La La Land 2016

RATINGS

IMDb- 8.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes- 93%

My Reviewal- 4.2/5

PLOT

On a crowded Los Angeles highway during winter ("Another Day of Sun"), Mia (Emma Stone), an on-studio barista and aspiring actress, is distracted by her preparation for an upcoming audition, which leads to a moment of road rage between her and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist. Her audition proves to be yet another failure. At the same time, Sebastian is having problems paying his bills, leading to an argument with his sister, Laura (Rosemarie DeWitt) before going to his next gig at a restaurant. That night, Mia's three roommates, in an attempt to cheer her up, invite her to a lavish party in the Hollywood Hills ("Someone in the Crowd"). When Mia's car is towed, she is forced to walk back to her apartment.

Sebastian is instructed by the restaurant's owner, Bill (J. K. Simmons), not to play any jazz. While playing simple variations of Christmas songs, he slips into a passionate improvisation, which Mia overhears as she walks past the restaurant ("Mia & Sebastian's Theme"). Moved by his talent, she enters to watch him play, but Sebastian is promptly fired for his disobedience. As he walks out, Mia attempts to compliment his playing, but he coldly passes her in his frustration.

Months later, Mia is at another party and notices Sebastian again, now playing as the keyboardist for a 1980s pop cover band. She playfully irks him by requesting the band to play "I Ran (So Far Away)" by A Flock of Seagulls. After the gig, the two walk together to find their cars. They lament being in each other's company, despite the clear chemistry between them ("A Lovely Night").

Sebastian takes her to a jazz club, explaining his intense love for jazz and his aspirations of running his own club, as well as reinforcing her passion as an actress. They warm up to each other ("City of Stars"). Sebastian asks her to a screening of Rebel Without a Cause at a theater. While getting ready for her date with Sebastian, Greg (Finn Wittrock), a man she has been seeing, shows up for a scheduled date. Mia reluctantly goes on the double date with Greg and his brother. She feels out of place on the date and abruptly leaves to rush to the theater, managing to find Sebastian just as the film starts. They begin to move in for a kiss but are interrupted when the film fails to play. Mia and Sebastian finish their date at the Griffith Observatory and dance ("Planetarium").

Mia, after several more failed auditions, decides to write a personal single-actress play, So Long, Boulder City, at Sebastian's suggestion. Sebastian becomes a regular performer at the jazz bar and the two move in together. Sebastian is reunited with a high school classmate, Keith (John Legend), who offers him a chance to be the keyboardist in his jazz band The Messengers, which offers a steady source of income. Sebastian accepts but is dismayed when he discovers the band's more pop-oriented sound. Mia attends one of their concerts but is left unsettled, knowing Sebastian would never enjoy playing that type of music ("Start a Fire"). During the band's first tour, Mia confronts Sebastian about this. He admits that he thought it was what she wanted of him. He then criticizes her for liking him only when he was unsuccessful. Insulted, Mia leaves.

On opening night of Mia's play, Sebastian fails to show up due to a photo shoot with the band that he had forgotten about. Only a handful of people attend the show and Mia overhears their negative comments about it from backstage. Devastated and hurt, Mia leaves Los Angeles to move back in with her parents in Boulder City, Nevada. Sebastian receives a call from a casting director who attended Mia's play. The casting director extends an invite for Mia to attend a film audition the following morning. Sebastian drives to Boulder City and persuades Mia to return to Hollywood for the audition. Unlike previous tryouts Mia experienced, she is simply asked to tell a story for her audition. She begins to talk, and then sing, about her vivacious aunt who lived in Paris, where the film is being set, and who inspired her to pursue acting ("Audition [The Fools Who Dream]"). She and Sebastian go to Griffith Observatory where, confident that the audition was a success, he says she must devote herself wholeheartedly to the opportunity. Acknowledging the incompatibility of their dreams, the two promise they will love each other forever.

Five years later, Mia is a famous actress but married to another man (Tom Everett Scott) with whom she has a daughter. One night, her husband notices a jazz bar after they go out for dinner. They enter, and Mia, noticing the "Seb's" logo she had designed, realizes it is Sebastian's club. Sebastian, having left The Messengers, recognizes Mia in the crowd. He begins to play "Mia & Sebastian's Theme" and as he plays, Mia imagines a completely different life that she could have led with Sebastian following their encounter at Bill's restaurant ("Epilogue"). The song ends and Mia leaves with her husband. Just before walking out, Mia shares with Sebastian one last knowing look and smile, happy for the dreams they have achieved.

