Good: Se7en
The deeply disturbed 1995 neo-noir crime thriller Se7en is arguably one Freeman’s best movies with its fascinating plot that delves into the human psyche and how messed up people can really be (thanks David Fincher for the nightmares). Freeman’s performances as the calm, level headed veteran detective Somerset is iconic and works brilliantly with Brad Pitt’s equally amazing performance as reckless rookie Mills. Coupled with a brilliantly horrific ending makes a crime thriller for the ages that will leave you shocked for days after. Safe to say missing this movie is a sin of its own.
Bad: Now You See Me II
Speaking of sins, Now You See Me 2 is just that. A prime case of “sequel-itis”, this magic heist movie thought that bigger was better and this backfired with a simple plot that just had one too many characters to keep track of. Morgan Freeman reprised his role as Thaddeus Bradley who I did like as an antagonist in the first movie. His know-it-all demeanour and understanding of how the Horsemen worked was portrayed well by the calm and wise personality of Freeman. But, in the sequel, he just seemed like more of the same and while his twist at the end was unexpected it did feel too much like a copy of the similar twist done in the previous movie. Now You See Me 2 is a movie I won’t be seeing again any time soon.
Ugly: Lucy
Lucy is not a bad movie by any means and I actually enjoyed it at points thanks to its interesting premise and action pieces, but this movie is just weird and after watching it I had to have a lie down in a dark room for an hour. The weirdness of this movie comes partially due to its plot about Scarlett Johansson’s character Lucy, but mostly because of its over the top use of CGI and imagery (think 2001: A Space Odyssey) that’ll leave you with a headache. At least it gave us a good Morgan Freeman meme, you know the one…