things that made the movie interesting.

The character of Robert Pattinson, Connie is constantly getting himself in trouble and tries to always to find a solution but everyone gets hurt due to his temper and the way he handles things.

The only problem that I did have on the film was the ending. This could have had a better resolution but still the movie does work at all levels.

To be total honest I had no idea of what I was going to watch. The trailer was very well made when I watched it and I was attracted to that idea.

This is worth watching film, even though it can be a hard to watch.

“Good Time” is one the year´s best independent films and I highly recommend it.

The Glass Castle

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Cast: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson, Chandler Head, Max Greenfield, Josh Caras, Sadie Sink, Brigette Lundy-Paine and Robin Bartlett.

Rating: Average.

Destin Daniel Cretton, writer/director of “Short Term 12” brings “The Glass Castle”, once again he teams up with Brie Larson and I have to say that his film could have had a much better result.

Based on the memoir book written by Jeannette Walls and inspired by true events, this is her story of her origins coming from a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads run by her alcoholic father Rex (Woody Harrelson) and her eccentric artist mother Rose Mary (Naomi Watts).

They are constantly move city to city since Rex is constantly fired and is not a stable man. This is the journey of a woman who really worked hard despite of the constant suffering she had to get where she is.

The reason why I mentioned that “The Glass Castle” could have been a much better film is due to the screenplay written by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham.

The movie was predictable from beginning to end and I felt by moments that I was watching a soap opera with this movie

The movie was too long and besides I feel that this movie should have been told in this case by Brie Larson´s point of view and not cutting back in forth with the flashbacks of her childhood to when she landed her job at the New York Magazine.

I feel that we got the point and I feel that only a few flashbacks would have been enough for telling this story.

The movie was too slow and I feel that the Destin Daniel Cretton tried to make a similar approach to last year´s “Captain Fantastic” but with all do respect the previous mentioned film was ten times much better.

There were moments in the film were the character of Woody Harrelson was trying to promise something to one of her daughters something that it was not possible for him to achieve and the filmmakers used score that didn´t match to that moment.

If more time would have been invested in the screenplay, I´m sure that we would be talking of another film.

Not everything in this film is bad and it hat it´s good moments to. The third act of the film is very well written and I liked the message that was delivered that has to do with forgivness and accept people just the way someone is.

Thanks for the third act of the film I´m giving “The Glass Castle” a marginal recommendation. Don´t expect to see a masterpiece with this film and I feel the talented of this film was wasted since the filmmakers didn´t took advantage of it and gave their weakest performances till this date.

Brigsby Bear

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Dave McCary

Cast: Kyle Mooney, Mark Hamill, Jane Adams, Matt Walsh, Michaela Watkins, Ryan Simpkins, Greg Kinnear, Claire Danes and Andy Samberg.

Rating: Excellent.

Filmmaker Dave McCary makes his feature film debut with “Brigsby Bear”, a comedy/drama that delivers extraordinary  results.

The movie tells the story of James Pope (Kyle Mooney) a young man who has been captivated since he was a kid by Ted Mitchum (Mark Hamill) and his wife April (Jane).

In that time both Ted and Jane create a children´s tv show called “Brigsby Bear”. James thinks the show is completely broadcast and is in shock when he realizes that the show was cancelled.

For make things worse he realizes that the show was created only for him and begins to feel more attached by the fact that show did really exist.

James´s life changes forever and embarks in an adventure of making a movie about Brigsby Bear and finishing with the ideal ending.

When I heard about this film I didn´t had any idea what was going to be about and I think that this is one of the reasons why I enjoyed it even more.

There is no doubt that “Brigsby Bear” is a very original film and this is one of the things that I believe that made it special.

Both Kevin Costello and Kyle Mooney, who stars in the film as the main characters James Pope crafted a unique and touching movie of a young man who believes in an idea and does everything to make it happen.

The direction by Dave McCary was really good and with his direction the cast gave very good performances in this touching movie, specially Mark Hamill, which is very rare to see him in this kind of films but he is very good in this film.

Greg Kinnear is also great in this movie playing the detective behind the case that eventually will form a unique friendship with James in the film.

The score of this film is really good and the message is very clear on not giving up either your dreams and what you believe in.

“Brigsby Bear” is one of the year´s surprises this year and I highly recommend it for it´s originality, direction and wonderful screenplay.

Step

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Amanda Lipitz

Cast: Paula Dofat, Blessin Giraldo, Cori Grainger and Tayla Solomon.

Rating: Excellent.

Amanda Lipitz makes her directorial debut with “Step”, a great documentary that delivers very good results.

The movie focuses in group of high school dance girls in Baltimore. The type of dance that the girls perform is called Step.

This girls are filled with dreams and ambitions, specially the ones that is going to college despite of the financial situation that this girls are put in to.

This is a movie about dreamers who do anything to fulfill that dream with a unique form of art, which is through Dance.

“Step” is more than a documentary film. Is a movement  that brings hope and delivers a strong message to people that you have to work really hard in order to get what you want.