Assassin's Creed 2016

^RATINGS

^{IMDb- 6.5/10}

^{Rotten Tomatoes- 17%}

^{My Reviewal- 4/5}

^PLOT

^{In 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition, Aguilar de Nerha is accepted into the Assassin's Brotherhood, a secret order of assassins that for centuries have opposed the Templar Order. His ring finger is cut off to make way for his hidden blade, and he is given a mission to protect the Prince of Granada.}

^{In 1986, Callum Lynch returns home to find his mother dead at the hand of his father, Joseph Lynch, a modern-day member of the Assassin Order. As gunmen led by Alan Rikkin, CEO of the Abstergo Foundation - a modern day Templar front - approach to capture Joseph, he orders his son to run.}

^{Thirty years later, in 2016, Callum is due to be executed for the killing of a pimp who tried to mug him; he is rescued from his own execution (his death being faked) by the Abstergo Foundation and transported to their facility in Madrid, Spain. There he learns that they are searching for the Apple of Eden, created by an ancient civilization, which contains the genetic code for free will, in order to put an end to the disease that is violence by subjugating the human race. The company's head scientist, Dr. Sophia Rikkin, reveals that Callum is a descendant of Aguilar and conscripts him to the Animus Project, in which Callum is connected to a machine that allows him to relive Aguilar's genetic memories so that Abstergo can learn the current whereabouts of the Apple of Eden.}

^{In Andalusia, Spain Aguilar and his partner Maria are deployed to rescue Prince Ahmed de Granada, who has been kidnapped by the leader of the Templars, Tomas de Torquemada, to coerce Prince Ahmed's father, Sultan Muhammad XII, to surrender the Apple of Eden. Aguilar and Maria intercept the chariot transporting Ahmed but are then overpowered and captured by Torquemada's enforcer, Ojeda, just as Callum is pulled out of the Animus by Sophia.}

^{In captivity, Callum befriends other descendants of assassins, led by Moussa, the descendant of an 18th-century Haitian Assassin named Baptiste, and begins experiencing hallucinations (dubbed ‘the Bleeding Effect’) of both Aguilar and his father. Callum and Sophia build a rapport over their sessions, in which Sophia reveals herself as the daughter of Alan Rikkin, Abstergo's CEO, and confides with Callum that her mother was likewise murdered by an Assassin.}

^{Back in the Animus, Aguilar and Maria are scheduled for execution, but Aguilar manages to free himself and Maria, leading to a rooftop chase in which they perform a Leap of Faith to escape. Callum’s mind reacts violently to the session, and he is temporarily paralyzed. He then learns that his father, Joseph, is also present at the facility. Confronting Joseph for the death of his mother, Callum is informed that as a result of the Bleeding Effect, his and Aguilar's memories are merging, allowing Callum to tap into Aguilar's combat abilities; he also learns that Callum's own mother was an Assassin who chose to die by Joseph's hand, rather than be subjected to the Animus by the Templars. Despite his father pleading with Callum not to re-enter the Animus, Callum vows to destroy the Assassin's Creed by finding the Apple. Meanwhile, Alan is pressured by his superior, Ellen Kaye, to shut down the Animus Project due to its lack of results, leading Sophia to realize Alan cares more about the eradication of the Assassins than using the Apple of Eden to rid the world of violence.}

^{Callum willingly enters the Animus once again, whereupon Aguilar and Maria ambush a meeting between Muhammad and Ojeda to exchange Ahmed for the Apple of Eden. They succeed in killing the Templars and retrieving the Apple of Eden, though Ojeda captures Maria in order to force Aguilar to surrender it, but Maria chooses death, and Ojeda fatally stabs her before Aguilar kills him in return. Aguilar then escapes, performing another Leap of Faith, the force of which causes the Animus to which Callum is connected to violently malfunction. Aguilar then gives the Apple of Eden to Christopher Columbus, who promises to take the Apple to his grave. Meanwhile, Moussa and the other Assassin prisoners start a riot in order to escape the facility.}

^{Callum stands in the Animus chamber and is met with the projections of a number of his Assassin ancestors, including Aguilar, his father Joseph, and his mother. Callum fully embraces his Assassin heritage and, having fully assimilated his ancestor’s memories and abilities, joins the Assassins in escaping the facility.}

^{Alan Rikkin and his followers, having retrieved the Apple, then converge in a Templar sanctuary in London to perform a ceremony celebrating the artifact's retrieval. Inside the sanctuary, a disillusioned Sophia meets with Callum, who has come to take the Apple, and she reluctantly allows him to act. Callum sneaks behind Rikkin and kills him to retrieve the Apple of Eden, whereupon the Assassins depart, vowing to once again protect it. Horrified by her father's death and how she played a role in it, Sophia vows revenge upon Callum.}

Sing 2016

RATINGS

IMDb- 7.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes- 69%

My Reviewal- 3.5/5

PLOT

In a world of anthropomorphic animals, optimistic koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) owns a theater, having been interested in show business since his father took him to his first music show as a child. Facing financial troubles, Buster tells his friend Eddie Noodleman (John C. Reilly) that he will host a singing competition with a prize of $1,000. But Buster's assistant Ms. Crawley mistakenly appends two extra zeroes, and the promotional fliers showing $100,000 are blown out of Buster's office into the city streets.

