Avengers: Infinity War

First Hit: Poorly conceived film because someone thought that putting every conceivable character under the sun into a single film was a good idea for a story.

Action for action’s sake is a waste of time because after a few minutes there’s no story to engage with and all the audience is doing is watching visual tricks on a screen. And, although I enjoyed the quips shared and pointed towards particular characters, in the end, it isn’t enough to make me want to recommend anything about this film.

I couldn't get into the plot of this film because there were so many small subplots and sidebars that I the real story became distractingly meaningless. However, my guess at the plot is: Thanos (Josh Brolin) was seeing his world fall apart because there were too many people, therefore by killing half the population in the universe, things will be peaceful and life would be able to support itself. The Avengers don't want this to happen.

To have the power to make this desire come true, Thanos needs six stones that are being held somewhere in the universe, a few of them are in possession of superheroes. So he goes about finding the stones and doing anything to get them.

To stop his quest, all the Avenger superheroes loosely come together to fight the good fight to defeat Thanos. Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk/Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), War Machine/James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Black Panther/T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) just to name some.

You can see from the above listing, along with another ten superheros, having this many characters makes for a confusing mess because each has to have their day in the story. This is exactly what we get - confusion.

Most all of the actors do their superhero thing and do it well enough. However, with everyone one splitting screen time and with minimal roles, it was difficult for anyone except Chris Pratt (As Star-Lord/Peter Quill), Downey, Hemsworth, and Cumberbatch to standout.  Ruffalo was also funny trying to turn into the Hulk. The rest was more like having them do cameos of their characters to show that everyone was onboard to fight Thanos. Brolin as Thanos was strong but it is hard to show the depth of character he was attempting give the audience through the heavy makeup. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeely wrote an over ambitious screenplay that melted under the number of characters they had to bring in. Anthony and Joe Russo co-directed this mess and it showed. The use of effects was good, but effects to no make a film, characters do and shortchanging so many of them was its downfall.

Overall: I only went to this film because of the strong audience attendance and I cannot believe that the millions walked away satisfied.

Finding Your Feet

First Hit: A very inspirational, delightful and fun film.

Sandra (Imelda Staunton) is married to Mike (John Sessions) who has just received his MBE from the British Crown. They live in a big house and Sandra is a dutiful wife giving everything of herself to support her husband.

During a party she walks in on Mike making-out with their mutual friend Pamela (Josie Lawrence) and Mike tells her that they've had the affair going on for five years. Mike has no intention of stopping the affair.

Sandra walks out of the house and goes to her sister Bif's (Celia Imrie) flat which is in a very crowded common person's neighborhood. Bif is an adventurer. At about age 70, she takes dancing classes with others her age, rides a bike and goes swimming in a outdoor pond facility. Her flat is messy. Her life has been and is lived as fully as she can make it.

Sandra and Bif have not been in contact with each other for years and their two juxtaposed lifestyles make it difficult for them to live together, but gentle nudging from Bif and her friends, Charlie (Timothy Spall), Ted (David Hayman), and Jackie (Joanna Lumley), she begins to realize she's suppressed her life for Mike and slowly becomes more joyous and carefree.

At their mutual dance class, they learn new steps and put on a spontaneous mashup performance that gets filmed and goes viral. They get invited to Rome to perform.

After Bif passes away, Mike and Pamela break up and Mike realizes he misses what he had. He asks Sandra to come back into their home. She gives it a try, but the lessons she's learned about herself from her newfound friends require her step into her life and find her own feet.

Staunton is fantastic as a once brave woman re-finding her source of inspiration for living her life. Sessions is excellent as the stuffy brit who took advantage of his wife's loyalty and lived only for himself. Imrie was amazing as Sandra's sister Bif. Her edge was perfectly appropriate for the part. I loved her story about having only one love while they were in Rome.  Spall was sublime as the loyal husband who has a wife with alzheimer's. I loved how he got his van back when it was confiscated. Hayman was wonderful as one of the dance team and a close friend of Charlie. Lumley was great as one of the dance team and inspirational friend. Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft wrote and wonderfully touching script. Richard Loncraine did an excellent job of directing this ensemble of performers to deliver a wonderfully inspiring film.

