Dune is a movie that has plenty of technical achievements by director Denis Villeneuve and his team but very little emotion at its core, even with a respectable cast.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker isn’t a terrible movie as there are a few entertaining moment and the performance from Adam Driver, the only consistent of the cast throughout this new trilogy.
Operation Finale was such wasted potential that although at its core the operation itself was interesting, the changes made were baffling and needless. Having that said, the performances from both Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley were especially strong.
Annihilation is one of the better surprises of 2018 as going in my interest levels were mild at best after seeing the lackluster trailers. But afterwards, it is a movie that has been on my mind for all the good reasons and is a highlight performance from Natalie Portman.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was a rather big disappointment for me since I did really enjoy The Force Awakens and the things J.J. Abrams setup, writer/director Rian Johnson tore right down, and this coming from a casual fan. But there are some things to like such as the production designs, visual effects and some of the performances.
Suburbicon probably had some good ideas at its core, mostly perhaps by the Coen Brothers, and one would think someone like George Clooney who has not only worked with them but no doubt has the highest reverence for the two might make for a good replacement, Instead we get a mishmash of ideas that never come together.
Ex Machina is one of the better surprises of 2015 with a well told story taking a subject seen many times before yet giving it that extra layer and giving us three distinguished characters each fleshed out so well.
Although hardly perfect, and doesn’t hold a candle to A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens is still an entertaining sci-fi action/adventure that not only brings back the old crew but does a great job introducing a new cast of characters as portrayed by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver.
X-Men: Apocalypse was a pretty big disappointment for me following Days of Future Past and while some of the technical parts were well done, the rest had a very stale vibe with similar story elements rehashed from the first X-Men movie way back in 2000.
Although hardly perfect, and doesn’t hold a candle to A New Hope or Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens is still an entertaining sci-fi action/adventure that not only brings back the old crew but does a great job introducing a new cast of characters as portrayed by Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Adam Driver.
Ex Machina is one of the better surprises of 2015 with a well told story taking a subject seen many times before yet giving it that extra layer and giving us three distinguished characters each fleshed out so well. Also top marks for the visual effects which are minimalized yet still quite impressive.
The Two Faces of January has its moments between the performances by its three leads (highlighted by Oscar Isaac), beautiful cinematography taking full advantage of its on-location shoot and a genuine Hitchcock-esque vibe. However, the pacing is a bit off and the story could’ve used some more work, but all in all, I found it to be an enjoyable little film worth a rental fee.