Aside from some editing awkwardness that stuck out to me in the film’s introductory sequence, I found myself pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Disney’s new take on their own animated classic. At times it reads as an almost shot for shot remake, but the divergent details are a bit hit-or-miss. I feel like the lack of villainous presence in this interpretation’s Jafar did the movie no favors, but the addition of a new song for Jasmine, while maybe not to my taste musically, was a very welcome addition that helped with humanizing her character and her struggle, something I’d consider a failing of the original in retrospect. Bold musical numbers, as well as great performances from the lead cast (and specifically, Will Smith’s Genie) manage to tie together this remake into a solid package that is both endearing and entertaining.

King of the Monsters is a far cry from its 2014 predecessor. The Kaiju are here, and this time around, they are here in force. The human drama has thankfully taken a back seat this time around, and there are plenty of gargantuan fights and “oh shit” moments to thrill and entertain. Toho Godzilla fans will be pleased to find a surprising amount of original and reimagined theme music sprinkled throughout as garnish, a small testament to the origins of these historic, beloved characters. When all was said and done, I found myself thoroughly exhausted from the sheer amount of spectacle that had been thrown at my face, and from the amount of times it made me physically react. Seeing this in IMAX is a must, and be sure to stick around for the post-credits scene!

John Wick 3 gets right to the point and tosses its audience headfirst into a tense, pressure cooker atmosphere, opening with some ridiculously high-energy Raid Redemption quality combat sequences. The movie allows itself to open up a bit more as it moves along, and at times the disparity between its high and low energy moments can be a bit dizzying. Overall, this chapter of John Wick makes for a fantastic no-holds-barred adrenaline-action movie with lots of over-the-top executions and almost Jackie Chan inspired environmental stuntwork. I saw it twice, and probably wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

Detective Pikachu, despite having a somewhat loose story, still manages to hit the right notes needed to engage an audience. Ryan Reynold’s pika-performance is great, and his wisecracks and witticisms are well received. Justice Smith does well, both in times of comedy and emotional weight, to convince the viewer that he has chemistry with a big CGI mouse. A shocking amount of detail and love has obviously been put into the development of this world, and Ryme City is a character in of its own, vibrant, bustling, full of life, and always drawing your eye away to hunt for some other small detail or easter egg. Paired with the stellar facial expression animation on the tituar pokemon, I’d say that this is a fun, family friendly flick that succeeds at bringing a world to life.

The promised conclusion to over a decade of anticipatory setup, Avengers: Endgame delivers character development in spades. Less action driven than its battle-fuelled previous chapter, Endgame dedicates more time to emotional content and weight, focusing primarily on the fallout of Infinity War. I can’t say much here without giving anything away, but I will say that you’ll definitely want to be caught up on every MCU movie to date before giving this a watch if you want to get the most out of it.

Shazam - A character, and a movie whose release I didn’t really care much for, but a movie that my DC Comics friend was super excited to see. It’s not often I get to go into a hero movie completely uninitiated, but for the most part I walked out feeling like it had been worth my time. Shazam! Was very entertaining to watch, and seemed to be filled with a joyous, meta-hero exuberance. While the story itself is average hero fare at best, the character interactions are genuine and there is enough emotional content present to make you feel for Billy Batson’s situation; a resonance of feeling that, however brief, I found to be noticeably absent in Captain Marvel. The film’s climax and conclusion fall a bit flat, but it still manages to end on an upbeat note that makes it, in my book, a surprisingly adequate hero movie that never takes itself too seriously. While I saw Shazam! In IMAX, I’m convinced that any screen will do.

“Night Is Short” is a wonderfully animated film that depicts an long and complex series of events as they unfurl over the course of a single night adventure. The animation is vibrant, dynamic, and full of life, allowing every step of this loopy odyssey to be thematically striking and visually spectacular. The pacing of this story is breakneck, and narrative arcs are brought up, resolved, and revisited later in such rapid succession that it makes the movie feel double its length, as if an entire season’s worth of material has been condensed into its standard 1.5 hour runtime. Although it requires the viewer’s utmost attention, I’d go as far as to call it a masterpiece of an anime film that will no doubt stand out as an instant classic for years to come.

As what appears to be the penultimate entry in the Marvel canon proper, “Captain Marvel” comes across as diversionary at best, an origin story that feels overdue on arrival for a character who I can only hope isn’t given deus-ex-machina level importance in the big finale. On its own merits, however, Captain Marvel succeeds at being another one of the franchise’s more average entries, with all of the highlights and pitfalls we’ve come to expect at this point. The movie is fun, and the comic relief is quippy, bright, and funny. Story-wise, however, we are again treated to under-developed villains of coincidence, and a central conflict that almost begs for more exposition, but that is instead clumsily executed and thrown on screen. The result is a movie that appears to touch on many themes (war is hell, war indoctrination, single motherhood, loss of identity) but only does so superficially, as if name-dropping progressive topics while refusing to properly engage with them. I enjoyed the movie, but walking out of it I resented how exceedingly shallow and bereft of emotional content it felt. It’s worth a watch, but don’t expect Wonder Woman.

Coming out of the gate with maybe a little less of the freshness and exuberance of its predecessor, this is a Lego Movie that once again exceedingly succeeds in being a charming, vibrant, and funny family experience. The production quality and visual effects are still brilliantly done with that unique lego flare. While lagging behind the original Lego Movie in terms of emotional impact, the story is still enjoyable and capstoned with an uplifting moral objective. From basic fart jokes to tongue-in-cheek meta humor, The Lego Movie 2 should be a fun watch for kids, student debt ridden adults, and student debt free adulter-adults alike. There’s not much else to say, other than (in summary) It’s good, but not as good as the first one, but still very good.

Having seen more trailers for this film than I’d have liked to, I went in expecting big things out of James Cameron’s latest pet project. Alita: Battle Angel triumphantly delivers both in spectacle and soul, striking a masterful balance between the more tame character development story beats, and the explosive, dynamic combat sequences. As an adaptation, Alita: Battle Angel diverges from the manga in several non-critical story details, but manages to stay surprisingly faithful to the spirit and feel of the source material. The setting, a post-apocalyptic scrapyard city set below an inaccessible, suspended metropolis, is rendered in beautiful cyberpunk aesthetic detail that warrants an IMAX viewing. Nods to the manga are plentiful and will be caught by the well-initiated, but this will not at all serve as a prerequisite or a barrier to your enjoyment or understanding of the film. Overall, Alita succeeds as a film, and after my near-empty opening day screening, I can only hope that it succeeds well enough financially in the hopes of us getting more.

At first, I was reluctant to watch this film, some random comedy flick that I hadn’t seen or heard of, that a friend had requested for a movie night out of curiosity, due to it being referenced by some other pop-culture thing I’d gone out of my way to avoid. “Can we not watch “Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)?” asked my tired, weary brain. This, it would turn out, would end up being a sin against god. Weekend at Bernie’s is one of the most perplexingly addictive movies I have ever seen. Strap in for an 80’s core adventure laden with questionable character decision making, slapstick circumstance, and a weird, urgent pace that only adds to the madness. This movie makes me wish there was an Oscar for “Best Immobile Performance from a Supporting Actor”, and if that doesn’t pique your interest enough to give it a watch, then get some friends together and prepare to be confused, unnerved, and entertained.

