MARY SHELLEY

Elle Fanning gives a strong performance as a young Mary Shelley. This film deals with the tragedies in her young life that lead to her ultimately penning the Frankenstein novel (something with which I still need to read along with Bram Stoker's DRACULA). What I admire about Elle is the soft and delicate young women she can portray but then in an instant, she can turn that kindness into a fire you wouldn't expect she is capable of spewing based on her looks alone. Also, this is an interesting story of a young woman trying to find her voice during a male dominated period. 5.5/10

BLINDSPOTTING

The previews for this had me somewhat interested and since the surge pricing went into effect in my area and I wasn't able to see the new MISSION IMPOSSIBLE as a result, I took a flyer on this. It was much better than I expected. I thought this was going to be another anti-cop, racial motivated movie. And while the movie does deal with racial tensions, it doesn't smother the viewer with it. The story is about Colin, a recently released felon who has only 3 days left on his probation before he's completely free of his past crime. During this time late at night, driving home from work, he seems a black man run in front of his truck while stopped at a traffic light. Following him is a white police officer who shots the suspect in the back 4 times. Colin is left with a dilemma: does he involve himself and speak up about the shooting, risking the cops retaliating against him by claiming he violated his parole some how and returning him to jail, or does he remain quite? It's an interesting study about a young man, trying to better himself and stay on the right path while at the same time, having the criminal justice system still hoovering over him like an anvil just waiting to be dropped. 6/10