Mulan will remain as one of Disney's best films for a long time.  Personally, the film is categorically within my top three Disney films.  After 20 years, the animation and effects are still clean and superb.  The music never gets old and the story about a girl saving China to bring honor to her family and nation still remains relevant.  There are a lot of broad themes throughout the film that make the viewing a learning lesson, and yet the storyline is extremely entertaining to watch.  There is action for kids to maintain their attention span, but also moral values to keep Mulan as a tool for adults to teach from.

The cast clearly put in effort during the voice acting sessions, bringing out strong characters and whimsical scripts to accompany them.  Miguel Ferrer (Traffic) is terrifying as the lead villain, Shan-Yu.  Yet, Eddie Murphy (Coming to America, Shrek) as Mushu is hilariously exaggerated.  At the center of the story is of Mulan, voiced by the charming-but-tough Ming-Na Wen (Street Fighter).  The list of voice actors go on-and-on as the film is densely packed with characters to support Mulan's journey.  While the voice actors are important, the directors chose to use different actors for the singing portions which are crucial to Disney's cinematic formula.

Mulan has the most recognizable soundtrack out of every Disney film with hits including "Reflection", "I'll Make a Man Out of You", and "A Girl Worth Fighting For".  Donny Osmond's (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) voice provides the overly-masculine Shang tracks.  Lea Salonga (Aladdin) provides a powerful counter to Osmond's Shang.  One of the themes portrayed through the music is the role of gender in modern society.  For a 1998 film, Mulan was progressive and remains progressive the more we learn about Hollywood's scandals.  I look forward to the live-action remake that is set to release in 2020, but I hope that they can keep the messages from the original film and modernize them even more.

The Bottom Line:  Mulan gives audiences the hero it needs and questions gender roles in a way that adults and children can both understand clearly.

Score: 9.8/10

Image credit: ​By Gkaidan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67121492

Once again, Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar) reminds us that war is a very scary thing with his new feature film.  Of course, it would not be a Nolan film without a few twists and turns in the storytelling method.  Rather than focusing on a perfectly linear storyline, Nolan chooses to give the audience bits and pieces of multiple events that are going on at roughly the same time.  While his method is effective in creating the chaos that war ensures, the film often feels cluttered and somewhat hard to follow.

Each character has a role in the war, but we are never given much development or background for any of them.  There are quite a few notable actors that are capable of grand performances, but the script seems to hold them back at times.  Kenneth Branagh (Valkyrie), Cillian Murphy (Inception, The Dark Knight), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, The Other Boleyn Girl), and Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, The Revenant) round out the star-studded cast.  Former One Direction member, Harry Styles, also joins the acting realm in Dunkirk​.  However, none of them give a jaw-dropping performance for audiences to connect with.    It seems as though Nolan really wanted to focus on the action, rather than the characters.  I can understand his direction in terms of creating a war film, yet it feels weaker than most (if not all) of Nolan's past films.

Technically, this film is a fantastic addition to Nolan's filmography.  The action is intense, with unpredictable war sequences and constantly evolving events.  While I have never been through a war, I imagine that this film portrays what it would be like very effectively.  To add to the intensity, Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The Dark Knight, The Lion King, Inception​) creates another score for Nolan.  Similarly to the score of Inception, Zimmer cleverly meters his score so that it swells with the action.  The pomp and circumstance of the score also reminds us of where the events are taking place.  This is a truly symphonic composition that fits into a classical film score genre.  Surely, we will be seeing an Oscar nomination for the constantly running film score. 

The Bottom Line:  As a war film, Dunkirk is a masterpiece for the eyes and ears.  Although, it does lack the intriguing character development that previous Christopher Nolan films have.

Score: 9.4/10

Image credit: ​By Photograph by Richard Goldschmidt, www.piqtured.comDerivative by Keraunoscopia - Derived from File:Christopher Nolan, London, 2013.jpg, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26638525

Matt Reeves (Let Me In) concludes the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy with a long-winded and riveting piece of blockbuster-cinema.  War for the Planet of the Apes does what a lot of trilogies cannot, which is end on a high note.  All three of the films in the franchise are good, but War for the Planet of the Apes is easily the best installment.  Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings) clearly worked hard on his portrayal of the lead-ape, Caeser.  The trilogy centered around his character and audiences can relate to him more than they can relate to their own species.  

The linear storytelling that War for the Planet of the Apes uses works well for the blockbuster.  The story never dulls or slows down.  Rather, it constantly progresses with new revelations about certain characters.  Every character in the film has a background that is relevant to the story.  Caeser, Maurice, Rocket, and Luca return with new developments in their storylines.  However, we also get a lot of fresh characters to connect with.  Bad Ape, Nova, and The Colonel add different ideas and backgrounds to create an original story.  

As Caeser, Andy Serkis once again stuns audiences with his performance capture.  There is nobody better at performance capture than Serkis.  Every movement he makes is authentic and believable.  These are not the sub-par effects that partially ruined the Star Wars prequels.  As one of the few human characters at the center of the story, Woody Harrelson's (No Country for Old Men, Zombieland) performance is also fantastic.  This is a fitting role for him to portray as a villain with a deeper background than the surface shows.  Throughout the film, he gives chilling speeches that remind us of current human ideologies.

As a whole, the story is unique to the rebooted series.  Of course, there is a war going on between humans and apes.  Yet, there are other things going on as well.  The movie is not as simple as the title makes it seem.  Matt Reeves and his writing crew clearly did not want this film to be a summer blockbuster with meaningless explosions and shallow characters.  The conclusion of the film is emotional because of how well-built the characters are.  I would love to go on another adventure with these characters and hope that Serkis can find the time to advocate for another installment.

