13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Chuck Hogan (Screenplay), Mitchell Zuckoff (Book)
Stars: John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, James Badge Dale

Synopsis:
A U.S. Compound in Benghazi is attacked as a security team tries to defend it along with an American Ambassador in 2012.

Review:
I'm going to start out with saying this, this is Michael Bay's best film. But it certainly isn't the cinema masterpiece that the trailers are saying now. Michael bay even goes as far as keeping his camera crew from drinking a whole pack of monsters before every shot they take. They only take them on their off days apparently. There's even scenes and sequences that I'm like, is this really a Michael Bay film? Because some shots are just so well made and sequences are actually tense some times.
Now, like I said this isn't a masterpiece, there are some jokes that don't hit, and there is still quite a bit of shaky close up camera shots that make it difficult to tell what is going on sometimes, but honestly you should at this point know that you're going to be seeing that stuff in a Michael Bay film, but it honestly isn't done in a way that's over the top or obnoxious. It all just comes and goes and there's enough room for you to breath between each time.


Rating: 4 Stars


Recommendation: If you have seen everything else out there, and looking at what to watch that came out this weekend this is going to be your safest bet.

The Revenant

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Writers: Mark L. Smith, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter

Synopsis:
A frontiersman that was on a fur trading expedition in the early 1800's ends up doing a survival quest after being nearly killed by a bear and left for dead.

Review:
The movie, first and foremost, is beautiful. It's also brutal, from the first scene all the way till the ending. The use of natural lighting causes the night scenes to have some of the blackest blacks, and there's a constant bluish hue to everything. There's nothing that looks quite like this, at least in the past few years. Not only does the movie look beautiful, but the performances are just as powerful.
Leonardo, does it again, honestly though, I can't think of anyone coming close to his performance in this, especially when he can't fully speak through most of the beginning. Which leads me to believe that he will be getting his first Oscar with this movie, like most people are predicting.
Tom, plays a great villain, not over the top, nor does he do stupid stuff just to do stupid stuff, but he does things that make sense. He's very believable in his decisions made throughout the film and that makes this movie just that much more engaging, because you want to see how this all plays out because you want to see this man get hurt in some way.
This movie runs at a somewhat breakneck speed, at least that's how it feels, even if there's a lot of walking and riding and usual nonsense to lengthen normal movie run times nowadays, this one actually does that in a way that feels natural and doesn't hinder the audience, mainly in part with the scenery and the unique look this movie has.


Rating: 5 stars


Recommendation: This movie brings 2016 in at a high bar for other movies to follow, so high in fact that I really don't see much topping it as December 31^st rolls around come 12 months from now. Highly recommend seeing this this weekend and paying full price for it, especially before the Golden Globes Sunday evening.

Spectre

Director: Sam Mendes

Writers: John Logan (screenplay), Neal Purvis (screenplay)

Stars: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux

Synopsis: 

In James Bond’s 24^th outing, he follows a trail that leads him to try to uncover the secret organization called SPECTRE, all the while M is trying to keep the 00 division alive and kicking due to recent accidents across the world.

Review:

Now I really haven’t been known to care for the Bond series before Daniel Craig showed up in Casino Royal. I’d play Goldeneye a lot on my Nintendo 64 with friends but that was about it when it came to the series. I’ve loved every film he’s done, except Quantum of Solace, and absolutely loved Skyfall. I think this movie could very well have been one of the best in the series, but with one scene serving as a sort of… turning point? I think that’s the best way to describe it, there’s a scene towards the end, and from that scene on, it dives into a territory that tries to appeal to the fans of the older movies in the series, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t merge well with what was already established. But even with the said tonal shift it’s still a high-octane action adventure film that delivers the thrills that we’ve come to expect from the bond series, even if it almost dives into the silly spectrum of everything.

Rating: 4 stars 

Recommendation: Go see it, if you’re a huge bond film or even a fan of the recent ones at the least, but rent it if you’re just looking for an action film to watch.