Fantastic Four

Actors: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey, Tim Blake Nelson

Rating: 7 out of 10, I can understand the criticism because it is a seriously flawed movie but I didn’t hate it. I think some people invest too heavily in the traditions of the source material without giving a new view a choice. The Fantastic Four should be one of the easiest of the comic book legends to make a bankable movie about; but this has to be listed as a stumble. No time was spent developing the relationships between several of the four and the pacing was pathetic. I guess this is one of those directors who has a dark vision and thinks that will sell. We go to see superhero movies to be inspired, not depressed. The actors were fine and did everything they could with the material. It hurt to keep all the limited action scenes in the wilderness or an interdimensional barren planet. There was no connection with the audience which should be a Fantastic Four strength. The final confrontation was laughably short and Delmar from Oh Brother Where Art Thou as an evil mastermind was a bit of a stretch. I half expected him to break out in “Man of Constant Sorrow” at some point. All this though couldn’t distract totally from a fair to middling Sci Fi adventure, even if the “Four” deserved better.

MVP: Kate Mara as Sue Storm because, well, Kate Mara

The Martian

Actors: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Rating: 10 out of 10, Matt Damon carries the movie by force of understated personality; not an easy feat. He plays an astronaut stranded on Mars who faces impossible odds to survive. The camerawork and special effects are superb but this is a story of the human spirit, embodied by Damon’s heroic solitary struggle as well as the concurrent story back on earth and his fellow crew members on a ship in transit. All too often movies take the easy way and demonize the politics or the inevitable infighting a disaster entails. Here the nobility of what man is capable of is explored, even lionized and not in a cheap, exploitive manner. It seems the current generation is being beaten down by the forces of political correctness bent on limitation but not here. Faced with life and death Damon’s character doesn’t bemoan his fate, he just gets to work. Maintaining the focus on the human level drawn on an epic sci fi canvas Ridley Scott delivers a true masterpiece. “Riveting” would vastly understate the last 45 minutes of this movie.

MVP: Damons’s movie from start to finish as the irrepressible Mark Watney

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Actors: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin,

Rating: 9 out of 10, This is the best in the series with a well-constructed, intelligent plot and subtle humor poking fun at some of the earlier installments that doesn’t take away from the story. The IMF force is under attack from Washington bureaucrats as well as a mysterious crime organization that always seems one step ahead. The series is justifiably famous for daring stunt work but this film takes them to an entirely new level. Cruise starts the movie out riding on the outside of a cargo plane during takeoff and it’s obvious that he did the work and wasn’t CGI’d in. This is the first of many stunt sequences that shatter the jaw dropping barrier and even a jaded movie goer such as myself was left in awe. You go into one of these expecting to be dazzled but they go well beyond that. The real revelation though was the female lead, Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa. She was every bit the match for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and was the reason this movie is clearly the best of the entire series and one of the best I’ve seen all year.

MVP: Ferguson as Ilsa, clearly the best cohort in the entire series so far

Ant Man

Actors: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip "T.I." Harris, Anthony Mackie, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian,

Rating: 9 out of 10, I really didn’t know what to make of this going in as I’m not inured in the intricacies of the Marvel universe but I’ll watch anything Paul Rudd does. This movie is a bit of a departure from the usual huge body blows of entertainment Marvel is justifiably famous for. It succeeds by raining a relentless series of entertaining rabbit punches though. Rudd plays a convict who is selected to become the next Antman by Michael Douglas. This allows the movie to reach back into the earlier Avenger timeline and some really startling CGI to make Douglas appear young. It took me a while to recognize Evangeline Lily as the female lead but she more than hold her own in the impressive ensemble. Corey Stoll abandoned his hairpiece and lends some great texture to the villain but this is Rudd’s movie and he delivers a new kind of hero who’s a lot more grounded than the usual godlike Avengers. Although he does let Michael Pena steal every single scene he appears in. Pena remains one of the most interesting actors currently working. This movie works precisely because it doesn’t aim for the usual overblown Avenger scenarios. It’s funny, smart, and a lot of fun while I do mourn the thousands of CGI ants who sacrificed their lives in the final battle.

MVP: Rudd as Ant Man stands out even in a very talented cast

American Ultra

Actors: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace, Connie Britton, Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, Bill Pullman, Tony Hale

Rating: 8 out of 10, An action comedy which had liberal doses of both. Jesse Eisenberg plays a stoned out loser in West Virginia who also happens to be a deadly secret agent that Eric Forman and Boyd Crowder are trying to kill. Coach Taylor’s wife comes to the rescue in time to semi-activate Eisenberg from his sleeper state and hijinks ensue. It was nice to see Kristen Stewart leave her Bella state of perpetual pout and truly engage as the girlfriend with real on screen chemistry with Eisenberg. This could have been something really special if they played up the comedy a little more but they got sucked into too much time with the bad guys instead of the Eisenberg-Stewart pairing. All in all though, a lot better than you’ve probably heard with some laugh out loud moments as Eisenberg keeps accidently killing highly trained assassins.

MVP: Eisenberg as the befuddled but very dangerous Mike

Ted 2

Actors: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, Jessica Barth, John Slattery, Morgan Freeman

Rating: 7 out of 10, Sequels are tough in comedies, especially given the first Ted wrung about as much humor as possible out of a self-aware and thoroughly foul mouthed teddy bear. I was therefore pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t a cheap grab for money by repeating all of the gags from the first movie. There are some incredibly funny one liners that keeps you on your toes as the totally inane “plot” unwinds. The inanity is to be accepted; let’s be honest, we’re dealing with a potty mouthed stuffed toy, you can’t approach this expecting Shakespeare. It remains what the original was, incredibly, if somewhat guiltily, funny. Amanda Seyfried is a welcome addition as the love interest for Wahlberg and even pokes some serious fun at her signature (Gollum) eyes throughout. There are some of the funniest cameos in recent cinema included, some of which come out of deep, deep left field. Liam Neeson buying Trix was funny on so many levels. The final loving send up a comic con with a gay Lt Worf stalking geeks alongside the Tick was too funny. You cannot take yourself too seriously and still enjoy a movie like Ted 2, which I did thoroughly.

MVP: Amanda Seyfried channeling Gollum as the new love interest

Layer Cake

Actors: Daniel Craig, Colm Meaney, Kenneth Cranham, George Harris, Jamie Foreman, Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon, Tom Hardy

Rating: 9 out of 10, I’ve loved each of Matthew Vaugh’s directed films but had never seen this, his earliest. It’s an elegant British gangster movie with the usual almost incomprehensible cockney accents. Tom Hardy and Sienna Miller in minor parts before their careers took off are also interesting. It was similar to Lock, Stock, and Etc. with a lot more class and better photography. I got through the entire movie before realizing Craig’s character, whom the entire movie is about, is never actually named. Craig’s unnamed drug dealing gangster plays against type as kind of a softee caught up in the machinations of the more typical criminal types. That along with Vaughn’s usual pace and subtle special effects made this a very nice experience. It also cemented Vaughn’s status as my favorite current director.

MVP: Craig plays against rep as a fairly soft gangster XXX