Gloria Bell (2018)

I am familiar with La Mujer Fantastica, which has a similar use of light and the same enchanting use of music. That was my favorite part. Gloria Bell is a remake of the Chilean film Gloria that I hear is exactly the same, frame for frame, song for song, same crew and all.  I haven't seen the original but I don't really understand why this was necessary except as a vehicle for Julianne Moore. She is excellent and quite funny in a role that is rare for an actress of her age but that's beside the point. Did the director feel compelled to remake his own film in English? Is he saying something about universality?  Was an American audience not willing to watch a more culturally specific movie? Are older white singles really into Earth, Wind and Fire?

Molly's Game (2017)

Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut is very Aaron Sorkin. It runs 140 minutes, and that's with Sorkin-speed speech. Acting in a Sorkin film requires skill. You must memorize your lines by heart so you can spit them back at rapid speed without thinking. That's acting. And it's never easy dialogue. It's brainy. There are unfamiliar words. You gotta become familiar with poker terms and American law. Even for a generally educated person, it can be a little difficult to follow at that pace. But that's what's so great about Aaron Sorkin. He doesn't talk down to you. He pulls you up. He's a smart guy that makes the audience keep up with him. The narrative structure in this movie is a little weird, with Chastain narrating her story in her book being read by her lawyer preparing for court. But it works. Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba are both great Sorkin-actors. Everything comes around full circle. Nothing is forgotten, everything is deliberate. I appreciate that Elba is cast as her lawyer, an smart and articulate and influential black man--the only black man in a story almost exclusively populated by powerful white men. It's tight writing about a strong female lead that doesn't require sex to tell an interesting and intense story. I have a feeling Sorkin will be doing more directing in the future.

The Lego Batman Movie (2017)

The Lego Batman movie is not quite as good as its predecessor. It's still punny. Its humor is of the fast and ridiculous type. And of course, it is knowingly ridiculous. I really enjoyed the first Lego movie, but I wasn't crazy about this one. I think what I really liked was the Will Ferrell twist. In this film, there are tons of references to previous Batman movies and other cultural references galore but they didn't always land for me. Maybe it was just trying to do too much but I didn't find it as enjoyable. Will Arnett is playing a character that is funny but super annoying in my opinion. And I understand that that's just the character, and it plays with kids, but he was getting on my nerves.Whereas Chris Pratt was a fun and playful character that really fit the personality of Lego.