The Glass Castle Review

      The Glass Castle is a big screen adaptation of the true story, memoirs of Jeannette Walls and has all the ingredients to be an Oscar contender. Directed by Short Term 12 helmer, Destin Daniel Cretton, the trailers for this movie tug on all the heart strings and had the award season vibe to it. The film stars Academy Award winner Brie Larson and Academy Award Nominee Woody Harrelson. Although the movie has all the ingredients and story elements in place, it ultimately falls flat because of poor execution with character appeal.

     The memoirs of Jeannette Walls (Brie Larson) share the crazy lifestyle that her and her family experienced growing up. Constantly moving around because of her alcoholic father, Rex (Woody Harrelson) and his nonconformist ways, Jeannette will do whatever she can to escape her toxic household.
     I will begin by stating that I have not read the book that this movie is based off so I went in with no expectations except the trailers. The biggest strength of this movie is the cast. Larson and Harrelson especially give a wonderful performance that shows how fantastic of an acting range these two have. If there is anybody from this movie that will receive reward recognition, it'll be Woody Harrelson. The guy can change emotion in the wink of an eye and can do so in such an incredibly powerful manner.
     Although Larson and Harrelson are the most powerful performances, the surrounding characters do a great job as well. Naomie Watts plays Rose Mary, Jennette's mother and has more layers to her then audiences will expect. The movie heavily relies on flashbacks to touch on Jennette's family dynamic and has younger actresses to play the earlier stages of Jennette's life. The younger Jeannettes, played by Ella Anderson and Chandler Head, do a stellar job of bringing Cretton's vision to the big screen. Child actors can be very hit or miss but Cretton does a great job with directing with.
     Where this movie ultimately falls apart is the pacing. The Glass Castle has a runtime of 127 minutes and suffers because of it. They could have trimmed off around 20 minutes of this thing. The pacing also suffers because of the writing. Without getting into spoilers, we are supposed to sympathize for Rex towards the third act of the movie but it'll be difficult for audiences to get on board because of all his prior issues. The direction they went in was totally understandable but unfortunately it was a botched execution.

     I discussed earlier how stellar this cast is however there is one character that'll take people out and that is Jeannette's fiancee, David played by Max Greenfield. Greenfield just feels as though he's playing a character in a different movie. He's the comedic relief of the movie but the timing that his jokes are inserted feel out of place and do not fit the overall tone of the film.
     Although The Glass Castle had the potential to be a great movie it ultimately falls flat because of the pacing and writing. The characters have a rushed development and audiences will have a hard time getting behind them.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

                                                   

The Dark Tower Review

     "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed" is a something all Stephen King fans know as the opening line of The Dark Tower series. King himself has described the series as his magnum opus and a live adaptation whether that be through the big screen or the silver screen of television has been sought after for years. After a through obstacles, Sony has finally brought the series to the big screen. I myself have never read the series so I went into the film without prior knowledge of the source material. Although the movie had potential to go into a really neat direction, it completely mishandles the stories and gives the audiences very one dimesional characters.

     When Walter O'Dim (Matthew McConaughey), the man in black, is determined to destroy the dark tower that holds the universe together, it's up the last gunslinger Roland (Idris Elba) and mid-world newcomer Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) to defeat him.
     King was heavily inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien when The Dark Tower series was released and you can tell there elements of that in this movie. Elba and McConaughey both do an adequate job with the script that is giving them and they set up the conflict between the two characters well. Elba also has a good dynamic with Taylor throughout the film.
     There are some really cool gunplay sequences in the movie with Elba. The backstory of the gunslingers had me very intrigued and they could've definitely dove more into it. The script is ultimately where this movie falls apart.

     The script is ultimately where this movie falls apart. This movie is very formulaic but does not set up the mythology of the world at all. It's understandable that this series has a rich mythology but the script does not even crack into it. The plot is incredibly muddled and confusing. There are rumors of a potential TV show going forward with this cast and I am actually all for it because this content would probably play better on a 10 episode arc. This movie attempts to cram a lot within 95 minutes and it will leave audiences questioning a lot of aspects of the film.
     There's really not too much to say about this movie because it's certainly not the worst movie of the summer. The story tends to take a halt in multiple sections which hinders it greatly. This is definitely one you can wait on.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Atomic Blonde Review

     Atomic Blonde is the newest film from David Lietch, the co-director of John Wick and soon to be helmer of Deadpool 2. We're still well in the heat of summer blockbuster season and this movie was certainly marketed as a fast paced, action film in which many people commented on it being the female version of John Wick. While this movie has John Wick-esque elements and spectacular work from Charlize Theron, the film ultimately is underwhelming due to a draining story that is quite frankly a mess.

     Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) plays an undercover MI6 agent that is sent to Berlin in order to obtain a lost list of agents, as well as uncover the murder of another agent. Along the way, she will quickly discover that everyone around her is working on their own agenda.
     The biggest M.V.P. of this movie is Charlize Theron hands own. The marketing for this film heavily focused on the action and Theron kicks so much butt in the scenes that require action. Audiences will definitely be able to identify the work she has put in to these scenes and the fight choreography she is given is fantastic. There's a particular scene that involves a stairway that might be one of the best directed scenes of the year. Unfortunately the movie falls apart significantly in other areas.
     There are not quite as many action sequences as the marketing suggests. This movie relies heavily on its story. That's not a problem for me, however the story is all over the place. It's the same stereotypes that we always see in spy movies and quite confusing at times. This film attempts to bite more then it can chew and drags on unnecessarily. The motives of particular characters, without getting into spoilers, just did not make sense and was inconsistent throughout the movie.

     The soundtrack for this movie is good but it often feels forced at times. This movie takes place in 1980's in the last fews days of the Cold War and plays a lot of great 80's jam. Unfortunately, the placement of the songs makes it feel much like Suicide Squad where it is just put in and feels very quick cut, music video like. They try to stuff a lot of songs in this movie and it's often overbearing.
     Maybe it was because I had different expectations going into this film but ultimately Atomic Blonde was a disappointment for me. Although Theron carries this movie, it's not enough to cancel out its wearing storyline. You can definitely wait for the Blu Ray release of this movie.

Rating: 4.8 out of 10