Crossing Over

Actors: Harrison Ford, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Jim Sturgess, Cliff Curtis, Alice Braga, Alice Eve, Justin Chon, Summer Bishil

Rating: 7 out of 10, A movie that aimed at Traffic territory by creating a series of eventually interlinking plot lines generously peppered with some very good actors. I hadn’t heard of this but felt compelled to learn if the Alice Eve Star Trek bikini was CGI or not. That would be a definite “not”. While Ms. Eve’s generously displayed talents were remarkable enough this wide ranging story about illegal immigrants and their different struggles to remain in the USA was kind of “ehh”. Tough to make a young Muslim girl who defends the 9-11 terrorists as a sympathetic character but the rest of the stories were interesting. Harrison Ford plays a decent man trying to do the right thing as an immigration officer despite rules against same. The ending “bridge” to bring all the plot lines together was kind of forced and completely unbelievable but there were a number of nice moments.

MVP: Alice Eve proving that stuffed Star Trek bikini was not CGI

Hardcore Henry

Actors: Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky, Haley Bennett, Tim Roth

Rating: 7 out of 10, If the opening credits of a movie features bullets entering faces and throats being cut than you have a pretty good idea what’s in store. Non-stop shooting, stabbing, fist fighting, and the odd humorous Sharlto Copley appearance ensued; all told from the point of view of the hero, literally. I was reminded of watching my son play video games which I was too old to be trapped into. It was interesting to watch him venture down passageways dispatching all who came into view with a variety of weapons – that’s Hardcore Henry. It was jarring at times trying to figure out what exactly was happening as the view swung wildly as Henry mowed his way through a horde of Russian gangsters and Moscow subway crowds. He’s a cyborg trying to find his kidnapped wife while Copley plays a mysterious helper who rebounds nicely after getting killed in a number of gruesome ways. I liked this which I’ll probably have to apologize for at some point in the future but the movie makers took chances to really imbed the viewer into the eyes of the action hero. It doesn’t always work well but it was a hell of a ride. When Henry finally reaches the end of the long line of people trying to kill him, he pulls his own electronic eye out of its socket and uses the wiring to decapitate the villain, like I said, kind of a violent movie. It was all very Russian.

MVP: Ciopley as the ever reincarnated Jimmy

Criminal

Actors: Kevin Costner, Gal Gadot, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Alice Eve, Michael Pitt, Jordi Mollà, Antje Traue.

Rating: 9 out of 10, I thought this was much better than most critics are giving it credit for. Costner does evil way, way better than most leading men (see Mr. Brooks) and he chews up a lot of scenery here. Once you get over the hump of accepting the impossible science involved in transferring a recently deceased secret agent’s memories into an uber-violent sociopath, it’s a great ride. Costner does an interesting job of displaying the inner conflict of a lifelong criminal having a conscience imposed upon him. The only thing criminal in the movie was the underuse of Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman going a little (lot) over the top. The best scenes involve the dead agent’s wife, played by Gal Gadot, who seems to get better each time out. There’s funny (if very violent) scenes where very polite English society, where the movie takes place, is exposed to the ruthlessly inappropriate Costner character, probably every Englishman’s secretly held opinion of Americans in general. So, ignore the critics and go see this very passable action flick with Costner refusing to wait in any queues to the abject horror of all.

MVP: Costner as the dually minded anti-hero Jericho Stewart

Batman Versus Superman, Dawn of Justice

Actors: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Gal Gadot

Rating: 8 out of 10, I know Batman versus Superman, Dawn of Justice is not getting a lot of love from critics but I actually liked it. It was certainly a departure from the Marvel format of action and hijinks. It was very dark and almost morose at times but the story worked. I didn’t know how they would stage this obvious mismatch – figuring there had to be some kryptonite involved. It’s tribute to Cavill and especially Affleck in the lead roles. I know there was a lot of consternation when Affleck was announced as Batman but he’s very, very good. He plays an older Batman weighed down by the seeming ineffectiveness of his lifelong fight against crime. Gotham City is placed directly adjacent to Metropolis with their competing superheroes on a collision course engineered by Lex Luthor. While every other actor, even those with limited roles like Holly Hunter, shines, it was surprising that Eisenberg was so bad as Lex Luthor. He was so over the top and blatant that you wonder why he wasn’t squashed early on. The villain can be deliciously evil (see Kevin Spacey’s take) but he should not be clinically annoying which Eisenberg certainly was. The movie seemed to take place almost entirely at night but that could just have been the mood the movie makers instilled. Don’t go into this expecting Marvel as this takes an entirely different tone and that’s not a bad thing. The movie works on a number of levels; don’t listen to the critics – go see this nuanced superhero movie.

MVP: Affleck as the aging and conflicted caped crusader