Originally I’d supposed “Broly” to be one of those limited 2-3 day anime movie limited event screenings, and while I had fond childhood memories of Dragon Ball Z like almost every other nerd my age, I hadn’t been following anything contained in the avalanche of episodes and movies that had transpired since. This ended up being a non-issue going in: those who are at least vaguely familiar with the Dragon Ball Z level-up-and-beat-em-up gestalt are in for a fun time with this movie. Once the 20-30 minutes of plot setup are out of the way, the remainder of the movie is just one really big, bombastic, explosive anime fight. You’ll be watching two or more buff as heck anime dudes unrelentingly beat the shit out of each other for the better part of an hour. It will be some of the most breathtaking animation you have ever seen, you’ll be more-than-significantly wowed, and thoroughly entertained. In terms of visual style and action, I’d put this right up there with Into The Spider-Verse, one of the best of 2018.

First Man is a surprisingly dour and grim account of one of America’s greatest accomplishments. Masterfully bleak, the film exudes an almost ethereal feel with a haunting, out of this world (sorry) score, and a slow, desperate pace driven by some sense of far-off urgency. First Man is a very somber film, and while it may document a triumphant moment in American history, it is decidedly un-nationalistic, prioritizing emphasis on the human stories behind the event. Gosling’s performance as a stoic Neil Armstrong is hauntingly cerebral, and succeeds in portraying a character trying to make peace with personal tragedy while dealing with the stress of the monolithic task at hand. All in all, this film faces the challenge of reigniting the drama of the moon landing, an event frequently visited in pop-culture that happened almost half a century ago in our history, and ultimately succeeds in doing so by placing the event atop a dramatic crescendo it goes to very great lengths to build.

Bumblebee is easily the best installment in the Transformers cinematic franchise to date. The writing this time around is far more driven and concise with fewer pitfalls, the robot designs are delightfully retro, and the relationship between heroine and Autobot onscreen feels moving and genuine, making for a Transformers movie with a surprising amount of soul contained within. There are a few, maybe one or two, story beats that I felt were extraneous, and the villains suffer a bit from low presence (truthfully I can’t remember their names or even if said names were said more than once), but they served their purpose well enough, All in all, Bumblebee is a humble, more complete beast and thankfully doesn’t attempt any of the cheap laugh cringe-humor bullshit that plagued its predecessors. Definitely worth a watch.

The Predator is passable at best, and at times reads like a direct-to-dvd movie sequel. The concept of the Alpha-predator feels underdeveloped, and large bits of narrative are clunkily revealed in throwaway expository lines. What this leaves you with is a somewhat brainless action flick with cringey comedy bits and CGI effects that vary in quality from “pretty good” to “early 2000’s bad”. While gratuitous sequelbait, a loose narrative, and a villain/ally of convenience bring this film down, the action is decently paced throughout and, to its credit, I found myself wowed by the spectacle enough to make sitting through it relatively effortless. It’ll go down as one of the lesser entries in the franchise, but is still worth a watch if you’ve got nothing to do.

DC has been in dire need of a theatrical win lately, and without going on and on about the saddening state of their cinematic universe, I feel that it’s safe to say that Aquaman was that win. In terms of narrative and pacing, the film has a sort of clunky, clumsy feel to it, and while individual story elements spiritually feel at times a bit like a Thor/Black Panther retread, the movie as a whole is energetic, fun, and soulful. Atlantis is rendered beautifully in actual colors instead of the usual, washed out DC palette, I’m at a loss trying to recall all the individual visual moments in the film that genuinely wowed me. Things like the brilliant 360 degree camera work during the early fight scenes, the massive underwater war, and the imposing sense of scale of the creature guarding the trident all succeed in driving home this feeling of wonder that makes this movie work so well. A satisfying movie with which to end the year.

I saw this twice, and part of me still would effortlessly pay to see it again. I liken the feeling to when I’d watched movies like “Redline” or “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” for the first time, and was hit with this feeling that I’d just seen something uniquely special. Into the Spider-Verse is art in motion. The film itself feels like a graffiti mural, a spontaneous burst of artistic and stylistic celebration that focuses on themes of hope, personal expression, and individuality, all of which make for an uplifting watch overall. There is a clever balance struck between joviality and seriousness that allows the movie to be funny, but not disposable, and as enticing as the flashy, stylized visuals may be, it is this massive amount of “heart” that this film has that’ll have you wanting to see it again.

Despite the star power of its main duo, Robin Hood suffers from being a somewhat predictable and mostly forgettable experience. Aside from a neat stylistic beat early on where the film attempts to marry medieval archery with modern-style urban warfare, by and large Robin Hood feels like an unsure retread, with pacing issues that had me losing interest and zoning out right in the middle of one of its major action sequences. Both Jamie Foxx and Taron Egerton aren’t enough to save this remake. A passable actionish flick at best, but a cash grab if ever I’ve seen one.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” did well (in addition to being a Potter spinoff) mostly due to a sense of magical charm that gave the movie a vibrant, lively feel. This same magic unfortunately seems to be mostly absent from The Crimes of Grindelwald. In addition to the bleak atmosphere (which is somewhat fitting given that the film is essentially about a figurehead stirring up racist sentiment and the tension that ensues), this film suffers the most from issues in pacing and exposition. I spent much of the first half absolutely confused as to anything that was going on. Characters felt tacked on and thrown in, with arbitrary plotlines that seemed to go nowhere. The whole affair felt very ‘episodic’, as if more thought was given to setting up a series of movies under the Potter banner than was given to fleshing out this individual chapter of it. Unfortunately forgettable.

I saw this in IMAX, and boy, am I glad I saw this in IMAX. The IMAX theater at my local go-to cinema has the speakers turned up ever so slightly too loud, which worked entirely to this film’s benefit. Bohemian Rhapsody is not the fact-driven Queen biopic that some may be expecting, but is instead a bombastic celebration of the band and its frontman, set to stadium rock that has its power multiplied tenfold by being blasted over theater speakers. Rami Malek is absolutely phenomenal as Freddie Mercury, and his physical performance and mannerisms hit all the right notes. The recreation of the Queen Live-Aid performance at the end is the real gem of this movie, and unfortunately is the closest anyone in my generation will come to seeing them play live.

“Bad Times at the El Royale” can only be described as an experience. I compare the feeling to having watched Pulp Fiction for the first time. One of the more backburner films this year in terms of marketing, I expected maybe a casually entertaining star vehicle, a comfortable paycheck to pad the time between blockbuster events. I walked out completely blown away, feeling a very specific buzz, the impression seared into my brain that I’d witnessed something very special, a instant-classic, a sub-three-hour chunk of moving picture chock full of stylistic intention and masterful storytelling. I’ve spent the moments since El Royale’s credits started to roll, carefully considering what I’d rate it, trying to find any small reason, or gripe, or niggle to deny it a perfect 10/10, as I’ve found that first impressions can sometimes differ substantially from a film’s cumulative quality. (The Last Jedi) Unlike a few big budget name films we’ve recently seen that attempt to compensate for weaker parts with a few, flashy, strategically placed scenes, El Royale’s charm comes from the deliberate slowness of its pacing, the lightness of its exposition, and a delicate balance between action and indulgence that span the entire film. Not for everyone, especially those who find it difficult to give stories the time they need to properly unfold, but it’s a solid 10/10 from me.

