Rapid Reviews: The Magnificent Seven and Undocumented Executive

Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua go together like peanut butter and jelly. The collaborative duo have a history dating back 15 years to the filmmaker's undeniable finest work, Training Day. It also happened to be the same film that handed Denzel Washington his second Academy Award. And although I wasn't too impressed by their 2014 joint effort, The Equalizer, the pair's latest endeavor and Western reboot, The Magnificent Seven, proves to be a solid entry.

Industrialist Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) will do whatever's necessary to overtake the small town of Rose Creek for his financial gain. And after a strong-willed widow (Haley Bennett) loses her husband to Bogue's violent actions, she and the rest of the town's inhabitants offer everything they have in exchange for protection via a bounty hunter named Chisolm (Denzel Washington). The bounty hunter accepts their offer and summons a ragtag group of gunslingers to help fight alongside the townsfolk against Bogue's army of combatants.

I've always gravitated towards the Western genre. And while The Magnificent Seven is far from an exceptional film, it provides adequate entertainment and checks off many boxes from the genre's list. It's the little things like an excellent score from James Horner and Simon Franglen and solid direction that help combat a few writing and acting deficiencies evident throughout the film. Chris Pratt is a bona fide Hollywood star, yet his performance feels wildly out of place. Furthermore, the script fails to sufficiently develop quite a few key characters. However, despite these structural shortcomings, Antoine Fuqua still manages to produce a fun and enjoyable western reboot that's definitely beyond much of his recent work.

Stars: 2 and a half stars out of 4

Grade: B-

Writer and director Brian Kosisky reached out to me regarding his timely indie comedy, Undocumented Executive, which is now available for streaming on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play. Kosisky's debut feature won't offer any familiar names or faces, but he still manages to accomplish a great deal with such an economical budget.

Tony Guerrero stars as Jesus Gutierrez, an illegal immigrant who crosses the border to live with his sister Rosa (Doris Morgado). She's able to land Jesus a job interview at the company where she cleans the building, but the ambitious day laborer spills paint on his only casual outfit and shows up in a nice suit. A mix-up ensues and Jesus ends up interviewing for an executive position where he ultimately lands the job and discovers some dirty antics going on within the company.

Undocumented Executive benefits greatly from clever comedic writing that includes various recurring jokes and hilarious twists of words thanks to the lead character's limited ability to only speak broken English (i.e. he went to "jail", not "Yale"). Although Kosisky displays a knack for crafting humor, the film suffers from middling performances and a few writing deficiencies. The movie's main antagonists are too animated and the romance that develops between Jesus and Anita (Melissa Ponzio), the female co-worker overlooked for the executive position, never feels natural. However, kudos are in order for Kosisky who overcomes countless low-budget limitations to offer a laugh-filled debut effort. Once again, Undocumented Executive is available for streaming on the platforms listed above.

Stars: 2 stars out of 4

Grade: C+

The Glass Castle

Destin Cretton is anything but a household name. Yet, the gifted filmmaker turned heads with his massively overlooked 2013 drama, Short Term 12 . The effort bridged together Cretton's singular story and vision with the remarkable acting talents of Brie Larson. Since then Larson has gone on to win an Academy Award ( Room ), but her career comes full circle in her latest collaboration with Destin Cretton in the adapted film The Glass Castle . Told non-chronologically through various flashbacks, The Glass Castle follows the unconventional childhood of gossip columnist and eventual Best-Selling author Jeannette Walls (Larson). Prior to her career as a writer, Walls grows up under the dysfunctional supervision of her alcoholic father (Woody Harrelson) and her amateur artist mother (Naomi Watts). But as Jeannette and her siblings begin to mature and fully comprehend their squatter-lifestyle and impoverished upbringing, they must work together to escape the clutches of their deadbeat par

FILOSOFI KOPI 2 : BEN & JODY (2017) REVIEW : Revisi Nilai Hidup Untuk Sebuah Kedai Kopi

Kisah pendek yang diambil dari Dewi Lestari ini telah dibudidayakan menjadi sebuah produk yang namanya sudah mahsyur. Selain film, produk dari Filosofi Kopi ini diabadikan menjadi sebuah kedai kopi yang nyata. Dengan adanya konsistensi itu, tak akan kaget apabila film yang diarahkan oleh Angga Dwimas Sasongko ini akan mendapatkan sekuel sebagai perlakuan selanjutnya. Tentu, kekhawatiran akan muncul karena cerita pendek dari Filosofi Kopi pun hanya berhenti di satu sub bab yang telah dibahas di film pertamanya. Sayembara muncul ditujukan kepada semua orang untuk membuat kisah lanjutan dari Ben dan Jody ini. Sayembara ini sekaligus memberikan bukti kepada semua orang bahwa Filosofi Kopi tetap menjadi film yang terkonsentrasi dari penonton seperti film pertamanya. Yang jelas, Angga Dwimas Sasongko tetap mengarahkan Chicco Jericho dan juga Rio Dewanto sebagai Ben dan Jody. Angga Dwimas Sasongko pun berkontribusi dalam pembuatan naskah dari cerita terpilih yang ditulis oleh Jenny Jusuf s

DVD Outlook: August 2017

It appears August is rather barren with new DVD and streaming options ( July's suggestions ). Thankfully, a hot slate of diverse theatrical offerings such as The Big Sick , Dunkirk , War for the Planet of the Apes , Spider-Man: Homecoming and so much more, you can find a worthwhile movie to enjoy no matter what your personal preference may be. Either way, here's a look at what's available on DVD and streaming services this month. Alien: Covenant - 3 stars out of 4 - ( Read my full review here ) Earlier this year Ridley Scott returned to his storied Alien universe once again with the follow-up to 2012's Prometheus . In the latest installment, Scott and company shift their efforts from cryptic to visceral and disturbing with a bloody and twisted affair that feels immensely more horror-based than its predecessor. While on a colonizing mission to jump-start the humanity on a distant planet, crew members of the Covenant are awoken from their hibernation state following

MOVIE SYNOPSIS

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