Equalizer 3

Actors: Denzel Washington, reprising his role as retired U.S. Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall, with Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea, David Denman, Gaia Scodellaro, Remo Girone

Rating: 9 out of 10, It's tough to string together three quality movies in a series. It helps immensely if you have Denzel along to make it happen. This one starts out with an entire mafia complex learning to their eternal rest that it wasn't a good idea to cross Robert McCall. He sticks around Italy for the rest of the film assisting a village on the Amalfi coast against even more mafia types, who hadn't gotten the word. A very picturesque setting for a blood bath. It was cool to see Denzel and Dakota Fanning reunited so many years after their Man on Fire epic turn. It did make me feel old. really good action movie with Denzel once again, dominating, but you expect that, still so cool he delivers each and every time.

MVP: Washington as the eminently dangerous Robert McCall

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1

Actors: Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, alongside an ensemble cast including Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny

Rating: 9 out of 10, Delivers exactly what you expect from an MI film and damn it, they make you love it anyways. Cruise is still amazingly doing his own non-CGI stunts and providing the needed pathos as he goes about trying to save the world yet again with his merry band of misfits. The stakes are predictably astronomical but this is the IMF we’re talking about. The fight on top of a moving train has been done so many times, but someone they make it fresh and scary. Hayley Atwell, Captain America’s (and my) crush, arrives on the scene with appropriate dash and adds a lot to the already talented cast. I just cannot dislike a movie when it delivers exactly what it promises and forces you to enjoy it. I certainly did.

MVP: Cruise as Ethan Hunt, just for the motorcycle jump

Night of the Hunter

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason, Evelyn Varden, Peter Graves, Don Beddoe, Gloria Castillo, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce

Rating: 8 out of 10, Mitchum plays against type as a homicidal bible thumper in Appalachia during the depression. He is so cooly evil that he’s genuinely scary. The film itself is incredible as the staging of some of the scenes grabs the eye. Mitchum is hunting for money hidden by a soon to die father with his two children. Mitchum slimily inserts himself into their mother’s life and the killing begins. Gish is particularly effective as the counterpoint to Mitchum’s pervasive evil. A great watch.

MVP: Mitchem as the deranged Harry Powell

Stagecoach

Actors: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt

Rating: 9 out of 10, Arguably the best western ever made where John Wayne establishes himself as a leading man. You can almost feel the camera gravitating towards him as soon as he appears. He joins a stagecoach full of questionable characters heading through Indian country towards the inevitable gunfight. Each the characters get an arc and since John Ford was helming the camera work is unmatched. Just a great film that has aged remarkably well.

MVP: Wayner dominates and becomes a star as the Ringo Kid

Red River

Actors: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, John Ireland, Hank Worden, Noah Beery Jr., Harry Carey Jr., Paul Fix

Rating: 7 out of 10, A true classic with Wayne playing against type for the first time as a true heel who undergoes a mutiny by his cowboys while leading a cattle drive. Clift just oozes charisma as the hero, adopted son, who saves Wayne from himself and picks up a gal along with way. Classic shots of the cattle drive through tough terrain, even more so as it was done without CGI. Great movie.

MVP: Clift as the gifted Matt

Blue Beetle

Actors: Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle alongside Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez.

Rating: 9 out of 10, While this super hero movie certainly has its flaws, and it does, it’s saved by the very appealing cast. I’m married to a Hispanic lady and we both laughed continuously as we heard so many of the sayings and issues that arise when our respective cultures clashed over the years. The movie focuses on a Hispanic family’s trial and tribulations as the son unwittingly becomes a superhero pursued by Susan Sarandon (good work if you can get it). George Lopez is hysterical as the weird uncle and steals every scene he’s in. The message of family permeates the plot and serves it well. Abuelas are tough. Loved the movie.

MVP: Maridueña as Jaime Reyes

The Flash

Actors: Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, Michael Keaton

Rating: 9 out of 10, I know Ezra Miller, the actor in the title character role in this has had a very rocky personal life for the past couple years but I’ve always liked him in this role. He delivers once again as the DC Universe must have taken notice of the popularity of the multiple Spidermans (Spidermen?) in the multiverse and decided to give it a go as well. They have a rich cinematic history of the various Batmans, Supermans (real and imagined), and other superheroes to delve into. I won’t ruin the very cool (sometimes hilarious) reincarnations that are imagined into being. In this stand-alone film, the Flash decides to use his speed to go back in time to save his mother from the murder his father is imprisoned for. We all know from too many movies that changing history through time travel is never a good idea with way too many ways for Hollywood writers to make it painful. This movie has the best CGI I’ve ever seen and Miller, for whatever his other faults, still portrays a likable, if a bit off kilter, hero. The movie is long but was still a lot of goofy fun. I loved it.

