Baby Driver (2017)

The first thing we see, even before the movie has begun, is Edgar Wright, the writer director, thanking us for coming to the theater to see his film because it's made for the big screen. And wow. Is it ever. I think we could've enjoyed this on the couch, but the experience definitely would've been diminished.

We start off with a bang -- a heist and getaway soundtracked to The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Bellbottoms. We find out soon enough that the driver (Baby) finds an appropriate tune for all of his jobs and this movie knows how to make the music a necessary part of the action. Gunfire becomes percussion and a walk down the street becomes a dance.

As we were driving home, I wondered aloud how long the script might have been. Eight pages, maybe? But it doesn't matter that the dialogue was light -- it was an experience that never dipped in entertainment. I didn't think car chases were my thing, but when they're this inventive and allow me to actually see what the cars are doing and where they're going? Yeah, they're my thing.

B+

Anomalisa (2015)

Michael is a famous self-help author on a business trip to Cincinnati. He's depressed to the point that all of the people around him look and sound the same. He calls home to let his wife know he's gotten in safely, and her voice is the same bland and bored one we've heard coming from several dozen others by this point. When he hears a unique voice outside his closed hotel door, he runs to find its source and meets Lisa -- an unremarkable person except for the fact that her face and voice can be recognized as different. So, he excitedly courts her only to witness her loss of uniqueness -- morphing into the same bland mask and voice the rest of the world shares.

There are a couple of theories about the meaning of this movie. For example, the name of the hotel (Fregoli) is the name of a mental delusion where one believes several people can be the same person adopting disguises. Michael also mistakenly visits a sex toy shop and purchases an antique wind up doll for his son -- and the doll has some damage on her face in the same area that Lisa has some scarring. So, maybe all of this is in his mind? I don't really know.

I think there could be a deep, effective story here, but you have to slog through so much to get to to that, it hardly feels worth it. Also, Michael's feels irredeemably selfish -- e.g. when Lisa advises him that if he's going to leave his family he should let his son know it's not because of him and Michael corrects her to say that the son IS part of the reason he's leaving -- so that it was truly difficult to care.

D+

Split (2017)

Three girls are abducted and held by a man with Disassociative Identity Disorder: sometimes he's a terrifying neat freak, sometimes a solicitous British woman, and sometimes an eager-to-please young boy. One of the girls tries to escape & it doesn't work. Another tries to escape & it doesn't work either. Etc.

I'd heard that this was the Shyamalan "comeback" and that there's a truly surprising twist -- neither of which wound up being true. Yeah, there was a tiny bit at the end that gave M. Night's fans a bit of a nod, but that's it.

Now here's MY idea of what would've been a good twist and, also, what I truly thought was going to happen because it's such an obviously awesome idea (spoiler alert): OK. We were told a few times during the story that those who've suffered to the point of having split personalities may have actually tapped into some supernatural powers. Since we witnessed, via flashback, that Casey -- the last girl standing -- has definitely suffered both traumatic loss and abuse, why not have her split at the time of crisis? The beast is threatening her and, instead of being spared for her scars, an alter should've "taken the light" to protect HER. So simple. So cool. Yeah, yeah -- I enjoyed seeing Bruce as much as the next Unbreakable fan, but my ending's way better. And Bruce could've still tacked on the coda.

B 

No Men Beyond This Point (2016)

Women are conceiving “fatherless children” and giving birth to only girls. The men are being subdued in sanctuaries and basically waiting to go extinct.

There are a lot of great bits here: that the military was immediately disbanded once women started taking control of government, for example. But it kind of undoes itself by focusing on the “youngest man in the world” and an artist falling in love. Why? Oh -- I see: because it was written and directed by a man.

C

Central Intelligence (2016)

In high school, Dwayne Johnson was the chubby loser & Kevin Hart was the golden boy who was also the only one who showed kindness to young Johnson. Twenty years later, though, things have changed. Dwayne’s still weird, but he’s BUFF and has a cool job. Hart has become an unfulfilled accountant constantly being passed over for promotion. Though he has a smokin' wife, she thinks they need therapy. When Johnson shows up in need of help, Hart is sucked into madcap action and so are we.

It’s fun, but not as fun as I hoped it’d be. There was nothing distinctive about it at all -- it was like so many other jokey "hey look over there" films. At least the two leads are charming as hell.

C+

Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017)

Although I have a morbid fascination with true crime, the real reason I watched this is because it took place in Springfield, MO -- my home for nearly 30 years.

A Louisiana mother and daughter relocate to southern Missouri post-Katrina. The girl’s got lots of issues (leukemia, muscular dystrophry, mental retardation, etc) and the community does what it can to help them. When the mother is murdered and the daughter is implicated in the death, everyone’s shocked -- mostly by the fact that the girl doesn't seem to be sick at all.

I wish the filmmakers had dug a bit harder into the early life of the mom. I sympathize with the daughter and think that, yeah, that’s some messed-up crap, but I was riveted by the bits and bobs we get about the mother. She poisoned her stepmom with Round-up -- forcing her to spend 9 months in bed?? She stopped feeding her mother?? She somehow convinced dozens of doctors that her daughter was sick enough to have a feeding tube put in and several other unnecessary surgeries performed??  I mean, how is Mom's psychology not the big story here?

B

Southside With You (2016)

Barack takes Michelle out on what she insists is NOT a date. And it’s boring, mainly because the part of Michelle is so stiffly acted. Though, even if there had been vibrancy in every line, I’m not sure how much could’ve been wrung from this deliberately paced "day in the life" story.

C

Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

The members of a 1980 college baseball team arrive in the days before classes start, get to know each other, go to a few parties, and that’s it. It’s so low-key that it almost feels like a home movie: plotless and directionless.

The funniest part came at the very end of the credits where the team raps their own lyrics to “Rapper’s Delight,” but even that’s only worth a smile.

D

The Young Offenders (2016)

A couple of Irish high school fuck-ups see a story about several dozen bags of cocaine going overboard and decide to bike 100 miles or so to score some for easy cash.

There’s a lot going on here: a great friendship, an epic journey, a drunken father, a disappointed mother, an ex-con bully, a zealous cop, and ongoing gags concerning a mask and labeled underwear -- but it all combines for an entertaining bit of fluff with an edge.

B+

Blue Jay (2016)

Former high school sweethearts run into each other when they’re both back in their hometown for a visit. They grab a coffee that somehow turns into an entire night of nostalgia and closure.

This film gave me a glimpse of who Gary and I might have been if we’d not stayed together. It just reinforced how happy I am with him. Loved this.

B+