Grappling With A Fatally Sick Family Member Isn't Just Something That Happens To Other People

While the concept of coping with grief or the deathly sickness of a loved one is a fairly universal concept, we all process this experience differently by way of our own individual personalities, outlook and the kind of relationship we had with the person who is departing us now similarly plays a notable role in the way we cope with our grief.  For David Mulcahey (Jesse Plemons), the lead character of Other People, life wasn't going too smoothly even before he had to come to take care of his mother, Joanne (Molly Shannon), whose cancer is giving her mere months to live.

Deepwater Horizon Has Peter Berg Finally Breaking Through As A Filmmaker

Peter Berg belongs with the likes of Antoine Faqua, Michael Bay and Zack Snyder in the category of directors I shall henceforth refer to as "Macho Dudes Making Macho Movies For Macho Moviegoers". Individuals belonging to this classification frequently make motion pictures that adhere to the most primal definition of what constitutes masculinity, with pervasive attempts to appear "rugged" and "extreme" typically coming at the cost of coherent storytelling and interesting characters. Those are certainly two elements missing in spades in Peter Berg's past work, especially in the 2012 disaster Battleship.

Queen Of Katwe Has Absolutely No Trouble Lifting One's Spirit

I am very much upfront about not being a sports guy myself but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy plenty of good sports movies. The key of course, like a large number of other mediums of cinematic storytelling, is to make the character key and central, the sport the individuals actually play in the plot services the characters and not the other way round. That's why Rocky, for instance, is a fantastic movie for both boxing fanatics and people like me that have never watched a second of an actual boxing match. While the debate rages on whether or not chess qualifies as a sport, the film Queen Of Katwe, the newest directorial effort from Mira Nair, once again proves how important interesting lead characters can be to a film, as the world of chess becomes just one part of the tale of a girl becoming herself amidst newfound worlds and interests.

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children Is Generic Even By Modern-Day Tim Burton Movie Standards

While dabbling in some weird-ish fantasy oriented imagery and having the requisite outsider protagonist that have been hallmarks of Tim Burton's work for decades now, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children may be one of the most generic films to come from the director, right alongside that Planet Of The Apes remake he did back in 2001. Don't mistake generic inherently for "worst", Miss Peregrine is most certainly better than Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, the defensive nadir of Burton's work as a director, but it does feel like any sort of identity he usually brings with him to his work has been sanded off.

Unimaginative Scares Are The Name Of The Game For Blair Witch

For full disclosure purposes, let me briefly run down my thoughts on The Blair Witch Project. I love that 1999 horror movie, it's got a sense of restraint to it that's absolutely terrifying, tapping into just how scary the feeling of being lost in an unknown environment can be in an extraordinary way. Though the feature was divisive upon its initial release, it made a bunch of cash at the box office, spawning a sequel the following year (which I haven't seen) and now a second follow-up entitled Blair Witch.

The Magnificent Seven Is The First Modern-Day MGM Remake That's Actually Good

MGM, in their post-bankruptcy state, has been going through their library of titles and remaking everything so exhaustively, it'd be amazing if the remakes typically weren't so forgettable. A RoboCop remake came and went without any fanfare and (like most moviegoers) I never even saw their Poltergeist and Ben-Hur remakes. Before the studio embarks on a Death Wish remake starring Bruce Willis that'll start filming at the end of the month, we have their latest remake of a well-known MGM from decades past (with the original film itself being a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai), The Magnificent Seven.

Storks Gives Birth To Some Funny Gags And A Slipshod Story

Do people still tell their kids the tale of babies coming from storks instead of the more sexually explicit truth? Me not being a father myself (as far as I'm aware), I have no clue if that's still a thing, but maybe it's being kept alive solely by the surprisingly notable presence the tale has in the world of American animation. Let's not forget that it was a stork calling for "Mrs. JUUUUUMMMMBBBOO!!" that brought Dumbo into the world in that 1941 Disney film, while PIXAR had a short film entitled Partly Cloudy that went attached to every screening of the 2009 motion picture Up. And now, the second feature film from Warner Animation Group (the animation studio responsible for The LEGO Movie), Storks, centers its entire plot on the idea of storks bringing humans their offspring.

Snowden At The House Of Mouse

Hollywood loves making movies based on the lives of criminals. How many movies have been based on the lives of Bonnie & Clyde over the years? Hell, look at how many times O.J. Simpson has returned to the pop culture limelight this year over two decades after that infamous trial. And now Edward Snowden becomes the newest fugitive to receive his own movie, unimaginatively titled Snowden, with Snowden's crimes of leaking crucial Government data revealing to the public that the NSA was using its advanced technology to spy on innocent civilians.

Go Watch The Invitation And Then Come Back And Read My Spoilery Review For It.

I typically don't do spoiler-filled reviews, that should be as clear at this point as my utter refusal to do letter or star grades to accompany my reviews. Even for classic movies that are decades old and whose big twists are as well-known as anything else, I'd rather not spoil things in case someone who hasn't seen said classic films comes along to my review. That being said, The Interview is one film where I feel like you must experience it going in cold, especially since the lower-profile release of the movie means there hasn't been a pervasive marketing campaign that's even given away the tone or basic conceit of the motion picture. So I urge you to go watch The Invitation on Netflix right now and then come back and read my analysis of it, alrighty? :)

Sully Struggles To Land On A Purpose For Being

It was supposed to be just another flight. Just a couple of hours in the air, no biggie. The pilots had done this before, the passengers had done this before, it's just a little air travel. And then dual-engine loss occurred, leaving the folks in charge of this aircraft only a few precious minutes to figure out what just happened and what course of action to take next. Piloting this particular plane was Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks), or Sully, who, after realizing they can't make it to a nearby airport, decided to make the bold move of landing the plane on the Hudson River.

Brokeback Mountain Treks The Terrain Of Forbidden Romances

Much has changed in the past decade since Brokeback Mountain was released. The prevalence of LGBTQA cinema (which, of course, existed long before Brokeback Mountain. Hell, Box Office Mojo alone lists over 200 movies starring LGBTQA characters that were released prior to Brokeback Mountain) has managed to increase slightly, though a myriad of issues still exist for LGBTQA cinema, including how frequently Transgender characters are not played by Transgender actors, the trend of movies that don't dare to have unhappy endings for their LGBTQA characters (why, hello there best movie of 2015 Carol!) tend to get shut out at award ceremonies like the Oscars and the fact that it's notoriously difficult to give LGBTQA films noteworthy theatrical runs domestically.

Walt Whitman Once Said To Dismiss That Which Insults Your Soul, So I Shall Readily Dismiss Yoga Hosers

I can sometimes be a bit of a dummy when it comes to grappling with the more subtle nuances of distinctly esoteric pieces of art, so take this bold theory about Yoga Hosers that I'm about to drop on you with a grain of salt. I think this movie...was set...in Canada. It's kind of a shocking idea, but there are some subdued clues scatted throughout the motion picture that lead me to believe that that's where this specific tale is set. For instance, did you notice the endless parade of jokes about Canadian accents (which our two main characters infrequently sport)? Or the end credits where the two leads since a rendition of O, Canada? Stuff like that is what made my mind question if this movie was set in the Great White North.