Peppermint

First Hit: I enjoy a well-acted and thoughtful revenge film and this one fits the bill.

Riley North (Jennifer Garner), her husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) and their daughter Carly (Calley Fleming) are a happy family except money is always an issue. Chris and  his co-worker Mickey (Chris Johnson) hatch a plan to steal a drug dealers loot. But Chris thinks twice and calls Mickey to tell him he wants out, that he cannot risk himself and his family's well being.

However, the dealer learns of the plot, kills Mickey and sends gang-bangers to kill Chris. They find Chris with his family enjoying an amusement park for Carly's birthday. When they kill Chris they do it with automatic weapons and not only kill Chris, they kill Carly and Riley is shot and injured. After mourning her family and getting nowhere with the police investigation, she disappears for five years. Riley leaves the country and upon her return, she’s transformed herself from supportive housewife to killing machine. While away she's learned martial arts, how to stalk people, how to kill with guns and her bare hands, and new she's back and wants revenge on the whole gang who killed her family.

The police and FBI pick up on the trail of bodies she leaves behind, including the three bodies hanging upside-down on the Ferris wheel at the amusement park where she was shot and her husband and daughter died five years earlier.

Riley is being hunted by the FBI, L.A. Police Department, and the gang. Will she win in the end? What price will she be willing to pay?

Garner is fantastic as Riley, a revenge filled killing machine. Her skills in body movement, and the belief in her eyes, had me rooting for her all the way. Hephner was good in his small role. Fleming was excellent in her role as well. Juan Pablo Raba as drug lord Diego Garcia was very strong. John Gallagher Jr. as Detective Stan Carmichael was excellent. John Ortiz as a seasoned Detective Moises Beltran was perfect. Annie Ilonzeh as FBI Agent Lisa Inman was very good. Chad St. John wrote a strong revenge script. It was this script, Garner’s acting and Pierre Morel’s direction that made it all work.

Overall: This was a excellent revenge film and sometimes a woman’s revenge is best.

10 Cloverfield Lane

First Hit:  I went from engage, to disappointment and disbelief, and finally to satisfied.

This film generated a range of feelings within me; from great story with belief and possibility all the way to disbelief while bordering on “give me a break”. In the end it does redeem itself.

The story begins with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packing up and leaving her apartment and life with Ben (voice of Bradley Cooper). Driving to an unknown location she gets into a car accident.

She wakes up chained to a bed with Howard (John Goodman) as her captor. He tells her that there has been an apocalypse in the world outside and he’s saved her by bringing her into his underground bunker.

Howard introduces her to Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) who, as she finds out, has chosen to be in the bunker. She hears cars and other noises above her, so she tries to escape only to find someone suffering outside the bunker.

At this point there are a lot of stories floating around in my head about where this film is heading. Then about 15 - 20 minutes before the end, I went into disbelief and disappointment about where the story has taken us, but at the end, I realized that I liked and believed the point of the story and how we got there.

Winstead is very strong as the everyday person finding her strength and being willing to move past her previous fears. Goodman is equally strong as someone who is definitely on his own agenda and belief system which may be true and skewed view. Gallagher Jr. was very good as the other person in the bunker. Josh Campbell and Matthew Stuecken wrote this story that almost fell off the rails. Dan Trachtenberg did a great job creating an intense environment in a closed space. The set was really good.

Overall:  This film was on the edge of falling over a cliff, but, in the end, stays upright.

Short Term 12

First Hit:  Wow, this film is powerful in its portrayal of disenchanted and hurt youth.

Disenchanted youth, mistreated kids, and the young workers who care for them is what this film gives the audience a window to. The kids at this state sponsored foster facility,  don't have anywhere to go.

The day to day managing of the kids depends on young 20 year olds who work with them assisting their transitions to either a real foster home or society. It is an amazing topic and in this film it is done in an extraordinary way.

Through the eyes of Grace (Brie Larson) and fellow worker Mason (John Gallagher Jr.), we enter their working world of working with a group of kids. The young workers Grace and Mason are old hands at working with these young teens and it is apparent that they’ve paid their own personal price.

Mason was lucky that he got a strong foster family that gave him roots, while Grace, had been abused and had put her father in jail after her mother’s death. Afraid of getting close and opening to another human is Grace’s Achilles heel, but the kids she works with teach her how.

The other actors were phenomenal in portraying the symptoms of the kids. Two of the most powerful storylines were Marcus (Keith Stanfield) and Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever). Their stories unfold before the audience and one cannot help but feel engaged and hopeful.

Larson was great and I fully believed her struggles and how he shared them in her role. Gallagher was immensely sweet and wonderful as Grace’s boyfriend and associate. Stanfield was sublime as the quiet loaner who is concerned about his going into the world and being whole. Dever was perfect as the girl, slowly hurting herself into silence and submission. Destin Cretton wrote and directed this amazing film that shows the power of family regardless of how it is constructed.

Overall:  A very strong film.