Eternals

Actors: Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Harish Patel, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie.

Rating: 8 out of 10, This is a completely different kind of Marvel movie which I’m sure some people/critics will find fault with. It doesn’t have the same whiz bang relentless pace of its Marvel predecessors but it brings a lot of heart with it. I liked the time it took to lay out the complete mythology surrounding the Eternals, surely the best looking group of superheroes ever assembled (I mean two Kings of the North!). There are a lot of twists and turns as we follow the group of saviors, sent to preserve the human race, over thousands of years. The story is told with a heavy reliance on flashbacks which can be problematic if less well done. I was really impressed with the story arc and the care told in telling the story. There were the usual state of the art special effects and sly humor laced throughout so I didn’t mind sitting through the very long movie. Another feather in Marvel’s cap as they choose to evolve instead of following the same well worn and highly successful path.

MVP: Nanjani as Kingo, the Bollywood eternal

Saturn 3

Actors: Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel

Rating: 7 out of 10, This was always kind of a mess but for some reason held a special place in my heart and not just because of Fawcett’s brief nude scene. She plays a bio-engineer (and they said she couldn’t act) along with her paramour, an aged Kirk Douglas. Their idyllic life on a barren moon is threatened by a psychotic Harvey Keitel (is there any other version?). This has held up well over the years despite its many flaws and miscasting. Keitel’s berserk robot adds a nice bit of terror as the good guys run around trying to destroy him. A guilty pleasure, but a lot of campy fun with a high degree of unintentional comedy.

MVP: Fawcett reminding us why she was such a phenomena

Sword and the Sorcerer

Actors: Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, George Maharis, Richard Lynch, Richard Moll

Rating: 8 out of 10, Finally. This beloved film from my younger years finally came out in Blu-ray format and as most things from the early 1980s (myself included) it hasn’t aged well. You have to leave your mind at the door when it starts and if you do that, it’s a hell of a lot of swashbuckling fun. Horsley makes a very compelling hero which begs the question as to why he didn’t do more. The same for Beller who is radiant as the crotch crunching (see the movie to understand) princess. I still loved it despite the more than evident issues. I mean, any film with a triple bladed sling sword and Bull from Night Court tearing up scenes as a wicked sorcerer. What’s not to like?

MVP: Horsley as the dangerous Talon

No Time to Die

Actors: Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, Dali Benssalah

Rating: 10 out of 10, Everyone knows this is Daniel Craig’s last foray as James Bond and it was a well-earned, epic send off. Craig’s Bond was always told on a more personal level and this final movie completes the arc that started with Casino Royale. Bond is led to question everyone in his life as he moves around the globe trying to unravel an insidious plot involving old friend Blofeld as well as his lady love. It is a very good story and I hardly noticed the nearly three hour running time because, in typical 007 fashion, you literally are only a heartbeat away from the next stunning action sequence. It does raise the interesting question about how many times a guy can get nearly blown up without becoming a vegetable. I know we’re talking James Bond here but it’s good this was his last movie because we’re talking mouth drooling PTSD if not. There are some kick ass ladies who no longer serve as just window dressing in Bond movies. They are led by Ana De Armas who’s only on screen for a short time but dominates. Every plot thread from Craig’s story line is neatly and usually fatally tied off and there are some genuinely poignant odes to earlier movies, including predating Craig’s tenure. The only downer and it wasn’t a big one was the villain. Rami Malek plays the reptilian megalomaniac with too much nuance, if that’s even possible. He gets kind of lost in the maelstrom of action and explosions as the movie careens towards the inevitable good bye. A great movie bringing all you expect from a Bond movie, raising the level and injecting more heart than has ever been permitted.

MVP: Craig in his swan song as 007, well done

Venom Let There be Carnage

Actors: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, Woody Harrelson

Rating: 7 out of 10, I loved the first Venom movie so this was going to be a tough follow up but it manages to capture a lot of the fun from the original. This is a tribute to Tom Hardy who once again portrays the semi-hero occupied by a carnivorous alien. The funniest moments were the couples therapy the two go through as they adjust to life together. Woody Harrelson is his usual spooky self as the serial killer who gets his own alien occupier, setting up a huge climatic fight between the four of them. This wasn’t as good as the original but still plenty of fun and dare I say, carnage.

MVP: Hardy as both Eddie Brock and Venom – too funny/dangerous

Copshop

Actors: Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo, Alexis Louder

Rating: 8 out of 10, I wasn’t sure what to think about Copland before seeing the movie, obviously. I went to see it mainly because it starred Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo who are reliable action stars. I wasn’t prepared for a complete unknown (to me) to steal every scene she was in, including from the two main stars. Alexis Louder was the only remotely redeemable character in the entire movie. She plays a young African American sheriff’s deputy in rural Nevada. She arrests a mysterious, wounded man who punches her (Grillo) which sets off a serious assault on her isolated police department. Butler shows up as an infamous hitman sent to off Grillo before he can talk. They are soon besieged by an array of competing hitman and dirty cops. The banter, especially between Butler and Grillo, is worth the price of admission. Butler has the best lines, including, “Now that’s a psychopath”, when competing (and hilarious unhinged) hitman Toby Huss shows up. Again though, Louder more than holds her own against the heavyweights and you can’t help but rooting for her to survive against long odds. So, a real surprise and one of the better movies I’ve seen in a while.

MVP: Louder as Val, the seriously undergunned but resilient deputy

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Actors: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, Tony Leung

Rating: 9 out of 10, I was a little leery going into this figuring it might be overly Asian-centric and overdoing political correctness. I shouldn’t have worried as this turned out to be the best movie I’ve seen so far this year, exceeding even Marvel’s usual lofty standards. A great deal of the credit goes to the cast who were prefect, charismatic and connective with the audience. The lead actor, Simu Liu, was very impressive both in the incredible physical requirements, which literally comes from nowhere, very suddenly, as well as the deep emotions the part required. Awkwafina is along bringing her usual quirky humor but she proves she can do so much more. It was an interesting, multilayered plot laden with Marvel’s usual state of the art special effects. A very complex family story where the two mildly super-human parents produce two very special children, a boy and a girl. The boy, as an adult, is hiding out in San Francisco, the very best place for a monumental car chase, which happens very early. He is drawn back to China for a confrontation with his father with the fate of the world in the balance (this is Marvel after all). I loved the movie and very early I forgot it was Asian focused, the story and the actors won me over utterly, much in the same fashion as Black Panther did for African-Americans. Good is good and this was better.

MVP: Liu as the title character, kicking ass and taking names