LION (2016) – My rating: 9/10

Wow, what an emotional roller coaster.  Lion is one of the better movies of 2016.  I really can’t say enough about this touching, true story about a little five year old boy who gets separated from his family, ends up in Calcutta, approximately 1,600 km away from home and ultimately lands in Australia, where he now lives with his new adoptive parents.  How did this all come to be?

An East Indian family: a mother Kamla Munshiand (Priyanka Bose) called Mum by her children, her two boys, Saroo Brierley (Dev Patel),  Young Saroo (Sunny Pawar), Guddu Kahn (Abhishek Bharate),  and Shekila, their new baby sister lived in meager surroundings.  Mum works for survival as a laborer who carries rocks and her two boys helps any way they could.  One evening, Guddu, the middle child readied himself to go to work, but had to decide who was going to take care of Shekila, his baby sister.  Mum had already left for her job, leaving the children unattended until someone came to look after the baby.  Saroo wanted to help out so much he begged his brother to let him go with him to his job.  After using every excuse he could think of to say no, he finally gave in and allowed his little 5 year old brother to come along.  They ended up at a train station where Saroo finally fell asleep on an empty train car while his brother was off tending to his work.  The train pulled off before Saroo awakened and despite his calls for help, there was no one on the train to provide any assistance.  ”Saroo called out his brothers name over and over to no avail.  He traveled two days before he was able to get off the train.  He tried to tell authorities where he was from but apparently had the wrong name which rendered the home he tried to describe non existent.  As Saroo explored his new surroundings, he almost got sold into a child molestation ring.  He was suffering from hunger, eating out of garbage cans and off the ground while he encountered many other horrific problems, he finally ended up in an orphanage, then with an agency that would place him with parents who wanted to free him from his deplorable circumstances, via adoption.  A loving couple from Australia ended up adopting Saroo but he never forgot his Mum and siblings.  After 25 years, Saroo became obsessed at the thought of finding his biological mother.  His adoptive parents John Brierley (David Wenham) and Sue Brierley (Nicole Kidman) were fantastic people and did all they could to make sure their son had everything he needed to move forward in his life.

This movie was brilliantly acted and the story was told with all the emotion and tenderness it deserves.  I truly enjoyed Lion and am torn between which of the nominated movies is the best of 8 up for Best picture.  You should definitely check Lion out.

[Lion is nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Original Score and Adapted Screenplay]

 

 

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THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2015) – My rating: 7.5/10

I love the characters, especially Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.  However, The Second Best Marigold Hotel was just so so.  Some of the details sort of got away from me but I’m sure it was oversight on my part.  Since it’s on the big screen, you don’t get to push the rewind button or pause.  Having said that, I thought it was a very nice, clever story.  The addition of Richard Gere was brilliant, as he is very, very pleasing to the eye.  The old crew (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Diana Hardcastle, Tena Desae, Dev Patel, Lillete Dubey) returned to film this sequel and follow up on the current events of the hotel.  Because of the large cast, there’s a lot going on, making the plot and chain of events lengthy.  The focus of this sequel is the wedding between Sonny and Sunaina, the purchase of a second hotel, straightening out some misguided accusations and closure for many of the couples (good and bad).  There are so many individual stories, which required much concentration.  By the end, I was able to piece everything together.  I was saddened by some of the outcomes but found overall, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to be entertaining and well acted.  If you’re looking for action, this movie is not for you.

CHAPPIE (2015) – My rating: 7.5/10

Dev Patel seems to be everywhere these days.  He is quite an actor.  In Chappie, played by Sharlto Copley, Dev plays Deon Wilson, a programmer who has become very successful creating robots that will serve as policemen in a heavy crime area.  Hugh Jackman plays Vincent Moore, another programmer who thinks his prototype is better than Deon’s but can’t get any play on his creation.  In the meanwhile, Deon has created a program, on his own time, that allows a robot to have a conscience, learn and think for himself.  When Deon pitches his program to Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver) who is CEO of the company called Tetravaal, she shoots him down, even though it would cost her no money to test his new prototype.  This causes Deon to take matters into his hands by stealing a robot slated for demolition to use as a test pilot.  To add to Deon’s stress, Vincent finds out the robot is stolen and in Deon’s possession and decides to sabotage Deon’s efforts in order to get his prototype onto the streets.

I was somewhat thrilled during the first half of the movie but soon became disinterested because I felt Chappie started to get silly and unbelievable.  As the film was about 3/4 over, it started to pick up again.  Of course I can’t tell you what happens but I can say it ended up thrilling and interesting.  I think we are going to see a lot more of Chappie in the future.  You won’t believe what happens in the end.  I have to say, I was not prepared at all for the ending but it’s clear they set Chappie up for a sequel.  Chappie wasn’t the best movie about robots I’ve seen, but it held it’s own.