I found that I had a surprisingly good time with Venom. Hardy’s performance as Eddie Brock is spectacular, and the visual effects get a passing grade for a modern hero flick. Diehard fans of the source material may take issue with Sony for marketing this as an -antihero- story, as the portrayal of both Brock and the Symbiote in this film reads as generously heroic. Banter between Venom/Brock is fun and adds an interesting internal dialogue layer to the character. Sony managed to absolutely nail the voicework for Venom, and even doubled back and fixed their mispronunciation of “symbiote” that they’d let slip in early trailers. You can see where graphic aspects of the violence have been cut away, having to keep in line with a PG-13 rating, but as weird as these bits of soft-censorship feel (killing a room full of soldiers with nary a drop of blood) this surreal watered-down violence somehow seems to fit with the equally surreal Hero-Venom direction they’ve taken the character in. In want of more visceral brutality, Venom works, but it feels as if a bit of the spirit of the character is lost in the process. Add to this the typical Marvel sin of a poorly written clone-villain of convenience, and you’ve got yourself a standard, fun-oriented marvel flick.

Two post credit scenes follow the movie: The first, which teases Woody Harrelson as Carnage/Cletus Kasady in the sequel, and another, a roughly 5ish minute feature of the upcoming animated “Into the Spiderverse” film.

White Boy Rick was a watch that was disappointingly adequate. At its core lay a compelling story, but the pacing and editing left something to be desired, feeling at times obtrusive and unsure. Many scenes didn’t particularly flow well into one another, making for a jarring experience where the audience is left to try to derive what ought to be simple, factual connections between plot events. Overall this film feels competent, but disjointed.

The Happytime Murders was a pretty hilarious movie, but at times, it was so massively over the top with the adult jokes that it felt a bit forced and disingenuous. This is a hard sentence for me to write, but Melissa McCarthy was really enjoyable in this. If it had toned down some of the more arbitrarily adult stuff (not too much, I don’t hate fun), I think they would’ve had a real shot at making a good, ironic, hard-boiled detective drama. What we got was more brainless, but not for lack of enjoyment. I really do feel that with this calibre of voice acting and puppetry, we could’ve gotten something truly remarkable had The Happytime Murders taken itself just a little bit more seriously.

A huge fan of Iko Uwais’ work, I had high expectations for Mile 22 going in. The film is an attempt at an “operator/infiltration team” story that is for the most part decently paced and has good firefight scenes, but the plot feels runaround and disingenuous as story critical details are withheld until the very end, only to be clumsily delivered in a big block of exposition. While the story itself is passable, the film’s greatest sin is felt when watching its fight scenes. Combat choreography feels impressive, but the editing, lighting, and framing during these sequences is so poor that it’s hard to make out much of any of the action. Kicks and punches are indistinguishable, and the flips that would’ve otherwise wowed, instead looked confusing and arbitrary. Setting up for a sequel at the end may have been in vain.

“Mission: Impossible - Fallout” is the best M:I movie to date. It was definitely worth seeing this in IMAX! The action was visceral, the stunts, insane. The addition of Henry Cavill’s unconventional character as a foil to Cruise’s Ethan Hunt adds a competitive dimension to the film that, in parallel with the film’s main plot, keeps viewers interested in seeing who ultimately gets the better of whom in a rivalry that is deepened even more by Cruise and Cavill’s uncanny onscreen chemistry. Almost every action sequence has a “shout” moment that will at the very least get an audible gasp out of you. A shot of Tom Cruise breaking his leg is used and visible in the final act, which nicely sums up the crew’s all-in approach to stuntwork this time around that paid dividends on the big screen. I’d go see this again.

The fifth Mission: Impossible film is a damn good summer blockbuster, and a great addition to the franchise that is anything but procedural. The addition of a cerebral villain of consequence is very welcome, making for an engaging, edge-of-your seat plotline that makes good use of the space between stunt sequences. The stunts themselves have been ramped up, and the plane sequence, for example, (the movie’s opening scene) will have you looking for any evidence of movie magic, for wires or the telltale gloss of cgi, only to elude you completely and leave you with the only conclusion that tom cruise is in fact hanging from a jumbo jet mid takeoff.

The fourth installment of the Mission: Impossible series suffers primarily from a lack of Luther. The omission of IMF’s best dude aside, Ghost Protocol is a very light, fun addition to the series. Overall a very enjoyable movie-night fare flick. Suffers from a touch of action movie brainlessness, but not enough to hurt its watchability. (Mission: Impossible 2) Not the best we’ve seen from this franchise, but still a competent addition.

The first 10 minutes of Mission: Impossible 3 do a spectacular job of cutting through any apprehension one might have felt in trusting this franchise with another movie after assault on the senses that was Mission: Impossible 2. The McGuffin plotline is fairly obvious from the outset, but the movie does a good job of maintaining a tense feeling of urgency throughout. Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s deadpan villain is fantastic. Overall, very JJ Abrams-y, as his style is very visible in this film.

I found myself pleasantly surprised several times over while watching this, the one that started it all. The movie as a whole has aged quite well. Dated special effects are discernible, but don’t take much, if anything, away from the film when you do notice them because they aren’t the main dish, but merely a seasoning to a film that would still feel meaty without them. The plot is set to a brisk pace, just slow enough to keep the audience informed, but never meandering too much in one place. Characters are intriguing enough to be of consequence even if they aren’t given much screen time at all. This one is a classic.

After the masterful attention to pacing and characters I’d witnessed in the first Mission: Impossible film, I was excited to continue and dove straight into the sequel.

To say I have tonal whiplash would be an understatement. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the movie that first coined the phrase “over the top”, because Mission: Impossible 2 is the essence of overindulgence. This is the most hammy, confusingly indulgent action movie I’ve ever seen.

Mission: Impossible 2 is one of the best bollywood action films I’ve ever seen, and I commend the director on his decision to cut out all the musical numbers and to not put any indian people in the film.

My soul has left my body.

A far cry from its tight and balanced predecessor, The Equalizer 2 is packed with fights and good deeds as expected, but is delivered in a way that feels disorganized and confusing. Fight scenes are well choreographed and Denzel Washington’s charisma shines through in the casual scenes, but the central conflict of the film is somewhat uninspired, and a major plot point, if not obvious before, is revealed so casually that none of the parties involved seem to care. So lacking is the impact of the plot that the characters involved seem almost completely indifferent to its development or resolution.

I watched The Equalizer today, mainly because I’ve got plans to go see the second one tonight, and only this morning did it occur to me that I hadn’t gotten around to watching the first one. I’m glad I did, because A) It was surprisingly good, and B) My whatever-flick expectations for the sequel have been replaced with honest-to-god anticipation. The Equalizer is a whole two hours long, and in those two hours you’ll find a hero-driven action thriller that has been flavored with dramatic tension and deliberate sobriety. There is a mystery to Denzel Washington’s enigmatic protagonist, and it is this mystery that makes up the majority of this character’s intrigue. This allows the movie to expertly shift the focus and interest away from what his character is doing, to the overarching question of how he’s able to do it.

The mystery surrounding Washington’s hero also plays a crucial part due to the fact that it allows the audience to stay invested in (and in some cases, tolerate) what would otherwise be a boringly invincible, ineffectual, unstoppable force that is bereft of risk and tension. As such, the few places this movie fell short can be attributed to a miscalculated surplus of either indulgence or exposition, both of which threaten the delicate balance that allows this movie to be enjoyable.

