Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (2016) casts a mediocre spell

Photo Credit: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them / Warner Bros. Pictures

Five years ago the Harry Potter film franchise ended. I would've never believed then J.K. Rowling would be at it again. But her endless imagination apparates again to the big screen with an adaptation of the Hogwart's fictional textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

Based in the 1920s, magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) briefly travels to New York City while en route to Arizona. Unaware of the U.S. wizarding government's ban on magical beasts, Scamander's creatures are in danger when they're accidentally set loose. No-Maj - American equivalent to Muggle - Jacob Kowalski (Dan Folger), a former Auror Tina Goldstein (Katharine Waterston) and her sister Queenie (Allison Sudol) team up with the British native to catch his critters before the wizarding world is exposed.

Veteran Harry Potter director David Yates returns to helm this next franchise with Rowling tackling the role of screenwriter. By reputation, this duo have some fair expectations to live up to but also the freedom to start from scratch. Introducing a new collection of characters into a familiar setting is no easy feat, and together they conjure an enjoyable flick.

Mainly we ride the Hufflepuff coattails of bashful and awkward Scamander. He's naturally more comfortable with animals than people, but instead of fully succumbing to a fear of not fitting in, he protects his unique "beasts" from being abused or mistreated by other wizards. His creatures are absolutely adorable (GIVE ME A NIFFLER AND BOW TRUCKLE NOW PLEASE), and the story lovingly explores his struggling relationship with humanity.

Along with him for the ride are two witches and a No-Maj. Career gal Tina Goldstein might do anything to get back into the President's good graces but her doubts against Scamander are transformed by his sweet but oblivious nature. Her vivacious sister Queenie uses her telepathic gifts to help, and they all develop a close friendship with Jacob (beautifully played by Folger). Each character is connected by the world ostracizing them. Their humility, warmth, and kindness unites them to face mayhem and create a little mischief together.

But a few other minor characters bewitched my interest a little bit more. No-Maj Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) runs a horrific crusade against witches and wizards. She takes advantage of impoverished children by invoking fear of evil and witchcraft to earn their trust and implement her beliefs. One of her children, a traumatized teenager Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), is secretly taken advantage of by a mysterious wizard (Colin Farrell). Morton's intimidating presence, alongside Farrell's dark intentions, creates quite a startling difference from Scamander's humorous escapades. As a trio, they effectively stand-out, especially Miller. Their scenes could've been a fascinating movie of it's own.

Like the Harry Potter films, the locations are almost characters themselves. The production splendidly swoops us into another dimension. Costume designer Colleen Atwood never fails to create beautiful wardrobes befitting everyone's personality. Veteran Harry Potter production designer Stuart Craig creates wonderful to disturbing landscapes with the dark Barebone house to the opulent Magical Congress of the United States, and Tina and Queenie's homely apartment. While there might be a bit of CGI explosion to cover Scamander's creatures, every tiny production element lends a great deal to how this era of magic looks and feels.

Unfortunately, the gamble to make this movie a prequel and give Scamander is his own adventure doesn't come without a few problems. Some of it exists merely in our Muggle world such as controversies over white-washing, Rowling's distortion of Native American legends, and news of Johnny Depp's casting. For the movie itself, Rowling creates intriguing characters but she doesn't fully flesh out the story. The bulk of the plot even reminded me of the super-disorganizedSuicide Squad. 'A band of misfits tracks down unjustifiable threats in the city, only to be thwarted by an unstoppable superpower who is manipulated by an unsuspecting antagonist.' The plot between the two is inherently the same, just a bit more fantastical for the latter.

Fantastic Beasts welcomes us back to the wizarding world, but its intricate details often contradict each other. This mostly stems from Rowling toying with allegory and segregation, but not firmly establishing them - either as obstacles that should come into play against Scamander or for the xenophobia she touches upon. One-half of the story centers on her rules of both societies, and the other half is a pure delightful escape. They often give the impression of being different movies instead of complimenting each other.

Out of everything, David Yates might've delivered one of his better directorial work for the Potter series, even if it has pacing issues. There's nothing not to love about Rowling's new band of misfits and villains. The only issue is that the movie tries to do its own thing, but allow her to drop hints for the future. Which even being fully aware that more movies are on the way, it's a slight shame this doesn't feel complete. As much as I'll probably revisit this spectacular world again in the future - inevitably, it is still Harry Potter - this tale struggled to be the spellbinding cinematic return I anticipated.

Rating: ★★☆

Have you seen Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them? What did you think?

5 Reasons You Need To Watch What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

Photo Credit: What We Do In The Shadows / Madman Entertainment

Throughout literature, television, and film, vampires are typically presented as horrifying and tantalizing creatures of the night: dark, brooding, waiting to feast on innocent people. Hidden under centuries of scary (and humanizing) lore, What We Do In The Shadows brings to light just how funny vampires can be.

I hadn't heard of this movie but had seen the fandom for it flourish all over Tumblr. Not knowing much about the flick, something propelled me to check this out as soon as I could. And it totally does not disappoint! In fact, it's pretty much become my latest obsession. I dare say the same thing may happen to you. Here are 5 Reasons You Will Really Love What We Do In The Shadows.

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The Story
In the same vein of mockumentaries like This Is Spinal Tap and The Office, director and writers Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi team up to spotlight a group of vampires sharing a flat together in Wellington, New Zealand. Hundreds of years apart in age and originating from all over the world, the vamps get along pretty well as they address their domestic concerns like chores, avoiding daybreak, getting dressed without seeing their reflection, and unusual obstacles while hunting humans. Tensions start to rise when a recently turned Nick brings danger to their doorstep.

The story has a great balance of hilariously showing the every-evening struggles it takes to be a vampire and actually having a bit of a plot. Is being a 'bloodsucker' all that it's cracked up to be? Well, the results are bloody funny. Believe the hype this movie's earned.

Awesome Quotes
A small worry of mine before seeing the movie was that it would be too raunchy or a one-note Twilight parody. (There is use of blood and curse words but it's not excessive.) It's pretty surprising how many references are made about other vampiric icons, but still manages to do its own thing, offering a lot of one-liners and jokes. I'm not sure I've ever laughed so hard!

Yeah some of our clothes are from victims. You might bite someone and then, you think, 'Oooh, those are some nice pants!

I go for a look which I call dead but delicious.

We're vampires, we don't put down towels!

(gif) The Worldbuilding
While world-building mostly centers on the batty fiends, it's pretty impressive how engaging the setting is. When they have run-ins with werewolves and humans, this underworld is something you can easily sink your teeth into. The werewolves made me howl with hysterics, even if they are not in the movie a lot. Nothing feels forced or tries to tackle too much with too little characterization or story. I kinda want to live in this fictional yet realistic world (but not really 'cause of immortality and killing people like #vampirethings.)

