It's been a cold, dreary weekend and I'm running low on funds, so when I saw I had a free HBO/Cinemax  weekend, I decided to stay home and "veg out" on several films. Here is what I watched.

1. Gifted- This is a film that has been on my Netflix que for a while now. It tells the story of a brilliant man, raising his niece in Florida. The little girl is a math prodigy, but he just wants to raise her to be a normal, happy kid with good morals and lots of friends. He is raising her, because her mother (another math prodigy), commits suicide and he is afraid his mother will try and raise the little girl like he an his late sister was raised, basically as "human computers" with no outside life and focusing only on academics. When the grandmother tracks them down, the story really begins. This movie was every bit as good as I expected it to be. Chris Evans played the lead role and proved he is much more than just "Captain America". This guy is a really good actor. The little girl who played his niece was excellent as well. The story was captivating, the dialogue was on point and everything just flowed really well. This is my pick so far, as my favorite film of 2017. I highly recommend it. I put it in my top 100 films of all-time.




2. Hidden Figures- This one was recommended to me by my uncle and he was right about it. It is the true story of three brilliant black women in the early 1960's who have low level jobs at NASA. They prove their worth as they work their way up the ranks and become key figures in the first American manned flight in space. This film was not only informative, but it was interesting and brilliantly put together. The acting was fantastic, the cinematography was very well done and the story was excellent. In my opinion, such a film should be shown in every classroom during black history month. This is another movie I highly recommend.



3. The House- This one was as expected. It was another Will Ferrell comedy that was neither good, nor bad. It was forgettable though. There were a couple of spots where I chuckled, but no real LOL moments like the magic that was captured in my favorite Ferrell movie, The Other Guys. Instead, this one just kind of fell flat. If you are a Will Ferrell fan, by all means, watch it, just be sure to keep your expectations to a minimum.



4. November Criminals- I actually got this one in the mail via Netflix. I saw the previews for it and thought it looked quite interesting. I was right. It stars Ansel Elgort and Chloe Grace Moretz as a high school couple who secretly make their own investigation into the murder of a friend who was killed minutes after they left him at work in a coffee house. I was really surprised how much I liked this movie since it was a straight to video release. I thought the direction was good, the acting was solid and for the most part, the story was fairly believable. There were some instances where you wonder why the main character goes off all "half-cocked" into dangerous situations, but when you hear his backstory, it kind of makes sense. I wonder why this movie didn't get a cinematic release? Considering some of the garbage that hits theaters nowadays, this movie was a refreshing change. I recommend you give it a chance.



5. When We First Met- This is a made for Netflix film that just came out. It stars Adam Devine as a guy who was "friend-zoned" by the girl of his dreams and he somehow finds a magic photo booth that propels him back into time, allowing him to try over and over to become the guy that she wants to be with, before she marries another man. I know, I know, the premise sounds ridiculous and it is. The story isn't as bad as you might think though. It's not good, but it's not horrible either. It is, what it is. If you're bored and have nothing else to do, you can give it a watch and be semi-entertained for an hour and a half, but like me, you'll probably forget about it in a week.

---