Hunt For The Wilderpeople

There's a lot of things to like about this movie. The whimsical adventure story with a lot of heart. The charming and quirky sense of humor. The excellent supporting cast of characters, from Rachel House, Rima Te Wiata, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, to Rhys Darby. The awesome lead performance by Julian Denison as the rebellious kid Ricky. Plus the curmudgeon goodness of Sam Neil, as his foster uncle. The location setting of New Zealand is spectacular to look at as well. 

If there's one thing that this movie wants to do, is to try and surprise you at every turn on where the story is going, by introducing some clever plot turns and the supporting characters that go with those. A lot of times, it succeeded at that splendidly. There is an air of outrageousness to the premise, so some suspension of disbelief is required. Some would argue that it kinda goes a little aimless and is not as unpredictable as it thinks it is. However, the main element that makes this movie worth watching is that it's just a fun watch through and through. 

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Allied

As a spy movie set in World War II, there are things to like about it, although it does require your suspension of disbelief more times than not. The film is actually divided in two distinct parts, and it's like we're watching two movies back to back. Some would say that one half is better than the other, but I suppose it's more of what you're looking for with this movie. 

The first half has a nice conventional but exciting enough heist thriller, involving a Canadian spy teaming up with a French spy, on an assassination plot against a Nazi officer. Just seeing the espionage work is always a fun thing to watch. Seeing them getting out of situations that put there mission at risk is always enjoyable. 

The second half has a big revelation that completely raises the tension of the movie into paranoia and suspense. You'll want to see how it resolves itself, as it really is a big reveal. A lot of how much you'll enjoy watching the second half; and the first half for that matter, relies completely on whether you believe the relationship between the characters played by Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. I would argue that their chemistry can feel a bit unbelievable at times, but I suppose I still liked the idea behind their coupling for the story. If you can't get over them being a couple however, then the movie is going to completely lose you. 

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Into The Forest

Set in an apocalyptic setting when the world suddenly lost power, but located primarily in one household, this movie definitely has a lot of social commentary that it wants to say. Surviving with limited resources. A fallen society. The extremes people will go to. The lost of hope in a hopeless situation. However, amidst all that cynicism, there is a beautiful story here about this relationship between two sisters. 

Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood are those two sisters, and they are the main reason to see this film. While it's worth checking out the chemistry they display on screen, and while the movie is for the most part interesting enough to see through, there are some inherent problems. A lot of the story revolves around using some familiar tropes, plot conveniences, and some huge suspension of disbelief. I feel those flaws undermine the strong thematic messages that the film teaches us, despite some of the movie's strengths with it's lead actresses and premise. 

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Lion

If you've ever been a lost child, or a mother of a lost child, then there's a lot about this movie that you'll find very relatable. Although this is based on a true story, there is an incredulous aspect to it that might make it come off as a little too far fetch. Some might argue that it plays out a bit too predictably, with some plot conveniences, undeveloped supporting characters, and includes all the familiar tropes that comes with a story like this. Despite some of those perceived flaws, this still ended up being a very emotionally powerful and inspirational movie, purely based on the strength of the true story. 

Told in two parts, with the story divided between young Saroo and adult Saroo, there are noticeable tonal differences. The section of the young Saroo plays off like an adventure story fraught with difficulty, and an experience that will just suck you in to the child's plight. The section of adult Saroo is still good, but comes off as an unsurprisingly conventional story about obsession, resolution, and sentimentality. Dev Patel is really good in the older Saroo role at least, but it's Sunny Pawar as the younger version who puts on an incredible performance that should absolutely catch your attention. 

This premise about a lost child who hasn't found his home for 25 years, is the kind of biopic story that plays really well as a movie. I would go as far and say that this story is the reason movies exists! "Lion" hit me in all the right ways, and honestly moved me to tears. 

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I Am Not Madame Bovary

The biggest factor that this movie asks from it's audience, is to be willing to accept that a little over half of the screen is cropped out, as the film itself is only visibly seen inside a circle (or square). It's an artistic decision for sure, but the movie does take advantage of that fact for several scenes, and forces us to focus on the story in a particular way. With that caveat out of the way, this is a very humorous and entertaining satirical story about tenaciousness, bureaucracy, social status, infamy, and sycophants. 

Led by a fantastic performance by Fan Bingbing, the character she plays has a very peculiar situation that takes this story into incredibly twisty unpredictable plot turns. It became a guessing game for us to see where things were heading, and even for a lot of the characters themselves. Speaking of which, I did like the focus on how the characters specifically acted when they were talking to somebody above them and below them in status. There's also a lot of little Chinese cultural insights here and there that I found fascinating as well. 

While some people might be turned off by the cropped video image, or the fact that this is primarily a talking heads movie, the rest should find a highly engaging tale that you'll want to see play out until the very end. 