Animals from all around the city gather for auditions. Those selected include: housewife and mother of 25 piglets Rosita (Reese Witherspoon); street musician mouse Mike (Seth MacFarlane); mobster son gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton); and punk-rock porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson). Shy elephant Meena (Tori Kelly) bombs her audition out of stage fright, while Ash's boyfriend Lance is dismissed from the contest. Rosita is paired with another pig contestant named Gunter for a dancing routine. Although Buster discovers the flyers show a prize of $100,000, he remains optimistic. Buster convinces Eddie to arrange a visit with Eddie's grandmother and former opera singer and theater actress Nana Noodleman to persuade her to sponsor the prize money. She is hesitant to contribute, but agrees to see a private screening of the show.

Encouraged by her grandfather, Meena tries to ask Buster for another chance, but ends up helping him as a stage hand instead. After an incident where a group of singers leave the competition due to conflict and another singer is injured, Meena is reinstated into the show. The performers' individual problems begin to hinder rehearsals. Rosita flounders in her dance routine with Gunter, having been distracted by her parenting duties that have fallen into disarray. After discovering Lance has a new girlfriend and evicting them from her apartment, which causes Lance to lose all respect for her, Ash is heartbroken and in no mood to sing "Call Me Maybe", the cheery song assigned to her. Johnny is torn between having to help his father as the driver of the getaway car in a heist and making the practices; when he tries to do both, he does not show up for the planned pickup, and his father and his gang are arrested. Meena still has stage fright. Mike, assuming the prize money is as good as his, buys a fancy car to impress a girl mouse, and swindles a group of Russian-accented bears in a card game at a nightclub.

The day of the screening, the bears interrupt the show, demanding the money from Mike, who in turn, points to Buster. The bears open the chest containing the prize money, but see a small amount of cash totaling less than a thousand dollars plus items that Buster was planning to sell. The glass tank full of luminescent squids that Buster got to light up the theater breaks from the bears' aggressive actions, and floods the theater, which then literally comes crashing down. Buster, who had been living in his theater's office desk, takes up residence at Eddie's place (his parent's pool house). Although the contestants visit him and try to cheer him up, Buster is too despondent to listen to them. He tries to start over by opening a car wash, using the same bucket that his dad had used to earn money for Buster's theater.

When Meena goes to the theater's rubble lot and sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Buster hears her and is inspired to reinstate the show without the prize money. They perform in front of Rosita and Meena's family members. As Rosita and Gunther perform "Shake It Off", more animals are attracted to the scene as the show is broadcast on the news. Johnny amazes his father with Elton John's "I'm Still Standing" who then escapes from prison to reconcile with him. Ash impresses Lance with her original rock song, "Set It All Free". Mike, who bailed out when he heard there was no prize money, returns when his peers make fun that he wasn't able to sing like the ones on TV, singing Frank Sinatra's "My Way". Meena finally overcomes her fears and sings Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing". As she finishes, Buster looks out and finds Nana in the audience, whereupon she later buys the lot and rebuilds the theater.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 2016

RATINGS

IMDb- 8.1/10

Rotten Tomatoes- 85%

My Reviewal- 3.8/5

PLOT

Research scientist Galen Erso is in hiding on the planet Lah'mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic arrives to take him to complete the Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying an entire planet. Erso's wife Lyra is killed in the ensuing confrontation, but their daughter Jyn escapes and is taken to safety by Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera.

Fifteen years later, pilot Bodhi Rook defects from the Empire, smuggling a holographic message from Galen to Gerrera on the desert moon of Jedha. After learning about Rook's defection, Rebel intelligence officer Cassian Andor frees Jyn from Imperial captivity and brings her to the Rebels, who plan to use her to extract Galen and learn more about the Death Star. Unbeknownst to Jyn, however, Cassian is covertly ordered to kill Galen rather than extract him.

Jyn, Cassian, and reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO travel to Jedha, where the Empire is mining kyber crystals to power the Death Star while Gerrera and his partisans are engaged in an armed insurgency against them. With the aid of blind spiritual warrior Chirrut Îmwe and his mercenary friend Baze Malbus, Jyn makes contact with Gerrera, who has been holding Rook captive. Gerrera shows her the message, in which Galen reveals he has secretly built a vulnerability into the Death Star and directs them to retrieve the schematics from a high-security Imperial data bank on the planet Scarif.

On the Death Star, Krennic orders a low-powered shot from the superlaser to destroy Jedha's capital, causing Jyn and her group to take Rook and flee the planet, but Gerrera and his group are killed. Grand Moff Tarkin congratulates Krennic before using Rook's defection and security leak as a pretext to take control of the project.

