I had a lot of time off for the holidays, and I used that time to watch a bunch of movies! Although I could have done better. Either way, here is a brief recap of everything my eyes processed over the last few days.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – I don’t really care for Tom Hanks all that much, and I have no valid reason for it, so I’m sure my opinion is more harsh than the average person’s. This movie was just okay. Truthfully, I wasn’t totally sure what it was going to be about. Rather than all the focus being on Mr. Rogers, the film centered on curmudgeonly Lloyd, a journalist who is tasked on writing a short piece about one of America’s heroes, Mr. Rogers. Eternally grumpy, Lloyd tries so hard to find something bad about one of the nicest people on this planet, while in reality, Mr. Rogers helps him comes to terms with some trauma in his life.
The Good Liar – Well this movie was a pleasant surprise! Again, I wasn’t totally sure what was going to happen in this film. I gathered, based on the title, that there was going to be some lying involved by both parties, but I didn’t know the extent. With some really juicy twists, this movie was a total thriller, with two undeniable stars! That’s all I can say without giving anything away, so go see it!
The Boy Next Door – A throwback to 2015, I decided to appease my sister and friend and picked this Jennifer Lopez starring and produced “thriller.” Good God, it was a terrible and awkward as I remember! Good looks aside from both leads, it is totally not worth your time. J-Lo has done better, and so can you.
The Report – Well, holy cow. This new Amazon original film was pretty freaking awesome! I don’t really get myself involved in any politics if I can help it, but the occasional film, especially starring Adam Driver, can get me in the mix sometimes. This movies centers on how the summarized and heavily redacted Torture Report came to be. It was intense, and it was incredible to see what an awful road Dan Jones went down to bring one of America’s more disappointing moments to light. Even at over 6,700 pages, I would love to someday be able to read that full report. Brilliant acting from all parties! If you’ve got Prime, put this on your watch list for sure.
Wounds – Look, I love me some Armie Hammer, but it’s not enough to save this extremely weird movie. While it was pretty suspenseful, there were more supernatural elements than I would have expected and the pacing was a little choppy. Realistically, I’ll take this over Sorry to Bother You any day, though.
Adopt a Highway – Written and directed by one of my favorite actors, Logan Marshall-Green, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on his feature debut! While it was a little short, it certainly wasn’t short on quality content. The film follows Russell, a man who just gets released from serving a 20-year prison sentence. His imprisonment was part of California’s “three strikes and your out” part of history. So we see him trying to navigate a menial job and learn the latest technology. And as if his life couldn’t get any harder, he then finds a baby in a dumpster! It was great to see some of Green’s Upgrade co-stars show up, and Ethan Hawke delivers an emotional performance as Russell. I highly recommend watching this film.