The Ant-Man sequel, although having been released only about two or so months after Infinity War, is fully focused on being an Ant-Man sequel. Taking place indepenedly of this year’s Avengers film, we see Scott Lang dealing with the residual fallout from Civil War. The Ant-Man humor and shenanigans that made the first film such a fun watch are back in full force, coupled with clever grow/shrink fight choreography, witty banter, and Michael Peña. While on paper, this movie has the right ingredients for another great family-fun Marvel flick, it is unfortunately bogged down by one of Marvel’s arguably weakest villain presences to date. This comes as a disappointment as the movie’s key components are present and well executed (action sequences, character humor, chemistry), but in the absence of a passable villain oriented storyline/conflict to tie them together, in addition to a somewhat lazy conclusion of convenience, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ends up falling flat. At the end of the day, however, It’s fun, so go see it if you want to kill an evening.

I enjoyed the first Sicario movie quite a bit, And with all of the dramatic, high octane advertising that surrounded the sequel, I was quite excited going in.

Originally marketed under the name “Sicario 2: Soldado” (or even just “Soldado”, the sequel had been marketed as an explosive story closely following the exploits of Benicio Del Toro’s seasoned cartel Hitman, tantalizing users with the prospective carnage that would ensue as a result of him being “turned loose” with “no rules this time”. “Soldado”, an intimidating, to-the-point title, would later suffer an inexplicably late name change to “Sicario: Day of the Soldado”, a title more bloated and run-around much like the movie we ended up getting. Dubious packaging aside, Sicario 2 plays out more like a novel than it does an action film, containing a long, slow-burn chain of events. The story, while thoughtfully laid out and executed, is paced in so sparse a way that I found it took noticeable effort on my part to stay invested in the events on screen, and that the only reason I hadn’t lost interest was because of how much I really /wanted/ to stay invested, not being one to shy away from an intricate story.

While the narrative chain of events is coherent, I feel like the duality of Del Toro’s character being both a compassionate figure and a ruthless killer was very clumsily handled, and that his character, a major draw to both this and the previous film, feels so arbitrary to the plot that you leave it feeling like you haven’t watched much of a sequel at all.

I had high hopes going into Jurasic World 2, but was disapointed to see an opening night crowd taking up only a third of the theatre. A damn shame, I thought, as that fantastic trailer shot of our mighty and scarred iconic T-Rex letting out a primal roar with the island’s volcano erupting in the background warranted far more hype that what was observed. From the get-go, Fallen Kingdom plays like a horror movie’s take of a Jurassic Park film. Action sequences are shot in a tense and suspenseful manner, with select jumpscares aimed less at terrifying the viewer and more at keeping them alert and engaged. Fallen kingdom seems to have learned from its predecessor (which, being honest, I thought was quite good) and realized that vehicles stand out a lot less when they don’t all have a shiny mercedes benz logo shot at a car commercial angle. For about the first third or half of the movie, I was completely enthralled. The cinematography and score were in a league of their own, tense and high tempo sequences were paced well between the slower exposition-heavy scenes, and Pratt and Howard’s onscreen chemistry was fantastic. Unfortunately, I feel that as much this movie made great strides, it also got a proportional amount wrong. The movie’s latter half introduces a very noticeable loss of scale, which is a first for the entirety of this franchise. Major plot points and interactions are handled quite poorly and with a surreal lack of impact. Had the movie continued on a similar track to the energy and atmosphere of the first half, i’m convinced we could’ve had a masterful and fresh addition to the franchise. Instead, we got a movie with fantastic visuals and a killer score, but with an energy and scope that feel a bit too narrow towards the film’s final moments. There is also a neat 3 second post credits scene that isn’t crucial viewing, but a nice touch nonetheless.

The Incredibles 2 was a tragically overdue, yet absolutely fantastic experience that was at all times thoroughly entertaining. Despite over a decade of waiting, Incredibles 2 picks up right where the first film left off, and powers onward with a familiar mix of action, comedy, and family-feel-good moments. There is a childish obviousness to the film’s main villain, but with that simplicity comes a surprising amount of moving ideological parts and depth that was neither found nor missed in its predecessor. While still, at its core, a family friendly action-adventure aimed at kids, The Incredibles 2 appears to have been written with a more subtle touch, throwing its characters into morally opposed, yet ideologically comparable circumstances. After all was said and done, I left the theater feeling like The Incredibles 2 was a more than worthy sequel.

Solo was, by all counts, a surprisingly decent movie. Despite appearances of being an attempt to milk nostalgia dollars out of the original movie trilogy, Solo manages to stand apart, and feels refreshingly different from the standard franchise fare to date, treating viewers to an atmosphere and feel well suited to an isolated side-adventure. Solo is an enjoyable ride with some familiar characters, some new faces, and an engaging story. Heavy hitters Woody Harrelson and Donald Glover play their parts charismatically, and Clarke and the leading guy that played Han have an interesting chemisty and dynamic that endures throughout the film. Never at any point does this feel like a cheap retread. Solo relies on the original trilogy primarily as a means to invest viewers in its main protagonist duo (folks choosing this film as first step into original Star Wars territory may find it hard to get emotionally invested in Solo and the Wookie) but other than this prerequisite basis of interest, the movie endeavors and succeds at being its own unique entity. Solo takes very few risks, and at times, character interactions can feel a bit flat, but all in all the film manages to take what was once a throwaway name drop (the fabled Kessel Run) and build it into an interesting story in the Star Wars timeline.

Going in, I had my worries about Deadpool 2. How would a sub-Marvel movie contend with being released in the still very present wake of Infinity War? Would deadpool’s unique meta-slapstick charisma be enough to offset audience ‘hero fatigue’ syndrome? Thankfully, Deadpool’s relative isolation from the main Marvel-verse allows for an enjoyable 1.5-2 hour adventure that manages to feel at home in the X-Men universe while having an open licence to to make self aware references to anything Marvel or beyond. The pacing is well thought out, as there is always something of interest going on and the movie never seems to hang, but the editing during some of the fight sequences can make the action blurry and hard to follow, which would’ve been a major detriment had the movie been more action-driven. (I attended an IMAX screening.) While this portrayal of Pool may seem a bit subdued to comic purists, the movie’s feel and atmosphere are that of a worthy sequel. DP2 is good movie night fare, and would work nicely if marathoned immediately after the previous film.

Infinity war is a grand spectacle 10 years in the making that delivers on its promised scale and gravitas in excess. This movie is Marvel’s greatest cinematic achievement to date: A hero ensemble movie that is absolutely packed to the seams with developed, memorable “protagonist” characters, while also managing to be a cohesive, well-paced action thriller. Thanos, the universe’s big baddie, who has until now only been teased to the audience with brief glimpses in post-credit stingers, now takes centre stage with dramatic weight, charisma, and depth of writing. The final moments of the film, which shall not be divulged here, managed to cut a swath of absolute stunned silence through what had moments ago been a lively, cheering, premiere-night theater audience. However, Infinity War is far, far more than the weight of its ending. Heartfelt moments and stellar action sequences definitely make this a film to see again.

