Parasite: Movie Review

Daring and inventive tale of class inequality.

One might wonder during the beginning of Parasite if the title is a loose translation from a Korean word which doesn’t have a direct English counterpart. The Oxford English Dictionary offers two definitions of parasite: “1. An organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense; 2. A person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return.” Not too long later, it’s clear that writer-director Bong Joon Ho meant the exact title he chose and Anglophones can assume nothing is lost in translation.		2019 Directed by: Bong Joon Ho Screenplay by: Han Jin Won, Bong Joon Ho Starring: Woo-sik Choi, Kang-ho Song

Get Out: Movie Review

Humorous, bizarre and very well made.

Get Out is the type of movie that just begs you to keep watching. The theme of systemic racism has been explored before, the psychological thriller/supernatural element of the suburbs has been done before, even the horror ending has been done before (at least similarly), but none of it has been put together in quite this way before. It’s a very complete movie with brilliantly designed cinematography, and a score that perfectly balances the uneasiness and inherent humour.		2017 Directed by: Jordan Peele Screenplay by: Jordan Peele Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, and Bradley Whitford

Blood Honey: Movie Review

A campy story with death and bees.

There are a number of working titles floating around including “The Hive” and “The Bequest” but I wonder if they considered the very fitting “Death by Bees”. Not only does this film feature a literal death by bees but it also brings to mind the B-horror films like Killer Bees which should attract the right audience for this campy thriller. Although I’m not sure campy is the right word for a poor story played out very dramatically.		2017 Directed by: Jeff Kopas Screenplay by: Jeff Kopas, Doug Taylor Starring: Shenae Grimes-Beech

The Most Hated Woman in America: Movie Review

Draws an interesting line between victim and villain.

The Most Hated Woman in America is a good movie, but they made a fundamental error which stops it from being a great movie: they focused on the least interesting aspect. There are actually many interesting and compelling aspects to the movie which should keep most viewers mildly interested throughout at the very least. The story is about American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair – the most hated woman in America. Granted, I hadn’t actually heard of her prior to this movie, but given the daily extreme death threats she received every day of her life, her moniker fits.		2017 Directed by: Tommy O'Haver Screenplay by: Tommy O'Haver Starring: Melissa Leo, and Josh Lucas

Miss Sloane: Movie Review

Smart, gripping, political thriller.

When it goes up against the deep pockets and heavy hitters of awards season, Miss Sloane can’t quite hold its own. It’s not as “important” as some of its competitors, although there is relevance and timeliness to it. It also goes for a curious, but effective, mix of the flashiness of summer blockbusters and the dialogue-heavy, character centricity of December dramas. Starring perennial awards favourite Jessica Chastain, it’s inevitably going to get grouped in with the latter group, but it’s a smart, entertaining movie that deserves a watch.		2016 Directed by: John Madden Screenplay by: Jonathan Perera Starring: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong

The Girl on the Train: Movie Review

Great lead character leads the film astray.

Part of the problem with The Girl on the Train is that it’s not the film it was meant to be – this is of course assuming we know what it was meant to be; or at the very least it’s not the film it seems like it should be. Let’s start with the pedigree: it’s based on a popular thriller novel by Paula Hawkins, and stars it-girl, always-on-the-cusp-of-making-it-huge Emily Blunt. She’s always seemingly one good role or one big movie away from an Oscar. This could have been it.		2016 Directed by: Tate Taylor Screenplay by: Erin Cressida Wilson Based on the novel by Paula Hawkins Starring: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson

Hell or High Water: Movie Review

Action, adventure and an entertaining crime caper.

It’s West Texas. Small towns, dirt roads, dirtier cars and well-traveled criminals. Meet the Howard brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster); they’re about to rob a bank. Hell or High Water is an electrifying good story. Part crime drama, part family relations, part heist movie merged into a film that is pure good story-telling and mesmerizing filmmaking.		2016 Directed by: David Mackenzie Screenplay by: Taylor Sheridan Starring: Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges

Billionaire Ransom: Movie Review (AKA Take Down)

Great setting but poorly executed.

Take a bunch of over-privileged rich kids with daddy issues, send them to a remote island for a survival course, put some bad guys seeking a big pay day after them, and you’ve got Billionaire Ransom. The idea behind this survival course is that it’s a wilderness school where spoiled brats will learn to become men. The idea behind this movie is that these kids will be forced to put their survival skills to good use when they’re held for ransom.		2016 Directed by: Jim Gillespie Screenplay by: Alexander Ignon Starring: Jeremy Sumpter, Phoebe Tonkin, and Ed Westwick

Now You See Me 2: Movie Review

Bigger, bolder nonsense that is just as fun.

With the original Now You See Me ending with a twist so spectacularly absurd that it goes from improbable to ludicrous rendering the entire film a farce, it seems a sequel is just gratuitous. Perhaps they know that; the first one did make decent money after all. But their task here is much harder, they have to go bigger, bolder, and more ridiculous than the first time around. Surprisingly, they did that without making it worse.		2016 Directed by: Jon M. Chu Screenplay by: Ed Soloman Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Mark Rufffalo

99 Homes: Movie Review

Making deals with the devil – thrilling, intense, fascinating.

99 Homes is the best film ever made about the housing crisis. It combines the reality (banks foreclosing on homes) with real emotion (option-less people both heartbreakingly giving up and being pushed to their violent limits) surrounding a story about a ruthless villain turning a down-on-his-luck victim into a rising star using the basic film formula of descent-into-madness. It is both a taut, entertaining, comedic thriller and emotional family drama. Or arguably, a Greek tragedy.		2014 Directed by: Ramin Bahrani Screenplay by: Ramin Bahrani, Amir Naderi Starring: Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon

Eye in the Sky: Movie Review

Smart, thought-provoking thriller.

