New Releases For Home Viewing

It is a very good week for home viewing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ATOMIC BLONDE
Directed by David Leitch
Screenplay by Kurt Johnston
Starring James McAvoy; Charlize Theron; John Goodman; Toby Jones; and Sofia Boutella





Theron plays Lorraine Broughton...a spy/agent/bad-ass.

There is no spoilers here as always,  but this film does a lot right. Yes I see this film is getting so-so reviews. Wrong!! I think is was exciting! I mean.... why do you go see this film? To see action! For suspense! To see Theron and McAvoy...two great actors! It delivers!

Positives:
-I love the time period. late 80's. Around the Berlin wall. The look is great..and the music of that time period is fun...and that music is often sang in German.
-Very good performances. Theron and McAvoy are so much fun to watch. Throw in Goodman and a wonderful newcomer, at least here in the states Sofia Boutella.
-The screenplay is not lazy. It does not just rely on the action. It is an interesting story reminding you of an R rated The Americans (TV show). Trippy with fun action scenes that are not too cartoonish, and it has double and triple crosses. It is clever.

Negatives? Yes just a few.
-I think showing the film in flashbacks where Broughton (Theron) tells her story to her superiors is a mistake. This takes some suspense out of the film a bit...no spoiler because it is how the film starts..but we know she is living through these battles. I do understand why, because of some twists, but still it takes some suspense out of the film.
-I mentioned this in my review of John Wick2...How many stairs can one fall down without being able to get up?

So now we have two films with female bad asses....Wonder Woman and now Atomic Blonde. It will not save the world but it delivers what it promises..4 out of 5 stars for Atomic Blonde.



WIND RIVER


Directed by Taylor Sheridan
Screenplay by Taylor Sheridan
Starring Jeremy Renner; Elizabeth Olsen; and Graham Greene





While tracking wolves, a tracker/hunter named Cory Lambert (Renner) stumbles on the body of a young girl on an Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Thus begins a mystery in which Cory helps FBI investigator Jane Banner (Olsen) find the killer.

Cold!! Wyoming looks cold. The film feels cold. The story is cold. Cold is how I would explain this film. Yet it is a really good film. Wind River reminds you of a slow burning Silence Of The Lambs, or maybe it is more like the Jennifer Lawrence film from 2010 Winter Bone. Whatever you want to compare it to ...it just works, and I think it is because of the acting and the cold haunting snowy landscape.
Positives:
Jeremy Renner is just fantastic here as Cory Lambert. We find he has his own demons of guilt and loss he is dealing with and that this mystery ...may help him move on. He says so much here with a look or stare. He is dealing with an agent who has no sense of life on the reservation, he could be an ass to her...but he is quietly kind. Which is nice to see, it goes up against your typical screenplay with the angry towns people who give the newbie a hard time. he has kind eyes or even caring eyes. He plays this character spot on.
Graham Greene as Ben the officer or chief in town. I mean has Greene ever given a bad performance? Here, like Cory, he gives into kindness when dealing with the outsider, instead of anger. Which makes Greene perfect for the part. He always has a way of taking a small character and making him memorable...he does this here.

Yes there are negatives:

-Elizabeth Olsen. No. I am not saying she is bad here. In fact she is really good here, However we really do not find out much about her. Yes, I understand, the film is really about Cory and his life moving on; and catching of the killer, however the lead to catch the killer is Jane Banner and we know nothing about her. It is just odd.
-The ending was a bit ...well....cold. Yes maybe the ending was not about the catching of a killer....maybe it was a strange redemption for Cory and the sadness of the many girls gone missing on these Reservations. Still I wanted to see maybe 10 minutes more at the end to see where characters go from here.

Still do not let the small negatives turn you off, this is one of the better movies of the year.  4 out of 5 stars for Wind River...see it.



KEDI

Directed by Cedya Torun
Starring Adorable Cats



Okay, I was drawn to the film because the cats are so damn cute.
These cameras follow the cats around Istanbul. They are everywhere.
What is crazy is the cats are not afraid of the cameras.
In fact in Istanbul....no one cares...they do not try to remove them.

So you get a bunch of cute cats,
What is intersting is that mostly men, older men become the caretakers of these street cats.
They even name them.
It is kind of a fun watch.

The problem is....there is not much of a story. Just...following cats and listening to the gentleman talk about what they do to take care of the cats. So at the 45 minute mark, it got old.
I mean you can kind of get the same cute cats on YouTube.

Still the good thing is it is only an hour and twenty minutes long. And OKAY THE CATS ARE CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  3 out of 5 for Kedi. It is kind of fun.

From the shadows as always thanks for your time.