Rules Don't Apply (2016)

Okay, just don't watch this.
First of all, why in Hollywood does a girl get pregnant the first time she has unprotected sex? That is unlikely, but it is a plot device that has been used since Hollywood's infancy days.
Warren Beatty may have won an Oscar for directing the brilliant 1981's Reds, but watching this, you'd never guess. He also foolishly wrote the screenplay which is a somewhat jumbled mess.
The first half tells the story you expect: a forbidden romance between two doe-eyed young people both employed by Howard Hughes (also Beatty) while the second half is, I don't really know, attempts to delve into Hughes's mind, which has already been done better in Martin Scorsese's 2004 The Aviator. For the record, Leonardo DiCaprio is a better Hughes than Beatty. The second half also gets Hughes to prove to the world that he is still mentally sane, skipping over Marla's (Lily Collins's) failed career and how Frank (Alden Ehrenreich) rises up as he continues to stand by Howard, for reasons are never truly understood.
Though the film has the saving grace of Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins, Beatty never has a handle on how truly insane Hughes was. He is a good actor, but not in this role. Part of it is the screenplay, never showing Hughes's drug addiction and how his mind is slowly slipping away. He is an eccentric and often off his marbles, which is shown, but no reason is shown. And he doesn't respect women in the slightest.
The rest of the actors including Candice Bergen, Ed Harris, Matthew Broderick, Annette Bening and Martin Sheen are beyond wasted in this film. The film never captures the authentic atmosphere it needed; they are pretending to be in the late 1950s, not actually in the 1950s, and there is a difference. Grade: C

Jackie (2016)

This film is exquisite. Natalie Portman is a revelation.
She becomes Jackie, turning her image into a living, breathing human being, truly embodying the woman behind the myth.
The film is framed around an interview between the newly widowed Jackie (Natalie Portman) and renowned journalist (Billy Crudrup), who is never given a name. She has control over the interview and whatever she doesn't want him to write down in his article, he will strike it from the record. She details her nationally broadcast tour of the White House, her secret love of history and then the assassination and its immediate aftermath.
Jackie, despite her grief, has to arrange and prepare the funeral and then begin packing so she can leave the White House, as it no longer belongs to her. The Johnsons (John Carroll Lynch and Beth Grant) are in charge now, though she gives them all the credit in the world for being so understanding.
She wants her husband to be remembered so she arranges an elaborate funeral, eerily similar to Abraham Lincoln's nearly one hundred years previously. She will march the eight city blocks accompanying the body between locations despite many being against that decision, for safety reasons.
Though she claims she does this so her husband won't be forgotten, it is actually so she won't be. She longs to be remembered, even though she never wanted or craved fame; she just married a Kennedy (Caspar Phillipson). But when she finds out that her brother-in-law, Bobby (Peter Sarsgaard) kept Lee Harvey Oswald's own murder from her, she turns livid, as she and her children were out in board daylight. Jackie is a real person, full of contradictory statements and actions, struggling to get by, just like the rest of us. The journalist wants to mention her lighting another cigarette, but she squashes that brilliant line with telling him that she doesn't smoke.
While the plot may have been more or less done before, the director, Pablo Larrain, paints it beautifully, putting a new spin on a family that has been portrayed countless times. The atmosphere truly takes you back to 1963, with the costumes pitch perfect and the set design is breathtaking. Even the camera work is something to behold.
The scene where Jackie wipes the blood off her face just before Lyndon Johnson takes his oath to be president, crying the whole time is one of the best acting scenes in cine-graphic history. The other actors are great, including Greta Gerwig as Jackie's secretary and personal assistant, Nancy. And while the film may not tell you much or shatter your opinion of Jackie, it makes her a real person, where the history lessons have left off, and that alone is incredible. Grade: A-

Beauty and the Beast (2017)

