Men in Black: International - 3/5

It’s kind of dumb, but it’s a lot of fun. It follows in the steps of Ant-Man, where it keeps to its own rules for the main storyline but abandons them when it wants to make a joke. That being said the jokes land, for the most part, and it’s flashily cinematic in all the usual places. Instead of having a boring, predictable plot it changes up the formula by keeping the audience guessing which of the myriad tropes they’re going to fall into. This is the least weird and most stylish of the Men In Black franchise, and the second best one of the lot because of it.

Closest comparison: Thor and Valkyrie in a buddy cop movie with aliens.

Setting: Weird Sci-Fi
Plot: Buddy Cop
Tone: Comedy

Annihilation - 4/5

It starts out like Arrival, so I wasn’t expecting it to turn into a straight-up horror movie about half way through. That being said, I really enjoyed the ride. It’s beautiful to watch and riveting to think about, keeping its slow pace rich with engagement. It’s great an it’s clever, ambiguous in places but becoming more clear the more you think about it. Even the way the story jumps around is part of the narative iteself. The ending is pretty trippy and psychodelic, putting it squarely in the high concept sci-fi category, but if that’s your jam and you’re ok with the horror elements then definitely give it a watch.

Closest comparison: Arrival, then a Quite Place, then The Fountain

Creed II - 3/5

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a good movie. It’s an interesting logical continuation of the story from Creed and is enjoyable to watch. It almost crested to a 4/5, but there are just too many plot points that never go anywhere and missed opportunities to have really great moments. All of the interesting camera work from the first installment is gone and the writing turns the story into a family drama. The acting is still good but without the subsance there’s no reason to see this movie over any other.

Creed (2015) - 5/5

I’m not normally drawn to boxing movies, but there’s nothing to criticize with this one. The story is so strong and the acting is incredible by everyone involved. It’s a very moving, powerful film with a clearly stated central theme and message that avoids being preachy. It avoids the tired manufactured drama of lesser films but lets the story carry itself by the sheer weight of its sincerity. Smartly, the director Ryan Coogler tells the story in a way that the audience doesn’t need to have seen any of the Rocky films to understand everything that’s going on in the story. Absolutely impressive cinematography with more oners than Spielberg and to think about than its predecessors, this film is one of the all-time greats for film snobs and popcorn flick lovers alike.

Thor: Ragnarok - 3/5

Mileage may vary. The action is awesome, but only some of the humor worked for me. The visuals are stunning, but much of the plot only pays off mildly well. It's not a bad film by any means, but it's only 'fine' when it could have been 'great'. It's candy, not meat and potatoes. It's fun, flashy and fleeting.

 Honestly the fact that the trailers ruined so much of the movie was very disappointing to me. There's like 20 minutes of build-up to "who is Thor going to fight?", but that was in the first 20 seconds of the trailer. And for as amazing as many of the costumes were, Valkyrie's costume was one of the worst I've seen in any super hero movie. Who thought "You know what's a badass color? Taupe."