The Nun (2018)

Director: Corin Hardy. Cast: Demián Bichir, Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie Aarons. 96 min. Rated R. Horror.

The Conjuring universe just keeps on giving, now addressing the origin story of the sequel's villain. This one opens with high hopes, in a Gothic castle in 1950s Romania, but silhouettes of nuns creeping out from the shadows become such a normal flora, it's just not funny anymore. And a touch of nepotism goes a long way, as Taissa Farmiga plays the younger version of her real life sister Vera from the Conjuring movies (or wait ... doesn't she?). This movie is so boring, you wish one of these messed up nuns would at least haunt you to wake you up.

Trivia: Bonnie Aarons, the actress who has played the Nun, was also the bum who jumped out from behind the wall in Mulholland Drive's freakiest scene. This lady needs no make-up to look scary.

Mo says:

The First Purge (2018)

Director: Gerard McMurray. Cast: Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Marisa Tomei. 98 min. Rated R. Horror.

I understand there's no point making up my own film, but this was how I envisioned a prequel to the Purge movies: a story setting the sociopolitical background for needing such a once-a-year legal violence with numerous Trumpian correlates, introducing the masterminds for and against such a plan, exploring the scheming and backstabbing through which "the experiment" flourishes, and an ending scene showing the alarm announcing the commencement of the first Purge. Actually, the presence of the likes of Marisa Tomei nourished those hopes for a cerebral movie (must've seen something here). But then ... we just got the first Purge.

Mo says:

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

Director: Stefano Sollima. Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine. 122 min. Rated R. USA/Mexico. Crime/Action.

After a somewhat distracting prologue about ISIS in America, the sequel hurls us into the original's familiar ground: wide areal shots of the US-Mexico border, hovering over the gritty world of drug cartels, with sudden explosions in the narrative shaking the viewer, and a replica of the late Johann Johannsson's menacing synthesizer soundtrack. But the sequel lacks the original's dark sense of urgency, facilitating one to guess it wasn't directed by Villeneuve. By the end, you realize the Del Toro-Brolin camaraderie has been the backbone of the two films, and hope to see them in a third installment.

Mo says:

The Predator (2018)

Director: Shane Black. Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Yvonne Strahovski. 107 min. Rated R. Canada/USA. Sci-fi/Horror.

Sad how they try to polish every Predator installment (all titled the same!) by adding a new aspect - only for them to never get off the ground. This time they satirize the absurdity by trying a comedic approach, using a who's-who of actors you've seen before and not sure where - but ... hello? This is a Predator movie, and quite difficult to laugh at one-liners in the midst of the extreme violence the franchise has become notorious for. You just feel embarrassed to giggle. And the producers are so self-assured, they end this in sequel preparation mode.

Trivia: Shane Black, the director, is the soldier who ended up gutted and hanging from a tree in the original 1987 movie.

Mo says:

RBG (2018)

Director(s): Julie Cohen, Betsy West. 98 min. Rated PG. Documentary.

The story of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the hurricane who took the Supreme Court by surprise in her 60s, and with her 5 foot height, is still running like wildfire in her 80s. A compilation of numerous interviews with RBG and her acquaintances, this documentary is a biography of the judiciary titan, which while tremendously inspiring in how one person can become the centerpiece of so much change, does not offer much innovation on a cinematic level, and resorts to being an informative newsreel. Oh wait ... this is a CNN production.

Mo says:

The Black Stallion (1979)

Director: Carroll Ballard. Cast: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr, Hoyt Axton. 118 min. Rated G. Family/Sport.

No, I hadn't seen this classic yet - and I'm glad I hadn't. Because now, with all the fast editing afflicting even kids movies, you appreciate the calm of a movie about the friendship between a child, and his horse. You let the beautiful vistas set in, wonder how such a slow film is so enjoyable, and not care whether the boy wins the race at the end. And when you watch the two creatures make contact, remember how three years later, two other creatures (a boy and an extra-terrestrial) made a similar contact; because the writer, Melissa Mathison, wrote both.

