Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Despite the clichés/flaws in the screenplay, this is a MAJOR achievement.
Grade: B+
Edge of Tomorrow
So many things to praise in this Groundhog Day-meets-Starship Troopers of a movie. A perfectly cast Tom Cruise at both his smarmiest and most vulnerable. Emily Blunt as the best female action hero since Sigourney Weaver? Amazing editing. Terrific sound, visual effects. Truly one of the smartest, cleverest, most entertaining summer blockbusters in some time. Too bad that awful ending makes no sense.
Grade: B
The Fault in Our Stars
Electric, alive performances by Woodley and the impossibly dreamy Elgort. Faithfulness to the source novel, yet intelligent and mature filmmaking in its own right. Sturdy though unadventurous direction. Contains the single most cringe-inducing/cheesy movie moment of the year, though (granted) it's taken straight from the novel.
Grade: B
Obvious Child
Jenny Slate is terrific in her first lead role as a stand-up comedian who finds herself pregnant after a drunken one-night-stand and decides to have an abortion. She and Jake Lacy, as her love interest, have excellent chemistry — sweet, funny, and slightly awkward. Amusing and admirably apolitical treatment of a too-frequently partisan topic.
Grade: B
The Rover
Does an excellent job of establishing the decay of the world ten years after "the collapse" — the lawlessness, the hopelessness, the violence and danger. However, the choice of using an overly simple, barely-there narrative as an entry-point into this environment is a mistake, resulting in a film that is somehow simultaneously fascinating and dull. Astonishing performance from Robert Pattinson.
Grade: C+
