"I'm not going to Apologize about doing a job that Helps Women in Crisis" Unplanned Review

Unplanned

4.5/5

Directed by: Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon

Rated: R

           Abortion; it's what you think it is. It is likely that everyone has their own understanding and stances on it. Abby Johnson is one woman who like anyone else has her own thoughts and stance on abortion. She worked for eight years within one of the biggest non-profit abortion providing clinical institutions, Planned Parenthood, was honored in her work, promoted to high status and then left all of it. Why? It was a moment; a series of moments coming together. It was one thought; a lifetime of thoughts converging into a belief. The truth of her story is in theatres and what she saw will impact how you see abortion.
           Unplanned stars Ashley Bratcher as Johnson, who excellently portrays the highs and lows of Johnson's career; her victories and her defeats. What stands out most about Bratcher's performance is her eyes, which openly welcome audiences deep into her life story of conflict in her conscience and perseverance in her principles. The quality of Bratcher's performance is matched by the film's other aspects. Scenes are well directed and engaing complimenting the film's captivating screenplay. Though the screenplay features voice-over narration (which most viewers consider a tropic narrative device), Unplanned utilzes this to provide neccessary personal commentary serving to bring audiences deeper into Johnson's experiences as well as their own. Unplanned's imagery is its most thought provoking aspect, asking audiences to question what they consider abnormal/natural or unconventional/commonplace. Though the film does feature minor pacing issues, wherein similar dialogue heavy scenes can make audiences disengage from the film for up to five minutes, Unplanned features no marring or glaring faults with its technical and cinematic aspects. This is impressive, when it is considered which company produced this film.

Abby Johnson's best
selling book "Unplanned"
inspired this film's story.

           Unplanned was produced by Pure Flix, an American production company that primarily produces Christian thought based films. They arrived on the public scene when they released God's Not Dead (2014) which received flack followed by two more sequels and more flack. Pure Flix also produced a lesser known film titled Do You Believe? (2015), which was a mish mash of poorly interwoven character stories. Needless to say Pure Flix produced few worthwhile feature length stories, until in 2016 when they released a bio-graphical feature, I'm Not Ashamed (2016), telling the story of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine High-School shooting of 1999. This movie along with the superior The Case for Christ (2017), the life changing story of journalist Lee Strobel, showed Pure Flix had a knack for adapting compelling real life Christian stories. Pure Flix's growth as a production company is more evident than ever through Unplanned, a mature and provocative bio-graphical film. Having ranked number four in its opening weekend at the box office, Unplanned shows Pure Flix is capable of telling amazing and memorable real life stories.
           Pure Flix's films have always strived to offer relative Christian based commentary on present and important topics. Though Pure Flix's past films have depicted people on one side of a topic as righteous and people on the other side as wicked, Unplanned takes no hard stances on its portrayal of women who have had abortions or have worked in providing abortions. Neither does the film show abortion procedures as being safe or dangerous. Unplanned depicts abortion procedures with a sense of genuine earnestness that does not seek to scare or assure. The film simply desires to relay the truth of Abby Johnson's story. In spite of this film's R rating, this film about the shocking topic of abortion does not play up its possible "shock factor." There are no sudden violent images; no cheap disturbing dream sequences. There is no gore, no anatomy and no profanity. Everything that is visceral and bloody (which there is visceral and bloody imagery) is shown with care, depicted with an authenticity that appears grounded in reality. Unplanned does not want to frighten its audiences. Unplanned wants to shake its audiences and make them think about their stance on abortion and how they will respond to this important topic.

Verdict: Unplanned tells the truth of Abby Johnson's story at Planned Parenthood, with an engaging lead performance and realistic graphic imagery, making it Pure Flix's most mature and compelling film.

"We need to Fail down here, so we don't Fail up There." First Man Review

First Man

4/5

Directed by: Damien Chazelle

Rated: PG-13

           In 2014 director Damien Chazelle made himself a name at the Oscars as the startup writer and director of the psychological thriller about a musician's pursuit of greatness known as Whiplash. Two years later, Chazelle again recieved high remarks around his name for writing and directing the original Hollywood musical smash hit La La Land. Chazelle's recent film moves away from his typical form, by using his directorial prowess to take audiences beyond the stratosphere. With Chazelle's First Man he tells the story of Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, presented as a compelling psychological thriller.
           First Man stars Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong who plays the famous astronaught in a manner that is surprisingly introverted. As Armstrong was not the hotshot pilot most NASA astronaughts were, Gosling's depiction is startingly accurate if not also a little bit offputting. Gosling's counterpart is Claire Foy who portrays Armstong's headstrong wife Janet Armstorng with an indominatble spirit. While Gosling's character is taken to astonishing heights, Claire Foy's remians grounded. Gosling and Foy's characters share a tangible bond stronger than anything they face. This bond is shown strongest when Gosling and Foy are not being husband and wife but Father and Mother. The parental warmth and love these two extend to their two children, played exceptionally well by child actors Luke Winters and Connor Blodgett, is endearing. These scenes of the Armstrong's domestic life show how insane it is that this man, Neil "the neighbor with the pool your kids come over and play in" Armstrong, is going to be the first man on the moon.
           The dangers of putting an ordinary man into space have never appeared as intense and realistic as they do in Chazelle's First Man. These gripping scenes are shot by cinematogprapher Linus Sandgren, whose first person perspective visuals place audiences directly in the claustrophobic and accurately reproduced cockpits of the some of the fastest space crafts to breach Earth's atmosphere. Inside these cockpits anything can go wrong resulting in catastrophic consequences. An electical wire can ignite. A bolt can come undone. The cockpit can start rolling. Anything up there can fail, and when it does only an astronaught's training and their determination is the only thing that can save them. Building upon the dramatic tension in these scenes is Justin Hurwitz's subtle score comprised of unique instruments, such as the otherworldly thermin. This score of slowly intensifying anthems reflecting the characters' mindsets adds vitality and weight to First Man's engrossing atmosphere. This combined with the film's Oscar winning special effects make First Man's space flight scenes thrilling and strenuous for both those in and outside of the film.