The Bottom Line:  War for the Planet of the Apes is a thoroughly-crafted blockbuster conclusion to the new Planet of the Apes trilogy.

Score: 9.5/10

Image credit: ​By Gerald Geronimo, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15934608

Wonder Woman takes the grittiness of past DC movies and adds empathy into the formula, creating a relatable story for the female hero.  Finally, DC has returned to good form with this installment in their cinematic universe.  The casting is near-perfect with Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) in the leading role.  It is not very often that we see these kinds of powerful roles for actresses.  Fortunately, Gadot reminds us that there is plenty of room for these roles in cinema.  Chris Pine (Star Trek) is a nice addition as a supporting actor in the film.  The two main roles play off of each other in a charmingly romantic style.  Of course, there is a whole mix of other roles that also influence the characters and the plotline. 

While Wonder Woman excels because of it's great casting, it stands even taller because of the themes recurring in the story.  The struggle between human nature and free choice has always been a philosophical debate.  The storyline is deep and emotional because of it's relativity to audiences.  The writers take this debate and masterfully create a storyline around it.  Previous DC films have struggled to bring this impact to their viewers.  In the past, action has preceded the storyline.  Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad had the potential for emotional impact, but got muddled down with their action sequences.

Although Wonder Woman is a step forward for the DC universe, there are still some issues for the franchise to hash out.  The last quarter of the film had some interesting action sequences, but felt too long.  The action has a few too many effects, seeming unrealistic.  I also saw the film for free in 3D, which in my opinion wouldn't have been worth the price.  The first act has some fun 3D effects, but nothing else stands out later in the film.  It is cool to watch at first, but eventually detracts from the ideals that the movie worked so hard to create.  Still if this is the new base level for DC films, I cannot wait for the future installments.  Patty Jenkins (Monster) brings hope to female filmmakers who want to helm big blockbusters.

The Bottom Line:  Wonder Woman is the best DC film since The Dark Knight Rises, bringing justice to female superheroes and the franchise that has left them out for too long.

Score: 8.6/10

Image credit: ​By Gage Skidmore - File:Gal Gadot 2014 Comic Con.jpg, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40400532

Jack O'Connell has become quite a busy actor between Starred Up, Unbroken, and '71.  Having not seen Starred Up or Broken, I look forward to checking those out soon.  This film surely gives a glimpse of his skills in a leading role, but I wish that I could have gotten more than just this glimpse.  I was waiting for a break-through moment by O'Connell and I never really got it.  Sure, he had to act in a very physical manner as a broken-down soldier and sure, he was great at doing it.  Yet, I was really hoping for some strong dialogue rather than just a wimpy and lost soldier.  I guess this was to help the audience sympathize with the main character, but at times I really just wanted him to get up and fight rather than just whine.  Maybe I am just not into movies so realistic.  Thanks Hollywood for making acting and filmmaking so hard!

While I couldn't quite fall in love with the acting and storyline, I did find the technical aspects of this film superb.  As an extremely jumpy movie-watcher I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.  During a riot scene the camera movement was so shaky and nauseating that I could feel my stomach twist and turn as if I was on the frontline.  The overall movement of the camera is very fluid and constant.  Furthermore as someone with a radio show based around film music, I must say that the soundtrack is surreal, fitting the action in the film very well.  I think I am going to stop this review here in fact so I can go and listen to that soundtrack one more time...

The Bottom Rhyme:  The acting felt meh, the filmmaking quick, check out this movie and tell me if you get a kick.

Score: 8/10

Cary Fukunaga shows that he can combine art and acting brilliantly in Beasts of No Nation.  As a fan of his work on True Detective, I can see similarities between the two works.  Similarly to True Detective, Fukunaga brings out a surreal feeling to this film with the types of effects he uses.  The film often has a feeling of a dream, or nightmare, with its colorful palette and synthesized soundtrack.  One of the scenes shows a lot of red coloring, giving the audience the feeling that they are up close to the action and can see the blood splattering around the fields.

If you are incapable of watching blood and gore, I would not recommend this film to you.  Personally, I felt disgusted at a lot of what was on screen.  As a huge Quentin Tarantino fan, I have seen a lot of blood and gore in film, but this just felt too real.  Tarantino's films are fictional and unrealistic a lot of the time, but this film is based on things that have really happened in certain countries.  This is one of those films that I applaud, but also feel awkward about saying that I enjoyed it.  Fukunaga definitely gets the point across that the world is still full of problems which are hard to solve.

Of course, the true brilliance of this film comes out through the acting of Abraham Attah and Idris Elba.  As an innocent and lost boy, Agu (Attah's character) turns to Commandant (Elba's character) to act as a paternal figure.  Attah's emotional acting displays the transformation that the confused boy goes through in becoming a sort of leader in Commandant's army.  This is a kid that has a very bright acting career ahead of him.  I found myself drifting further away from Agu as he becomes a harsher and less moral soldier throughout the film.  Yet, I also found that I was able to connect to Commandant through Elba's performance.  Elba brings the audience into the mind of a warlord as he starts to create a bond with Agu and his young army through his use of speech.

The Bottom Line:  Fukunaga brings the audience into the life of a boy who has lost everything and transforms into a mature leader through the influence of a hard-spoken, but fatherly warlord.

Score: 9.7/10