Priceless - 2016

Rated: PG-13

In keeping with the Christian movie motif of one-word titles that basically give away the theme of the story, Priceless is about a guy named James who takes a shady job driving a truck across the country. He later discovers that he's hauling two girls, Antonia and her sister Maria, who are to become trafficking victims. Working with a conscientious citizen/mentor (another Christian movie motif), James works and fights to rescue the girls from their captor/pimp.

While this movie does fall victim to the standard Christian movie motifs, including characters stating the obvious and random mini-music video sequences, this movie was surprisingly intense. It's a great message portrayed by a great cast in a moving story. None of it felt forced or over-rehearsed. I was very impressed!

Cinematically, this movie is gorgeous! While it does default to scenic shots to fill space between scenes, these scenic shots are truly beautiful!

Seeing as this is a movie about human trafficking, there is a rather intense scene where a girl is coerced into having sex and we later see her lying in bed, covering herself with a sheet (implying that she's been raped). People fight, one guy is shot, and a few people are held at gun point.

This is a heart-thumping drama that everybody should see!

The Girl on the Train

Rated: R

3 women, 2 men, an odd spattering of shrinks, strangers, and police detectives, all brought together by a train and a murder.

Rachel (Emily Blunt) is a disparaging woman who has turned to alcohol to drown out her problems (not being able to have a baby, then losing her husband to an affair). Apathetic and directionless, Rachel rides a train to and from the neighboring city every day. From the train window, she can see a couple in a house near the tracks. They seem to be deeply in love, possessing everything Rachel herself has lost, and she daydreams about their lives.

Megan (Haley Bennett) is a sexually frustrated housewife who doesn't sure her husband, Scott's (Luke Evans), desire to have a baby. Shadowed by a past tragedy, Megan engages in shady affairs with everyone from her neighbors to her therapist, anyone she feels won't expect anything from her (baby-wise).

When Rachel witnesses Megan kissing another man, she gets off the train, intending to confront Megan about her infidelities. She wakes up the next morning covered in blood, with no memory of the night before, and to the news that Megan has gone missing. Now she must regain her memories in order to exonerate herself of Megan's murder while trying to help the police and Scott hunt down Megan's real killer.

The movie stays true to the Paula Hawkins book on which it's based, even maintaining the book's non-linear storyline. The movie is trippy, but I thought it was much easier to follow than the book (maybe this is because I'm a visual learner?)  Emily Blunt is all-but-recognizable, but she really knocked her performance out of the ballpark with this character. Haley Bennett's performance is spotless.

Cinematically, this movie is beautiful! Camera angles, scenic shots, and the unique soundtrack all work together to build tension and enhance the already intricate story.

Problems: This movie is rated R for a reason. There's a lot of sex scenes, mostly naked women from behind, never anything full-frontal. There's also a fair amount of strong/bad language. Other than that, a few people get physically attacked (one person lethally so), and one guy gets stabbed in the throat.

Worth seeing? Yes!