The Girl with All the Gifts (2016) Movie Reviews

The story is set in England at an unspecified time in the future, where we find that Earth may have all but been completely dominated by some sort of invasive fungus that can latch itself and grow inside humans within seconds, turning them into Hungries, aka zombies who seek out non-infected humans and other forms of life in order to sate their thirst for flesh and blood. Within a heavily guarded military base, Earth uninfected soldiers, scientists and civilians are working diligently on finding a way to cure the virus, experimenting primarily on a group of young boys and girls born infected but have capacity learning. i.e. they are cannibals, but far from mindless.

The Founder (2016) Michael Keaton – Movie Review

Set primarily in the 1950s, we find Ray Kroc is a struggling traveling salesman trying to peddle an electric milkshake mixer that promises to spark sales by increasing the supply by shortening the wait time involved with having to churn out one milkshake at a time. Sales are not going well, until he receives one big order from someone he hasn’t spoken to directly.

Sensing an opportunity for more business with this mysterious buyer, Kroc travels out to the source of the order in San Bernardino, California, where he meets Dick and Mac McDonald, the owners of a bustling burger joint called McDonald’s, which prides itself on offering a great product at a low price served hot and fast in an assembly-line process that recalls the innovation of Henry Ford. When Kroc sees the setup, he can’t help but think they couldn’t make money hand over fist by franchising restaurants just like it from coast to coast.

Hidden Figures (2016) Janelle Monae – Movie Review

Hidden Figures seeks to showcase the little-known story of three adept African-American women, all computers who worked for NASA’s space program in the 1960s. In an age before computers did all of the calculations, these women were part of a team responsible for double checking the figures put out by engineers working at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. During this period, the gals helped with work to speed up the role of the United States in the Space Race, working on the Mercury program, and other notable ventures.

Silence (2016) Martin Scorsese – Movie Review

Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel provides the basis for Martin Scorsese’s adaptation set in the 17th Century, regarding a couple of Portuguese missionaries, Father Sebastian Rodrigues and Father Francisco Garupe, who travel to Japan to find their long-lost mentor, Father Ferreira, after discovering a letter written by him a few years back detailing the suffering of the those wishing to spread Christianity there. Ferreira is believed to still be alive in the island country, though there is a question on what circumstances he is currently living under, and whether his faith has been abandoned in favor of living a life as a Japanese noble. The Jesuits find themselves within a hostile environment toward those of Christian beliefs, having to hide out after being helped by the inhabitants of a village who are ravenous for Christian faith. The native villagers exuberantly offer to help the padres and their mission, knowing that it could mean certain torture and death should their activities be discovered, unless they make a public denouncing of their faith.

Jackie (2016) Natalie Portman – Movie Review

Jackie is a speculative historical drama that seeks to give us a peek into the hypothetical goings on of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy in the week following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. The First Lady has taken up temporary residence at the Kennedy family compound in Hyannis Port, MA, where she is visited and interviewed by a journalist working for Life Magazine for an exclusive expose. Keenly aware of how perception dictates reality, Jackie consents for the interview on the hope that her words will assist the nation in the healing process, but still talks only on condition that she has final say on what gets published and what he must leave out of the article.

The Eagle Huntress (2016) documentary – Movie Review

Aisholpan is a thirteen-year-old nomadic Kazakh girl living in proximity to the snowy and treacherous Altai Mountains region of western Mongolia, who ends up being shown the ropes of becoming an ‘eagle hunter’ by her father, whose family has practiced the art for many generations, after the two end up capturing a female eaglet for her to train in the time-honored traditions of her forbears. Why this matters as a film is that it is extremely rare for a girl to be an eagle hunter, and further upending the patriarchal system of things, Aisholpan decides to enter an annual eagle hunting contest after training her eaglet in the ways of the millennia-old tradition.