Okay, well, I have seen this film and now I will react.
You guys all know the plot, and it remains the same as the classic animated film, so I don't need to repeat that.
First of all, Emma Watson is completely brilliant as Belle, singing and all, but seriously, why was her skirt still tucked into her bloomers? It was distracting at best and inappropriate at worst.
Dan Stevens was also good, though his singing voice wasn't the greatest. But when he appears in human form, his hair is too long and he especially has too much make-up on at the beginning before the curse begins.
Kevin Kline is solid as Maurice, the inventor, but how does he get home after Belle sets him free as his noble steed stays at the forgotten palace with Belle and the Beast.
Luke Evans is fine as the nasty, narcissistic Gaston, far more in love with himself than anyone else and he is inflexible when it comes to his bride, he only wants Belle, none of the other women who fancy him.
Josh Gad is adequate as LeFou, Gaston's sidekick. Sure, he may have theater experience but his character just doesn't work well next to Evans's Gaston. He isn't as funny as he should be.
Then there are all the voice actors and they are incredible: Stanley Tucci, Emma Thompson, Audra McDonald, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen. While I love all of them, all of the pairing off at the end of the film wasn't the greatest decision. You needed to see more of them as humans at the end to make the couplings more believable.
Of course, I also have problems with the story as a whole. Gaston is a backwards thinking man, as is the whole village, scolding Belle when she tries to teach a female child to read, and certainly he would have been cruel to Belle but the Beast isn't exactly a catch, locking her up in his palace. Sure, he does change, getting kinder and sweeter as the course of the film wears on, but you can't overlook the fact that he was going to keep Belle imprisoned for the rest of her life. At least now she is staying there because she wants to, not because she has to. That is at least something.
The film is also spectacular to behold with the Be Our Guest scene being both brilliant and over-the-top. The camera work is top-notch and thank goodness for Watson's strong performance. That alone is the reason I will watch the film over and over again. Grade: B

The Middle: Exes and Ohhhs

Well, the St. Patrick's Day party Axl (Charlie McDermott) opted to show up at got even weirder. Sure, he may have come to talk to Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla) but instead ran into Devin Levin (Gia Mantegna) and his other ex-girlfriends Cassidy (Galadriel Stineman) and Weird Ashley (Kaitlin Mastandrea). Noticably missing is his first girlfriend, Morgan (Alexa Pena), who I guess was too busy for this show, which is fine, she did just have a baby and everything. Plus, she was always bigger than the show. But I digress.
Axl believes that the universe is telling him something but he didn't stay at the party long enough to find out what it was, he just left. So the next day, he and Hutch (Alphonso McAuley) consult a higher power, Matthew McConaghey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which leads him to inviting Devin and Cassidy out for super girly drinks. He wants to find out why their relationships didn't last. But he doesn't really get a straight or firm answer out of either of them. Sure, with Devin he should have wanted to hang out with her, just like they had arranged and with Cassidy, the long distance didn't help, but he never made his motivations completely clear with her. And then Weird Ashley shows up and Axl just says that he doesn't understand why she likes him so much when he's never felt anything for her. She snaps at him, as he never said blatantly that he didn't like her. Hopefully that will force him to think of his actions.
Finally, April (Greer Grammer) comes to visit and though Axl does really like her and even loved her, he doesn't see a future with her and thus, finally firmly ends things with her. She is pissed and I know the feeling.
Sue (Eden Sher) is always having relationship issues, though nothing like Axl. She and Tyler (Keaton Savage) will be attending the Chancellor's Ball but poor Sean (Beau Wirick), wanting to surprise her, shows up fully prepared, only to have Sue tell him that she has someone else, leaving him disappointed at best and heart-broken at worst. So she does go with Tyler even though she feels guilty about Sean and Tyler gets sick of her talking about another guy, which makes total sense, so Sue decides to see if there is going to be anything between her and Sean. Because Aunt Edie's car broke down, she carjacks the Winnebago, despite Axl and April's extremely recent break-up, forcing them to spend more time together, April shooting him daggers the whole time. But once Sue arrives at the Donohue house, Sean has already left, which means Sue won't have a date. Yet, despite everything, Axl decides to not be an asshole and accompanies her to the dance.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is thrilled to have purchased a microfiche machine as the library must close a wing because a fast food chain is opening up. Though it annoys both Mike (Neil Flynn) and Frankie (Patricia Heaton), Brick loves reading all of the old newspaper articles until he finds out Frankie's dirty little secret. When she was still in high school, she was caught streaking at a Denny's. And Mike took apart a nasty teacher's car during that time. Brick decides to pull a prank, but fails as his friends aren't feeling it. The best he can pull is mixing up the letters on the sign at church advertising a pancake breakfast. Poor Brick, but he will find something to be remembered for in high school, he still does have three more years.
Now, I had some problems with this episode. First of all, while Axl went to pursue Lexie, he was still dating April the whole time, so that whole thing strikes me as odd. And when Brick is reading the old newspaper, he is reading articles from twenty years apart at the in the same issue, which doesn't make any sense.
This episode was also too jammed packed of complicated plots and a lot of guest stars, so while I was looking forward to this episode, it fell flat. But Axl did make a major step forward and Sue and Sean will never happen. She already heavily dated one of the Axl's friends so that plot has already happened. I don't want it to happen again. Sue and Sean are better as friends anyway. As for Axl, I wonder who he will end up with, though during last season's finale, Frankie did say that Axl would meet the love of his life, and though he did meet April, I'm glad he broke up with her. He deserves better. Grade: B
Side Notes:
-Weird Ashley was told to cut her hair and Axl would come back to her. She then hands him her bag of hair and informs him that he should probably make it into a tea.
-Cassidy did graduate college six months early, which isn't as good and smart as it sounds. Now, she's unemployed six months early.
-Axl actually made the Dean's List, shockingly.
-Lexie can't believe Axl showed up at that party. She's just glad he has no idea how she feels about him. Of course, that's not true.
-Lexie has a collection of ballgowns and is glad to let Sue borrow them.
-Why does Axl order all those girly drinks? We will never know.
-April comes up to visit and because she didn't eat lunch, she wants to know if they can go out for lunch instead of dinner because you should never skip a meal.
-Most of Tyler and Sue's dates involved driving around picking up drunk people.