MVP: Keaton as refurbished Wayne/Batman

Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3

Actors: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Will Poulter, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Linda Cardellini, Nathan Fillion, Sylvester Stallone

Rating: 10 out of 10, This is purported to be the final installment of this beloved Marvel franchise and it goes out with a bang. All of the lingering questions, some I didn’t know I had, were answered. It features the usual mix of humor, action, and heart along with great oldies. The flashback of Rocket’s origin story was heartbreaking but explained more than a lot. The skillful mixing of plot lines and the length of the movie gives the audience a chance to see off each of the iconic characters, although some of the reasons seemed forced. Still, a big, wild Guardians movie which is all I could have hoped for and I hoped for a lot. Loved it.

MVP: Cooper as Rocket, it’s his film

No Hard Feelings

Actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, Matthew Broderick

Rating: 8 out of 10, An absolute riot of a raunchy comedy. Jennifer Lawrence can do anything and proves she has incredible comedy timing along with her other, obvious capabilities. She plays a down and out, incredibly immature, but hot, 32-year-old hired by some helicopter parents to “school” their Princeton bound son. You have to suspend a lot of disbelief to buy the concept but Lawrence and the young actor make it work. The success of any comedy depends on the supporting cast and the couple playing Lawrence’s friends are hilarious. It was nice to finally see another R-rated comedy come out since it seems Hollywood has been trying not to offend anyone which is basically impossible and a comedy is guaranteed to offend some overly sensitive group. This was a great watch.

MVP: Lawrence, who else?, as Maddie

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

John Wick 4

Actors: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, Ian McShane

Rating: 10 out of 10, John Wick 4 is, well, a John Wick film, that takes all the ballistic themes from the first three films and ups the ante. The seemingly indestructible Wick launches on a revenge tour against the High Table, the highest level of the criminal empire that cost him a finger and tried to kill him for the last couple films. This a very long movie but you don’t notice the running time because, as usual, the action is relentless and Wick is such a compelling character. Reeves is at his coolest as he cuts a swath through the bad guys on four different continents. Somehow, the guy who shot him off the roof of the high-rise hotel to end the last movie ends up as his partner again as they take on the High Table. There are the usual fascinating supporting characters, including Donny Yen, who is so good in everything he does. There are some tributes to the earlier films including the welcome cameo by a very dangerous attack dog. Tribute was also paid to the 70’s movie, The Warriors. The ending sequence with Wick fighting his way through an army of assassins was amazing. I’ll never look at Paris the same way again.

MVP: Reeves, any doubt?

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Actors: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, D. J. Cotrona, Grace Caroline Currey, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, Helen Mirren

Rating: 7 out of 10, A sequel to the surprisingly fresh first movie was always going to be tough. The sheer innocence of teenagers thrust into the bodies of superheroes was a neat concept and ably exploited in the first film. They try the same thing here but its not as successful. Luckily the superb cast lifts the material into an amusing experience. Zach Levi once again is tone perfect as the lead effortlessly capturing the teenage angst at loose within Shazam. There are some very funny moments as the group of superheroes deals with a trio of 6000 year old sisters bent on revenges played with appropriate aplomb by Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler. Zegler proves that her West Side screen presence was no fluke. The usually dour DC universe needs this light touch and it was nice seeing the Phillies home park get smoked, but I digress. A lot of fun, an inch deep, but worth it.

MVP: Levi in title role is still compelling

Operation Fortune Ruse de Guerre

Actors: Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone, Hugh Grant

Rating: 8 out of 10, A Jason Statham vehicle with a very interesting cast in a Guy Ritchie movie. Statham plays his usual superspy but he’s ably assisted by Aubrey Plaza who steals every scene she’s in. They are trying to retrieve the customary world threatening computer device from a dastardly arms dealer, played with smarmy relish by Hugh Grant. Ritchie and Grant make a great team. A self-important Hollywood movie star (is there any other kind?) portrayed by a funny Josh Hartnett is dragooned into the recovery effort. The action is well staged and the plot moves in typical Ritchie swoops. I really enjoyed it, a good movie.

MVP: Aubrey Plaza, as Sarah stealing every single scene

Antman and the Wasp Quantumania

Actors: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, Katy O'Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, Corey Stoll, Michael Douglas

Rating: 8 out of 10, I loved the first two Antman movies which tapped into Paul Ruud’s immense charisma and comic timing. This one suffers a bit by focusing too much on his daughter Cassie, who’s kind of annoying. The movie is rescued by old stalwarts Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer although Evangeline Lilly is criminally underused. Jonathan Majors steals virtually every scene he is in as a truly powerful villain. There are a couple very funny cameos as the entire group is sucked down into the sub-universe where Pfeiffer’s character was rescued from in the last movie. Soon they are immersed in a civil war that, being a Marvel movie, has reality-wide implications. While not as much fun as the earlier two movies this still delivers. Good movie.

