MOVIE REVIEW: Crimson Peak

Just in time for Halloween, visual stylist director Guillermo Del Toro goes back to his Oscar winning Pan's Labyrinth look and feel with Crimson Peak, a gothic horror thriller that is also a glossy soap opera that's reminiscent of the twist and turns that prevalent in the telenovelas that's popular in the director's home country of Mexico.

The lead character Edith Cushing perfectly played by porcelain beauty Mia Wasikowska (Disney's Alice in Wonderland) is an American heiress living in Buffalo, New York at the start of the 20th century. Her simple ambition in life is to be a writer like Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein. She lost her mom to cholera at a young age and her father Carter (Jim Beaver) a self-made engineer only wants the best for her.

Edith also has the supernatural ability to communicate with ghosts and the one of her mom warns her "beware of Crimson Peak".

Against the wishes of her father who wanted their family friend doctor (Charlie Hunnam from TV's Sons of Anarchy) for her to settle down with, she met and got attracted to a mysterious British inventor Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston) and after a tragic situation marries and moves to his run down and desolate estate across the Atlantic. With his sister Lucille (the always great Jessica Chastain) always at Thomas' side, Edith will soon discover something that the ghosts had always warned and it's not what you expect.
The cast is first rate and the film's production design is vintage Del Toro. There are grotesque scenes but the visual splendor overpowers the carnage and bloodbath. Despite it's plot that mirrors the classic film The Heiress (1949), Crimson Peak is gorgeous entertainment best seen on the big screen.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Martian

Based on the bestselling debut novel of software engineer Andy Weir, The Martian is an exhilarating, exciting yet uplifting tale of human survival in a place where we haven't even conquered: the planet Mars.

When a space mission to the red planet was abruptly aborted due to a severe storm, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) was presumed dead by the crew when he was hit by debris and thrown out of sight. They left but he miraculously survived. With limited supplies left by fellow astronauts and unmanned space missions, Watney must use his ingenuity and apply his job and skills as a botanist in order to live and get back home. 

Beautifully shot by Dariusz Wolski ( the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) showcasing Mars as beautiful yet desolate place giving you the sense of being alone all the time and a lengthy yet tight screenplay by Drew Goddard (World War Z), The Martian is one of the rare films that compliments both its technical and it's acting aspects. Giving his best performance in years, Matt Damon anchors the film as Watney and the supporting cast, among them Oscar nominees Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave)  and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids) are all remarkable.

This is iconic director Ridley Scott's best film since the Oscar winning Gladiator and it's so nice for him to be back in the game and helm one of 2015's best. Well worth your time and hard earned money to see it on the big screen.

MOVIE REVIEW: Everest

I had doubts about the film when I first heard about it and saw the first trailer that came out online and during previews in multiplexes. Memories of K2 (1991), Sylvester Stallone's Cliffhanger (1993) and Vertical Limit (2000) flashed before me but after watching Everest both in 3D and in an IMAX theater, this film tops them all and it is arguably the best film about mountain climbing that I had ever seen. 

Based on the true story of the 1996 expedition that ended up tragic for some and topped with an all star cast led by Jason Gyllenhaal and Jason Clarke who play rival tour guides who team up to bring mountaineers to the "top of the world", Everest is a visual delight to see on the big shot with awesome shots not only of the trek going up but also of the country of Nepal which we don't often see on the big screen. It also helps that its director Baltasar Kormakur is a native of Iceland so he knows a thing or two about beautiful snowy landscapes and vistas.

Also starring Oscar nominees Josh Brolin, Keira Knightley, John Hawkes and Emily Watson together with Sam Worthington and Robin Wright, Everest is the next best thing to see the top for I'm pretty sure most of us won't be able to make it up there. This is one of the movies that is best seen on the big screen and especially in IMAX.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is a reboot of the 1960's spy Cold War TV series that I only heard about and not so familiar with it's content and premise is director Guy Ritchie's (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch) most refreshing and relaxed film to date. His brisk pacing and signature editing compliments the good looking cast and stylish costumes that seems similar to TV's Mad Men.

When American CIA Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) team up with Russian KGB Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) to infiltrate Italian industrialists with a rogue nuclear weapon that both the US and the Soviet Union want to seize, it would had been imaginable in that era for the two superpower to join forces but they did. 

