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...

The Accountant is an action-drama-thriller directed by Gavin O'Connor, who directed one of my favorite films of 2011 i.e Warrior, and it is about a guy with neurological disorder/autism who lives as an accountant (both normal and the dangerous kind), using his disorder to his benefit. Now, this isn't an action heavy movie with fights around every corner, but instead is a drama with some thrilling action sequences. The movie takes its time to tell you about the main character, as well as secondary ones. It sets up the world well enough that you care and are involved in the plot, which is something I quite enjoyed and it even felt a bit fresh.  Ben Affleck gave an excellent performance as the accountant. He had subtlety, depicting the character's issues with socializing quite well, and at the same time showing dedication and fierceness when needed. Anna Kendrick was sweet and fun as the love-interest, and I enjoyed her rather limited screen time. JK Simmons was...

Sense8 is a sci-fi drama series from Netflix and is created by the one and only Wachowskis (and J. Micheal Straczynski). It is about eight people from around the world that are mentally linked with each other. This premise gave the series a large main set of characters of different ethnicities, culture etc, and made it quite varied. Now, the Wachowskis have had a really bumpy ride so far, with supreme highs like The Matrix to abysmal lows as Jupiter Ascending, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this series. But I'm glad to say that this is a proper comeback from them.  The story is interesting, and while there is the main overarching storyline that connects everything, you also get eight different storylines. Not all of them are equally good or interesting, BUT even the worst among them is still intriguing enough. Same is the case with the characters themselves. There are some I definitely liked/loved more than others, but the show does a great job of gi...

Glitch is an Australian mystery-drama TV series and it is about a small town where things turn upside down for a cop and other people as six deceased people suddenly rise back one fateful night.   The story/premise intrigued me from the start. You feel just as confused as the people in the show. How did they come back? Why are they back? Is it something supernatural? Or is it science related? All these questions and more raise through your head in the first episode and becomes the framework of the series experience.  Now, there is a good amount of characters in it, but they don't get an equal amount of development, nor are they all interesting or well acted. But the ones that are interesting certainly keep the intrigue level high enough that you want to know more and want them to solve this mystery and get answers.  The story creates interesting scenarios and makes you wonder what would you do if you were thrown in this situation. And like I ...

"We’re all dying. That’s what defines the condition of living ." The Crown is a series about Queen Elizabeth II and her early years as the Queen. Now personally, I don't really have that much interest in the subject matter and wouldn't go actively look for media showcasing it, but after hearing so many great things about it, I decided to give it a watch. To my surprise, I was hooked from the start. The series is so well made, the execution of everything is so exemplary, and its pacing is remarkably well balanced (for a series like this), that I couldn't help but have a wonderful time with it. I was intrigued by the inner workings of the royal household, and how the crown weighs on the bearer and the people surrounding them.  The casting was damn good. Many of the actors do look similar to the personalities they are portraying in that time, and the acting itself was marvelous. Clair Foy is so lovely and plays as the queen with great beauty. John Lithgow...

"These violent delights have violent ends." Westworld is a sci-fi series from HBO and is about a futuristic western-themed park populated by artificial being or hosts (as they are called in the series) where rich people can come and do whatever they want. The premise alone was enough for me to warrant a watch as the subject matter of the series is something I have a very high interest in. And to my utmost delight, the series deeply explored it and gave me the experience I always wanted.  It is created by Jonathon Nolan (brother of Christopher Nolan) and Lisay Joy, and they both did a marvelous job with it. The world, the characters; the moral, ethical and philosophical dilemmas; all the interesting stuff I look forward to in things tackling this genre were top notch.  The series boasted an impressive cast with some A-List actors thrown in the mix and the resulting acting was good to spectacular across the board, but the two standouts for me were Anthony H...

"A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing." Birdman is a film about a washed up actor, who was once famous for starring as Birdman (Superhero), and his battle with himself and those around him during the final days of his broadway play premiere. This film boasts an immense ensemble of talent, and you definitely get the result. Micheal Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Zack Galifianakis and some others all deliver amazing performances. It is truly a feat to see everyone just acting their best.And at the center of it all is Micheal Keaton and his career's best performance. He was awesome. Period. Because of awesome performances, every scene was a joy to behold, the dialogue delivery was great, the dialogue itself was great. Another thing I really enjoyed about this film was that how its story paralleled with Micheal Keaton's and Edward Norton's real life. Micheal Keaton is most known for his role in Tim Burton's classic Batman film a...

