Solo

Actors: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo, Paul Bettany.

Rating: 9 out of 10, Han Solo emerged in the original trilogy as the surprising star, out shining both of the Skywalkers, for most fans. This was due mainly from the undeniable screen presence of Harrison Ford. Alden Ehrenreich is certainly no Ford but is serviceable although I found myself searching for the sparkle you expect from Han. The film labors to establish Solo’s origins and I found myself squinting at the screen for the first fifteen minutes which were murky for some, I’m sure artistic, reason. We had a group of Star Wars fanatics in the row in front of us who would clap excitedly whenever a piece of Star Wars lore appeared, such as Han’s blaster. I guess that makes me a geek also because I understood each time what they were clapping for. The film truly takes off when Han and Chewbacca meet, hilariously. This was a true action adventure with some startlingly effective action scenes. The cast was uniformly awesome especially Donald Glover as Llando. I could truly imagine him evolving into Billy Dee Williams. I’m sure they’ll be some who will pick at this for a variety of obscure reasons but it was a lot of fun as I found myself silently clapping along with my fellow geeks in that row in front of us.

MVP: Ehrenreich gamely trying to capture a superstar’s essence as Han

Quiet Place

Actors: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jup

Rating: 9 out of 10, A very interesting and tension filled (in a good way) experience. Real life husband and wife John Krasinski and Emily Blunt portray a couple with three small children trying to survive by staying absolutely quiet because incredibly vicious, indestructible monsters hunt by sound alone and have already killed off most of the human population, not to mention racoons. The movie opens in drug store in a deserted town as the family is scavenging needed drugs before tip toeing home on carefully laid out sand paths. They should have stopped by the birth control aisle because the movie jumps forward in time as Blunt is preparing to give birth under these silent conditions. We all know the one thing never associated with that process and the aftermath is silence. It was weird sitting through a movie in almost complete quiet and this draws the viewer into the world this family is confronting. A great horror movie with unrelenting tension and a very satisfying conclusion, well worth a watch.

MVP: Emily Blunt as Evelyn Abbott at the top of her game during the birth scenes

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Actors: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Callow, Donald Sumpter, Miriam Margolyes, Morfydd Clark

Rating: 9 out of 10, I will first admit that I am an unrepentant lover of all things Christmas related and therefore have always held Charles Dickens’ The Christmas Carol as something approaching holy writ. This film offers a fascinating insight into Dickens’ life as he created this timeless classic. The book’s characters leap from his imagination to hold conversations with him as he puts together the story of Ebenezer Scrooge’s ghostly redemption. It was akin to greeting old friends as the iconic characters appeared or classic lines were uttered. Dickens had to balance the emotional baggage of his own youth as the story evolves around his chaotic present day life. It evolves into a delightful swirl through Victorian London as the various inspirations for Dickens’ work emerge throughout. Old stalwarts Jonathan Pryce, as Dickens’ father, and Christopher Plummer, as Scrooge, are their usual perfection but the movie truly belongs to Dan Stevens in the lead role. He’s been so good in everything he’s done – someone to watch for the future. If you enjoy writing you should see this movie with its proper respect for this lion of literature but mostly for spirit of Christmas in all its unabashed sentimentality. If you can’t enjoy that consider yourself a humbug.

MVP: Stevens as the irrepressible Dickens

Upgrade

Actors: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson

Rating: 9 out of 10, This movie really surprised me because I hadn’t heard anything about it which I do not understand. The hero was a Tom Hardy look alike who’s paralyzed at the same time his wife is murdered. The story takes place in the near future with a lot of today’s technology extrapolated for future capabilities. The Hardy boy is given the opportunity to have a computer chip, named Stem, implanted that returns control of his body to him along with some superhuman capabilities. He and Stem get off to a great start together and are soon surreptitiously trying to track down his wife’s murderers. There’s a gaping plot hole with the final reveal but that doesn’t distract from the action and suspense which moves along at a frenetic pace. This reminded me of the Matrix and/or a Black Mirror episode – either of which is eminent praise. It’s nice to be surprised in a good way at the theater and Upgrade certainly did. Highly recommend a watch.

MVP: Marshall-Green as Grey Trace handles the anguish as well as the physicality required of the role

Deadpool 2

Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy

Rating: 9 out of 10, This sequel was going to be difficult to pull off because the first movie was so innovative, irreverent, and funny. That’s a difficult formula to repeat and to the filmmakers credit they didn’t. Deadpool is still hilarious and continually shatters the fourth wall but this played as a more straight forward superhero action flick, albeit with hilarity liberally spread throughout. Ryan Reynolds continues to own the title role and once again proves to be a master of the one-liners. He decided to explore how many ways he could dismember himself and the resulting regrowth periods were all too funny. Zazie Beetz was a very welcome addition to the cast and James Brolin again ably handled a semi-villainous role as a Soldier from the future having to deal with Deadpool’s insanity. I will never forgive them however for limiting the contributions of Morena Baccarin – that should be a chargeable criminal offense. Julian Dennison was a miss in the part of the mutant child targeted by Brolin for death, he got the adolescent annoying part down but not much else. There are some absolutely stunningly funny cameos which I’ll have to see the movie multiple times to catch completely along with the one liners I was laughing too hard to hear. It was, in other words, a Deadpool movie – a glorious mish mash of laughter, gore and inappropriateness. I loved it.

MVP: Reynolds, this totally his show and he dominates

Avengers Infinity War

Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt

Rating: 9 out of 10, I loved the movie which is a glorious send up of geekdom in general. It’s absolutely relentless as the Marvel characters I and fellow geeks have invested so heavily in over the past eighteen Marvel movies are brought together for dizzying confrontation with Thanos. Thanos plays the ultimate environmentalist as he plans of solving the universe’s population problems by eliminating half of said population. This doesn’t sit well with our heroes but Thanos is not your garden variety tree hugger. The death toll is constant and at times troubling as the big stars with contracts running out fall by the wayside in increasing numbers. I do find it strange that despite both sides having galaxy spanning technology the final confrontation always seems to come down to a fist fight and spears but with Marvel there’s an undeniable need to suspend disbelief. It was magnificent and too much fun. Marvel also smartly put out this was the first of a two movie arc so we don’t have to worry too much about all the dead heroes. In the immortal words of Miracle Max, I’m sure most of them are only “mostly dead”. Go see it, total popcorn escapism at its very best.

MVP: Saldana as Gamora, making green look good

Lady Bird

Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Lois Smith

Rating: 9 out of 10, One of the best movies I’ve seen this year. My daughter raved about it and claimed it reminded her a lot of her own teenage years with her mother. That’s the core of the story – the difficulty of a highly creative Californian teenage girl’s senior year in high school surrounded by drama on all sides, especially from her mother. My wife rightfully took exception to being compared to the emotionally callous mother in the movie – played with exquisite depth by Laurie Metcalf. The real message of this refreshing movie is the emotional byplay of the mother-daughter relationship when the younger one moves from child to woman. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done better and that is a tribute to Metcalf but more so for Saoirse Ronan in the title role – she owns this movie. I truly believe she’s incapable of doing anything badly. This is a movie with heart as Lady Bird sails through her senior year beset by both family and social challenges but remains true. There are excellent subplots involving the value of friendship, home, and several aspects of teenage angst. This movie is squarely aimed at mothers and daughters but it was fascinating for an old dad to see and learn from as well.

MVP: Metcalf as the emotionally brutal but loving mother