This is one of the overlooked classics of the Heist/Con genre, and deservedly so. The acting and writing is stylized and feels almost more like a play than a film, but this is intentional and precise. Ricky Jay and David Mamet craft ingenious misdirections as what the audience knows about the story twists and turns, and for my money it’s Steve Martin’s best serious role. The flaws amount to one or two minor points that seem more unlikely than they needed to be by the end, and the saying of acting that will turn some people off. But it’s the details of plot and the poetry of the dialog that makes this movie so good and if you like heist movies but haven’t seen it, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Venom - 3/5
It’s not ‘Good’ but there are parts that are really good. Fight scenes are often well done with great special effects, though the final fight in particular is surprisingly bad. Venom is funny with a dark sense of humor, which meshes well with this version of the character as well as with Tom Hardy’s Eddy Brock. It’s a different take on both characters, and the bad editing really muddles what could have been great. They seem to have expanded Venom’s power set somewhat, which is fun to watch but contradicts itself in a few minor places. Venom bites off a few heads, but always off screen so as to maintain the PG-13 rating and the violence is mostly punching and throwing. If you don’t mind waiting 25 minutes to see him get the symbiote, it’s a fun action movie.
Your Name. (2016) - 4/5
A body-swapping movie? With a romantic main plot? And it’s good? How did that happen? Well the animation is stunningly beautiful, for one thing, and the plot takes some interesting twists right off the bat. It’s unusal that story structure will be a big selling point unless the movie’s playing backwards like in Memento. But here the story structure is used to keep the audience in the dark about some details of the mechanics of what’s going on, so we can discover it along with the characters in the movie. It’s close to a 5/5, but it overplays the ‘new body parts’ gag and the final conflict sequence was too contrived for how long it lasted. Still, great music, gorgeous use of color, and an english dub that has a surprising amount of work put into it. If you like animated movies at all, this is a definite must-see.
The Predator (2018) - 3/5
To begin with this could have been a 4/5. It has a solid setup and a few interesting turns initially, but it quickly turns into just another action movie. It has better effects than some of the other installments in this franchise but used to less effect; it’s gorier but not more interesting. It adds a little to the Predator mythos and it’s always fun to see military guys running around trying to fight a powerful alien. The humor is ultimately what carries it this high, with well-paced jokes to keep the audience interested. Unless you’re already a fan of the other movies there’s no reason to watch this over any number of other summer popcorn action flicks.
Knights of the Round Table (1953) - 3/5
This is an old staple of the genre, presenting the most classic, iconic, and complete story of King Arthur. Unfortunately, its stage quality acting, costuming, and set design don’t age well. Beside the fact that Robert Taylor as Lancelot pulls a Kevin Costner (is the only one without a British accent), it’s a bit too bland if you’re already familiar with the story. On the whole, though, it’s a good place to start if you want the most straightforward account of the legend.
Wyatt Earp (1994) - 2/5
This movie is disappointing to say the least. With writer/director Lawrence Kasdan (of Empire Strikes Back fame) and Kevin Costner in the title role, this should have been great. Unfortunately, it’s just a longer version of Tombstone, which came out the year before. Clocking in at over three and a half hours, there’s no excuse for it to be as boring as it is. For it being essentially the same story it’s a shame that everything is better in Tombstone, from the casting of Wyatt Earp to Doc Holliday, from the pacing to Kevin Costner’s own performance in both films. It’s not terrible, it’s just not worth watching.
The Meg - 3/5
Don't get me wrong, it's a ton of fun. The jump scares are fantastic and peppered evenly throughout the runtime. The acting is mostly fine and there's some fun tech that induces cool wideshots of The Meg underwater looking properly menacing. There are long stretches of rescue-operation-type scenes that I wasn't expecting in a summer shark movie, and though they're good scenes it wreaks havoc with the pacing. Great popcorn-munching fun, but its staying power is suspect.
Together with Skyscraper this demonstrates a return to '90s-style action movies. I'm personally delighted with the trend and am interested to see how many more movies will line up to follow the trend.
Mission Impossible: Fallout - 5/5
It's really really good. Its 2h27min runtime packed full of chases and missions, with just enough time in between for the audience to catch its breath. There are solid performances all around and impressive cinematography both technically and viscerally. A return to form in many ways, this is almost as good as the 1996 original. A few problems with luckiness, a few poor lines of dialogue, and some overly convoluted backstories are all that kept this from being a 5/5.
Originally I gave this movie a 4/5, but over time all of the issues with it proved to be only nit picks which places it squarely in the 5/5 category.
Dark Passage (1947) - 3/5
This drama is one in a long line of Bogart / Becall collaborations, though one of the weaker ones. While it's always great to hear them banter, this film doesn't offer anything more than the basic motions of plot and dialogue. The most interesting aspect was the first-person cinematography in the fist half of the movie, an underused form used extremely well here. Unfortunately, it's the same reason the technique stops being used that keys in the viewer about why it was used in the first place, and that undercuts its impact significantly. It's not a classic, but there are worse movies to watch for an hour and 45, old or new alike.