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Mix of Old and New
The mockumentary is a delightful mix of old and new. Humans are supposed to be purely off-limits except to serve as victims or to be turned. But Stu is pretty amazing - he's a software analyst who helps the housemates sink their teeth into the times and technology. We're along for the ride as they learn to text and use the internet. The crew's house is typically old-school filled with portraits and antiques. But the movie itself is delightfully modern complete with familiar gags while introducing them to the 21st century.

Favorite New Squad

Of course, I couldn't leave out the main characters. Maybe it's just me but the reputation of vamps has become a little bit repetitive over the years; the dark and brooding mystique often expressed in a story that tries to humanize them via a romance or their struggles to completely accept their transformations. Well, here, the crew is still humanized but by how eccentric they all are. Each behaves in a unique way depending on when they turned, who they love(d), and what gifts they have (flight, hypnosis, etc).

Viago (left) is the cinnamon roll, a bit self-conscious and cautious of how he targets his victims. For as old as he is, he never seems to quite get the hang of it. His tale of holding onto a lost love makes him an even sweeter dandy.

Deacon (middle) is a low-fi Polish ex-Nazi who loves to display his sensual dancing side. He's easily jealous but quick to defend his friends when someone tries to cross them. He also isn't a very take-charge vamp, as he has his familiar Jackie take care of most of his bidding.

Due to a humiliating loss in a battle against famed legend known as The Beast, Vladislav (right) isn't the best at his psychic abilities nor animal transfiguration, but he truly does try - to hysterical effects.

Petyr (not pictured) likes to spend time alone in his stone crypt, but one steely-eyed glance with this 8,000-year-old Nosferatu and you can't help but love him.

Each character is unique, and they don't get along perfectly, but it's believable enough to think these guys have been roomies for hundreds of years. Together, they makeup one hell of a goth squad - and probably your favorite new one too.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) changes the spin-off game

Photo Credit: 10 Cloverfield Lane / Paramount Pictures

Monsters come in many forms. Michelle (Mary Winstead Elizabeth) encounters a series of her own when she wakes up in an underground shelter after a brutal car accident. She's being held hostage by a paranoiac ex-Navy man Howard (John Goodman), who claims he didn't just save her from the horrific wreckage but a hostile enemy invasion. Faced with mind-games within the absurd refuge and the loom of an apocalypse, she is forced to decide whether the person who claims to rescue her is as dangerous as the unidentifiable threats she's protection against.

Hollywood has attempted the innocent-woman-held-captive trope time and time again. A lot of films in the genre merely torture-porn babes and commits to violence for violence's sake to cheap effect. Another go of this type of flick doesn't seem strictly necessary, but producer J.J. Abrams and his team prove it's worth another try. By transforming those worn-out elements, they create a surprising game-changer.

Claustrophobic and engaging, 10 Cloverfield Lane meshes the action of a budding end-of-the-world scenario with psychological teases. The story's atmosphere and Howard's apparent safe haven is full of misdirection and suspense that calls into question: where is safe? what is the truth?

Michelle's fate is challenged in the all the best and terrifying ways. By making her a confident and resourceful heroine, she uses every weapon - both intelligence and with the tools at hand - to challenge her fate. A lot of the film's thrills walks the fine line between her (and another captive Emmett) letting her guard down to accept the truth and staying suspicious because some facts are not what they seem. Played awesomely by Mary Winstead Elizabeth, she is such a kick-ass character in this genre.

Her feat is challenged by an environment that is emotionally and physically confining. Plenty of evidence supports that deadly forces have invaded humankind, which makes it difficult to maneuver whether or not it's even smart or safe to venture outside. The mood is toyed with how Howard's dwelling is like a dream conspiratorial theorists' tiny home. It's completely decked out in not only food, water, and filtered air but fully furnished kitchen, dining room, living room, games, music, and movies. The familiar, even nostalgic, atmosphere is cozy and trusting. But it's all remnants of what life was before and it merely masks the tension in the air.

On top of which, surviving either means playing house with Howard or making an escape - and neither choice seems to be in her definite favor. John Goodman is brilliant as the unhinged survivalist. He is calm and collected with a touch of creepy one second, and then completely enraged the next. His backstory and Michelle's survival greatly navigates between letting your guard down and unpredictable twists. There's a definite sway between acquiescing to rules in order to keep the peace and trying to understand what lurks behind his conspiratorial beliefs.

Like it's predecessor Cloverfield, the story doesn't center on creatures versus humans. This sequel's quest (which also works as a standalone) is much more than facing scary monsters in an apocalypse, but also conquering monsters in human form who have to be endured or defeated in order to survive. Twists sprinkled throughout the film never lets the story rest on a captured woman or cheap violence. With refreshing characters and effective suspense, 10 Cloverfield Lane is a worthy thriller.

Rating: ★★★ Have you seen 10 Cloverfield Lane? What are your thoughts?

Galaxy Quest (1999) inspires us to never surrender our fandom

Photo Credit: Galaxy Quest / Dreamworks Pictures

Galaxy Quest is a very clever satire, mixing fans' passion for science-fiction and highlighting the best and corniest aspects of its entertainment with clever homages.

At the height of its popularity, a fictionalized sci-fi soap opera Galaxy Quest was canceled. The riveting cliffhanger involving Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart (Tim Allen) and his crew are left to the imagination of hardcore fans in cult corners and fan conventions. Science fiction proves to be all too real when the dysfunctional cast is greeted by real aliens who misinterpreted their tv show as facts and are calling on them to save their race.

Parodies are a particularly challenging film to pull off. Films like Scary Movie or Epic Movie start off with decent ideas to spotlight inconsistencies and zany cliches but then it's enterprise is warped by absurd and irrelevant jokes. Galaxy Quest, on the other hand, is a totally fun ride notating just how quirky, heartfelt, and bold the genre is while honoring the big role fans play in its success.

Using Star Trek and similar franchises as it's backdrop, the movie latches onto details that a variety of viewers can understand from the most hardcore Trekkies to most general movie goer. The story (even if it has a plot-hole or two the size of a black hole) and the script makes entertaining references everyone has seen at some time- like the suave captain who takes his shirt off for no reason, fans knowing more about a spacecraft's technology than the actual crew, the unaccredited crew member who is doomed to die, the cross-species romance subplot, and so much more.

With all the little nods aside, one of the best ways Galaxy Quest spoofs beloved various series is how the cast resents or embrace the lasting impact of their one hit wonder.

One of my favorites is Sigourney Weaver as Gwen DeMarco, or Lt. Tawny Madison. (The other credited actor is below). Her main role is to repeat every command the computer responds to or gives. She represents the token female character who isn't given much to do except look hot. (Doesn't this sound like a few franchises nowadays?) Despite her lack of agency fans dress up as her to value her inner strength, sure but also question whether the torrid chemistry DeMarco has with Tim Allen's Commander was genuine. When Gwen's mates recognize the ridiculousness of her role, she owns up to it but does it anyway with authority. The movie scoring Sigourney Weaver to portray Gwen takes the movie to another level of meta brilliance.

