The LEGO Batman Movie– Sometimes you don’t realize what you want until someone hands it to you. Wacky Batman is just what I was in the mood for. LEGO Batman takes the Batman mythos and makes fun of it while embracing it. Here we have a Batman who has more or less consumed the Bruce Wayne side. He’s too cool for the room, almost dancing through the crime fighting as he’s done it for so long it’s become second nature. His whole world is behind the mask and he won’t let anyone close to him. When Joker hatches a grand plan to get revenge on Batman for hurting his feelings and Bruce accidentally adopts Dick Greyson, Batman must take a good look at himself and save not just Gotham, but himself. There are a ton of Batman and DC Universe references, the creativity is off the charts, the gags are often laugh out loud funny and the animation is nuts. Michael Cera as Dick/Robin had me dying. A joy to watch in every regard, LEGO Batman is the antithesis to “Why so serious?”

Beauty and the Beast (2017)- I never thought there would be a market for a live action remake of the classic Disney movie but this movie made a fortune so that shows how much I know. I haven’t seen the 1991 movie in forever so this seemed to me like it did nothing different. Looking at the run time this edition is a half an hour longer so that’s a lot. From my “I’m not in this demographic” perspective, it’s the same movie with CG animation instead of hand drawn cel animation. I’m an Emma Watson fan so they had me there and the work to make Beast come to life is very good. So yeah, this movie exists along with the numerous other adaptations.

Assassin’s Creed – I know they really tried with this video game adaption and while it isn’t bad per say but it is forgettable. Once the credits rolled I had a hard time remembering the story I just watched. It takes the basic plot of the first game and puts in a new protagonist played by Michael Fassbender (a major casting get, production must have been thrilled). Callum Lynch has a violent past, one touched by the centuries long fight between the Assassins and the Knights Templar. The Templar are after the Apple, an artifact told to hold human’s free will. The Assassins are sworn to protect the location of the Apple. So Lynch is discovered by Abstergo, the mega corp run by the knights and they put him into the Animus, a machine that brings memories of your heritage to light. Callum’s family tree goes back 500 years and goes in direct contact of the Apple. So begins the restoration of Callum’s memory, bringing back new revelations in his mother’s death.

The story seems very light as it goes. It’s paced really fast and it always seems like something is missing. A hook (a care really) to bring you into this story. The special effects are good, if reliant on dusty pulsing light visuals. The action is good as well, direct taking one of the strongest elements from the game series, even if it’s often shot and cut too close and fast. When Callum is first put into the machine, they cut in and out of the memory to the real world to see how the Animus physically makes him think he’s living the memory. They do this every time he’s in the machine which is incredibly distracting. I don’t care how he’s moving about in his institution supplied pajamas, keep me running around ancient cities, which is way more fresh and interesting looking than the teal tinted present day. The ending is incredibly disappointing too. Just like the biggest sin of the games, we’re brought to an important area that has basically no security. Callum more or less walks right in, taking any kind of tension and earned fight out of the entire picture (the escape before that is a highlight though). The movie limps to the end like it was after thought. Saying “That’s it?” when the credits roll is never a good thing.

10 Cloverfield Lane– A fun “bottle” movie that expands into something bigger in the third act. A very simple set up leads the way. Michelle breaks up with her boyfriend and takes off out of town. On the road, she gets into a car accident and wakes up held in a bunker with two men. They tell her no one can leave because of some kind of attack that happened above ground, the air is toxic. A successful suspense movie, 10CL keeps you constantly guess on who to believe. Waking up in a bunker is always an immediate concern and Howard (John Goodman) makes an intense first impression. Can he be trusted? The other man, Emmett, seems to believe him but at first look, he’s rather suspicious as well. The movie twists and turns along, pushing on the walls until it pops.  At a little over 90 minutes, things move along quickly and the constant questions and reveals keep you on your toes. I liked where it went for the climax so this was a fun movie for me from start to finish. It’s another reminder of how fantastic John Goodman is, the man needs to be seen in action more!

Writer/Director Jordan Peele did his horror movie research. Impressive first movie from anyone, let alone a person known so well only for comedy.

Chris has been dating Rose for a few months and they go visit her parents for the weekend at their secluded home in the woods (upstate New York I think). Chris is black and Rose is white and he asks Rose as their packing for the trip if she told them he was black. She says no, there’s no reason to. He has his doubts but the happy couple hop into the car and start their trip. What follows is a polite and friendly environment decaying into madness right before your eyes.

