Oh So Geeky

Warner Bros. Pictures We all know a cat supposedly has nine lives, but how many does an oversized ape have? It's a question Hollywood keeps asking whether movie goers want the answer (as much money as the studios can pummel out...) or not. So far there's been nineteen versions of the behemoth known as King Kong, and the latest edition Kong: Skull Island lands right in the middle as an amusing, but not entirely original flick. This version is set in the 1970s with a government organization called Monarch investigating ancient myths and entities. Its leader William Randa (John Goodman) recruits a team of scientists and military men on a expedition to an exotic island where he believes evidence of prehistoric animals exist. The group abruptly encounters Kong among other beings that are not too happy about mankind disturbing the peace. Among the other Kong movies, the action is where this one really stands out. Kong makes his introduction as massive silhouette enveloping ...

TriStar Pictures Through the social media grapevines and tv spots,  Baby Driver rode a 100% approval rating on RottenTomatoes to become of the most anticipated movies of the year. Though the headlining cast and being familiar of director Edgar Wright's filmography made the action-"musical" sound interesting, there was a slight hesitation to jump and go see it. That was until the first six minutes were released by Sony on YouTube, of which I become easily obsessed with. Essentially, the movie opens with Baby (Ansel Elgort) having successfully driven a heist crew out of danger from the police. His accomplishment gets him one step closer to working off a debt from a mob boss (Kevin Spacey). The final few jobs Baby has to deal with get more chaotic and unpredictable, ultimately putting his own getaway skills to the test to protect his family and new girlfriend. In so little time, so much unfolds. First, the bombastic song that hits as Baby sits in his car, as the robb...

Warner Bros Pictures Director Christopher Nolan has made a stunning career of delving heavily into themes and into the minds of his characters. Frequently, he often centers his stories on time, manipulating its synchronicity and complexity to amplify the drama. Unlike his previous movies languidly exploring his protagonists' psyche,  Dunkirk dives right into the heart of a historical event with a surprising, different approach, letting the action do all of the talking. In May 1940, during the early years of World War II, the Nazis swept through Europe pushing thousands of British, French, and Belgium soldiers to the beaches of Northern France. To avoid being completely wiped out by the Germans, the Brits led an evacuation from the seaside city of Dunkirk. Military vessels were struck down by bombs and torpedoes at every turn, making it far from an easy feat to turn over thousands of fighters to the next battlefield. To cover the event unfolding on land, in the sea, and up i...

Photo Credit: Working Girl / 20th Century Fox Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) may not have an ivy league education, but she knows her value - a hard worker, creative, determined and a team player. Unfortunately, as a Wall Street temp, these qualities are taken advantage of by chauvinistic co-workers to treat her as a prostitute and to get overlooked by her bosses. Finally, when she's had enough, she risks everything to strike out on her own by posing as a high-end executive Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) to make a business deal with a handsome investment broker Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford). Though cliche and a little imperfect, Working Girl is a Cinderella story sprinkled with workplace sexism. McGill wants more than anything to prove her worth, share her ideas without a co-worker taking the credit and simply move on up the latter. Her age, gender and lack of former education hold her ambition hostage. In the most drastic ways like dressing up in her boss's clothing ...

Photo Credit: Rome Adventure / Warner Bros. New England librarian Prudence Bell (Suzanne Pleshette) resigns from her school after she's criticized for recommending a racy book Lovers Must Learn as part of the curriculum. Yearning for independence and navigating the art of love, a cruise to Italy introduces more courtships than she expected - Albert Stillwell, a nerdy student of Etruscan history, older perfect Roman lover Roberto Orlandi (personally my favorite), and a perfect hunky All-American Don Porter (Troy Donahue). As a melodramatic journey of 1960s morals about love, sex, and chivalry, Rome Adventure is a picturesque romantic drama. Trailing the ingenue through her experiences, the movie travels at a leisurely pace. Using Europe as a captivating backdrop, Bell weaves in and out of the nooks of crannies of not only the country but desire, attraction, and friendship. Beyond the geographical and human eye-candy of the male co-stars, Suzanne Pleshette is absolutely cha...

