Quick takes on 5 films

High-Rise is different, to say the least. It stars Tom Hiddleston as Laing, a new resident at an experimental self-contained community skyscraper, where the rich live at the top and the poorer at the bottom. The building has everything needed to live, from gyms to pools to a grocery store. From the beginning, we get a feeling that everyone inside is a bit crazy though, and the movie tenses it up with creepy, sinister-feeling music from the get-go. When power starts failing and the trash system goes out, allowing garbage to pile up at the bottom first, the lower levels start rioting while the upper levels keep on throwing weird parties like nothing is wrong. The film plays out almost like a Wes Anderson nightmare on hallucinogens, but it is fairly entertaining.

I enjoyed London Has Fallen much more than the reviewers. But then, I also liked Olympus Has Fallen, and I knew going in this wasn’t going to be rich storytelling or a cinematic masterpiece. It was going to be explosions and gunfights, and that’s what it is. Gerard Butler’s character once again is tasked with keeping the President alive, this time in a coordinated attack in the city of London. Butler does these kinds of movies well, and if you are a fan of the genre, you won’t be disappointed.

Son of Saul is last year’s Oscar winner for a foreign language film. Saul is a Hungarian jew in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, where he is tasked with cleaning up the gas chambers after the mass killings. He sees a boy recently killed whom he recognizes (unfortunately the title of the film gives it away), and sets out to try to give the boy a proper burial, rather than be autopsied or burned. A riveting, if quiet, film, and I must warn you, the “happy” ending is a poignant one.

Victor Frankenstein is just sort of boring, and silly to boot. Despite awful reviews, I watched it because I think James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe are both good actors, but they couldn’t save this film. Igor (Radcliffe) is a circus freak until Dr Frankenstein (McAvoy) rescues him to be his apprentice in creating life from death. Igor is very thankful and a willing partner despite some misgivings. As the experiments go along though, other issues arise to split the duo. Unfortunately not much to really enjoy here, the movie just bogs down and never gets all that exciting.

Midnight Special is about a boy named Alton who has special powers, or gifts, that others want to use to their own agenda. He can see things, and knows things, that he shouldn’t. In the beginning, he is kidnapped by a couple men who treat him kindly and seem to be the only couple truly looking out for him. I don’t want to give away Alton’s abilities or what ultimately is the reason behind them, as all is told as the movie develops. The film is an ambitious idea, but for die hard sci-fi lovers, it feels like an idea that has been played out before. It does feature a great cast of Michael Shannon, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, and upcoming Jaeden Lieberher as Alton.