Don't Breathe

This fishbowl story was excellently paced and thrilling from start to finish. Aside from a few very minor character motivation concerns, this film was a real treat.

9/10

Hell or High Water

An incredibly tense, gorgeously shot genre film that pits two bank robbers opposite a grizzled old sheriff. I can't say enough about the fantastic camera work and cinematography in this film. The scenes are picturesque, and the setting of the film adds an interesting wrinkle to the attempted robberies, which left me feeling more tense than I could recall at any other heist sequence.

9.25/10

Kubo and the Two Strings

This film should immediately leap into the discussion for the best animated film of all time. The visuals were stunning, and truly display the mastery of stop-motion animation that Laika possesses. The  narrative was excellent, and the presentation blew me away. I laughed, I cried, and I may have watched the best film of the year.

10/10

War Dogs

Hill and Teller deliver some great performances, and the 'based on true events' plot was both entertaining and engaging. I enjoyed the way in which the story was presented, and some of the smaller stylistic choices. WAR DOGS won't be anyone's best film of this year or anything, but it was a fun film to be sure.

7.75/10

April and the Extraordinary World

A charming animated adventure tale that is pro-science and pro-entertainment.

8.75/10

Sausage Party

I found a lot of the humor here to be clever and amusing, but nothing elicited the uproarious laughter I've come to expect from Rogen and friends.

5/10

Pete's Dragon (2016)

Everything about this film struck me as being good, but no aspect crossed the line into being great, and I found some aspects of the plot to be lacking. I found it to be a solid family film, but nothing special.

5.5/10

Suicide Squad

While certainly more fun to watch than other DC films of late, Suicide Squad still lacks in critical areas.

Most of the (many) characters are completely flat, two-dimensional caricatures. The villain of the film has murky motivation at best, and the third act brought to mind horrible memories of FANT4STIC FOUR. Leto's Joker was a HUGE letdown as well.

I really loved the art direction of the film, but the unique and fun aspects seen in the first act quickly disappear. Smith is generally entertaining, but his dialogue ranges from 'pretty fun' to 'I can't believe that line is actually in the film'. Robbie's Quinn is the singular truly great performance for the film's duration, and easily the best part of the film. It wasn't enough.

4.75/10

Sing Street

Narratively, this film is a rather paint-by-numbers attempt at a "boy meets girl" romance story. But sometimes, apparently, that's enough to produce a fantastic film. The music is catchy, the characters are supremely entertaining, and the film is paced in such a way that nothing feels wasted or extraneous.

9/10

Captain Fantastic

This film struck me as being on of the most earnest, endearing, and positive films I've ever seen. The incredible performances do a tremendous job at displaying a deep and intractable love for one another, and the end result is simply beautiful.

Maybe THE GOOD DINOSAUR should've aimed a little higher with its titular adjective.

9.5/10

Jason Bourne

More like Jason Boring, am I right!? I found the narrative to be fairly tedious and uninteresting. The action scenes were fine, but plagued by an overabundance of shaky-cam.

5.25/10

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Taika Waititi follows up the incredible WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS with another film that is as unique and special as it is funny. The narrative is fast-paced and almost never goes the direction I expected, much to my delight.

9.5/10