Split

Many people thought that director M. Night Shyamalan was never going make a hit film agin. Given that, for the last several years Shyamalan has directed disasters like "After Earth" and "The Last Airbender," it is an understatement to say that audiences weren't very hopeful of this film. But boy were they wrong, not only did Shyamalan make a huge comeback, but in the process of doing so, he established further projects to go along with Split. Split is a film about a guy named Kevin, who has dissociative identity disorder, which is a factual mental illness that makes a person think they multiple personalities aside from his own. And Kevin, in particular, has 23 different ones, and a more dangerous 24th one is ready to be unveiled. I won't say more because any further explanation will spoil the plot of the film, but what I can say is that James McAvoy had one of the most spectacular performance I have ever seen in a film. McAvoy is truly an underrated actor in Hollywood, he is extremely versatile, as proven in this movie, and deserves more leading roles outside of Superhero movies. McAvoy literally played 24 different characters in this film, and sometimes switching character in just a fraction of a second. Other than having a great leading character, the plot of an M. Night Shyamalan film never seizes to surprise you, he is the master of twist endings, and a true storyteller. This film touches a lot of real world subjects, stuff like mental illness, abuse, and what human nature tells us to do when confronted with harsh situations. This film was beautifully shot, and had great sets and designs. That is why, for my final verdict, I give the movie Split 5 out of 5 stars, it is truly one of the top 10 films of 2016.

Photo By | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4972582/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_2

Deadpool

Deadpool starring Ryan Reynolds was one of the most anticipated movies of 2016, and it sure didn't disappoint. This film didn't try to be something it wasn't, compared to a lot of superhero movies that overpromised and under delivered, I'm looking at you Suicide Squad. Deadpool follows the life of Wade Wilson, a low-life mercenary with a witty attitude and a fast mouth. Wade meets a girl who he instantly falls for, and starts to have a romantic relationship with, soon after he gets hit with the news that he has terminal cancer. Wilson tries to find a solution to his problem and stumbles across a fellow who calls himself Ajax. Ajax promises Wilson that he has the solution for his problem and that he wants a human that he can experiment this new solution on. Wilson having no other hope, agrees and has the procedure. He then realizes that Ajax was tricking him, and Ajax reveals that his body will forever be horribly deformed. He then sets out and seeks revenge on Ajax. The movie follows a simple yet effective plot. It doesn't try to ruin it by adding sci-fi elements, and this simplicity is a breath of fresh air to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was beautifully shot, with great cinematography, and the costumes and sets were excellent. But that's not what this movie is all about, the one things that takes it over the top, is the witty comedy that Ryan Reynolds brings to the character of Wad Wilson, I can't imagine any other actor in Hollywood, who could have played this part like Reynolds did. More Marvel movies should take a page out of Deadpool's book, because audiences around the world loved the iteration of the character.  And that is why, for my final verdict I award Deadpool with 4.9 out of 5 Baby hands!

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War Dogs

War Dogs starring Miles Teller and Jonah Hill is a film directed by Todd Philips. This story follows David Packouz (Miles Teller and Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill), in their escapades of being illegal arms dealers that sell to the U.S. government. There is a lot of good things to say about this film, and an equal amount of bad things to say. First things first, this film is loosely based on true events, I say loosely because like in all movies that state that they're "based on a true story," the stuff is overly dramatized, and skewed. This film tells a classic tale of a protagonist down on his luck who tries to turn his luck around by engaging in nefarious activities, eventually leading to his downfall. Miles Teller did a great job in this movie, he is a great young actor, who is proving his versatility to everyone in Hollywood. His character is believable, and relates to the average Joe who is in a rut. throughout the entire movie he sticks to his guns, no pun intended, and doesn't go out of his way to be noticed on screen, he lets the dialogue speak for itself. That brings me to Jonah Hill, unlike Teller, Jonah stands out in this movie, and in consequence makes his character unbelievable, thus breaking the viewers suspension of disbelief. I'm not saying Hill is a bad actor in general, but his choice of acting in this film was not a smart move to say the least. The story in general had a good premise, it was interesting and kept the viewers curiosity till the end. This could have been a classic film, if it wasn't for the poor casting decisions, but on the flip side, the cinematography of this film was excellent, the sets were beautiful, the costumes were accurate to the time, and some of the suspenseful scenes, really had you clinching your fists. Overall, the story was there, the characters were decent enough, and the way in which the movie was filmed was overall great, so for my final verdict, I award War Dogs 4 out of 5 Kalashnikov.

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