ATOMIC BLONDE

While Atomic Blonde is being advertised as "a female James Bond," it doesn't go into fancy gadgets and gimmicks.  It does have a solid plot, some very good (and brutal) fight scenes, and lots of fun for star Charlize Theron.

The movie opens in 1989, days before the collapse of the Berlin Wall.  We see British agent James Gasciogne (Sam Hargrave) killed by KGB agent Yuri Bakhtin (Johannes Haukur Johannesson), who steals his watch.

Next we jump to an office, where British spy Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is being debriefed by MI6 execitive Eric Gray (Toby Jones) and CIA agent Emmett Kurzfeld (John Goodman).  Gasgiogne has obtained a list of all covert British agents, which he had on microfilm in his watch; the list also had the identity of Satchel, a British double agent who had been providing information to the Communists.  Lorraine (who had been Gasciogne's lover) was sent to both East and West Berlin to get the list and learn the identity of Satchel.

Unfortunately, the mission is a disaster almost from the start.  Lorraine is quickly identified and attacked.  Her British contact is David Percival (James McAvoy), an agent who's gone native and seems more interested in drinking and partying than getting information.  Agents from numerous governments are after the list, and going to and from East Berlin is a challenge.  Then there's Spyglass (Eddie Marsan), a nervous man who claims to have memorized the entire list.

Atomic Blonde is a decent spy movie.  Charlize Theron does a great job as the title character, an agent who always seems to keep her plans, ideas, and suspicions very private; she also does quite well in the numerous fight scenes.  As for the rest, the plot is a fairly standard spy setup -- who can be trusted?  Who will survive?  Who's the double agent? -- with some twists but no big surprises; and the near-constant pop hits from the 1980s get overdone somewhat quickly.  This is an action movie that's not revolutionary but is satisfying.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch

SPLIT

Lots of movies have a battle of wits between a physically powerful enemy and a more clever victim -- but what happens when the enemy has multiple personalities?  This is the set-up for Split, the latest movie from M. Night Shyamalan.

Few movies have ever given so little time to setting up the movie.  Teenager Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) is at a party with fellow teens Claire (Haley Lu Richardson) and Marcia (Jessica Sula), who think Casey is weird and an outsider.  When they're getting ready to drive home, they're gassed and kidnapped by Kevin (James McAvoy).

The teens wake up, captives in some sort of underground building.  It turns out that Kevin has 23 personalities, ranging from the childing Hedwig, to the prim-and-proper Patricia, and the cleanliness-obsessed Dennis.  Kevin and his multiple selves let the girls know that they're being kept in anticipation of the emergence of a 24th personality, known as "the Beast."  Casey wants to turn the personalities against each other, while the other two teens want to overpower Kevin.  There are also meetings between Kevin and Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), Kevin's psychiatrist who thinks his personalities are a form of evolution; and flashbacks to when Casey was a little girl, hunting deer with her father and uncle.

Split works, to a point.  James McAvoy is quite good as the multi-faceted Kevin, making us not only believe in the multiple personalities but even that they can converse with each other and remain quite distinct from each other.  However, Anya Taylor-Joy spends almost the whole movie as a blank, emotionless character, making her a less-than-engaging protagonist.  The ending isn't wholly satisfying, and the Shyamalan "twist" is just that this movie is in the same cinematic universe as at least one of his other movies.  Split is uneven.

Overall grade: B-
Reviewed by James Lynch

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

The X-Men have often used their mutants for an allegory for racism or sexism -- but in X-Men: Apocalypse this is mostly cast aside for introducing large numbers of characters and having the good guys and bad guys fight.

It's 1983, and the characters from X-Men: Days of Future Past have been busy.  Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy) has his School for Gifted Youngsters, teaching mutants and humans alike along with Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult); two of their new teenage students are Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and Jean Grey (Sophie Turner).  Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) has become a hero to mutants, and while she resists that title she helps other imutants -- most recently Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee).  Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) has created a family life for himself, until tragedy takes it away.  And Moira Mactaggert (Rose Byrne) has been investigating a group that seem to worship an ancient, almost all-powerful mutant,

The latter is Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), a mutant who was imprisoned in a pyramid in ancient Egypt but has returned to the modern world.  He has numerous powers, including the ability to transfer his mind to another body (and gain that being's powers) and enhance the powers of other mutants.  He uses these to make his "four horsemen": Storm (Alexandra Shipp), who can control the weather; Psylocke (Olivia Munn), who wields an energy beam; Angel (Ben Hardy), whose metallic wings let him both fly and shoot metal spikes; and Magneto, whose grief turns to the need for revenge.  Apocalypse plans to use his four followers to almost destroy the world, with any survivors following Aoocalypse in his new world.

