About Last Night (2014)

3/5

About Last Night feels like a stale romantic comedy that lacks vision, innovation, and risk-taking. There's nothing particularly bad about it, but it's very, very plain. Kevin Hart and Michael Ealy play best friends. Hart meets Regina Hall and the two enjoy each other's company on an extremely physical level. Ealy finds romance in Joy Bryant, who plays Hall's roommate, and the two get serious fast. Their tale is as old as time: meet, fall in love, break up, reconnect. Kevin Hart and Regina Hall, on the other hand, provide oodles of laughter throughout their on-again, off-again relationship. Although just as predictable from a plot perspective, they bring outrageous hilarity to an otherwise staid, boring movie. About Last Night is mediocre on just about all levels, but the good news is that half of it feels like a Kevin Hart comedy special.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1826590/

Disconnect (2012)

4/5

Disconnect is a thought-provoking movie about human connections and social interactions. Ostensibly a meditation on the isolating nature of modern technology, there is nothing particularly modern about bullying, sexual desire, or con men. The stories depicted could take place at any point in time; they are merely upgraded to cyberbullying, pay-per-view webcams, and cybercrime/identity theft. The three distinct storylines only peripherally interact, which is perhaps itself meant to describe our contemporary isolation. Lonely and disconnected, the characters seek out comfort in the company of strangers. They allow themselves to be vulnerable and they get taken advantage of.

Technically, the movie works extremely well. For instant messaging and texting, Disconnect shows us transluscent screens that overlay real life. It is a simple but effective metaphor that speaks volumes. Except for that visual flair, the movie sticks with documentary-style realism and subtle acting. Each individual story feels authentic--and has probably happened hundreds of times already. But the best part of the movie is that it doesn't succumb to saccharine sentimentality in the end. It doesn't give us the happy ending Hollywood thinks everybody wants. It sticks with reality, and for that I am extremely thankful.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1433811/

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)

3/5

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is standard summer blockbuster fare that, like Sherlock Holmes, came out 5 months too late. The plot follows IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) on a mission to stop a madman (Nyqvist) from starting a nuclear war. It's a movie trope we're all too familiar with, and the only thing this particular movie brings to the table is lots and lots of exciting action (and little else). It's not so much that there are plot holes, it's more that the filmmakers just didn't care about the plot. Nor did they care about the acting, as Paula Patton is clearly just a pretty face and nothing more.

Ah, but the action. The stunts on the Burj Khalifa are truly breathtaking and the chase through the sandstorm is inventive and thrilling. The climax in the motorized parking garage is truly edge-of-your-seat entertainment. But unfortunately that's about it. If you're the type of person who enjoys this kind of action and doesn't mind the nonsensical, unbelievable plot, then you will clearly enjoy it. If you were excited by the enormous number of positive reviews and thought this movie might be somehow different from every other action movie you've seen before, start rethinking. This is nothing more than a simple action movie, but at least it's a decent one at that.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229238/

Precious (2009)

3/5

Lee Daniels's Precious is a movie so devastating that you do not want to suspend your disbelief. It is a movie that you want to ignore, that you want to tell yourself would never happen, could never happen. But I'm sure it does, and far more frequently than we would like to admit. The movie follows Precious (Sidibe), a 16-year-old girl who is nearly illiterate, who is verbally demeaned and physically abused at home by her mother (Mo'Nique), who is pregnant with her second child after being raped by her father, and who escapes it all through her vivid fairytale imagination. The difference between Precious and other girls in her situation is that she still hopes for a better future. And she will ferociously follow that hope no matter where it takes her, as long as it takes her out of where she is now. By a stroke of luck, she gets enrolled at an alternative school called Each One Teach One, where she learns to read and write under the guidance of a kind and loving teacher (Patton). She reveals her home life to a welfare worker (Carey), who calls in the mother for a meeting to discuss the abuse. But as the movie ends, most of her problems are not solved, and some new ones have only just begun.

While it's a powerful story, it is far from perfect. The movie's success, in my eyes, hinged on Precious's mother not being evil, but being human. If the mother comes off as being evil, then the situation doesn't seem real, and the strength that Precious has won't be real. The movie did attempt to humanize the mother, but it didn't feel like they explained her enough. Maybe that frustration, that lack of having everything explained satisfactorily, was exactly the intent. But the fact of the matter is that it left me wanting a deeper understanding of the characters. If I can't empathize with the people in this movie, then what was I supposed to get from it?

I could nitpick about obnoxious audience members or unconventional editing, but my main complaint with this movie is that it didn't make me believe in its world. As a whole, the movie has some assaulting images and heartbreaking moments. And the end leaves you with the bittersweet taste of hope mixed with despair mixed with anger. The movie succeeds in many regards, but unfortunately fails in the most necessary and important aspect. It was so, so close to making me believe, but didn't quite manage it. Maybe it will for you; if it does, Precious has the potential to split you in two.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929632/