The movie was original because it focused on a specific group and it was one conformed with unknowns.

The movies from this genre can have the tendency to focus on either a person or a subject but here it was different since it was targeted in a group of high school girls in Baltimore and how the struggled to reach their ultimate girls.

Also one of the things that made “Step” a unique documentary was the fact it was not fact on one person from the group, it was focused in all the girls of the dance girls and you see the families how are they struggling to get what they want to achieve.

And another thing that made “Step” special was the fact that it´s an original subject and this subject has never been dealed before.

You can see the families are struggling to make their daughters dream come true and this is the perfect example of how to illustrate me.

“Step” is a movie that will make a lot of noise and can be a serious contender for next year´s awards.

With that being said “Step” is one of the best movies of this year and I give a huge recommendation to it and for documentary lovers this is a movie that you cannot miss.

The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Cal Brunker

Cast (Voice): Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, Maya Rudolph, Isabela Moner, Peter Stormare, Bobby Cannavale, Tom Kenny, Bobby Moynihan, Jeff Dunham, Gabriel Iglesias and Jackie Chan.

Rating: Poor.

Surly, Andie and the rest of the fury animals return in “The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature” and compared to the previous film there was an improvement but still the movie failed.

Three years after the events of the first film, again the movie centers in Surly (Will Arnett) a lazy squirrel that knows lives in an abandoned peanut store with his good friend Buddy and the rest of the park animals. The store explodes, which forces Surly and the rest of the animals to return to the park. 

There, Surly will meet again with his good friend and female squirrel Andie (Katherine Heigl). Everything goes well until they find out that The Mayor (Bobby Moynihan) wants to demolish their park and create a dysfunctional amusement park.

This represents a threat to all the animals and they must act together to impede this project become a reality.

They will ask for the help of Mr. Feng (Jackie Chan) a mouse that leads an army and together they will defend their home before it´s too late.

The major problem that made “The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature” a movie that doesn´t work started with the screenplay.

This was a problem in the previous film from 2014, making it one of the year´s worst films. Here there were some changes, but still had elements that didn´t work.

The characters didn´t had to much depth and I felt that the movie still focused in one target which were children and the adult part was left aside. For a movie of this genre you need both elements to make it work.

Like I mentioned before there was improvement compared to the first film but the results could have been much better if time would have been invested in the screenplay written by Bob Barlen, Cal Brunker and Scott Bindley.

The movie had funny moments and the message about the value of friendship is very clear in this film but at the same time the movie was very predictable.

Again the movie had potential to be a better sequel than the original version but this wasn´t the case. If they do a third part of this film I hope the filmmakers learn their lesson from this movie and the previous one.

“The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature” it´s one of the weakest movies in the animation genre and I cannot give a recommendation to it.

The Only Living Boy In New York

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Callum Turner, Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan, Cynthia Nixon, Kiersey Clemons, Tate Donovan, Wallace Shawn, Debi Mazar and Jeff Bridges.

Rating: Poor.

Director Marc Webb, brings his second feature of 2017 with “The Only Living Boy in New York” and this movie was everything but entertaining. 

Set in New York, the movie tells the story of Thomas Webb (Callum Turner) a recently young college graduate who goes comes back after a long trip.

In that time he will meet his new neighbor W.F. Gerald (Jeff Bridges) an alcoholic writer who becomes a mentor for Thomas.

One day Thomas with his best friend Mimi (Kiersey Clemons) spot Thoma´s father Ethan (Pierce Brosnan) with a young and sexy attractive woman named Johanna (Kate Beckinsale).

Shocked for the fact that his father started an affair, Thomas will do anything to prevent this.

The real problem begins when Thomas starts to have an attraction towards Johanna and the feeling begins to be mutual.

Now Thomas will have to be discrete about this relationship with his father´s mistress before he finds out or else he will be in thin ice. 

The major problem with “The Only Living Boy In New York” was the screenplay written by Allan Loeb who I still feel that writing the same movies filled with clichés over and over again.

He did this with “Collateral Beauty” last year, he did it again with “The Space Between Us” and now he did it here and honestly I´m getting tired about his style. 

I´m aware that I am being very hard but this type of storyline doesn´t work and doesn´t make any sense.

The beginning of the film with Jeff Bridge´s voiceover doesn´t make any sense at all and he practically is narrating the movie.

This is not the way to use this tool and the filmmakers failed and big time with this movie.

Marc Webb´s direction was all over the place and I feel that he had an A List Cast in his disposal and did not get out  the best of his actors. 

The characters of this film were too vague and they lacked of depth and heart.

This movie was so predictable from beginning to end that from the first act until the end of the film I knew exactly what was going to happen

I feel that the idea had huge potential but it was neither well written and executed and the results speak for itself.

In a certain way I felt that this movie could have had a better direction but I was wrong and I can say that this is so far Marc Webb´s weakest movie of his career.

He brought at the beginning of the year “Gifted”, which I considered a sweet and touching movie.