An iconic image of Neil Armstrong on the moon.
Source: lights in the dark

           Beyond this film's compellling performances and intense scenes, First Man is remarkably accurate to real life events. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum describe First Man as "the most accurate fictional depiction of human spaceflight in the 1960s ever made," stating that "the care of the director, Damien Chazelle, and his team to respect the integrity of historical events is obvious to anyone with a solid knowledge of the Gemini and Apollo programs." The film's visuals also add historical accuracy to the film, as some of First Man's shots were created directly from historic archive footage. This footage is blended seemlessly with the film's cinematography. This film also features a wide range of interesting fun facts about Armstrong's personal life interspersed across the film. One of which is that Armstrong wrote showtunes for his alma mater, Purdue Univeristy. The film also accurately depicts the public's opinion of NASA and the various protests against NASA, including the reading of a spoken word poem that was written at that time. All of these historical elements are what make Josh Singer's screenplay historically vibrant. In combination with the rest of the phenomenal work put forth by this film's cast and crew, Damien Chazelle's First Man is a great psychologically thrilling piece of cinema. It is a worthy addition to Chazelle's repitoire and it can make audiences wonder where this filmmaker will take them next.

Verdict: Damien Chazelle's First Man is a compellingly performed and directed psychological thriller about Neil Armstrong, the first husband, father and neighbor to ever successfully step on the moon.

"They Always Underestimate the Mastermind." Glass Review

Glass

4/5

Written and Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan

Rated: Pg-13

           David Dunn was an unsuspecting security guard, until he discovered he was unbreakable. Kevin Wendell Crumb's mind features 23 personalities and one beast that made them split. Elijah Price was a broken man without a purpose, until he saw his life through a clearer looking glass. A hero, a monster and a mastermind: these are the urban legends of Philadelphia that appear to be lifted straight from a comic book. Despite their uncanny natures, they live in a real world bound by the rules all humans must live by. Of course, how can they be comic book characters and be real people? They can't be, can they? Are these super-humans among us?
           Glass is writer and director M. Night Shyamalan's conclusion to his unexpected comic book trilogy. Since 2016 when Shyamalan announced he was making this film, fans have been anxiously awaiting this story's debut. In Glass nearly all of Shyamalan's personas from Unbreakable and Split return. Bruce Willis is David Dunn and he makes the most of his heroic character, despite his limited screentime. James McAvoy is the Horde, a human comprised of 23 identities including the calculating Patricia, the unsteady Barry, the nine year old Hedwig and the indomitable Beast. McAvoy holds most of the camera's attention and he plays it up, seamlessly moving from one personality to the next while differentiating them. Topping them all is Samuel L. Jackson once again donning his purple attire and wheelchair as Mr. Glass. Jackson remains on the sidelines, but captivates audiences through his facial ticks and mesmerizing eyes. Jackson might play his character as a washed up nobody, but it is clear Mr. Glass is the center of this story.
           More intriguing than these characters is how these characters are brought together. Shyamalan builds this introspective story one event at a time with each conversation adding a new layer to the film. As these layers increase, the film's characters converge. These characters also represent different archetypes from comic book lore, and it is entertaining seeing who from Shyamalan's films has become a sidekick, a henchman or a love interest. The screenplay plays with comic book lingo and tropes in a way that fans can appreciate. Newcomers may not fully understand Glass' narrative, because most of this film's story elements and plot points are only established in Shyamalan's previous films. Glass can be entertaining, but it's story will sound like jargon to any audience member who does not competently understand these characters' backstories.
           Audiences who were invested in Glass' predecessors will likely find enjoyment in this film. Glass not only references these previous films through its screenplay but also through the film's direction. Certain scenes are accented by musical themes from the previous films. Shyamalan also uses shots and camera angles from the previous films, as visual cues to hearken back to the previous films. Glass blends these familiar shots together with its own storytelling perspective. This film's first half is shot in a generic style mimicking most MARVEL films, while its second half breaks through these visual conventions. This allows Glass' cinematography to illustrate the story through its visual style and tone, which heightens this film's climax.
           Shyamalan's films are most infamous for their surprise endings. Glass features a surprise ending. It is excellently telegraphed through visual cues scattered throughout the film and dialogue interactions that at their time in the film seem unimpressive. Once this film's big twist ending occurs, audiences will likely recall this film's earlier moments and how they were subtly propelling the story to its conclusion. This does not mean audiences will want to watch Glass again, as its ending is incredibly polarizing. Some may think it is a cop-out, while others may congratulate it. Either way, this film's ending is memorable and will leave audiences in awe of Shyamalan's latest film.

Verdict: Uniting Unbreakable and Split, Glass offers an entertaining and introspective experience brought to life by great characters, an engaging screenplay and thought provoking direction.