James McAvoy Anya Taylor-Joy
I have to start off by saying James McAvoy: APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE! This film was ok. It was very basic. It definitely lacked the M. Night Shamalyn twist. The previews for this film were gripping and had you aching for some sort of action or suspense. For me, this film lacked both. Usually multiple personality traits tend to freak me out, given Dressed To Kill and Raising Cain, but this was a mear shadow. This story follows Kevin, a man with several personalities who kidnaps three teenage girls in order to feed on them to fufill his inner beast. This film foreshadowed one of the teenage girls adolescent molestation in order to relate to Kevin. I felt that this film should have touched more on Kevin's upbringing instead of the victims. I feel that would have improved my feelings on this film, but I understand why MNS did it , I just wished he didn't. All in all I was bored with this film.
Safe 2018
Michael C. Hall Amy James-Kelly
Dr. Tom Delany is a well known surgeon in a close nit gated community who suffers the loss of his wife, trying to balance life for his two daughters, Jenny and Carrie. Once the dead body of Jenny's boyfriend Chris surfaces and she is no where to be found, the chase begins to find Jenny and murder of Chris. This all in all had a good story line and I know that each episode pointed the finger to each resident of the neighborhood and wanted to keep you guessing until the end but I felt it dragged out too long. Unnecessary fluff that dates back to a story of Dr. Delany's wife and her friends back when they were teenagers set fire to a school and accidently killed children in the building. That story had been kept under wraps for years no one truly knowing the who fire starters were. Jenny and
Chris were close to exposing the full story until Chris confronts Sofia, local detective and original fire starter so she 'silences' Chris by drowning him. This story felt like that the "fire starters" had a curse of karma on their backs either getting killed off in each episode or punished for the crime. This series could have been better if it cut to the chase quicker. I felt Michael C. Hall's British accent is awful and was distracting in the first few episodes.
Swallow 2019
Haley Bennett Austin Stowell
In this psychological sleeper, we meet Hunter, a young wife who is the result of her mothers rape. Hunter fights with the mental nonacceptance from her mother and wealthy in laws. She becomes pregnant with her first child but still is unfulfilled. Her only triumph is repetitive compulsion to swallow and digest strange objects. Something her privileged husband doesn't understand nor care for her unhealthy addiction and makes a mockery of their trust which only increases her disorder causing her to be monitored. Feeling that she has had enough pain in her life, Hunter chooses to leave her husband and track down her biological father only to learn he has fully moved on with his life and regrets her completely. Making a fresh start for herself, she aborts her baby and goes off on her own. Watching the trailer of this film was iffy on how it would pan out, to my surprise I enjoyed it. It scratches deeper than a surface wound, it takes you into the emotional grasp of ones past traumas and self destruction in order to regain control.
Shutter Island 2010
Leonardo Dicaprio Ben Kingsley
On the surface, this film takes place 1950's Boston, a small place called Shutter Island, similar to Alcatraz where the only way on and off the island is by boat. The island is surrounded by frigged waters, steep jagged cliffs, thick forests, huge thorn-ed patches and poisonous plants purposely making it difficult for an escape. Federal Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leo Dicaprio) and new partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) is called to Ashecliffe asylum to investigate the disappearance of Rachel Solando a dangerous woman who was sentenced to Ashecliffe for drowning her three children. Teddy questions fellow patients, nurses, police officials and doctors but still feels something is being left out of the equation. In addition to Teddy's assignment he is also seeking a man Andrew Lattuce who was responsible for a fire set in Teddy's apartment murdering his wife Dolores. Teddy has kept watch on Andrew last learning of Andrew's sentence to Ashecliffe. Teddy tries to keep focus on the investigation but struggles with flashbacks of his time during WWII and seeing his dead wife. He slowly uncovers the fact he is Andrew Lattuce. Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) brings out evidence showing Andrew back to who he really is, the most dangerous patient at Ashecliffe, suffering from multiple personalities, in order to recover from his past trauma. His wife, Dolores set the apartment fire, she drown their children and he killed her because of it. Everything "Teddy"-Andrew thought he saw was just a deflection of his own life he was trying to bury. This film is incredible from start to finish. The casting was perfect, the story line holds many twists it keeps you on the edge for answers, the setting in my opinion was the best. The forest, the water, asylum and island itself held such a mystery it was the icing on the cake. I highly recommend this film, to this day I am still impressed by it's flawless features.
Kristen Stewart
I am not a big Princess Diana fan, but I do enjoy Kristen Stewart. The little I knew of Diana, I felt that Kristen nailed this performance. She held down the look, body language and accent beautifully. I cannot confirm how much of this portrayal holds truth but this was a slow moving, sad toned film. It peeks in around Diana's struggle with bulimia, nonacceptance from the royal family, no real friends to lean on. I felt that this is entertaining enough to take a look.
Sing 2 2021
Bono Matthew Machonghey
I was so happy there was a sequel because the first film was super cute and this one definitely didn't slack on the music choice or comedy. The gang has to impress a rich Vegas show boat to hold an epic performance they seek out a popular singer that has gone into hiding after his wife dies.
The Survivor 2021
Ben Foster Danny Devito
This is the true story of Harry Haft, a holocaust camp survivor who was pushed to box other prisoners to death for the amusement of the German soldiers. Harry becomes a "boxing champ" of the camp, artificially befriending a German soldier, Schneider. Harry ends up killing Schneider in order to escape. While trying to gain back his normal life, Harry becomes a well known boxer in 1940s New York. Harry endlessly searches for Leah, a love lost in the separation of the concentration camps. After finding nothing of Leah, Harry feels she has died. Marrying another and having a family, Harry finds out that Leah is still alive. While visiting with Leah, he finds he is still in love with her. The only down side is that Leah has cancer and not much longer to live. Harry loves her and says goodbye. This film was great. The transition between memories in the camp, to present day was well done. The cast was picked perfectly, they all had the magnetism to help the film flow. I loved the detail of black and white for memories to the deep emotional urban decay of the city. I felt that the decay of the lifestyle of a boxer chips away at you the way the Holocaust did for him. The actor who plays Alan, (Kingston Vernes) comes into the frame with these piercing angelic blue eyes. Alan was the one who wrote the book on his father Harry and produce this film. Which I feel is so sweet and such an amazing story to be told. The legacy of this tale is one to be respected and admired. This is an HBO made film, so you can find it on HBOMax, or on demand HBO.
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