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

My binge on World War II films continues.
This is a complex, intricate film with two main plots occurring concurrently with each other.
Coronal Nicholson's (Alec Guinness's) troops have been ordered to surrender to the Japanese in Singapore and are now prisoners of war. They have orders from the Japanese officer Saito (Sessue Hayakawa, excellent) to build a bridge over the river Kwai so the railroad can be completed for troops to move around Burma (now Myanmar) easier. But according to the Geneva Convention generals cannot perform manual labor but Saito disregards that condition and orders everyone to work. Nicholson refuses and is nearly shot to death. Fortunately, probably the most sane person in the film, the doctor Clipson (James Donald) intervenes saying that there are too many witnesses as all of the men in sick bay will be able to see what happened. Nicholson is punished and put in an 'oven' boiling away in the heat but he refuses to compromise.
In the meantime, top-billed William Holdan is the lone American in the cast, Commander Shears who manages a daring escape, despite Nicholson's orders to stay put. Shears is almost shot and then jumps into the river, swimming away where he is eventually rescued. Once rescued, he is reassigned to the British army (he was formally with the American Navy) for a sabotage mission to destroy the bridge he would have helped build had he not escaped. Naturally, Shears just wants to return home and tries to get out of this assignment. After all, he isn't really a Commander, but in fact stole the identity of his commander whom he escaped with so his whole identity is a lie. But the British Officer Warden (Jack Hawkins) doesn't care so Shears is back in the army.
Back at the sight of the bridge, Saito finally gives in to Nicholson's demands and Nicholson more or less takes control, moving the position of the bridge to a better location and getting his men to work harder and faster building a far superior bridge, a higher quality than the ones the Japanese had designed. They are proud of their work.
But the bridge is behind deadline which means that Saito will have to kill himself as is the Japanese tradition, but under Nicholson's command, the officers contribute and even the sick are put on light duty, something which they would have never done for Saito.
Shears, Warden and the Canadian Joyce (Geoffrey Horne) set the explosives for blowing up the bridge only to have their efforts thwarted the morning the bridge will open as the river level dropped significantly overnight. Nicholson is the one who sees the string attached to the explosives and is livid that all of his hard work will literally go up in flames.
The ending is rather violent, with everyone but Warden and Clipson ending up deceased. Nicholson can't believe that Shears survived his escape but his presence forces Nicholson to realize the error of his ways. Dazed, he falls onto the trigger and the bridge blows up, taking the train with it. Clipson mutters "Madness, madness" as everything is destroyed.
Guinness is truly excellent as the officer who blindly follows orders even arguing with Clipson when Clipson believes that his actions are treasonous, he merely asks if a Japanese officer was ill and needed surgery, would Clipson purposely kill him? Of course he wouldn't, but that doesn't mean he understands why Nicholson does what he does.
Sadly, the film is prejudiced against the Japanese, believing that the British skills are far better than the ones of the Japanese. Still, most of the films of this area believed that the American or British way was far better than the native way.
Though the film is long and cuts back and forth sometimes choppily, it is nevertheless excellent, with a plot that forces you to think and wonder if Nicholson made the right decision. He is certainly stubborn and nearly dies as the result of his stubbornness. Hayawara is also brilliant and deserves more than the mere Oscar nomination he received. It is certainly one of the better World War II films and this one didn't need any battle scenes to keep your attention. Grade: A

