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

Running Man

Actors: Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin.

Rating: 8 out of 10, The original Governator film was high camp but they play this newer one closer to a possible reality. That allowed some well thought out satire to inject itself into the plot. Glen Powell, once again, proves decisively that he has graduated from supporting roles. He plays an angry husband/father who enters the game to rescue his family, cue the evil corporation. Instead of a defined game arena, he must navigate through a future society where everyone, including a highly trained team of assassins, is scouring the info-nets to locate and kill him. This was a nice update to the concept and, again, Powell is a super-star on the cusp.

MVP: Powell as Ben Richards effortlessly carrying movie

Weapons

Actors: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Toby Huss, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan

Rating: 9 out of 10, Weapons is awesome. A spooky premise of 17 elementary school classmates all disappearing on the same night, scarily all running with arms extended behind them towards an unknown location. The director takes an interesting route by exploring the disappearance from the viewpoints of several different characters including the teacher of the class where all but one student disappeared and also the parent of a missing child. The tension slowly builds as we learn more about the situation and it culminates with the final twenty minutes of absolute mayhem as the source of evil is revealed. It was a satisfying climax as all the loose threads were answered in a satisfying manner. There were also some needed light moments; the best being when Josh Brolin wakes from a scary dream and says the line every audience member is thinking. I’m usually not brave enough to see a horror movie by myself (pointed out to me by my son) but I’m glad I did, because Weapons is excellent.

MVP: Madigan as the wholly evil Aunt Gladys

Sisu Road to Revenge

Actors: Jorma Tommila, Richard Brake, Stephen Lang

Rating: 8 out of 10, An excellent follow up to the surprising first film. Our hero, once again, without saying a single word in the movie, plows his way through a horde of enemies trying to kill him. He sneaks into the Soviet Union in 1946 to visit his old homestead where his family was killed. He dismantles the house and attempts to sneak it back into Finland. The Soviets, a bit put out by the more than 300 Soviet soldiers he killed during early WW2, decide to send the man who killed his family after him. Big mistake. Jorma Tommila is truly a force of nature as the Soviets don’t do any better than the Nazis did in the first film. You have to suspend a lot of disbelief to make it work but this is an eminently watchable, non-stop action flick as he wades through the Russians. Stephen Lang is the head bad guy as he seems to have made a career out of scarily competent villains. The cinematography is fantastic as the filmmakers don’t depend, too much, on CGI. A great movie.

MVP: Who else could it be but Tommila reprising his role as Aatami Korpi

Wizard of Oz

Actors: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton

Rating: 7 out of 10, I finally added this to my collection. It is one of the most cherished movie memories of my youngest years. It’s still amazing to see what they were able to accomplish in 1939 in the way of special effects. From Garland's heartrending rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, to the amazing switch to breathtaking color when they leave Kansas, to the three immortal companions for the trek along the Yellow Brick Road this movie still packs a well-aimed punch to the heart. My favorite character as a young boy was the cowardly lion who I thought was hilarious. Watching as an adult I appreciate all three, especially the scarecrow, hard to look away when these three are on the screen.  In 4K you can see the backdrops were obviously painted but it doesn’t distract from the story. The witch is still scary despite all modern attempts to rehab her image. A fun, nostalgic watch.

MVP: Who else could it be but Judy as Dorothy

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Actors: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe

Rating: 9 out of 10, This is a simply awesome sequel to a great original film. The best aspect were the original stars returning properly aged for the thirty years since the original, although Katherine O’Hara must have made a real deal with the devil because she doesn’t look to have aged at all. She returns as Delia, the crazed epitome of an evil step mother/pretentious New Yorker. The movie doesn’t try to re-tell the same story and brings a lot more heart than I thought possible. Keaton, once again, demonstrates what a comic genius he is running around the afterlife pursued by Monica Bellucci (some guys have all the luck) while still trying to reunite with Lydia. A very welcome addition is Jenna Ortega who steals every scene she’s in as the perfectly cast daughter. Even now, thinking back at some of the gags I can’t stop smiling although I missed the sadly (departed in real life) Otho. There were some very clever and obscure tributes to the first film. A very fun and nostalgic comedy/horror romp.

MVP: Keaton as the perpetually horny ghost/title character

Ballerina From the World of John Wick

Actors: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Norman Reedus, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves

Rating: 9 out of 10, I was fully prepared to dislike this as a weak attempt to capture some Wickian magic. I was wrong. After a slow start this movie embraces the spirit of the Wick films and delivers. All credit deservedly goes to Ana de Armas who proves her 007 action cameo was no fluke, she is uniformly awesome as the main character/body-count-generator. She plays a student of that weird Belorussian dance studio that J.W. passed through. She’s on a revenge mission against a European cult that knocked off her parents. She kills her way to their home base and just when it looked like it couldn’t get any better, John Wick himself shows up, as this is set between earlier pictures, before his “demise”. I thought the dueling flamethrowers were especially poignant. This was a truly great movie, completely up to the high standards of the previous films. Thank you, Ms. Armas.

MVP: de Armas as gorgeous and deadly assassin Eve