MVP: Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, so watchable

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Actors: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Angela Bassett

Rating: 8 out of 10, I was excited to see this, as I am with most Marvel movies, and while I enjoyed it, overall I was left with a feeling of “ehhh”. After the first Black Panther movie soared, I was probably expecting too much. The filmmakers do an excellent job of honoring the late Chadwick Boseman but their personal feelings of loss permeated the movie a little too much. The action was broken up by long periods of navel contemplation. I think they also erred by making Letitia Wright the lead which is understandable as she was fantastic as a supporting actress. She just didn’t have the chops to carry the movie and this was only too obvious when they finally bring Lupita Nyong'o back. She should have been the focus, she’s that good. So, I enjoyed the movie, who couldn’t when a de-humidifier is the ultimate weapon, but it was a two hour movie crammed into nearly three hours (it felt longer).

MVP: Danai Gurira as Okoye, incredible screen presence as Wakandan general

Violent Night

Actors: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Cam Gigandet, Leah Brady, Beverly D'Angelo

Rating: 8 out of 10, Violent Night will never be a heartwarming Christmas movie but it is a lot of fun and a lot of heart is on display, some of it literally. David Harbour, of Stranger Things fame, is truly awesome as an alcoholic Santa bemoaning a drop in Christmas spirit and the rise of materialism. He stumbles, literally (damned massage chair), into an armed gang’s takeover of a super-rich family’s Christmas. Hijinks ensue as we learn of Santa’s origins as a Viking warrior which means the appearance of a sledge hammer is very bad news for the bad guys. Some very violent and very funny scenes follow as virtually every venerable Christmas item, from candy canes to ornaments, is put to deadly use. Mrs. Clark Griswold plays the dastardly family matriarch but her granddaughter, as the only one who believes (and activates) Santa, steals the movie in a very Home Alone way. All this is done to traditional Christmas music in the background. It’s bloody but It’s also so much fun, pure escapism.

MVP: Harbour as a very dangerous Santa

Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Actors: Nicholas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Neil Patrick Harris, Tiffany Haddish

Rating: 9 out of 10, The funniest movie I’ve seen in a very long time. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is awesome. It features Nicholas Cage doing a heartfelt send up of Nicholas Cage. He’s been the center of so many memes over the years that there was rich territory to explore on this effort and they mined it for all its worth. You have to admire him for this because 99.9% of actors wouldn’t be secure enough to so thoroughly skewer their cinematic personae like this. It’s also a very funny buddy flick as Cage teams up with superfan Pedro Pascal in a kidnapping plot worthy of Cage’s Con-Air era. This is Pascal’s best work since he was a Dornish prince. There are also some hilarious bits where Cage interacts with a younger version of himself. I can’t recommend this enough, Funniest movie I’ve seen in years. Cage is my new hero, taking direct aim at Hollywood’s endemic self-importance.

MVP: Cage as Cage in all his glory

Plane

Actors: Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn

Rating: 8 out of 10, This was a throwback action movie that relied more on tension and action than an excess helping of the latest CGI effects. Gerard Butler effortlessly carries the movie with a lot of help from a very good Mike Colter, who looks like he has a bright future. Butler sets a record for piloting a plane with the most bullet wounds but it was one of those movies you forgive the gaping plot holes because the action and pace are so well done. Butler flies a cut rate airlines plane across the Philippine Sea only to crash land on a terrorist infected island, don’t you hate it when that happens? It turns out to be bad news for the terrorists as Butler and Colter, as an FBI imprisoned criminal, are soon cutting a swath through them, aiming towards their fun and totally unbelievable climax. Loved it.

MVP: Butler as Brodie Torrance, pilot and seemingly unkillable fighter

Black Adam

Actors: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Pierce Brosnan

Rating: 8 out of 10, I guess this has been a vanity project for the Rock for a number of years and he’s certainly up to the part of a thousands year old super hero awakened to face modern evil. They had a good, if unbelievable story, but they decided to include some obscure (to me) other superheroes who, with the exception of a former 007, were not up to the competition. There were some very funny allusions to other superheroes, such as “superheroes don’t kill people.” Which the Rock replies “I do”. They could have done a lot more with that but sacrificed it for a more somber dive into mayhem (as DC is wont to do). I still enjoyed the movie for what it was, a misplaced summer blockbuster. Suspend all belief, ye who enters here and the Rock is always a lot of fun. Much better on a second watch moves right along.

MVP: Dwayne Johnson as Teth-Adam / Black Adam, cool and dangerous