It also helps that both Cavill and Hammer have chemistry and rapport that echoed Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes' Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's Holmes and Watson. He is turning out to be the master of the bromance action film.  Hammer also redeems himself from his two previous box office misfires that also emphasizes male bonding in two ways: J. Edgar and The Lone Ranger. Breakout star Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) though is wasted in a role that was underwritten and it's so good to see Hugh Grant again back into doing a summer blockbuster in a role may be the key for a sequel.

MOVIE REVIEW: Mr. Holmes

Amidst all the summer blockbusters that's been dominating the multiplexes right now lies Mr. Holmes, a small budgeted British period film reuniting the brilliant Ian McKellen (Lord of the Rings and X-Men series) with the director that gave him an Oscar nomination for Gods and Monsters Bill Condon. The result is a refreshing and beautiful take on the iconic Sherlock Holmes that takes a 360 turn from the brash Robert Downey Jr. on the big screen and Benedict Cumberbatch's own interpretation on TV that our generation has known.

In the film based on the obscure novel A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin, the sleuth is now a 93 year old living in the English countryside and suffering from dementia. Living with him are a housekeeper (Laura Linney channeling Lynn Redgrave's Gods and Monsters character) and his young son Roger (Milo Parker) who turned out to be his only trusted friend he can rely on.

Mr. Holmes is set in multiple narratives recalling his trip to Japan, to fully solving his last known case and his relationship with Roger as he helps him with his beekeeping hobby. This is not the whodunit Sherlock that the world has known to love but a reflection and an appreciation to a character far close to retiring in pop culture.

MOVIE REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

After teaming up in one of last years best films Edge of Tomorrow, writer Christopher McQuarrie (Oscar winner for The Usual Suspects) and actor Tom Cruise are at it again in the fifth installment of the Mission: Impossible series. It doesn't disappoint and that's saying a lot for you know that in order for an action film franchise to stay successful - it has to be at least as par as the previous films before it. The last one Ghost Protocol has director Brad Bird's signature style of animated action paralleled by a gripping story. Rogue Nation stays on that course by delivering the usual scenes fans of the series expect of, plus since this is written and directed by the man who wrote The Usual Suspects, there's a lot of interpersonal connection between it's characters and McQuarrie triumphs on both counts.

Tom Cruise may have lost a little bit of that Hollywood pretty boy actor vibe and it shows in the film. Fortunately it helped because this Ethan Hunt looks tired chasing all the bad guys in the world only to find out that his group the IMF has been shut down by the CIA and the burden falls into himself. Ethan Hunt is just as human as us after all.

With the help of his trusted teammates from the previous films William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames), they track down The Syndicate - a network of terrorist bent on taking down the world. Alec Baldwin joins the series as well and plays a CIA officer in his typical persona. British Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson however steals the show in a star making turn playing Ilsa Faust - a rogue British agent who may or not be part of The Syndicate. 

Mission: Impossible is great Hollywood entertainment and so far it is the second best action film of 2015 after Mad Max: Fury Road. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Southpaw

Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) tries his hand in the boxing genre in Southpaw and like any other films that showcase the life inside and outside the ring, the movie doesn't offer something new but Fuqua's grit mood throughout the movie aided by handheld shots and anchored by a tough yet heartfelt performance by Jake Gyllenhaal elevates it among other boxing films.

Southpaw is all about the reigning Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World Billy "The Great" Hope (Gyllenhaal) who has it all: a great boxing career, a loving wife (Rachel McAdams) and daughter Leila (Oona Laurence) and financial success. 

Unfortunately tragedy struck him one by one and when he had nothing, Hope had his hope on a boxing gym owner Tick Wills (Forest Whitaker) to put his life back on track. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson also is in the film as Hope's promoter. He did not act. He just dressed the part.

Southpaw is a feel good movie masquerading as a grim one. Whitaker and young actress Laurence are also standouts in the film and as one who also watched the much hyped boxing event of the year which was the Pacquiao - Mayweather fight two months ago, you will have more fun and be satisfied watching Southpaw and not leave you shortchanged like that expensive live fight in Vegas.