Raw (2016)

Director: Julia Ducournau. Cast: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf. 99 min. Rated R. Italy/France/Belgium. Horror.

I'm not against violence in movies per se, but I do have a problem when violence is solely there to shock you. The story of a teenage girl who gradually realizes she's a cannibal (while some already knew but hid it from her), could have been told without the in-your-face feasting, and therefore could have become much more creepy. The underlying theme of "don't make a woman angry" simmers, but seriously, scare tactics won't help any female cause. While the movie has won lots of accolades, I didn't get the point. So what; she's a cannibal.

Mo says:

Alien: Covenant (2017)

Director: Ridley Scott. Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, James Franco, Guy Pearce. 122 min. Rated R. USA/UK/Australia/New Zealand/Canada. Horror/Sci-fi.

If you're sitting into Alien: Covenant expecting it to resolve questions posed in Prometheus, then Spoiler Alert!: it doesn't. But I'm content with that, because Prometheus' open ending hurled me into a movie-dreaming bliss I hadn't experienced in ages. Impressing, was how Scott, in our age, while lacking originality, had still managed to make a thrilling, entertaining movie ... on the sixth episode of a franchise! Seems he has two more prequel-sequels planned, but I predict he'll run into story continuity problems the way Star Trek did (if he hasn't already with Covenant). Just hoping a time-shift isn't in the works.

Mo says:

American Wrestler: The Wizard (2016)

Director: Alex Ranarivelo. Cast: George Kosturos, Ali Afshar, William Fichtner, Jon Voight. 117 min. Rated PG-13. USA. Drama/Sport.

True story of a young Iranian refugee, who wrestles his way to the top in the early 80s California, amid the brutal anti-Iran sentiment stemming from the hostage crisis. This is a movie that has many flaws, including excruciatingly predictable plot moments, and occasional laughable character reactions. But the movie has a heart, probably because it's based on a true story, probably because the real-life hero has a critical supporting role in the film. I recommend the movie, but can't forgive its faults.

Mo says:

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)

Director: George C. Wolfe. Cast: Rose Byrne, Oprah Winfrey, Reg E. Cathey, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Courtney B. Vance, Ellen Barkin. 93 min. Biography/Drama.

Based on the best-selling book about the groundbreaking discovery of HELA cells, the first immortal human cell line, from an African-American woman in the 1950s, Henrietta Lacks. The film tries to build upon that story, by portraying this as the crusade of Henrietta's daughter to make contact with her long-lost mother through ... grasping onto her cells. The idea is absurd, and that's where the movie fails. But once again, we're able to grasp how Blacks were and are exploited in this country, and once again, Oprah proves she can act.

Mo says:

Mommie Dearest (1981)

Director: Frank Perry. Cast: Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Xander Berkeley. 129 min. Rated R. Biography/Drama.

In preparation for Feud, after watching the splendid classics Mildred Pierce (1945) and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), I succumbed to this. It contains my main movie pet-peeve: the director who wants to hurt you. We're subjected to long, agonizing sequences depicting Joan Crawford hurling cruelty after cruelty onto her adopted daughter, sprinkled with more scenes of moaning and groaning which have no role in the story, because there's no payback to them. Prolonging Crawford's own funeral scene at the end (including a young Xander Berkeley as Crawford's son) suddenly pushed me to giggling, so you get the idea.

Trivia: I learned two long hours too late, that the movie had received Golden Razzies for "Worst Picture of the Decade", and "Worst Drama of Our First 25 Years".

Mo says:

Their Finest (2016)

Director: Lone Scherfig. Cast: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jeremy Irons. 117 min. Rated R. UK. Romance/Comedy.

England becomes active in propaganda film-making during WWII, so they hire a young woman to join a young man in the Ministry of Defense to act as screenwriters ... and to everyone's surprise, love is in the air! The movie offers an interesting viewpoint of how both sides of a war (yes, even the good guys) slightly manipulate the truth to achieve their goals. The problem is, it takes a masterpiece (like Linklater's Before series) to interest me in romance stories. So I was bored.

Mo says:

Graduation (Bacalaureat) (2016)

Director: Cristian Mungiu. Cast: Adrian Titieni, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Lia Bugnar. 127 min. Rated R. Romania/France/Belgium. Drama.

From the Romanian director of the perfect 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, this has Asghar Farhadi written all over it - the whole idea of modern cinema creating questions rather than answers. A father is stuck in a moral dilemma: help his teenage daughter (victim of a recent assault) to cheat on her graduation finals, or leave her on her own to botch the exam and throw years of preparation (and other possible benefits for himself) away? The movie will put you in the position of "What would you do?", ... so don't expect simple answers by the end.

Mo says:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Director: James Gunn. Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, (voice), Bradley Cooper (voice), Kurt Russell, Michael Rooker, Sylvester Stallone. 136 min. Rated PG-13. Fantasy/Adventure.

The whole idea of a "galactic family of misfits" was what made the original appealing; the action and dizzying CGI special effects were secondary. So for the sequel, they unsuccessfully try to expand the family concept (the Kurt Russell father/planet makes no sense at all), but multiply the secondary action/CGI element. The result, is a disappointment. There are some genuine laughs in there, but the distracting sensory overload is so severe, the fact that I only remember a worried Baby Groot sitting at the bottom a big spaceship seat in a huge battle scene, should give a hint.

PS: Five post-credit scenes? FIVE?

Mo says: