The "Collateral Beauty" Of Life

Collateral Beauty (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Michael Pena, Naomie Harris, Helen Mirren, Keira Knightly, Jacob Lattimore,

Directed by David Frankel

The Story:

Howard (Smith) is an advertising executive who owns his own firm. After a personal tragedy, he retreats within himself and his behavior grows stranger and stranger. His three best friends (Norton, Winslet and Pena) also work with him and they are growing concerned that his reckless behavior is going to cause the business to fold and all of their employees will lose their jobs. When they discover that he has written letters to Love, Death and Time, they hire actors (Knightley, Mirren and Lattimore) to play those parts.

Needless to say, the three friends get much more than they bargained for in this endeavor.

It was a very tricky movie to pull off, because quite frankly, aside from a brief glimpse at Howard at the beginning of the movie, there was nothing in the first act of the film that inspired that kind of friendship and loyalty from his friends.

Quite frankly, if not for the rest of the cast, it would have been easy to turn it off.

Howard was so undeserving of anything at all from any character or the audience for that matter.

Thankfully when he finally gets around to interacting with Death, Love and Time, his character finally begins to regain some humanity, and then you can sympathize with what he is going through.

It does indeed pick up though, and the rest of the cast soars as they bring the emotional weight of the film full circle.

A stronger beginning, yes, maybe even making this film a little longer, would have possibly made this an even stronger movie.

I still recommend having a tissue nearby before it is all over though.

Final Grade: B

Twists And Betrayals Everywhere..."Triple 9"

Triple 9 (2016)

Rated R

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Afffleck, Anthony Mackie, Gal Gadot, Woody Harrelson, Aaron Paul, Kate Winslet, Norman Reedus,

Directed by John Hillcoat

The Story:

Some dirty cops are finally in over their heads when they are blackmailed by the Russian mob to pull off a daring heist. The only way to make it work, they will have to call in a "Triple 9": officer down call. The only problem, the rookie officer they choose to eliminate isn't going down without a fight.

The problem that usually happens with these "all-star cast" movies, is they just aren't that great.

They're good, but the plots are thin or too convoluted for their own good or there are issues with the narrative that make the movie seem like a direct to DVD feature versus that of a must-see theater experience.

Triple 9 does nothing to change my perception on that being the reality of these types of films.

:)

It's good, but not great.

It wants to be a crime / thriller / heist / action / drama / twisty action film that needs to juggle so many characters, situations and motives that it ends up doing a disservice to most of them.

This is of course, no fault of the stellar cast that do their best to make their characters someone to root for, or against, as the movie rolls along.

Again, nothing spectacular, but it's entertaining enough for a viewing, but I can't find any reason to come back in the future to revisit the film.

C+

Back To The Future..."Insurgent"

Insurgent (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Jai Courtney, Miles Teller

Directed by Robert Schwentke

The Story:

Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) continue their fight for survival and to overthrow the current leadership that won't stop until the Divergents are wiped off the face of the earth. 

Did you see Divergent?

Then Insurgent picks up almost exactly where the other one left off as the further adventures of a dystopian future unspool before you.

Treachery.
Lies.
Betrayal.

And that's just Miles Teller's character throughout the series thus far!

The funny thing, the more of these I watch, the more they all begin to blend together.

Wait, there's a mysterious wall? Wasn't that the Maze Runner?

The secret to this society is revealed? That was done in one movie, The Giver. It's taken this franchise 2 films to do it.

I'm sure there's some similarity in The Hunger Games as well, but I've yet to dip my toes into that franchise.

I'm sure there's another part coming, but everything is really wrapped up rather nicely, so I'm not sure how much incentive I have to come back for a part 3.

Final Grade: C