The Suicide Squad (2021) - 4/5

This movie is a tour de force rebuttal to its previous installment. It’s a colorful, blood-spattered comedy corral, with a plot that actually works and consistent stakes. It retreads some story beats from the first installment but improves them just to flex. It takes bizarre situations and obscure characters, then injects them with pathos and treats them with more care than the rest of these non-MCU superhero cash-grabs.

Content warning: Gore

Closest comparison: It’s like Guardians of the Galaxy by way of Deadpool.

Setting: Military
Plot: Super Hero
Tone: Dark Comedy

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw - 4/5

Sure, this movie is dumb, but it’s so much fun I can’t give it just a 3/5. The action is big and cool, one setpiece after another with awesome fights and stunts and just enough plot to get you from one to the next. It seems intent on going bigger than everybody else, upping Marvel’s two mid- and post-credits scene ante with four of their own. There are lots of awesome slow-mo stunts that are impressive even in a world of CGI because of how gorgeous and colorful the whole movie is.

Closest comparison: It’s the Mission Impossible II of the Fast and Furious franchise, in all the best ways.

Setting: Action Adventure
Plot: Action Thriller
Tone: Action Comedy

Thor (2011) - 3/5

This is Marvel’s first attempt at mashing up two different genres, and all things considered it works really well. The action is quite good, the story is solid, and the CGI is fine, kept in dark environments as needed. The Shakespearean dialogue is essential to the core of the Asgardian characters, evoking the sense of royalty with ease and meshing perfectly with the ‘royal drama’ nature of the plot. And no review would be complete without mentioning the Dutch Angles that are just everywhere in this movie, but only work well about half of the time.

Closest comparison: It’s the bisection of the line between He-Man and K-Pax, but with much better production values.

Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Super hero
Tone: Action Comedy

The Dark Tower - 2/5

It's too dark with no payoff. Great performances by Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, but all the best parts were in the trailer. It's sad, too, because it could have been really good.

The Jungle Book (2016) - 2/5

Not worth your time. All of the actors phoned in their lines (except Ben Kingsley) and the tone of the writing was all over the place. Just see Zootopia a second time instead. Or better yet, just watch the 1994 live action Jungle Book.