This film is light years away and I was very disappointed since I enjoyed “500 Days of Summer” and “Gifted” both film directed by Webb.

If you don´t  know “The Only Living Boy In New York” is also the title of a “Simon and Garfunkel” song that it´s way better than this film.

“The Only Living Boy In New York” is one of the most disappointing films and I cannot recommend it.

Detroit

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jacob Latimore, Jason Mitchell, Hannah Murray, Jack Reynor, Kaitlyn Dever, Ben O´Toole and John Krasinski.

Rating: Excellent.

Academy Award Winning Director Kathryn Bigelow and Writer Mark Boal team up for the third time and bring “Detroit” a very intense drama and thriller that once again delivers incredible results.

Based on a true story, the movie takes place in the city of Detroit in the late 60´s during the riots.

In that time a murder of three African American Men takes place in the Algiers Motel.  The Police with the abuse of authority and excess of violence will interrogate the suspects of the murder that took place.

This is the story of one of the most brutal events that has taken place in American History and is the story of the victims who suffered police brutality and abuse of power.

One of the things that I really liked of “Detroit” was the fact that it tells the story from multiple points of view and tells different stories of the victims.

There is a tendency that in movies like this one are focused in one character and is from it´s perspective.

Both Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal were very smart on telling a story this way and it is a way that has never been seen before. 

Kathryn Bigelow´s directing again hit the mark and took the best of her cast, which most of them are unknowns and delivered incredible and convincing performances. Her style is very similar to “The Hurt Locker”, where she won the Academy Award for Best Director back in 2010.

The movie is shot like a documentary and this way of shooting this kind of movies do work at all levels. The way Bigelow captured the intensity of the victims and the police officers during that sequence in the second act of the film in the motel was really deep and Bigelow once again created tension in the movie, specially in that particular sequence.

Bigelow is one of the best directors who know how to create tension between scenes and I was blown away.

Mark Boal´s screenplay of this film was crafted in a brilliant way and you can tell that he put a lot of work and research for this film and the result does pay off.

The performances by the most of the cast, specially from Algee Smith, who plays a singer from a band with huge dreams and aspirations is brilliant and Anthony Mackie´s as well.

The one who did surprise me and I have been very critical towards him is John Boyega, who had his breakthrough role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” two years ago playing the main character Finn.

Here he was well directed and gave an incredible performance as Dismukes, another main character of this movie and plays a key role.

In the other hand I believe that the addition of an actor like John Krasinski was not necessary. I think he is a very talented actor but I don´t think he was fit for the role.

Every time I watch a movie from both Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal I learn something new and here I went in to the theater with no clue about the Detroit Riots. I knew about it by name but here I do think it gets into a lot of detail and has one of the most intense sequences that I have seen in a second act.

Both filmmakers made another winner again with “Detroit” and I believe that it is a huge contender for next year´s award season.

Like “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty”, “Detroit” is a movie that will generate a lot of controversy due to the theme of the film and excess violence both physically and verbally that happens in the film.

Be prepared at all levels before watching this film since it contains very intense scenes and most of all be open.

With that being said “Detroit” is one of the year´s best film and I highly recommend it for the directing of Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal´s screenplay and performances.

Wind River

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Taylor Sheridan

Cast: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Kelsey Asbille, Julia Jones, Teo Briones, Apesanahkwat, Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, Gil Birmingham and Jon Bernthal.

Rating: Excellent.

Academy Award Writer Nominee Taylor Sheridan, who won critical acclaim for “Hell or High Water” brings “Wind River” a thriller that not only Sheridan wrote. He also directed it and again he delivered magnificent results.

Based on true events, the movie tells the story of Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) a game tracker who in the job see´s the body of adead girl that occurred at  a Native American Reservation in Wyoming.

He reports this to the authorities, who contact FBI Agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) to solve the murder.

Now both Lambert and Banner will team up to investigate the murder of the girl and will try to use all their wit and knowledge to resolve the case.

One of the things that I liked of “Wind River” was the concept and the story itself.

Again Taylor Sheridan wrote an amazing screenplay that was written with a lot of detail, with great characters.

I can see that Sheridan did a lot of research in regards of a theme like this one. His direction was really sharp and both Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen gave incredible performances.

The conflicts of both characters were shown in a very original way and do work at all levels.

Another factor that made this film so unique was the fact that it took place in the mountains and is a theme that has never been seen, which is the murder of a girl that took place in a Native American Reservation.

The way how Sheridan used tension in between scenes was superb and I was really impressed with the result of the film.

The ending of the second act, it reminded me a little bit of “Hell or High Water” and “Sicario” both movie written by Sheridan. The way how he shot those scenes and that precise moment was amazingly well done and I can imagine the challenge to shoot a scene like that with snow involved.

The chemistry between Renner and Olsen works at all levels and by far I must say that this is the best performance I have seen in Elizabeth Olsen´s career.

Like most of Taylor Sheridan´s work, “Wind River” is a very intense movie. So before watching it be very prepared at all times since there is a lot of violence and graphic scenes that involve a raping.

