Quick Reviews

Sometimes I don't have it in me to write more than one paragraph about a movie, thus quick reviews! I don't want to dump a lot of reviews under one post, so a quick review post would likely contain three to four movies, depending on how much I've watched lately or for the past few months. Below are my thoughts on Heartbeats, Atomic Blonde, and Fun Mom Dinner.

Heartbeats is Xavier Dolan’s sophomore outing, and it talks about relationships. It is about two friends who are interested in the same guy. It has some commentary about relationships and dating, but the film is more style over substance. Their rivalry is obvious, and some of the scenes are very stylish. However, I feel that the commentary and the plot are disconnected, and there are scenes that don’t contribute to the picture. I did end up liking more than I initially did, but I would probably have a hard time watching this again.

Atomic Blonde is a spy action/thriller about a woman who was sent to Berlin to acquire a missing list that exposes secret agents. There were so many good aspects to this movie. Charlize Theron was amazing, and James McAvoy also gives a good performance. The concept seems to work on paper. The movie employs a soundtrack that’s also fast and upbeat, and it has a lot of action scenes. Unfortunately, the whole movie didn’t mesh well together. The narrative gets disoriented and disconnected, the action sequences needs to be polished, and the editing was weak. I did like how the direction of the movie isn’t obvious, but there are hints as to who the characters really are.

Fun Mom Dinner is the latest addition to the mom-themed movies where four women go out for a fun moms dinner and some hilarity ensue. Molly Shannon and Toni Collette being here is enough for me to see this movie. I wasn't expecting anything revolutionary and it wasn't. There was some marriage drama going on particularly with Emily's character. The movie doesn't focus specifically on any of the women so the gravity of their involvement lies on their character's arc. If I were to classify this, it is between Bad Moms and Moms Night Out, although leaning more towards the latter. It had some dad stuff but it really played more of a filler story, a breather from the fun the moms are having. It tried to stray away from the stereotype but it doesn't have much content either. A 'meh' for me.