Overall: This film was filled with emotion through endearing characters that most everyone could relate to.

Lean on Pete

First Hit: A wonderfully acted film about a young boy having to raise himself. 

The sixteen-year-old Charley (Charlie Plummer) is a great kid. He takes care of himself and his father Ray (Travis Fimmel) who, although capable of working, is shown to imbibe in drinking and likes messing with women, married women as well.

What Charley depends on is that his father is there. His father also teaches him a view of life, which is homespun philosophy. There is one bit when he explains why waitresses are the best women in the world, that's true to his view of the world.

Charley's mother left him because she was great one moment and horrible and mean the next. During a drunken fight with his father, she left for good. His father paints his mother as bipolar.

Charley has not heard from is mother in nearly 8 years and he longs for her and finds solace and friendship with Del (Steve Buscemi) a horse trainer and one of his horses Lean on Pete. Del is in the downside of his career but he pays Charley well for doing work like walking Pete and cleaning out the stables.

Del's friend and part-time jockey Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny) also befriends Charley.

When Charley's dad dies because of a wound he receives from an irate husband, he becomes focused on finding his mother.

This story evolves more and Charley is put through some very difficult situations with Del, Bonnie, and Pete. But his focus is clear, he loved his dad, he wants to find his mother and he loves Lean on Pete.

The scenes of Charley and Del are wonderful. Del being crusty and set in his ways get softened a bit with Charley. Scenes of Ray and Charley were also both sweet and poignant. The pictures of the open land when Charley was walking to Wyoming were devine.

Plummer was fantastic. He's a great young actor and embodied the fear of his life falling apart and his will to survive in an amazing way.  Fimmel was strong as the father who took on the responsibility of raising his son alone and who wanted the freedom to live a single life. Buscemi was outstanding as the crusty difficult soft-hearted horse trainer. The scene where he tells Charley to get some eating manners was priceless. Sevigny was strong as the jockey who tried to teach Charley that horses cannot be pets. Steve Zahn does a nice turn as the homeless Silver. Andrew Haigh both wrote and directed this film with a fine hand at creating characters that made this film work.

Overall: There were heartbreaking scenes in this film that made me really pause and think about the multitude of ways people are raised.

You Were Never Really Here

First Hit: Beautifully shot scenes, dynamic soundtrack, but this oddly paced film tells a story of redemption, salvation or deeper despair.

It isn’t easy to summarize this film except to say, its odd pace had me both engaged and patiently waiting for what would be next.

Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) erases problems and he’s got his own problems. He’s taking care of his aging, somewhat helpless mother, his job is that he finds and kills people, and he’s haunted by his military service overseas. The latter coming to him in flashes.

In the opening sequence, we see Joe completing a job. As the camera pans across what he’s cleaning up, we know enough that when he goes to the hardware store, he’s preparing to do some graphic damage to someone. His favorite tool is a hammer.

Accepting a new job, he’s been asked to find Senator Albert Votto’s (Alex Manette) daughter Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov). The senator believes she’s been taken and housed by a group that uses her as an underage sex worker. All he has is an address.

He stakes out the building and see’s that it is a high-end prostitution ring and that Nina is just one of many of the underage girls being used by wealthy men.

As the story unfolds, it gets complicated quickly because after rescuing Nina, she gets stolen from him. The story turns because Joe's vested into helping Nina.

The rest of the film is about him finding  who stole Nina, where Nina is, who killed his mother, and settling the score.

All through this, the action comes in spurts, the flashbacks of Joe’s young life and his overseas service come at odd moments, and the quiet intensity of Joe permeates this story. His match is Nina. Her almost soulless stares, acceptance of what her path is, and the way she fixes it make them an odd pair.

