I walked in with not the highest expectations for “Green Book.” I left feeling positive though. “Green Book” is definitely one of my favorite films of the year. Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali both deliver knockout performances. It is funny, charming, and will make viewers cry. I will say director Peter Farrelly has been stepping up his game with his directing, because “Green Book” was a masterpiece.

Tony Lip (Mortensen) is an Italian-American bouncer that does his job at a night club. However, the night club is going into renovations and this leaves Lip out of the job and he is desperate to find work support his kids and his wife. Lip finds an offer to be a driver for a wealthy pianist named Don Shirley (Ali) who is African-American. Shirley hires Lip to drive him on his concert tour across the states in the Deep South. Once Lip accepts the job, he realizes the types of problems in his society and Shirley’s society have upon them. Lip and Shirley’s attitudes towards each other are challenged, they disagree about life, politics, and responsibilities. Those conflicts, however, start to bring them close together as friends. They slowly begin to realize they both are talented in different areas but can relate to one another. That aspect will change their lives.

This movie brought me to realize how friends are made, and what we respect about our friends. The connections between Mortensen and Ali is quite enthralling, where it will encourage its audience to not envy other people’s talents. I find the main message of the movie is to think to about what talents people have to offer the world. For Lip, it is being humorous and charming, and for Shirley it is being a skillful pianist. Both are talented among so many levels and they start to respect that about one another. That is why I love “Green Book” it encourages people to be positive and supportive.

Peter Farrelly is talented at making movies about friendship when it comes to comedy. After directing the “Dumb and Dumber” movies, and many other films, they have geared on friendships, but in a comedic way. This is the first film by Farrelly that is a serious film (still gearing on friendship though).

Also, in terms of Mortensen’s performance, I had no idea Mortensen could act the way he did in “Green Book.” I am so use to seeing Mortensen playing intense and violent characeters in a majority of his movies, but he can definitely play someone humorous. He went from playing the hero Aragorn from “The Lord of the Rings” series to playing the laid-back and hysterical Italian man in “Green Book.”

I will say, I was impressed with “Green Book.” I really hope that the director continues to make Oscar-worthy movies like this. This one is definitely one I will remember for a long time. Four stars.

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.