One Night Only

Actors: Monica Barbaro, Callum Turner, Maya Hawke, Molly Ringwald, LeVar Burton

Rating: 6 out of 10, Against all odds, I truly enjoyed One Night Only, which is decidedly different than my usual fare. The film is set in the near future NYC where unmarried sex is only allowed one night a year and enforced through the usual evil corporation and right-wing government. Luckily, they only spend a few moments launching at those easy targets and most of the film allows the characters to wallow in the attendant insanity as single New Yorkers seek each other out. The film was enjoyable because of the two main actors, Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner. Especially Barbaro who shows some range here as a struggling singer (after also standing out as one of the top gun pilots) to Turner’s Pizza shop owner. There are some truly hilarious moments as they struggle towards their usual rom-com conclusion. A really good movie featuring two very likable stars.

MVP: Barbaro as Allie, sweet and sexy as lead

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

Actors: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood

Rating: 7 out of 10, I loved the original movie of a bride unknowingly marrying into a demonic family which included a wedding night hide and seek game to the death. The second film picks up in the direct aftermath of the wedding night and bodies start exploding almost immediately. There are more families of the same type who want to continue the game and include the lead character’s sister this time out. Samara Weaving once again carves up the screen and her pursuers as the bride. There is a very clever script which gives her ample grounds to defend herself in lethal fashion against her hunters. I thought they spent a little too much time exploring the family issues she had with her sister but this was every bit as much diabolical fun as the first film.

MVP: Weaving reprising her role as dangerous victim Grace

The Mandalorian and Grogu

Actors: Pedro Pascal, Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Martin Scorsese, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Hemky Madera, Shirley Henderson, Steve Blum

Rating: 7 out of 10, I really liked this latest Star Wars entry. I watched all of the tv series so I was up on the mythology involved. The action was nearly non-stop as Mando and his little buddy help the New Republic scoop up regional imperial warlords trying to take advantage of the fall of the empire. The storm troopers still haven’t learned to shoot, something Mando has no problem with, but they provide the requisite fodder for the shootouts. They kept Grogu as a puppet instead of trying to CGI him which I think is the way to go. The plot gets a little silly at times, mainly when Grogu and the miniature mechanics are on their own, clearly aimed at the youngest demographic. The movie does a very effective job continuing the world building Disney has been involved in since taking over the franchise. Jabba the Hut’s kid has a major role which I never saw coming. A great summer escape movie, turns out, this is the way!

MVP: Pascal of course as Din Djarin - The Mandalorian

Project Hail Mary

Actors: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce

Rating: 9 out of 10, Project Hail Mary is a great movie. It probably won’t set any movie critic’s pulse racing but it is good, old fashioned entertainment. If there was any doubt about Ryan Gosling’s star power (there isn’t) it’s firmly quashed as this movie is basically all his. He plays a more than reluctant astronaut charged with saving the planet from an infection belaboring the sun. He’s left on his own until he links up with an alien on a similar mission. Gosling deploys sone real depth in approaching both his situation and the relationship with his “buddy”. There’s some well placed humor as well as a less than subtle message about what it means to be human. I loved this movie.

MVP: Gosling as the reluctant hero, Ryland Grace

Predator Badlands

Actors: Elle Fanning as Thia/Tessa, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, Reuben de Jong, Mike Homik

Rating: 9 out of 10, Only Hollywood would try to make one of the 1980s arch villains into a hero. Predators have always had a tinge of respectability because of the warrior ethos and they liked to kill aliens but this was a bona fide attempt to make a movie with one of the predators as the focus point and hero. Somehow it works. Really well. A smallish predator escapes his family, which is trying to kill him for his lack of stature, and tries to prove himself by going after an apex killer on the appropriately named Death Planet. There he runs into a crew of cyborgs, sent from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (of Aliens infamy) who are after the same creature. Elle Fanning (always good) plays one of the cyborgs cut in half by the creature and teams up with the predator. The interaction between those two is worth the price of admission by itself. You add in the state-of-the-art CGI with non-stop action and you’ve got a pretty good flick. Go figure – rooting for a predator. Loved it.

MVP: Fanning in the dual role of Thia/Tessa, needed comic relief and deadly presence

Avatar Fire and Ash

Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet,

Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore

Rating: 8 out of 10, The story picks up in the aftermath of the events of the second sequel to this matchless use of CGI. Cameron has created an amazing world that the viewer cannot help but be pulled into and forget that the spectacular views are all computer generated. Jake Sully and his family are still grieving their losses in the prior film with Mrs. Sully particularly and violently upset. It’s a tribute to Zoe Saldana as an actress that her pain and rage come through so clearly despite the computer imaging. Resident bad guy, the Colonel, is back and has hooked up with an equally unbalanced Na’vi lady who leads a tribe bent on killing everybody. I felt a little uncomfortable because I couldn’t help thinking the villainess was kind of hot, despite being eight foot tall and blue. This might be the best of the Avatar movies as Cameron has figured out we need a compelling story as we are now accustomed to the fabulous scenery. While each movie has a similar buildup to a final confrontation, each is eminently watchable. That is certainly the case here with some interesting elements and quandaries inserted. Cameron remains a master movie maker. My only gripe is the obvious setting up for additional sequels. He’s done Avatar, it’s time for him to branch out and break new ground in some other milieu. A truly great movie. MVP: Oona Chaplin sneaky hot as Varang, leader of the warmongering Mangkwan

In the Grey

Actors: Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza Gonzalez, Kristofer Hivju, Fisher Stevens, Rosamund Pike, Carlos Bardem

Rating: 9 out of 10, This is Guy Ritchie’s latest action flick with some of his usual collaborators in Eiza González and Henry Cavill with the welcome addition of Jake Gyllenhaal. Ritchie does action proud each time out and this is no exception. I also liked that Gonzalez isn’t just a pretty face (she certainly still has that going for her) but the mastermind behind a plot to recover a billion dollars from the villain. The villain employs one of the GOT wildings in underused fashion. Cavill and Gyllenhaal share great chemistry as they carry out Gonzalez’ plans. Beautifully shot, I’m surprised I have not heard more about this, a great little movie.

MVP: Gyllenhaal as Bronco, a laid back but deadly operative