Photo Credit: La La Land / Summit Entertainment Every city shimmers with stars trying to outshine their hardships. Making dreams comes true isn't easy, but the aspirations people hold offer a long forgotten hope and determination hidden underneath the daily grind. As is the centerpiece of Damien Chazelle's musical-drama  La La Land . Set against the vast landscape of Los Angeles, Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) is an aspiring actress working on the Warner Bros. lot serving as a barista to film stars. Every chance she has the striving starlet heads out to an audition and faces the grueling cycle of rejection and perseverance. When she meets Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling), a struggling jazz pianist, they grapple with getting by and pushing each other forward. Straight out of the gate, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are a charming duet. Having worked together in two films before, they share an undeniable camaraderie that translates to the big screen. Together and separately, they s...

Photo Credit: Sully / Warner Bros Pictures It's often said that everyday heroes aren't born, they're made. With years of experience and dedication behind them, gut instinct or intuition manages to override logistics. When a miracle trumps all the odds, it's easy to be skeptical or to think it's blind luck. All of this culminated with an on-screen adaptation of true events about Captain Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) landing his passenger flight on the Hudson River to save everyone on board, and the attention it received as the Miracle on the Hudson. Brought to life by veteran director Clint Eastwood, Sully is a combination of the events leading up to this unexpected landing and the aftermath. The story touches on a bit of everything like Sully's past his post-traumatic stress after the crash, the world's frenzy around his heroics, and his pragmatic ability to handle the press. Though the movie is in experienced hands, it's not very clear what E...

Photo Credit: The Nice Guys / Warner Bros. Pictures With so little classic detective stories being made today, director Shane Black carved a niche with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang nearly ten years ago. Taking the classic detective story, Black arms his dry-humored scripts with great unlikely pairings to the buddy cop genre. This time around, Black sets his investigative comedy in the late 1970s. Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a drunk widow raising a teenage daughter Holly who runs into Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), a hothead enforcer who packs a serious punch. Literally. As a trio, they try to solve a case of a missing girl which slowly unravels the L.A. porn industry. Similar to Black's previous pairing of Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer, Black's casting of Gosling and Crowe seems entirely mismatched at first. Then over the course of the movie, their chemistry and timing prove itself. Gosling seems to be a really popular actor with younger crowds and old, but I hadn't f...

Photo Credit: Demolition / Fox Searchlight Pictures Workaholic Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal) struggles to express his grief after his wife dies from a tremendous car accident. Unlike his in-laws, or his own parents, even co-workers, Mitchell just can't connect with his loss. Suppressing his pain seems to be the immediate answer. He throws himself into work and then is caught up in a friendship with a customer service agent Karen (Naomi Watts) he started writing letters to when the vending machine at the hospital didn't work. In 2014 director Jean-Marc Vallée's exquisitely adapted  author Cheryl Strayed's  Wild  to explore the weight of her mother's death as she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. Just two years later with a similar premise,  Demolition  is simply a weaker version of its predecessor. Vallée's second take on bereavement focuses on a protagonist realizing the cage he felt trapped by in his marriage - almost like he wouldn't realize ho...

Imperfect human nature resorts to chaos. Chicago's remaining leaders Evelyn (Naomi Watts) and Johanna (Octavia Spencer) wage war to protect the remaining population's best interests left behind by Jeanine's violent ruling. Tris and her co. venture outside their city's barricades and discover the truth behind the faction system: the Bureau of Genetic Welfare uses pure test subjects like Tris to correct human weaknesses and fortify a perfect genetic disposition. All is not what it seems in this "safe haven". The next leg of the  Divergent franchise  journey plants us further way from the prequels than anyone could've imagined. Unlike the first two series where Tris was challenged to find out what it means to be Divergent and how it's a blessing, here she simply lacks drive. More incited wars don't outrage her. A new nemesis's dubious priorities fail to illicit alarm. She's more inviting to settling down outside of Chicago without real...