I love movies, or anything in general, dealing with artificial intelligence and the like. It is such an interesting realm to me. Ex Machina is a film about a young programmer in a big company comparable to Google, who wins a lottery of sorts, which entails him to stay at the Boss's place and be a part in his latest project, A.I. There aren't many characters in this movie and for a movie like this to be interesting, the few characters HAVE to do a great job. The main dude was the only one who I felt like wasn't that good. Oscar Isaac, who plays the Boss/Genius, was awesome. He wasn't your typical rich/boss/genius douche. The one who stole though was Alicia Vikander, who plays the A.I Ava. She did a great job of depicting a high level artificial intelligence. Now the movie really doesn't get into much introduction or world building. It actually felt really rushed in the beginning and just takes our protagonist to the place where rest of the movie will unfold. And...

I never thought I would see Arnold in a role like this. And he surely pulled it off. Maggie is a movie about a father and his daughter who has been infected with the zombie virus and how he spends there last days together. The zombie world this movie takes place in was actually kinda fresh and realistic for a genre like this. I mean the virus is all spread and whatnot but society hasn't gone to shit. The authorities, the daily lives etc are still going on, they just have to deal with this new disease. The virus itself doesn't turn you into a zombie in like minutes or hours. It actually takes several weeks. Now both Arnold and Abigail Breslin were great in their roles. Arnold showed that he has subtlety in him, that he can play emotional dramas. And I really liked this side of him. The cinematography in the movie was often great. Now the movie has some good emotional scenes, and the scenes where both father and daughter are together and are just trying to get throu...

The most hyped up anime of last year. And it definitely lives up to the hype. The premise of the anime is that huge humanoid creatures called Titans almost drove humanity to the brink of extinction several 100 years ago. The only way humanity was able to survive was to build huge walls and live inside them. Very interesting stuff, and the story builds up nicely too. Since humanity is mostly in the dark about the titans, we as a viewer are subjected to the same treatment and slow reveals of new info as the plot about them as the plot moves forward is always exciting and shocking. The atmosphere is very grim and desperate. Sadness, hopelessness, loss etc is always looming overhead, perfect for this type of premise. This anime has an extremely EPIC!! feel to it. The soundtrack, the speeches, the motivational talk, and of course the action, all have the highest level of epicness applied to them. Infact, the word 'Epic' falls short to describing it. And this is the strength of ...

Southpaw is a by the books boxing/similar genre movie. It has the usual cliches and is predictable and all that. But all of that is OK because I don't really care about that if the execution is alright. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the champion boxer. I gotta tell ya, this dude is following Bale's footsteps when it comes to physical transformation. Not long ago we got the skinny looking weird version in NightCrawler and now this fully buffed boxer. Gyllenhaal continues to impress me with his acting too, the dude was great yet again. He was intense, he was broken, and you really feel for him. Someone else who was really great was the daughter. I was really surprised by her and witnessing a great child acting is kinda rare. Rachel McAdams and Forest Whitaker also delivered great performances, their best in a while. 50 cents was just OK though. Since the movie follows the typical style of this genre, you get the initial fame, then something happens and there is the downfall area ...

Z for Zachariah is a post apocalyptic drama about a girl living alone in a world devastated by Nuclear war until she finds out that she is not alone. The movie can be seen in two halves. The first half is the much superior drama about the religious farm girl and the scientist survivor she finds. While the second half turns into a lame love triangle which ultimately bogs the movie down. Seriously, why did they have to put that in. Could have been a much better movie without it. There are only three actors in the movie and all did great, especially Chiwatel Ejiofor. Margot Robbie looked really beautiful, in a more natural way. The film's cinematography was great, very well shot. And I liked the soundtrack as well. 6/10

This is a movie centered around a space station in the distant future when a new co-captain arrives. The fun thing is that the future shown is through the lens of the 70's era and its sci-fi films. The whole movies is just about the random daily lives of some of the inhabitants of the space station and an impending doom that is coming towards them. Liv Tyler leads the movie as the new arrival at the station and the co-captain. She is joined by Patrick Wilson, who plays the captain. They both delivered great performances, especially Patrick Wilson and the rest of the cast wasn't too shabby either. And in a movie like this, that is what really counts. Now, this movie might come as a comedy, but it is actually more drama with a bit of comedy, and that too of the dark kind. And I thought some of the comedic stuff was handled pretty well, although it was quite subtle. Could have used a bit more fun. The special effects were low grade, but they were rarely used. The inside of th...