Taylor Sheridan is by far one of the most talented filmmakers of the genre today and with “Wind River” he hit another homerun.

I hope he is a contender again for next year´s award season and it is such a delight to see a movie that involves Taylor Sheridan either as a writer, director or both, which was this case.

“Wind River” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend it.

The Dark Tower

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Nikolaj Arcel

Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Katheryn Winnick, Abbey Lee, Nicholas Hamilton, Claudia Kim, José Zúñiga, Dennis Haysbert and Jackie Earle Haley.

Rating: Poor.

Danish director Nikolaj Arcel, brings “The Dark Tower”, an action science fiction film that it is by far one of the biggest dissapointments of this summer.

Based on the novel series by Stephen King, the movie tells the story of Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) a young teenager that has frequent dreams about the Roland Deschain, also known as The Gunslinger (Idris Elbar) and The Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) who are constantly fighting.

In the dreams there is involved a Dark Tower that holds the universe together. Every time that he wakes up he keeps telling his mother the same dream and she is in the point that doesn´t believe him.

One day Jake runs from people who try to abduct him and opens a portal that will lead him to another dimension where he will meet The Gunslinger.

Now both The Gunslinger and Jake will form an alliance to protect the Tower from The Man in Black who will not stop at anything to destroy it.

The Gunslinger and The Man in Black will collide in a battle between good and evil that will determine the faith of humanity.

The major problem that I saw in “The Dark Tower” is the screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner and Anders Thomas Jensen.

Again like I have mentioned so many times in this space there are a lot of creative differences when you have more than 2 writers involved in a projects, specially when is based in a novel of someone well known as Stephen King.

The screenplay lacked of detail, it was to predictable and the characters were to vague.

Honestly I have never read the books but I imagine there are far superior than this movie that had a A list cast in it with actors like Idris Elba and Mattew McConaughey.

So far their performances have been the worst I´ve seen from both stars and I felt the movie went on too fast.

If the Producers and Filmmakers thought that it would be a potential franchise with this film, we´ll I think they didn´t think through because of the timing of the film.

The best thing would have had a full length feature film focused in one of the novels and then you could have had a potential franchise.

Not everything is bad in “The Dark Tower”. I did like the performance of young Tom Taylor, who portrayed Jake Chambers in a very convincing way. This young actor has a brilliant future and I hope that he continues in this path.

Other things that I liked of the film where that there were some elements that were mentioned in films like “The Shawshank Redemption”, “1408” and “The Shining”. All of this movies of course come from Stephen King´s novels and I consider this elements a homage towards his work.

“The Dark Tower” could have been a movie with a huge potential and I felt that the talent was wasted and director Nikolaj Arcel didn´t knew took the best out of his cast and delivered weak performances.

With that being said “The Dark Tower” is one of the year´s most disappointing films and I cannot give a recommendation to it.

Kidnap

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Luis Prieto

Cast: Halle Berry, Sage Correa, Chris McGinn, Lew Temple, Jason George, Christopher Berry, Arron Shiver and Kurtis Bedford.

Rating: Poor.

Academy Award Winner Halle Berry teams up with director Luis Prieto in “Kidnap” a thriller that could have looked much better if more time would have been invested in the project.

The movie tells the story of Karla Dyson (Halle Berry) a divorced mother and waitress who one day takes his son Frankie to the park.

During that time while they are playing Hide and Seek, Frankie apparently gets lost and Karla is looking for him.

Suddenly she see´s two kidnappers abducting his son. Now Karla will be in a game of cat and mouse with both kidnappers and she will not stop at anything to get her son back, even if it means tu put her life at risk.

Like I mentioned before “Kidnap” was an interesting idea but the execution was handled in a poor matter.

The screenplay written by Knate Lee had a lot of gaps to be filled and this is one of the major problems that I saw in the film.

There is the conflict of where we see Karla as a divorced mother who tries everything to please her kid and does it very well. But I would have liked to see more than that, a real suffering before the real kidnap happens.

The directing by Luis Prieto was all over the place and I feel that the technical choices that he made were not handled properly.

Halle Berry is a pleasure always seeing her in screen but I was not sure this time about her performance in this film. In fact she had many "Oh My God" moments in the movie, sentence that she used multiple times. 

We have seen a lot of movies that involve kidnapping like “Breakdown” starring Kurt Russell and “Taken” with Liam Neeson that with all do respect are way to much better movies than “Kidnap”. The main reason is because there was not invested in story and the tensions built in those movies.

The editing of this film is one of the worst I have seen and for a movie like this one, the editing is crucial.

When I was watching the film and from the opening image that it was when Frankie I said to myself: Oh No. This one of the most cliché moments and it was.

The beginning was pointless and there were other ways to illustrate this in the film.

There were moments that I was having a good time I´m not going to lie but the movie is a complete mess.

I remember watching the trailer since November of last year and it was scheduled for last December but it got pushed back until now. When there is a problem like that in a delay of a film there are problems and I was not wrong this time.

