The Foreigner

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Martin Campbell

Cast: Jackie Chan, Katie Leung, Rufus Jones, Mark Tandy, Caolan Byrne, Donna Bernard, Aaron Monaghan, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Lia Williams, Michael McElhatton and Pierce Brosnan.

Rating: Very Good.

Martin Campbell, director of “Goldeneye” and “The Mask of Zorro” brings “The Foreigner” a thriller that delivers interesting results but I still believe that it could have been a better film.

The movie takes place in London and tells the story of Quan Ngoc Minh (Jakie Chan) a humble restaurant owner that witnesses the murder of his daughter in an act of terrorism.

Now Quan will seek justice and his first lead is Liam Hennessy (Pierce Brosnan) a former IRA member and now government official that Quan believes that he has the names of the men responsible for his daughter´s death.

Hennesy refueses to help Quan and he´ll be playing a game of cat and mouse with him. Now Quan will have to use his wit and persistence to win this game with Hennesy in order to find the men who caused his daughter´s death and have inner peace with himself.

One of the reasons why “The Foreigner” works is because is an original concept and it´s the first time that we see Jackie Chan in a much serious role.

In the past when we had heard his name, we relate him to all the action and comedy movies that he has done but here doesn´t have to many. In fact we can see a Jackie Chan that gives a convincing performance as a man willing to seek justice, even if it is to take the law into his own hands.

The performance that really impressed me was Pierce Brosnan; without a doubt this is best one I have seen in his career and he portrays his character in a very convincing way that we hate from beginning to end. 

The flaw that I saw in this movie was in terms of screenplay. I do think it´s good but by moments gets too much into dialogue and over explains to much.

I like the fact that David Marconi created very solid characters but I do feel that by moments the story got to political and again sometimes is not a good idea to mix two plots into a movie.

Although this time it does work but it could have worked better if they would been focused in one single subject.

Martin Campbell`s directing again delivers and he brought his personal touch in this film which is that he illustrates the inner conflicts in the main characters and we feel for them every single moment. At the same time he shot a very dark film and it worked.

The color palette that he has used in the past with movies like “Goldeneye” and “The Mask of Zorro” plays with both contrasts and here he made much darker. It makes total sense but I was very surprise on seeing this look in the movie.

More than an action movie, “The Foreigner” is a thriller and does deliver.

Before watching this film don´t go with any expectations on seeing Jackie Chan kick ass like he normally does. Although when he does it in some of the sequences is really good and enjoyable.

I was very surprised with “The Foreigner” and I highly recommend it for it´s story, action sequences and directing by Martin Campbell.

Blade Runner 2049

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Ana De Armas, Edward James Olmos, Mackenzie Davis, Sylvia Hoeks and Jared Leto.

Rating: Excellent.

Academy Award Director Nominee Denis Villeneuve brings “Blade Runner 2049”, the sequel of the 1982 film “Blade Runner” directed by Ridley Scott and I was very surprised and pleased with the results of this film.

Set in the year 2049, the movie tells the story of Agent K (Ryan Gosling) a young Blade Runner, who discovers a buried secret while he is working on a case.

This will lead him to former Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) who has been missing for 30 years. 

Now K must find Deckard, who is the only person who can answer K´s questions about his true existence.

The problem is that K is on the hunt of Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) a blind Replicant and Founder of the Wallace Corporation  and his Replicant Enforcer Luv (Sylvia Hoeks) who will do anything to stop K on knowing the truth.

K is in the race against time to find Deckard and to discover his true existence that will change the course of his life and humanity.

One of the things that I really liked of “Blade Runner 2049” was the fact that the filmmakers respected the world of the first film.

This is thanks to the screenplay written by Hampton Fancher, who happens to be the original writer of “Blade Runner” and Michael Green. Both of them wrote a very powerful, true and unique screenplay with rich characters.

From the minute the movie started I was blown away and the direction by Denis Villeneuve again delivers and makes him one of the best filmmakers of the industry today.

His direction was precise and I love the way how he told the story and again the way that he respected the original world from the 1982 film.

The chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford works at all levels in this movie, Jared Leto´s performance as Niander Wallace is both terrifying and impressive, despite of the short amount of time that he is in the film but he plays a very important role in this movie.

The cinematography by Roger Deakins is astonishing as always and again he proves himself as one of the best cinematographers of the industry.

The way how he recreated the world with his strong color palette caused a huge impression and emerged us in the world of the original film that has that look. Not only Deakins did that with his camera work, but Villeneuve´s directing was outstanding and it made you part of that world. 

I was very hesitant when a sequel of “Blade Runner” was announced and I was having my doubts. Again I was wrong and this movie is at the same level as the original.

Since the minute it started to the last I was delighted and every time I see a movie directed by Denis Villeneuve I learn something new and he continues to impress audiences.

It is very important to watch the first movie in case you haven´t seen it yet and please go with an open mind since it´s a movie that is almost 3 hours long but is for a reason.

“Blade Runner 2049” is indeed a masterpiece and hopefully can score nominations in next year´s award season, specially in the technical side and hopefully Roger Deakins can win this year the Oscar for Cinematography.

With that being said “Blade Runner 2049” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend it.

The Mountain Between Us

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Hany Abu- Assad

Cast: Kate Winslet, Idris Elba, Beau Bridges, Linda Sorensen, Marci T. House, Vincent Gale and Dermot Mulroney.

Rating: Poor.

 Hany Abu-Assad, director of the 2013 film “Omar”, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture makes his first English spoken film with “The Mountain Between Us” and this was indeed a major disappointment.

Based on the novel by Charles Martin, the movie tells the story of Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) and Ben Bass (Idris Elba) two strangers that need to arrive to their respective destinations but their flights have been cancelled due to a storm in Idaho.

Alex approaches Ben and shares him her idea of flying with a local pilot. Ben agrees and they both meet Walter (Beau Bridges).

Everything is fine until Walter suffers a heart attack and the plane crashes in the mountains.

Both Alex and Ben survive the accident and now they will need from each other in order to survive.