And there is also Alan Rickman as Alexander Dane. Similar to the "don't want to be recognized only as Luke/Spock' phases Mark Hammill and Leonard Nimoy went through, Dane is entirely over his involvement in the franchise. He can't stomach repeating catch-phrases and making appearances, yet for all the lamenting he does, it is uniquely a part of him; a role he can't even shake off when he's at home. Rickman delivers a wonderful performance, putting his underrated timing and humor to great use.

For a movie that's seventeen years old, Galaxy Quest achieves an impressive feat by being highly aware of how geek culture supports, and nearly rescues, the cast from their own intergalactic demise. To great surprise, upon the film's initial release, it was a hit not only with Star Trek's Trekkies but even actors from the series like George Takei and Patrick Stewart. Even though the landscape of the genre and it's devotees has changed since 1999, the movie stays surprisingly relevant with age.

Beaming up the power of sci-fi and its earthling admirers, the movie was way ahead of its time. Galaxy Quest affectionately celebrates eccentricities within this ever-growing community: the conventions, actors dealing with the pros and cons of a canceled franchise, its tropes, and the fans. It doesn't skewer or point fingers, casting the genre or fans out to be bad or weird. In fact, with comedy, action, and heartfelt respect, it teaches to never give up, never surrender your fandom.
Rating: ★★★ Have you seen Galaxy Quest? What are your thoughts?

Ghostbusters (2016) stands on its own two feet

Photo Credit: Ghostbusters / Columbia Pictures

Dr. Erin Gilbert (Kristin Wiig) is a quirky physics professor whose bid for tenure is put on hold when a former friend obsessed with the paranormal Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and her zany engineer Dr. Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) republishes a book they wrote about the supernatural. In exchange for removing the book from publication, Gilbert assists the duo to investigate a possible haunting.

When their investigation turns out to be a real phenomenon, the group decides to open a ghostbusting business, soon adding Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) into the mix. This being 2016, the gals' work soon faces backlash from online spectators and band together to save New York City from an impending supernatural apocalyptic event.

Even though the movie features some of the biggest comedians around today, my two biggest reservations were the movie's comedic tone and the cast. Comedy and action flicks today have a knack for breaking the fourth wall to become super awkward in landing punchlines. This, coupled with not being big fans of Wiig's work and worrying that McCarthy would only be on a roll of sweary tirades and pratfalls, my expectations for the movie were low at first. How the flick was going to fare was like gambling to cross the streams and praying it pays off.

Payoff, the movie really did. Director Paul Feig with screenwriter Katie Dippold pack in enough action, comedy, and heartfelt team spirit to create one heck of a ride. The script subtly follows thee original but stays unique in all the right places. They commit to doing their own thing, and deal with the extensive offline backlash, but not forget where their inspiration sprang. Their adventure isn't concerned with being flashy or "rewriting film history", just with being entertaining, giving more actors a chance to shine, and celebrating friendship.

The cast is truly a revelation, especially Wiig and McCarthy and how I imagined them. They step out of their comfort zones and don't rest on their trademark personalities. Gilbert and Yates are sensible, pragmatic and quirky leaders of the pack with McKinnon's Holtzmann and Jones' Tolan are not too far behind. There's no doubt these women are funny in their own right, whether I'm a fan of them or not, but the cast shares more than just camaraderie through comedy. Their characters use brains, brawn, and sisterhood to take down some nasty, creepy ghosts; it's downright awesome.

However, even though the movie takes two steps forward with its leads, Hemsworth and the villain both take a complexity hit. Chris Hemsworth's role as the beefcake secretary Kevin is dumber than dumb and is pretty useless. The villain, too, a creepy demon responsible for unleashing the ghosts on New York City is just a-okay. The epic finale between the Ghostbusters versus supernatural bestows some epic special effects, but the demon himself isn't entirely threatening and a little too forgettable. It would've been nice and even better if they weren't merely stand-ins (hot or not).

After so many reboots and remakes, it's a good skill to learn how to distinguish the old from the new. Ghostbusters didn't hold a lot of hype for me in the beginning, but it really exceeded my expectations. In the opposite effect of Suicide Squad's trailers over-promising, Ghostbusters' promotions under-delivered. The cast is so much fun and their characters achieve so many levels of kick-assery. Feig's movie doesn't clone the original and manages to stand on its own and beyond the hype. Let's go!

Rating: ★★★

Have you seen Ghostbusters? What are your thoughts?

Gender Swapping Takes Hollywood by Storm (and we're already tired of it)

After the critically-praised and box office failure Ghostbusters (2016), Hollywood is on a roll with not just remakes in general, but ones featuring gender-swapping. The latest is a female-centered Ocean's Eight set to star Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Rihanna, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Awkwafina. Upon release of this news, a supposed Ocean's Eleven fanclub came out in protest with battle cries of "How could women do this?" and "Hollywood has run out of ideas".But it's not like remakes are anything new.

Consider: the newly announced A Star Is Born (2018) is a remake of A Star Is Born (1976) which is a remake of A Star Is Born (1954) which is a remake of A Star Is Born (1937). The upcoming Steven Soderburgh produced Ocean's Eight feels right at home in following Soderburgh's remake franchise of the original Frank Sinatra version from 1960. (Is your head's spinning yet? Mine is. *sigh*)

If most stories in books to comic books and films are recycled and remakes have existed since yesteryear, is gender-swapping a problem? how do we solve it?

As superhero franchises, adaptations, sequels, and spin-offs take over the movie calendar, remakes prove Hollywood has run out of ideas. And, gender swapping may gradually worsen the genre's already poor reputation.

As female actors replace roles previously assumed by male actors, news of the casting is designed to create buzz. However, the news is more or less coming across as boring. Instead of movie goers growing excited about the go-to tool Hollywood is using to get butts into the seats, it seems flipping sexes is only engaging people into man or woman hating. Adding to the misogyny and misandry pot, flicks focusing on female gender-swapping receive more negative feedback than male-swapping.

Splash is another remake on the chopping block. The film centers on Tom Hanks' Allen falling in love with a woman who is secretly a mermaid and living out this wild fantasy of being her beau. In the newer version, Channing Tatum will star as the merman while and Jillian Bell takes over Hank's role. The details have already received positive support across the board. As audiences ride the waves until Tatum scales the scene, Ocean's Eight is already looking to avoid a misogynist reception.

In all of this effort to empower performers and audiences, Hollywood is essentially missing the point. Women can offer more representation without having to be forever associated with re-creating "men's films". Or without the one male role in a female-flick being the sexy idiot. The truest way for remakes to succeed is not to just switch sexes, but ensure that the quality in how characters are written, directed, and portrayed is good or better than the average remake.

Ghostbusters might have not been a box office success, but it was praised by critics and audiences for giving women the opportunity to be seen as funny, smart, and capable individuals who kick ghoulish asses. It's one of the reasons I loved the revamp, and the same could be said for Ocean's Eight if turns out that all of this gender-swapping is just white noise. But the vitriol reception director Paul Fieg's recreation received cast the film into the ether before it's official release, only furthering a reflection of rampant sexism. And it hasn't halted Dan Aykroyd's plans for his all-male reboot set.