Rampage is essentailly a somewhat mediocre video game adaptation film. Although decently paced, there are occasional moments of attempted humor that detract significantly from the movie’s feel and momentum. Its villains are comically stereotypical and completely devoid of nuance. Dwayne Johnson’s regular rocky charisma is strangely muted in this protagonist role, and his “animals are more trustworthy than humans” action hero portrayal is awkward when compared to his strong showing in Jumanji. That being said, the action in this film is fantastic, and giant monster fans will have more than enough action to keep them satisfied. By all accounts this would be a 6/10 flick had it not been for how fantastic some of the action sequences looked. All bets are off once the giant reptile shows up. If giant monster flicks are your thing, you’ll have some fun at the very least with Rampage.

Atmosphere and tension are at the forefront of John Krasinski’s new breakthrough horror film. Ensuring that you actually have -a quiet place- to watch A Quiet Place is of paramount importance. From the very first pre-title sequence, a feeling of anxious urgency is established that sticks around for the entirety of the film. This is a fine, fine addition to the horror genre, and definitely a great movie to add to a scary movie marathon. A Quiet Place is well paced in a way that allows the world {and the mystery that is the tragedy that has befallen it) to be developed at an interesting rate, while still focusing on the protagonist family and the imminent danger they are constantly in. This is an excellent watch either in a theater, or at night on a laptop screen with headphones.

Ready Player One was beset by the hopes of a lot of people right out of the gate. For the many fans of the much beloved 80’s pop-culture nostalgia adventure novel, this would be a film adaptation previously thought impossible due to she sheer magnitude of things referenced and the logistical nightmare of obtaining film licences for them all, and even then, certainly not without caveats.

Caveats, it would turn out, came aplenty. Ready Player One has strayed far enough from it’s source text to the point where the term ‘adaptation’ would be better replaced with ‘inspired by’. The hallowed reverence for 80’s paraphernalia is gone and has been replaced by generic ‘up to date’ pop culture. Purists will not have a good time. As a standalone film, Ready Player One is for the most part, pretty fun. The movie is visually spectacular, and there are plenty of little easter eggs hidden in plain sight. Pacing and writing suffer a bit, with some elements of the plot (grief, romance) moving by a bit too quickly to be of real impact. The Spielberg magic is very barely present throughout the film, but makes a big showing in the film’s conclusion, in a surprisingly successful attempt to end of a soulful note. Overall, Ready Player One is good enough to be a decent tv-movie watch, but unfortunately not good enough to leave much of a lasting impact.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is a very, very different kaiju than its predecessor. Whereas the original Pacific Rim was created as an indulgent love letter of sorts to the giant robo anime and culture that had inspired its creation, Uprising is more akin to a live-action anime in of itself. Del Toro’s careful reverence and awe for his Jaeger creations is more or less wholly absent from this installment in favor of a more action-packed, fight driven dynamic. Uprising chooses to make fun and thrills a top priority, and save for a few jokes that verge on being tolerated rather than well-received, it manages to do so very well. The visuals are gorgeous, and while the Jaegers are not the slow, lumbering, imposing behemoths they were in the first movie, these faster models make the fights interesting enough to make realism a bit of an afterthought. The action can at times be a bit nonsensical and lead to some head-scratching moments (wanton destruction of buildings, a colossal steel robot wall-jumping off of a glass skyscraper instead of just going through it like cheap cardboard), but the movie is decently paced, and the writing is for the most part, thoroughly entertaining, giving us an enjoyable villain, a nemesis jaeger, and an enjoyable conclusion. Overall, while a bit style-before-substance, Pacific Rim: Uprising is an entertaining watch for fans of the genre.

The newest Tomb Raider, presumably a rebooted anchor point for a future franchise, was an enjoyable watch. Its plot is straightforward, its pacing, consistent, and its atmosphere, sufficiently adventurous. I found that a great deal of why I enjoyed this movie was because of how capably its lead actress managed to carry a somewhat reimagined (closer to the the most recent series of games, but not a word-for-word adaptation) interpretation of a legendary character. Vikander is charming and charismatic in the role, and seems very much at home as an early Lara Croft. CGI and special effects were for the most part well done, but there are instances (the rusted plane) where the stuntwork seemed off in a way that I found to be distracting enough: Lara seems to fly forward when jumping in a very wire-fu style that makes it seem like she’s not believably jumping across a crevasse. This aside, I walked out of Tomb Raider having enjoyed myself, but knowing that I probably wouldn’t want to watch it again. The movie itself is fairly good: the characters are well acted, the action is immersive, the adventure’s plot is interesting and easy to follow with some twists and turns along the way, but overall I felt little to no residual impact, and my interest in the movie ended after the credits rolled. Maybe it’s because the movie failed to get me invested, or maybe I was just disappointed at the lack of polygonal tigers. Who knows?

I walked out of Disney’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ feeling somewhat disappointed. For all of its gorgeous visuals, the film felt like it was far more flash than substance, and despite promising us a grand magical tour through the universe, we were shown vivid, colorful landscapes, but the ‘magical’ factor was profoundly absent. At times, the writing is convenient and juvenile, and on occasion a bit frustrating to see in what is targeted to be an uplifting film for kids. (Parental abuse and school bullying can both be ascribed to a dark ethereal mass of ‘evil’ infecting people’s minds on earth). The missing parent storyline amounts to very little, and I feel like it almost toes a line in alienating children of single parents or who have had a parent pass away. The three fairy godmother characters feel more abrasive than they do helpful, and Oprah’s deadpan delivery of helpful advice fails to inspire feelings of courage and mentorship. All in all, an “everything’s fixed” attitude to character development makes the uplifting messages that at the core of this theatrical endeavor fall flat.

More than anything, I feel like the timing of this movie is what makes it so surreal. Divorce ‘Death Wish’ from all real-world implications and what you have is a revenge story wherein a wealthy doctor whose wife dies in an attempted home robbery teaches himself gunplay using youtube videos and becomes a killer vigilante. Good acting on Willis’ part makes for a believably soft father turned inexperienced action hero, which, given his high-octane protagonist history, is a considerable feat. The plot is fairly straightforward, but there are certain details that ring a bit too relevant to current events that at times make this movie almost stray from standard action flick territory into ‘feature-length NRA propoganda ad’ domain. In one part, the attendant at the gun shop responsible for the sensationalist firearm adverts recites the due process of how easy it is to get your hands on a rifle, in a way that’s almost out of contempt for anyone trying to have better processes put in place, and describes the firearm safety course going as far to say “but nobody ever fails it” in a way that implies super lenient grading. For those for whom this may not resonate well with, the ultimate payoff from all of our hero’s vigilante adventures may not digest particularly well.

Sci-fi body horror has definitely been a major recurring theme this season, but when compared to other present contenders like Alien: Covenant or The Cloverfield Paradox, I’d have to say that Annihilation has done it the best. Annihilation is one of the most profoundly disturbing movies I’ve seen in a long time, and I left the theater feeling simultaneously like I never wanted to see it again, and that I wanted to 100% add it to my halloween horror playlist. Annihilation is unnerving, and early on will find ways to (sometimes literally) get underneath your skin. The final act is a full out psychedelic trip that, on a theater-sized screen and with theater-sized speakers, will knock you on your ass. Probably not the best date movie, but a damn good sci-fi film all the same.

