Hello January

Halfway through the month, and I’m finally getting around to making a post! And to help ease myself back into the world of blogging, I’m going to do brief reviews of the movies I’ve seen so far this month.

Vice

The first thing I will say about Vice is that the acting is on point. Christian Bale really transforms into Dick Cheney, but Sam Rockwell stole the show for me. That man got W’s accent and cadence down pat. As for the actual movie, well, it was probably about half an hour (at least) too long. The script feels a little scattered, so aside from portraying how much of a “bad man” Cheney was/is, it’s hard to say what the overall theme of the film is. Well I guess “Cheney is bad” is good enough. ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Welcome to Marwen

I really, really, really wanted to like this film. It has dolls. It has photography. It has doll photography. And Janelle Monáe. But, Monáe only appears (as a human) for like two minutes. And the film felt like it was on permanent slow simmer. Not nearly as much emotional payoff as you would expect. Still cool flick for doll lovers, though. ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Ben is Back

Not going to lie, I wanted to see this movie just because Courtney B. Vance is in it. I figured, he’s a good actor, real good actor, therefore, this will be a good movie. And it was! I mean Julia Roberts is the actually star/main character, but she’s good people too. Didn’t end how I expected, which is a good thing, I think, with this type of film. I feel this is really a movie that is carried on its acting, but unlike Vice, has a tight script and thought out plan. ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Replicas

Annnd here’s a film I also really wanted to like and had high hopes for. It has Keanu. And it’s sci-fi. Perfect pair! But…not really. Too much family drama, not enough sci-fi action. Took far too long to get to the part of the movie everyone came to see (the goddamn clones). But I didn’t hate. ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