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Manchester By The Sea

This movie is a combination of a slice-of-life narrative and a character study of Lee Chandler; as played by Casey Affleck, who is a man that is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's Father suddenly dies. While this overall has a great cast that includes Michelle Williams and Kyle Chandler, with a great stand out supporting role by Lucas Hedges as Patrick the nephew, this movie is undoubtedly a main showcase for Casey Affleck. With a deliberately nuanced performance, Affleck successfully carries this movie with his very sympathetic character.

Although this film is a serious drama in many ways; that's filled with tragedy and life changing decisions, there is also a lot of humor scattered throughout. The dysfunctional relationship between Lee and Patrick, is probably the highlight of seeing this story play out. They have this odd couple thing going, and it's enjoyable to watch. The back stories on the other hand are there to make you cry, and fills in the gravitas quota. Balancing those two different aspects and melding them together, is a tricky thing that Director-Writer Kenneth Lonergan was able to pull off, and is the reason why this movie works as well as it does.

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Elle

Well this is a movie that's unlike anything else I've seen this year, and that's because the content shown will likely be polarizing for some people. Just the opening sequence alone will make people question what it is they are watching, as it starts with a rape scene, and that's not even the shocking thing. What the woman who was sexually assaulted immediately decides what to do and not to do next, sets the tone for the whole film. There's a dark sense of humor to the movie, that is not afraid to have taboo subject matters, and it's filled with a dysfunctional cast of characters who can be quite horrible; but in a civilized way.

The story in the movie can be quite twisted, mysterious, and just fascinating. This isn't just some revenge story by our protagonist, as there are multiple plot threads and turn of events that will just pull you in some more in wanting to see where things are going. The biggest draw of this movie however is Isabelle Huppert as Michele Leblanc, who is an amazing actress playing a vastly interesting character. If anything else, watch this movie for Isabelle Huppert.

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Nocturnal Animals

Beautifully stylistic and dour looking, with an excellent cast of actors, I wasn't sure what I was getting into, in this film that's based on the novel "Tony and Susan" by Austin Wright. Needless to say, this movie took me places I wasn't prepared for. There's an extended set piece that introduces the premise of a story, that's harrowing and devastating, that absolutely made me emotionally frustrated, angry, and helpless, as I watched the events taking place. I couldn't help but be tense and on edge for the rest of the movie, but I anxiously awaited to see how it would all end. If this is the reaction that Director-Writer Tom Ford designed for me, then he succeeded tremendously. 

Amy Adams and Michael Shannon are great as always, but it's Jake Gyllenhaal's and Aaron-Taylor Johnson's performances that will really grab your attention here. This is a dark and grim unforgettable story that is told in a very particularly clever meta narrative, but the pacing and the content may not be to everyone's liking. 

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Moana

The visuals for this movie are just so breathtakingly wondrous to look at, filled with eye-popping colors, and larger than life backgrounds. It's easily the best CG animation work that Disney has released yet. A movie can't survive purely on visuals alone of course, and thankfully the story itself is entertaining in all the right ways.

This premise about a human and a demigod teaming up to save the world, admittedly may not necessarily sound that original at all. The plot progression may not be entirely unique, but the key here is that it's a fun story to see play out. Part of that fun is the team up of Moana and Maui. In fact, I would argue that the movie felt a little too conventional and pedestrian, until Moana met Maui. That's when the movie roars into life, and we end up watching this odd couple on a road trip; except it's on the ocean and not on a road. 

There's a lot to like about this movie, from the characters, the set pieces, and the message of the story. The song numbers are good too, although I don't think they were necessarily as great and memorable as they could have been. Either way, "Moana" is a very entertaining animated film. 

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The Edge Of Seventeen

The opening of this film has a 17 years old girl emotionally telling her teacher that she wants to commit suicide, and the teacher proceeds to give her an insensitive response that pokes fun at the situation. That scene perfectly sets the tone for the rest of this movie, which mixes angtsy problems with some clever sense of humor. The dialogue found in this movie is simply one of the main highlights of seeing this, as they are really well written, highly entertaining, and insightful as well. It's not completely original as there are cliche plot moments, but that fact doesn't matter when the story is done this well. 

To go along with the fantastic writing, the other main highlight of seeing this movie is the cast. Kyra Sedgwick, Haley Lu Richardson, and Blake Jenner, are all good in this, but there are three particular actors that really stand out the most. Hayden Szeto as the always nervous Asian classmate, Woody Harrelson as the scene stealing flippant teacher, and of course Hailee Steinfeld as our socially awkward and melodramatic main protagonist Nadine. This movie really relied on Steinfeld to be amazing in this, and she is. 

The Edge Of Seventeen easily goes down as an instant classic of a coming-of-age movie, and even felt like a deconstruction of the genre at times. I appreciated the fact that it was done in a way that didn't compromise it's vision of a story, as it didn't find it necessary to tone things down for a younger audience. 

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