The major problem that I saw in “The Mountain Between Us” was in terms of the screenplay. This really surprised me since it was written by Chris Weitz, who wrote “About a Boy”, “Antz”, most reently “Rogue One” and Directed “ A Better Life”. These films he wrote and directed except “Antz” and “Rogue One” were very good films and Weitz knows how to write this type of characters with emotional conflicts.

Here the problem was the narrative and the arc of the story that really bothered me. The dialogue was too on the nose and the movie reached to a level that I didn´t care about it at all. The characters were vague and I didn´t feel anything for them.

The lines of Kate Winslet in the movie were constantly said and by the time that Act II starts we already know what was going on.

The performances of both Kate Winslet and Idris Elba are good but not great. This has to do with the poor material that was given to them at their disposal.

Both actors are really talented and they will do whatever they can but unfortunately when you have material like this one there is nothing to much to do.

Visually is a film that I accept that it looked really good and the camera work was really fine. The problem was some shots didn´t make any sense and that was in part of Abu-Assad`s directing.

Assad should have also focused in the performance and the way how some shots made sense through the film.

The ending of the film I didn´t know if I wanted to laugh or to be upset since it was one of the most cheesiest that I have seen in a while.

The movie was a huge mess and it was predictable from beginning to end.

The pacing was slow and it´s a shame because with a cast like this one you had everything in your favor to do deliver a good product but that was not the case here.

“The Mountain Between Us” is a movie that I don´t think you will enjoy and I cannot give a recommendation to it.

American Made

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Doug Liman

Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Lola Kirke, Mauricio Mejía, Alejandro Edda, Caleb Landry Jones and Jesse Plemons.

Rating: Very Good.

Doug Liman, director of “The Bourne Identity”, “Edge of Tomorrow” and “The Wall” brings “American Made”, which makes his second collaboration with Tom Cruise and again he delivered very interesting results.

Based on true events, the movie centers in Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) a pilot for the airline TWA that is contacted by CIA Agent Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson).

Schafer will convince Seal to work for him as an operative on taking pictures from a small plane in Central America.

In one of his missions he is being picked up by members of the Medellin Cartel and he will meet Jorge Ochoa (Alejandro Edda) and eventually Pablo Escobar (Mauricio Mejía).

Ochoa makes with Seal a proposition deal of working for the Cartel in smuggling cocaine in the United States.

This is the story of a man who lived a double life and became one of the most iconic figures during the late 70´s and 80´s.

Doug Liman created again a really good movie with spectacular action sequences and of course he directed Tom Cruise in a superb way.

The screenplay written by Gary Spinelli was very original and the amount of research he made on Barry Seal is notorious in this film. He wrote the screenplay with a lot of detail and for movies like this one the more detail you can get the more realistic.

The aesthetics of the film were fantastic and I loved the way how Liman recreated the 80`s in this film. In some of this films that have iconic figures this has been a problem and you only see the look on the characters but not in the look of the film itself and this one has it.

The timing of the film is really good and I also loved the fact that the filmmakers stick on the basics of Barry Seal since there is a lot of story to cover up.

The comedy was really good in this movie and Tom Cruise had very good moments that he is funny and shows his wit and charisma that has been his trademark in most of his movies.

I haven´t seen a performance of Tom Cruise that I enjoyed so much like I did in “American Made”. He played Seal in a convincing way and I was missing this from Tom Cruise who has delivered memorable performances in movies like “Born on the Fourth of July”, ”Jerry Maguire” “Rain Man”, making him one of the most iconic figures in Hollywood.

The action sequences that happen in this film, specially the one that occurs when Seal is landing a plane filled with tons of cocaine is really good and at the same time very funny.

The chemistry between Liman and Cruise again works and hopefully we can see more movies with this two in the future.

“Ameican Made” is a really fun movie and I highly recommend it for Doug Liman´s directing, Gary Spinnelli´s screenplay and the performances of the cast, especially Tom Cruise.

Flatliners

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Niels Arden Oplev

Cast: Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton, Kiersey Clemons, Madison Brydges, Anna Arden, Miguel Anthony, Jenny Raven and Kiefer Sutherland.

Rating: Poor.

Niels Arden Oplev, director of the 2009 “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, brings “Flatliners” and this movie from beginning to end is a disaster.

The movie tells the story of Courtney (Ellen Page) a medical student who suffered a tragic accident that cost her sister´s life.

One day he spots his classmate Jamie (James Norton) and asks him to meet her in the basement of the campus.

He shows up where he will meet Sophia (Kiersey Clemons). Both Jamie and Sophia don´t know what is happening and Courtney asks them to stop her heart. Both are in shock but end up doing so.

Later students Ray (Diego Luna) and Marlo (Nina Dobrev) will join the experiment. All of them have their hearts stopped except Ray and begin to experience a series of events but at the same time episodes from the past will begin to hunt them.

Now the students will either have to accept the consequences of their actions or struggle with their inner demons, to the fact that can lead them to insanity.

From the beginning I heard and read that a remake of 1990`s “Flatliners” was going to happen, I expected the worst and I was not wrong.

The screenplay of this film is completely idiotic and has one of the worst dialogue I have heard in a film. Ben Riple`s job was to create another type of movie and I saw an exact carbon copy of the film directed by Joel Schumacher. The only difference was the name of the characters but that was pretty much it.

Niels Arden Oplev´s directing was all over the place, he directed the cast poorly as well as technical choices he made. It´s a shame that this happened to him since his version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was really good and hopefully this is a leaning lesson for him. 

Kiefer Sutherland was totally wasted in this film and I felt that it was very disrespectful to an actor of his caliber. I understand why the filmmakers wanted to include him since he starred in the original film but this didn´t work and his character was not relevant to the story.

I think that actors like Ellen Page and Diego Luna, who not only are really talented but they were completely wasted and they could not save this piece of trash.

From beginning to end the movie was boring and had some of the fakest visual effects that I have seen in film. There were supposed to be scary but look cartoonish and didn´t work at all.

The 1990 movie is one that I really enjoyed and the concept was an interesting one. In fact I consider it a very well made movie with convincing performances by Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon.

I´ve mentioned before that remakes normally don´t work and this movie proves totally my point.

The reviews of this movie that have appeared online have trashed this movie from beginning to end and this movie deserves this type of criticism.

