266. Morgan

A corporate risk-management consultant must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being.

I have seen other movies like his, but not in this combination. Laments of Species 2. Splice, and Hanna to name a few. It is certainly better to Han 2 of those but not as good as Hanna, which I love. And way, I would describe this as both mess d up but also enjoyable. 

The filmmakers setup an interesting structure and backstoryonly to destroy it over the course of the film. I admit, I had the ending mostly pegged. It’s not too hard to get but it’s fun to have it figured out.

Be sure to look out for minor roles for Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Giamatti, and Brian Cox.

A little wearing a lot of graphic violence. Recommended.

265. Jackie

Following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy fights through grief and trauma to regain her faith, console her children, and define her husband’s historic legacy.
Natalieportman is the really the main character. It might be called Jackie and a hats the character she’s playing, but this movie is just Natalie emoting around stuff. She doesn’t even try to look like Jackie. It’s just painfully obvious that it’s her. She doesn’t Wally embody the character.

I would also liked a narative to be presented. If you didn’t know the backstory I think you would be confused. Sort of like hearing one side of a phone call.

There’s a few wear words and fairly graphic recreation of the JFK assassination. I do not recommend.

264. Enemy Within

A Colonel discovers what appears to be plans to use fake military excercises to remove the President from office.

A movie picked on a whim. It appears to b an HBO movie from 1984. Fores Whitaker is usually pretty great. He’s good here. Jason Robards always seems to play a bad guy jerk. He is the main bad guy here. 

While executed well it does feel like it’s 23 years old. Because it is. The pacing is slow, which doesn’t help in a political thriller. Maybe that’s just the pacing in the early 1990s. The slowness is not creating any kind of mood. Also the “high tech” technology seems dated. But it s ok for a diversion if you need that. It is short. An hour and 15 minutes, so it dies take much time.

There’s action and swearing I’m sure but not much else.

263. Oldboy (2013)

Obsessed with vengeance, a man sets out to find out why he was kidnapped and locked into solitary confinement for twenty years without reason.

An American remake of a Korean movie. I have seen the original and prefer it. However this is passable. It does veer far from the plot of the original. The premise itself is pretty interesting. First half a story of how you survive all that time alone. The second half unraveling the mystery of why.

Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen are both good in this. There are lots of things you pick up on knowing how it will end.i won’t say any more than that. Just imagine if the Olsen twins had as much talent as their younger sister..

There is a lot of violence. A extended scene of sex and nudity and the end is unsettling to say the least. Not for the faint of heart. Otherwise I would recommend the Korean version if you can handle subtitles.

262. Dirty Dancing

Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances “Baby” Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle.

A while back, I watched the TV remake of this and it was terrible. I was itching to watch the original. It recently became available to stream and I rewatched it. It actually really holds up.

It’s not exactly high art, I’ll admit. It is a rather enjoyable movie. It’s almost a musical where none of the actors sing, but the music is important. Some of it specific to the setting (1963) and some of it more modern. It’s corny and fluffy but still worth your time to rewatch.

There is some light swearing but a fair amount of sexuality and obviously “dirty” dancing, 

261. Wanted

A frustrated office worker learns that he is the son of a professional assassin and that he shares his father’s superhuman killing abilities.

Another silly action movie. I find it short on plot and heavy on curving bullets. Even the genius that is Morgan Freeman cannot elevate it.i just have a problem with the weird physics of nearly every shot. Maybe it’s style I don’t get or maybe just too grounded by lots of stuff. I like it when it’s clrpearly obverse the top like in Kingsman. But this doesn’t sit right with me.

Lots and lots of violence, some sexuality and swearing. Not recommended.

260. Seven Pounds

Seven names, seven strangers, one secret.

I walked into this completely blind. I only knew the mysterious title and Will Smith. I find every synopsis for this movie is a spoiler.  I am going to jump the gun and say I recommend this movie. It’s sad and there are a lot of challenging ideas. I would suggest not watching a trailer or reading a plot summary. It will really increase your enjoyment of the movie.
Will Smith is great. So is Rosario Dawson, as usual.  I watched the movie and I’m not even sure what the title refers to. It’s not important. It’s a well made, emotional, film.

259. Hidden Figures

The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.

I had only briefly knew of this story before this movie cane out.  It still amazes me that things were still so segregated. I was born after things were actually labelled. Not to mention tgat these were African American but also females. NASA did seem to be ok with women. 

Anyway, it is a very enjoyable interesting film. All of the lead actresses are compelling and very good. Even singer Janelle Monae is good. Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst have minor roles too.

No bad laugage or sexuality.  The main theme of the movie deals with race so there are some troubling scenes, mostly with Jim Parsons (Tv’s Sheldon Cooper). Recommended. 

258. A Monster Calls

A boy seeks the help of a tree monster to cope with his single mother’s terminal illness.

You had me at tree monster.

A movie I hadn’t heard of but gave it a shot. It really is engaged me. Maybe I was emotional about something but it grabbed hold of me. The boys mother was on hint but the monster he conjures is pretty terrifying. He’s big and has fire on n his eyes, sounds lk Liam Neeson doing a Batman voic, and he tells these messed up stories. This is a bad analogy, but if you remember the old Family Circus cartoons where the kid misbehaved and the mother would say “who did this?” And the child would reply “not me” and behind them an imp named not me was hiding. This is kind of that but instead of a playful imp, it’s a tree monster. Also, not stupid like Family circus is. I did a bad analogy.

The cast is good. The kid is good, it’s nice to see Sigourney Weaver still doing good work. Felicity Jones can actually act and have emotions and nlike her wooden performance in Rogue One. I liked Rogue Onebut she was a little one note.

The monster is scary at first and it s kinda about cancer so it’s emotional. Not really any swearing or sexuality. Recommended.

257. Wildcats

A rookie high school football coach has a harder time than expected trying to whip her tough inner ciry football team into shape.

Another great Goldie Hawn film. This time as,a female coach for a boys football team. Also being a mother while her ex husband lingers around.

Um not sure if this was made today it would have the same impact. I feel like the idea,would not be that far fetched and cause for comedy. Maybe I’m naive. But overall it is a fun movie. You don’t even have to love football or sports.

It’s fun to see a young Woody Harrelson and Wesley Sniped. Also lesser known actors like Nipsey Russell and 14 year old Robin Lively.

There’s some swearing, a male locker room scene and Goldie in a bathtub.  Recommended.