Real opportunity for layered characters exists. But Ghostbusters failed in this regard when it came to Chris Hemsworth's role. As tongue-in-cheek commentary on the male gaze, he's pretty much reduced to the beefcake secretary, he's funny but dumber than dumber and just there to be a eye candy. While there's nothing wrong to slobber over celebrity hotness, the Thor actor wasn't used to the best of his abilities - especially considering his hilarious stunts hosting SNL. Just like the wives in the Ocean's Eleven movies, he's almost so useless he might as well not be in the movie. The movie has great female leads, but his performance is surface-level.

One of the positive qualities Hollywood has going for it with gender-swapping is that, like Ghostbusters, it might improve representation and raise the bar of speaking roles versus shedding clothes. Women, while replacing men, have an opportunity to make their casts as diverse as possible, opening more opportunities to women of color gracing the screen too. However, critics are trying to use the history of women being treated as objects to excuse men to pay their dues. It's sad, that so far, gender swapping is limiting performers into one-dimension.

A dire doubt emerges in these seas of clones: if studios are so focused on remaking male-dominated films, do they believe women can't sell movies? that it's advantageous to tie them to a previously "masculine" franchise? What will happen to our own unique stories if Ghostbusters and Ocean's Eight aren't simply creative anomalies?

In 2015, director George Miller created post-apocalypse action thriller Mad Max: Fury Road. No harm, no foul, the flick was the fourth installment of his series, and it still proved to be one of the most innovative, game-changing movies of that year and years to come. Additionally, women weren't the only driving force of the film, but the production team such as the editor were the heart of his crazy, imaginative adventure. Meanwhile Tom Hardy's Mad Max nor the villain Immortan Joe were reduced to tropes. It wasn't just a "she movie" or a "he movie"; it transcended type in more ways than one.

The remake genre is notorious for sucking. Fresh stories ignite imagination so much more than cardboard cut-outs. Unfortunately, wholly original mainstream movies that aren't a spin-off, an adaptation, a sequel, apart of a franchise or a remake seem all too rare. In actuality, movies should incorporate all people; not "assign a gender" to tick off certain boxes. If remakes are going to tackle gender-swapping, they can't rest on being carbon copies.

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Suicide Squad (2016); the joke was on us

Photo Credit: Suicide Squad / Warner Bros Pictures

High-ranking government official Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) believes there's a certain set of skills from a group of imprisoned super-villains that's worth using to her advantage. In fact, she thinks they can be maneuvered as a covert strike team if the president or the United States falls into the dangerous hands of a terrorist. Recruiting a mixed bag of assassins and crazed freaks locked up in a massive security prison, these worst of the bad are united in a battle for "good".

Director David Ayer was handed the keys of the kingdom to direct an installment for the DC film universe. In what was one of the most hyped movies in the super-antihero genre, quickly divided moviegoers into love or hate camps, and for good reasons. Suicide Squad has a lot of things going on; some rewarding, some lousy, most of which can't adequately be made sense of.

A big source of ire is simply the perverted faux marketing the film suffered at the hands of Warner Bros. Whether it was an attempt to get one over on it's rival Marvel or the more necessary material ended up on the cutting room floor, the film's assured adrenaline rush lags in comparison to the awesome trailers trolling fans for the past year. Ayer's next leg of DC's franchise comes across more like a messy game of bumper cars trying to get across an imagined finished line.

Essentially, the story struggles to identify what the squad is supposed to do in terms of its all-important mission and how we feel about the group.

Unlike individual installments that focus on one superhero, this flick takes us through the backstories of the entire squad: skilled marksman who never misses Deadshot (Will Smith), unbalanced former psychiatrist Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), an assassin Boomerang (Jai Courtney), a reptilian supervillain Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and a fire-summoning former L.A. gang member El Diablo (Jay Hernandez).

The peak into who these guys are and why they are so dangerous works to a point; we understand how they can get their hands dirty and bloody and find justification for it. The film almost spends too much time unmasking the squad until their reputation as actual dangerous criminals becomes blurred. As much as we care of the bad guys, should our hearts turn so soft to them that we forget why they are behind bars? that the impetuous headstrong Waller starts looking like the villain?

While the inclusion of backstories isn't a major mistake, their insertion is one example of the disorganized story. The script is too dedicated to playing up the task force's all-important government-imposed mission. Waller and her supposed villain end up coming across like a magician using choppy misdirection to complete a half-brained trick. The squad gel together but their cause is poorly executed.

As an ensemble and building up the squad, the cast is certainly on point. Most of the squad is very well-rounded, share a humorous camaraderie, and make-up one hell of a team. Smith and Robbie steal the show and nearly every scene. Though the pair already has great chemistry together from their previous film Focus, the two really step it up here; so much so, it would be great just to have individual installments of their own.

Additionally, there is no shortage of compliments that can be given to Robbie, who seems to be an entirely different movie of her own. Her Harley Quinn is vulnerable, clever, off her rocker; completely complex. Robbie has so much fun with the role without letting her performance become a caricature or sloppy. She is definitely the star of the film.

Suicide Squad isn't wholly intolerable. Ayer's initial attempt to create a gritty comic book ride ultimately gets diluted down into a very flawed flick. With a good cast, and wicked soundtrack, his original vision - whatever that may have been, barely survives. The film ends up existing in the ether of the superhero genre, where one can only dream it was as exciting as its trailers. Sorry to say, the joke was on us.

Rating: ★☆☆ Have you seen Suicide Squad? What are your thoughts?

The Nice Guys (2016) draws very, very nice laughs

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 found a specific role that really caught my attention. He appeals to me more off-screen than on, but here, he does a great job with most of the physical comedy while Crowe is more subtle, landing a few funny lines here and there. Together, they share great timing and ease as two bumbling guys who are simply in the wrong place, wrong time but ready to solve a crime.

Though the main Gosling/Crowe duo is engaging, Angourie Rice as Holly truly shines above the rest. As the highly inquisitive preteen jumping the gun and outsmarting the adults around her, Holly could've come across as forced. But instead, she is great at taking down the bad guys but doesn't lose her empathy. When the mystery continues to unwind and keep us guessing, she proves to be the sharpest one of the bunch and showcases a lot of heart a la classic fictional icon, Nancy Drew. Holly is easily one of my favorite characters of the year.

Black is a proven success, even a cult one, with these types of movies. The only potential downfall here is the foundation he's already established. There's nothing wrong with experimenting with old roots, but when the story and characters are really delved into, a lot of it feels almost identical to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. With the boost of another unlikely cast, he delivers another nice round of comedy and suspense, but the plot can feel a little deja vu and lose momentum towards the end. Even if the movie feels slightly repetitive, The Nice Guys is definitely entertaining and very, very nice.

