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Slow West

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  • Title: Slow West
  • IMDb: link

Slow WestHow many westerns can you name where the lead character isn’t a gunfighter, sheriff, rancher, farmer, or outlaw? Written and directed by John Maclean, Slow West stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jay Cavendish who has arrived in the new world and headed west in search of the love of his life (Caren Pistorius) who fled her homeland with her father (Rory McCann) following an unfortunate accident which makes their return to Scotland impossible.

The far-too-trusting Jay is encountered by bounty hunter Silas Selleck (Michael Fassbender) who offers his services to keep the young man alive (while failing to state his real reasons for doing so involve the $2,000 reward on father and daughter). Over the film’s 84-minute running time the pair meet an odd assortment of characters and get into a few scrapes that, along with flashbacks to Scotland, begin to inform the audience of the tragedy surrounding Jay and his crusade.

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Survivor

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  • Title: Survivor
  • IMDb: link

SurvivorSometimes a movie just doesn’t work. There are plenty of more successful films with less going for them than James McTeigue‘s Survivor which stars Milla Jovovich as a Foreign Service Agent in London who uncovers a terrorist plot and spends most of the movie running not only from British authorities but a high-class assassin (Pierce Brosnan) responsible for the deaths of her co-workers.

For an action-thriller Survivor is a bore. Brosnan barely registers a pulse as the cold-blooded killer. Jovovich is fine as the woman on the run. The plot, while indistinguishable from any number of action films (other than Jovovich’s specific job), is passable enough but there’s simply no magic on-screen leading to an underwhelming and underachieving movie that’s no so much awful as completely forgettable.

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The Legend of the Lone Ranger

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  • Title: The Legend of the Lone Ranger
  • IMDb: link

The Legend of the Lone RangerGore Verbinski‘s meandering take on The Lone Ranger wasn’t the first modern take of the masked man on film. Released in 1981 amidst negative backlash for the movie’s producer suing actor Clayton Moore to prevent him from appearing in public as the character he played on television, and the bad press of having a difficult unknown actor whose voice had to be dubbed for The Lone Ranger‘s words to be understood, the film never really stood a chance.

Here’s the thing about the much despised The Legend of the Lone Ranger – it’s actually not a bad movie. And it’s certainly a tighter and more complete origin story than Verbinski’s version. Yes it’s cheap (especially compared to the money thrown around in the new version), but it’s far more faithful to the source material (including John Reid meeting Tonto as boys and the real reason John was shipped off East) than this new version. It also has the feel of a western rather than just another big budget Hollywood action film accidentally stuck in the Old West.

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Ex Machina

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  • Title: Ex Machina
  • IMDb: link

Ex Machina

In creating a film about artificial life that is almost entirely driven on emotion rather than logic writer/director Alex Garland has beautifully crafted one of the most memorable movies in recent years. The film begins with a computer programmer winning an exclusive trip to the secluded home of the company’s CEO who has far more going on than anyone associated with the world’s largest search engine could possibly guess.

In the hidden compound Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) comes face-to-face not only with his boss, the alcoholic self-absorbed Nathan (Oscar Isaac), but also Nathan’s creation Ava (Alicia Vikander) who Caleb was handpicked to help Nathan test whether or not she is indeed the world’s first true Artificial Intelligence. Stranded miles from civilization in these odd surroundings, Caleb’s view on sentience and reality will be tested as Ava proves to be everything Nathan promises, and more.

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Focus

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  • Title: Focus
  • IMDb: link

FocusWritten and directed by the team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, Focus met with mixed reactions from both audiences and critics when it opened in theaters earlier this year. It’s reminiscent of Out of Sight, the film rests largely on the performances of two photogenic and charming stars who, from time to time, need to smooth over the rough spots in the plot.

As a fan of heist and con flicks Focus is right up my alley, and it’s one of Will Smith‘s more interesting acting choices in recent years. As expert con man Nicky “Melo” Spurgeon, Smith takes a young grifter (Margot Robbie) under his wing in a screenplay that has a few too many twists for its own good but still turns out to be largely enjoyable thanks to the chemistry of its two leads. Focus may be cotton candy, lightweight with less going on beneath the surface than one would hope for, but it’s still a tasty treat that goes down easily and will momentarily satisfy your sweet tooth.

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