I saw this film on Netflix and I wondered about it.  It sounded interesting so I gave it a chance.  Lo and behold, there was Robert Redford staring back from my computer screen talking to Mary Steenburgen.  That first five minutes of the film with these two powerhouse actors set up the film very well and the next moment instantly grabbed my attention and engaged me completely.

Netflix has been the place to be for new bingable television series, and the streaming service has been heading into feature film releases as well.  I decided to give the remainder of this film a look.

Set in the near future after “the discovery,” the world was a different place.  Dr. Thomas Harbor (Robert Redford) had a major breakthrough and was able to prove the existence of an afterlife.  However, this led thousands of people to “reset” their lives by killing themselves.

Harbor set up his lab on an island where a group of followers, cult-like, came to join him and help him in his continued research.  Harbor’s son Will (Jason Segel) came to the island to try to reason with his father.  Along the way, Will met Isla (Rooney Mara), whom he saved from her own attempt to kill herself.  Will and Isla begin to grow closer as they try to determine exactly what his father was up to.

Very much of  science fiction story, The Discovery played like a mystery as well.  Will finds a recording of another man’s “memory” and he tries to discover exactly what was happening.

There are some very intriguing metaphysical concepts at work here, and I do like the general story this film presents.  I can’t go into more detail without spoiling what that is and I would not want to do that.

This realization does lead to what is a cool reveal at the end about what had or was happening.

One thing I am not sure the film does a good job with is the character of Dr. Harbor.  He, at times, is played like a true scientist while other times is played like a crazed cult leader.  I am not sure which one of these Redford is really playing, and that is a major issue with the film.  Redford played the role well, but the writing of the character just felt all over the place.

I do like Jason Segel here though.  His story arc is well developed and I enjoyed his relationship with Rooney Mara, though it may have been rushed too much.  I believed that this connection was strong, and that is something that is vital for the ending piece to work.

Unfortunately, the film does not match the intensity of that first five minutes, but it does offer a very intriguing concept of an after life and does allow for an exploration of what this all means.  Despite flaws, The Discovery was a solid film to watch on my day off.

3.3 stars

I was led to believe from some of the reviews I had see for The Case for Christ that this film did not fall into the traps that other faith-based films fell.  Unfortunately, I have to disagree with that.

Journalist Lee Strobel (Mike Vogel) and his wife Leslie (Erika Christensen) were out at dinner with their daughter when she began choking on a piece of candy.  Calling out for help, Rose from LOST (L. Scott Caldwell playing a nurse called Alfie) came to their aid.  After saving the little girl, Alfie said that she and her husband hadn’t intended on coming to this restaurant, but said God had brought them to this restaurant instead.

Lee and Leslie were admitted atheists but Alfie’s words brought feelings up in Leslie that she did not expect.  She began to turn to Christianity.  Lee remained a skeptic and found the sudden change in their status quo causing troubles in their marriage.

Lee decided that he would do what he did best… investigate Christianity with the intent of disproving the resurrection of Jesus, something that he found more difficult to do as he proceeded.

Now, I think there could have been some really interesting story options here.  How the differences between a believer and a non-believer would affect a marriage, especially with the sudden change from atheist to believer, is a fascinating dynamic and it would be interesting to explore the idea without judging one or the other.

However, this film immediately casts judgment on Lee, making him jealous of Leslie’s newfound relationship with God.  He then begins a downward spiral turning him into a hot mess during his investigation, going as far as making him fail at his job at the newspaper.  This couple showed no signs of having any problems prior to the daughter choking so all of this came after Leslie’s change of perception.

The other interesting concept that this film used was the actual investigation into Christianity, but this is very one sided as well.  Every “expert” Lee talks to is condescending and approaches the subject through the eyes of their own biases.  The film needed to balance the investigation with some experts for Lee’s side as well, to make the journey feel more true to life.  There was a scene with one of the experts in a debate about this very topic.  That debate would have been a great addition to this movie.  It was not included to make sure that the other side did not receive the proper consideration.

The Case for Christ was not completely terrible, but it did not break the issues faith-based films have, and it could have been the faith-based film that accomplished that feat.  If you liked the other faith-based films of the last several years, then this will be another one for you.

2.5 stars

The Hate of the Furious.

That is what I expected heading into the latest installments, the eighth one, in the Fast and the Furious franchise.  I saw the trailers for this film and I hated the whole Dom (Vin Diesel) turns on his team and sides with the bad guys angle they were telling.

I pictured a storyline involving hypnosis or amnesia that would border on the worst of the soap opera cliches that would have me rolling my eyes through the entire run time of Fate of the Furious.

