Motherless Brooklyn is a nice little passion project from Edward Norton and you can see that come through with his direction and performance. However, that same passion also made for an overly long film.
The Cloverfield Paradox had an interesting idea at its core, likely whatever remained of the original script God Particle, but the execution, and forcing it to be part of the Cloverfield franchise, just was not well thought out.
To say I was disappointed in this Beauty and the Beast live action adaptation would be an understatement. Although the technical aspects were impressive, the performances, particularly for Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, were underwhelming, and the new music was rather forgettable.
The Whole Truth is more or less a Law & Order: SVU episode that somehow became a feature-length film. But even so, the acting, albeit nothing profound, was solid enough led way by Keanu Reeves and enough courtroom tension to make this a worthwhile watch.
Free State of Jones was an ambitious film for Co-Writer/Director Gary Ross who tends to be a filmmaker who makes nice, uplifting, films (see Seabiscuit) and this is no exception, though given the subject, it should’ve been better. That said, McConaughey and Mahershala Ali turn in excellent performances.
Concussion is, technically speaking, a well made film and features a good performance from Will Smith, but in spite of what works, at its core the movie is missing a soul. In the hands of a more skilled filmmaker it could’ve been emotionally charged and instead it’s rather forgettable.
It’s not hard to see why Jupiter Ascending was delayed 9 months (and I don’t buy the official reasons) as it was one cluster-f of a film and the problem is, it wasn’t even an entertaining cluster-f. The acting is rather wooden though these actors aren’t given much to work with but on the plus side it looks and sound fantastic, even demo worthy, so if there’s any reason to pop this movie in, it’d be to show off your home theater.