Sisu

Actors: Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo and Onni Tommila

Rating: 10 out of 10, This is one case where the preview lives up to the final product. Sisu is just flat, psychotically great. A former Finnish commando who retired to mine gold is trying to make his way to the bank with his gold when he runs across a German SS unit retreating through Lapland near the end of WW2. The Nazis make the mistake of trying to take the gold away from him. He turns out to be the Finnish version of John Wick and is basically unkillable, although Nazis try and try. This is not a movie for the faint of heart as the German deaths range from comically funny to incredibly brutal. There was also a barbed wire suturing session I could have done without. A surpassingly great movie, beautifully shot in the north of Finland with a superb cast, especially the lead actor. So good.

MVP: Tommila as the incredibly dangerous and inventive Koschei

Avatar The Way of Water

Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet

Rating: 10 out of 10, I was wondering if all the time and effort Cameron spent on this sequel would be worth it. It is, and then some. I should have known after the revelation that was Terminator 2 but all the many years of work were readily apparent on the screen as we returned to Pandora. On Pandora no one is ever really, seriously dead so both Sigourney Weaver and the lead bad guy return, in spades. It’s a great adventure taking place 15 years after the original with the Na'vi now faced with a determined and upgunned human invasion. Jake takes his family to supposed safety with an ocean based clan. He’s faced with fighting a guerilla war as well as teenaged offspring, learning one is much tougher than the other. The persistent message of living in harmony with their natural world is still present but not as overpowering as the first film. The technology is so seamless and impressive that you really forget this was all generated on a computer and completely suspend disbelief. A truly massive achievement.

MVP: Saldana as Neytiri who I would not want to have pissed off at me

Wrath of Man

Actors: Jasion Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan, Chris Reilly, Josh Hartnett, Laz Alonso, Raúl Castillo, DeObia Oparei, Eddie Marsan, Scott Eastwood

Rating: 7 out of 10, Wrath of Man features a constantly scowling Statham without his usual sneaky fun personae leaking through. You gradually learned the source of the scowl which causes him to take a job as an armored car guard where he quickly demonstrates other worldly/Stathamesque capabilities. This doesn’t have the director’s, Guy Ritchie, usual sense of whimsy as he seems to be emulating Michael Mann’s Heat. You slowly learn the backstory of the revenge quest through some fairly elaborate editing. If you’re not paying attention that could be confusing but the first third and the final act are crackling good action scenes with Statham being, well, Statham. The middle third wanders a bit but overall I really enjoyed another escape from reality thanks to Hollywood. It reminds me how much I’ve missed it over the past year.

MVP: Staham as the deadly H

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Actors: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant

Rating: 9 out of 10, When you hear the title, you automatically think this would be a geek fest of the highest order. While there is a bit of that, this was a very good movie in its own right. A lot of the credit for that goes to Chris Pine who plays against type as the least capable member of a team assembled to fight, what else, the ultimate evil. There is non-stop action livened up with incredibly funny dialogue. There’s also great brother/sister chemistry between Pine and Michele Rodriguez. A lively story moves the action right along, stopping by for a truly iconic, if short, cameo by a major film star which I won’t ruin by explaining here. Thoroughly enjoyable, one of my favorite movies of the year so far.

MVP: Pine as the harper Edgin

65

Actors: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt.

Rating: 7 out of 10, The title refers to the number of million years ago the action took place. A member of a space going human race journeys through the solar system when his ship is damaged and forced to crash land on earth during the age of the dinosaurs. Adam Driver once again demonstrates his almost mysterious screen presence as the pilot. He finds only one other passenger has survived, a young girl, and they try to make their way through the constant threat of the dinosaurs to another part of their crashed ship that has an escape vehicle. The pilot has to rank with some of the unluckiest movie characters of all time. He has a profound level of technology to assist him but earth throws everything at him, constantly. His lack of luck culminates when he figures out he’s in the impact area of a massive incoming asteroid, the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Like I said, unlucky. While kind of dour at times, this was a nice adventure yarn with some feisty dinosaurs, realistically portrayed.

MVP: Greenblatt as the feisty Koa

John Wick 4

Actors: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, Ian McShane

Rating: 10 out of 10, John Wick 4 is, well, a John Wick film, that takes all the ballistic themes from the first three films and ups the ante. The seemingly indestructible Wick launches on a revenge tour against the High Table, the highest level of the criminal empire that cost him a finger and tried to kill him for the last couple films. This a very long movie but you don’t notice the running time because, as usual, the action is relentless and Wick is such a compelling character. Reeves is at his coolest as he cuts a swath through the bad guys on four different continents. Somehow, the guy who shot him off the roof of the high-rise hotel to end the last movie ends up as his partner again as they take on the High Table. There are the usual fascinating supporting characters, including Donny Yen, who is so good in everything he does. There are some tributes to the earlier films including the welcome cameo by a very dangerous attack dog. Tribute was also paid to the 70’s movie, The Warriors. The ending sequence with Wick fighting his way through an army of assassins was amazing. I’ll never look at Paris the same way again.

MVP: Reeves, any doubt?

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Actors: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, D. J. Cotrona, Grace Caroline Currey, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, Helen Mirren

Rating: 7 out of 10, A sequel to the surprisingly fresh first movie was always going to be tough. The sheer innocence of teenagers thrust into the bodies of superheroes was a neat concept and ably exploited in the first film. They try the same thing here but its not as successful. Luckily the superb cast lifts the material into an amusing experience. Zach Levi once again is tone perfect as the lead effortlessly capturing the teenage angst at loose within Shazam. There are some very funny moments as the group of superheroes deals with a trio of 6000 year old sisters bent on revenges played with appropriate aplomb by Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler. Zegler proves that her West Side screen presence was no fluke. The usually dour DC universe needs this light touch and it was nice seeing the Phillies home park get smoked, but I digress. A lot of fun, an inch deep, but worth it.

MVP: Levi in title role is still compelling