Have you ever felt trapped inside your own life?  In the film Wakefield, Bryan Cranston explores that very theme by taking a step outside and looking within.

Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston) is a successful businessman with a beautiful wife Diana (Jennifer Garner) and a perfect family home.  However, there are signs that not everything is right.  Howard is very jealous of any attention Diana receives from other men, but he plays it off as a game that the couple plays, ignoring the trouble within their marriage.  One evening, Howard returns home from work and finds himself in the attic of his carriage house garage, staring out a window at his house.  This view gives Howard a new insight into the life that he had.  He stays hidden in that attic for months, scavenging at night for food, as he grows more isolated by the day.

Bryan Cranston is very good in this role, carrying most of the movie with his performance and his internal monologue.  Howard Wakefield is not the most likeable character, but you can relate to him because of Cranton’s excellent work.  Cranston shows you the isolation, first the figurative isolation he felt while in the marriage- a feeling that was suffocating him- and then the literal isolation he imposed upon himself in the attic.  You see how his new life of “freedom” reinvigorated him while the glances at his old life through the window maintained an anchor in case he wanted to return.

This movie was adapted by writer-director Robin Swicord from a 2008 short story by E.L. Doctorow, and Swicord does a lot with a minimal approach, depending on the skills of Cranston to carry most of the film.  Swicord avoids many of the cliches that you might expect from this, especially at the end, which was both infuriating and perfect.

Wakefield is an intricate character study of a man in midlife crisis who takes drastic action.  The performance of Bryan Cranston is the main reason to see this movie.  Some might find the film dull, but the “Rear Window”-like quality allows the audience to watch along with Howard in deciding exactly what his life is like.  You feel the isolation and the feeling of being lost from him, despite seemingly having it all.

3.9 stars

Yawn.

I had this one rented on iTunes for a while now, but the length always was an excuse.  With the rental period coming close to being up, I had to make the decision on whether or not to watch it.  I watched it.  That was the wrong choice.

Song to Song is pretentious, boring, and lacks any real sort of narrative structure that would engage anyone other than perhaps the most hoity-toity film student.

The film has a great cast in Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and Natalie Portman, and their performances were fine (despite the constant whispering of the cast), but I did not care much for any of the characters involved here.

The movie felt more like a series of voice-over shorts than any sort of complex tale.  It was dull and uninspired.

Terrence Malick continues to create sleepy and dream-like films that are visually interesting to look at, but of which I have not been impressed.  Song to Song is yet another in this line.  Perhaps this fits best in a small coffeehouse with an audience of beatniks and snooty film connoisseurs.  I did not like this much at all.

1.6 stars

Spy thrillers have been done many times over the years, and, fact is, there are plenty of scenes and parts of Atomic Blonde that we have seen before.

However, there are several parts of Atomic Blonde that are really good as well.

Lorraine (Charlize Theron) is a British MI6 agent sent to Berlin in 1989, just prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall to find a list.  This specific list has the names and basic information for all of the countries double agents and spies on it and plenty of people want to get their hands on this list.

Does that sound like a familiar trope in the spy movie genre?  Ever seen that plot element before?  Yes you have.

Once Lorraine arrives in Berlin, she meets up with David Percival (James McAvoy), another agent whom wants to aid her in the attempt to recover this list.  The Russians are also after it and so… action scenes.

Yes, the plot is fairly basic, although, it does become quite convoluted here as well.  I think the film wants to be more than just an action flick, but it tried to hard to make itself into a spy thriller.  In fact, there are some things that happen in the ending of the movie that do not work, twists that feel as if they were added on for some reason.

Now, the action scenes are tremendous and Charlize Theron is magnificent as this kick ass Lorraine.  Something I really liked was that the makers of Atomic Blonde allowed Theron to look like she has been through these hellacious fights. She has bruises and scars and the signs of war that most spies and heroes in this type of movie seem to recover from without any trouble.  Showing Lorraine wearing the results of her battles really helped me believe that this woman was a bad ass and someone to reckon with.

By the way, there are many great action scenes here, and the action scene in the hallway int he third act is edge-of-the-seat dramatic.  One of the best, hardest hitting, brutal fight scenes you are going to see this year.

James McAvoy is also great in the movie, as an agent that you are never quite sure about.  Whose side is he on?  Also, Sofia Boutella arrives as Lorraine’s love interest and French spy, Delphine.  The scenes between Lorraine and Delphine are very hot, but they are also included to humanize Lorraine.  The time with Delphine is the one time that Lorraine allows herself to be normal, not constantly lying and covering up.  Honestly, there could have been more between these women, because Boutella is not used as much as you would hope.