Time, once again, to dive into the very special flavour of sci-fi body horror that can only be found in an ‘Alien’ film. ‘Alien: Covenant’ is a direct continuation of the series ‘prequel’, Prometheus, and insofar as Prometheus is concerned, Covenant is a good sequel. While the in-universe implications of the story are a bit questionable for me in terms of cohesiveness, as a self-contained unit alongside Prometheus, Covenant’s story is logical and well paced. Fassbender’s acting is fantastic. Expect the standard fare of Alien horror staples (chestbursting, corridor sequence, etc.) and you’ll be in for a good time. It’s not mind-blowingly good, and can sometimes err on the side of being too derivative, but succeeds as a standard movie-night crew-vs-monster flick.

This movie was an absolute delight to watch. The story is more or less self-contained and the bits from Civil War that are important to the plot are shown via flashback. This is important, because in my opinion this film is best enjoyed by putting up a mental divide between this and the rest of the MCU. There is more than enough going on in Wakanda to keep you captivated without worrying about what Stark or Rogers are upto. The sci-fi afrofuturism aesthetic proudly takes center stage, almost a character in its own right, and you can see the aesthetic melding of tech and african cultural influences in everything from the costumes, to the gadgets, to the console interfaces. Next comes the score, which is a blend of theatrical fanfares and predominant tribal drums which serve to highlight the grandiose, imposing nature of a city of technological marvels hidden away from the outside world. The story is straightforward, and once more, following the success of Spiderman: Homecoming, we are gifted with another nuanced and well-written Marvel villain. The movie never feels like it drags on at all, the story is well paced, and you come out of it not feeling its two-hour length. Fight choreography is thought-out and well executed, and the battles are tension-filled without much of the action being lost to editing. Black Panther’s story sets it apart from standard good-vs-evil Marvel fare, as it engages with genuinely morally grey conflicts that can’t necessarily be wrapped up neatly with a right answer. What results is an enjoyable sci-fi movie that explores themes of heritage and isolationism, and that manages to feel overwhelmingly fresh and innovative despite its ties to a cinematic universe that tends to err on the side of being more cut-and-dry formulaic.

There’s something about The Dark Tower that leaves you feeling unfulfilled after it ends. This is likely due to yet another case of a large amount of source material being truncated down into a film adaptation. Idris Elba makes for a compelling hero, and the gunplay and action sequences in the film are enjoyable, but there’s nothing here that really takes ahold of you and makes you want to invest yourself in the world of the film. It happens, the plot is resolved, and then it’s over. It’s an entertaining watch, but fancy reloading tricks aside, there’s nothing else that really stands out. The characters feel ridgid and unalive, as if everyone is here to fill their role and then go home. A story where literally everything is supposed to be at stake is lost on the viewer because the film fails to drive that point home, and the result is a final act with an uncanny lack of gravity or tension.

Flashback Film Fest 5/5.

The most uncanny thing about this film is easily how young Matthew Broderick is. (My first run in with the Broderick was 1999’s Inspector Gadget.) This is a fun, light-hearted soft sci-fi hacker flick that probably gave a few less-than-tech-savvy people a scare when it came out. The characters are likeable, their motivations, relateable, and Broderick’s exploits are believably clever. As techy as the subject matter is, WarGames never makes the error of demanding too much of its audience. Moreover, this movie almost seems to serve as a time capsule from an age where hard drives were still magnetic tape and floppy disks were the size of frisbees. I’d reccommend it as a comfortable watch with a story about what “future” a past time thought their (now antiquated and obsolete) tech could’ve led to.

Flashback Film Fest 4/5.

I feel like everyone has seen this movie at least once. For me, I’d watched it as a child on YTV movie Saturdays, cut apart and superimposed with commercial breaks for toys and cartoons. I was a child the last time I’d seen Back to the Future, and so walking out of a theater having seen it for the first time as an adult, I was genuinely taken aback by the sheer extent to which it was better than whatever version of it I had stored away with childhood memories. There is nothing in this movie I’d want to change. The story is cohesive, the characters, tremendously likeable, the humour, funny without a feel of cheapening the movie. If it’s been a while, take a night, grab some pals, and give it another watch.

Flashback Film Fest 3/5.

Dune, unfortunately, is a prime example, or perhaps even the prime example, of what happens when massive source material is adapted down with little to no regard for pacing or flow. I found this movie to be a very conflicted experience; Costumes, set design, and special effects are all done brilliantly, and you can tell that the story contains a world rich with wonder and intrigue that one could easily lose themselves in, if only the film had allowed the viewer the breathing room to do so. Lynch’s Dune is very much the inverse Star Wars: Where the gaps left by the original Star Wars Trilogy came to be padded with lore and further (mostly non-canonical) adventures, creating a large expanded universe within the world of the films, Dune started off as a massive saga that for some reason was drastically truncated down in order to fit within a single cinematic episode. The result is a baffling picture that moves back and forth from a slow burn that struggles to keep the attention of the viewer, to a relentless stream of exposition of events that have little to no bearing on the film because they’ve not been allowed any space to develop. It’s a shame, really, because as exhausted and unimpressed as I was walking out of the theater, I left Dune with a thirst for the source material, wanting for a way to better partake of the genuinely intriguing story that had been shoved down my throat, at a much more comfortable pace.

Flashback Film Fest 1/5.

It’s always nice to be able to watch a dated, iconic film up on the silver screen with speakers the size of walls, and without the constant TV commercial breaks on AMC. Taken in a vacuum, Terminator is essentially a sci-fi themed bodyguard flick: a damsel in distress is targeted for assassination by a relentless hitman, and a hero appears to serve as her protector-turned-lover. This central plot is made all the more interesting by the world-building that the movie tries to do at the same time, through little details like Reese rattling off his military history for the police psychologist, as well as the brilliant flash-forwards of the apocalyptic future our protagonists are trying to avert. Terminator’s strength, surprisingly, hails from the same place as its weakness. The practical special effects used in the future-war sequences are flawless, the grimy sets, and model-based photo-wizardry still hold up very well over 30 years later, but at the same time, iconic scenes like the red-eye reveal involving prostheses and makeup, have not aged well at all. These instances, however, I feel can be forgiven in light of the technology of the time, and don’t significantly detract from what is otherwise a compelling watch.

Flashback Film Fest 2/5.

What a treat, to have been able to watch this film in a theater, in 3D, in 2018! The opening title sequence kicks in, and you’re bombarded with a dramatic theatrical score set to a wall of fire that succeeds in creating an intense atmosphere for what is to come. Everything has been dialed up to 11 from where we left off: the practical special effects are fantastic, Schwarzenegger’s gunplay is badass, and the CGI is well done and unobtrusive, especially in 3D. T2 is overall more action-packed and high-octane than its considerably slower predecessor, but rather than feeling that it is arbitrary and antiquated, one can easily find themselves feeling a profound sense of gratitude to the older previous chapter that allowed this better, explosive sequel to exist. As action driven as Judgement Day is, it still manages to retain a great semblance of depth that keeps you invested in the characters and their relationships: Sarah Connor’s PTSD and nightmares, John’s budding father-son relationship with a terminator model identical to the one that killed his father, and the scientist confronted with the grim truth that his life’s work will lead to the ruination of the world. These are but a few of the moving parts that make this very engrossing film iconic and unforgettable, and as a result it comes as no surprise at all that for many, the Terminator series proper ends here.

