Jane Eyre

 

Jane Eyre is the 2011 gothic, romantic drama adapted from the Charlotte Brontë novel of the same title. Jane is an independent, smart and hardworking woman who has lived a tough and lonely life. When she is hired as a governess to a hardened, aristocratic employer, Edward Fairfax Rochester, with a mysterious past, she begins to soften his the heart only to discover secrets that may ruin their happy ending before it could ever begin.

The movie stars Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench and Jamie Bell. Mia, as Jane, and Michael, as Mr. Rochester, brought a strong chemistry and intensity to the screen that draws you in almost instantly. The entire cast did well in their roles with descent character development for Jane and Mr. Rochester. I would have liked a more in depth backstory for Dench’s character, Mrs. Fairfax, and Bell’s character, St. John Rivers.

The cinematography is full of beautiful untouched landscapes, the script was well written, and the plot gave me dark, Cinderella-esq vibes. And although it was slow moving and a bit predicable there were parts that were surprising.

This movie is one of many adaptations of this story. Being someone who didn't read the book, I don't want to be the one to judge how well they brought the novel to life, but what I will say is that I wish I would have read it first to fill in some of the gaps in the film. And with that being said, even though Jane Eyre was missing some details for me, I still thought it was entertaining and worth checking out once.

Project Power

 

Project Power is a Netflix original action drama starring Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Set in New Orleans, an ex-solider, a teenage drug dealer and a local cop team up to take down an elusive group that is putting a pill on the streets which gives its consumers unpredictable superpowers for five minutes. 

Even though the previews weren’t entirely intriguing I still wanted to give this movie a try because Jamie Foxx normally doesn’t make bad movies. Jumping into this movie I picked up right away that plot was interesting but predictable. It reminded me of Bradley Cooper's 2011 bomb, Limitless.

I enjoyed the diversity of the cast however there was a strong lack of character development which made it hard to connect to anyone. Additionally the script and dialogue were terrible leaving a lot of plot holes. With that being said, I as still impressed, based off of what the performers were given in a script, they were still able to pull off a decent acting job.

The special effects were pretty good but the super powers were lame. It’s hard to make a good super hero movie nowadays with Marvel as the bar.

In the end it was unfortunate that award winning cast members were placed in such a mediocre film. There was no suspense, no excitement, no connection to any of the characters and they could not meet the high super hero bar that is expected of today’s films. Due to these misses, this movie can easily be skipped.

Work It

 

Work It is a teen rom-com that follows overachiever Quinn Ackerman, played by Sabrina Carpenter, whose sole focus, since she was young, was to be admitted to Duke university. During her admission interview she misleads her interviewer into thinking she is a dancer and now her acceptance into the university of her dreams is dependent on her performance at a dance competition. 

The plot gave me Save The Last Dance vibes with a twist. The themes throughout were inspiring around not letting others tell you want you can and cannot accomplish in your life, taking a risk, and finding joy in something new.

I thought that the entire cast did a descent acting job, I loved the diversity of the group, especially the addition of Liza Koshy and Jordan Fisher. Liza had the good comedic timing. Jordan has been in a couple of these types of movies and I’ve always liked his approachable, likeable demeanor. Both were not only very entertaining on screen but also amazing dancers. Group choreography can easily turn into something corny but I found the dancing in this film to be quite was enjoyable. The only thing that was really missing for me was deeper character development for the supporting characters.

Netflix is churning out these little jams every time I turn around and for the most part I don’t have much bad to say about them, including this one. If you are looking for a fun, coming of age, underdog story this movie could be for you.