BIRD BOX (2018) – My rating: 8/10

Bird Box is a post-apocalyptic thriller film, directed by Susanne Bier from a screenplay written by Eric Heisserer and based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman. The film follows a woman and two children who must travel through a forest and down a river blindfolded to avoid supernatural entities that cause people who look at them to commit suicide. I thought Bird Box was over rated via Netflix and local TV ads, but I still found it entertaining.

Bird Box opens in a post-apocalyptic world as Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) advises her two young children, Boy/Tom (Julian Edwards) and Girl/Olympia (Vivien Lyra Blair) that they will be going downstream on a river in a boat. She strictly instructs them to not remove their blindfolds, or else they will die.

Five years earlier, a pregnant Malorie is visited by her older sister, Jessica (Sarah Paulson). A news report is being shown on television about unexplained mass suicides originating in Russia and quickly spreading across Europe. After hearing the devastating news report, Malorie visits Dr. Lapham (Parminder Nagra) at the hospital for her routine pregnancy checkup. Jessica accompanies her sister for support however, when leaving the hospital, Malorie sees a woman bashing her head into a glass panel followed by others panicking as chaos quickly erupts throughout the town. Malorie and Jessica attempt to drive away from the violence, but Jessica witnesses the phenomenon affecting the masses, loses control of herself and the car she is driving, which overturns. Injured, Malorie watched Jessica purposely walk in front of an oncoming truck that kills her instantly.

Bewildered and hurt, Malorie attempts to flee on foot through the mass chaos. Suddenly, Malorie encounters a woman, Lydia (Rebecca Pidgeon), who invites her to seek shelter in her home even though her husband, Douglas (John Malkovich) doesn’t want to let anyone in, friends included. However, right before his wife reaches Malorie, she goes into a trance, begins talking to her dead mother, and casually climbs into a burning car, which subsequently explodes. Malorie is rescued and brought into Lydia and Douglas’ house by Tom (Trevante Rhodes), a fleeing passerby. Another survivor, Charlie (Lil Rel Howery), who is seeking refuge in the house, theorizes that a celestial entity has invaded Earth, taking the form of its victim’s worst fears and driving them insane before causing them to commit suicide. At the insistence of Tom they cover all windows in the house and use blindfolds whenever they must venture outside. As the supply of food decreases and with the arrival of a new pregnant survivor, Olympia (Danielle Macdonald), decisions have to be made quickly. Ultimately, Greg (BD Wong), who is also seeking refuge in the house, volunteers to tie himself to a chair while monitoring the house surveillance cameras, hoping to find the issue of the entity, but kills himself by rocking his chair violently and slamming his head into a hearthstone after seeing it.

Although Bird Box is deemed a thriller, it’s also a mystery. What’s going on, who or what is causing this chaos and mass suicide to take place? Is this an alien invasion or is it something in the food or water? Where is Bird Box going with this movie and is there any hope? Only some of these questions are answered, however the journey is quite interesting with much more twists and subplots to be revealed. Survival demands the use of common skills that are most difficult to withstand. There is much sadness in Bird Box but it’s worth watching. The acting is brilliant and the cinematography is exceptional. Bird Box is streaming on Netflix — Check It Out, if you have Netflix already, what do you have to lose?

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017) – My rating: 8.7/10

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a crime film written, produced, and directed by Martin McDonagh. Simply put, “3 Billboards” is about a mother who rents three billboards to call attention to her daughter’s unsolved murder.  It sort of reminds me of the TV hit, “Wisdom of the Crowd”.  Instead of using computer technology it’s local, instead of involving the world, it only involves those who see the billboards and instead of having information at your fingertips, you have to make phone calls or rely on logic and whatever detective skills you may have achieved over time.

Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) is grieving the rape and murder of her teenage daughter, Angela seven months earlier. Angry over the lack of progress in the investigation, she rents three abandoned billboards near her home, which in sequence reads “RAPED WHILE DYING“, “AND STILL NO ARRESTS?“,  “HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?” The billboards are obviously upsetting to the townspeople, including Sheriff Bill Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) and racist officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell). The open knowledge that Willoughby is terminally ill is adding to the towns disapproval of the billboards. Mildred and her depressed son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) are harassed and threatened, but stay firm.