The movie had a lot of potential and I feel that if more time would have been invested in the script and filming we would have seen a different movie. 

“Kidnap” is one of the year´s worst films and I cannot give a recommendation to this film.

Atomic Blonde

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: David Leitch

Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, Toby Jones, James Faulkner, Sofia Boutella, Bill Skarsgard, Sam Hargrave, Roland Moller, Til Schweiger and John Goodman.

Rating: Excellent.

David Leitch, director of “John Wick”, brings “Atomic Blonde” an action/thriller movie that I was blown away from the minute it started to the end.

Based on the graphic novel “The Coldest City” by Anthony Johnston the movie takes place in 1989 during the collapse of The Berlin Wall and tells the story of Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) an undercover MI6 agent that is sent to Berlin to investigate the murder of agent and boyfriend James Gascoine (Sam Hargrave).

Besides of the murder investigation, Lorraine has to recover a list that has the names of missing agents. She will do this with the help of Agent David Percival (James McAvoy).

The problem escalates when Russian Assassins want the list so they can sell it. Now both Lorraine Broughton and David Percival will be in a race against time to get the list and deliver it to the British Authorities.

One of the things that I enjoyed of “Atomic Blonde” were the filmmaking and the action sequences that are very similar to the first “John Wick” film released in 2014.

The screenplay written also by Kurt Johnstad was written with a lot of detail and I liked the fact that this movie took place in an event like The Berlin Wall in the late eighties.

The only problem that I saw in terms of screenplay was that it needed more character development and the motivations for their goals there were not that established. There is one dream sequence that explains more about the conflict of Theron´s character but I was not convinced with that tool and it should have been established in another way.  Other than that I believe the movie works, but still I think the movie in terms of story needed more work.

The cinematography, editing and the score were fantastic and other factors that I loved of “Atomic Blonde” is the way how Charlize Theron brought to life such an interesting character.

The performance of Theron was convincing at all levels and I didn´t see another actress portraying this role.

The stunts and fight sequences of this film were impressive, specially the one that takes place in an apartment in Berlin that reminded me to “The Bourne” saga due to the intensity of the sequences that were in those films.

The score is really good and for 80´s lovers I think is a soundtrack you will want to have in your setlist.

Charlize Theron is really good in this movie and she kicks real ass in every single moment that happens in this film.

James McAvoy´s character is really interesting and once again brought to life a very complex character that has one big twist during the second act of the film.

This is indeed the action movie of the summer and is really a joy to see this kind of movies that not only have very good actions sequences but in storytelling have very good characters, although like I mentioned they could have been better developed but still the movie works.

With that being said “Atomic Blonde” is one of the best movies of the summer and I highly recommend it for the filmmaking of the film and you are not going to be disappointed with this film.

The Emoji Movie

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Tony Leondis

Cast (Voice): T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Steven Wright, Jennifer Coolidge, Christina Aguilera, Sofía Vergara, Rachael Ray, Sean Hayes and Patrick Stewart.

Rating: Poor.

Sony Pictures Animation brings another movie this summer from the genre and the movie is:  “The Emoji Movie” and I have to say that the result fo this movie is less than satisfying.

Set in Textopolis, the movie tells the story of the Gene (T.J. Miller) a "Meh" Emoji that has the dream of being placed in a cube with the rest of the emoji´s that live in the smart phone of a boy named Alex.

One day after Alex tries to send an Emoji to a girl that he has a crush on. Gene is selected and the rest of the emoji´s discover that he has the ability to make multiple expressions. This will caught the attention of The Smiler Emoji (Maya Rudolph) the leader of the text center that orders Gene to be deleted, since she claims that Gene has a malfunction.

Now Gene will seek the help of Hi-5 (James Corden) and Jail Break (Anna Farris) who will help Gene to reach the cloud so he can be a normal emoji before he is being eliminated for good.

When I watched “The Emoji Movie” I had no expectations due to the trailers that I saw that looked  weak with some jokes that are related to poop but that was it.

I was not wrong and I have to say that this is one of the most idiotic movies I´ve seen in a while and I cannot believe that a Studio like Sony Pictures Animation bet on something that not only represented a risk, but a huge failure.

The screenplay written by Tony Leondis, Eric Siegel and Mike White doesn´t make any sense at all and is not clear who the main protagonist is. Apparently is Gene, but then the filmmakers thought that it was going to be a brilliant idea to have Alex the boy as well.

The plot points are totally useless as the film itself.  Tony Leondis with his directing and screenplay didn´t made his homework at all and focused this movie in children and he didn´t care about the adults.

In this space I have mentioned many times that for a movie of this genre  to succeed you need half of children content and adult, otherwise you are heading to the direction this movie just headed: Instant Failure.

This movie should have never existed and it was not going to work. Just the fact that something is a trending topic like the use of emoji´s doesn´t mean the movie will work. This indeed proves my point. Honestly the emoji´s look nicer on your phone than in this movie. 

I feel bad for actors like T.J. Miller, James Corden, Patrick Stewart, Maya Rudolph and many others shared their voice and talent to this piece of garbage.

