Reviews Reactor

Arrival is a sci-fi drama directed by Denis Villeneuve, who I think is one of the better directors working today with previous films like Sicario and Prisoners under his belt, and it is about mysterious aliens spaceships coming down to our blue planet and our attempt at understanding why.  The movie focuses on the character of Amy Adams, who's a renowned linguist and is recruited to help the US army communicate with the visitors. She gives one of the best performances of her career here, and I hesitate to reveal anything more in the case of spoiling anything, so I'll just say that her character arc was profoundly moving. She is accompanied by several side characters, notable ones being portrayed by Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker, and they both delivered good performances. Now the way this movie approached the aliens scenario was my favorite thing in Arrival. The focus on language and communication felt like a fresh take. It was really intriguing to see Amy Adams...

Hacksaw Ridge is a war-drama based on the true story about Desmond Doss, an American combat medic in WW2, who saved 75 lives in the battle of Okinawa, one of the bloodiest battle of the pacific theater. Directed by Mel Gibson who, after a 10 years gap, returned to the world of cinema, and in full form.  Andrew Garfield plays as Desmond Doss and in the process gave the best performance of his career. You feel for him, you understand his character, and you root for him all the way. Teresa Palmer plays as the love interest, and she was simply lovely. Their short love story was quite sweet and they both had great chemistry. The performances were great across the board, and there were some surprising ones too like Vince Vaughn. He portrays a sergeant and I loved him in this film. He had a comedic layer to his role but was also dramatic when the movie called for it. The show stealer side-character performance was from Hugo Weaving, though, who plays as Desmond's fat...