Rook leads the group to Galen's Imperial research facility on the planet Eadu, where Cassian chooses not to kill Galen. When Krennic directs that Galen's main team be killed for causing the security leak, Galen confesses that he is responsible. Jyn makes her presence known moments before Rebel bombers attack the facility, resulting in Galen being wounded. Jyn reunites with her father, only to have him die in her arms, before she escapes with her group onboard a stolen Imperial cargo shuttle. Krennic visits Darth Vader, seeking support with granting an audience with the Emperor, but Vader dismisses his appeal for recognition.

Jyn proposes a plan to steal the Death Star schematics using the Rebel fleet but fails to get approval from the Alliance Council. Frustrated at their inaction, Jyn's group is supported by a small squad of Rebels intent on raiding the data bank themselves. Arriving at Scarif via the stolen Imperial ship, which Rook dubs "Rogue One", a disguised Jyn and Cassian enter the base with K-2SO while volunteers attack the resident Imperial garrison as a distraction. The Rebel fleet learns about the raid from intercepted Imperial communications and deploy in support. Rook is killed by a grenade just after informing the Rebel fleet that it must deactivate the shield surrounding the planet to allow Jyn and Cassian to transmit them the schematics. K-2SO sacrifices himself so Jyn and Cassian can retrieve the data. Despite this, Jyn and Cassian are ambushed by Krennic, who has traveled to Scarif, and seemingly kills Cassian.

Îmwe is killed after activating the master switch to allow communication with the Rebel fleet, while Malbus is killed shortly after. Krennic corners Jyn, declaring the Empire's victory, but Cassian, who has survived, shoots Krennic. Jyn transmits the schematics to the Rebel command ship. The Death Star enters Scarif's orbit, where Tarkin uses the weapon to destroy the Empire's base. Krennic dies instantly, while Jyn and Cassian embrace on a beach before dying in the ensuing shock wave.

The Rebel fleet prepares to jump to hyperspace only to be attacked by Vader's flagship. Vader boards the command ship and massacres several troops in his pursuit of the schematics as a small starship escapes with them onboard. Aboard the fleeing ship, Princess Leia declares that the schematics will provide hope for the Rebellion.

Passengers 2016

PLOT

The starship Avalon is transporting over 5,000 colonists to the planet Homestead II, a journey that takes 120 years. The colonists are in hibernation pods, but a malfunction awakens one passenger, mechanical engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt), 90 years early.

After a year of isolation with only Arthur (Michael Sheen), a robot bartender, for company, an increasingly despondent Jim notices beautiful Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) in one of the pods. Her video profile reveals a humorous personality and that she is a writer. Jim struggles over the morality of awakening Aurora for companionship but eventually manually revives her. Initially, Jim tells Aurora that her early awakening was a pod malfunction like his. Aurora, devastated that she may grow old and die before the ship reaches Homestead II, attempts a fruitless effort at re-entering hibernation, just as Jim once tried and failed to do. She comes to accept her situation and begins writing a book about her experiences. Jim and Aurora grow closer, becoming lovers.

A year after Aurora's awakening, Arthur unintentionally discloses Jim's responsibility for her predicament. Aurora is distraught, alternately berating, shunning, and physically attacking Jim. Soon after, however, another pod failure awakens Gus (Laurence Fishburne), a Chief Deck Officer. The three discover multiple failures in the ship's systems due to a failed component overloading other components. Gus attempts repairs with Jim and Aurora's help, while Aurora still blames Jim for stealing her life, claiming it is tantamount to murder. Gus' repair efforts are hindered by sickness, and medical tests in the Autodoc, an automated medical diagnostics and treatment pod, show that his own pod's malfunctioning life support has fatally sickened him. Before dying, he gives Jim and Aurora his I.D. badge to access crew areas and repair the ship, which is experiencing more severe failures daily.

The two trace a colliding asteroid's path through the ship's hull from two years earlier that damaged the computer administering the reactor. Fixing the computer leads to further reactor damage. Jim realizes he must vent a fusion reactor by opening an outer vent hatch. Aurora assists Jim while admitting she is terrified of losing him and living on the ship alone. Aurora, from inside the ship, and Jim, outside it, successfully vent the reactor. However, Jim's tether breaks loose and his damaged spacesuit is quickly losing oxygen. Aurora retrieves the unconscious Jim and resuscitates him using the Autodoc. Jim later learns he can re-hibernate Aurora in the Autodoc. When he offers, she realizes she would never see him again.

Eighty-eight years later, the ship's passengers and crew awaken shortly before arrival on Homestead II. They discover vegetation and domestic animals in the ship's concourse area. Aurora's completed book is found, and it is revealed that she chose to stay awake with Jim and finish writing her story.

RATINGS

IMDb- 7.1/10

Rotten Tomatoes- 32%

My Reviewal- 3.3/5