What We Did On Our Holiday: Movie Review

Hilarious, genuine, inventive fun.

What We Did on Our Holiday really sneaks up on you. With an insignificant title and a simple premise of a bickering married couple going on vacation with their family, viewers aren’t expecting much more than cute. But it takes less than three minutes for “cute” to turn into unexpectedly hilarious. After an hour, the now expected hilarity turns into inventive fun, but you are never led astray. It is a simple comedy about a bickering family on holiday. It’s also funny, creative, original and heartfelt.		2015 Directed by: Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin Screenplay by: Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin Starring: Rosamund Pike, David Tennant

The Big Short: Movie Review

Fast-talking, fast-cutting cheat-sheet look at the US financial crisis.

The Big Short is a fast-talking, fast-cutting cheat-sheet look at the US financial crisis. Ryan Gosling narrates this movie, and no, it’s not surprising that studio Plan B, Paramount Pictures, and director Adam McKay decided to use one of the most handsome, ridiculously charismatic and most popular actors on the planet to introduce us to the world of banking, mortgages and houses defaulting. Highly technical finance and economics leading to a tragic ending can only be entertaining with people like Gosling, Christian Bale and Steve Carell.		2015 Directed by: Adam McKay Screenplay by: Charles Randolph, Adam McKay Based on the book by Michael Lewis Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling

Joy: Movie Review

Entertaining bio-pic of the human spirit - flaws and all.

Joy is the story of Joy Mangano – a literal rags-to-riches story of a broke, single mother of two who took the business world, and Home Shopping Network, by storm. And that type of story needs to be in the hands of frantic director David O. Russell and his actress collaborator Jennifer Lawrence. Two people, who arguably (tenuous argument) have lived that type of story and know how to bring it to the big screen with the ferocious comedic energy that it needs.		2015 Directed by: David O. Russell Screenplay by: David O. Russell and Annie Mumolo Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Edgar Ramirez