Rating: ★★☆ Have you seen The Nice Guys? What are your thoughts?

Favorite Movies of 2016 (So Far!)

It's hard to believe half of the year is gone! A lot of great movies hit the theaters with a bang leaving an impression on fans and critics alike. Not to mention raking in the dough. With so many great films that have come out this year and many more to come, who will lead the box office for 2016?

I just couldn't help thinking about hitting the half-way mark and what were knock-out favorites of the these first sixth months. Looking back my picks, they include Critic Approved, Box Office Smash/Disaster, or well-loved by all. 

Which movies have been the most memorable, action-packed, heartwarming, and entertaining so far for you? It's tough to predict but what movies for the rest of the year will be definite crowd-pleasers, but Suicide Squad seems like a definite Yes? Yes.

What were your faves for 2016 so far? Feel free to share below!

Brooklyn

A young Irish girl Eilis immigrates to the United States, and her heart is divided between a new home of Brooklyn and her old roots. My heart goes out to this movie so much. Saorise's performance and the eye-popping gorgeous direction makes this one of my all-time favorites, not just 2016.

Yes, this came out sometime last year just in time for Oscar season (but I saw it in January, soooo), and it was definitely worth it's weight in gold. The movie garnered three nominations, including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Actress. After award show season hype has wavered, there are certain movies whose Oscar bait becomes pretty obvious while others will just remain classics well into the future. Brooklyn is definitely the latter.

Captain America: Civil War

I couldn't stop raving about this one, and neither could critics and movie goers. A huge fork crashes smack down into Roger and the Avengers's road when Tony Stark and the United Nations want to enforce an accords which controls their missions.

Talk about the movie of the summer before the summer even officially kicked off. The Russo Brothers carries Captain America's final individual installment over the finishing line with a bang; an action-packed, feels-heavy bang. It's hard to even watch the first two Captain America movies without wanting to dive right into the third one again and again.

How To Be Single

Replacing the usual romantic comedy where two love-sick characters force themselves into finding true love because of Plot, How To Be Single attempts to do the opposite but doesn't succeed. Alice takes a break from her long-term relationship to try to find out who she is on her own. It's admirable (???) but she ends up taking ill-advice from other single people trying not to be single or mastering a life without romantic attachments, and the whole thing ends up being a mess.

LIKE A BIG HOT MESS, mostly because the movie doesn't click until the very end. That being said, I really like the cast and some of it is pretty funny. Surely, if the script was more polished, it could've been a bigger success and I could recommend this one more....but it's become one of those movies that I am regularly in the mood to watch and don't really know why.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Love. Adventure. Kick-Ass heroines. Maybe the world is over it's zombie-obsession, but the updated twist of Jane Austen's classic novel is so much fun!! Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy ward off their own pride and prejudice as the undead dominate the world.

 If there was one movie I wished didn't bomb at the box office and with critics this year, it's definitely Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. There was so much room for another installment and I can't imagine how the story would've awesomely moved forward. Myself, and some fans, will just have to enjoy this one on it's own. AND PRAY FOR A SEQUEL.

Independence Day Double Feature

My sister and I have a special place in our hearts for cheesetastic blockbusters. A few years ago when an Independence Day re-release was cancelled, our dreams were severely dashed. There are a lot of movies from the past we'd love to see on the big screen, and Independence Day was one of our top picks. When a sequel was in the making, our hopes came alive again and we were so excited when a double feature was announced by AMC Theaters. Our excitement for the first film was palpable to say the least, while the sequel less so (reboots are just blah, in general).

The following thoughts on Independence Day and Independence Day: Resurgence contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

Shall We Dance? (1996) sweeps self-expression of its feet

Photo Credit: Shall We Dance / Toho

A middle-aged businessman Shohei Sugiyama is riding the train home one day from work. He's successful and has a loving family, but something is unsettled. He's resigned to spending his life paying off the house he just bought. As a business-person in Japan, life is centered on working and going home long enough to sleep, wake up and go back to work again. Hobbies, especially ones of self-expression in public is rare, if not entirely prohibited and frowned upon.

Looking up from the train window one evening, Sugiyama notices a woman Mai Kishikawa standing at a window of a dance studio. With every passing commute, he slowly gains the courage to go up to that studio with the intention of approaching the mystery lady for a coffee or something more, we're not quite sure. Intuitively aware of his intentions and facing her own issues with dance as a failed ballroom competitor, she adverts his advances but Sugiyama ends up taking dance lessons anyways with her fellow teachers.

At first, it's easy to believe that the movie will enter another Middle Age Man Has An Affair territory. But Sugiyama's attempt to meet or engage with Kishikawa grows into another kind of relationship: one to express himself in a society that doesn't necessarily recognize individuality.

In Japanese culture, it is considered embarrassing to participate in Western ballroom dance. Something as simple as public affection is considered scandalous, but the intimate proximity of the Tango and Waltz is infinitely more taboo. The outside world forces Sugiyama to hide his dance lessons not only from his wife but also friends and colleagues. For a while, his immediate world is not ready to meet up with his hobby, but he also can't forfeit a passion that gives his mind and body a connection to another source of focus besides work.

Dance is more than the steps. Feel the music and dance for sheer joy.

Director Masayuki Suo's Shall We Dance? gives viewers a peek into how intimacy plays a role at large and letting it unravel during Sugiyama's late-night lessons. The studio itself is an underground of meet-ups, yet an exuberant test of wills to release their worries and a certain sense of repression. Aside from Sugiyama, other pupils find a way to nurture self-confidence through dance, and it's hard not to feel swept away by all of them. He offers so much vigor and enthusiasm through the personalities Sugiyama encounters and becomes friends with, you feel like you're in on their little secret which grows more and more complicated.

It's difficult to shine a light on the performances in general because they are all outstanding. However, Kōji Yakusho in particular, as Sugiyama, gives a beautiful performance. Even though his character steps out of bounds of what society expects from him, ultimately his and his family's notions about connection change. He carries the movie with such an enigmatic grace. It's hard not to just fall in love with him by cueing in on his emotions and thoughts, and wanting to see him succeed on the dance floor.

While the story might not seem as different as many others, Suo's film about going against the grain is truly touching. Dance is a universal language and so is the drive or want to tend to parts of ourselves we didn't know needed fulfillment. His film is slow and steady filled with romance and charm. At the Japanese equivalent of 'Academy Awards' it won every award it was eligible to win: fourteen, in fact, including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director. Shall We Dance? Yes, lets.

Rating: ★★★ Have you seen Shall We Dance? What are your thoughts?

Captain America: Civil War (2016) Beautifully Hangs Up The Shield

Photo Credit: Captain America: Civil War / Walt Disney Studios

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is arguably one of Marvel fan's favorite films of all time. For the next installment of Captain America's franchise, the series' fate rested on hardcore hype. After the amazing press tour and anticipated excitement this year, Winter Soldier solidly has some tough competition against Captain America: Civil War.

