NativeGuilt's Movie Reviews

When I think of my wife, I always  think of her head.   I picture cracking her lovely  skull, unspooling her brain, trying to get answers.  The primal questions of a marriage: What are you thinking?   How are you  feeling?    What have we done to each  other?  Directed:   David Fincher ( The Social Network, Fight Club, Se7en, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ) Original Novel and Screenplay by:   Gillian Flynn Original Score:   Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross ( Watchmen [2019], The Social Network, Book of Eli, Soul ) Cinematographer:   Jeff Cronenweth ( The Social Network, Fight Club, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ) Editor:   Kirk Baxter ( The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network ) Production Designer:  Donald Graham Burt  ( Hostiles, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network ) Genre:   Drama, Mystery, Thriller MPAA Rating: R, for a scene of bloody violence, some strong se...

A linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world. Directed:   Denis Villeneuve ( Blade Runner: 2049, Dune: Part I & II, Sicario ) Original Novel by:   Ted Chiang ( Story of Your Life ) Writer:   Eric Heisserer ( Bird Box ) Original Score:   Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario, The Theory of Everything, Prisoners) Cinematographer:   Bradford Young ( When They See Us, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Selma ) Editor:   Joe Walker ( Dune: Part I & II, Blade Runner: 2049, Sicario, 12 Years a Slave ) Production Designer:  Patrice Vermette  ( Dune: Part I & II, Vice, Sicario, Prisoners ) Genre:   Drama, Sci-Fi MPAA Rating:   PG-13 for brief strong language Staring:        Amy Adams   as Louise Banks      Jeremy Renner  as Ian Donnelly      Forest Whitaker  as Colonel Weber Plot I used to think this was the...

Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.  Written & Directed:   Frank Darabont ( The Green Mile ) Original Novel by:   Stephen King  ( Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ) Original Score:   Thomas Newman ( Scent of a Woman, The War, Meet Joe Black, WALL-E, & so much more ) Cinematographer:   Roger Deakins  ( Blade Runner 2047, Skyfall, 1917, A Beautiful Mind, and so much more ) Editor:   Richard Francis-Bruce  ( Se7en, The Green Mile ) Production Designer:  Terence Marsh  ( The Green Mile, Clear and Present Danger, Spaceballs, A Bridge Too Far ) Genre:   Drama MPAA Rating:   R, For language and prison violence Starring:        Tim Robbins   as Andy Dufresne      Morgan Freeman   as Red      Bob Gunton   as Warden Norton      Clancy Bro...

Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life. Directed:   Gus Van Sant Writers:   Matt Damon & Ben Affleck  (The Town, The Last Duel) Original Score:   Danny Elfman  ( Spider-Man, Nightmare Before Christmas, kinda a lot ) Cinematographer:   Jean-Yves Escoffier  (Music Video for  Johnny Cash's "Hurt" ) Editor:   Pietro Scalia  ( The Martian, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Solo, Kick Ass ) Production Designer:  Missy Stewart  ( Legally Blond ) Genre:   Drama, Romance MPAA Rating:   R,  For strong language, including some sex-related dialogue Starring:        Matt Damon  as Will      Robin Williams  as Sean      Ben Affleck  as Chuckie      Stellan Skarsgård  as Professor Lambeau      Minnie Driver  as Skylar Plot One of these day...

REPLICANTS  are bioengineered humans. Designed by Tyrell Corporation for use off-world. Their enhanced strength made them ideal slave labor.   After a series of violent rebellions, their manufacture became prohibited and Tyrell Corp went bankrupt.   The collapse of ecosystems in the mid 2020s led to the rise of industrialist Niander Wallace, whose mastery of synthetic farming averted famine.   Wallace acquired the remains of Tyrell corp and created a new line of replicants who obey.   Many older model replicants — Nexus 8s with open-ended lifespans — survived. They are hunted down and 'retired'.   Those that hunt them still go by the name...   BLADE RUNNER Have you ever been in an institution? Cells. Directed:   Denis Villeneuve  (Prisoners,  Arrival, Sicario, Dune & Dune: Part 2 ) Inspired by:   Philip K. Dick ( Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ) Writers:   Hampton Fancher  (Blade Runner) & Michael Green (Loga...

Early in the 21st Century, THE TYRELL CORPORATION advanced robot evolution into the NEXUS phase - a being virtually identical to a human - known as a Replicant . The NEXUS 6 Replicants were superior in strength and agility, and at least equal in intelligence, to the genetic engineers who created them. Replicants were used Off-World as slave labor, in the hazardous exploration and colonization of other planets. After a bloody mutiny by a NEXUS 6 combat team in an Off-World colony, Replicants were declared illegal on earth - under penalty of death. Special police squads - BLADE RUNNER UNITS - had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, any trespassing Replicant. This was not called execution. It was called retirement. Directed:   Ridley Scott  ( The Martian, Gladiator, Alien, American Gangster, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, & so much more ) Original Novel by:   Philip K. Dick ( Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ) Writers:   Hampton Fancher & David Peop...