If you have seen the original movie please keep that way since this one is going to be a waste of your time and money.

“Flatliners” is one of the most idiotic movies I have seen and it`s one of the worst movies of this year.

Stronger

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: David Gordon Green

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Tatiana Maslany, Miranda Richardson, Richard Lane Jr, Nate Richman, Lenny Clarke, Patty O`Neil, Kate Fitzgerald, Danny McCarthy, Carlos Sanz, Frankie Shaw and Clancy Brown.

Rating: Excellent.

David Gordon Green, director of “Pineapple Express” and “Our Brand is Crisis” brings “Stronger”, a drama that really hit it`s mark and I was very moved with it.

Based on true events the movie tells the story of Jeff Bauman (Jake Gyllenhaal) an ordinary Boston native who suffers the events of the Boston Bombings in 2013 that caused him the lost of his legs.

Later in the story begins to be seen as the hero of the people of Boston and an example of inspiration. This is a story of a man who never gave up in his ultimate goal despite having a disability.

“Stronger” it´s a movie that works at all levels and this is thanks to the screenplay that John Pollono adapted from the book of the same name that Jeff Bauman wrote.

The story goes straight to the facts and we see a character that has a constant struggle in this film because of the fact that he is seen as a hero and makes him uncomfortable.

David Gordon Green with his directing captured those moments in a terrific way, making his cast deliver convincing performances.

Going back to the screenplay I like the fact that Pollono got into detail with this film and wrote very good dialogue. The structure of the story works, although they are moments that I saw some clichés in this film but I understand that for a film of this genre is something inevitable but still it does work.

Jake Gyllenhaal`s performance was unbelievable. Again he delivered a fantastic performance and played Jeff Bauman with so much heart and I feel that this can be considered one of his finest performances of his career.

Tatiana Maslany, who plays Bauman`s love interest is very good and the rest of the cast of this film is really good.

In the technical side there were moments that I saw some mistakes some of them had to do with continuity and editing in the film that could have been done properly. Still the movie does work like I mentioned in all levels and this is because it has a very good story.

I´ve never been touched and inspired by a film like “Stronger” and I might sound to cliché but I think that Jeff Bauman`s life should be a huge example of inspiration and specially of hope of not giving up, even in moments that are difficult it´s important to stand up and make your mark.

Like every movie that I have seen recently I didn´t know what to expect of “Stronger” and this is one of the things that made me enjoy it more and I hope it does it with you to.

“Stronger” is a movie that you cannot miss; I consider it one of the best films of this year and I highly recommend it.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie

By Emilio Frenk. 

Directors: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan

Cast (Voice): Dave Franco, Fred Armisen, Kumail Nanjiani, Michael Peña, Abbi Jacobson, Zach Woods, Justin Theroux, Ali Wong, Olivia Munn, Randall Parker and Jackie Chan.

Rating: Average.

Directors Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan bring “The LEGO Ninjago Movie”, the third movie based in the popular toys and unfortunately the results of this film were not satisfying.

The movie centers in Lloyd (Dave Franco) a teenager who happens to be the son of the evil warlord Garmadon (Justin Theroux).

Thanks to this Lloyd is constantly bullied and everybody in Ninjago blames him of every disaster that takes place.

Now Lloyd wants to put an end to all of this and decides to confront Garmadon before he does even more damage. He will do it with the help of his friends and ninjas Jay (Kumail Nanjiani), Kai (Michael Peña),  Nya (Abbi Jacobson), Zane (Zach Woods) and their spiritual leader Master Wu (Jackie Chan).

“The LEGO Ninjago Movie” is a film that I think it had a lot of potential since it´s previous movies “The LEGO Movie” and “The LEGO Batman Movie” were movies that had heart and the execution worked at all levels.

Here the major problem was the fact there were seven screenwriters involved in this film and you can tell that between them there was  a lot of creative conflict  since many of the scenes of  this film led directly to boredom and this is something you cannot afford to have.

In movie regardless of the genre it´s not a good idea to have more than two screenwriters since problems like the one I just mentioned can really happen and damage a potential project.

Some of the scenes of “The LEGO Ninjago Movie” didn´t make any sense and I felt that were either too long or didn´t bring anything to what it was really happening.

The directing of Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan I felt that it was too amateur by moments and the directing of the cast in terms of voice had good moments but it could have been much better if they tried harder.

I know this was not entirely their fault since a very weak script was involve in all of this. If the screenplay would have been fixed I think that we would be talking of a different movie.

There are good things about the film that I think were really well made. One of them is the animation which follows the same pattern as the previous LEGO movies with stop motion action and I think the message in regards of friendship is very well triggered in this film.

I admit that this movie film by moments it deliver the goods but at the same time I felt that this movie should have had more humor for adults and it was entirely for children.

I understand why the movie was done like this but for a movie of this genre, again the adult part is really important and I barely saw it in this LEGO film.

My conclusion of “The LEGO Ninjago Movie” is that is a movie that is well made but it could had been a different film if the story would had been less confusing and a movie with a shorter length.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Gordon Alexander, Hanna Alstöm, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Edward Holcroft, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Jeff Bridges, Elton John and Julianne Moore.

Rating: Poor.

Matthew Vaughn, writer/director of 2015`s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” brings it´s sequel “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” and the first thing I mention before I start my review is that I am disappointed of this film.

Based in the comic book series “The Secret Service”, this installment focuses again in Eggsy (Taron Egerton) now a Kingsman Agent that has an encounter with Charlie (Gordon Alexander) a Kingsman applicant who got rejected and now wants to seek revenge against the organization.

The following day The Kingsman headquarters gest destroyed by Charlie and the real mastermind Poppy (Julianne Moore) a woman that threatens the world in releasing a deadly virus.

Now Eggsy and Merlin (Mark Strong) who happen to be the only survivors in Kingsman made the discovery that there is an American organization called Statesman run by Champ (Jeff Bridges) and his agents Tequila (Channing Tatum), Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Ginger (Halle Berry).

Now Eggsy and Merlin will try to convince the Statesman agents to work together to stop Poppy and Charlie on releasing the deadly virus and save the world.

The main reason why this movie is way below than the first film is the fact that the story was weak and it led to boredom.

