Fast X

Actors: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron

Rating: 7 out of 10, This almost qualifies as a guilty pleasure now as this film series left reality several pictures ago. Virtually everybody who was ever in a Fast and Furious film is back in some form because in this film series you’re never really, seriously dead. That’s good news for the sequel I guess. Vin Diesel accrued what seems to be his required solo shots to show us his improved “grimace”. The rest of the cast is a hell of a lot more fun, as were the signature action sequences. Jason Momoa was a clear miss as the lead villain, playing some sort of metro-sexual Brazilian crime lord barely clinging to vestiges of sanity. Despite his very tenuous grasp on reality, he is somehow able to wield global spanning tentacles. It was a mistake to turn him into some sort of clown but I guess they had to tone down his Dothraki in order not to loom too much over Diesel. As usual, you’re ask to forgive the yawning plot holes and clearly impossible stunts because it’s a Fast film and you forgive a lot for all that delightful mayhem.

MVP: Bridges as Tej, has learned to act

Kandahar

Actors: Gerard Butler, Ali Fazal, Navid Negahban, Bahador Foladi, Nina Toussaint-White, Tom Rhys Harries, Vassilis Koukalani, Mark Arnold, Corey Johnson, Travis Fimmel

Rating: 7 out of 10, Gerard Butler running around with lots of explosions going on around him, again. I hadn’t heard much about this but it’s a pretty taut action flick. Butler plays a CIA contractor in Iran helping take down an Iranian nuclear facility. The Iranians are not pleased and take exception to his efforts, especially after they learn his identity from a newspaper writer and that he’s hanging out in nearby Afghanistan. The bulk of the movie has Butler and his Afghani translator making their away across Taliban controlled Afghanistan with everybody, and I mean everybody, trying to kill them. It’s a very engaging story with some real humanity between the two. Butler does so well in these type roles and he delivers again.

MVP: Negahban as Mo the translators, so much depth

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