I left the theater very upset and normally I can be very tolerant when I watch a movie but here my patience went to a limit.

I was surprised that even children were upset and wanted to leave the movie since they didn´t enjoy a single moment.

This is one of the major insults that I have seen not only in the genre, but for film itself.

“The Emoji Movie” is one of the worst movies that I have seen in the animated genre and please parents I beg you to think twice before taking you´re kids to watch this movie since it will be a waste of your time and money.

Dunkirk

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Christopher Nolan

Cast: Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, James Bloor, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Jack Lowden, Tom Hardy, James D´Arcy, Kenneth Branagh and Cillian Murphy.

Rating: Excellent.

Christopher Nolan, one of the most talented contemporary filmmakers brings “Dunkirk” and again he delivers. 

Set in World War II, the movie takes place in the island of Dunkirk in France and tells the story of 400,000 allied soldiers from The British Empire, France and Belgium that are surrounded by the German Army.

This is the story of how the soldiers survived the battle, how they suffered to evacuate the island and went back to their respective countries.

One of the things that made “Dunkirk” a very interesting movie was the fact that the whole movie was told by the Alliance (British Army, France and Belgium)  Point of View.

Nolan was very smart on illustrating that point of view  and we don´t see the German army in this film. In most of this type of movies we always see the Germans and this time I felt that Nolan made the right choice on not doing so, making "Dunkirk" a unique film.

On the other hand this might be Nolan´s most weakest movie in terms of storytelling but still delivered crafted a brilliant screenplay that went straight to the facts and showed you the suffering of the soldiers and what they were going through when they were in Dunkirk.

Other elements that made this movie special was the fact that it didn´t had the classical cheezy moments that this type of movies had of the soldiers want to go home and celebrate Christmas with their families. This has been a tendency in war movies lately and here it was not the case. Again the only thing you see and feel is for the soldiers figuring out how to survive.

Nolan brought again with “Dunkirk” an impressive and brilliant visual experience. Besides being a filmmaker who cares about production value, Nolan also cares about story and he is considered not only one of the best directors but screenwriters as well.

The cinematography by Hoyt Van Hothema, who worked with Nolan in 2014´s "Interstellar" captured a brilliant film with his cinematography and played with the contrasts of the characters in a brilliant way. 

Once again Hanz Zimmer´s score is magnificent and with his music knew how to create tension in most of the scenes and at the end of the film as well. 

Like I mentioned before, this might be not his strongest screenplay but still it´s straight forward, the characters he created are brilliant, real and the performances he got from the cast were top of the nudge.

I believe that “Dunkirk” is a serious contender for next awards season and I believe that is a movie that will represent a landmark in cinema.

Every time I see a Christopher Nolan film I learn something new and is a blessing seeing one of his films in the big screen and with “Dunkirk” my expectations were totally fulfilled.

“Dunkirk” is one the year´s best films and I highly recommend it. If you like Christopher Nolan´s work you are not going to be disappointed with this film which I consider a masterpiece and hopefully you´ll feel the same way.

Girls Trip

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Malcolm D. Lee

Cast: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Larenz Tate, Mike Colter, Kate Walsh, Kofi Siriboe, Deborah Ayorinde and Lara Grice.

Rating: Very Good.

Malcolm D. Lee, writer/director of “The Best Man” and “The Best Man Holiday” brings “Girls Trip”, a comedy that I was very surprise with it´s result.

The movie tells the story of Ryan Pierce (Regina Hall) a successful writer who is best friends with over protecting mother and friend Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith), journalist Sasha (Queen Latifah) and loud mouth Dina (Tiffany Haddish).

The four are best friends, three of them  find out that Ryan is going to New Orleans for a Keynote Presentation and go with her.

This trip will test not only their friendship but also the group of four will appreciate and learn the meaning and value of what a friendship is all about.

Like in most of his films, Malcolm D. Lee again touched another subject that is related to values and with “Girls Trip” the subject he brought was friendship.

I can say that he is a director that likes to touch subjects that are related to society values and he did it really well.

And honestly I was not expecting anything from “Girls Trip”. For moments I thought it was going to be the typical cheezy comedy of four friends with predictable moments but again I was wrong.

In fact I did really enjoy the film and I was very surprised with the result of it.

The screenplay written by Kenya Barris and Tracy Oliver was written with a lot of detail and humor. The characters that they created in this film are so much fun and yes it´s a pleasure seeing this movies with this kind of characters in them.

Malcolm D. Lee´s directing hit the right marks and he knew how to capture those moments like how the friends had internal and external conflicts and he knew how to portray them.

I liked how Lee illustrated the life in New Orleans in a summer festival and the life of a city that has a lot of charm.

It was interesting that we see the life of New Orleans from a point of view that has never seen before in this film and did work.

The chemistry between the main characters it´s really good and I like the fact that all of the characters have their conflicts really marked.

Normally in this kind of movies that involves a group of friends can have a tendency to fail. Yes, they are different but at the same they are very similar and I believe that your characters have to be all the way different and try to have something less in common as possible.