The first “Kingsman” movie was really good and I really enjoyed it with it´s over the top action sequences that were really made.

The other factor that made the first movie work was the villain played by Samuel L. Jackson. He was really good as a villain and had this look of a social media mogul that wants to conquer the world.

Julianne Moore`s villain was to vague and you only see her in one place during the whole movie. She practically is in her comfort zone. I´m not saying she was not good, on the contrary she did what she could to make her character believable but the problem was the writing of the character.

For a movie of this caliber I think you need to be more active and the length was also an issue. It was too long and during the second act of the film nothing was really happening and had the tendency to over explain things.

I was expecting this sequel to be at the same level at the first film but this wasn´t the case unfortunately.

On the other hand one of the things that I really liked of the film besides the action sequences and the editing, was the cinematography by George Richmond, who did the first film and had a similar look to this one.

The images were beautifully shot, the color of the film was fantastic and the scenes were perfectly lit, to the point that it didn´t look fake.  

I´m not saying this movie is awful or really bad but it didn´t hit it´s mark like the first movie and I was expecting it to be by moments superior since this film had a more stronger cast.

I still consider Matthew Vaughn as one of the most talented filmmakers in the action genre and he has proven this in the past with films like “X-Men: First Class” and the first “Kingsman” movie.

This time I feel that his directing was more focused in the looks of the film and I felt that the narrative was put aside.

Hopefully if there is a third “Kingsman” movie this is a learning lesson for both Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman and avoid to make mistakes in a potential third part.

“Kingsman: The Golden Circle” is a movie that unfortunately I cannot recommend for the reasons that I just mentioned above.

Battle Of The Sexes

By Emilio Frenk. 

Directors: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Natalie Morales, Austin Stowell, Bill Pullman, Chris Parnell, Alan Cumming and Elizabeth Shue.

Rating: Excellent.

Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who gained critical acclaim for the 2006 comedy hit “Little Miss Sunshine” are back with their third movie in their belt “Battle of the Sexes” and this is one of the best movies of this year.

Based on a true story, the movie centers in Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) a number 1 tennis player who in 1973 had one of the most memorable matches in the history of the sport against Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell) a tennis player who used to be in his prime who was a constant gambler and hustler.

This is the story of how this sport changed through this historical matchup and the two different approaches of how both prepared for this matchup.

The reason why “Battle of the Sexes” works at all levels is because it´s a movie that went straight to the facts and when you deal with characters or an event that really took place that is paramount for a movie, regardless of the genre. 

The screenplay written by Academy Award Winner Simon Beaufoy, who won it for “Slumdog Millionaire” was true and wrote with so much detail that from the minute the movie started to the end we liked both Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. You can tell by the result in screen that Beaufoy did tons of research in this two iconic figures.

The cinematography by Linus Sandgren, who this past Academy Awards for his work in “La La Land” recreated an atmosphere that you were emerged in the 70´s era.The looks of the film and how he played with the color and lighting was sharp and it´s one other element that made this film special.

The editing by Pamela Martin was very sharp, fast and it was really interesting how she played with the transitions in both the characters in the whole film.

Like in “Little Miss Sunshine” both Dayton and Faris´s timing in comedy and drama was precise and this movie played really well with both genres.

The way how the conflict of Bobby Riggs as a gambler was portrayed works at all levels and Steve Carell brought to life a unique character that if in that time social media portals like Instagram and Twitter would have existed, he would have many followers.

At the same time the way how Billie Jean King´s identity crisis was represented in this film works and besides seeing a talented and hardworking professional tennis player, we had the opportunity to see the insecurities that this character had back in the day where in that time America was even more conservative as it is today.

Seeing both Emma Stone and Steve Carell in this movie was a huge blessing and I would not be surprised if both actors score Academy Award Nominations in next year´s ceremony.

Dayton and Faris not only directed an incredible and visual experience, but both directed a movie with a lot of heart and it will move audiences regardless if they like tennis or not.

“Battle of the Sexes” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend it for the acting of both Stone and Carrel, the directing of Dayton and Faris and fabulous screenplay written by Simon Beaufoy.

Mother!

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brian Gleeson, Domhnall Gleeson, Stephen McHattie and Kristen Wiig.

Rating: Excellent.

Academy Award Director Nominee Darren Aronofsky brings “Mother!”, a psychological thriller that people will be talking about for a long time.

The movie tells the story of Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) a young girl who moves to a house in the countryside with her husband Him (Javier Bardem) a poet who suffers constantly from writer´s block.

Everything will change for the couple when a Man (Ed Harris) arrives to their home out of the blue thinking that is a Bed and Breakfast and the following day a Woman (Michelle Pfeiffer) arrives.

Man accepts them at their home despite of Mother´s suspicions towards the couple. Mother´s suspicions will grow when she begins to observe some behavior in both the couple.

Now both Him and Mother´s relationship will be tested at all costs and they have to think carefully about every decision they both make before it´s too late.

I´m very glad that Darren Aronofsky is back after his failure in 2014 with “Noah”. This is the Darren Aronofsky that we like to see and he did it again with “Mother!”.

In this movie Aronofsky printed his style and we went back to movies like “Pi”, “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan” that deal with loneliness, obsession and insanity.

The performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are fantastic in this film and both brought so much realism.

One of the things that made this movie special is the fact that the characters don´t have any names, which  its unique in a film like this one. 

Other thing that really worked in this film is the fact that in it´s two hours, the movie doesn´t have any score in it and that is one of the most difficult things to achieve in any film since the score also can make a difference.

In the other hand this is a movie that is not an easy one and it leaves you with a lot of questions after you watch it. 

When I watched the film I observed that people were really upset and I do understand that since they came with a lot of expectation due to the cast that was involve. This I believe is to be a mistake when you are going to watch a movie regardless of the genre.

I noticed that Aronofsky´s major influence was Roman Polanki´s “Rosemary´s Baby” since both movies theme´s are very similar.

I liked the fact of how the main character´s conflicts (Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem,Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer) were triggered in this movie. We understood from the beginning what was going on in their heads.

The cinematography from Matthew Libatique, who has shot most of Aronofsky´s films was again sharp, the imagery was superb and played very well with all the contrasts of the film that were dark for most of the time.