Photo Credit: Obvious Child / A24 An unapologetic comedian Donna Stern airing her personal obstacles in joke-form - everything from drunkenness, breaking up with her boyfriend, her unplanned pregnancy, and subsequent abortion. In the leading role, Jenny Slate is entirely natural in giving a beautiful and unadulterated portrayal. She owns the show by exuding such a raw vulnerability with both comedy and when her character is in a true crisis. It's one of my favorite performances in recent history. Matched with Jake Lacey as her more composed and quieted counterpart, their relationship is an oddity in the romantic genre. Their companionship takes their one night stand and gradually grows into an unexpected crossroads. They both have great charm and wonderfully easygoing chemistry. The relevant debate on abortion, pro-life, and pro-choice aren't funny nor does the film make Stern's circumstances out to be humorous, though Slate is downright hilarious. The script an...

Photo Credit: How To Be Single / Warner Bros Pictures February is a go-to month for Hollywood to release movies about love and relationships. Taking a break from the Nicholas Sparks' norm, and truly awesome Pride and Prejudice and Zombies adaptation , was a more modern comedy  How To Be Single starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, and Leslie Mann. Putting her long-term relationship on pause to ensure no part of her own identity is left untapped Alice (Dakota Johnson) explores the freedom of being single. Helping her navigate a new world of flirtation and one-night-stands is a workaholic sister Meg (Leslie Mann) recognizing her desire for motherhood, and Robin (Rebel Wilson), a non-stop partying and unfiltered coworker. How To Be Single  is more funny than romantic, and the credit goes to its leading ladies. Johnson had a tremendous breakthrough last year  50 Shades of Grey , and she's steadily establishing herself as a versatile and nat...

The Age of Adaline could've been a great female version of the hastily simplified  The Time Traveler's Wife or the magnificent The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . Something strange happens in Hollywood when a romantic drama dealing with time travel or time itself is in the works. Somewhere between idea and script to the final product, once interesting characters and stories try too hard to be unique from the rest of the pack. Adaline (Blake Lively) was struck by lightning after a brutal car crash giving her the power not to age. Living carefree through the Prohibition, this new ability is a blessing more than it is a curse. Over the coming decades, she remains twenty-nine forever. Living discreetly from suspicion and on the run, a chance encounter with Ellis (Michiel Huisman) may show her the kind of life she's been missing. Elements from different films affect each other via choices by the director, production designer, studio, etc. Instead truly using the powe...

Photo Credit: Crimson Peak / Universal Pictures Set in the early 19th century, Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) is a vibrant aspiring writer penning ghost stories. Her work is turned down by possible publications with editors suggesting to add a twist of romance, something she won't adhere to. When a mysterious aristocratic inventor Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) lures her into a whirlwind romance and marriage, she is whisked away to his and his sister's (Jessica Chastain) mansion after her father's death. But, there is terrible secret surrounding her new home and life. Edith's mother visited her as a ghost with a warning to beware of Crimson Peak. It is one that she does not heed until it is too late, Like Cushing's novel, director Guillermo del Toro's highly anticipated gothic film is not about the horror, but romance. It's hard not to fall in love with the extraordinary detail of this world exploding with color and detail. The golden and bold h...

Photo Credit: Under the Tuscan Sun / Buena Vista Pictures Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) brings a chick flick heroine learning something she's always known, or just figured out: men stink. Publicly loathed writer Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) divorces her adulterous husband, and on a whim, becomes the owner of a dilapidated villa in Tuscany. It's certainly a fixer-upper, and so is Maye's life. She understands and yearns that there is more to life than settling for a broken heart, but she doesn't know quite where to start. Charismatic, and one of the best modern leading ladies around, Lane is wonderfully charming as she makes new friends, rebuilds her villa, and undergoes a slight whirlwind romance. But her transformation doesn't focus on filling the void of one lost relationship with another, but regaining her own self-confidence and forging a different life for herself. While Lane shines, and quick appearances by Sandra O and Kate Walsh, the script is a bit blot...