Allied (2016)

This film truly was Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Casablanca, only one of which I've seen.
Max (Brad Pitt) arrives in Casablanca, Morocco (taken over by the Nazis via the Vichy France government) where he poses as the husband of another spy who calls herself Christine (Marion Cotillard). They manage to pull off and complete their difficult mission, killing one of the German ambassadors and escape without being captured. In the time it takes them to set that up (about eight days), they have fallen in love and thanks to car sex in the middle of a sandstorm, are pregnant. So fortunately, Max is able to bring Christine, real name Marianne, back to England where they can get married for real.
They settle in London and happily raise their young daughter, Anna, and obtain chickens. Max continues to work with the government, at a desk job while Marianne seems fine with the typical era role of being a housewife though she does make new friends but then again, she was always the life of the party and a social butterfly.
Life seems fine until Max is called into the office on his day off where he is informed that his wife might be a spy. He can't believe it and the evidence they have against her is all circumstantial and even though he is told not to privately investigate her, he does anyway.
And then, he flies to France and breaks into a French prison where he meets Paul Delamare (Thierry Fremont) who knew Marianne back in 1941 before her mission was foiled and she moved on to Casablanca and though the two women are very similar, Marianne in 1941 knew how to play the piano.
So Max puts her to the test where she finally crumbles unable to play the piano under his tired, demanding gaze and she finally admits the truth. She was forced back into the field, she claims as the Germans threatened Anna's life and she loves Anna above all else.
Though Max knows that this would be committing treason, he decides to flee the country with his wife and daughter, killing her handles along the way and is caught at the airport. Marianne, upset at watching her husband kill so many and knowing that they are trapped, she commits suicide just so Anna will have one parent to raise her.
While the film is a good idea and an original one, I felt it could have been done better, creating more doubt and gray areas surrounding the actions of Marianne. And if the Germans did threaten Anna's life, she could have told her husband and I'm certain he would have made the problem go away. However, because she was a German spy, it did make clear why they were able to get away from the mass murder in Casablanca so easily without being followed. I would have liked to know why they were paired together in the first place when Max isn't French and he needed to be French for his character. And why was Marianne a German spy in the first place when it didn't appear that she was a Nazi? Also, there is the minor problem of a wrong sign appearing in the film. When Max goes to the airport, a sign stating 15 M.P.H. appears. This cannot be the case as they are in England which doesn't use miles, They use kilometers.
Still, the film was stylish and well acted and Brad Pitt's French was flawless, then again, I can't speak a word of the language. But the acting is good, and the two stars have excellent chemistry and their performances of flawed characters carry the film. The secondary characters including an underused Matthew Goode in a cameo role and Lizzy Caplan as Max's sister Bridget are wasted, which is a shame.
The film, I feel, would have benefited from being filmed as though it was actually created in the 1940s, with less violence, cursing and sex, emphasizing the ambiguity of Marianne's character. That would have been a far better film as the violence, cursing and sex added absolutely nothing to the film and once taken away would have allowed more time for character development and suspicion. Hitchcock would have done this plot justice, unfortunately great director Robert Zemeckis did not. Grade: B

