Day 192: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

When I first heard about the film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I was excited to see it because of the acronym WTF. So it’s safe to say that I thought this would be a laugh out loud comedy considering it stars Tina Fey (Sisters). Fey stars as Kim Baker, a desk jockey at a news station that takes a job in Afghanistan to try and see if she can change her life or the better. What she doesn’t account for is all the difficult choices she’ll have to make when she is over there from dealing with relationships, the culture differences, and other war time journalists. The film also stars Margot Robbie (The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Tanya Vanderpoel, Martin Freeman (Captain America: Civil War) as Iain MacKelpie, Alfred Molina (Raiders Of The Lost Arc) as Ali Massoud Sadiq, Christopher Abbott (A Most Violent Year) as Fahim Ahmadzai, Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa) as General Hollanek, Nicholas Braun (How To Be Single) as Tall Brian, Stephen Peacocke (Me Before You) as Nic, Evan Jonigkeit (X-Men: Days Of Future Past) as Specialist Coughlin, Josh Charles (Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead) as Chris, Sheila Vand (A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night) as Shakira Khar, and the film was directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.

As I said above, I originally thought that the film was going to be a laugh out loud comedy, but what I didn’t expect from it was all the drama. It’s kind of a very serious movie especially for Tina Fey’s character who is on a journey of discovery. She feels as though that she has wasted too much time in her life and she feels that she should be able to do so much more. That is essentially why she takes the job in Afghanistan because otherwise you’d have to be crazy to do so. Margot Robbie who’ll be playing Harley Quinn this summer in Suicide Squad looked fantastic in the film and she actually does a good job with the role she was given. Martin Freeman was a very good addition to the film as he made the film more interesting. The cinematography was great in the film even though the story could have been a little bit better in my opinion. I get that the film had some elements of feminism in the film in the form of empowering women considering it takes place in a country that does not allow women to do much. You can’t really watch the film for anything else other than that. It’s a decent film that you can afford to watch once and call it a day. I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.

Day 105: Secret In Their Eyes (2015)

One of the things I look for when picking a movie to watch is whether the film has a great cast that catches my eye. The other thing that would attract me to a film is whether or not I liked the story. That was definitely the case with today’s film Secret In Their Eyes, the crime drama directed by Billy Ray (Breach). The film stars Chiwetelu Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) as Ray Kasten, a former FBI investigator whose been hell bent on solving a murder case for the last 13 years of his life. Ray’s best friend and fellow colleague Jess (Julia Roberts) discover the body of her daughter in a dumpster next to a mosque that they are investigating. Unfortunately, the killer remained at large and Ray hasn’t been able to let it go until he could solve it or will he? The film also stars Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge!) as Claire Sloan, Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) as Bumpy, Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2) as Morales, Joe Cole (Offender) as Marzin, Michael Kelly (Now You See Me) as Reg Siefert, Zoe Graham (Boyhood) as Carolyn Cobb, Lyndon Smith (The Forger) as Kit, and Don Harvey (Die Hard 2: Die Harder) as Fierro.

What is funny is when the film came out in the cinemas, I had no desire to see this movie at the time. I don’t know what made me change my mind when I was in front of the Redbox kiosk, but I chose the film. I have to say that I don’t regret the decision to watch the film because it was one heck of a cast first of all. The twist at the end of the film is also when that you won’t see coming, but you’ll finally understand the title of the film. Going into this film, I did not realize that this was the American adaptation (or remake) of the 2009 Oscar winning best foreign film El secreto de sus ojos. I love how during the film, it switches from being in the present one minute and into the past for a little while and vice versa. It’s like it’s giving you the backstory with the current story to keep you intrigued and see how badly the characters have aged because of it. That was definitely a great selling point for me was to see how desperate one is to solve the case while others either want it buried or it’s just too hard to bring up after so many years. Chiwetelu Ejiofor is by far one of the stars of the film, his performance is absolutely superb, but Nicole Kidman also deserves some kudos. The two of them had some great on screen chemistry which made the film work. For me, I think that is the appealing part of the film is the actors because without them, I don’t know how good this film would have been. That is why I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade. Check it out for yourselves today.