1st Reviews

  The Amateur  is well-directed, with an engaging enough visual look to keep the runtime going, as well as a strong score by Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann. However, it settles for mediocre as often as it becomes thrilling. Rami Malek is excellently cast in the role, but in earlier moments in the film, his performance still feels distant, and gets to shine more later, or sometimes the editing is to blame for not letting us sit with Charlie’s grief and pain for longer in certain scenes. Holt McCallany is especially memorable as the tough CIA Deputy Director, as is Laurence Fishburne a resourceful yet more empathetic CIA operative.  Despite the packed cast, the story itself sometimes feels muted, including a lack of true exploration of the idea that this hardly trained man is committing elaborately planned out killings that would be viewed as sadistic if the men he was killing weren’t murderous terrorists. The dialogue also sometimes falters, but the elements of the formula...

  War is hell, and every once in a while, a film comes along that drags you through that hell in a way that’ll leave you utterly shell shocked. Warfare is among the most harrowing, visceral and realistic war movies of all time. Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza have crafted a brutal recount of true events that needs to be experienced in theatres.  Set in 2006, we follow a young group of U.S. Navy Seals stationed in Iraq during a surveillance mission gone wrong. The opening scene (featuring Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” thumping on full blast) is extremely effective in giving us one of the few moments of levity throughout the entire film. The slow mounting tension leading up to the main conflict had my heart racing and palms firmly gripping the armrest. With a bare bones narrative stripped of any excess, this movie gets right to the point by throwing us directly into these soldiers’ boots. The specifics of the mission aren’t stated. You won’t find any exposition. Warfare sets out to rea...

  The film is raw and immersive, the camera knowing when to immerse you into the “action” while at other times when to simply stay put and observe from afar. Similar to Alex Garland’s last film  Civil War , the film is devoid of the romanticization of violence we see in many films about war and combat, rather a film about what happens when conflict and death become a daily reality for young men, including the bond and language it creates for them out of necessity for survival.  The excellent ensemble cast shines, particularly D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, along with Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, and Cosmo Jarvis. The sound design in particular is stunning and adds to the immersion of what unfolds in this film, trying its very best to bring its audience into a battlefield where certain doom is only meters or seconds away. It doesn’t relent when it comes to the intensity and terror of battle, including the gore and stakes which are upped, while using every minute of its 90-minute run...

  Do you remember where you were when the Berlin Wall fell? Maybe you were not born yet but it’s the equivalent of asking where you were on 9/11. Everyone has a traumatic memory of that moment they found out the towers fell. All is fine in 89 tells the story of the last field party of the year for the class of  Romano high school, set with the backdrop of the Berlin Wall collapse.  The story follows an ensemble cast of many different students and teachers, each of which is in a different Social circle. From jocks to nerds, each character is going through their own personal issues and trauma. High school is hard enough as it is when you are being bullied and peer pressured but in some cases, some students are going through much worse. The added pressure of  leaving the comfort of highschool and growing up in an uncertain world after the Collapse of the Berlin Wall holds a level of uneasiness throughout the film and keeps tension high constantly. All of the i...

  Drop is a good movie with a bad ending. The first hour and fifteen minutes deliver a crafty, tense and exciting tech-centric thriller that makes great use of its single location. While the final fifteen minutes don’t entirely derail the experience, they’re a jarring drop in quality and logic, which left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.  We’ve all been on a bad date before, but having your family held hostage while you’re being used as a puppet to carry out nefarious acts… that’s a whole different level of bad date. Meghann Fahy plays Violet - a single mother on a first date in a fancy high rise restaurant. She begins receiving sinister anonymous picture drops to her phone, threatening her loved ones if she doesn’t comply with demands. She can’t let her date (Brendan Sklenar), or anyone else in the restaurant know what’s going on, trying to maintain her composure under the crushing pressure.  This movie has been coined a Hitchcockian thriller for the modern tech gene...

  A Minecraft Movie  may prove a treat for younger audiences and fans of the beloved game. It’s got charm, thanks to its main stars, particularly Jack Black. He gleefully gives his playful and extravagant energy to Steve, even throwing in his musical comedy talents. Jason Momoa entertains but his dialogue threatens to miss almost as much as it’ll make you laugh. Danielle Brooks is splendid as a very unexpected companion on this journey, and gives the runtime lots of heart. Emma Myers does a solid job playing an unlikely heroic character, whose storyline with her brother avoids some cliches while falling head first into others. Though this is a Minecraft movie first, director Jared Hess’ love for misfits and outcasts is written all over the film. What brings the film down is the aesthetic, that fails to get you to suspend your disbelief strongly enough to overlook the unconvincing green screen and weirdly uncanny CGI of some of the Minecraft characters/species. The live-action ...

  Grab a Mai Tai and a handful of Lorazepam - it’s time to check back in to The White Lotus for another round of rich people problems. A stunning new resort, plenty of juicy drama and a (mostly) new group of characters make for another strong season, even if the show has lost some of its fun factor along the way.  Taking us across the world to the sun soaked beaches and lush jungles of Thailand, this is without a doubt the most gorgeous season of the show yet. Mike White has sharpened his directorial style, which when paired with Ben Kutchin’s breathtaking cinematography, makes for a total visual feast. The fresh setting also comes with a newfound sense of danger, especially for the guests who venture out from the resort for a taste of real Thai culture. The wild score brilliantly captures the characters’ emotions and instincts, and while it does take a little getting used to, I ensure you the new opening theme song is a bop.  The first season was a bit like observing ani...