Logan

Actors: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, Dafne Keen, Eriq La Salle, Elise Neal, Elizabeth Rodriguez

Rating: 9 out of 10, This might be the best X-Men movie ever which certainly isn't an insurmountable task but still. It is certainly the most violent with some very graphic depictions of Wolverine’s claws hitting home, mostly in the cranial region. Hugh Jackman achieves real depth in his last turn as the most iconic of X-men playing him as age finally catches up. There’s a great road trip with a senile Professor X and a ferocious young mutant who resembles a young Wolverine. If this is truly the end of this set of X-men movies then it went out on a very high note. There’s also a clever little plug for another character at the start of the movie.

MVP: Jackman in the title role defines an exist strategy with grace and style

XXX – The Return of Xander Cage

Actors: Vin Diesel, Donnie Yen, Deepika Padukone, Kris Wu, Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa, Nina Dobrev, Toni Collette, Samuel L. Jackson.

Rating: 7 out of 10, Noted thespian Vin Diesel returns to one of his signature action roles and empties the bank of Chinese actions stars as well. They all get together to take on an evil plot to use satellites as bombs. Diesel literally smirks his way through the entire movie which is understandable given the nonsensical plot and I’m sure how much he was getting paid for this. It plays like one of the old kung fu movies where the impossible is routine. The fights were almost too fast to keep up with – a tribute to skill of the “actors” performing the stunts. There was virtually no blood shed despite a body count in the low hundreds. This movie is what you’d think it is, low brow action not meant to challenge any viewer, so a pretty honest movie.

MVP: Donnie Yen as Yiang, action plus acting ability

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Actors: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker.

Rating: 10 out of 10, They finally got the prequel thing right for A New Hope (the original Star Wars movie). This movie tells the back story to the acquisition of the death star plans which were the focal point of that first movie. This movie was all about adding texture which is provided in relentless fashion. The female lead absolutely rocks and there’s a gentle graying of the strict white and black of rebel versus empire. The desperate state of the rebellion and the signature battle which this film culminates in will truly resonate with any Star Wars geek (guilty as charged). They even resurrect two actors from that first movie, one of whom has been dead for nearly 40 years. Old Hammer Films favorite Peter Cushing is back as Grand Moff Tarkin and not for just a glimpse either; truly remarkable what they achieved in his case. Even without the galaxy far, far away back drop this was a kickass action flick with just the right amount of sly humor injected along with those heaping piles of nostalgia. I loved it.

MVP: Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe, a blind warrior who really, really believes in the Force

Patriots’ Day

Actors: Mark Wahlberg, J. K. Simmons, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Jimmy O. Yang

Rating: 9 out of 10, I wasn’t sure if it was too early in the process for a film about the marathon bombings but Peter Berg once again dials up a very nice ode to the heroes of a real world disaster. Wahlberg limps, for some reason, through in his usual Mass-hole personae but the movie truly belongs to the effective and behind the scenes heroic hunt for the idiotic bombers. While Boston is highlighted the message for me was the way any American city would respond to this challenge. If you push, we’re going to push back. Some of the little known heroes were also given their time to shine like the tiny Chinese immigrant who bravely escaped the bombers’ clutches which led to the ultimate capture and the Watertown police who ended up in a massive firefight including bombs. You want to say this is an important film which may sound pretentious but this was a very good story, extremely well told.

MVP: Jimmy O. Yang as Dun Meng, the true hero of the story

Assassin’s Creed

Actors: Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Charlotte Rampling, Michael K. Williams.

Rating: 7 out of 10, I remember watching for extended periods of time as my high school aged son played the video game this movie is based on. They gathered an all-star cast but should have spent more of their money on a coherent script. The action was great when they stayed in 1490s Spain with the lead character leaping off buildings and cutting a deadly swath through the forces of the Spanish inquisition (who no one expects! – sorry). Unfortunately the movie spends a lot of time in the present day with a convoluted and questionable plot. Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons are wasted with thankless roles while a too mysterious, age old war between the Assassins and the Knights Templar is barely explained. I guess you had to have played the game to understand some of that but the medieval Spain scenes were worth the price of admission.

MVP: Fassbender in the dual assassin role spanning centuries

Passengers

Actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Andy García.

Rating: 9 out of 10, I know it’s getting skewered by the critics but this was sci fi done very well because the people were the important focus and not just the technology. If there was any doubt (none here) about Jennifer Lawrence’s screen presence this movie should eradicate it. Chris Pratt is very serviceable and likable for the first part of the movie but Lawrence dominates when she appears. They play two passengers who should be in cryosleep for a 120 year voyage to a new planet. Pratt is awakened early when the ship blunders into a very large asteroid which leads to a maddeningly slow failure of the ship. Alone for over a year Pratt does what any young man would do, he wakes the hottest fellow passenger he can find. While I treat that issue glibly the movie does not which brings up the interesting moral questions of the dilemma. While the movie does stumble to the finish line it was uniformly entertaining, so blow off the critics and go see it.

MVP: Lawrence as Aurora – sexy, intelligent, and warm

Steel Magnolias

Actors: Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott, Kevin J. O'Connor, Sam Shepard

Rating: 9 out of 10, A guilty pleasure for me because this has to rank up there as one of the biggest “chick” flicks ever made. My lack of estrogen doesn’t prevent me from enjoying great writing though and this movie has so many fantastic lines that it’s impossible to dislike. Quite the contrary I love this movie especially for the interplay between MacLaine and Dukakis’ character. Dolly Parton is kind of lost in a cast with this much talent. It’s the kind of movie that you’ll still be hearing the lines from a couple days after seeing it and still smiling. An enduring testament to friendship and the strength available within a circle of friends.

MVP: Dukakis as the impossibly funny Clairee, tormentor of Ouiser