I remember when 2017 recently started and I saw the first trailers of this film and my reaction was everything but positive.

I had prejudgments against this film and I was totally wrong about what I thought about it.

I´m not a big fan of how they use voiceover in this kind of movies since I believe that you over explain what happens but I understand why they used it in this occasion. I still think that with imagery and facts should have been enough.

The only problem that I had with the movie was the length. For a movie of this genre it could have been much shorter since it´s a comedy but they got to much into detail, which I understand why they did it but still it works. I feel that some scenes could have been shorter and still would have worked.

Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Tiffany Haddish, did a very good job on screen and it was so much fun watching this four ladies.

“Girls Trip” is one big surprise of this year and I highly recommend this film. I believe that you will be touched, moved and you will leave the theater with a huge learning lesson once you see this film.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Luc Besson

Cast: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevigne, Clive Owen, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu, Sam Spruell, Alain Chabat, Louis Leterrier, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke and Rutger Hauer.

Rating: Average.

French action filmmaker Luc Besson brings “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”, a science fiction film that could have had a much better result if more time would have been more invested in story.

Based on the comic book series of “Valerian and Laureline” the movie tells the story of Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delvigne), two young soldiers which job is to maintain order in human territory.

After one of their missions, both of them are briefed and told about a dark force that threatens Alpha, the home to species from a thousand planets.

Both Valerian and Laureline have to find out what is the mystery about this threat and both of them are in a race against time on not only preserving Alpha, but the future of the whole universe.

“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” is considered so far the most ambitious movie of Luc Besson´s career that consists in movies like “Leon: The Professional”, “The Fifth Element” and many others.

The only problem that I saw in the film was in screenplay and I felt that Besson focused more on making the movie a visual experience instead in focusing more in character development.

I noticed that Besson had influences in movies like Star Wars, The Fifth Element and other Science Fiction movies and made an impressive visual experience.

The chemistry between Dane DeHann and Cara Delevigne was not there and I didn´t buy it. DeHann is a great and talented young actor but he was not fit for the role and Delevigne did a decent job and she is slightly superior than DeHann.

I felt that the casting choices that Besson made for this film were not the correct ones and with other characters portraying the lead roles I would say that we could have seen another story.

I am surprised in a director like Luc Besson that normally he spends time in developing characters and this time he focused more on the looks of the film. 

There are spectacular action sequences in the film and it´s beautifully shot which is one of the things I did acknowledge on it.

I still believe that if Besson would have spend more time in script revisions for  “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” could have been a superior film.

I feel that this movie in a certain way people are not going to forget it because of the incredible visuals that possesses and action sequences but it´s not “The Fifth Element” which by far is a much superior film.

This is one of the most expensive movies done in European Soil and for that reason my expectations were a little bit more higher.

I give “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” a slight recommendation and this is most likely of the visuals that were very well made, although most of them are with green screen but still looked good. Again if the screenplay would have had more revisions we might be talking of another film.

Landline

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Gillian Robespierre

Cast: Jenny Slate, Jay Duplass, Abby Quinn, John Turturro, Edie Falco, Ali Ahn, Jordan Carlos, Raffaella Meloni and Finn Wittrock.

Rating: Very Good.

Gillian Robespierre, writer/director of “Obvious Child” teams up again with Jenny Slate in “Landline”, a comedy and drama that delivers interesting results.

The movie takes place in Manhattan during the mid 90´s and tells the story of Dana Jacobs (Jenny Slate) a New Yorker who happens to be engaged with her fiancée Ben (Jay Duplass).

Her troubled young sister Ali (Abby Quinn) makes a discovery that her father Alan (John Turturro) has been having an affair with another woman.

Ali tells her sister about this and Dana and she´s  in shock when she finds out about this. At the same time this situation will unite both sisters but they are now facing a dilemma: Telling their over protecting mother Pat (Edie Falco) about the situation.

Now both Dana and Ali will have to decide in either telling Pat the truth or she will find out herself. 

“Landline” is an interesting take about infidelity and the consequences of your actions when you perform it.  The subject was told in a very convincing and original way that has never been seen before.

Other factor that it was important for this film was the fact that it was not obvious and Gillian Robespierre was very smart in showing that.

Robespierre teamed up again with Elizabeth Holm and both women crafted a brilliant screenplay and the results did pay off in this film.

The fact that it was set up during the Bill Clinton days was very original as well and this might be one of the things that I liked of the film the most.

The chemistry between Slate and Quinn does work in the film and both give very good and convincing performances. The same goes to John Turturro, who is always a pleasure watching him on screen and Edie Falco, who in the second act of the film has one of the funniest scenes and I think Robespierre wanted to use it as a political satire and it really worked.

The movie has a strong message about self acceptance and accept other for who they are and it´s really moving.

There were scenes in the movie that I felt that there were not necessary and I feel that we alredy got it as audience members what both sisters want but it didn´t bother me. 