The old foe known as Hydra takes a backseat as a new question looms: should the Avengers face political consequences when innocent bystanders are killed and countries' security feel threatened as a result of their missions? 

U.S. Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross and the United Nations believe so. The Avengers are presented with an Accords, a document which the world government control their missions and dole out punishments if they step out of line. To not sign the Accords forces the Avengers into retirement or face charges as criminals if they act out.

Stark believes they should sign to stop more senseless deaths, but Rogers fears how much of their liberty they'll lose if they do. The line drawn in the sand between the Avengers is much deeper than who's team we are on. (Though I am Team Cap all the way.) This is just the start of the brewing feuds. Woven into their dissension are motivations dealing with vengeance, betrayal, justice, regret, fear, grief and responsibility.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo unite a lot of amazing combatants to make this civil war come to life. Familiar faces like Hawkeye, Black Widow, Falcon, and Bucky keep the battle tied to previous Marvel movies, but also fresh by adding (fairly recent) newbies like Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Spiderman, Ant-Man, and Rhodey. We'd assume with so many personalities squaring off, the freedom to explore who they are would be limited. But that's not the case.

Every character moves somebody else forward either to victory or demise. How the teams form plays against the action scenes and also raise the stakes for certain characters in peril. The airport showdown, in particular, provides a lot of laughs to see all these new superheroes battle it out, but it's also so creative with how they pull out all of the stops against each other - not necessarily to kill but because the dynamics are so dysfunctional (like people on a reality show who talk over each other and in confessionals about their problems but not to each other's faces). The Russos pulled maneuvers out of their hat which was just plain cool. You'll find yourself more invested than just in Roger and Stark butting heads, and that is pretty awesome.

Though the film toys about which team we're on, other villains heighten our sense of whether the Accords is needed or will do more harm than good. Zemo, a bereft war operative enacts revenge for what happened to his homeland Sovokia. Many have said that he doesn't offer much, but I thought he adds a lot of parallels to the Black Panther's agenda and corrects his course before it goes too far down the wrong road. The intricate story of Cap versus Iron Man, Zemo vs the Avengers, and the mix of political issues is full of action, humor, heart, and never loses its ability to entertain.

The film comes down to family: old and new, deceased and reborn, lost and rediscovered. Stark and Rogers are head the Avengers clan, and skeletons in their closets affect how the group moves forwards.

Tony *brush it off* Stark becomes a more conflicted leader, and in doing so, Roger's side of the struggle feels a little less intimate than how we've seen him before. He is not entirely missing in action, but Stark's obstacles are focused on more strongly for a fair portion of the film. Even if Rogers and Bucky's friendship successfully pummels our feels into a pulp, a more personal epilog to one of his other important relationship with Peggy would've made Rogers story more touching and complete. Her death was explored too quickly and delivered for laughs rather than something heartfelt. Chris Evans is wonderful as always (as is Robert Downey Jr,) but the old chapters Cap closes and the new ones he opens feels less detailed than the attention he's given in The First Avenger and Winter Soldier...at least until we're near the end of the line.

With so many superhero films released already, and Marvel making more films well into the future, it's hard to say Captain America: Civil War is the best there ever was or will be. It's too tall of an order and to each their own. But it's even harder to find a movie entertaining on its own, builds upon the comic book universe we (might) already know, and launch the next era of multiple franchises. The cast, story, and action is all great. There's nothing else to say except: I could watch it all day.

Rating: ★★★ Have you seen Captain America: Civil War? What are your thoughts?

Demolition (2016) can't fix its own foundation

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 how much his life was in shambles until she was gone.

Mitchell and Karen's connection breaks open up an honesty about why he doesn't handle his spouse's death like the people around him. Did he really love her, or did his life just fall into place without conviction on his end? Nuisances he didn't pay attention to like a leaking refrigerator slowly explodes into him taking down entire houses. It's a subtle exploration of his own psyche to take life apart and put it back together.

However, Mitchell's escapades resonate from shock or denial at first. Weirdly, as Mitchell blasts and bulldozes his way forward, sympathy for him loses its steam. Julia simply doesn't have any layers to her as his wife - the center of his turmoil. She is merely a ghostly backdrop, and eventually, becomes one big cliche. Halfway through the film, knocking down everything in his path becomes repetitive rather than having something profound to say.

To his credit, Vallée knows how to design an incredible atmosphere. He splendidly uses music to explore Mitchell's gradually intense memories he can't let go of. Cinematography and editing by Yves Bélanger and Jay M. Glen, respectively, is vivid and polished. All three make the film extraordinarily smooth. And, Jake Gyllenhaal delivers another memorable performance. So does other established cast like Chris Cooper, Naomi Watts, and the blazing introduction of Judah Lewis. However, for all the emotional and physical dis-assembly Mitchell undergoes, the film has glaring cracks in the foundation that can't be fixed.

Rating: ★☆☆

Have you seen Demolition? What are your thoughts?

Obvious Child (2014)

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 and story aren't necessarily new, but the film is funny, thoughtful, and poignant while touching on a widely debated issue.

Not everyone will agree on Stern's choice, but many women will connect with her unplanned pregnancy and the choices afterward as well as couples and young adults. The story is approached in a personal, realistic, and unaffected way that makes the film memorable and light-hearted enough to be considered a comedy more so than a drama. In a very impressive feat, director and writer Gillian Robespierre successfully creates a much raunchier, slightly mature Juno for the 20-something crowd.

Rating: ★★☆
Have you seen Obvious Child? What are your thoughts?

Brooklyn (2015) sets up camp in your heart

Photo Credit: Brooklyn / Fox Searchlight Pictures

Brooklyn sets itself apart by bringing a focus to immigration with an uplifting coming-of-age journey. Life is moving too fast and not fast enough for Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) whose gifted with the opportunity to migrate to the United States from her small Ireland town. Leaving her mother and sister behind to forge a new life across the pond, she tries to ward off homesickness while charting a difference course with a charming acquaintance Tony (Emery Cohen).

Finding kindness from strangers, love and her own maturity as a young woman, Lacy's story is about homesickness and coming into one's own. As a booming city and skyscrapers replace cobbled streets and small-town businesses, she acclimates to her surroundings and acquaintances. The story is wonderfully remarkable in how delicate and endearing her tale explores as immigration in the 1950s was no easy feat. The film is a touching love letter for those young hopeful settlers who anguished and dreamt of prosperous horizons in America, and braved leaving family behind in order to start somewhere else.

Two key players in making the film come to life are the Saorise Ronan and Emery Cohen. Both as individuals and a couple they bring an old-fashioned and much-missed romance between young lovers back to life. Ronan, who was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, brings out a splendid display of a modesty and apprehension as Lacey realizes how her heart lingers back home. As she discovers more about the world around her and herself, she grows mended sense of self. Cohen as Tony puts forward one of the most charming performances as a leading male. He's beautifully naive and kind. His spirited Italian nature matches well to Ronan's hearty warmth, as her confidence expands.