Before you watch “Mother!” the following is very important:

1)    Go with an open mind before you watch it.

2)    Be familiar with Darren Aronofsky´s work

3)    Don´t go and watch it high expectations since you might be disappointed.

“Mother!” is one of the most controversial films of this year and I think it works at all levels.

I highly recommend it for Aronofsky´s writing and directing, performances and cinematography which is one of the things that I enjoyed the most of this film.

Brad´s Status

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Mike White

Cast: Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams, Jenna Fisher,  Jemaine Clement, Mike White, Luisa Lee, Shazi Raja, Luke Wilson and Michael Sheen.

Rating: Excellent.

Writer/Director Mike White brings another movie this year and he does it with “Brad`s Status” and this is a must see movie.

The movie tells the story of Brad Sloan (Ben Stiller) a man who recently founded he´s not profit company and is married to Melanie Sloan (Jenna Fisher) who works in politics.

Both are the parents of Troy (Austin Abrams) a talented aspiring musician who wants to get into college. Bradi will take a trip with Troy to the East Coast to see Troy´s options in college and both arrive to Boston where Troy has the major desire to get into Harvard University. 

Knowing that is a University that not only has a high tuition but to get in is difficult, Brad will do anything to help his son to get in one of the most prestigious institutions in the country.

In this trip both Brad and Troy will learn about the true importance of family, spending time with each other and cherish every single moment like it is the last.

Like I mentioned before “Brad´s Status” is a movie that works at all levels and this is due to the wonderful screenplay that Mike White wrote.

He wrote very unique and special characters in this movie and the way how he wrote Brad is too special that we feel for him since the movie starts until the end.

Ben Stiller`s performance is so far the best I have seen in his career and this is the first time that I see him portraying a different character without being himself. 

In most of his career he is well known to play every single character as the same. This is with elements like the guy who is always out of luck, that he makes mistakes over and over again like in “There´s Something About Mary” and “Meet The Parents”.

Here he plays a character that he has a major conflict that is that he constantly compares himself to his friends from college and makes him insecure despite having a wife and son who love him unconditionally.

Mike White´s directing to the cast is fantastic and the performance by Austin Abrams as Troy is fantastic. He plays his character with a lot of realism and we route for him that he can fulfill his dream and reach his ultimate goal in the film.

Before I watched this film I honestly didn´t had any expectations towards it and I came in with my mind totally in blank. At the end I was very surprised and moved with this film.

This confirms the great year Mike White is having. He did it first with “Beatriz at Dinner” which he wrote beautifully and is a full frontal criticism of how America is today and unfortunately he had a failure with “The Emoji Movie”. But here he did a great job and he made a very unique and touching movie.

“Brad`s Status” is one of the biggest surprises of this year and I highly recommend it for the performances, writing and the message of this film.

American Assassin

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Michael Cuesta

Cast: Dylan O`Brien, Michael Keaton, Sanna Lathan, Charlotte Vega, Scott Adkins, Shiva Negar, David Suchet and Taylor Kitsch.

Rating: Poor.

Director Michael Cuesta, brings “American Assassin”, an action film that could have a better result if more time would have been invested in it`s story.

Based in the best selling novel by Vince Flynn, the movie tells the story of Mitch Rapp (Dylan O`Brien) a young American man who is vacationing with his girlfriend Katrina (Charlotte Vega) in Spain until both are attacked by an Islamic Terrorist Group which causes Katrina´s death.

An enraged Mitch is eager to seek  revenge an is on the eye of CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan), who  see´s something special in Rapp and convinces him to take a special trainee withformer U.S Navy Seal and Cold War Veteran Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton).

In there Rapp will receive an intense combat training where he will master his skills and the most important rule: Never let his emotions interfere.

Eventually he and Hurley will be recruited in a mission to Istanbul to stop a terrorist who calls himself Ghost (Taylor Kitsch) who has in his possession enough plutonium to make a nuclear warhead.

Now Rapp with the help of Hurley most stop Ghost before he does some real damage that could put humanity in risk.

The problem that I saw in “American Assassin” was the screenplay itself that was written by Stepehn Schiff, Michael Schiff, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick.

The plot was all over the place and the characters were just thrown at the screen with no motivation whatsoever.

If the movie would have been written only by Edward Zwick  perhaps we would have seen a different film since Zwick´s credentials are very high in the industry.

The motivation of Taylor Kitsch´s character was not clear until almost the end of the second act and I feel that there should have been a little bit of backstory in the character which is reveled but too late.

The performance of Michael Keaton was the best thing in the film and plays his character with so much wit and realism that root for him.

Dylan O`Brien´s work is the most decent one I´ve seen in and I think that if he choses the right material properly he could improve more as an actor.

The direction by Michael Cuesta was all over the place, the opening scene was laughable and some of the action sequences look to fake.

I believe that this movie had a lot of potential of delivering the goods but it was not the case due to the poor screenplay that was involved and Cuesta`s directing.

The ending of the film was very weak and at that point after the mission was completed I couldn´t care less about Dylan O`Brien´s character since the ending has nothing to do with the main plot of the film.

“American Assassin” is one of big disappointment in the action genre this year and due to the major flaws the movie had I cannot give a recommendation to it.

It

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Andy Muscietti

Cast: Jaeden Leiberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Nicholas Hamilton, Jake Sim, Owen Teague, Jackson Robert Scott, Stephen Bogaert and Bill Skarsgard.

Rating: Excellent.

Andy Muschietti, director of 2013´s “Mama” brings his second feature film with “It”, not only I can say that this is one of his most ambitious movies of his career but I can say that I was really surprised with this one.

Based in the acclaimed novel by Stephen King the movie takes place in the town of Derry, Maine and center in a group of kids that are constantly bullied by the local kid Henry Bowers (Nicholas Hamilton).

The group they called themselves “The Loser´s Club” and are conformed by Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher), Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Eddie Kaspbrak (Jack Dylan Grazer), Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff) and Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs).

Everything will change for the group when Bill´s brother George (Jackson Robert Scott) is murdered by a monster that takes the form of Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgard).

Now Pennywise will begin to torment the kids with things provoke  them fear. Now Bill and the group will have to confront Pennywise before their own fear can get the best of them for good.