The score is really good and if you are both and 80´s and 90´s music lover I feel that you are going to have a good time hearing some of the tunes of this movie.

Gillian Robespierre directed another winner with “Landline” and it´s one of the biggest surprises of this year.

If you want to have a good time I higly recommend “Landline” which you will both enjoy and laugh with it.

War For The Planet Of The Apes

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Matt Reeves

Cast: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Amiah Miller, Terry Notary, Ty Olsson, Michael Adamthwaite, Toby Kebbell and Gabriel Chavarria

Rating: Excellent.

Matt Reeves, writer/director of 2014´s “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” brings “War For The Planet Of The Apes”, the third installment of this reboot franchise and I was very pleased with the results of this film.

Followed two years after the events of “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”,  the movie centers in the leader of the apes Caesar (Andy Serkis) a very smart ape who lives in the woods with his wife, son and his newborn son with the rest of the apes who follow him.

One day the rest of the Apes suffer an attack in the hands of The Colonel (Woody Harrelson) a vicious and ruthless leader of an army that has one goal in mind: Exterminate the apes for good.

In the attack, The Colonel kills Caesar´s wife and son. This incident will fill Caesar with anger and has the goal of seeking revenge against the Colonel and avenge his family.

Not only Caesar will want to seek revenge, but will do anything to protect his kind at any costs before the Colonel does more damage.

One of the things that worked in “War For the Planet Of The Apes” was the fact that the characters were more solid and the villain was a great one.

I liked the fact that you see Caesar´s internal and external conflicts more marked in this film than in the second part and we see him with a huge struggle.

The screenplay written by both Matt Reeves and Mark Bomback hit the mark and was very detailed at all levels.

One of the things that did surprise me is in the beginning of the film the filmmakers did explain the events of the previous films. They went straight to the facts and did not use a voiceover, which is a very common mistake to do when you are trying to explain something.

Matt Reeves was very smart on showing this and did work. His direction was really good and I like the characters he created here, specially Woody Harrelson, who again portrays a very good and convincing villain.

As an audience member, I was very upset towards his characters since he was so cruel and had no remorse at all.

“War Of The Planet Of The Apes” not only is a very well written movie but is a fantastic visual experience at all levels.

The visual effects were very well made and the action sequences were very well shot, specially the climatic battle in the third act of the film, which is one of great action sequence and it was impressive.

The way how the message was executed was very good, that has to do a lot with the importance on learning how to forgive people when they fail someone. It was very original and it was not filled with clichés and on the nose moments.

It is very important to watch the previous films before you watch this third installment, since it does have a sequence specially with the dialogue that is involved in the film.

With that being said “War For The Planet Of The Apes” no only is  one  great summer film, but it´s the best of the franchise  and I higly recommend it for the story and the visuals of the film.

Lady Macbeth

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: William Oldryod

Cast: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton, Naomie Ackie, Christopher Fairbank, Golda Rosheuvel and Bill Fellows.

Rating: Excellent.

British director William Oldryod, makes his feature film debut with “Lady Macbeth”, a movie that  gained critical acclaim in last year´s Toronto Film Festival and I was very pleased with the result of this film.

Based in the novel “Lady Macbeth of the Mtskenk District” by Nikolai Leskov, The movie takes place in the eighteen hundreds in rural England and tells the story of Katherine (Florence Pugh) a young bride who has been sold to Alexander (Paul Hilton).

Katherine lives under a strict schedule and she cannot leave the house. One day Katherine´s life will change when she meets Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis) an employee who works in her estate.

She will feel attracted to him and both begin to have an intense affair that can lead to terrible consequences.

Katharine is aware of this situation and will want to continue with her affair at any costs, even if it means loosing everything.

“Lady Macbeth” not only is a very good drama film, but is an intense thriller.

The screenplay written Alice Birch, which happens to be her debut screenplay is very well written and the characters she gave voice to were really good.

I like the fact that the movie is straight forward and the theme is not complicated at all.

When I saw the title of this film I thought that it was taken by a William Shakespeare play but that was not the case.

William Oldryod´s direction was very good and directed a cast filled with unknowns who gave remarkable performances, specially Florence Pugh who portrays Katherine with so much intensity.

This type of films are very well known for the heavy Production Design that is involved and “Lady Macbeth” was not the exception.

On the other hand I was very skeptical on the film and I thought that it was going to be the typical period piece with a killer length and filled with clichés  but it was not the case and it goes very fast.

I felt that also the movie is a full frontal criticism towards the abuse of power and the consequences of making bad decisions.

The movie in the beginning of the second act gets even more intense when all the bad things begin to happen and Katherine´s character takes a radical turn.

I was very impressed with this film and it plays with the intensity and with the drama, which is very complicated to do in a movie like this one.

I do think that Florence Pugh has a bright future ahead of her and I hope we can see good things from her.

William Oldoyd did a very good job with his directing and Alice Birch wrote a very good screenplay and I hope we continue to see some of their good work as well.

“Lady Macbeth” is a really good movie and I give a huge recommendation to it.