Bumblebee movie review

 

Bumblebee is a prequel to the Transformers universe set in 1987. It begins during a civil war on Cybertron the home planet of transformers. Autobot resistance leader Optimus prime (Voiced by Peter Cullen)  after being almost defeated sends his young lieutenant, B-127 (Voiced by Dylan O'Brien)  to Earth in order to establish a base for them to reinforce and fight back to claim their planet back from the Decepticons.
    B-127 crash lands on a military training ground and he was chased by the officers led by an army general (Played by John Cena) who saw him as a threat to Earth. He was followed by two Decepticons who fought him and destroyed his voice box. 
     

Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), one of the main characters in this movie is an 18 year old girl who is trying to cope with the death of her father finds B-127 in a junkyard in the form of an old yellow Volkswagen beetle which she fixed and took home. Later in her garage,  the beetle transforms into a robot that she names Bumblebee.
  Charlie becomes friends with Bumblebee and hides him from her family but he was discovered by her neighbor Memo (Jorge Landeborg Jr) who has been trying to ask her out but she hardly notices him.  After
a while, the twoDecepticons named Shatter (Angela Basset)  and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) who chased him before finds out that he is still alive and  they came back  to Earth. They trick the U. S government and the military uniform into believing that Bumblebee is a fugitive and the government agents help them track him by giving the aliens access to their satelite.
   

 This adventure /action movie features less violence, language and sex than the previous transformers movies. It still contains huge fight scenes. There is explosive destruction and weapons are used.  There is few use of "damn" and "shit". Charlie  plays a courageous role as the lead character.  The themes in this movie are those of courage, friendship and teamwork. Although there was no need for this prequel it exceeds the expectations of the viewers and it is considered to have the best storyline out of the other transformer movies. 
     It is directed by Travis Knight and was released on 21st December 2018. It is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence and it runs for 113 minutes. 

The Kissing Booth

The kissing booth is adapted from a popular E book with the same name written by Beth Reekles.  It tells the story of two best friends Elle (Joey King)  and Lee (Joel Courtney).  Their mothers were best friends until Elle lost her mother.  Elle and Lee were brought up together like twins especially because they were born on the same day.
     Elle and Lee love to hang out together and they love to dance.  They created a list of rules to keep their friendship and make it last long. That rule includes no dating of each others family members  but Elle has a huge crush on Lee's older brother Noah( Jacob Elordi).  In order to keep her friendship with Lee,  she ignores her feelings for Noah.  Their school's spring carnival comes and Elle and Lee decides to run a kissing booth and guess who Elle's first customer is.  Of course it's Noah.  They kiss and their feelings for each other becomes stronger and more obvious to them. 

       Elle knows that Noah is off limits if she wants to keep her friendship with Lee but she can't pass off the opportunity of dating her lifelong crush. Elle and Noah begin to date in secret for a while and Lee suspects that Elle is hiding something from him.  The secret love affair was brought to an end when Lee caught Elle and Noah kissing.  Elle is left to decide what is more important to her love or friendship .
       The kissing booth is a teen romantic comedy that lives up to the expectations set by the title.  There is A LOT of kissing and scenes with Elle and Noah making out briefly. Elle appears in her underwear a couple of times including a scene where she struts around in a locker room filled with guys with nothing but her underwear.  There are scenes of teenagers partying and drinking.  There is implied sex when Elle and Noah start dating  they wake up outside close to the Hollywood sign covered with blankets and Elle is seen buying condom once. 

     There are violent scenes in this movie. Noah gets into multiple fist fights. He gets aggressive and controlling with Elle. He scares other guys from asking her out. He shouts at her and one time he even slams his fist on his car out of frustration. Noah acknowledges his anger issues as he admits that he has been to therapy. There is use of foul language.  High school stereotype is present in this movie.
     The forbidden romance brings a lot of teen appeal. Teen romance fans will enjoy this movie like I did.  The messages in this movie are clearly seen and they include but not limited to relationships between siblings, friendship, standing up for yourself,  forgiveness e. t.c It was directed by Vince Marcello and was released on 11th May 2018. It is not rated but I will rate it PG and it runs for 104 minutes. 