One of the things that made of this version of “It” work was that it was focused in one group and the screenplay written by Cary Fukunaga (originally was going to direct), Chase Palmer and Gary Dauberman hit the mark.

Other factors of the film that worked was that it takes place in the eighties and that is one of the things that I must say that I loved of this film.

The direction of Andy Muschietti is phenomenal and not only brought impressive visuals, but he directed his cast in an outstanding way, giving very good and convincing performances.

I remember when it was announced that a theatrical version of “It” was going to be released and honestly I begin to have my doubts because when second adaptations normally don´t work. Here again I was wrong and this movie works at all levels.

One of the things that made the movie work was that it was focused in the group of kids when they were young. The TV Mini Series of 1990 directed by Tommy Lee Wallace it was focused in both groups and the major flaw of that version was the second part that it was pointless. In the other hand Tim Curry´s performance as Pennywise was terrifying and memorable.

Bill Skarsgard take in Pennywise is really good as well, but I feel that is a very different approach on Pennywise compared with Curry´s but he is terrifying as well.

The movie was really well casted an I was very impressed with the directing of Andy Muscietti who like I mentioned before he took it too another level.

Muscietti was very smart on not only using the elements of horror correctly, but he was able to use some humor in it and did work.

This version of “It” is very realistic and the cinematography by Chung-hoon Chung, who shot movies like “Oldboy”, “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” and “Stoker” was very dark, sharp and he played really well with all his contrasts that made us as audience feel that we were afraid.

This year there had been so far two adaptations from Stephen King´s books which were “The Dark Tower” which was awful and is one of the worst movies of this year and “It” which is one of the year´s biggest surprises of the genre.

One thing that you might now is that there is going to be a sequel and I love this idea that are going to be two movies which is a smart thing and makes us to want more.

I put this version of “It”, with movies like “The Shining”,  "Stand By Me", “The Shawshank Redemption” and “The Green Mile” as one of the best adaptations of a Stephen King novel into film.

“It” is one of the scariest movies of this year and I highly recommend it for Bill Skarsgard´s performance as Pennywise, the filmmaking and the screenplay.

Home Again

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer

Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Nat Wolff, Pico Alexander, Jon Rudnitsky, P.J. Byrne, Lake Bell, Lola Flanery, Eden Grace Redfield, Reid Scott, Michael Sheen and Candice Bergen.

Rating: Poor.

Hallie Meyers-Shyer, daughter of filmmaker Nancy Meyers makes her directorial debut with “Home Again” and it was an unfortunate one.

The movie tells the story of Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) a single mother who moves to Los Angeles with her two daughters Isabel (Lola Flanery) and Rosie (Eden Grace Redfield).

Everything will change for Alice when she meets a group of filmmakers conformed by director Harry (Pico Alexander), writer George (Jon Rudnitsky) and actor Teddy (Nat Wolff) in a bar.

After a night of partying, the guys stay with Alice. After her mother Lilian (Candice Bergen) drops her grandchildren with Alice, she convinces her daughter to let them stay in order to make their dreams come true.

At the end Alice agrees on letting the boys stay and together will form a unique friendship.

The major problem that I saw in “Home Again” was in terms of screenplay that it was too predictable and was filled with too many clichés.

Like I mentioned in multiple occasions this genre has the advantage of being a generous one. But like everything there is a limit and I think that this one surpassed it.

The writing of the film was too on the nose, and I felt that it was too amateur.  I felt that Hallie Meyers-Shyer was copying her mother´s style in terms of filmmaking which was a huge problem.

I felt that Meyers-Shyer could have worked more in her story and it could have a good movie since it had elements for it. The problem as always was the execution that led to a complete disaster.

Meyers- Shyer´s major failure besides of creating a weak screenplay, was her directing that  led to performances that we´re everything but convincing. She had a A list actress in Reese Witherspoon but no matter who do you have on board in your film, if you´re story has a problem, most likely your film will have a major one.

I hope this is a huge learning lesson for Hallie Meyers-Shyer and in her next projects she can print her own style. 

With that being said “Home Again” is one of the weakest romantic comedies I´ve seen in a while and I cannot give a recommendation to it.

All Saints

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Steve Gomer

Cast: John Corbett, Cara Buono, Barry Corbin, David Keith, Patrick Johnson, Nelson Lee, Myles Moore, John Newberg, Debra Lynn Rogers Welborn and Gregory Alan Williams.

Rating: Good.

TV Director Steve Gomer joins forces with Steve Armour and together they bring “All Saints”, a movie that I was not expecting anything from it but I admit that I was surprised with it`s result.

Based on true events the movie tells the story of Michael Spurlock (John Corbett), a minister from the All Saints Church in Smyrna, Tennessee.

He has recently been ordered to shut down the church, which means a huge ordeal for Michael. Everything will change when a group of Burmese refugees enter in his life and decide to join Michael´s congregation.

They tell Michael that they are farmers and they attempt to use the land that surround the church by planting crops.

Michael thinks it´s a good idea and decides to work with the Burmese and that way save the church of foreclosure.

When it comes from this type of movies, that are faith based I am very skeptical but I was proven wrong with “All Saints”.

This movie is a very solid drama and is a very inspiring story with a simple idea but it works at all levels.

The directing by Steve Gomer was really good and his cast specially John Corbett and Barry Corbin where very good in this picture.

I believe that this is so far the best performance I´ve seen in John Corbett´s career. He plays a man with faith but at the same time he has a lot of struggle and conflict. I feel that Gomer did took advantage of the material and knew how to get the best out of Corbett in his performance that was very convincing.

Steve Armour´s screenplay was very good and I can tell that there was a huge ton of research done for this film and it did payoff.

With this type of movies that are based in real life events, research is the key and Armour´s did a very good work in writing an interesting screenplay.

When I entered this movie I admit that I had no idea what it was going to be about. This might be the reason why I enjoyed it even more and I was very pleased.

In fact I was being prejudice towards it but again I was proven wrong. I have the strong believe that as long as you have a touching and convincing story regardless of the genre, you can conquer the mountain and this is what “All Saints” did.

I believe that if you see this movie you are going to leave inspired and touched with this movie.