Let’s talk music.  The film is full of great 1980s songs that I had an awesome time singing along to in my seat.  However, there were some times that I found myself more invested in the music than what was going on in the scene.  This would be an issue, so, although I did enjoy the selection of the different songs, I am not sure they were used as effectively as they could have been.  The music was not as effectively weaved into the story as it was in Baby Driver or Guardians of the Galaxy, that is for sure.

Atomic Blonde is based on a 2012 graphic novel entitled The Coldest City, and the film does feel very stylish like a graphic novel might.  With the action set pieces and the look of Theron and McAvoy, there are plenty of imagery that would appeal to action fans.  Theron is not only an action hero, but she also looks absolutely gorgeous and does most of this action in some serious heels.  The story itself is not as strong, and I do not think it can be categorized into the realm of a classic spy thriller, despite it wishing that it could.  Still, I did have fun watching the film and the action is top notch.  This is one that could have been really fantastic with a little bit of adjustment.

3.4 stars

Ugh… what a pile of

How did I feel at the Emoji Movie?              

What else do I have to say?  Some kids might like it.

1.5 stars

Sleight came up on iTunes and I wanted to see it.  I had hoped to see this when it was out in theaters,  but it never came to my area.  Of course, these days there are a ton of outlets that provide movie content besides the theater.

The story is a small one but that is not a knock against it.  Bo (Jacob Latimore) is a street magician by day, but has to supplement that income by dealing drugs at night.  He is the sole guardian of his little sister Tina (Storm Reid) and his love for the sister is apparent.  Bo meets the beautiful Holly (Seychelle Gabriel) who also has a tough life with a physically abusive parent.   After being forced into a violent act by the head drug dealer Angelo (Dulé Hill), Bo comes up with a plan to fix it so he can rip off Angelo and get out of the drug dealing that was doomed from the start.

Oh, did I mention that Bo also has some electromagnetic power?  I’m not too sure about the origin of the powers, but there is some indication in the film that he cuts into his shoulder to implant some kind of electromagnet to help with his magic tricks.  Honestly, the film does touch upon the background of the powers, but it is not a major part of the story.  It is actually just a part of the character.

And lets speak about the character of Bo.  He is a very interesting protagonist as he is not the most honest of people.  He makes some choices that really question his person character.  Even his plan to rip off Angelo felt like a stupid idea.  That was contrasted by a young man who clearly loved his little sister and was extremely tender with his girlfriend.  The fact that he does some of the things that he does in this movie made me wonder exactly how much of a hero Bo really was.   I think those tender moments went a long way in making sure that the audience did not turn on Bo and gave them a reason to root for him.

Jacob Latimore is very solid in this movie, which completely depends on the character of Bo to carry the film.  He was very subtle and restrained consistently and brought a real emotion to the character.  We like Bo so it is easier to excuse the bad judgement as youthful mistakes.  The relationship with Tina and Holly grounded the youngster and helped us overlook the fact that he did chop off a guy’s hand.

The final confrontation with Angelo is fun and the final scene of the movie leads you to wonder exactly what was going on.  I doubt that a film that barely made any money will receive a sequel, despite obviously being set up for one.

The film is very small and quiet and that was a welcome tone.  This could have been big and bombastic, and I don’t think we would have liked Bo as much as we did. The humanizing of the hero helped this become a much better film.

3.3 stars

Luc Besson, the writer and director of The Fifth Element and Lucy, returns to the big screen with his new science fiction space epic, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.  This movie was based on a classic French graphic novel, Valerian and Laureline, which inspired many other sci-fi creators (including George Lucas when creating Star Wars) and brings as much creativity and originality to the theater as any film has in a long time.

Valerian (Dane DeHaan) is a major in the military, on board the gigantic space station Alpha, where over decades races of humans and aliens have come together to create this hub of all information from the universe.  Valerian’s partner is Laureline (Cara Delevingne), whom Valerian has feelings for.

The pair head out on a mission to retrieve a certain macguffin that the officers aboard Alpha want to find.  Along the way, Valerian and Laureline discover their feeligns for each other as well as a mystery involving an unknown race living in the red zone of Alpha.

I really enjoyed this movie.  The visuals for Valerian is simply astounding.  There was so much to look at throughout the movie, it made you think of Besson’s past movie The Fifth Element, but also films such as Avatar and, to a lesser extent, Jupiter Arising.  The CGI was one of the most amazing aspects of the film.

There was also more creativity here than I have seen in a long time.  Some of the great ideas and sci-fi concepts worked really well. There was a great scenario where Valerian had to go to a desert planet to retrieve the macguffin.  The planet looked like a desert until you wore special glasses and special gloves that allowed you to interact with the market in a different dimension.  This chase through the market between dimensions was as breathtaking and imaginative of a scene as you will see in movies this year.