The Cloverfield Paradox, the third installment of J. J. Abrams’ until now presumably anthological Sci-fi Horror film series, starts very strong out of the gate. What ensues is an interesting body-horrorish thriller reminiscent of ‘Alien’ and ‘Sunshine’. Like its predecessor, ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’, there is a solid sci-fi flick contained within this movie that seems to only be bogged down by its loose narrative shackling to the clover-verse. The ‘Cloverfield’ branding is where it seems to flounder most-noticeably, and I would recommend to anyone planning to watch that they first attempt to mentally divorce it from its Clover-verse counterparts, as the narrative and causal links feel cheap, weak, and thrown in. The movie does attempt to establish an overarching causality to the whole sordid affair, but making sense of it requires an amount of effort far exceeding that of the payoff. The ending scene was a killer note to end on that I found to be equal parts fantastic and arbitrary.

I have very little to say about this movie. It’s okay for what it tries to be, which is a high-energy avergage YA-Novel finale for an average YA-Novel series. Everything is here: the tropey romance, the trope sacrifice, the trope protagonist-ex-machina plot device. It succeeds insofar as having likeable characters, enjoyable action, and solid pacing, but I found the ending and wrap up to be a bit too hammy for my tastes. Chances are, if you’ve enjoyed the Maze Runner series thus far, you’ll find this to be a satisfactory conclusion.

A well written story driven by some heavy hitting performances. This is probably my favorite Woody Harrelson role of all time. Beautifully shot, with some minor pacing hiccups. At the core of ‘Three Billboards’ is a revenge story in tandem with a redemption story, with entangled character dramas all underpinned by the mystery of who killed a girl. The only real negatives I had with this film were: The ‘dumb teenage girl’ character who is written as a cheap piss-take attempt at comic relief, and who, given the nuanced approach to the characters around her, serves only to cheapen the film. Also, there’s a scene midway through with a deer (presumably sacred, possibly cgi) that should be killed.

In this film, Liam Neeson plays a family man with a very particular set of skills, skills he has acquired over a very long career, skills that make him a nightmare for certain people that he is tasked to find and who, as a potential result of his finding, may end up killed. ‘Taken’ jokes aside, The Commuter is a solid mystery thriller that doesn’t drag and keeps you interested up until its conclusion. The story reads like that of a pulpy thriller novel, and with great action sequences (multi-track drifting?!) and a very capable lead, it succeeds as being a very good movie night fare flick to watch with your friends.

The Darkest Hour is a grim retelling of the events surrounding Churchill’s appointment to office and his attempts to bolster the UK’s fighting spirit. While I don’t know my history well enough to speak to the accuracy of the events depicted, I have to give this film an 8-9/10 because pf the sheer magnitude of Gary Oldman’s acting chops. In this film, we get to see my close and personal friend Gary play the role of an Old Man. You could probably see this as a stage play with Oldman as Churchill and still feel the gravitas and the charisma that are very much the centerpiece of this film. This is a very monologue driven film that takes ‘best actor’ tier talent to carry and so Oldman’s ‘Best Actor’ Oscar nomination is 300% deserved.

9.5/10. Phenomenal world building pervades The Shape of Water, allowing you see a time period come to life, blemishes and all. Every character feels tremendously human in this film, which just works so perfectly for a film whose central argument is the definition of humanity by means of contrast. I had a gut feeling, this inexplicable hunch, that I’d have to see this movie before declaring Blade Runner 2049 as my personal MOTY. I’ve never been more right than this. I dock the movie a nitpicky .5 out of pure spite because Guillermo didn’t show me the back of arguably the most important, final calendar card. He had the perfect setup for a nice narrative flourish, and left it unused. But hey, it’s a nitpick, and if anyone knows what they’re doing with regards to storytelling, it’s GDT.

It’s a comfy family action movie whose story is simple, straightforward, and uncomplicated. There are genuinely funny moments and at no point did I feel like the movie was dragging along. The character arcs wrap up super cleanly and conveniently in an almost irritating way, but the centerpiece of this film is 100% meant to be Rock, Black, Gillian, and Hart acting like they are awkward children with growing pains trapped inside game-character bodies. It’s a fun action comedy. Prime family movie night material. 6/10 paint by numbers story bumped up to a 7 by virtue of great acting work.

I don’t know how I feel about this one. 5.5-6 out of 10. Downsized tries to do a lot, and is definitely more than the skin-deep comedy it’s been marketed as. There is a surprising amount of penis contained within. The set design is easily the best part of this movie; settings and furniture are designed in a way that really sells the “we’re tiny people living in a dollhouse” aesthetic. Matt Damon’s (movie) wife is a shitty person that completely screws his life up due to frustrating, infuriating selfishness. There are attempts to be profound, but overall the movie has a loose, less-than-cohesive feel to it. You can watch this one at home without missing out on much. Maybe not with the family, because again, penis.

The Disaster Artist: 8/10 vanilla, 10/10 if you’re already a fan of The Room. The movie reads a lot like a biopic/documentary and so it’s hard to give it a rating based on factual accuracy. That being said, in terms of pacing, entertainment value, and overall watchability, this movie excels. If you haven’t seen the room, you’ll probably want to see it after this. The centerpiece here is James goddamn Franco’s almost note-perfect, mind blowing portrayal of Tommy Wiseau. Holy shit, the accent, the body language, the laugh, he covers every base, he becomes the Wiseau. The sheer amount of effort put into creating a detailed replica of the best/worst movie ever made is staggering. If you’re uninitiated to this whole “The Room” thing, expect a strange, yet ultimately uplifting, inspiring film about an eccentric director, an impressionable kid, following your dreams, and having it pay off in unexpected ways. If you’re already on board, I don’t really have to tell you what to expect. Go see the man who played Green Goblin(‘s son) morph before your eyes into a strange little man of unexpected wealth and ambiguous international origin. What a story. Oh, high marks.

From the second you hear that mariachi rendition of the Disney castle ‘when you wish upon a star’ intro, you know you’re in for a treat. There’s so much magic in the animation, the endless fractal buildings in the land of the dead, the photo-realistic, indulgent guitar playing scenes, and in pretty much everything around and in-between. The story is a simple one, but it’s delivered full force with that classic Pixar charm and magic. I feel like the hype for this movie has been low, and overshadowed by bigger-ticket flicks. This is, in my opinion, borderline criminal, and I highly recommend that you go see it while you can.

Overall, a very enjoyable movie. After TFA, I was hungry for a Star Wars movie that actually tries to do something new, and TLJ definitely delivered in that respect. There are some questionable pacing choices in the first third and a lot of plot stuff that left a sour taste in my mouth, but once this movie got going, I was enjoying myself, especially in the third act. The battle on the salt planet was gorgeous, and for all of TLJ’s confusing writing bits that very frustratingly leave characters and story progression more or less where they were when we started, the fantastic million-dollar visuals still manage to deliver that Star-Wars sense of trademark sci-fi wonder.