Though their romance might be the centerpiece, Brooklyn also offers a strong variety of women working, finding marriage, and making friends. Staying at a boarding house with roommates much more firm or outspoken than herself, Lacey finds a stable community around her in lieu of separating from her mother and sister. The supporting cast offers plenty of support to Ronan's Lacey as well as humor and comfort: Father Flood (Jim Broadbent), Madge Kehoe (Julie Waters), a firm boss Miss Fortini (Jessica Paré), and giddy husband-hunting roommates Patty McGuire and Diana Montini (Emily Bett Rickards and Eve Macklin), and a plausible companion Jim Farrell (Domnhall Gleeson)

Contrasting typical Oscar-bait films, Brooklyn isn't bogged down with being dramatic or setting a political tone of how our country is a melting pot of cultures. Instead, the film is wonderfully bold and vibrant, almost like a dream. Every scene is an emotional and visual delight, even if it gives you tears of joy and sadness or the rich, colorful production of her surroundings. Brooklyn transports us back to another era of the world as well as film-making.

As much as the film is about being homesick, it's also about having the patience and perseverance of having a new place to call home. Lacey is connected to people and places from both sides of the pond. Faced with the conformity of her former homestead or possibilities of modern opportunities, she struggles to decide where her heart truly lies. It can be two places at the same time but deciding which one to stay with is the ultimate clash. How her heart tugs her courage in another direction makes Brooklyn so delightful and refreshing. It's set-up camp in my heart forever.

Rating: ★★★

Have you seen Brooklyn? What are your thoughts?

How To Be Single (2016) fails to tap into singlehood potential

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 natural talent. So many women have been in Alice's shoes - single and going through all the wrong relationships to figure out what she really wants? She really gives a nice protagonist to relate to and root for. On top of that, Johnson has a natural quiet nature which organically bounces off Wilson's wild ways.

Speaking of which, the surrounding cast lends a nice camaraderie. Wilson, whose built up an impressive persona as a genuinely funny and blunt best friend, gives the most eccentric performance. It's always funny to see her take physical comedy to new heights without it being over-the-top or see her on-screen personality become too annoying. Also, Mann has become a veteran of this genre, making well-rounded characters in the midst of modern-day mayhem of man-boy husbands/boyfriends. Here it's nice to see her as a single lady wanting a different future for herself with kids that may or may not be without a man. The women in the film are first independent, and second seeking a substantial relationship. Though I'd say Wilson provides most of the laugh-out-loud, everyone lends to the film's upbeat nature.

"If Tom texts you wait four hours to respond.
And if you use an emoji I will tit-punch you."

As much as I liked How To Be Single for the cast and overall message, it's hard for me to wholeheartedly recommend. My only qualm is that at face-value the title doesn't fit the story. Alice's relationship going in all the wrong directions takes too much of the running time.

In fact, Meg at one point shades entertainment like Sex and the City because they focus too much on self-proclaimed single independent women spending all their time hunting down men and depending on their love for validation. Though Alice is given more of a try-and-try-again way of finding what's right for her, How To Be Single does too much of the same SATC thing. Her attempt to understand singlehood by being in relationships her actual singlehood.

What I liked the most is that it's not a romantic comedy pushing an agenda - like the regular guy who can't get a girl yearning to just sleep with the girl-next-door but not really appreciate her, or women "daring" to try to balance it all, etc. Instead, How To Be Single feels quite judgement-free, which is perhaps the film's greatest strength next to the cast. Alice, Robin, and Meg provide different layers of what women in want and aren't shoved into boxes that don't work for them.

The women and men aren't harshly judged for their approach in relationships. You can be single and party the hell out of life. You can be single for most of your life and realize that’s not something you want anymore. You can commit to someone/not enjoy one-night-stands but not lose sight of yourself as an individual. The film doesn't cap a limit on what it means to be single i.e. if you are a lone person, you are not automatically sad, anti-social, or an old maid waiting to be discovered half-eaten by ravaged dogs a la Bridget Jones' worst fears. There's no right or wrong way to be single or in relationships. That in itself is refreshing, even if some of the movie's qualities have been done before.

Rating: ★★☆

Have you seen How To Be Single? What are your thoughts?

Best and Favorite Films of 2015

2015 will be over tomorrow night, and blimey - it was an interesting and fun year! Even though I didn't make it to the theaters as much as I wanted to, my watch count managed to get up to a decent forty-one! I'd love to see if I can beat this total next year.

Thist list of Best and Favorite Films of 2015 is a hodge-podge of categories. It's really a mix of people, characters and movies that I fell in love with over the year. Some movies from the past few years were new to me, so they've been included alongside movies released this year too.

You might noticed that 'Worst' movies hasn't been mentioned yet. I'm considering put those in a separate list since this list is long enough.

There's not a lot of spoilers throughout this post except for the category Favorite Hero (Crimson Peak) and Best Supporting Actress (The Hateful Eight). Read at your own risk!

I hope you enjoy my personal picks of favorites and best of 2015! Hope you have a cinematastic 2016!

Joy (2015) wrings the American dream out

Photo Credit: Joy / 20th Century Fox

Joy Magnano has a great imagination and is encouraged by her grandmother to put it work. She can and she will change all of their lives from one of her inventions. One day, she gets an idea for a mop. It's not an ordinary mop; it has a plastic handle with hand-coiled cotton that self-wrings and can be put in the washer so it's reusable. But there's nothing like it on the market. Unfortunately, her dysfunctional family is a hindrance in taking her invention to the next level of a tangible successful business.

In this day and age, everyone of all ages is struggling to make ends meet. I thought Joy would be a refreshing rags-to-riches tale from the point of a view of a single mother to entrepreneur maven. Yet for all the potential this movie has, its many moving parts is sadly what makes it flop.

Director David O'Russell's tale comes across as a messy caricature about creativity, hard work, determination. He had great freedom with Joy Magnano's life story, of whom the film is based on. His version is told in retrospect by her grandmother, whose utmost conviction plays a major role in Joy's perseverance. We can never expect a linear cohesive film by O'Russell. Even if the story is told by one person's point of view, his chosen narrative is split between timelines, flashbacks, and even hallucinations. Everything about the production of pacing, editing, and music is all over the place. The film never feels like a singular piece of cinema, but a collage of vignettes that when meshed together aren't consistent. They don't feel as if they are told by one person but quite literally multiple personalities.

Considering how Silver Linings Playbook put then-unknown Jennifer Lawrence on the map, I thought this would be another fair vehicle for her. Joy had the potential to be her transformation into more adult roles, similar to what we witnessed to the Harry Potter stars moving away from their iconic roles. Some critics argued that Lawrence is too young to take on a role of this magnitude; a character aging over the span of thirty years. I wouldn't agree with that stance so much. The primary fault in her character and the performance is the lack of evolution.

