Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Tyler Perrys Duplicity






Sometimes I give Tyler Perry a capital T for trying to make twisty thrillers like Double Indemnity. This story about a High-powered attorney named Marley who pursues a case personally when a friend is involved in a police shooting was interesting for about 35 to 40 minutes as it establishes a host of characters and when there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the aforementioned shooting. The movie is shot well. There was still hope at least a decent message about social issues would be present. Then it just becomes ultra predictable and red herrings that don't amount to much feel like filler.I did get some great unintentional laughs out of the sinister acts committed, characters and actors over doing it when it came to their outrage and lingering gazes which were dead giveaways to their true intentions. Oh the kills were visually cheesy and funny.Then I was just basically waiting for it to end and I completely zoned out during the closing words of the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 4
 
Novocaine




PRAISE: Novocaine definitely has a great start as Nathan Caine portrayed by Jack Quaid who once again proves he can do these every day Joe in crazy situations roles in his sleep connects with his Co worker Sherry (Amber Midthunder) who is one of the coolest and prettiest women on the planet . Both actors have great chemistry and when things go haywire after a bank robbery and Nathan has to use his "super power" i still found myself rooting for them. I laughed quite a bit during this crazy and gory action romp, even during scenes of torture. There are great reactions to Nathan's injuries that continue to get more bloody as the movie moves along. If an audience can suspend disbelief through most of the movie like I did they should enjoy it for the most part.

PROBLEMS: The suspension of disbelief is stretched to a thin thread especially in the final act of the movie and the script tries to explain away a few things but yeah Nathan is feeling no pain but he doesn't have a healing factor. I was actually disappointed with a twist in the movie instead of being shocked by it. I actually felt the ending was a bit lukewarm.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7
 
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Holland






I had to cling to the potential and great ideas the movie has to actually enjoyed portions of this movie about Nancy, a teacher in a small midwestern town (Holland, Michigan) seemingly living a nice life with her husband and son but something may be laying beneath all the niceness. I enjoyed the performances from the cast including ,Nicole Kidman as Nancy Vandergroot ,Gael Garcia Bernal as Dave Delgado ,Matthew MacFadyen as Fred Vandergroot. The performances includes some nice quirkiness and blends of the year 2000 in which the movie takes place and a corny 1950's vibe. I did like how the assumptions characters made played out between the characters, i liked how some of it was based on pure boredom and desire. Visually it's great especially when it comes to the nightmare scenes. I was happily shocked by a couple of paths the movie takes especially towards the climax.


PROBLEMS: It is extremely dissapointing that the movie never really adds up to much. I kept thinking if they go this route it will be like a great Twilight Zone episode,if they do this or that that will make such a great twist to end the movie on. But unfortunately the movie takes none of the aforementioned paths just plays with ideas. There was no payoff for the patience and time I gave the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5
 
Black Bag






It's always a great thing when a Director and writer can team up and have fun with an old genre. This movie about a British intelligence agent, George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), being tasked with investigating a potential mole within his organization, a list of suspects that includes his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) is as sharp and cutting as it could be and more. I really enjoyed how everyone used various ways to casually interrogate each other. This plays out so well whether it was in a group setting or one one. The aforementioned Director Steven Soderbergh and writer David Koepp not only play with the difficulties of being a spy but also if you are having a romantic relationship with a fellow spy. A lot of great dialogue is displayed throughout the movie some with salt and some without. As Freddie Smalls ,Tom Burke,and Marisa Abela as his lover Clarissa Dubose have great moments together that just boil over in scene stealing ways. As Colonel James Stokes, Regé-Jean Page, and his lover Dr. Zoe Vaughan portrayed by Naomie Harris also have some electric and stinging moments together. The setups in the story are really done well.

PROBLEMS: I wish a couple of the misdirects were written more sharply even though one of them lead to a great line of dialogue. It was just to obvious that one of the suspects wasn't the traitor.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8½
 
A Working Man




Jason Statham is now in full help/avenge/save a friend mode in his latest movies. This time around he goes after human traffickers kidnap his boss's daughter. Statham definitely does dispatching guys well sometimes in more interesting ways as the movie plays out. There are some good kills and major injuries handed out. I got a lot of unintentional great laughs out of this especially during the movies climax. There are some really funny visuals connected to over the top bad guys and I'm guessing the set and costume designers are huge fans of Game of Thrones.