CD, collateral damage, is the one term used to describe a little girl selling bread in Nairobi. Eye in the Sky is a tough watch, but it so expertly weaves in between the characters on different continents that all have a stake in this deadly (no matter how you look at it) attack. Military personnel have zeroed in on a person of interest, a radicalized terrorist who is literally plotting the destruction of countless of lives.		2015 Directed by: Gavin Hood Screenplay by: Guy Hibbert Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman and Barkhad Abdi

10 Cloverfield Lane: Movie Review

Uncertainty abounds at 10 Cloverfield Lane.

I tend to steer clear of monster movies, and I hate found footage movies, so I want nothing more to do with Cloverfield. But then this previously unknown J.J. Abrams-produced, Cloverfield “sequal” stormed out of the wood-work with tantalizing, mysteriously good critics reviews, and I couldn’t help but be intrigued. I’m a sucker for movies that can’t be fully explained, or rather shouldn’t be fully explained, and that’s exactly how the 10 Cloverfield Lane masterminds wants it to be.		2016 Directed by: Dan Trachtenberg Screenplay by: Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr.

Room: Movie Review

Delivers an emotional punch with sadness, ferocity, intensity and tenderness.

Room is a story that hasn’t been told in this way before, and is probably something you couldn’t imagine since the main plot is very foreign to the majority of us. I also believe that Room is at its best when you go in knowing as little as possible. So to that end, this review will be spoiler-free and frustratingly vague. I’ll apologize for that now, but you’ll thank me later.		2015 Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson Screenplay by: Emma Donoghue Based on the novel by Emma Donoghue Starring: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay

Bridge of Spies: Movie Review

A masterful production of Cold War tensions with humour and heart.

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect Hollywood royalty production of a Coen brothers screenplay, directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks, and Bridge of Spies delivers on that perfection. It is dramatic, interesting, beautiful, funny, intense and entertaining from scene-to-scene. It opens with the heart of the Cold War, a foreign spy, on American soil, engaging in secretive behaviour, and then he’s arrested. It’s a mysterious opening, and the film seamlessly evolves from mystery to court room drama to thriller.		2015 Directed by: Steven Spielberg Screenplay by: Matt Charman, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance

Goosebumps: Movie Review

The fun, funny, creepy and thrilling world of Goosebumps.

I haven’t read an R.L. Stine book in 20 years, and so, at the same time, I am both in the target audience and not in the target audience. It can be hard to sell it as a kids movie to today’s kids and as a nostalgic kick to yesterday’s kids, and yet that’s exactly what Goosebumps has done. Give our young hero a witty line and let Jack Black as author R.L. Stine have one creepy look, and it took just a few quick minutes to be transported back into the fun, funny, creepy and thrilling world of Goosebumps.		2015 Directed by: Rob Letterman Screenplay by: Darren Lemke Based on the books by R.L. Stine Starring: Dylan Minnette, Jack Black and Odeya Rush

The Imitation Game: Movie Review

Codes, war and homosexuality in an interesting balancing act.

A bio-pic of English Mathematician Alan Turing (played here by Benedict Cumberbatch),  The Imitation Game  has to juggle his extreme ego (probably played up for the purposes of entertainment), his achievements of solving the Enigma code and winning World War II for the Allies, and his homosexuality – a crucial element that makes the interesting film engaging and emotionally-affecting. Focusing on the war years, the film achieved the critical balance.		2014 Directed by: Morten Tyldum Screenplay by: Graham Moore Based on the book by Andrew Hodges Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode

The Heart Machine: Movie Review

Romantic drama that's running on empty.

The Heart Machine is a romantic drama thriller. One that is entirely driven by one thought; one part of a plot where characters are minimal and supporting characters and storylines are nonexistent. Cody (John Gallagher Jr.) is an awkward love-struck man in Brooklyn who’s in a long-distance relationship. Virginia (Kate Lyn Sheil) is his Skype girlfriend living in Berlin. Or so she says. She might be lying and Cody’s starting to suspect that she’s actually in New York.		2014 Directed by: Zachary Wigon Screenplay by: Zachary Wigon Starring: John Gallagher Jr., Kate Lyn Sheil

Gone Girl: Movie Review

Implores you to not take appearances at face value as the characters cut a dark tale of marriage.

The titular gone girl is Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike), wife of Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and he’s the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance. Not just because it’s always the husband, but also because their marriage is failing, she’s kept a diary detailing all the horrible things he’s done and all clues lead back to him. The great thing about Gone Girl the thriller is that these clues aren’t meant to deceive but to lead the audience. It’s simply a story of what happened, but with twists aplenty.		2014 Directed by: David Fincher Screenplay by: Gillian Flynn Based on novel by Gillian Flynn Starring: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike

Night Moves: Movie Review

Dark and gripping atmosphere filled with guilt and paranoia permeate this tale of activism.

Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are two young environmentalists. They’re activists who want to change the world with one big plan. But Night Moves presents that big plan in a small way, focusing entirely on the characters and their actions and becomes so much bigger than an “environmental movie.” This is more universal than being about eco-terrorists. This is about anybody who commits a crime and thinks they’re righteous.		2013 Directed by: Kelly Reichardt Screenplay by: Jon Raymond, Kelly Reichardt Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard

The Captive: Movie Review

Not captivating enough for a crime thriller.

Atom Egoyan’s second thriller this year and another one about crimes against children. The Captive starts with the kidnapped Cassandra being held captive by the perpetrator himself. It’s an odd way to start the film with the audience knowing who did it. The why he did it is pretty clear too, he’s a creep. It’s hard to create suspense when the audience knows who the authorities are trying to catch.		2014 Directed by: Atom Egoyan Screenplay by: Atom Egoyan, David Fraser Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, and Rosario Dawson