Many of the shots in this film are reminiscence of some of the best Martin Scorsese shots in Taxi Driver. In ways this is a film that uses that story, a twisted older man helping a young girl, to deepen and create mixed feelings about the characters.

Phoenix is darkly effective. There is no way anyone would want to cross him and it shows in virtually every scene. His portrayal of being affected by his upbringing and service overseas worked. Samsonov is a revelation. She makes this film have a depth it would not have had without her almost soulless stares. Manette is good as the twisted senator. Judith Roberts, as Joe’s mother is wonderful. Her portrayal of a woman who is forgetful and dependent on Joe were perfect. Lynne Ramsay wrote and directed this dark complex film. The use of flashbacks was, at times, overly done and too brief to create enough context to understand. However, the use of Phoenix as the main character was perfect.

Overall: This dark complex slowly paced film borders on overdoing itself, but the actors made it stay with me afterward.

I Feel Pretty

First Hit: At times, very funny but was also a bit sluggish in getting to the point.

I’m not a big fan of Amy Schumer’s acting or humor. However, in this film there is an upgrade to her “I don’t care, take it or leave it” shtick because in this role she adds and portrays an honest air of humility.

As Renee Bennett, we see her working with Mason (Adrian Martinez) in a hidden on-line sales warehouse for a high-end cosmetics firm called Lilly LeClaire started by Lilly (Lauren Hutton) and run by her granddaughter Avery (Michelle Williams).

Because of a computer glitch, Renee has to physically deliver their online marketing reports to headquarters office which is in an elegant downtown NYC building. Walking into the office, the high-end, arrogant and exclusiveness of this company is put on full force. Everyone is perfectly shaped and quaffed. But it is when they open their mouths that the level of arrogance really comes out.

When she drops off the reports, she learns that the receptionist position is open and wishes that she could apply for and get the position. When she looks at the qualifications, she realizes she doesn’t quite fit the bill.

In her attempts to get into shape, she goes to a Soul Cycle. The stuff there is more of the same attitude but she also meets a young woman who is beautiful but also struggles from being seen for not who she is on the inside.

In an incident where she hits her head, she transforms her perception of herself and now sees herself as beautiful.

With this newfound perception, she applies for and gets the receptionist’s job. Her strength is her realness to everyday people and thinking about others. However, the downside is that she begins to think she’s better than her close friends, Jane (Busy Phillips) and Vivian (Aidy Bryant).

Slowly pushing away her friends with her new found positive self-esteem she also seduces a unconfident Ethan (Rory Scovel).

What Renee doesn’t know is that she is the same person physically that she was before she hits her head.

The film goes on to show how Renee’s down to earthiness helps the cosmetic company grow their new brand in stores like Target, but when she re-hits her head, she loses her perception of herself as a beautiful woman and tries to hide from her boss Avery, Ethan, and others.

There are very funny scenes, like when she’s seeing herself as beautiful for the very first time. The comments while looking in the mirror are hilarious. Also, it was funny when she enters a hot girl contest and almost wins. The Soul Cycle scenes are funny as well. However, I didn’t think Avery’s brother Grant’s (Tom Hopper) character was needed. There there are office scenes that didn’t add much to the film either.

Schumer was strong and I would say this was her best film yet. Williams character was oddly funny. She played a smart beautiful woman who had a very high-pitched voice. At times the character was difficult to understand but I liked her. Hutton was fantastic. It was great to see her in this role. Bryant and Phillips were very strong as Renee’s friends that both supported her and also guided her to look at how she was treating people. Scovel was fantastic. I loved his character and his slowly warming up to the power of Renee. Topper was good but I didn’t think his role was needed. Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein co-wrote and co-directed this film. Without knowing their process of co-directing, I can only suspect that the issues I had with the unevenness were because there may have been two visions of a single film.

Overall: Although unevenly paced, I liked many of the scenes and thought they were out-loud funny.