Mo says:

Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

Director: Jon M. Chu. Cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong. 120 min. Rated PG-13. Comedy/Romance.

The melodrama is not the point. This is Black Panther on so many levels. How there's an unbelievably rich exotic world out there, unknown to us. How there's xenophobia against those who immigrated from that world to America. How an entirely minority-based cast with a story set in a foreign land conquered the US box office on its opening weekend. And in the meantime, upping the ante on Black Panther ... how behind all the lovey dovey stuff, there’s a real struggle fought by real people, stuck between tradition and modernism. America, I introduce to you Wakanda 2.0.

PS: Funny that yesterday I wrote how boring Awkwafina was in Ocean's Eight. Here, she totally shines. The definition of miscast versus well-cast.

Mo says:

MoMagic!

Juliet, Naked (2018)

Director: Jesse Peretz. Cast: Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, Chris O'Dowd. 105 min. Rated R. Comedy/Romance.

Starts as a light romantic comedy, about the accidental relationship between the girlfriend of a crazily obsessed fan of an obscure forgotten rocker (whom she rolls her eyes about) - and the obscure forgotten rocker. But then the story develops a concept significantly more engaging, culminating in a fascinating table talk in the second half, about the bitter truth behind fandom, and maybe ... following a religion? I've never doubted Ethan Hawke's acting skills, but Rose Byrne (here with Chris O'Dowd again after Bridesmaids) and her knack for comedy through the most subtle gestures, is the true gem of the movie.

Mo says:

Disobedience (2017)

Director: Sebastián Lelio. Cast: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola. 114 min. Rated R. UK/Ireland/USA. Drama/Romance.

US-based photographer returns to the England Jewish Orthodox community she was shunned from years ago, to attend her rabbi father's funeral. From then on, the sex-obsessed campaign of the film have so shamelessly spoiled the story, almost two thirds in is predictable. So while refusing to participate in this act of treason, I'll summarize to say that the movie is extremely brave at not only affirming an individual's freedom in relationships, not only questioning the imprisonment of one's will in Judaism, but also questioning any religion's control over freedom. Surprised why the movie didn't make more noise. Wrong marketing, anybody?

PS: Available on Amazon Prime.

Mo says:

What Is Cinema? (2013)

Director: Chuck Workman. 80 min. Not Rated. USA/France/Canada. Documentary.

The question excites any movie-lover. And how not enjoy a collage of some of the most mesmerizing images in movie history, as an answer to that question? The documentary employs quotes from some of cinema's grand-masters (e.g., Hitchcock claiming if a painter paints an apple beautifully, who cares if the apple is sweet or sour?) to make a case for avant-garde cinema, and how story in film is secondary, as long as you "project an emotion" - a message I humbly doubt, given that the livelihood of cinema depends on commercial success. But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the imagery.

Mo says:

Ocean's Eight (2018)

Director: Gary Ross. Cast: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Dakota Fanning, Elliott Gould.

Things go wrong on so many levels. Starting (again) with the basic Ghostbusters fiasco, where equal opportunity in Hollywood translates to inserting women in men's roles (without any gender-specific justification to do so); continues with bad directing by a good director, who wastes time on unnecessary listless scenes; accompanied by an entirely uninteresting Asian actress (who among such superstars should actually prove herself the opposite), placed for the sole reason of political correctness ... among other failures. The film is merely a showcase for some of the beautiful faces in showbiz today, at the service of undermining women in the mainstream.

Mo says:

Searching (2018)

Director: Aneesh Chaganty. Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee. 102 min. Rated PG-13. Mystery/Thriller.

After a perfectly-devised "silent" tragic opening (inspired by Up), in another modification of the found-footage genre, the story of a father searching for his missing daughter is told entirely on laptop/iPad/smartphone screens. Distracted for a second, and you miss a crucial plot element in this tightly-written script - most brilliant at how it conveys the main character's thought process by the sudden halt of a moving cursor onscreen. Sole criticism: how a movie so disturbingly portraying the horrors of social media exposure, suddenly ends as a whodunit - leaving one thinking: now what? Still, one of the year's memorable movies.

Mo says: