Avengers: Infinity War

— Near the beginning of this film I worried I’d be the kid who wished he’d paid more attention during class, trying to remember all that had happened in the nineteen earlier Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films, but over the years most of the characters had left enough of a mark in my head that keeping up with the huge cast of characters wasn’t all that difficult. Where “Suicide Squad” had spent half the film introducing their cast of new characters, in “Avengers: Infinity War” I felt like I was getting together with some of my old friends. I also liked having the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers united. These films have always had a thread of lightheartedness running through them and there were plenty of things to chuckle about even if the overall tone is a little on the dark side. The story, after all, is about Thanos, voiced particularly well by Josh Brolin, wreaking havoc as he tries to gather the six infinity stones so, in a move that’s both genocidal and benevolent, he can kill half the population so the other half survives. The ending’s a bit unsettling, preparing us up for the next installment, but if you like the MCU, you'll have fun watching it start to finish. It’s doesn’t make into my favorite five MCU films, but it’s still fine entertainment, and a little touching too.

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[2018. 149 min. Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, and Chris Pratt.]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/avengers-infinity-war-is-stunningly-dark-but-its-still-wildly-entertaining/2018/04/24/6de7aefc-4291-11e8-ad8f-27a8c409298b_story.html

The Mountain Between Us

— I should have read reviews before watching this even though I wondered why it hadn’t stayed in theaters very long when Kate Winslet and Idris Elba can turn anything into a pearl. Well, almost anything. I started to jot down my thoughts and then read Megan Garber’s review, nodding my head along with her all the way. Yes, I didn’t hate it and yes, the scenery was beautiful. Yes, Winslet and Elba are really pretty people dealing with a multiple-genre mess of a script. And yes, how did that dog survive and did they think the ridiculous ending was going to make it more palatable? Read Garber’s review (link follows) and you’ll know what I thought about the film too. [DVD.]

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[2017. 112 min. Directed by Hany Abu-Assad. Starring Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Beau Bridges, and Dermot Mulroney.]
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/what-finally-ruined-the-mountain-between-us/542271/

A Quiet Place

— I held off seeing this until it had been out for about three weeks and everyone who normally goes to this kind of thing had already been. I should have gone sooner since this is a cut above the usual scary fare. It sounds like a pretty simple idea—swift, evil creatures don’t seem to see or smell, but they sure can hear you, and when they do, you’re in for a nasty death. As a result, people live in silence and most of the dialogue is in sign language, not spoken word. The audience views everything through the eyes of one family—a father, a pregnant mother, and their three children—who both heightens the terror and offers a glimpse of love and warmth in the midst of all the looming horror. With tight editing, decent acting, and tension and plot twists throughout, it’s hard not to cringe during most of it. When the lights come up, you breath a little easier and admire the filmmakers for having put you through the wringer with such skill.

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[2018. 90 min. Directed by John Krasinski. Starring Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, and Noah Jupe.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-quiet-place-2018

Isle of Dogs

— For me, the storyline of a Wes Anderson film is usually secondary to the look and feel and detail of it. The premise of “Isle of Dogs’ is farfetched enough to make an audience-goer worry (don’t worry) since it focuses on a Japanese city where all dogs have been banished to a garbage island and on one young boy’s quest for the dog he loves. It’s stop-motion animation at its best with cleverness in most nooks and crannies. It’s also dark comedy with nods to classic Japanese cinema, that brings with it laughter and heartbreak and joy. Did I mention most of the humans speak in Japanese without subtitles while dog barks are translated into the English, so the focus is less on the boy and his quest and more on the motley group of alpha dogs who help him? A case could be made for cultural appropriation within the deadpan humor and amidst the meticulous detail and complex visuals, but I’ll leave that issue to others. It manages to give the viewer a glimpse of mankind’s worst side, while they root for some incredibly expressive canines. I wasn't a fan of Anderson’s first stop-motion film (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”), but this one is far better and worth seeing if you're not put off by the animation, the banished dogs, or the Japanese culture of the fantasy. I liked it a lot.

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[2018. 101 min. Directed by Wes Anderson. Featuring Bryan Cranston, Koyhu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, and Scarlett Johansson..]
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/01/isle-of-dogs-review-wes-anderson

Game Night

— This is in theaters at a time when not much of interest seems to be hitting mainstream venues. It’s a decent cast for a dark comedy/mystery, but it could have been darker and quirkier. The premise is good but it seemed to lack just a enough punch to make it really good. Although worth seeing, I wish there’d been more emphasis on the characters instead of focusing so much on plot turns and twists—it would have been nice to follow up on the glimpses we got into things like aging, marriage, sibling rivalry, divorce, and life values.

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[2018. 100 min. Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. Starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, and Kyle Chandler.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/game-night-2018

A United Kingdom

— A look at the 1947 marriage between a Bortswana king and a British white woman and the international crisis it created. The film was interesting and based on something with which I was unfamiliar, but it wasn’t sure if it wanted to be political, touching, or pseudo-documentary. It was lucky to have David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike so the shifting motives weren’t too disturbing. [Netflix.]

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[2016. 111 min. Directed by Amma Asante. Starring David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, and Tom Felton.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-united-kingdom-2017

Ready Player One

— I didn’t expect to be part of the target audience for this film, but I had such a good time watching it that I must be. It’s a search for three keys and the wealth and power they’ll bring. The keys are hidden in a virtual-reality world that has largely replaced the real, overcrowded and decaying world. A team of five young and innocent people race in a magnificent CGI world, their faces aglow with wonder and excitement, their minds filled with puzzlement, their bodies energized with the competition. Of course, there’s an evil company, vying for the prize as well and willing to win at any cost. The result is an old-fashioned adventure with twists and turns and a bit of a love story too. It’s a clever script with nods and references galore, and it’s expertly crafted to move along and keep you interested. It held my interest and made me smile and forget my real world, which is pretty much just what we want from a certain kind of movie. It’s not a deep film that will change your life, but it does a great job of letting you become part of another world and escape your own life, something I appreciate.

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[2018, 140 min. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelson, and Lena Waithe.]
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jan/02/steven-spielberg-ready-player-one-in-2045-virtual-reality-is-everyones-saviour

The Ritual

— This is a particular breed of horror film that’ll seem familiar as you watch it. I’ve heard the genre referred to as “folk horror” and maybe that’s what it is. The directing of this film is particularly good, and the overall “look” of the production is great. The script may be a little weak, but it is a horror film after all. It follows a group of middle-aged guys who aren’t as close as they once were, all with various fears and guilts, meeting up for a hike in Sweden’s wilderness. Needless to say, they wander into a forest where there’s plenty of mist and fog and scary noises. It’s not exceptional, but good enough to watch some evening when you’re in a horror kind of mood. (Netflix.)

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[2017, 94 min. Directed by David Bruckner. Starring Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton, and Paul Reid.]
http://www.indiewire.com/2018/02/the-ritual-reviews-netflix-horror-1201927365/