Joy is fairly young and inexperienced. She's an accountant to her father's business, so she's not a complete newbie about finances and management. But her idea makes her open season to people trying to shake her down. Throughout most of the film, she is contending against the higher-ups at QVC and her own familial naysayers. The movie revolves around Lawrence but she doesn't have a firm grasp on the end goal. Most of her troubles are in her blind spot without tension raising the stakes. Then with a flip of a switch, in what's supposed to be her character aging twenty years, she is a persevering sass master in commerce. She doesn't really "age", just has a mature costume change. It doesn't work.

Additionally, anyone tied to Joy like her dysfunctional family doesn't truly have a genuine connection with each other or more so to her. Joy is saddled with her shut-in mother (Virginia Madsen) who lives vicariously through soap operas, a father (Robert DeNiro) who only looks out for the bottom line of his rich new wife (Isabella Rossellini), and an ex-husband (Edgard Ramirez) who comes and goes out of the picture of supporting their family. The supporting cast are an eclectic group of personalities. They should make for an interesting round of comedy or drama, but their constant quarreling feels forced and flat. Like Lawrence, they seem to be one step behind their director and without a clear vision of what he is aiming for. The camera and audiences already love these actors, yet it seems that O'Russell is failing them, or they are failing the director.

As imaginative as the title character is, it's hard to decipher what the film itself is trying to make out of its potentially compelling heroine. The 'esteemed' filmmaker is prone to taking a symbolic idea and wringing the heck out of it. O'Russell's most recent movie American Hustle recycled the notion that nothing is truly authentic; we remake ourselves to fit what we're hustling towards. Joy takes "hands" and matches it to the ideal that we all can make things. He shows every actor's hands in plenty of frames, trying to ignite that it's what you do with your hands and your ideas, how hard you work, you can make something of yourself. It's a great notion. But the story has such tunnel vision about the risk and reward of making something of value, it loses the true joy of actually succeeding.

Here's a matriarch planting the seeds for her granddaughter to embrace an ability to break the generational mold. And, Joy should go on to inspire her daughter and help out other women who are in a position similar to hers. Every movie goer, especially women, should be shouting from the rooftops at the bold and powerful statement O'Russell is attempting to express. But it doesn't feel all that exciting. Joy, as a character, comes from nothing to build an empire, and the finale of her achievement doesn't illicit euphoria or cheer. Joy, as a movie, doesn't provoke laughs or tears, or tension at all. Instead of soaking up this ambitious American dream, the possibilities are unfortunately hung out to dry.

Rating: ★☆☆

Have you seen Joy? What are your thoughts?

The Martian (2015) brings humanity out of lifelessness

Photo Credit: The Martian / 20th Century Fox

When I saw The Martian's trailer I was reminded of how wildly popular Andrew Weir's book was. Its cover of an astronaut whirling in red smog was ingrained in my mind because it consistently popped up on GoodReads account. The other thought I had was if I would be able to sit through 2 hours of Matt Damon. He's not a particularly unlikable celeb for me, but my family can't stand his movies or off-screen personality. Their intense dread made me apprehensive and question if I should gamble on seeing it. Despite my ideas about what the movie would be like, I still took a chance.

With The Martian, director Ridley Scott did what he failed to do with his most recent film Prometheus to deliver an engaging, entertaining story. A NASA crew are forced to evacuate their mission on Mars even after one of their own is presumed dead. Having instead survived and waking up to a barren hostile planet, their fellow man Mark Watney must forge ahead with knowledge, optimism, and limited supplies to send a signal to Earth. The story splits between Watney and his numerous attempts to make potatoes out of manure among other things, and NASA sending aid to rescue him.

Watney is one of those roles that could've been severely miscast. He's thoroughly sarcastic which makes his survival humorous despite how grave his situation seems. If the script had called for more of his wit, it could have made him annoyingly arrogant and removed our sense to rooting. This was the kind of thing I worried about: would Damon be self-indulgent with the comedy? Those worries were quickly squashed as his humor is generous without being excessive; it keeps Watney grounded from becoming a too-larger-than-life personality. He's trying to make the best of what he has, but his best weapon is optimism and hope. Watney is intelligent, hardworking, and determined; he needed to be likable too. And, Damon pulls off a good-natured performance.

"I don't want to come off as arrogant here, but I'm the greatest botanist on this planet."

My only qualm with the other half of the story is a slight one. On the one hand, Watney is doing everything he can to persevere. On the other, it takes more screentime than what feels necessary to establish how much NASA wants to ensure his rescue. Right after Watney is declared dead, the NASA Director (Jeff Daniels) and Mars Mission Director (Chiwetel Ejiofor) immediately focus on operating their new mission while making themselves look politically correct. His apparent death is a tragedy, but frankly, nothing NASA hasn't handled before and nothing NASA needed right now after dealing with government and public scrutiny. At first, a lot of NASA's efforts are based on politics, maneuvering what they can feed the press, and so on. Story-wise, it's refreshing and realistic.

However, the downside of this realism is the contrast between Watney's every effort to stay alive versus NASA's employees coming across as unsympathetic. NASA is a business and program just like any other, but I felt that the lack of personal attachment towards Watney didn't sit right. Since we don't get a look at Watney's personal life, how his family is dealing with his apparent death and then resurrection, his only contact is this program and the powers-that-be. Eventually, NASA launches into full swing and works tirelessly in maneuvering every plan for Watney's recovery. But for me, it just takes a little too long, and it made me question whether or not they were genuinely invested in his well-being.

It's interesting how Scott and his production team took what we know or assume of Mars's surface, and gave the film the visual vitality. Watney travels outside of his bright white dome into a sandy blanket of reds and oranges. When he's finally able to make contact with Earth and NASA's control room, a lot of the tones for Earth are stark blues and whites; it feels colder and more distraught than Mars, which comes across as warmer, even hot. Watney is making a home-away-from-home. He's able to explore and admire the landscape with his rover just because he can; he grows crops on a planet that doesn't grow food out of his own ingenuity; there is nobody to answer to or take commands from, which gives him a lot of freedom. But there is still that desperation to get to Earth. The way the film is framed casts focus on a singular entity across a vast, empty horizon, similar to the book cover. It's layered with peace and solitude but also pictures how high the stakes are. He has to make it there, even if it's temporary.

What really makes The Martian work is knowing its limitations. In the wake of trending space movies, it doesn't try to stuff our faces with one man's exploration of time, space, and love through the universes via heavy symbolism and 'science'. I still appreciate you Interstellar. Nor, does it throw us to the brink of space vying for one person's nearly impossible survival. I absolutely love you Gravity. Scott's film stands by itself by bringing back a quality to cinema that I think has been missing for a while - nothing, not even space is going to stop humanity from uniting together for a cause, from supporting and rescuing one of our own. Sometimes in a sea of space movies where people are thrown to the unpredictability and hostility of a frontier we love to dangerously explore, it's just nice to see no one got left behind.

Rating: ★★★

Have you seen The Martian? What are your thoughts?