Mini Reviews

About Last Night
Stars: Michael Ealy, Kevin Hart
Plot: A remake of the iconic 80's movie about Chicago singletons (although the remake moves them to Los Angeles) navigating friendships and romantic relationships.
Thoughts: This is just so unnecessary. The remake has the same great rapid fire opening as the original and I thought, hey, maybe this will manage to keep the charm of the iconic 80's film starring Rob Lowe and Demi Moore. But I was wrong. The opening is pretty much the only thing that has that same feel. Remaking this movie was just a waste of time. Michael Ealy, though.
Grade: D

The Hundred-Foot Journey
Stars: Helen Mirren
Plot: A French restaurant is threatened when an Indian family moves in across the street and opens a brand new restaurant.
Thoughts: This movie is super cute, and nice. It's just, really, it gets a little old watching people taste food and say "yum" every five minutes or so. Still, a nice movie.
Grade: C+

Enemy
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal
Plot: A man goes into a tail spin when he watches a locally made independent film and sees a man that looks exactly like him.
Thoughts: This is the sort of movie where, if you don't like it, people will say things like, "Well, I guess you just didn't get it." Oh, I got it all right. That doesn't mean it was good. Like, at all good. This movie is so bad (with an ending so TERRIBLE) that I just wanted to scream in frustration and throw things at my TV.
Grade: F

Locke
Stars: Tom Hardy
Plot: Tom Hardy drives to London and makes phone calls in his car along the way. Shot almost entirely in one take.
Thoughts: Honestly, you had me at Tom Hardy. I know this movie may seem gimmicky, and I guess it kind of is, but if any actor has enough charisma to pull off being stuck in a car talking on a phone for 90 minutes it's Hardy. This movie is actually super compelling and intense.
Grade: B+

The Giver
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes
Plot: In the future, in a picture perfect society where no one knows pain, a young man must become the new receiver of memories and experience everything that was wiped from the human experience.
Thoughts: When I first left the movie, I was sort of impressed that the movie managed to stay so close to the book while somehow making huge changes. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it could stay close to the book all it wants. It managed to lose one very big thing - the heart of the book. It's like everyone who was involved with this movie read the book and understood the plot but didn't really get it, you know what I mean? Overall, this movie is just too basic for 2014. It's a dated story for our times.
Grade: D

Filth
Stars: James McAvoy
Plot: A corrupt Scottish cop does a lot of drugs while trying to win a promotion that he thinks will impress his wife and daughter.
Thoughts: First of all, I don't know how anyone in Scotland gets anything done because I don't know how they understand anything anyone is saying. Second of all, James McAvoy is so goddamn good in this movie that it actually makes me angry that this movie was so bad. I want it to be better, just for him. He is balls out, out of this world amazing. Like, the best performance I've seen this year by miles. He is so, so, so good and I don't even understand how the movie around him can be so bad.
Grade: D+