Movie Review: COLLATERAL BEAUTY

Collateral Beauty is the latest Will Smith vehicle, this time directed by The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel. The film is about a guy who is a major player at an advertising agency dealing with the death of his daughter. For risk of spoilers, I cannot say more. The film stars Will Smith, of course, as well as Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris, Jacob Latimore, Kate Winslet, and Helen Mirren. Overall, I thought the film was ok. It surprised me from the outset but did a few things near the end that spoiled much of the enjoyment I did get from the film.

Movie Review: MOONLIGHT

Moonlight is a 2016 film from director Barry Jenkins about a boy (and man) named Chiron who is gay in an environment (a poor, predominantly African-American, area of Miami) where being gay is not safe or socially accepted. Told in three acts covering three different moments in Chiron’s life, this film is an incredible introspective piece that is emotionally powerful, resonant, and complex. This film stars Alex R. Hibbert (Little – 9 year old Chiron), Ashton Sanders (Chiron – teenage years), Trevante Rhodes (Black – adult Chiron), André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Jaden Piner, Naomie Harris, Janelle Monáe, and Mahershala Ali.