Willoughby is sympathetic to Mildred’s frustration but finds the billboards an unfair attack on his character. Angered by Mildred’s lack of respect for his authority, Jason threatens Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones), who rented her the billboards, and arrests her friend and coworker, Denise (Amanda Warren) on trivial marijuana-possession charges. Mildred is also visited by her abusive ex-husband Charlie (John Hawkes), who blames her for their daughter’s death. Mildred is also confronted by the local priest over the town’s disapproval of the billboards, this was one of the great highlights of the movie.  Mildred worked her smart retorts against the priest’s words of reprimand, which had audiences cheering at best. The list of disapproving “billboards against Willoughby” supporters continued when Mildred pays a visit to Geoffrey (Jerry Winsett), the local dentist, which resulted in Willoughby bringing her in for questioning because of injuries Geoffrey obtained when he approaches her with a drill while voicing the town’s disapproval of the billboards.  During the interview, Willoughby coughs up blood and is taken away by ambulance.  Later, Mildred manages to set the police station on fire using Molotov cocktails but is not charged because the town dwarf, James, (Peter Dinkladge) who happens to be smitten with Mildred and provides her with an alibi.  In the meanwhile, Jason assaults Red and his assistant, which is witnessed by Willoughby’s replacement, Abercrombie, (Clarke Peters) who fires him.

At this point, 3 Billboards is pretty intriguing and has just about everyone’s attention.  I highly recommend this movie because it’s different and quite entertaining.   I won’t say you’ll be happy with the ending but you will not forget the movie.  Check it out!  I think it’s awesome!

[Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri has been nominated for Best Picture, 2Best Actor awards, Best Actress, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Original Screenplay]

 

WONDER WOMAN (2017) – My rating: 8.5/10

I had never seen a Wonder Woman movie or read a Wonder Woman comic book before, so this was my first experience and I have to say it was a pretty good one. It was not what I expected. There were a few plot issues but overall, I welcome Wonder Woman to the fold. The movie is set in 1918 and tells the story of Princess Diana, who grows up on the island of Themyscira, sheltered by her mother and aunt. After an American pilot crashes offshore and is rescued by Diana, life as she knows it changes forever. He tells her about the ongoing World War. She then leaves her home in order to end the conflict, becoming Wonder Woman in the process.

Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) was born and raised on the hidden Amazon island of Themyscira, home to the Amazon race of warrior women, created by the gods of Mount Olympus to protect humankind against the corruption of Ares, the god of war, who slew all his fellow gods.  Zeus, Ares’ father struck down his son after being mortally wounded.  Before Zeus succumbed to his injuries, he left the Amazons a weapon capable of killing his renegade son: the “Godkiller”, which Diana believes to be a ceremonial sword. Queen Hippolyta, (Connie Nielsen) Diana’s mother and queen of the Amazons, believes that Ares will never return therefore disallows Diana from training as a warrior, but Diana and her aunt, General Antiope, (Robin Wright) defy the queen and begin training in secret. Once Hippolya discovers the two, Antiope convinces her to allow Diana’s training to continue.

Captain Steve Trevor, (Chris Pine) a pilot with the American Expeditionary Forces crashes in his plane off the coast of Themyscira. The island is invaded by the landing party of a German cruiser pursuing Steve. Diana, now a young woman, rescues Steve as the Amazons engage and kill all the German sailors, but Diana’s Aunt and General Antiope dies intercepting a German bullet meant for Diana. By using a famous Wonder Woman weapon to interrogate the pilot, (The Lasso of Truth) Steve is forced to reveal that World War I is raging in the outside world, and that he is an Allied spy. He stole a notebook from the Spanish chief chemist Isabel Maru / “Doctor Poison”(Elena Anaya), who is attempting to engineer a deadlier form of mustard gas under the orders of General Erich Ludendorff, (Danny Huston) who is an ambitious and iron fisted-general of the German Army during World War I. Believing Ares is responsible for the war, Diana arms herself with the ceremonial sword and leaves Themyscira with Steve to find and destroy Ares.