Broken Arrow (1950) - 3/5
This is an overlooked gem that I only heard about by happenstance. It's older and campy, but it's always a treat to watch Jimmy Stewart's performances. It's a little-told part of American history, which is always fun, but the style is certainly dated. The diplomatic language was exquisite and cut so brilliantly to the heart of each conflict in question that it almost bumped it up to a 4/5 for me by itself. All told, though, at the very least it could use a non-gritty remake with an emphasis on dialogue.
Skyscraper - 3/5
Don't let the rating fool you, this movie is lots of fun. It's a much-needed return to 90's thrill ride action movies and blends Die Hard with a disaster movie to the expected result. That said, it has its flaws, of course. The kids do a mediocre acting job at best, and there are plenty of confusing motivations and convoluted plans staring simpler ones in the face. But you could do a whole lot worse, and the CGI around the prosthetic leg combined with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's portrayal of the character with an injury is some of the best I've ever seen. Great action setp-pieces and pasted-on everything else make for a fun time at the movies.
Hidden Figures (2017) - 4/5
This is a heartwarming family-based movie about three black women overcoming racism and sexism at NASA in the 1960's. The mathy-parts are stylized so anyone watching who doesn't understand the higher math being used won't be lost. Unfortunately, there's not enough of that math on-screen for those who do understand it, and the little they reference directly is hit-or-miss for accuracy. It will likely appeal more to fans of NASA, anti-racism, and John Glenn than fans of mathematics. The story is well told and the actors have some really good chemistry. It's a really good version of what you would expect to get from the trailers.
Ant-Man and the Wasp - 4/5
This movie is a comedy and I think it's hilarious. Not all the jokes land, but they recover quickly from those that don't. Luckily, even if the humor doesn't work for you there's still enough of a movie to make it worth watching. They've taken the criticisms from the first movie about the villain to heart, and the antagonist here is character driven with a nuanced relationship to the heroes. Lots of popcorn-crunching spectacular fun to be had and beautiful, colorful visuals, though the issues with physics persist from the first movie. All in all, it's even better than its predecessor and definitely worth a watch.
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.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - 3/5
This movie is a lot of fun, but also has a lot of flaws. Most of the scenarios don't make sense, but they provide the great action sequences we've come to expect from a movie like this. The dinosaurs are as fast, strong, and clever as the scene requires them to be to ensure that the heroes survive and the villains do not. But you still get to see lots of fun dinosaurs causing havoc, which is all the movie ever really promised. The whole thing ends up being a parody of itself, and I laughed as much in this movie as I did in Deadpool, but here I don't think some of it was intended.
Incredibles 2 - 3/5
First the good, then the bad. The action is a lot of fun, the overall color palate and many of the costumes and gadgets are spot on. The fight scenes are creative again, and one in particular is particularly stunning. Unfortunately, this movie is clumsily trying to say about 6 different things and not saying any of them well. The feminists got to the script, apparently, so the most consistent message is that women are good at everything and men have a hard enough time doing relatively simple asks. Even that message is muddled, though not enough to subvert it, and it ends up not really saying anything, though it's clearly trying to. The visuals are mostly good, but the costumes on the other superheroes are bizarre and many are downright ugly. I wanted this to be better, at least a 4/5, but it's not quite there.
Coco (2017) - 5/5
Well, they've done it again. Leave it to Pixar to take an all-encompassing issue like Family and do it justice. The animation is breathtaking, of course, but it's the story that really shines. It walks a razor's edge path to avoid every pitfall and to continually go unexpected places. Characters that would have been two-dimensional cardboard cutouts in a lesser film are instead flushed out and complex. Great music, inspiring message, and tear-jerking conclusion.
Hotel Artemis - 3/5
The look and feel of this movie are fantasic. It's a master class in old meets new with a realistic, grungy world that has high-tech elements woven seamlessly into it. The acting is also great and the actors all did some of their better work. The whole thing just needed to be 20 minutes longer. Most of the story lines don't get adequately resovled, and the audience has to infer the fate of several characters. I would really like to give this one a 4/5, and if they release an extended director's cut on DVD it may get there. But as it is, the last half is disappointingly short for all the cool things they set up and didn't pay off.
Paddington (2014) - 3/5
First of all, the cinematography in this film is beautiful and the CGI is impressive, to say the least. All of the directoral choices like casting, costume design, and music are well done and a pleasure to enjoy. Unfortunately, it's unclear who this movie is made for. The goofy whimsy automatically suggests children, but the film condones illegal and immoral actions simply because they are performed by the protagonists, making it a bad fit for kids. The overt man-bashing and the attempt to portray women as infallible are ubiquitous, making it offputting to sober adults. If you can turn off your brain you can have a lot of fun with this film, but trying to gain any lessons from it will be hit-or-miss.
Solo: A Star Wars Story - 3/5
First of all, it's fun seeing some of Han's backstory and all the new aliens, ships, and locations. That being said, the writing, acting, and much of the cinematography feels more like medium quality TV than multi-million dollar summer blockbuster. Thecharacter motivations are all either confusing or counterintuitive, and the plot seems to move characters around because of where they need to end up, not by natural progression. Sill, there are some fun action scenes, a few beautiful shots, and some really cool costume design. It's better than Last Jedi, but if you're hoping for Rogue One you'll be disappointed.