But something weird happened as I was watching this movie that I was sure I was going to despise…

I was enjoying it.

One of the biggest problems that I anticipated turned into one of the film’s strengths.  They were able to take the film’s reason for Dom turning on his “Family” (which, by the way, if you were playing a drinking game and took a shot every time someone mentioned family in this film, you would be drunk off your butt before the end of the first act), and make it viable.  Not only was the reason viable, it was emotionally satisfying and it fit in with the character of Dom and it gave me a reason to root for him.  I never thought that was possible, but that is exactly what happened.

The plot, as it were, was not anything special.  On his honeymoon, Dom is approached by the villain of the film, Cipher (Charlize Theron) and she convinces him to start helping her (I will not spoil how she does the convincing).  When the team heads into Germany to recover a powerful weapon, Dom turns on them, in particular Luke (Dwayne Johnson), and takes the weapon to Cipher.

Because of the betrayal, Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) brings in Deckard (Jason Statham) to join the team and help track down Dom.  Then, action set pieces ensue.

Sure, there are plenty of massive plot holes scattered throughout the Fate of the Furious, but none of those matter. You expect those types of problems in this film.  The Fast and the Furious movie franchise is supposed to be big, dumb, physics-denying action sequences that are like car porn.  Some times I think it is unfair to judge these movies with such a kaleidoscope.  Certainly if this were another movie sans the Fast & the Furious name, we would rip it apart for lacking the basic tenets of filmmaking that this franchise does.

I guess the key is that the Fast and the Furious films have really become very entertaining.

The most entertaining aspect of the Fate of the Furious, far and away, was the interactions between Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham.  From the moment these two behemoths meet inside the high security prison, The Rock and Statham are trash talking at its highest level.  Both men are ridiculously charismatic and they share a chemistry like few others might (I would watch the hell out of a spin off movie featuring these two).  Because of this, the audience quickly forgets about the crimes that Deckard had committed in previous films, which included the murder of another of the “family”, Han (Sung Kang).  Thanks to the Rock, as well as Statham’s work with another cast member in one of the more outrageous action set pieces on board an airplane, Deckard is redeemed.

However, it felt as if The Rock did start accepting Deckard too quickly.  I would have enjoyed more of the antagonistic relationship between these two than what we got.  And there was even less of the feeling of anger toward Deckard from the rest of the crew that made little sense.

Although I feel that there were few unbelievably ridiculous action set pieces in the Fate of the Furious, they had their share of moments where you can only suspend your disbelief so much.  Twice they had people leaping from speeding cars going in excess of 200 miles an hour only to roll safely without a scratch on them.  In a situation that should completely crush multiple bones, they are unscathed.

I also wish that whoever marketed this film would have held back the scene of the submarine crashing out from under the ice.  Had that moment not been included in the trailer, I think that could have been a huge moment in the movie.  As it was, I knew it was coming and I found it considerably less engaging.  You could have saved that scene from being spoiled in the trailer and made it something out of this world.

The film also benefited from several smaller performances that had been added to the rest of the cast.  Scott Eastwood joined the group as Mr. Nobody’s new rookie right hand man and he brings an interesting dynamic.  Helen Mirren arrives in an important cameo (although her entire involvement was one of those moments that really stretched the credibility of the film).  Kurt Russell is awesome as ever and I can’t wait for him to be Ego the Living Planet in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.  And there was a cool cameo from Luke Wilson as well.

I had no expectations of liking this movie.  I was sure that the Dom “heel” turn was going to be ridiculous and would completely ruin the movie.  I was wrong.  That, as well as The Rock and Jason Statham, was the best reason to enjoy the movie.  It is far from a perfect film, but it does entertain you.

3.6 stars

I am honestly not sure what was going on here.  All I know is that Kristen Stewart was fantastic.

Kristen Stewart is no longer the butt of all the jokes for her acting skills that went on display in the Twilight saga.  She has come far from those films.  She has been pretty successful in supporting roles and secondary characters, but this performance was haunting as the lead character.

Unfortunately, the story itself was extremely weird and all over the place.

Maureen (Kristen Stewart) was the personal shopper of a famous model Kyra (Nora von Waldstatten), but she is also a medium trying to reconnect with her twin brother who had died of a heart attack.  Maureen had the same genetic imperfection of the heart that claimed the life of her brother, but she is told that she was in no danger.  Oh, this takes place in Paris, by the way.

She continues to buy dresses and try to connect to the afterlife, when she begins a conversation via text message with a mysterious person that encouraged Maureen to try on the model’s clothes.  This carried the film through the second act, but when the actress wound up brutally murdered, the film took another weird twist.

