Something different this week – here are 3 movies I loved. The more movies I watch, the more I notice they tend to fall into the loved or liked category. Is that good choosing on my part, or on the part of my most favourite actors?

Queen Of Katwe

“A Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.” IMDB

I know absolutely nothing about chess. I do not understand the game and I have never taken the time to learn about it. There just always seemed to be other things to do. This is a movie about a girl who becomes a chess champion. So I was quite worried going into this that I would not understand what was going on for much of the time. I should not have worried.

This was truly one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen and I do not mean that in a way like a feast for the eyes, tricky camera angles or amazing photography though there was some great shots in here and I loved the use of colourful costumes and landscapes. I mean beautiful in the story it tells and the people it tells us about. The entire cast is wonderful. David Olewayo and Lupita N’yongo lead a cast of actors who are new to acting but certainly incredibly good at it.

I am a HUGE Lupita fan but my love for her began thanks to her amazing choices fashion wise. Some stars just take the red carpet more seriously than other stars do and Lupita became a fashion icon for me a few years ago when she was nominated for an Oscar for her incredible performance in 12 Years A Slave. She did win it and quite rightly so.

I loved this movie so much, but I particularly loved the ending and then the gorgeous part where they put the actor next to the real person. I cried happy tears, it was so wonderful.

The Girl On The Train

“A divorcee becomes entangled in a missing persons investigation that promises to send shockwaves throughout her life.” IMDB

Wow, this movie got some terrible reviews and I am not quite sure why. Maybe because I came into this knowing absolutely nothing about it, I had not read the book, and I had no expectations at all other than knowing I usually enjoy movies with Emily Blunt in them.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Rebecca Ferguson in this movie, I loved her in The White Queen mini series. Alison Janney snuck in here as a surprise to me as well. I actually really enjoyed this movie. And at one point I looked up at the clock and it was 8:30pm, the next minute I looked up to see an hour had gone by and I had not even noticed it, so entranced and enthralled was I in this story.

I am not going to tell you anything about it at all. My hope is you know as little as I did if and when you see this.

Black Mass

“The true story of Whitey Bulger, the brother of a state senator and the most infamous violent criminal in the history of South Boston.” IMDB

So the thing with Johnny Depp movies is – it will either be one of two things. Incredibly brilliant, or deeply Not Great. In this instance he is ably supported with a great cast including Jesse Plemons, Joel Edgerton, Dakota Johnson, Benedict Cumberbatch and Kevin Bacon. And that is a good thing, because I found Johnny Depp incredibly creepy in this role. The blue eye contacts certainly made him look different.

I have loved Jesse Plemons ever since his epic role as Todd in the final season of Breaking Bad. I was very pleased to see him in this movie – when I sat down to watch it the only cast member I knew about was Johnny Depp. Sometimes that is the best way to watch a movie – completely cold with no idea who is in it. Jesse is very Matt-Damon-Esque in this role, though there is not *quite* enough of him for me.

I was amazed at how you could see almost every single pore and wrinkle on the face of the actors in this movie. The focus was SO deadly sharp! I am afraid my screenshots have not done any justice to the levels of focus in this film.

There was one scene which had one of the best shots of people talking in a car that I have seen in a movie, ever. And we have seen that shot a lot of times, haven’t we?

This film did an amazing job of taking great actors and making them super creepy. In particular Joel Edgerton. Whitey killed quite a few people so there are a few murders in the movie. Realistically though they could easily have made this movie without including any of that. There was more than enough story here to fill two movies let alone one.

I loved this more for the sheer quality of the acting and the technical aspects – that sharp focus and what it could do for the film drew me in. If you are a fan of any of the actors involved you might enjoy this as much as I did, otherwise you might want to give it a miss, especially if you do not want to see violent scenes. Well, I don’t want to see them either but I understand their role and purpose, so I tolerate them when they appear.

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