“All Saints” is a huge surprised and I give a recommendation to it for it´s solid storytelling and good directing by Steve Bomer.

Leap!

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Eric Summer

Cast (Voice): Elle Fanning, Nat Wolff, Carly Rae Jepsen, Maddie Ziegler, Elana Dunkelman, Joe Sheridan, Tamir Kapelian, Terrence Scammell, Kate McKinnon and Mel Brooks.

Rating: Average.

Another Animated Feature Film comes this summer and is “Leap!”, a French Canadian Production that had an interesting concept but the problem was the resolution.

The movie tells the story of Felicie  (Elle Fanning) an orphan who dreams to become a ballerina. 

One night Félicie escapes the orphanage with her best friend Victor (Nat Wolff) who dreams to be an inventor. Together they flee to Paris.

Félicie see´s the Grand Opera House and is impressed. Her desire to become a singer grows stronger and is determined to enter.

She will reach her goal with the help of Victor and she will meet Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen), a once ballerina who will help Felicie on making her dream come true.

Like I mentioned before, “Leap!” is a very well made film and the quality of the animation did surprise me.

The thing that I felt that needed more work was the screenplay written by Eric Summer, who directed the film, Carol Noble and Laurent Zeitoun. The major problem that I saw was the film was to predictable and in the climax in the scene, another one was added that didn´t make any sense.

I understand that this movie´s original version is a French film, which unfortunately I didn´t see but at this point it doesn´t matter.

The movie reached in a certain way it´s purpose but in the third act when the character of Felicie reaches her goal that´s where the movie should have ended.

The cast who shared their voices for “Leap!” did a decent job, specially Elle Fanning who I affirm that this 2017 has been a remarkable year for her, specially in movies like “The Beguiled” where she can probably score an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Mel Brooks voice as the Luteau the caretaker of the Orphanage is a really good one and is a blessing hearing this man´s voice in the big screen.

Normally when we speak about animated movies, the thing that comes to our minds and we related this genre is to either Disney or Pixar movies.

Movies like “Leap!” proved that Europeans also can do very good quality work in this genre but again the thing that lacked was story wise.

The message of the film of not giving up in your dreams and always believe in hope was very well executed and is another thing that I did like of this film.

Another factor that I observed in “Leap!” was that again it was focused in children and the adult part was taken. This is something that you cannot allow in a movie from this genre and normally this is a tendency that will lead to ultimate failure.

I feel if more time would have been invested in storytelling, I believe that we would have seen a different film since it was a very good concept.

With that being said, I give “Leap!” a slight recommendation. If you take you children, they are going to love but for adults please be patient since the movie can have the tendency of being repetitive.

Birth Of The Dragon

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: George Nolfi

Cast: Philip Ng, Yu Xia, Yue Wu, Steven Roberts, Billy Magnussen, Simon Yin, Terry Chen, Ron Yuan, Lillian Lim and Simon Chin.

Rating: Poor.

George Nolfi, writer/director of “The Adjustment Bureau” bring “Birth Of The Dragon”, a movie that had a very interesting concept with a very poor execution.

Based in true events, the movie tells the story that  focuses on a young Bruce Lee (Philip Ng) before he became an iconic figure in Martial Artist.

The movie takes place in the 60´s in San Francisco and shows Lee as a Kung Fu Teacher and at the same time a movie star.

In Hong-Kong, Master Wong Jack Man (Yu Xia) finds out about Lee´s actions. Outraged that Lee is teaching foreigners Kung Fu, Jack Man decides to travel to San Francisco to confront Lee.

Now Lee and Jack Man will square off against each other in a match were  honor will be involved.

The major problem that I saw in “Birth of The Dragon” was the screenplay written by Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson.

It focused more in the character of Steve McKee, played by Billy Magnussen instead of Bruce Lee´s character. This of course doesn´t make any sense, since the movie is about the Kung Fu legend.

I felt that if the movie would have been focused in the part of Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man, I think that we would have seen a different product.

The directing by George Nolfi in terms of the action sequences he did a decent job, but the acting of most of the cast was atrocious.

I didn´t believe Philip Ng´s performance as Bruce Lee and I feel that another actor would have done a better job.

Rewrites in this movie should have been done and the writers have to be more clear in which story they were telling.

Billy Magnussen delivered a great performance in this year´s “Ingrid Goes West”, where he performed a very convincing one. That had a lot to do with the writing.

Here I didn´t buy his performance and he was supposed to be a supporting character and turned out to be a lead one.

The other part of the movie that I really had a problem was that it was not authentic and real. I feel that the movie was fake at most of the times and didn´t go straight to the facts.

The excess amount use of flashbacks was a huge problem. The opening scene of the film should have been the second one and then we would have been immerged in the conflict.

This movie had potential to be a good movie but I felt that it was all over the place and I was disappointed since I do like Kung Fu movies and I didn´t see any of it.

The climax of the film was to over the top and I felt that it was a copy of Quentin Tarantino´s “Kill Bill”.

With that being said, “Birth Of The Dragon” is one of the worst movies of this year and I cannot give a recommendation to it.

Logan Lucky

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Farrah Mackenzie, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Seth MacFarlane, Katherine Waterston, Jack Quaid, Brian Gleeson, Daniel Craig and Hilary Swank.

Rating: Excellent.

Academy Award Winner Steven Soderbergh is back after a 4 year hiatus in theatrical film and does it with “Logan Lucky” and I really enjoyed this movie.

The movie tells the story of Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) a blue collar worker who gets fired during the construction of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Race.

He goes with his brother Clyde (Adam Driver) a war veteran who looses his arm while he is in service.

He tells him he has an idea of stealing money from the Charlotte Motor Speedway and has an elaborated plan.

Clyde is intrigued about this idea and they try to convince Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) a convict who is serving time in prison that happens to be an explosive expert. After he ends up accepting, both brothers include their sister Mellie (Riley Keough) to be part of the heist.

Now the Logan´s with Joe Bang and his associates are going to perform of the most unexpected heists in American History.

“Lucky Logan” is a movie that from the beginning you are intrigued and this is because of the rich characters that are in this film.

