The Town - 4/5

This movie is a modern heist classic, focusing more on the camaraderie of the lowlife thieves than on the sleuthing of the detectives tracking them down or even the thrill and mechanics of the heists themselves. It’s fun to watch the four main leads fully immersed in their characters and bouncing dialogue off each other. In that there’s a playfulness to the drama that doesn’t sacrifice the impact of the story to engage the audience.

Content warning: brief female nudity

Closest comparison: It’s like Four Brothers by way of American Heist.

Setting: Crime
Plot: Heist
Tone: Lowlifes

Kill the Messenger (2014) - 3/5

This is a by-the-numbers investigative journalism exposé movie and as such it’s well executed. The story is pretty straightforward and holding to the historical facts doesn’t leave much room for cinematic creativity. It’s well acted, well written, and paced to keep your attention, but unless you’re interested in the historical events you may find yourself bored. Jeremy Renner is excellent in the leading role, and without him the film would collapse under its own weight.

Closest comparison: It’s more All the President's Men than it is Erin Brockovitch.

Setting: Political Drama
Plot: Journalistic Investigation
Tone: Family Drama

Avengers: Age of Ultron - 4/5

This movie is fantastic, but introduces too many metaphors to pay off by the end. Director Joss Whedon stated in an interview that he challenged himself to make it shorter than The Avengers (2012), and it shows. This movie tries to do more in less time, and although it does an incredible job with what it has, an extra 10-20 minutes could have made this a 5/5. That being said the action is dazzling, the concept is solid, and they even managed to squeeze in three new characters that went on to appear in other MCU movies. With so much crammed into one movie, it definitely improves with multiple viewings.

Closest comparison: It’s the troubled middle child of the Avengers franchise.

Setting: Super hero
Plot: Super hero
Tone: Super hero

The Avengers (2012) - 5/5

This movie does Character better than almost any other. Joss Whedon accomplished the almost insurmountable task of combining the six main characters and several side characters in a way that lets each of them shine unimpeded by the others. The brilliance of the one-on-one confrontations each main character gets with the villain that highlight the unique strengths they bring to the team cannot be overstated. It also contains one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted arguments ever put to film. It combined three existing character-based film franchises, reinvented a fourth, and added in two main characters to boot. And it did it so well that it became the gold standard by which all action films and all team-up films are measured.

Closest comparison: It’s the super hero team up movie that started them all

Setting: Super hero
Plot: War Spy
Tone: Action Adventure

Tag - 3/5

It's mostly very funny, on occasion very irreverent, and every now and then a bit dull. Mileage may vary depending on how this combination hits you. The tag scenes are a blast, which is why the movie works as well as it does, and the filler is kind of entertaining, too. Knowing it is based on a true story is fun, though the real footage in the credits is somewhat underwhelming after just watching the high-gloss movie version.

Wind River (2017) - 5/5

This is a 'Crying for the State of the World' film, and I can say to things about it: 1) It's very well made 2) Don't watch it. It's the kind of movie that's definitely either a 5/5 or a 1/5, depending on if you base it on how well the film was made or how it leaves you feeling by the end. It's slow and it's sad, but if you're going to make a movie like this, this is the way to do it.

Arrival - 4/5

It's very close to 5/5, I just didn't come away from the theater excited. This is the best hard sci-fi movie to come out in a while, though, so if you like sci-fi definitely go watch it. Of course, if you've seen the trailers I don't have to tell you it's more 2001: A Space Odyssey and less Independence Day. The pacing is very slow, but it's so that you can think about what they're telling/showing you. Also it's got great cinematography.