I have to say, the film started slowly, and I was finding it dull, but when the text messages started, I began to become engaged.  It was strange and mysterious and you were not sure if this was some weirdo just out to get to Maureen or if this was some otherworldly specter communicating through the phone.  However, this section of the film seemed to wrap up remarkably quickly as soon as Kyra’s dead body was found, and it was never returned to.  I am not even sure exactly what had happened with it.  I think the film inferred that it was Ingo (Lars Eidinger ) behind it all, but it was not clearly dealt with and just rapidly tossed aside as a plot point.

The ending of the film was complete garbage, going out of its way to be confusing just for the sake of confusion.  I am not sure the film even knows what had happened in the story.

Of course, throughout the entirety of the uneven film, Kristen Stewart was really good.  She has laid claim to the mantel of an actress to challenge anyone in films.  She showed so many levels of emotions and drew in the audience at every step.  If Stewart was not in this film, Personal Shopper would be one big mess.  As it is, the film is not very good, but her performance does elevate it to a higher level.

2.6 stars

Sure, there may be some serious issues in play here, but this movie is basically fluff, starring three of our favorite older movie stars.  And that isn’t all bad.

Going in Style stars Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin as lifelong friends Willie, Joe and Albert.  After thirty years doing factory work, Joe was facing losing his house, while all three were losing their pensions.  However, when Joe winds up at the bank when it was being robbed, he gets an idea.

Heading to his friends, Joe suggests a bank robbery of their own.  Willie, who was in need of a kidney transplant, is the first to join in, but Albert needed more convincing.  When he discovered that the bank was taking his pension money to pay other bills, the proverbial straw had broken the proverbial camel’s back.

This movie is nothing special.  The story stretches credibility and nothing surprising happens.  The strength of Going in Style was the three wonderful actors in the lead roles.  In is fun to see Freeman, Caine and Arkin interact that you forgive the weaknesses that float around this film.

The movie itself is remarkably disposable, and will probably be forgotten fairly quickly.  Yet, these are three masters of their craft and they bring enough gravitas to pull the film into the positive category.  Add to them a fun role for Ann-Margret as Annie, a friend of Albert who wants more from him, and the cast is certainly a strength.  I really enjoyed the cute coupling of Arkin and Margret.

The jokes are pretty standard, focusing on jokes about older people, even having Christopher Lloyd playing an almost demented old guy.  Matt Dillon was here as a dimwitted FBI agent and our new Tick, Peter Serafinowicz appeared as Joe’s ex-son-in-law.

And the heist was pretty hard to believe.  The heist included a weird scene between Willie and a little girl that was meant to only set up the final act.

There could have been something really special here as the story had some serious situations come up early on.  The problem was these problems were cast aside, and the tone of the film was pretty inconsistent.  This film could have been a sharper, darker comedy that had something serious to say about the manner in which we treat our elderly people in America and the situation of banks and big business screwing over the little guy.  Unfortunately, Going in Style settled for the unremarkable instead of the satirical.

And yet, despite these problems, the charm of Freeman, Arkin and Caine really shone through and helped make Going in Style more than it should have been.  It is no where near as strong of a film as it could have been, but still, behind the star power of its lead roles, this film turns out to be a fun time.

3.1 stars

The horrors of the Holocaust have been outlined in many films over the years.  Many of them are really well done, while others are not.  The latest version of the film fall smack in the middle.

The Zookeeper’s Wife tells the true story of Antonina Żabińska (Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh), a family living at a zoo in Poland who helped around 300 Jews escape from the dreaded Warsaw Ghetto.  After Poland is occupied by the Germans, Antonina and Jan have to report to Hitler’s chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Daniel Brühl), who takes a shine to Antonina.  His presence at the zoo makes it even more challenging for the Żabińskas to help the people that they were to help.

Jessica Chastain is wonderful in the lead role.  Chastain brings the power to her performance not only with her scenes with her male co-stars, but also with the animals that seem to be free throughout the film.  Whether she is cuddling with beautiful lion cubs or helping a new born baby elephant to breath, Chastain is amazingly believable as an animal handler above all others.

The scenes of the bombing of the zoo and then the extermination of the animals later because they “would not survive the winter” were brutal and hard to watch.  They also provided a stark comparison to the manner in which the Nazis treated the Jews.  The film also metaphorically compares the animals in the zoo with the Jewish people being kept in the Żabińska home, a zoo of a different type, but still a way to protect the inhabitants.

The scenes shot at the Warsaw Ghetto was a terrible reminder of how horrible these situations were.  The film does a good job of portraying the overcrowded location, and showing the blatantly disgusting environment that these men, women and children were forced to withstand.  The scene of the children being lifted onto the train by Heldenbergh, with the knowledge of what would come for these people, was heartbreaking.

