Oh So Geeky

Universal Pictures Most are probably familiar with Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 mission: the space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" quote, the iconic photo of Neil's footprints on the moon. Here for First Man , director Damien Chazelle explores a deeper story behind one of humankind’s biggest achievements. Following the death of their toddler Karen, Neil (Ryan Gosling) and his family gradually set a course  through trial and error to chart the famous Apollo 11 mission. While working his way up as a pilot and surviving the Gemini missions to landing on the moon, Armstrong’s eyes are so strongly set on the stars to deal with his grief, his relationship with wife Janet (Claire Foy) and their two sons falls apart. One can’t have a biopic about Neil Armstrong without the Apollo 11, and vice versa. To tackle such an elusive figure who is the poster icon for a monumental U.S. event, it’s a real balanc...

Musicals inspire us to set aside reality as characters break out into song and dance when life’s knocked them down or they're making their dreams come true. With the setting of a grand circus and a showman making his performers dreams come true,  The Greatest Showman surprisingly struggles with creating magic outside of its wondrous score and dazzling production. Hugh Jackman takes on real-life circus mogul P.T. Barnum from his downtrodden childhood to marrying the woman (Michelle Williams) of his dreams and creating an eccentric show starring outcasts – bearded lady, a giant, a dwarf, trapeze artists, siamese twins - to name a few. As his exhibition of "freaks" bring a different kind of success than he anticipated, Barnum's forced to face what his dreams are truly made of.

Photo Credit: Netflix Ten years ago  Cloverfield  thrust movie goers into NYC with terrifying found-footage of a monster invasion. It was an original film with a massive organic marketing machine that became a cult hit. Fast forward eight years, after a long string of will-they-ever-make-it hype,  10 Cloverfield Lane  was an ambitious, successful follow-up with a different take on the-end-of-the-world. Even though the series's third installment, Cloverfield Paradox , follows in their footsteps, it's missing all of the same qualities that made the first two films so darn good. Dropping on Netflix after the 2018 Super Bowl without any previous hype, the latest version of events leaves Earth behind to cover the apocalypse from space. As countries go to war at home over energy crises, an international space crew aboard the Cloverfield space station tries to utilize Shepard particle accelerator to create a renewable energy source. The downside is that executing the...

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures With Princess Leia ruling the original trilogy and Rey holding up the mantle for  The Force Awakens  as girl power icons of the galaxy,  Rogue One  offers another brave warrior the opportunity to give fans a new heroine to aspire to. Renegade Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is called upon by the Rebel Alliance to steal the plans for the Death Star, and in doing so, finish her family's attempt to bring down the Galactic Empire. Like the  Star Wars  movies that came before and will come after  Rogue One , the immersive journey relies heavily on ordinary people, Jedis or not, to vie for light, humanity, and goodness against the darker forces threatening the galaxies. This prequel (to  A New Hope ) relies heavily on Erso to bring a deeper meaning to the cause, but unfortunately, the production and lead character just don't have the force on their side. Erso has all the makings of a compelling insurgent, but h...

Photo Credit: Fifty Shades Darker / Universal Pictures As the sequel to the controversial erotically-charged series, Fifty Shades Darker was touted to be more suspenseful, sexy, and alluring than its dry prequel Fifty Shades of Grey . With major changes made from the first movie like finding a new director with James Foley, and writer (also the author's husband) Niall Leonard, this installment had expectations to be exponentially thrilling. Though its previous flick created a nice foundation for the rest of the installments to build upon, this sequel struggles even more to find a plot, maybe even a pulse. Fifty Shades of Grey  concluded with the literal door closing in Christian's (Jamie Dornan) face along with his aspirations of making Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) his full-time submissive. She leaves of her own free will (yay!!) to bigger and better things ahead until  Darker  brings them back together after the tiniest of separations. But a dosage of obstacles star...