Mortal Engines

Actors: Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide, Stephen Lang
Rating: 8 out of 10, I finally got around to seeing Mortal Engines as well. I really wish I’d seen this on the big screen because it is truly epic in scope. Once you get past the incredible and frankly ludicrous notion of “predator cities” this was a very enjoyable post-apocalyptic jaunt. Peter Jackson’s New Zealand bunch know how to throw a party and the two young leads in this were allowed to shine despite the motorized cities constantly trying to run them over. I found myself caught up in their very unconventional love story which included a stint in a slave auction and pursuit by a lovelorn super zombie. I did mention this was science fiction didn’t I. Hugo Weaving is along (again a Jackson movie – so a required element) as the bad guy who goes all Darth Vader on the young heroine. I know this movie was almost universally scorned and avoided but I really enjoyed it and encourage you to give it a chance.

MVP: Sheehan as Tom Notsworth, the plucky museum curator who becomes a hero, almost accidently

Bohemian Rhapsody

Actors: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, Mike Myers.

Rating: 9 out of 10, This was a lot of fun as Remi Malek continues his impressive start to a career. He totally nails the complicated and, at the time, controversial lead singer of Queen, Freddy Mercury. The film follows the formation of Queen and Mercury’s ups and downs over the ensuing years. I’d forgotten just how many iconic songs Queen was responsible for and I found myself transported back to the many memories of my youth the songs evoked. Mercury thrived during the time before all of a celebrity’s life was considered public domain or maybe he was one of the first victims of the information age’s intrusive ubiquity. While the film does descend into some tepid melodrama the music and Malek transport it to another level. In the immortal words of Conner Macleod and Queen – “Who Wants to Live Forever!”

MVP: Malek further distinguishing himself channeling Freddy Merc

Widows

Actors: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, Liam Neeson.

Rating: 9 out of 10, I loved this movie because it was smart and didn’t fall for cheap sensationalism just because it involved a crew of women trying to pull off a heist. Viola Davis towers over the plot, as she is wont to do, but the gold plated queen from Guardians of the Galaxy, Elizabeth Debicki, also proved she is much more than just a pretty face. A high end heist crew is killed during a rip off of a crime lord who demands recompense from their surviving spouses. There is a series of subplots involving Chicago city politics as well which is expertly knitted into a movie for adults. I know the attention span challenged will have problems with this film because it does require a little patience but that patience is needed as actors build their characters into someone you can relate to. This is a very good movie.

MVP: Debecki as Alice, much deeper than she looks

A Star is Born

Actors: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Dave Chappelle, Andrew Dice Clay, Sam Elliott

Rating: 8 out of 10, This was much better than I expected. I think this is the first time I’d ever seen Lady Gaga without a mountain of strange makeup and/or dead animal flesh covering her. She’s very, very good and there is no denying the voice which is incredible. This was Bradley Cooper’s first directorial film and he also stars as the inevitably tragic major star who discovers the plucky struggling artist and falls in love. This was so much better than the Streisand effort in the 1970s as Cooper is tone perfect and the scenes between him and Sam Elliott who plays his much older brother just crackle. There is undeniable chemistry between Gaga and Cooper as well which is integral to the story. Even though you know where it’s headed after the prior three versions this was still wildly entertaining. Gaga should wear less makeup as she has screen presence to spare and more than held her own with the top notch actor she was on screen with.

MVP: Gaga dominates in a tough cast as Allie

The Girl in the Spider’s Web

Actors: Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, LaKeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant

Rating: 8 out of 10, The latest version of Lisbeth Salander. If you count the Swedish trilogy of films this marks the fifth incarnation of the girl with dragon tattoo and she’s no less compelling here with Clair Foy in the title role. I appreciated the decision to focus almost completely on Salander this time and marginalizing the Blomquist character because she’s where the story resides. She takes a break from torturing abusive men long enough to steal an ultra-secret from the NSA and then her dysfunctional family raises its head and the body count skyrockets. There are some gaping plot holes that can be forgiven in order to keep the plot moving at the relentless pace needed. The movie does cause some serious pause at buying a car loaded with electronic features though.

MVP: Hoeks as the mysterious Salander sister, haunting

Hunter Killer

Actors: Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman, Michael Nyqvist, Common, Linda Cardellini, Toby Stephens

Rating: 8 out of 10, Hunter Killer gets Gerard Butler out of his secret service gig to confront the Russians as a nuclear sub commander. The concept was so outlandish and totally impossible that it should be labeled as pure science fiction but this was still a lot of fun, even with my wife constantly whispering in my ear asking if what they showed the military doing was possible (a lot wasn’t). Butler still oozes screen presence and makes this watchable despite the trite and extremely predictable dialogue he’s forced to utter and endure. The Russian military has staged a coup and want to start a war for some unrevealed reason. Butler commands a sub running around underneath the ice while a Seal team infiltrates a nearby Russian base so the powers in Washington can watch everything going on. The only miss in the cast was Gary Oldman who plays a CJCS in his unhinged mode and it doesn’t work. Common is startling good as a navy admiral countering Oldman’s over the top delivery. This won’t win any critical acclaim but it was a great popcorn ride of an action flick.

MVP: Nyquist as the Russian sub Capt. Andropov, says so much with just his eyes

Trail of the Pink Panther

Actors: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk,Harvey Korman

Rating: 5 out of 10, While Sellers stars in this, the movie was put together after his death as a sort of tribute (or attempted money making grab). They cobbled together a bunch of deleted scenes from earlier movies around a scarily bad plot as we follow a French TV journalist tracking down former colleagues and adversaries to talk about the missing indomitable Clouseau. The only truly poignant scene is the end where we see Clouseau’s encounter with a “swine seagull” followed by a montage of memorable antics.

MVP: Sellers, the one and only Clouseau