Magic in the Moonlight takes Woody Allen back to France and back in time again, though there will be no Midnight in Paris-esque time traveling involved (we think). Set in the 1920s, Colin Firth stars as Stanley, a magician and “the greatest debunker of fake spiritualists,” sent to the French Riviera to investigate Emma Stone‘s Sophie. Sophie, meanwhile, has near everyone convinced she’s a medium with the help of her cleverness and charming looks (the role is played by Emma Stone, after all).

Moonlight also teams Allen up with several actors whom he hasn’t worked with before, including Stone and Firth, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater, and recent 2-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver. The film is set for a US release on July 25th, and if the long-standing Allen trend of hit-miss-hit-miss-hit stays in tact, this may be a skippable effort from Woody (though the trailer is no indication of that). Check out a preview below:

Watch trailer for Magic in the Moonlight

Daryl Wein’s indie romantic comedy Lola Versus is just as much about finding love in yourself as it is finding love in others. The film attempts to give a unique perspective on the genre by telling it from an unapologetic single woman’s point of view, but it does not fully succeed. Thankfully, terrific performances from the lead (most of the supporting roles) saved the film from falling completely flat.

Lola (Greta Gerwig) just turned 29 years-old and according to her astrology book, it is the year that Saturn returns to the location it was when she was born. Now she expects her whole world to turn upside down (figuratively and astronomically). But she is reluctant that her life needs changing even though she understands that change is inevitable.

The film wastes no time getting to a monumental change in Lola’s life when her boyfriend Luke (Joel Kinnaman) proposes to her. As happy as she can be she replies, yes. Lola and Luke begin to plan out the wedding. But just as quickly it began, Lola returns home one day to discover that Luke no longer wants to get married. It is not revealed why Luke suddenly has a change of heart but Lola obviously takes the news incredibly hard. It was as if someone pulled the rug out from under her feet.

As Lola hits rock bottom, she relies on her friends to pick her back up. Her best friend Alice (Zoe Lister Jones) offers her shoulder for Lola to cry on. And so does Henry (Hamish Linklater), who is awkwardly stuck in the middle because he is friends with both Lola and Luke. Her parents also offer their support and comfort her as much as they can.

You could see it coming a mile away that eventually the platonic relationship between Lola and Henry would soon change. And it does. He was there for her when she needed someone and now she cannot let go. It is a realistic situation but one that we all know what the outcome will be.

The relationship turns from strictly friends to more when Lola asks if Henry will spend the night. She explains the reason for this is that nights are hard for her now that she is alone. While that may be true, there is definitely more to it than that. When things continue to get worse for Lola, she uses Henry as an answer to her problems.

Lola’s life is just as confusing to herself as it is to the viewer. Often, it is easier to see answers to other people’s problems than your own, but in the case of Lola, it was just as difficult. Part of this is due to the fact that sometimes life does not make sense; you do things that you know you should not. However, part of not understanding her character is obviously a fault of the film.

The beginning of Lola Versus felt completely rushed as if they were forced to stay within a 90 minute runtime (which it barely does). The drawback of that is not getting to know the characters and who they really were. Because the audience feels little attachment to characters, it is hard to care about when her heart-breaks over Luke. The fact they were all of a sudden getting married, then breaking up in the next scene, did not help matters either.

Also it did not help that Joel Kinnaman was so rigid in his role as Luke. Not only that, but his dull lines and personality made it was almost hard to bear. Fortunately, the rest of the cast all had noteworthy performances. Greta Gerwig handled the lead role with grace and received great support from both Hamish Linklater and Zoe Lister Jones.

There were times that Lola Versus veered off the predictable path of romantic comedy, but unfortunately they were very brief. It largely remained a generic rom-com with some head scratching dialog and situations. This film falls victim to having the cast try to carry a mediocre-at-best script, which ends up being a suicide mission for everyone involved.

The Future is Miranda July’s long-awaited second full-feature film which she once again directed, wrote and starred in. Her first film was the highly acclaimed Me and You and Everyone We Know (I adored it enough to give it a perfect 10 rating in my review) which was released 6 years ago. This whimsical film shares some of the same themes as her first film, both feature a 30-something character focusing on seizing moments in life, although is one tends to be more pessimistic than the former.

Sophie (Miranda July) is a dance teacher for children and Jason (Hamish Linklater) does tech support from home. They have been together for 4 years and as the film states, they are in the middle of the beginning of their relationship. They do not get out much as a couple and live rather boring and depressing lives. In an effort to change things up a bit they decide to adopt a cat.

The couple came to the conclusion that once they adopt the cat, someone will always have to be at home to look after it. They see the cat sort of like most people see a baby, that they will be settled down and have responsibilities once they have it. Since they have thirty days before their adopted cat can be taken home, they treat it as if their lives are over once that happens. They take it as an opportunity to do things that they have never done before, which can and ultimately does, change their lives forever.

Sophie sets a goal for herself to do a new dance every day for thirty days. She became so obsessed with looking up YouTube videos of people dancing, assumingly for inspiration, that she cancels her internet access. Jason vows to be more aware of his surrounds and take every opportunity given to him, even if that opportunity is an environmental solicitor that goes door to door selling trees.

The cat, appropriately named Paw-Paw, narrates to the audience (the voiceover is done by Miranda July) on how he can barely wait to be adopted by the couple. His anticipation is so high that he is counting every second that passes by only to realize time is moving by so slow. The cat fantasizes about being outside, where there is no hours to keep track of, where you can be free. Ultimately, I believe the film is about how we are often caged in life, about how we can be so wrapped up with useless things such as viral videos on the internet instead of enjoying life to the fullest.

As a result of their new outlook on life both Sophie and Jason end up meeting new people. Jason befriends a peculiar old gentleman he met on his door to door route. Sophie’s new friendship turns into an affair perhaps after realizing that she was not happy with her life. Or maybe it is just a part of her ambitious new life decisions. It could even be as simple as having 1,000 count bed sheets.

There are many similarities between her first film and this one. The Future begins with a voice-over, just like Me and You and Everyone We Know did. Both films involve young children who are very adult-like while the adults are often child-like. In both films she has conversations with herself portraying two different voices. Both have an odd sexual scene. They even have the same overall theme of living each day as it if were your last and that people have the power to stop time.

Of course The Future does have it’s differences. The number of supporting roles is much smaller so there is not much for subplots. Sophie feels like her best days are behind her while Christine from Me and You and Everyone We Know thinks that her best days are yet to come. The soundtrack in this did not jump out at me like it did in her other film. Change is not bad, in fact, I am glad this film does have it’s differences. Unfortunately, the changes were not all that good.

Sophie is not a very likeable character or one that you find yourself rooting for. The off-beat and quirky character at the beginning is not the same one you find at the end. Both characters are self-absorbed but Jason seems to be sympathetic of the two. I enjoyed their relationship, which can be best described as odd, as ones in real-life typically are. However, I felt the characters themselves were a little disappointing. The cat is who I empathized with the most.

I knew going into The Future that I would probably be slightly disappointed with such high and impossible expectations I had. Having those high of expectations is a trap that most people, including myself, fall into often times. But most people agree that this film is not as good as her first, I concur. It had flashes of brilliance but all said and done it was a bit underwhelming.

That being said, Miranda July has the rare talent of creating original independent films with her unique visions. There is no denying her artistic abilities; which is why I will still be highly anticipating her next film. Hopefully we will not have to wait 6 years this time because as we learned from Paw-Paw, waiting can be cruel.