Photo Credit: This is Spinal Tap / Embassy Pictures Mockumentaries are a difficult genre to pull off. It's difficult for a studio or director to successfully parody a person or event without becoming too much of a farce itself. Not many are able to get passed an audience's lie detector. Director Rob Reiner earned all the respect and acclaim in the world for making This Is Spinal Tap, even if it isn't an instant favorite of mine. Following a fictional British heavy metal band called Spinal Tap, a crew documents the group's contention as their recent U.S. tour comes apart at the guitar strings. It's your typical decline of a rock band with a story centered around their new album failing to gain sales, canceling tour dates, and their antics on-stage/off-stage. Comedy itself is a hard thing to define; how do you describe what makes you laugh. With Spinal Tap , for me, it's the ridiculous amount of small details is what makes this flick an understandable cl...

For a teenage-dystopian film in a sea of teenage-dystopian films, how does it stand out from the crowd? As a person, how do you accept your individuality in a world that shuns your differences, or in Tris Prior's case hunts you down? Insurgent addresses these ideas as it reunites us with the franchise created by author Veronica Roth. Civilians of a futuristic Chicago are sorted into a faction system based on five virtues; honesty, amity, selflessness, bravery, and intelligence. Heroine Tris Prior, who defies the norm by qualifying for more than one faction, is on the run from the power-hungry leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet) trying to eradicate those similar to Tris. The clash between an immeasurable hero and the society that can't confine her will inadvertently unlock secrets about the fate of their secluded world. Taking us back to the Divergent world established by director Neil Burger in 2014, director Robert Schwentke separates this sequel from its predecessor. Every se...

Home is where you want to be during the holidays spending time with family and loved ones. For Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet), that's certainly not the case. Desiring to separate themselves from their previous, heartbreaking relationship, Amanda discovers Iris' home on an home exchange website. Temporarily switching residences for the holidays, Amanda settles down in Iris' cottage in London, and Iris jettisons to a Hollywood mansion. A California-girl to the inth degree, Amanda is a movie trailer editor who "chases" away her selfish boyfriend to cheat by her work ambitions and seemingly inability to cry. In her middle-of-nowhere cottage, attraction knocks in the middle of the night in the handsome, bookish form of Graham (Jude Law). Her manless vacation quickly turns into an exciting and emotional romp without all the drama she's used to in Hollywood. Hopeless romantic Iris takes advantage of her sweet Beverly Hills digs by befriending a leg...

Photo Credit: Magic in the Moonlight / Sony Pictures Classics Skeptic Englishman Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is the world's greatest illusionist, known for his transcendent work on stage as Chinese conjurer Wei Ling Soo. He knows all the tricks of this world and the next, which he is convinced doesn't exist.  An alluring American clairvoyant Sophie Baker (Emma Stone) and her mother charm their way into the heart of a rich matriarch wishing to make contact with her late husband. When a lifelong friend of Crawford offers an opportunity to debunk her talent, Crawford is eager to expose her as a fraud. At first glance, Magic in the Moonlight is so easy to fall in love with. Crawford's dalliance and stern refusal of optimism or any suspension of disbelief is palpable. He makes us convinced there is always a master pulling the puppet strings of life. Baker's charm and magnetism allow us and Crawford to fall head over heels for her powers while simultaneously guessin...

Photo Credit: Shutter Island / Paramount Pictures By 2010, Leonardo DiCaprio had teamed up with director Martin Scorsese for the fourth time when they adapted Shutter Island to the bring screen. Throughout the year I truly enjoy watching this movie, especially to get into the Halloween mood. Dramatic, beautifully composited, and wonderfully acted, one of cinema's most formidable duos forged a flawed semi-masterpiece in misdirection. Set after World War II, U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels (DiCaprio) is brought in to investigate Ashcliffe Hospital, a psychiatric asylum that houses criminally violent patients on an island. Paired with a new deputy (Mark Ruffalo), Daniels interrogates the whereabouts of a missing patient Rachel Solando. Security, nurses and the psychiatrists in charge are disturbing reserved and calm. Daniels attempts to get to the bottom of the truth of the case but battles more against his own sanity. In cinema, asylums are a gold mine for genr...