Actress Aubrey Plaza has been an actress that is one of a kind. She has that killer attitude with a dangerous instinct. Plaza also has a daring personality to play roles that are deceiving with irreparable consequences. In her performance in Emily the Criminal, she is spot on with being a risk-taker, and making the big bucks for criminal activity. Emily the Criminal is breathtaking and engrossing, and Plaza is the bad girl that has got a lot of debt to pay. She will do what she can make the big bucks, even if it means jail time. Emily the Criminal is a race for big bucks, but also a race to remaining undercover while doing criminal operations.

Many of these films are ones that audience would expect gun violence and explosions, but it has none of that. It has some violence, but the suspense is tension and realizations. Emily The Criminal is unique in its setup and its motives behind Plaza’s performance. That is because the performance of Plaza is filled with harsh decisions and putting herself in dangerous situations on numerous occasions. Her motivation is money and paying off her debts. The only question it has for its audience is if she can make it out alive? She may be setup with her operations; however, she is unstoppable.

In the film, Plaza is Emily. She is someone working in a catering business in Los Angeles for low pay and trying to find ways to pay off her student debt. The downside is that she has a negative background which causes her to not be eligible for jobs that pay well. With a lack of college education, and many negative background reports, Emily finds herself in constant anger and frustration. All this changes though when she meets Youcef (played by Theo Rossi). Youcef runs a credit card scam operation and shows Emily the ropes for fraud to make bank. From there, Emily becomes hooked on the fraud operations because of how much her pay increases as she keeps doing the risky jobs that Youcef assigns her.

The film had me in excitement and hysterics. That is because Emily finds herself to be harmed by what she is doing for a job. She even risks the chance of being robbed or facing jail time. The crazy part is that still motivates her to keep taking on the dangerous tasks that she has an opportunity for. The film is setup in the con artist sense. The score keeps growing for Emily. The main tactic though Emily is to remain under the radar. Youcef helps her to remain under the radar. Problem though, is one error can lead to prison. Emily and Youcef can even fall into other kinds of trouble with other criminal masterminds. Emily The Criminal builds tension among how Emily keeps moving forward in working with Youcef.

The main scenario of Emily the Criminal (which I love) is taking risks. The fraud operations Emily learns is dazzling. The realizations of what can go wrong is endless, and Emily will only keep going to make bank. Emily the Criminal is spellbinding in the sense of technological schemes with the chance of going awry. The crazy part is the chance of that is high.

Emily the Criminal is vivid. Not exactly a masterpiece, but a thriller that is different with hidden gems. I loved the performance of Plaza along with the direction the film takes as she takes the dangerous jobs. Emily the Criminal is one of those thrillers where I did not want the tense situations to calm down, I wanted them to keep rising. Three stars for Emily the Criminal.

What makes a spy thriller spectacular and engrossing is a stellar cast that can take action to new heights, and a unique and interesting premise. The Gray Man has both of those elements.

With Ryan Gosling as Court Gentry, Ana De Armas as Court’s old friend and assistant Dani Miranda, Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen, and Billy Bob Thornton as Donald Fitzroy, The Gray Man has the brilliant minds it needs for a thrilling adventure with unexpected surprises. And its plot makes it one of the most immersive action films from Netflix that I have seen in a long while.

The plot of The Gray Man is that Gentry, whose CIA code name is Sierra Six or just “Six”, is a free lance spy and assassin who has spent most of his life in prison. Gentry is hired by Fitzroy to be a hired gun and a guard, and Fitzroy also enlists Hansen for a bounty hunt mission. Despite his past, Gentry is a good guy in the film and he faces all kinds of peril as his world collides with people out to get him. Hansen, who turns out to be a bad guy, has no idea what Gentry is capable of and he doesn’t know what Court’s assistant, Miranda, is capable of either. The conflicts explode into global catastrophes in cities all over of Europe, but the only issue that matters with The Gray Man is that either Gentry or Hansen must accept defeat. Of course neither of them want that in this joy ride of fun and explosions.

There is a point in the film where Gentry, explaining how he got the code name Six, says, “007 was taken.” I say that The Gray Man takes the spy thriller genre beyond 007, to more and better enemies and to uncharted territory. The Gray Man is like a bread trail, a cat and mouse game, among all the characters—it can be hard to figure out who to trust. I don’t always pull for the “good guys”, but I found myself rooting for Gentry, along with Fitzroy and Dani Miranda, instead of Hansen.

Directors Anthony and Joe Russo show in The Gray Man that they know how to put together an entertaining puzzle of catastrophe. The film goes full throttle from the start, and the surprises keep coming. The constant blindsiding with the characters will blow the audiences’ minds, and the fun grows with each twist and turn. The Gray Man is from Netflix and it will go to that platform after its theater run. Both formats will be fun, but I recommend the big screen experience. Four stars for The Gray Man. 

Patton Oswalt is an actor with a fun sense of humor and a loving attitude. In his newest feature I Love My Dad, he delivers the performance of being a risktaker. Not one for bad terms, but one for reconnection. I Love My Dad is a dark comedy that is clever with its deceit methods. The film itself though displays positive vibes between its characters despite the risks of Oswalt’s character. I found I Love My Dad to be inspiring. The estrangement concept of the film is a reminder of why it is important to remain close to the ones we love, even in challenging times.

The concept of estrangement in I Love My Dad is a heavy feeling for Oswalt’s character. The film is quirky, but in the lighthearted and connecting sense. The theme of mental health and disconnect between father and son is the central problem of the film. Oswalt displays the moods of being a father that is both angry and depressed by feeling shunned by his son. I found myself to have some positive laughs at the way Oswalt can display his grouchy self. Despite the hard concept of the film, Oswalt always finds a way to throw some laughs with his films or his characters.

In I Love My Dad Oswalt is Chuck. His son is Franklin, and he is played by James Morosini. Chuck and Franklin have always struggled to see eye-to-eye. Franklin has been in and out of mental health programs, and Chuck has been dismissed from Franklin’s life. That all changes though when Chuck comes across a girl at a diner. Her name is Becca, and she is played by Claudia Sulewski. Chuck realizes that with Becca being a cute girl that it can be a way to get his son’s attention. Chuck makes a fake profile with Becca’s picture on it and reaches out to his son from that fake profile which he creates. Franklin is in excitement and feels the girl of his dreams is right there waiting for him. Chuck is in excitement as well, and that is because he is communicating with his son again. He is by pretending to be Becca. Chuck may feel some bonding again, but he does not realize what kind of irreparable consequences can happen if Franklin finds out that it is his father pretending to be Becca.

The covert operation on Chuck’s end in the film has its moments of getting out of hand. There are times where Franklin makes requests in the chats to speak or see Becca, but of course as Chuck being the imposter, he declines. I Love My Dad slowly keeps entering a slippery slope of uncharted territory of emotions for both Franklin and Chuck. For Chuck though, nothing stops him from bonding with his son. That is why he keeps falling into the pattern of pretending to be Becca through the fake social media profile he created. Morosini is also the director, and he knows how to build character chemistry of tension in Oswalt’s performance and his performance as Franklin.

I Love My Dad is a loving and touching film. Despite the deceits and the harshness, it brings the bonding of father and son back. It is a film that is about giving others we love another chance. It also shows how far some go to help their children. Three and a half stars for I Love My Dad.