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

This film was divided into two parts each one could have been its own separate film.
Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) almost killed his younger brother, Hal (Nathaniel Buzolic) and vows never to harm another life again. But then World War II happens and he is called to serve, despite his job at a defense plant (which is never shown). He will serve as a medic, saving lives instead of taking them. This causes a whole lot of problems in his unit, his fellow soldiers beat the crap out of him but he does not turn them in and even his Sergeant (Vince Vaughan, pretty good) wants him to leave, yet nothing will make him leave or touch a gun. He is almost court-marshaled, but fortunately, for the first time in his life, his father (Hugo Weaving) comes through for him and the charges are dropped.
The second half fast forwards about three years, after his wedding night with the nurse Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) to the battle that would make Desmond famous, the Battle of Okinawa, a brutal hour of gore and blood. The battle is nasty, with plenty of killings on both sides and bombs, stabbings and split throats, with bodies laying everywhere. Desmond may not be carrying a weapon but he gives up on no one, staying after the ridge is abandoned and lowering the wounded with a rope, injuring his hands after saving so many lives. After he finally gets reinforcements, he collapses with exhaustion.
The following day, the troop returns and takes the ridge, Desmond is wounded but would survive.
Almost old-fashioned in how it was filmed, the first half is more of a love story between Desmond and Dorothy and how he was able to serve only as a medic. Though his father did come through, Tom Doss was an abusive alcoholic, still carrying painful memories of the first world war around with him daily. You don't know until the second half is that Desmond almost killed his father, defending his mother from his father's fist. That was Garfield's best scene.
The second half could have been better if they showed everything solely from Desmond's point of view, as the film's first half centered on him, it would have made sense if the second half did the same.
And I wish they would have better explained what drove Desmond to be so religious and stubborn about his beliefs and what led him to pick up the gun to nearly kill his father. Despite the ending showing the actual people I would have liked that ridiculously romantic Hollywood ending with Desmond coming home to pick up Dorothy and giving her a kiss.
While the performances were good enough, Garfield did not deserve an Oscar nomination for this though he is a great actor, he was far better in The Social Network (also a far better film). Teresa Palmer and Rachel Griffiths (his mother) make the most out of underwritten roles, and Luke Bracey and Sam Worthington are solid as fellow Army-men.
Still, the film has excellent cinematography and the battle scene is well choreographed, and the message is meaningful. The story just needed a gentler hand. Grade: B+

The Middle: Hit and Miss

Frankie (Patricia Heaton) can't believe that she has something to be proud of, but Nancy Donohue (Jen Ray) assures her that she does. Frankie doesn't know what it even is.
Turns out Brick (Atticus Shaffer) not only aced his geometry test, but he also made the National Honors Society, as a freshman. Frankie is thrilled and mildly upset that he didn't tell her but Brick knows her so well. She hates school gatherings and bringing a dessert for the dessert table to share but she really wants to go to this but she needs to buy back her own mother's love so instead, she will be going to a musical.
Mike (Neil Flynn) is having his own issues. His work softball team keeps losing and he doesn't like it so he recruits the cash-strapped high school gym teacher Tink Babbitt (Brooke Ollman) to work for the quarry mainly so they can start winning games. Which they do, but without Mike as his back starts bothering him. He gets annoyed, warming the bench, helping with knitting. But then Babbitt gets poached and must go to another team, which is fine with her. Fortunately, Mike gets the last laugh, when they play against each other, she believes that Mike will be an easy out but instead he hits a home run.
Now the plot I cared most about: Lexie (Daniela Bodadilla) comes to the Heck's house for spring break. But she is allergic to the house, with her frizzy hair and severe cold. However, she had an ulterior motive for coming, she still is nursing that super big crush on Axl (Charlie McDermott). Of course, Axl, being a typical male, doesn't realize it until Sue (Eden Sher) accidentally blurts it out. Naturally, Sue, being the good friend, informed Lexie of all the gross and beyond disgusting stuff Axl does but somehow, refined Lexie likes him anyway even though he is still with April (Greer Grammer). This leads him to showing up at a crazy St. Patrick's Day party that he widely said a senior wouldn't be caught dead at. But he's looking for someone and he does see Lexie but instead runs into his one ex Devin Levin (Gia Mantenga). That's right a big plot twist, one that no one could have seen coming. After eight seasons, this show manages to surprise us, something that doesn't happen so often.
Despite Axl's meaness to his only sister, I am still rooting for him and Lexie, mostly because April just isn't anything special. And this time, unlike with Sue and Darrin (John Gammon), Sue gave her blessing to Lexie because she doesn't want to stop people from being happy.
The episode ends on a happy note. Brick is shocked that his parents' show up to the National Honor's Society awards show and makes a big deal out of it. But Frankie finally delivers, bringing the entire dessert table filling it with stuff she made from hand, because that is what love is, doing something you hate for those you love, a great message. So the Hecks finally do have something to be extremely proud of, finally.
All-in-all, this was a solid episode, with some great performances and three solid plots, each getting the time and attention they deserve, allowing both the regular cast members and guest stars to shine. Grade: A
Side Notes:
-Lexie loves how close the kitchen is to the entryway, it's so convenient.
-Lexie's housewarming gift is a fine glass bowl which is so nice Brick believes it belongs at the Donohues.
-Age is just a number, all women are goddesses to Chuck (Greg Sipes).
-Lexie uses the dog shampoo and it isn't FDA approved.
-When Babbitt is at the Frugal Hoosier, she is under obligation to ask Mike if he is eating that chicken tonight, when he says yes, she can sell it to him.
-Axl refers to Lexie as Sue's master because of the whole dog joke.
-Speaking of dogs, Doris actually makes an appearance this episode. She is eating her food out of the nice candy dish Lexie gave them.
-Brick thought he cured himself of a new tick without Frankie noticing, but she did notice this time.
-Axl believes that it is a miracle that he came out of the hillbilly waters of Mike and Sue's DNA.
-When Lexie is done with the good Chewbacca towel, she asks Sue where she should put it so the maid can clean it.
-Fortunately, once Lexie returns to her nice apartment, her sickness clears up immediately.
-Sue knows that they should have weaned her into that house.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

