For Director Adam Mckay, I found “Vice” to be one his most serious movies he has ever directed. He went from directing comedy to drama. I remember his last film, “The Big short” (2015) was somewhat serious as well, but had some laughing moments, however there is rarely anything funny or charming about “Vice.” If the trailers make it seem like it is an entertaining movie to watch on Christmas day, it is entertaining for those who are deep into politics. Not so much for those who are not into politics.

Christian Bale is Dick Cheney, Amy Adams is Lynne Cheney, Steve Carell is Donald Rumsfeld, and Sam Rockwell is George W. Bush. The film’s main focus is Dick Cheney, and follows through his days leading up to his position of being the Vice President To George W. Bush. The jumps back and forth a couple of times between Cheney’s younger days, his relationship with his wife and Rumsfeld, and a couple of other global events. However, the movie does not focus deeply into the politics, I found that the element of the movie was mostly focusing on Cheney’s appearances, his power, and his attitude. Not as deep as “The Big Short.”

However, the health problems of Cheney comes up a decent amount of times in the movie. Bale has done multiple transformations and sacrifices for a variety of his roles. Before watching “Vice” I was reading that Bale had to learn how to ad-lib for the role, and also know the political backgrounds of what Cheney actually dealt with. Bale also put on 45 pounds to play Cheney. This is not the only time he has gained weight for a role. He gained weight for “American Hustle” (2013), and then lost it again to perform in different flicks. Bale is the master at changes and appearances.

For Carell, I found he did an excellent job at playing the role of Rumsfeld. He has the nerd features and the seriousness in him. However, his role was fairly brief.

Rockwell’s role of Bush did fit him somewhat. However, I felt there was not a lot of work done on Rockwell’s character to make him look similar to George W. Bush, but he played the part well. The self-centered, snarky, and opinionated tone Rockwell was successful with.

Mckay also did the writing for “Vice.” I will say I was able to tell he did the writing because it had some similar approaches in introductions and jumping to new scenes. That is because Mckay would have words listed or quotes listed in different moments to introduce a new event in the film. However, I still found the political background to be lacking.

Overall, “Vice” is not one of my favorite movies. I also would not recommend it as a film to watch on Christmas if you are trying to find something that is positive. This is a good movie if viewers do not mind some negative events, negative words, or negative content.  Two and a half stars.

This has been a big year for Lucas Hedges. He has done a variety of brilliant performances this year. Three independent films that have all been Oscar-worthy. From “Mid 90s,” “Boy Erased,” and now “Ben is Back.” “Ben is Back” held me on the edge of my seat. The film is fearless, touching, and definitely one I find to be one of the best films of the year. Julia Roberts plays a mother that will do anything to protect her son.

The film follows a nineteen-year-old named Ben Burns (Hedges), a boy who has struggled with drug addiction for quite sometime, but has decided to go spend time with his family for Christmas. Holly Burns (Roberts) is convinced that her son is doing alright, but she is not too sure. As the 24 hours progresses, Ben’s negative pasts starts to come back and haunt him with negative acquaintances and damage being done on his families properties. Ben wants his past behaviors behind him, however, Holly believes she must help ben pursue who is after him and what has to be done to be sure he is safe.

When I saw “Ben is Back” at Landmark Century Centre Cinema downtown, I found myself feeling the emotions as everyone else in the auditorium with me. We were all deep in thought with the film. Jaws were dropped and some people started to cry. Especially in a moment where Roberts asks Hedges, “Where do you want me to barry you,” that created an emotional setting that was quite deep for the people watching the film and myself.

Hedges does a really good job at trying to explain to his mother and his family that he wants to be a sober kid. By doing so, he does all he can to not be aggressive, violent, or deceitful. However, as his negative actions slowly start to come back to him, his urges start to build up again. The director Peter Hedges (Lucas’s real father) does a good job with this directing element as he is also the writer of “Ben is Back.”

The director also directed “Pieces of April” (2003), “Dan in Real Life” (2007), and “The Odd Life of Timothy Green” (2012). When connection I found with “Ben is Back” connects to both “Pieces of April” and “Dan in Real Life.” That connection being parents wanting to reconnect with their children after being estranged or have struggled with past issues. “Ben is Back” definitely takes the cake with that element as Roberts is truly heroic.

“Ben is Back” was probably a film that I could only watch once. I left the theater amazed, but also slightly saddened by it. However, I give “Ben is Back” four stars.