There are also numerous other characters introduced, whether it's Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Magneto's son and a super-speedster, not one but two nigh-obligatory cameos, or Jubilee (Lana Condor), who seems to be there solely to show off her '80s fashion.

Unfortunately, there's nothing really different in X-Men: Apocalypse that we haven't seen in other movies: Professor X wants everyone to get along and for the strong to protect the weak, Magneto's suffering makes him believe humans and mutants, and the villains wants to conquer the world.  Most of the far too numerous characters have powers instead of personalities (even the usually terrific Jenifer Lawrence feels flat here), and the movie is far too long (especially with a tangential trip to a military base that seems to be solely for a character cameo).  This movie may be setting up future films with teenage versions of the X-Men, but on its own X-Men: Apocalypse is mediocre.

Overall grade: C
Reviewed by James Lynch

Becoming Jane (2007)

I'm really not a big fan of what's referred to as "period films." However, after watching The Jane Austen Book Club, I was intrigued to know more about this author whose popularity has clearly sustained. In Becoming Jane, Anne Hathaway takes on the role of Jane Austen at a pivotal point in her life.

Jane Austen comes from a family of what they call "slight fortune." Her father is a vicar for the local church. While they have a nice home, and many friends, with other siblings, the only hope for the daughters in the family appears to be marriage, preferably to "marry up." In Becoming Jane, we get a front row seat of what these not quite prearranged, but clearly carefully guided, marriages that must have one objective: to marry someone with more dough than your family. While this recurring theme occurs in many of Austen's works, this is because the author experienced this herself.

Anne Hathaway as Jane did a good job of portraying this complex character who gets torn between a relationship for love, and one for money. There are also good supporting performances from James McAvoy, James Cromwell, and Julie Walters.

However, there are two downsides to Becoming Jane. The first is that this film is long, and slowly paced making it better suited to a matinee than night viewing which can degenerate into a snooze fest. The other is that there are many characters, and on several scenes for too long I was trying to figure out who all these folks were which points to a screenplay that lacked some clarity.

Overall, Becoming Jane is a grand look at the storied live of this beloved author. With period costumes and scenery, it's visually quite strong and interesting. I believe that fans of the author will be pleased.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

The Last King of Scotland (2006)

If one were to come up with a title for a film that deals with Africa, The Last King of Scotland would seem a quite unlikely choice. After all, Scotland is more than a stone throws away from the dark continent. However, this is not your typical African genre movie.


The film opens with Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), who recently graduated from medical school, being congratulated by his father that he was joining the family medical practice. The scene is priceless, as most sons don't want to do what their father did (most anything but), and the young doctor promptly heads up to his room, spins the globe, and puts his finger down for a destination so far away that he won't be joining his father's practice anytime soon. (While this all seems quite crazy, I can tell you that there was one guy in my medical school class that when he graduated, at the "not so young age to graduate medical school" of forty-six, he decided to run off to Africa and was never heard from again. Then again, he lived in a Volkswagen camper for four years with solar cells on the roof for power, so he was hardly an ordinary guy. I won't mention the TMNT outfit he wore to class one Halloween...)

Getting back to the film at hand, Garrigan next ends up in a missionary medical clinic in Uganda. Clearly the need is great, and there seems to be no limit to the good he can do among this extremely underserved population. He works there with another missionary couple, and the natives come from miles around. Things seem content, and this does keep him from joining his father's medical practice. However, one day, a chance encounter with the country's new leader, military dictator Idi Amin Dada (who went by such modest titles as "His Excellency President for Life"), in an academy award performance by Forest Whitaker, causes him to get involved with this corrupt government.

The Last King of Scotland focuses on the young doctor's role within the government, and his relationship with Amin, this ruthless dictator. On the one hand, he wants to be able to help the Ugandans, on a scale, and in ways that he would never be able as a missionary doctor at a rural clinic. However, along the way, he needs to compromise his morals, and does plenty of looking the other way past the regimes policies and politics. This film is a fascinating character study that shows how absolute power leads to absolute corruption.

I seriously enjoyed this film. The panoramic scenes were shot well. It also presents a realistic view of this dictatorship in Uganda, and the downside of these dictators that live in royal opulence, while their citizens don't even have basic services. This film will frustrate you, entertain you, and finally make you think- all at the same time. If you want over two hours of thought provoking drama, all well acted, than The Last King of Scotland is for you.

Overall Grade: A

--Jonas

PS: There's a chest x-ray that's up backwards in one of the hospital scenes; see if you can spot it.