Ender's Game

Okay, so I am a big fan of the Ender/Bean books, so I'm probably a bit biased in wanting to see an "Ender's Game" movie.

So, that is what I did last night. Asa Butterfield's performance is pretty solid, and Harrison Ford's turn as Graff is also fine. There's a lot of territory to cover from the book, so the screenplay did its best to present the situation, the threat and the conclusion of "Ender's Game". What we got was a good effort, though the inter-personal characterizations from the book was a bit lacking, and the plot progression is a little clumsy at times, but I still enjoyed the film overall. I got a big kick out of seeing some of the sequences that I had imagined from the book (over 15 years ago) now on the big screen, and it pushed the story along well.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Enough Said

It was bittersweet to finally check out "Enough Said", James Gandolfini's last film. Overall, quite a human story about getting back on the saddle for divorced people facing the "empty nest" scenario (kids about to go off the college), and swimming in the dating pool. Do our faults and foibles define us in a good light or bad light as prospective life mates?

Well paced script, with fine performances all-around.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

The Fifth Estate

I found "The FIfth Estate" a chore to sit through. Perhaps self-important whistle-blowers and leakers just really isn't riveting cinematic fare given this particular script.

I give it 1.75 stars or a grade of C-.

Carrie

I think I wanted "Carrie" to be a little weirder than it was, so it just played a little too safe and flat for me, or that I'm just inured to a lot of "horror" elements nowadays.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

Machete Kills

OMG, Robert Rodriguez should have directed Kick-Ass 2 with this grindhouse movie style, it would have totally worked. "Machete Kills" is a decent genre flick (super-tough title character, ridiculously hard to kill in spite of all the gunfire and hand-to-hand combat, and knife fights he goes through in the movie), with plenty of hot women, and some scenery-chewing villain(s?), and even Carlos Esteves thrown in as the president. Danny Trejo just rolls with all the punches and probably can't believe his luck starring in movies like this.

So, if you're in the mood for such a genre flick, catch it at matinee prices. It does feel a little long in its pacing, though.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

Captain Phillips

I also thought this film had some solid angles from a storytelling perspective to keep the flow of the film going with a brisk pace, while keeping the tension on high alert as Captain Phillips and his crew try to fend off Somalian boat pirates off the coast of Africa in 2009. Tom Hanks delivers yet another fine performance as Capt. Phillips, trying to keep his men alive while sailing through treacherous waters with a boat moving lots of containers of "stuff".

Director Greengrass handles the characterizations on both sides deftly, the Somalian boat pirates and the crew on the ship. While there is some shaky cam, when it's used, it's used to drive home the chaotic nature of certain scenes to amp up the drama and urgency. But I did not feel all that sea-sick from any of the shaky cam footage.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

Rush

Ron Howard takes on Formula 1 racing, and uses the rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt from the mid-1970s to tell the tale of competition between 2 drivers who are oil and water in their philosophical outlook on life, but live to race and win championships, with Hunt being the party dude who races on instinct and innate abilities, while Lauda being the more nose-to-the-grindstone achiever in racing and setting up race cars.

I think I'd like the film a little more if the animosity level was higher, though it would border on boxing or WWE scripted antagonism if not handled well. Showing the different ways Hunt and Lauda approached life helped a bit, but I never felt the storyline was truly compelling. Plus I think I wanted more racing footage from either driver's point of view, rather than the choices Ron Howard made. I did like the bits of grain that was in the film to give it that 1970s feel.

So, overall I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-. It just never really hits a satisfying note towards the end.