This is thanks to the wonderful script that newcomer Rebecca Blunt wrote with an enormous amount of detail. I saw influences of heist movies like “Ocean´s Eleven",  that happens to be directed by Soderbergh, some of "The Sting" and "Confidence" as well. 

The way of how the conflicts were portrayed in every single character work at all levels and despite being a comedy you can see a little bit of drama in this film, because the characters are in the need of having money at all costs due to the situation that are in.

Steven Soderbergh´s directing again was top of the notch and it´s always a privilege watching a movie directed by him.

The printed his style as usual and got into the minds of the characters with this film.

The cinematography was really well made and the way how Soderbergh played with the mood and the tone of the film in certain scenes had a huge effect and did work.

The chemistry between Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough and Daniel Craig work at all levels and deliver incredible performances.

I wouldn´t be surprised if we see a possible Academy Award Nomination in next year´s awards for either Daniel Craig who did a remarkable as Joe Bang as well as Adam Driver who combined both his seriousness with a lot of physical comedy with his character of Clyde that reminded me some of the comedy that Buster Keaton use to do. 

Rebecca Blunt´s debut as a screenwriter could not have started better.  She wrote an impeccable movie and hopefully we can see more of her work in the future.

I still think that the movie could have had a shorter length but still I think the movie went pretty fast.

“Logan Lucky” is one of the year´s best films and I highly recommend for the directing of Steven Soderbergh, the performances he got from his cast and the screenplay.

The Hitman`s Bodyguard

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Patrick Hughes

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Elodie Yung, Richard E. Grant, Sam Hazeldine, Joaquim de Almeida and Salma Hayek.

Rating: Average.

Patrick Hughes, director of “The Expendables 3” brings another action movie of this summer with “The Hitman`s Bodyguard” and one of the things that I´m going to start saying is  that I admit that I was entertained.

The movie centers in Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) a bodyguard who witnesses the assassination of an arms dealer he was supposed to protect, which causes  his reputation to go down.

Everything will change when his ex girlfriend and Interpol Agent Amelia Roussel (Elodie Young) asks him to bodyguard Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) an international hitman who Bryce had differences in the past.

Kincaid is scheduled to testify at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands against Belorussian Dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman).

At the end Bryce agrees to transport Kincaid to the Netherlands but both men will be in a race against time, where assassins  will try to stop both Kincaid and Bryce on reaching their final destination at all costs.

Like I mentioned before “The Hitman´s Bodyguard” is an entertaining action and comedy movie.

There were very good moments and spectacular action sequences but as usual the main problem was the screenplay written by Tom O´Connor.

I thought the movie was too predictable from the beginning to the end and this is an issue for a movie of this genre. The excessive amount of flashbacks in this film were a problem and with one should have been enough. 

I think that many elements were thrown to early and yes, it has to be entertaining but story wise you cannot be careless.

The chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson works and reminds me a little bit of other comedy duos like Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in “48 Hrs”, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in “Lethal Weapon” and other action films.

Also I feel this movie reminds of the style of 1988´s “Midnight Run” starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin. I feel that this was one of the major influences that O´Connor used for his screenplay and it was notorious.

As an action movie it does deliver the goods and I consider it entertaining. For that reason “The Hitman`s Bodyguard” serves it`s purpose but in terms of narrative is where the movie failed. 

I feel that with a better screenplay this movie could have even better and Patrick Hughe´s directing did improve compared to “The Expendables 3” which was one of the major flops in the summer of 2014.

I laughed and enjoyed “The Hitman`s Bodyguard” but the main reason that I´m skeptical is the story itself and the length of the film as well.

I give a slight recommendation to “The Hitman`s Bodyguard” for the elements that I mentioned before but if you want to be entertained, this is a movie to watch.

Patti Cake$

By Emilio Frenk. 

Director: Geremy Jasper

Cast: Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Siddarth Dhananjay, Mamoudou Athie, McCaul Lombardi, Patrick Brana, Wass Stevens, Sahr Ngaujah, Nick Sandow and Cathy Moriarty.

Rating: Excellent.

Filmmaker Geremy Jasper makes his feature film debut with “Patti Cake$”, a drama with heart that after you see it you will leave the theater with a lot of motivation.

The movie centers in Patti “Dumbo” Dombrowski (Danielle Macdonald) an obese young girl from New Jersey that works as a bartender in a local bar and suffers from constant bullying. 

In her free time she writes hip hop and lyrics with her best friend Jheri (Siddarth Dhananjay) who constantly encourages her on not being afraid of failure.

They will meet an interesting character named by his artistic named of Basterd (Mamoudou Athie), togethe  will form a rap band and will try to get fame and fortune at any cost by working hard and believing in themselves.

One of the things that made “Patti Cake$” special was the story. Geremy Jasper not only directed a sweet and touching movie filled with most an unknown cast that gave very good and convincing performances, specially from Danielle Macdonald who was really good as Patti Cakes. 

The way the story was crafted was very unique and I liked the visual looks of this film. I saw influences from movies like “8 Mile” and “Hustle & Flow” due to the theme of both films and this one.

This is an example of what I talked in this space before, which is when you write a story that is original and touching you can do great things, no matter the budget of your film.

Also this is a proof of what I have said for many years: Independent Film has been way to much better than the studio system and this proofs my point. 

The chemistry between the characters works in this film and Geremy Jasper created very good characters.

The internal conflict of the character of Patti is what really made this movie work. You can tell from the opening image of the film that this girl has a lot in her plate and practically she is the one who carries a dysfunctional family that consists in her jobless mother and ailing grandmother played by Cathy Moriarty, who is well known for portraying Vickie  La Motta in Martin Scorsese´s “Raging Bull”.

The connection between Patti and her grandmother is the core of this movie and is one of the things that made in even special.

I´m not either a rap or hip hop lover but I did like the music of this picture that does deliver very good results.

Gerremy Jasper´s debut started with the right foot and hopefully we can see more movies from him in the future.

For Independent Film Lovers “Patti Cake$” is a movie that you cannot miss and you will enjoy it from beginning to end.

“Patti Cake$” is one of the surprises of this year and I highly recommend it for it´s screenplay, directing and performances from an unknown cast that hopefully will go to far and we can see more from them in the future.