The Gift (2015)

The Gift (2015)

7/10

Starring

Jason Bateman

Rebecca Hall

Joel Edgerton

Directed by Joel Edgerton

At the end of the movie, I was nodding my head in approval of the masterpiece I had just witnessed. The Gift is an awesome movie that will have you gripping your seat—not because something scary is happening or someone is being killed or eaten. Nah, it’s because you won’t be able to predict the path the movie is going to take.

The moment everything looks familiar and you think you know what’s going to happen next—or what has already happened—get ready for another shocking turn of events.

This psychological thriller was made with the best intentions at heart: to give the viewer a fun time and value for their money. What I liked is the way the movie twists the male lead from victim to perpetrator, then back to victim.

The movie stars Jason Bateman as the lead, and his delivery was well done. I have to acknowledge him for doing a great job because I only know him for comedy. This is a nice feather in his cap.

The movie was a critical and commercial success, and watching it alone will show you why. It was written, directed, and produced by Joel Edgerton, who also starred in the movie as the main villain.

The plot follows a couple moving to a new town—or rather, the husband’s former hometown. This nice, beautiful couple, Simon and Robyn Callem (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, respectively), are at a store when they’re approached by a man claiming he went to school with Simon.

The man introduces himself as Gordo (Joel Edgerton), and after the couple departs, he starts showing up unannounced at their home, bearing gifts.

Simon continues to distance himself from Gordo, but his wife insists they repay Gordo’s visits with one of their own, also bearing gifts. The visit starts off great until they discover that Gordo lied to them—the mansion he claims to live in doesn’t belong to him. Simon warns Gordo to stay away from his family, and they drive home.

Later, Robyn learns a dark secret about Simon and Gordo from a passing comment by Simon’s sister—a secret that exposes Simon as not the man he’s been portraying himself to be.

Her investigations only uncover more dark truths that will leave you, the viewer, confused about what’s really going on. 

The movie does have its drawbacks, like some plot points that felt a bit stretched out. While the twists keep things engaging, they can sometimes feel forced, making parts of the story seem more convenient than natural.

This is a movie I highly recommend you take the time to watch.

Trolls (2016)

Trolls (2016)

5/10

Starring the voice of

Anna Kendrick

Justin Timberlake

Zooey Deschanel

Directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn

The movie Trolls is a 3D animation that’s suitable for children. It has nice songs they can jump around to and a theme filled with colors they’ll find appealing. As an adult, though, the movie’s style of delivery went over my head. There are many irrelevant characters, nothing meaningful about some of the Trolls’ lifestyles, and happenings that will lead you down a path you wish a movie would never take you—a path where you have to suspend your common sense just to keep up.

The movie is fictional, and you might think all you need is imagination and a childlike heart to understand it. But I’ll tell you, the writers also need you to forget how to think. How they merged so many random events into one is worth seeing, I’ll give them that. The problem is, you won’t enjoy a bit of it.

I wasn’t expecting much when I decided to see this movie, and I wasn’t blown away by the happenings or let down by the lack thereof. The movie is suitable for your children to watch on a nice day when there’s nothing better showing. Amid all this not-so-great stuff are cool songs, nice voice acting by Justin Timberlake, and a very colorful experience.

Trolls is based on the Troll Dolls, and this 3D animation is produced by DreamWorks Animation. It also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Can’t Stop the Feeling!" at the upcoming Oscars.

The movie’s plot starts with the introduction of the two main creatures at play: the Bergens and the Trolls.

The Trolls are small creatures who spend their whole lives in a perpetual state of happiness. You’ll find them throwing parties, making stuff, and doing everything they can to keep the music playing. They dance and hug each other to the point of nausea.

On the other side of the coin are the Bergens—large, ugly creatures who believe they can never feel happiness. Then they discovered the Trolls and all their happy moments. They realized that eating a Troll would give them a moment of extreme happiness.

So, they captured the Troll tree, locked it in a cage, and held an annual festival where each Bergen got to eat a Troll. The Trolls, not wanting to be eaten every year, escaped through a tunnel one fateful year, leaving the Bergens in a state of forever sadness.

Things didn’t remain like that for long, though—not for the now free and happy Trolls or the sad Bergens. What happened next is what the movie is about.

To Sir, with Love (1967)

To Sir, with Love (1967)

7/10

Starring
Sidney Poitier


Directed by James Clavell

There is no denying it that Sidney Poitier is one of the best actors to have graced the screen. His grace, his demeanor and his style of delivery is nothing but grand. To Sir, with Love is another great movie he did, which if you have not had the privilege of seeing I ask that you do so now.

There’s no denying that Sidney Poitier is one of the best actors to have graced the screen. His grace, demeanor, and style of delivery are nothing but grand. To Sir, with Love is another great movie he did, and if you haven’t had the privilege of seeing it, I ask that you do so now.

There have been many movies where the lead comes into a school where ruffians control how things are run, and the man makes a dramatic change in the way things happen. What makes me prefer this one over the others is that they often portray the students like overgrown onions who only respond to violence. From my little experience teaching, I can boldly say those movies tend to exaggerate how teenagers relate to authority. Maybe they do this to add more dramatic effect, but in this movie, the dramatic effect comes from the simple ways the lead character, Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier), changes the children’s way of thinking.

I’ve seen other popular Poitier movies, like the ones he did with Bill Cosby, In the Heat of the Night (1967), and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)—all great movies, and I’d add this one to the list. To Sir, with Love is a 1967 drama movie that I heard about on Twitter one night and decided to give it a try.

The movie will forever be iconic, and you can watch it anytime. The plot and events in the movie are so compelling that I’ll likely give it a second watch sooner rather than later.

The movie’s plot follows an out-of-work engineer named Mark Thackeray, who is desperate for a job. After searching for engineering jobs and coming up empty, he decides to take up teaching. His first teaching job is at North Quay Secondary School in the tough East End of London. The students there are known for making their teachers’ lives unbearable, and his class is the most notorious, as they’re in their final year.

Mark starts off easy, taking the children through the syllabus, until they turn on him one morning, causing him to lose his temper. From then on, he decides to change his approach. He shifts the class syllabus to focus on life lessons, sharing his own experiences with the children. Soon, a bond forms. However, the bond isn’t strong enough at first, because no matter how much he tries to teach them responsibility, life and its challenges aren’t on his or the pupils’ side.

The movie does have its issues. I feel the pacing slows down in some parts, making certain moments feel a bit dragged out. For me, the life lessons are powerful, but they come across a bit too simple at times. Some plot points are predictable.

To Sir, with Love, what a classic.