Glass movie review

Glass brings together  characters from M. Night Shyamalan's two previous movies "Split" and "Unbreakable ". Unbreakable is about David Dunn (Bruce Willis)  who was the only survivor of a horrible  train crash. He later learned that he is more than the normal human being.  Split is about Kevin Wendell Crumb a mentally ill patient diagnosed with DID.
       Glass begins with David Dunn now popular in philadelphia as a protector/superhero known as "The Overseer" . He works together with his son Joe Dunn (Spencer Treat Clark)  to fight crime in their community.  He tracks down Kevin after he kidnapped four young ladies and locked them up in an abandoned factory.  David frees the girls which made Kevin agitated and the two of them began to fight and they end up being carried away to Raven Hill Memorial Psychiatric Hospital where Elijah Price (Samuel L Jackson)  has been for almost two decades. They meet with Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) and she tries to convince them that they are not superhumans in any way and their actions could be explained.

     Casey (Anya Taylor)  from split is introduced as a from of therapy for Kevin because she is the only one that his identity as the Beast let go without harm. The three men are at war with each other but they are kept in check by strobe lights, high pressured hoses and heavy medication. They are forced to put up with each other or shut up concerning the fight against good and evil.
    In Glass M. Night Shyamalan brings together his vision of Freudian brain in the uncontrolled ideantity of Kevin Crumb who suffers from an identity disorder known as DID, the regulating force of super ego in David Dunn and a moderator between the hero and villain in the ego that is Elijah Price a. K. a Mr Glass.

    Glass was directed and written  by M.  Night Shyamalan and was released on January 18, 2019. It is rated PG 13 for violence including some  bloody images , thematic element and language.  It runs for 110 minutes. 

What men want

 What men want is a comedy inspired by Nancy Meyers What Women Want.  The storyline is about Ali Davis (Taraji. P.  Henson)  a female sports agent who feels she is being overlooked by her male colleagues at work.  After being passed down for a promotion she is convinced that she does not know what men want.
    Ali seeks the help of her girlfriends/bestfriends. Who take her to see a phsychic. Ali was given a psychedelic tea containing marijuana and ecstacy.  After she drank the tea,  Ali and her friends went out for a drink and she hits her head hard which gave her the ability to hear men's private thoughts. Ali hopes to use her new power to sign hot new NBA Draft pick Jamal Marry (Shane Paul McGhie)  and secure the partnership that belongs to her.  But can she really figure out what men want?
 

   This movie is all about female power in a society dominated by men.  The characters drink,  the main character is served a tea with drughs in it.  There is a scene where a doctor uses cocaine at work but he is clean at the end of the movie. There are sex scenes but no explicit nudity. Characters have supportive relationships including a good parent and child relationship.  The themes present in this movie are communication and empathy.
This movie is meets the expectations of the viewers with Henson's  impressive character.  First she learns how to balance her power at work then she expresses her love to her best friends and to will (Aldis Hodge) whom she wants to build a romantic relationship with. The high point of this movie is watching a smart and confident woman in her 40s dominate her career and becomes all that she wants. Ali Davis is a character that most women can relate to.

What men want was directed by Adam shankman and was released Febuary 8, 2019. It is rated R for language and sexual content through out and some drug material.it runs for 117 minutes.

Beautiful Boy.

This is a movie based on a true life story of David and Nicholas Sheff.  Beautiful Boy renacts the story of a young teen who deals with substance abuse and his family tries to save him.  Nicholas (Timothee Chalamet) a troubled teen turned to drugs to feel better and he became addicted to multiple drugs including crystal meth.  He felt that he let his family down but they just wanted to help him better.  Nicholas's family especially his father David (Steve Carrel)  who used to be close to his son but the drugs made Nicholas push everyone away.
 

   Nicholas  went to rehab a couple of times but he kept relapsing and going back to drugs.  His family did not give up on him and they kept trying to help him till they realized that no one can help Nicholas unless he helps himself by choosing to say no to drugs.