I have seen some criticism of the two lead actors in this movie, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, for not having chemistry or being very good actors, but I enjoyed them in this film.  I did not feel taken out of the film by either of them.  In reflection, the criticism that they looked to be too young for the parts may have some credibility, but, honestly, I did not think about that during the film’s run time.

Speaking of run time, this is one of the issues I had with Valerian.  It is too long and needed to be edited down some.  I think there were several scenes that could have been condensed to make the film feel more tightly woven.

The dialogue was hit or miss at times during the film, in particular between DeHaan and Delevingne.  The early part of the film’s dialogue in particular where the movie takes a lot of time to explain to us about these two characters by having them talk about each other seemed unneeded.

Some people have complained about Bubbles, the character played by Rihanna in the movie.  This is a character that does not spend much time on screen, but was one that I really liked.  She reminded me very much of the Diva Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element for impact.  Her dance performance was extremely visual and entertaining, but don’t go into the movie thinking that Rihanna will be a major player, because she is not.

I do worry that this movie will flop dramatically at the box office.  Reportedly with an $180 million dollar budget, Valerian seemed like the type of film that won’t come anywhere close to that figure.  It has been spoken that this has been Luc Besson’s dream project for years, but one wonders if there was a way to make this at a lower cost level to be able to regain its money.  I’m fearing that this could be in the range of John Carter type flops.

And that would be a shame because this is one of the most original, most creative, most imaginative films made in years and such creativity should be seen as a good thing.  The few negatives in the movie do not take away from the epic nature of the film and I can honestly say that I enjoyed this a great deal.

4.4 stars

I saw this film on iTunes and I had no idea what it was.  I noticed Tom Felton (from the Harry Potter series) was one of the stars, so I figured I would give it a try.

Matt (Tom Felton) and Olivia (Troian Bellisario) are twins.  Olivia is a great student, expected to be the valedictorian.  The twins were as close as they could be and they promised to always be together.  Tragedy struck as one of them die in an accident.  The other had to try to continue without their sibling.

It is hard to write about this without spoiling.  I will say that the story started on a path that I wasn’t really liking, and then the story switched and I was suddenly engaged.

The film becomes a story about eating disorders and it was much more interesting at that point.

Without spoiling anything else, I did like this film.  It made for a decent weekend rental.

3 stars

This is another film where I am split on my thoughts.

Girls Trip is the story of Ryan (Regina Hall) and her husband Luke Cage (err… I mean Stewart played by Mike Colter) who are heading to New Orleans to promote their new self-help book and finish up a big time promotional deal at Essence Fest, and Ryan wants to use the weekend to reunite with her “Flossy Posse” friends from college, Sasha (Queen Latifah), Lisa (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Dina (Tiffany Haddish), who were wild during the day but who had grown apart in the real world.

As the ladies come together, they engage in a series of over the top, raunchy situations that put a stress on the friendship and the deal (and already weakening) marriage of Ryan and Stewart.

This film’s concept is much like Rough Night, another buddy girl gone wild film from earlier this year, but Rough Night turned darker while this film remained in the raunchy comedic category.

The cast of this film is tremendous, and you completely believe that these four ladies are friends.  They call each other on their bull and support each other like true friends do.  Pinkett Smith, Latifah, King and Haddish have A+ chemistry with one another which allows much of the over-the-top comedy to work where as if they did not have such great connection then much of the comedy would have fallen flat.  Tiffany Haddish, in particular, is downright hilarious in Girls Trip, finding a new level of vulgarity and lewdness, but doing it in a charming manner.

And it helps that there are a lot of laughs to be had in the movie.  There are many scenes that are really funny, and are carried off by these ladies.  Not everything worked, mind you, but it succeeded more than it failed.

Now, as a personal preference, there are a lot of drug/drunken jokes here, and I am not a fan of that kind of humor.  I have never been a huge fan of the “wild party” comedies that you see on a semi-regular basis.  Because of the solid cast, this one gets some help.

The movie is definitely predictable in story beats.  You should be able to predict what happens right up to the last moment, if you have seen any number of films like this.  Girls Trip does not find a whole lot of new ground to cover.

And the film is too long.  Girls Trip is over two hours and that was too much time to fill.  Many of the problems that the ladies had could have been solved considerably earlier and thus shaved off 20-30 minutes of the film.

So I am torn on Girls Trip.  I enjoyed a lot of the film, but I don’t think the movie itself was a great film.  There was funny moments, especially the crass ones, but there were also moments that fell flat.  Haddish was exceptional, getting most of the best lines, but all three of the other ladies were great too.  In the end, my initial thought leaving the film was that this would be just under a fresh film for me, so I will stick with that.  If you like a bawdy, crass comedy like the Hangover or like Bad Moms, you’ll find things to like here.

2.9 stars