Rami Malek

Saw it early, at a festival. The organizers wanted the film badly, and were rejected multiple times, but were finally given permission to screen it as long as they didn't reveal what movie it was. I've had terrible luck with "grab bag movies" in the past, but figured I'd try.

It is considered a 2016 film, probably due to a significant festival presence, but officially releases April 28th, 2017.

You can expect Rami Malek in a very similar role, well executed, though I worry that he'll never quite break out of that realm. They hired him to do his thing, he did his thing exactly as you would expect him to do his thing. Won him an Emmy, and a Golden Globe nomination, so I'm guessing people want more. Kate Lyn Sheil, in the role of his wife, does an excellent job as well.

Visuals are well prepared, with patience in the pacing. Aside from some awkwardly arranged chronological jumps, this is the same sort of drifting through psychologically stressful environments, tangentially related to a crime mystery, that one might recognize from 'Fear X', a lesser known and unfortunately titled Nicolas Winding Refn film.

For the bad news, there is also an apocalyptic premonition element, established very early on in the same way that it was for 'Take Shelter', which is extremely half baked in how it pertains to the character development. The film leads you to predictable places that you, the audience member, might never care to explore, and drags itself out redundantly. This film is committed to its weakest element, and never surfaces to a satisfying conclusion.

Comic relief, however, works well for this dark film, as does the joy of watching a small child on screen. That said, where you would most expect to find it (in DJ Qualls), the writing falls flat. Like the premonition plot, and also strongly related to it, he is utilized as a plot shortcut that is never as well developed as Malek's own character study.

Therefore, I would say that the script and editing are disservices to the central role of 'Buster's Mal Heart,' which is partly saved by cinematography and reliable (if predictable) casting. Well worth it for people still high on Mr. Robot, but others will toss this aside as another budget psych-thriller that never fully forms into a captivating whole.

I just saw someone on my Facebook say Oscar Isaac would be a great Gomez.