Film reviews

Sharper Review

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Sharper is another name for a swindler, especially at cards. In the movie Sharper, there is a whole lot of that going on. Directed by Benjamin Caron, the film blends con artists with a mixture of other characters in a way that is genius and enticing.

Sharper begins with a manager of a bookstore, Tom (played by Justice Smith). He meets a girl, Sandra (played by Briana Middleton), who seems to be a hardworking student, and they find romance rather quickly. Things change when Sandra tells Tom she has a brother with criminal problems who also owes someone money. Tom offers to help Sandra, but she leaves to make money (supposedly) for her brother.


The film continues with Sandra, and there is more to her story than the we realize. Her life is a web of unexplained behaviors and situations. Sandra meets Max (played by Sebastian Stan), and he offers to show Sandra how to be a con artist. After this, Sharper continues down a dangerous road. Max meets a woman, Madeline (played by Julianne Moore), who is supposedly his mother. Madeline has a new man, Richard (played by John Lithgow), who is a wealthy entrepreneur. Max acts like he has lots of problems, but his problems are a lie and Madeline knows it—but what does Richard know? What does anyone know about each other in this film? What’s true and what’s a lie? The theme of Sharper is to trust no one.

Each character in Sharper has an ego, an addiction, or a resentment with someone. The tensions and secrets continue to stir the pot. Is Max really who he claims to be? Is Sandra who she claims to be? Is Madeline who she claims to be? Audiences will not know who can be believed, and everyone is a liar on some level. The con artists also present themselves as high-class, but they are actually anything but high-class.

The full picture of Sharper is hard to explain, but the complexity is one of the things that makes it heart-pounding. The lies, improvisations, and deceit are never ending. Tom, Sandra, Max, Madeline, and Richard all intertwine in a world of creative lies in their attempt to profit, and their lies take them down a dangerous slope of irreparable consequences. This clever and dangerous puzzle of a film makes for a stellar masterpiece. Four stars for Sharper.

Film reviews

Full Time Review

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Full Time is a compelling and overwhelming movie about being a committed parent coping with continuous stress. The realistic story has empathy and meaning.  There is no easy way out of the hard moments in Full Time. The film takes place in France and the focus is on a mother, Julie Roy (played by Laure Calamy). Julie has two young children and works as a lead housekeeper at a five-star hotel in Paris. She is always on the go and working hard to keep a roof over their heads. She never seems to get a break due to overdue bills, overdrafts, and home maintenance issues. The national transit strikes in Paris only add to Julie’s problems.

In Full Time, the strikes cause Julie to hit her breaking point. The opening of the film starts with Julie’s heavy breathing as she wakes up to start her day. From that point on, the audience will learn why her breathing is so heavy. She is pushing her limits to work, make changes, but also dealing with the constant trial and error that surrounds her life. I was astounded by the poetic energy of the stressors that kept coming at Julie because they were so real and spellbinding.

As the strikes continue, the stress and frustrations mount. Her boss, Sylvie (played by Anne Suarez), starts to get annoyed and concerned with Julie’s behavior as she is at the end of her fuse. She is showing up late and is not on her A game. Julie exclaims, “They can’t fire me for being late during a strike!”  Julie struggles to keep her personal problems at home which results in bringing her problems to work due to her lack of sleep and little support with her children.

Julie has a chance for a better job. However, her underlying problems and the strikes impact her chances of being hired and even her ability to display professionalism. The strikes create exhausting episodes for Julie, but that does not stop her from giving every opportunity a shot. Julie is a go-getter on many levels. She is beyond Full Time given how much she continues the effort for her children and herself.

Full Time gives us hope that Julie has a chance to succeed. for Julie. The issues she faces are detrimental and vivid.  The film is in-depth and realistic in terms of portraying parenting responsibilities. It reminded me how people do what they do best in good times and bad for the ones they love.

Julie loves her children deeply. But can she find more support? Can she find a better job? Will the national transit strikes ever end? Full Time is a graphic portrait of what life can be like for a single parent. The movie makes it clear that it is no picnic for any parent.

Full Time is a nerve-wracking experience. Julie faces much frustration in her aggravating ride as a single mom. The consistency of the pressures in Full Time are mind-boggling. Julie finds herself at risk of losing her current job. She also has anxiety worrying if she will be hired elsewhere or not. Deep down Julie is a good mom and a wonderful person, but she keeps getting thrown curveballs. Full Time is a meaningful film that shows what someone can do when they strive for a better life. Four stars.

Film reviews

Knock at the Cabin Review

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“My secret to all casting, and specifically kids, is cast good human beings.”
-M Night Shyamalan


These words from director M. Night Shyamalan hold true to many of his films, including Knock at The Cabin. Almost every character in the film seems to be a good person, and even the bad people have some good traits. The film has a premise that is startling and creative, and the characterizations are clever if somewhat off. The film lacks somewhat in its moments of terror and suspense, though, and the approach to its premise is cheesy. I also often had to ask myself where the film’s danger was going.

Knock at The Cabin has a setting that is typical for a film by Shyamalan—a cabin that is out in the middle of nowhere—like Signs (2002) and The Village (2004). It was also filmed, like some of his previous films, in areas surrounding New Jersey. Many of Shyamalan’s projects take place around the east coast because that’s where he lives and he doesn’t like to fly.

Knock at the Cabin begins with a girl, Wen, played by Kristen Cui, catching bugs and putting them in a jar. She has traveled to the cabin with her two dads, Eric and Andrew, played by Jonathan Groff and Ben Alridge. Wen is approached by a man named Leonard, played by Dave Bautista, and Wen, Eric, and Andrew soon find themselves being taken hostage by Leonard and his gang. The rest of Leonard’s gang are Sabrina, played by Nikki Amuka-Bird, Redmond, played by Rupert Grint, and Ardiane, played by Abby Quinn. The gang kidnaps them to help reverse an apocalypse. The crazy part of the situation is that the criminals try to remain friendly, but Wen, Eric, and Andrew are all scared for their lives, because they don’t know whether the apocalypse is a hoax or not.

Though the setup and the dialogue is a little hokey, it is also rather intriguing. But it’s hard to take the characters seriously in this odd film. Leonard is a very calm kidnapper, and Groff and Aldridge are a gay couple who are scared, but also kind of oblivious of the situation. I even found myself not following the situation at various points in the film. One of the problems is that the apocalypse doesn’t have a strong elaboration or foundation. It almost seemed that the apocalypse is just present on the back burner, so the film can create strange tensions among the characters.

I don’t want to elaborate too much on the apocalypse in the film, except to say that it’s not a common apocalypse, and it’s relatable to the world today. It also has fragments of strange fantasies mixed in with it. Fantasies in a film by Shyamalan tend to have meaning, and there is meaning to the fantasies in Knock at the Cabin. But again, the foundation for the apocalypse is lacking in the film.

Shyamalan has a gift as a filmmaker, and Knock at the Cabin is not terrible, but it’s not great either. It’s better than some of his previous films, but still lacks in quality. The film does have many surprises, and it can be suspenseful in a funny way. And as mentioned, the characterizations are off, but the film is still relatively fun and creative. Two and a half stars for Knock at the Cabin.

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