Sleeping With Other People is a romantic-comedy-drama about two people with sexual and relationship issues, who after finding each other help to bring about reforms.  Now, this was a pleasantly surprising watch for me. I thought it would be some typical romcom, and I only gave it a watch because I like both the leads. But I was wrong.   The story wasn't anything new. The beats felt similar to every other romcom (For the most part), and the movie is predictable. BUT it is the execution that it made it feel fresh. It had genuine heart, took its time in more emotional moments, and gave its characters room to breath.  The core of the movie is the relationship between the leads, and boy oh boy did Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis nailed it. Best performances of their career so far for me. They had such a palpable chemistry. Both worked off each other so well, and it all felt really natural. Very rarely do I see this in movies like these. And the direc...

The Newsroom is an HBO series created by Aaron Sorkin, who has written great dialogue based movies like The Social Network and Steve Jobs. It is about a news network that undergoes some changes and decides to do deliver proper news, and the ordeals they have to go through because of that. Aaron Sorkin is an amazing writer. He just has this natural talent for making dialogue driven stuff. This series oozes with that. A show about news is obviously going to be nothing but dialogue throughout, and he made it work so SO well. I loved seeing how the news worked, how people dedicated themselves to delivering the truth, how real events from recent years were covered and how brutally honest the show could be at times. And because of Sorkin's writing, it always felt fast paced but natural at the same time, embedding the feeling and urgency of their jobs. All that could not have been possible without the cast, which was so perfect, with Jeff Daniels taking the charge. His best performan...

"If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to abuse them. That's the truth of it." It is amazing to see how much is buried under the rug in the world. Spotlight is a movie based on a true story about a special division in the Boston Newspaper called by the same name, who stumble upon a story that just shakes their very core. A great ensemble, I mean we got Micheal Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery and more. And all of them were at the top of their game. Great performances by everyone. And the movie took a very subdued approach to it. You see these people just doing their job, they are not portrayed as big heroes or anything, and as the case gets more deep, you see subtle expression of disgust/shock/worry on their faces, with increasing intensity. It just felt very realistic. The movie did felt slow at times. The pacing was almost constant but I guess the nature of the movie made some parts feel slow. Not boring ...

Well this certainly was an interesting watch. So Room is a movie about a boy who has lived his entire life in a room with his mom and that is his whole world until he gets out. Brie Larson, the mom, was absolutely amazing in her role. She delivered her best performance yet, and you could really feel the struggle and stress of her situation. Good child performances are rare, great one even more so and Jacob Tremblay gave a terrific performance as the young boy. You really felt him and his view of the world and even though he got annoying at times, it was fitting for the character and the situation, and not be annoying for just annoying sake cause he's a kid and all that like many films end up doing. Now this movie has two halves, first being more confined and claustrophobic and second one being more free and emotional. And it all came together in a really nice way. The more you think about the boy's situation, the more interesting it gets. It's a wonderful, and scary th...

This is a feel good type drama movie about a family that has to live in their original house for a week as a dying wish of their father and this creates all kinds of drama and commotion etc. Another movie where Jason Bateman is in a normal role and I can see that he definitely has the talent for it. He isn't a comedy only actor. Tina Fey was also pretty good in the movie. Everyone was. And I liked how everyone had some issues, highlighting just how life is, as you grow up, complications grow. The movie established the family and their history rather well. You could feel them being a disjointed family with typical issues and stuff. And I definitely did not see the ending coming. Nice twist. 7/10

"I'd rather die drunk, broke at 34 and have people at a dinner table talk about me than live to be rich and sober at 90 and nobody remembered who I was." It's a simple story about a drummer enrolled in a prestigious music school aiming to become the next big thing and his ordeal when he gets into a class of a hardcore teacher. Never in a million years would I have thought that a movie like this would make me sweat and raise my heart beat like crazy. I'm not particularly a fan of Jazz or drumming, the subject matter of the movie, and yet this movie somehow managed to do the impossible for me. WOW, just WOW. Miles Teller, the guy who I have mostly seen in small secondary roles, was amazing as the lead in this movie. What made me even more appreciative of him is the fact that he did almost all of the drumming by himself, no special effects or whatever. And then there is J.K Simmons, who plays the hardcore teacher in the movie. He just blew my mind with his actin...