MOVIE REVIEW: Annabelle: Creation

The Conjuring cinematic universe continues it's winning streak with Annabelle: Creation. Forget about the 2014 prequel of the scary doll that was overall a disappointment. The film goes way back when the doll got created. In the able hands of Swedish director David F. Sandberg (in only his second full length feature film after last year's excellent Lights Out), Annabelle: Creation is ten times scarier and yet a lot of fun for those who loved The Conjuring series and horror films in general.

Years after the tragic death of their only child, a dollmaker named Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his wife Esther (the ethereal Miranda Otto), welcome a group of girl orphans and a nun Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) into their home to ease the pain of their loss. That's when the possessed doll Annabelle comes out to haunt them.

A doll with the right built and facial design is always scary. Children in a haunted house is scarier. Demon possession is the scariest!! Annabelle: Creation has all of these.

MOVIE REVIEW: Detroit

Detroit starts out with an excellent narration using animation with of the migration of the African-American from the Deep South to the Motor City. I learned something yet I was entertained, which sets the mood for the dark tone of the film. Then we go forward to 1967, when a party was being held at an unlicensed speakeasy for returning servicemen from Vietnam. All guests were African-American. The police came to raid the place. The people were brought outside the street and arrested in full view of the neighborhood thus anger ensued. A bottle was thrown at a police officer therefore starting what was known to be the 12th Street riots of Detroit.

The city was in crisis and the National Guard was called in to patrol the streets. A curfew was implemented and looting continued.

The movie focuses on the Algiers Hotel incident when a guest named Carl (Jason Mitchell) fired a toy gun at the police who mistakenly thought of as a sniper. They found the place and started interrogating all those who were at the building that time, including a member of the singing group Larry Reed (Algee Smith in a breakthrough performance) and his friend Fred (Jacob Latimore) who both decided to spend the night when their show got cancelled because of the riots. Anthony Mackie plays Greene, a Vietnam vet who's also checked in. Together with a couple of more African-Americans and two white girls Julie Anne (Hannah Murray) and Karen (Kaitlyn Dever), they experienced outmost humiliation and maltreatment from the cops Krauss (The Chronicles of Narnia's Will Poulter in an Oscar worthy performance), Flynn (Ben O' Toole) and Demens (Jack Reynor). Star Wars' John Boyega is also in the film as a security officer caught in the middle of the police activity.

The Oscar winning tandem of director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal does it again. Detroit is so gripping and entertaining that one wouldn't realize that it has a long running time of 2 hours and 29 minutes. All the characters from the film had their own flaws and it is up to us the audience to determine who's right or wrong. 50 years had passed since one of the darkest moment of the US had happened and still almost nothing's had changed.

MOVIE REVIEW: Atomic Blonde

The days before the collapse of the Berlin Wall is the setting of Atomic Blonde, an enjoyable action film/espionage thriller anchored by the most believable Hollywood female actress who can do this type of films - Charlize Theron (Mad Max Fury Road).

She stars as Lorraine Broughton, an MI6 agent sent to Berlin to look for their embedded station chief David Percival (James McAvoy having fun in full Eurotrash regalia) and locate a list of Western spies before others get it.

Told in flashback while in a debriefing with British (Toby Jones) and American (John Goodman) as their country's representatives, Atomic Blonde is a stylized violent film with great production design that showcases the gaudy neon lighting and the music of that era. The director David Leitch who's also a stunt choreographer in films such as the first John Wick and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot knows his stuff. Be on the lookout for the extended action scene that is just amazing to watch. 

Just like what Goodman says in the beginning of the film: "Don't trust anyone". The spy thriller part of the film might be confusing at times but the great cast and Theron's scenes with the beautiful Sofia Boutella brings back memories of her Oscar winning performance in Monster.

MOVIE REVIEW: Dunkirk

Dunkirk is director Christopher Nolan's first historical true to life drama. He actually created a masterpiece that's completely different from other World War II films. It is a movie going experience that needs to be watched on the big screen. You're gonna feel the same sound and terror those young Allied soldiers felt when they were being evacuated from Dunkirk Beach in Northern France from the invading Germans. It is a tale of survival and the triumph of the human spirit.

