Aloft (2014)

Written and Directed by Claudia Llosa
Starring Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy, Mélanie Laurent and Peter McRobbie

A woman who struggled as a mother has her past come back to haunt her when she encounters the son she abandoned 20 years earlier.

In a film where I assume you are supposed to empathize with the mother and some how understand why she abandoned her son, it achieves the exact opposite. Perhaps it is Jennifer Connelly's portrayal of the single mother, or even the writing, but the character seems to be nothing more than a whiny, stubborn woman who makes poor choices regarding her children and obviously has a favorite.

Despite the frustrating stupidity of Connelly's character, the director, Claudia Llosa keeps it interesting with it's artsy feel and beautiful cinematography. But that's not enough to raise the overall quality of the film.

Even though Cillian Murphy acted phenomenally, even acting circles around Jennifer Connelly when they shared screen time, his character was just dumb. He made choices that made no sense (i.e. cheating on your wife while she's at home watching your kid, with no other reason to other than the fact the woman was French and attractive. It just didn't fit the character).

The entire film felt like it was made to show the harsh landscape of living just out side the arctic circle. The story made no sense. What needed to be explained, wasn't explained. No one learns anything. There isn't a single character arc throughout. It's just plain boring, with the exception of a single five minute scene.

My Rating: 5/10

The Water Diviner (2014)

Directed by Russell Crowe
Written by Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios
Starring Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Yilmaz Erdogan and Jai Courtney

An Australian man travels to Turkey after World War I to search for his  three sons who went missing during the Battle of Gallipoli.

In his feature length, narrative film directorial debut, Russell Crowe goes all in with this ambitious, large scale story. The passion behind this project is easily seen through every scene and is actually rather informative on the topic of World War I and the battles between Australian and Turkish (or Ottoman) soldiers.

Though the main storyline of a father searching for his sons is captivating enough, the writers decided to propel the story forward with the inclusion of a romantic interest. Despite their best efforts, the attempt to raise the stakes with the addition of a woman fell short and only proved to be a slow moving distraction and a campy side story.

The film was like a roller coaster of quality. It started off extremely strong, then fell to into dullness. The pattern repeated throughout, unfortunately ending with a boring, eye-roller of a scene. It was as though Russell Crowe and the writer's wanted to add too much story that was unnecessary and negated the emotional impact of prior sequences.

For his first film as a director, Russell Crowe could have done much worse. And his ambition will prove to be an important asset with his later films. As much as I like him as an actor, I feel he should stay out of his own movies or at the very least take a smaller role. I would imagine wearing two hats only hinders his potential.

My Rating: 6.5/10

Danny Collins (2015)

Written and Directed by Dan Fogelman
Starring Al Pacino, Bobby Cannavale, Annette Bening and Jennifer Garner

An aging rock star decides to change his life when he discovers a 40-year-old letter written to him by John Lennon.

A film very loosely inspired by an actual event, it is a heart warming story of a man trying to right the wrongs he has committed to those he should have looked out for. With surprisingly funny performances from everyone involved, it proved all of my skepticism wrong very quickly.

Along with the humor, another thing I did not expect to come from this movie was the human aspect. In most movies involving rich celebrities trying to redeem themselves, the characters in question seem disillusioned and rude before they seek to better themselves. In "Danny Collins", the titular character is kind to strangers, friendly and never acts like a prima donna.

This is another one of those "filler" movies. It's not a film for the history books. But it's not one to simply look over. It's a nice, entertaining movie to watch in between the movies you are excited for. It's a refreshing, satisfying movie that is definitely worth a watch.

My Rating 6.8/10

Boy (2010)

Written and Directed by Taika Waititi
Starring James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu, Taika Waititi and Maerangi Tihore

Set on the east coast of New Zealand in the year 1984, Boy, an 11-year0old kid and devout Michael Jackson fan gets a chance to know his estranged father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.

With the dry-humor that Taika Waititi is known for, this movie will keep a smile on your face for a while after the credits are done. Backed by some great acting by the kids and adults alike, the writing in this is some of the best I've heard in recent memory.

Perhaps it is the setting or time period, but this is one of the most unique coming of age stories I have even seen. Yet, it captures the very foundation of the experience of growing up and makes it universal, so everyone can relate.

Who hasn't dug for buried treasure with their father who

insists on wearing a military helmet and just got out of prison?

I might get a lot of flak for this, as I'm sure many will disagree. But in my opinion, this was a much better representation of childhood than "Boyhood". And much more enjoyable (Not that I didn't enjoy "Boyhood"). That is mostly due to one coherent storyline, rather than the mosaic of moments that created the Oscar nominated film. I highly recommend "Boy" to anyone. Especially those who like quirky films.

My Rating: 8/10

P.S. Sorry about the poor quality of this review. It's 6:30 AM, and it's past my bedtime. I'm quite exhausted.