This is another good film about the horrors of the Holocaust.  This is a period that we must always remember.

3.85 stars

I think most kids, especially the younger ones, will enjoy The Boss Baby, featuring the voice talents of Alec Baldwin.

However, I did not enjoy this much at all.

I suppose I am not the target audience for this film, however, Pixar, Disney and many other successful animated studios have shown that they can make entertaining films that appeal to both young children and adults.  The Boss Baby is simply not in that league.

Tim (Miles Bakshi) has a great life with all of his parents’ attention.  That is, until a new baby brother comes along.  However, there is something odd with the suit-wearing baby.  Tim discovers that the Boss Baby can speak and that he has arrived from his company with the hope to prevent the release of a forever-young puppy that will tilt the scale of love available to the side of the puppies and away from the babies.

Of course, Tim has been feeling jealous of the attention now being showered upon the new sibling so he teams up with Boss Baby so they both can get what they want… Boss Baby out of the house.

This film is needlessly confusing.  There is a lot of fantasy segments included in the film and it really tends to blur the line between fantasy and what is really happening.  In fact, at the beginning of the film, I was sure the whole film was going to turn out to be one big dream by Tim, and, honestly, I’m not convinced that that isn’t exactly what happened.

The voice cast is acceptable, with Alec Baldwin as the standout.  However, Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow, two very funny individuals, were regulated to pretty unfunny roles as the parents of Tim.  Tobey Maguire provides the voice over narration, much like you might have had in the Wonder Years, and he is fine.  Steve Buscemi appears as well later in the film.

The film’s animation is pretty well done, and I do like the way the animation switches to a different style during fantasy segments.  Still, it probably caused confusion in the story telling as well.

There is a good message to the film as well, as it tells kids that, just because there is a new baby in the house, your parents are not going to love you any less.  I am sure that is a message that would resonate with many young children so the movie should be commended for that.  But I am a long way from those days and that message is not directed to me.

And that message gets lost among all the poop, puke, hit in balls jokes that are scattered throughout the film.  Again, humor that the 8 year old might find hilarious, but is actually quite tedious for me.

The Boss Baby wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but it is not something that I would want to see again, nor is it something that I expect to remember much about later in the year.

2.4 stars

I had never seen the Anime animated version of Ghost in a Shell, so I went into the new film, starring Scarlett Johannson, completely free of expectations.  I have only seen a minimal amount of trailers even for this film.  I was the proverbial blank slate.

Unfortunately, I was not that impressed with the live action version of the Japanese film.  Honestly, I was pretty bored through most of it.

Major (Scarlett Johannson) is the first of her kind.  In a world where everyone had some kind of cybernetic enhancement, she was the first person to have her brain inserted into a fully synthetic body.  The “ghost” in the “shell” if you will.  Then we tried to find out stuff about her past while she does missions for the organization she was involved in.

I have to say that I did not know what was going on wit this movie for much of the first two-thirds of the film.  Because of that, I really found it dragging and I may have even been on the verge of dozing off once or twice.

This was not the fault of Scarlett Johannson, who was very good as Major.  There was a lot of controversy over her casting with the claims of whitewashing dogging the film.  Johannson, who really needs to lead a Black Widow movie soon, was good here, but, admittedly, I believe there were several actresses who could have done as much as she did here.  I understand why the studio chose Johannson though as she looked amazing all the time and she would definitely be a bigger name draw than other actresses that might be in the role.

The backdrop of the movie was spectacular.  The vision of the film was outstanding, with the creation of the world being clearly where most of the CGI budget went for Ghost in a Shell.  However, the CGI was not completely breath-taking as there were several scenes, action ones in particular, where the CGI stood out as obvious.  The visuals of the world behind the action was beautifully displayed consistently though.

The story itself was long and dull and dragged along at a snail’s pace.  It felt remarkably long despite it not being that lengthy of a film.  They do touch upon the theme of “what is life”, but there is not enough detail to that theme to really make it worth it.

I must say that one of the moments early on when I perked up was when the villain Kuze (Michael Pitt) showed up.  He piqued my interest at first as I enjoyed the visual presentation of him.  However, he was switched out of the villain role about halfway through the film and is replaced by a much less fascinating figure and what little good will I had built up with this character had been tossed aside.

In the end, I did not enjoy a lot about the, admittedly beautifully designed, Ghost in the Shell.  The story was weak, the tone was inconsistent and the acting was okay.  The action scenes varied between decent and CGI spot fests.  I hope the fans of the Anime and the original animated version of this film find this satisfactory, but as someone who has none of that background knowledge, Ghost in a Shell was not a good film.

2.4 stars