Comparison to Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is inevitable given the same location and time frame but make no mistake about it, they are two different films. Dunkirk has less gore but you're gonna empathize with the soldiers as they walk the sands with uncertainty. Death maybe somewhere nearby. The movie is shot from three different perspectives: from the land, air and sea. Dialogue is also minimal. There is certainly no time for kilometric dialogues in those times. At a running time of an hour and 47 minutes, Dunkirk is shorter than other war films.

Like in other Nolan movies, he assembled a great set of actors for Dunkirk. From Academy Award nominees Kenneth Branagh and Tom Hardy to Oscar winner Mark Rylance in another nominee worthy performance. They were as always remarkable. The newcomers also held their own - Fionn Whitehead and One Direction's Harry Styles as the young British soldiers. The fans of the British pop superstar can rest assure that he has a second career as an actor. Nolan regular Cillian Murphy is also in the film.

MOVIE REVIEW: War For The Planet Of The Apes

The film provides the best conclusion in a series (based from what they say) this decade. War For The Planet Of The Apes is the grandest (the battle scenes echoes The Lord Of The Rings series), outstanding Visual Effects (arguably the frontrunner in next year's Academy Awards) that actually compliments the emotional feel of the characters. This is Andy Serkis best work ever and he gave the film its heart with his Caesar portrayal. 

The battle between the humans and the apes shifts to the forest as they face off for the survival of the fittest. The humans headed by a ruthless Coronel Woody Harrelson captured all the apes that they see with some even turning their backs on their kind and joining their nemesis. Caesar as their de facto leader avoids war as much as possible but due to what he sees - he has no choice but to fight for them. There are scenes that echoes the famous jailbreak movies of the seventies and even Schindler's List and that's a compliment.

The movie is a spectacle best seen on the big screen. There is action and emotion in it's full sized glory. The creatures are indeed just like us and War For The Planet of the Apes proved it.

MOVIE REVIEW: A Ghost Story

What happens when we die unexpectedly? There are different answers but the movie A Ghost Story shows it in a lyrical and a beautiful way. Shot on a shoestring budget and filmed on an "Instagram" frame - according to its director David Lowery (Pete's Dragon), it is one of the most original films in recent memory.

The reigning Academy Award Best Actor winner Casey Affleck (in his first film after his Oscar winning performance in Manchester by the Sea) and two time nominee Rooney Mara stars as a young couple simply named C and M respectively. He dies in a car accident and comes as a ghost wrapped in a white sheet from the hospital and comes back to the house just to be with the wife.

The film's title is apt. It really is a ghost story and aside from that, it's also a study on grief on both the deceased and the ones they left behind. It's running time of an hour and 27 minutes is short but make no mistake, A Ghost Story feels long due to some scenes that needs to be absorbed to be one with the characters. It is a divisive tactic and I'm with the ones who loved the treatment. If you're a fan of the lead actors and independent cinema then the film is a can't miss.

MOVIE REVIEW: Baby Driver

Ansel Elgort (The Fault In Our Stars) delivers a star-making turn in Baby Driver. He plays the titular character - a young driver nicknamed Baby who's always on his iPod and earbuds (primarily due to his medical condition) as he drives bank robbers to their heist. He doesn't join them, he's just in the car and acts on the beat on whatever song is playing right now. The car chase scenes are so good that you will totally forget that there was a Fast and the Furious movie this year.

His main boss is Doc (vintage Kevin Spacey) whose henchmen ranging from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea to Jamie Foxx and Jon Hamm showing off his comic side, all provide great sinister work without ever resorting to cartoon theatrics. Elgort holds his own against two Oscar winners (Spacey and Foxx) and an Emmy winner (Hamm) and that's no easy feat. Lily James (Cinderella) plays Baby's love interest in a complete turnaround from her Disney Princess role.

In my book Director Edgar Wright has made all good movies ranging from the Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End) to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Baby Driver though is his masterpiece. There are shades of Pulp Fiction, Heat, Drive as well as Wright's previous films. Baby Driver though is the most original, highly entertaining film of 2017. If there was an action-comedy-musical film, this is it!!