   Beautiful Boy is very intense and touching.  It shows how family with victims of substance  abuse deal with them. This movie was expertly acted and it gets it anti-drug message across to its viewers.
  In this movie, expect scenes of Nicholas stealing /popping pills,  preparing drugs witness a spoon and a lighter,  driving under the influence e. t. c.  Characters shout and argue with each other. There is use of strong language.  Two characters nearly die from drug overdose at different times. A scene shows two teens having sex in the shower,  they kiss and moan but there is no explicit nudity.

 
     Beautiful Boy is based on the best selling autobiography by both David and Nicholas Sheff.  It is rated R for drug content through out, language and brief sexual material. It was directed by Felix Van Groeningen.  It was released on October 12, 2018 and runs for 120 minutes.

The real Nicholas and David Sheff. 

A star is born

This 2019 Oscar nominated movie depicts the tale of Jackson (Bradley Cooper)  and Ally (Lady Gaga)  two musicians who fell in love with each other.  Jackson Main (a drunkard and a drug addict) meets Ally  (a talented singer with a lot to say but she lacks confidence ) during her performance at a drag bar and they connected instantly.  They began seeing each other often and they fall in love.  Jack encouraged Ally in her singing by bringing her on stage to perform with him and sometimes he let's her perform alone. 

   

Soon,  Ally begins to write more songs and go on tours with Jack.  A record label producer notices her and encourages her to sign up with his record label which she did after speaking with Jack.  As Ally begins to excel in her music career, Jack's  substance abuse overwhelms him which proved as a risk to their career and relationship.

 

A star is born is one of the big screen take on a tragic love story that talks about the problems with show bursiness/fame and substance abuse.  The others were released in 1937, 1954 and 1976. A lot of drinking and drug abuse is to be expected in this movie. Strong languages especially "Fuck" and "shit" are used in most scenes. This movie has a lot of kissing scenes, few sex scenes and a few instances of partial nudity both in sexual and non sexual context. 

     A star is born is Bradely Cooper's dirctorial debut and it has messages of making your voice heard and the importance of art. It also talks on the topic of substance abuse, mental health, depression and more.  The songs in this movie are great with noticeable chemistry between Lady Gaga and Bradly Cooper.  The movie was released on October 5th 2018 and has won the Academy award and Golden. Globe award.  It is rated R for language, some sexuality and substance abuse. It runs for 135 minutes. 

The boy who harnessed the wind 2019

This movie is based on a true life story of William Kamkwamba (Maxwell Simba) a 13 years old boy in a small village in Malawi.  William created a device that will save his village from famine after a devastating flood ruined their grain fields.
    The story begins not long after  the death of William's uncle.  The federal government were interested in buying the lands of the villagers. Some of them agreed and sold their lands including the son of Williams late uncle. This contributed to the spread of famine after a massive flood in the community.

    William's parents Tyrell (Chiwetel Ejiofor)  and Agnes (Aissa Maiga) tried their best to fund their children's education all to no avail because of the hardship they were facing.  William was an intelligent and gifted student interested in science and electronics.  He sneaked into the library and he read a book about energy and he learnt about wind turbines.  He believes Wind turbines might be able to provide electricity to power an irrigation system to water the barren land in his village .  William faced a lot of obstacles and oppositions in achieving his goal to build the wind turbine and the family strength is put to test.  But with help he succeedes and builds the wind turbine.

      This movie is Oscar nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor's directorial debut and I must say he did very well.  Each character brings to live the story being told which makes it relatable and enlightening. The movie paints a picture of life in an African village in the early 2000s in the minds of the viewers.
    In this movie expect sad moments, deaths, harrasments by government officials, attack by thieves a few curse words like ''damn'' "hell" and "bullshit" are used.  English as well as the Malawian language 'Chewa' are spoken. The message/theme of this movie includes perseverance, courage, curiosity and integrity.  It was released on March 1st 2019 and runs for 113 minutes.  It was directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and written by William Kamkwamba and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

the real William Kamkwamba