Sicario: Day of the Soldado

SICARIO is an excellent film; however, in 2015 I did not blog about it. Now I am grateful for the opportunity to write about the action thriller, SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO. Benicio del Toro returns as Alejandro Gillick, Josh Brolin returns as Matt Graver, and Jeffrey Donovan returns as Steve Forsing. Emily Blunt is not in this film, so her character, Kate Macer from SICARIO, is not part of the story. Instead Catherine Keener plays Cynthia Foards and fills the slot of a strong female presence.

The cast makes SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO a great movie. And, of course, Taylor Sheridan's screenplay is its strength. After watching both SICARIO movies and WIND RIVER, I am beginning to believe Sheridan is the contemporary Master of Suspense, which is a title given to the late filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. This point is debatable. At any rate, I will infer that Hitchcock would have enjoyed Sheridan's screenplays.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is directed by Stefano Sollima. His movie is relevant because of real life current events about the U.S.-Mexico border. Watching what people go through to immigrate to America is intense. This is the feeling Sollima wants viewers to hold throughout the film and that is accomplished.

SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO is currently playing in theatres. The official Web site is https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/sicario2soldado/.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

I like the plot of the film, WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (good title). The story offers some unexpected turns, and that kept me intrigued. Once again Michael Douglas is a joy to watch as “Gordon Gekko;” viewers want to sympathize with his character.

Overall, this is an excellent film directed by Oliver Stone and the entire cast is wonderful. Josh Brolin is spectacular as always, Shia LaBeouf has a lot of talent, and Susan Sarandon is fantastic. In addition, Frank Langella’s performance is outstanding, and I like Carey Mulligan as “Winnie Gekko.”