Justice League was, well… It was better than I thought it’d be. That being said, I give it a 6.5/10. Lazy writing, bad pacing, and a very incidental villain make for a film that is enjoyable, but skin-deep. Individual characters are portrayed decently and screen chemistry is there, but there is this marvel-esque joviality that is so out of place and surreal given what led up to this. All of the imposing Snyder gravitas, the tension and weight and urgency in MoS and BvS that set the stage for this film are pretty much squandered with this movie that starts, happens, and ends, with jokes sprinkled throughout. Go see it, if not just for this one amazing bit in the middle where [spoilers]

Geostorm is a pretty standard disaster flick meets dad thriller. Tropey at times. The word ‘camp’ comes to mind but also doesn’t really fit because it’s got that 2017 polish on it. Pretty shallow sci-fi wise: in the future, there’s only one brand of future-phone used by literally everyone, guns have no recoil, and politicians still suck. If you show up expecting anything even slightly insightful re: climate change, don’t, we fix climate change in the first 30 seconds of the movie and it’s never mentioned again. This is a Saturday afternoon AMC movie. Enjoyable, but it’s like Day After Tomorrow, Gravity, and Armageddon all got together and were like “Hey let’s raise a child”, and then the plot of ‘Three Idiots and a Baby” happens and Geostorm is the awkward adolescence of that child. It’s fun, go see it.

Very funny, but cleverly funny. Some very exciting and entertaining scenes, and onscreen chemistry was great. This movie exists as an answer to the question of how many jokes can be crammed into a ‘hero’ movie before it stops being enjoyable. The sheer volume of comedy in this film does do it the slight disservice of undercutting any feeling of tension or high-stakes that it may be trying to impart on the viewer, and as the film reaches its climax, you’re there more for the ride than you are to witness the triumph. Thankfully, it’s a good ride.

9/10, An amazing zombie movie. Mandatory viewing. Best zombie choreography I’ve seen in a long time. A great film in its own right, probably one of my favorite zombie movies in recent history. I’m still kind of mad at how WWZ turned out.

8/10, animated zombie flick with an interesting story and focused characters. Well written. Excellent watch.

7/10 trippy as hell fusion of delightfully campy horror and art-film. ‘Kung-fu’ was my favorite character. Essentially a fun acid trip in the mind of someone who was never really on good terms with either their friends or their grandma.

IT was pretty alright, 7-7.5/10. A fun Jumpscare based horror flick about courage and overcoming fears. Finn Wolfhard and his quips are an absolute delight. I look forward to seeing how/if they do the second part.

In a time of superficial franchise revival and milking, how does a film like this exist? My theater was mostly deserted, but that in of itself is a crime because this movie was absolutely stellar. Half the time, Ryan Gosling is brilliantly playing his character, K. The other half of the time, he’s playing a member of the audience reacting to Blade Runner 2049. Every frame of this movie is gorgeous. If grim, slow-burn sci-fi is your thing, then I reccommed this 100 times over.

Netflix’s Death Note was just OK, save for a really lazy plot bit in the middle that more or less ruined it for me. Despite being clumsy, our protagonist manages to completely elude all sympathy. The writing is very cliche high school teen drama. Killing people becomes a key factor in Light’s love life, which is but one of many factors that seem to go against the spirit of the source material. None of the ruthless cunning or the megalomania of the original Light Yagami is present. All in all, it’s worth a watch I guess, but it mostly comes across as a soulless mess of which I cannot call myself a fan.

Dunkirk was a solid 8/10 war movie. If you’re gonna see it, IMAX is a must. Non-linear narrative structure and somber, anxious atmosphere make for a damn good movie, but it won’t appeal to everyone. Stellar sound design will have you leaving the theater riddled with bullet wounds and shell-shock. Stellar visuals and good storytelling make for a film that will likely remain a prominent 2017 highlight.

I was a little late in seeing this, but PotA3 was pretty great. For how traditionally campy/comfy the original movies and remakes were, this reboot-reboot series having 3 8-9/10 movies is unprecedented. Literally this series is a gritty reboot of a comfy classic (also a reboot) and has no business being this good. There’s not much to say that can’t already be assumed: Wonderful writing, great performances, loads of Andy Serkis working late nights and not being thanked for it.

Michael Bay’s “Transformers: The Last Knight” might as well have been called “A masterclass on how to make the apocalypse boring as watching your nails grow”. 3.5 to 4/10. Seriously this movie was a crock of shit. I think my favorite bit of Transformers 5 is when Optimus Prime introduces himself, gives a contrived speech, says he’ll lead the charge into the enemy base and then does a sick rocket jump into the fray, after which you don’t see him for the next half hour of the movie. Save your money, watch this on Netflix or something when it comes out.

Baby Driver is hard to describe. If you like stunt driving and music or either of the two, go see it. The Edgar Wright trademark “comfy” is absent, which works for creating serious, high tension moments, but his signature is still very much present. It’s a mixtape music feature from start to end, but more dramatic than Guardians of the Galaxy and with way more soul than in Suicide Squad. (not that the bar was set particularly high) I plan to buy this when it comes out.

Wonder Woman was okay I guess. It really dragged on at bits, some of the fight scenes were laughable (but some good!), it couldn’t decide what ending it wanted to have, and the god superpower stuff was really, really weird and took away from the film more than it gave. 10/10 acting, some groan worthy dialog (no man’s land made me want to step on a landmine).

Muddy writing spoils what had the potential to be a great and somewhat deep film, 6.5-7/10. This movie will drag on for a while between Diana doing cute stuff and exposition, and then you get to the church scene and another fight scene where WW DOES A KICK THAT IS STRAIGHT UP AVENGERS 1 LEVEL BADASS and you’re like holy crap there just may be hope for this film yet. Definitely worth a watch, as it is a much needed strong showing from DC.

IT’S GOOD. I’ve been waiting years for a proper marvel-studios spidey flick, and it’s here! We’ve got one! It’s a good one! It delivered! Towards the end of Garfield’s run at the character, the silver-screen fatigue was already starting to set in. Thankfully, (surprisingly?) none of that fatigue is present in Homecoming, and it manages to bring a feeling of freshness by skipping over an origin story we’ve already seen twice. Most importantly, this is the most three-dimensional writing we’ve seen in an MCU villain to date. Iron Man is a welcome addition as he manages to add his own unique comedic flavour, while never serving as a distraction from the Peter Parker focused storyline. Hopefully this is a sign that we’ll see better written Marvel villains in the future? One can only hope.

I had to see this one multiple times, which is impressive because the showtimes in toronto were really wonky and inconsistent. Enjoyed it a lot! Gorgeous visuals, a good soundtrack, and an endearing plot really draw you in to this world and its characters. It’s a happy-sad anime romance. If that sounds like your thing, you’ll probably have a good time with this.

Power Rangers: Lots of good character development, wish they would’ve taken a more practical cgi approach with the combat like in the originals, but for what it was supposed to be, I’d say it was a good film. Overall very enjoyable, some more mature themes but never erring too much on the side of being arbitrarily gritty or grimdark. I loved this take on Billy Cranston as a character.

When was this supposed​ to come out? We walked in after a pizza break and saw it on a whim. I can’t speak to the faithfulness of the adaptation, but the aesthetic was gorgeous, and that car was cool as all hell. Scarlett Johansson very convincingly played what you imagine a human brain in a robot body would be like, from her expressions when talking to people, to they way she walks down hallways. Thematically, part of the story almost seems to run in parallel/juxtapose the casting controversy surrounding this film. Not Dragonball: Evolution by a long shot, but unfortunately still more on the side of contrived and diluted when compared to the source material.

Heavy shit: the movie. Unfortunately, this is just a what-if timeline, but we are treated to the spectacular story line that is the unbreakable wolverine confronted with his mortality and legacy. The R rating is a blessing that allows this movie to pull no punches, and leaves the viewer feeling like they’ve witnessed the end of an era. Logan is a very fitting sendoff for the character.