The Hunt

Actors: Betty Gilpin, Ike Barinholtz, Amy Madigan, Emma Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Hilary Swank

Rating: 8 out of 10, A very funny, very dark comedy. The premise has a bunch of rich, very liberal elites setting up a hunt for some red state “deplorables”, an update to the most dangerous game. There’s some very funny skewering of both ends of the political spectrum and I don’t see what all the fuss was about when this first came out. There are some very good actors involved, including two Oscar winners. Don’t get too comfortable, as I did, when a recognizable actor appears on screen because they’re probably about to be added to the body count. I hadn’t seen the star, Betty Gilpin, in anything but she’s someone to keep an eye on, very talented with great timing. Don’t watch this if cinematic heads getting blown off bothers you. It was sneaky fun to see the overblown idiots from both ends of the political divide get served up though.

MVP: Betty Gilpin as the very dangerous Crystal

Invisible Man

Actors: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Rating: 9 out of 10, This is a very, very good movie. It doesn’t go for cheap thrills and the tension is almost non-stop. It’s not as if she needs one after Mad Men and The Handmaid’s Tale but this also serves as a coming out party for Elizabeth Moss. She dominates in the lead role as a long-suffering girlfriend of a crazed, abusive scientist. She finally escapes only to have her supposedly dead ex starting to haunt her in his cleverly designed invisible mode. A lesser actress would have been more of a victim but Moss raises the game above the mundane. I actually laughed out loud at the very satisfying climatic scenes which was really a release of the tautness I’d held since the start. This is the best movie I’ve seen so far this year.

MVP: Moss owns this movie, as the resilient Cecilia

Birds of Prey

Actors: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Ewan McGregor

Rating: 8 out of 10, This is a really good movie and Margot Robbie owns the character proving she’s so much more than just a pretty face. She plays the Joker’s now ex-girlfriend and has all of Gotham City underworld after her. She forms a bond with several other very dangerous ladies to protect themselves. The villain is played with very cunning style by Ewan McGregor. This isn’t your typical DC Universe trope but laced with a lot of dazzling color as well as Robbie’s personality. The fights are well done and it’s obvious the ladies didn’t shy away from the physicality required. This is as light as DC gets but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

MVP: Robbie as the completely crazed Harley Quinn

Bloodshot

Actors: Vin Diesel, Eiza González, Sam Heughan, Toby Kebbell, Guy Pearce

Rating: 7 out of 10, Diesel playing, Vin Diesel, only this time he can’t be killed. Actually he was and then resurrected by a garden variety mad scientist to take out the scientist’s business rivals. I’m blissfully unaware of the mythology surrounding this character so I entered without expectations, except for the requisite explosions and assassinations which were delivered in full. Diesel wears the part well although he obviously did no research on how Army special operators work and thankfully that was only for a small part. The rest of the movie has him being shot, blown up and variously dismembered only to have his resident nanites immediately rebuild him. The movie bogs down in the middle but the action rescues it as well as the presence of Eiza González who steals every scene she’s in. It almost felt like we were back in a real movie theater with all the pleasure of a true popcorn flick.
MVP: Gonzalez as KT the underwater breathing scene stealer

The Gentlemen

Actors: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch  

Rating: 8 out of 10, This was Guy Ritchie attempting to return to his earlier themes of quirky British criminals. Matthew McConaughey leads off as a career marijuana impresario assaulted on all sides from one Ritchie’s typical mixture of bad guys - Chinese mobsters, Russian mobsters, and American mobsters. The cast is genuinely superb and this is the first movie I really enjoyed Charlie Hunnam in as he makes his way from the small to the large screen. He plays McConaughey’s second in command who has to manage the chaos swirling around the various sub-plots. Michelle Dockery also shines as the more than capable wife. Colin Farrell however steals the movie as possibly the one sort of good guy. He nails every scene he’s in as a hyper boxing trainer trying to shield his charges from the criminal world. The thick British accents were a challenge at times for a Yank but it’s definitely one of the movies I’ll see again, knowing I missed some things during the rapidly evolving plot. It was the funniest movie I’ve seen in a while and definitely a return to form for Ritchie.

MVP: Hunnam as Raymundo, the understated but very lethal consiglieri

1917

Actors: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch  

Rating: 10 out of 10, The buzz is real and well earned. A fascinating look at a small unit action from the trenches of World War 1. Two British lads are given a mission to sneak across no-man’s land to warn another unit about an impending disaster. This is one of the movies you leave wondering how the hell they did it. The movie is basically one long shot of continuous action with only one pause during a period of unconsciousness. The camera moves around the two guys as they travel and encounter a variety of challenges and there never seems to be a break. They used two relatively unknown actors for the lead roles but some distinguished actors show up throughout the movie in very small parts, a very cool technique. The film is also an eloquent comment on the brutality of war along with glimpses of humanity, courage, pride, and nobility. It’s a movie that will stay with you for a long time and not just because you’re still trying to figure out how they did it.

MVP: MacKay as Lance Corporal William "Will" Schofield, well done lad

The Rise of Skywalker

Actors: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Kelly Marie Tran, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams

Rating: 10 out of 10, Everything I hoped it would be. I fell in love with the first movie back in 1977 and subsequently heard a total of nine films were planned. When that information came out the 9th film couldn’t’ be expected before the early 2000s which seemed like a really distant future back in 77. We ended up having to wait even longer but it was worth it, except for losing Princess Leia all too soon. This last move connects all the dots and answers all the questions with the usual combination of action, humor, and pathos. We learn why Rey’s parentage was so closely guarded and how Kylo Ren was turned. There are subtle homages to the earlier films liberally spread throughout and I’ll definitely see the movie again to catch the ones I missed. I know some critics are unhappy with the movie but this was never intended to be Citizen Kane. It brings the beloved franchise home in spectacular fashion. Ignore the critics for a poignant ride back in time to that distant galaxy.

MVP: Daisy Ridley as Rey really comes into her own carrying this massive franchise to the finish line