PROBLEMS: The incompetence of the bad guys was extremely blatant so much so it became humorous. The movie stacks the decks with so many bad guys i couldn't tell who was a boss or just a lackey. Anyone going to see this for Michael Pena or David Harbour will be extremely disapointted. In fact I wonder how much they got paid for this. There are so many....to many quirky moments in this movie a lot of it is hard to take seriously in fact I never felt the victim was in any real danger at all.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5
 
Death of a Unicorn

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PRAISE: This is definitely not 1982's The Last Unicorn. I actually appreciated and enjoyed what this movie about A man and his daughter happening upon a real Unicorn but unexpectedly open the door to some horrific happenings. I liked the ensemble cast that was put together for this movie that includes: Paul Rudd , Jenna Ortega,Richard E. Grant, Tea Leoni), Will Poulter ,Anthony Carrigan, and Jessica Hynes. Most of these characters are self centered and without one sincere bone in their bodies as they end up trying to exploit the mythical Unicorn and at times it is very funny. I thought all of the actors did a fine job of being enthusiastic in their performances.
Even with all of its over the top gory moments the movie plays with a lot of the myths associated with unicorns which was fun and actually enchanting. So much so it even has the feel of one of those mythical creature live action Disney movies from back in the day. There's some interesting kills and involving scenes throughout.

PROBLEMS: There are definitely some predictable moments and once I knew how things were going to play out in a paint by numbers type of way there was nothing really special or intriguing about the last 20 minutes of the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7
 
Magazine Dreams





PRAISE : Magazine Dreams is a film far more deserving of larger release and a longer life than a limited release in theaters. This movie about Killian Maddox a man obsessed with becoming a famous bodybuilder but it is so much more than that. As Killian Maddox , Jonathan Majors turns in an effective performance. The character is off balance but is laser focused on building his body and I liked how the film rolls out how he does so by taking in all the right proteins and things that are highly questionable. Majors greatly displays Killians confidence at times and also the regression of it. There is self control the character easily displays at times and sometimes its not present at all and Majors handles that range to a T. The film is right up there with obsessions coming at a cost films like 2009's Big Fan and 2014's Whiplash. Also turning in a good performance is Haley Bennett as Jessie just watching her mood change as she makes a realization about Killian was incredible. 25 minutes into the movie i started to feel empathetic towards Killian. Especially due to the fact that there should have been something in place to help him with his mental health long ago. The Direction by Elijah Bynum along with the visuals are extremely effective. I think one of the films strongest messages is how lacking the care for the mentally ill is. There are such huge lapses in providing care or not providing any at all. Leaving the mentally ill to be taken advantage of and becoming dangers to themselves and others. There are some good messages inserted into the film about veterans and not being provided even the basics that some have at their fingertips while others suffer without.The suspense and disturbing moments were off the charts in several scenes.


PROBLEMS: It was hard for me to get on board with how a few things play out in the movie. The film goes down a couple of predictable paths.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8½
 
The Amateur




PRAISE: A well constructed trailer had me hyped to see this movie about Charlie Heller a brilliant CIA decoder whose wife dies in a terrorist attack, when the CIA drags their feet about tracking down the terrorist Charlie sets out to do it himself. I thought Rami Malek did well as Charlie who's not a muscle bound killer but uses his smarts to get his revenge. I thought the scenes between him and Laurence Fishburne as Henderson who tries to make Charlie a killer worked. I liked that the movie held on to the nothing comes easy factor for Charlie as the movie moves along keeping it grounded for some time. There are nice touches along the way as Charlie is continuously haunted but it also pushes him to his gials and some literally fun and explosive moments as Charlie slowly but surely slips into killer mode.

PROBLEMS: Sure Charlie is a smart guy and then some but I couldn't buy into a couple of moves he makes. There are some truly talented actors in the cast but they are shockingly underused and I bet their scenes ended up being mainly edited out because they didn't want the movie to run over 2 hours. Big time predictable moments in the movie. Like I said the trailer pulled me in but the movie definitely doesn't live up to it.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6½
 
DROP





If you are having a good first date there's usually good conversation over a good meal. Some flirting and charm,kiss good night and the are you home safe let's do this again call but not so for Violet (Meghann Fahy) and photographer Henry (Brandon Sklenar) as they get pulled into something sinister. The charm and thoughtfulness of the date is intact and I liked that it started to blend with a Hitchcock vibe,as i tried to figure out why Violet was chosen to be tormented and threatened while on the date. Both actors do a fine job as the scenes and date becomes more tumultuous. Even a few of the obnoxious moves a person can bring to a date was infused in their scenes together. Even when I tried to pick apart a few things in the films first hour like asking well why doesn't she do this or that but her tormentor had her pretty much covered so I went along with it as the film was still remaining on a suspenseful path.The visuals are interesting and on point as the torment continues.

PROBLEMS: There are a couple of time out let's explain things moments that didn't blend well with all of the suspense that was great in the first hour. I think the tormentor could have made a couple of moves to get what they wanted instead of choosing such an elaborate route. The climax was very basic.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6½
 
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