While this film wasn't nearly as groundbreaking as Moonlight, Kelly Fremon Craig is still a force to be reckoned with, though this film wasn't anything special, it was still incredibly enjoyable.
Nadine Franklin (Hailee Steinfeld) is a character that I can relate to, though I certainly didn't know what a hand job was when I was seventeen, nor did I ever threaten suicide. She is an old soul but her taste in clothing is worse than mine. She doesn't have many friends and her world is rocked when her dearest friend Krista (the underused Haley Lu Richardson) starts to date Nadine's popular and put together brother, Darian (Blake Jenner, great). She also crushes on this unworthy boy, Nick (Alexander Cavert) who only wants sex, while ignoring the far more worthy Erwin (Hayden Szeto), despite the name. He is only slightly socially awkward but sweet even though his timing isn't spectacular, at least until the end.
While most of this film is just Nadine struggling through her junior year of high school, she also realizes that she is selfish, believing that she alone has problems, ignoring everything that her brother and mother (Kyra Sedgwick) might be feeling after the sudden death of her beloved father (Eric Keeleyside) when she was just thirteen. She talks too much, sucking up the air around her and believes she knows everything about everyone else including her favorite teacher Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson). She thinks that he is lonely, single, bitter man, getting older each day when in reality he is married and has a young son.
In the end, she apologizes to her brother and starts to mend her relationship with Krista, whom Darian truly does adore and starts a genuine friendship with Erwin, not the one where she mostly used him earlier. Her mother also accepts that Nadine is only able to meet her halfway, for now.
Now, I do have some problems with the film, like the exact nature of Mona's (Nadine's mother's) mental illness. She does have something ever so off with her, but it doesn't completely affect her from dating heavily on Match.com and working a successful job. And when Nadine's meet-up with Nick goes horribly as I knew it would, she calls Mr. Bruner but he takes her back to his house and calls her mother from there. Darian shows up and Nadine refuses to get into the car with him, so Mr. Bruner ends up taking her home anyway, something he should have done in the first place.
Still, these are minor nitpicks. The acting is excellent and it is genuinely enjoyable, with Steinfeld certainly being one of the best actresses of her generation. Grade: B+

Moonlight (2016)

This film is rich in its simplicity.
Chiron (first Alex Hibbert, then Ashton Sanders and finally Trevante Rhodes) has it rough in downtown Miami. He is a homosexual African-American boy who doesn't have a father and his mother, Paula (the excellent Naomie Harris) doesn't care about him enough, picking drugs and men above her only son (and child) any day of the week.
The film occurs in three chapters, when Chiron is about ten, sixteen and then again at twenty-six with the middle half being a stand-out, at least for me. In the first part, he befriends the benevolent and wise drug-dealer Juan (the Oscar winner Mahershala Ali) who doesn't judge the young boy and offers him life-changing advice while the second part is dictated by his first romantic encounter with Kevin (first Jaden Piner, then Jharrel Jerome and finally Andre Holland) only to have it destroyed as Kevin is egged into beating him up, which subsequently lands Chiron in jail after he brutally retaliates. In the final part, his mother finally apologizes for her addiction and not being the mother he needed her to be and his return and re-connection with Kevin.    
While I didn't truly enjoy the film and it didn't move me, it is still a great film and talents oozes out the seams with Barry Jenkins proving himself a force to be reckoned with along with the cinematographer James Laxton, editors Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon and the breathtaking score by Nicholas Britell, not to mention the pitch-perfect performances by all and the authentic feel of the film, something that cannot be faked.
I do wish Chiron had done something better with his life rather than becoming a drug dealer himself but I'm glad that a film which shows average people living their lives in a typical America. without the Hollywood glamour won the Best Picture Oscar. Grade: A-