After the two arrive in London and deliver Maru’s notebook to Steve’s superiors, including Sir Patrick Morgan, (David Thewlis) who is trying to negotiate an armistice with Germany, the journey begins. Diana translates Maru’s notes and reveals that the Germans plan to release their deadly gas at the war front. Sir Patrick secretly sponsors Steve, Diana and 3 recruits: Sameer, (Saïd Taghmaoui) who is a French Moroccan con-artist and secret agent, marksman Charlie, (Ewen Bremner) a heavy-drinking Scottish former sharpshooter who can no longer shoot due to PTSD from a previous tour of duty and Chief, (Eugene Brave Rock) a Native American smuggler who trades with both sides of the war and knows how to get people across front lines.   Steve becomes Diana’s love interest and they all share a small victory thus taking a group picture, that is presented at the beginning of the movie.

The movie is pretty good up until this point.  Wonder Woman is where she wants to be, realizing her goal to save the world and achieve peace.  I thought it was hilarious watching her perform smack dab in the middle of a World War as a super being, scantly dressed, jumping over hills, displaying strength unknown to man, yet being treated as normal as any other soldier fighting a war.  She was so out of place, due to the time frame and her gender, plus it was extremely cold — maybe her outfit was heated.  This was the only time I felt things got a little corny.  Overall, I really enjoyed Wonder Woman and look forward to seeing the next sequel.  The rest of the story was decent and I think you will like it as well. Check it out!

 

STATE OF AFFAIRS – My rating: 7.5/10

An unlikely plot when 2 high ranking women decide to plot murder on the terrorist responsible for the death of their son/fiance.  In other words, revenge.  Alfre Woodard and Katherine Heigl are CIA and President of the United States, respectively.  Katherine Heigl plays Charleston Tucker, the CIA Official who was engaged to Aaron Payton, the President’s son, played by Mark Tallman.  Alfre Woodard plays President Constance Payton, a former war veteran and Courtney B. Vance plays the President’s husband, Marshall Payton.  For some reason, they were all together in Kabul, Afghanistan where they were attacked by a terrorist group lead by Omar Abdul Fatah.  Aaron was killed but the women were not.  It appears that their mission, going forward, is to kill any and everyone responsible for Aaron’s death.  There are many secrets yet to unfold.  While I love a good drama, I’m not sure this one is going to make it.  There’s  nothing wrong with the acting or the characters, except I’d hate to think that the President’s main agenda is revenge, yet I was happy when we took down Osama Bin Laden.

The pilot features  Dr. Benjamin Butler who is working in Africa and who resembles the President’s dead son, Aaron.  While in Kenya, the doctor and his colleagues were kidnapped and threatened with decapatation by a newly formed terrorist group.  In the meanwhile, the mission to take down the  much sorted after Omar Abdul Fatah, already targeted and  in clear site of a US ground military strike team (MI6) was called off by CIA Official, Charleston, in favor of rescuing Dr. Butler instead.  It wasn’t quite clear if the mission was redirected in favor of saving the doctor over killing Fatah because of the doctor’s resemblence to Aaron or Charlie’s  explanation “waiting 6 months would allow us to get Fatah and his entire network instead of just Fatah”.  A lot of risky business here.  It’s worth waiting to see what happens in the next few weeks.  One thing is clear, there is more going on than meets the eye.  A relationship was introduced between Charlie and Nick Vera (Chris McKenna) a CIA asset who worked for Charlie and is keeping a secret regarding Fatah.  There seems to be an obvious resentment between the two despite their romantic involvement.  Nick has been “dark” for over a year.  Secret photos that suggest Charlie and Nick are semi quasi partners in crime are repeatedly sent to Charlie’s cell phone.  Charlie does not remember all that happened the day Aaron was killed.  Her therapist is suggesting that Charlie is blocking out something she doesn’t want to remember.

I find this series a little ambiguous and I don’t think it’s very authentic.  The busyness of the Presidential Staff and the ambiance of the White House is missing.  Scenes like the President walking away from her son’s grave site, after speaking at a memorial, without visual body guards or Charlie being the President’s Daily Briefer which in real life is done by the Director of Intelligence, which is totally separate from the CIA and the fact that we don’t really ever see any of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,  gives support to the unofficial look and feel of this White House.   Also, there are a lot of black women e.g., Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Kimberly Elise, Thandie Newton or Jenifer Lewis,  I feel would have made a more believable US President — it’s not an acting thing, it’s the unnaturalness and the energy I find lacking.    State of Affairs airs on NBC.  I still think it has potential.