In Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Taika Waititi searches for our emotions underneath a woven tapestry of genius comedy. It is a joy to watch this interplay and celebrate a level of cleverness unique to this brilliant filmmaker.

Waititi and his acumen are on display from the start as Ricky Baker (Dennsion) is introduced with an offbeat list of his calculated offenses.

As Uncle Hec (Neill) and Ricky gain momentum on the run, Paula (House) and the rest of law enforcement display an outrageous and inept charm. Ricky and Hec are subjected to unintended consequences that keep layering to form a gloriously uplifting movie drawing upon such topics as coping with loss, foster care, growing up, growing old and patience. Even the most painfully sad moment is punctuated with a tactfully humorous barb.

Sam Neill is a wonderful grump who arcs away from curmudgeon to deliver a truly heartfelt performance and Rhys Darby cameos to perfection as the eccentric Psycho Sam.

We welcome Waititi back to the Film Clas Elite with 4.9 napkins out of 5 and honor Ricky Baker with this thoughtfully prepared haiku:

Here in Burlington
This film made us laugh out loud
Popcorn is all gone

Someone should have blown the whistle on Oliver Stone. The lethargy he brought to Snowden painted the entire story as mundane and caked in a deluge of security jargon and phony ideas of importance. Compelling? Not really. Pulse-pounding? Nope.

Since much of this particular story is cloaked in secrecy, it allows for unusual creative freedom within a biography. This licensed Stone to interpret and fabricate a story stemming from what is known and essentially piggyback on an Academy Award winning documentary. Certainly a unique approach.

There might be more substance to this story. But maybe not and, in order to draw out the film, the relationship between Snowden (Gordon-Levitt) and Linsday (Woodley) was sifted to the forefront. And that, along with the average teen novel acting of Woodley, sealed the fate of this picture.

The dialogue was unnecessarily heroic. The supporting cast had little to support. Gordon-Levitt forced a surprisingly timid guise for someone as arrogant as Edward Snowden actually seems. No matter your persuasion regarding the politics, the film certainly disappoints and lacks audacity.

Snowden has asylum in Russia and is a similar distance away from the Film Clas Elite, landing only 2.1 napkins out of 5.

Sully is a captivating and strong film for 208 seconds. Then again, as those 208 seconds are revisited. We revisit them again. And then again. This recurring insight into the on board poise of Captain Sullenberger most likely does not approach the reality of his valiance. Thankfully Eastwood double and triple-dipped into our predisposed emotions to carry us through the minutia of the remaining 88 minutes, give or take.

The film feeds off our memory of the event from television, our imagination of actually being a passenger or the introspective ideas of our own personal mortality. And this thrilling momentum is halted by redirection to a nit-picky and forced conflict with the meddling NTSB questioning the gutsy decision making of Sully. Throw in a couple of sluggish backstories concerning a few of the passengers and we just want to get back in the cockpit staring down the Hudson River…again.

The point is that I really do not care about the NTSB investigation. Ergo, to construct a film centered around the hearings was a poor decision at best. Even with the great Tom Hanks in the Captain’s seat, it’s wheels down for the film Sully, fitting only 2.4 napkins out of 5 in its carry-on.