I greatly enjoyed Genius. Maybe perhaps because I am prone to heartfelt dramas, maybe because I am currently reading many of the authors shown in this film, but whatever the reason, I thought this movie was great. Mostly about the career of Thomas Wolfe, portrayed by Jude Law, it is about Wolfe’s publishing of his first two novels under the editing eye of Max Perkins, played by Colin Firth. Wolfe is one of the great American writers of the early 20th century, though these days, he is often an afterthought compared to his contemporaries of the time (particularly Faulkner, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, I’m currently reading Tender is the Night…). I thought Look Homeward Angel was a fantastic read (my review is tucked away on this site somewhere), so I was intrigued by the idea of this movie. The film looks at Wolfe’s life and his live-for-the-moment attitude. He butts heads with Perkins who knows he needs to edit down his enormous manuscripts into something that can be published, and Wolfe’s brash manner rubs Fitgerald the wrong way too. In the end, Genius applies to both Wolfe’s prose and Perkins’ careful hand. A very well written film.
Now You See Me 2 is a movie about magic, yet lacking the magic of a good film. I am one of the few that really enjoyed the first one. It had great surprises and twists and a thrilling tale. This one just felt like lame parlor tricks. The twists are expected and even when they come, do not reach the heights of the first movie. Really do not waste your time with this one, the man is better left behind the curtain.
Equals is one of those films I knew I was going to like, I just have a soft spot for dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic films, and this is the former. I had to chuckle however that the premise is a society where people show no emotions and the lead actress is Kristen Stewart (tee-hee). Main characther Silas (Nicholas Hoult) goes about his life in a world where emotions have been eradicated. When emotions do pop up in an individual, they seek medical help, and if no help can be given, that person is removed from society. Silas starts to feel emotions and sees Stewart’s Nia also struggling. The two are drawn towards each other even though “coupling” is illegal. It’s a slow film, but I think it is so on purpose. Not a deep film and feels a bit like a teenage drama in the end, but I did enjoy it.
Keanu is a pretty funny movie with a fairly absurd idea. Starring the comedy duo of Key and Peele, they play cousins with fairly normal, boring lives. Peele finds a stray kitten (Keanu) and grows very attached, but they don’t know that the cat is also loved by a pair of gangsters that has recently killed a bunch of rival drug dealers. When the cat goes missing, the cousins enter the seedy underworld to get it back. Key and Peele are always hilarious and they deliver here. No deep thinking here, but you’ll find plenty of laughs.
I’ve only seen a few movies with Greta Gerwig, but she always seems to play some version of the same person. Same dialogue, same delivery of the dialogue, and same half-whiny voice. More of the same in Maggie’s Plan, where she plays a woman who loves to have a plan for everything. She wants a child more than anything, and when she steals Ethan Hawke from his marriage to another woman, she realizes she wanted his child more than him. She must then concoct a plan to get him back to his original wife. The film makes far too many leaps to be plausible even by romantic-comedy standards, and is quirky without the quirky-style laughs.
Jons Movie Takes 