AvBaur

Visually, this Ghost in the Shell remake is as excellent as the trailers promised. The futuristic city design is marvelous, and the movie succeeds in bringing to life - and (arguably) in some cases even improving upon - the stunning visuals of the original anime and manga.

I don't usually have a problem enjoying a mediocre movie for its visuals alone, but this one left me completely cold. Rarely have I seen a movie this lifeless, bloodless, sexless, and soulless. There isn't a single human moment in it. No character for whom I felt anything. Despite the presence of Juliette Binoche, who is one of my favorite actors, and Scarlett Johansson, who has been great in similar roles, there is no good acting in it. It's barely even worth it to get into the race-bending controversy or the clumsy attempt to address it in the story.

The whole movie feels like a cold corporate product directed by robots. It's all shell, no ghost.

"Gone Girl" is a very well-made film with a deeply trashy story. It has some near-flawless acting, cinematography, editing, and staging, all in service of a story that isn't just pulpy, racy, and kind of silly, but may well be borderline misogynistic. That doesn't necessarily mean the story is bad, as it's certainly exciting, engaging, at times funny, and full of surprises, but it left a strange aftertaste for me.

Don't take that to mean it's not worth seeing, though - it's a stunningly gorgeous, exciting, funny movie with some great acting, even from such unlikely sources as Tyler Perry and that girl from the "Blurred Lines" video.

I do hope David Fincher gets over his strange obsession with trashy airport novels at some point, though.

Who would have thought a movie about a guy falling in love with his computer could have such emotional depth, such human warmth, such poetry? In spite of (or because of?) its heavy stylization, "Her" handles its themes of love and loneliness in a way that feels as nuanced and true as any movie I've seen.

I love that the film takes what could have been a simplistic story of male wish fulfillment and turns it into something unexpected and beautiful. It speaks to universal human experiences as well as to how technology shapes our present and, possibly, our future. A sublime work of art.