Like some of the strongest and well-regarded horror films, Get Out is a smart take on modern social issues cranked up. From the time the two are on the road, the uncomfortable reactions start. Each step that the movie shows is a measured one. Events, starting with a cop asking for Chris’ ID for no reason, are always off and get increasingly more strange. The escalation is really

The escalation is really brillant. Racial profiling is something we read about almost every day and is sadly rather normalized. Chris is a young man and takes the quickest de-escalation route right away. He gets his ID while Rose protests. It’s clear that this has happened to him before. It’s gross but Chris wants them to put it behind them.

Once at the house, more casual racism seeps out. Sometimes it’s overt, sometimes subtle but Chris, along with the audience always catch it. We’re first led in with “that’s weird…” Then the horror movie escalation starts. “That’s really weird… ” goes to “Alright, what was that about?” to “Okay, something is seriously going on here” to “Get Out!”

I’m impressed by every aspect of Get Out. It’s smartly written, cast correctly, and paced really well. No reliance on gore or violence which I think is another achievement. It doesn’t waste any time setting the stage and then pushing expectations. It’s generally creepy, has pops of humor at just the right points that are super effective, and very well shot. My only thought is that I think they could have gotten away with even less of a soundtrack. What happens on screen to make the viewer suspicious and uneasy in the beginning totally works. When creepy music starts playing I felt like it was too leading and it meant they (the studio) didn’t think the audience would be smart enough to keep up and “get it.” Plus, there is a cheap orchestra hit that I never like (super lazy).

I think the less you know going in, the better it will be so I’ll leave it at that. Great ride that I think will stand the test of time. Generations will watch this movie as a great example of what horror can do.

Writer/Director/Producer M. Night Shyamalan has had a turbulent career. Breaking out in 1999 with The Sixth Sense he found huge success until 2004. For the next 10 years, it was the complete opposite. One disaster after another.

In recent years he’s had more traction producing for TV. While working in that medium, he came up with the idea for Split and it’s his first cohesive and entertaining cinematic piece in a long time. It’s nice to see a talent find his space again.

Split is very simple to explain, which is the first right step from MNS. Three teenagers are kidnapped by a man who has multiple, distinct personalities. While held in some kind of basement, the girls meet many of the personalities. Between his captives and his psychologist, Dr. Karen Fletcher, we see that the personalities are losing control to a festering new one called The Beast. Time is running out to escape.

The bulk of the movie rides on James McAvoy’s fantastic performance. He believably changes right before your eyes. All the tension comes from him, I think some of his best work is in this movie. Anya Taylor-Joy as the heroine, Casey, does a terrific job as well. MNS made Casey complex and smart. I appreciate the depth he put into her and Taylor-Joy makes her a new favorite character of mine.  Educated by her father to be smart about the world around her and a survivor at a young age, she actively works to get herself and the others to safety every chance she gets.

The suspense and intrigue is really fantastic through the whole movie. MNS keeps this story cut close with its characters and pacing. It wastes no time getting the story going and each moment inside the basement and the brief times out of it do essential story telling, It’s cut down to the essentials and it’s paced really well. Being contained largely to the basement adds to the claustrophobia and the bits with Dr. Fletcher are gasps of air used to reimmerse you into the pit of despair. Great direction and cinematography make the limited sets come to life (I really liked how running down the narrow hallway was done, shades of Nightmare on Elm Street’s boiler room).

Split is effective film making. It shows how much you can do with a small, talented cast and a few sets.  With the ending that hooks it into Unbreakable, my favorite MNS movie, I hope this ball keeps rolling in the right direction.

Set 10 years after Prometheus, Covenant is the name of the spaceship on a colony mission to a distant planet from Earth. A 7+ year long trip, the whole crew along with the 2,000 colonists are in cryo-sleep to make the journey (there is also a large collection of human embryos). Walter, an android, keeps the ship running along with Mother, Covenant’s computer. While recharging the ship’s batteries using solar sails, a cosmic event causes massive damage to the ship, forcing Walter to wake up the crew. While fixing the ship, they receive a mysterious communication from a planet that’s relatively close. It’s not part of the plan but the signal and planetary research that imply humans are there and it being a suitable new home make a compelling case to make a detour to check it out. That is a mistake.

Watching Alien: Covenant unfold, I couldn’t shake the thought that Ridley Scott’s main directive for this sequel was to directly address one of the loudest complaints of Prometheus:, that it wasn’t Alien enough. Covenant is stuffed with Xenomorphs which is equally bad and good.

First, the good. It’s a fun movie, much more so than Prometheus. When things go bad, the exploration turns into pandemonium and they do not shy away from the horror violence. It’s often a visually striking film with exterior shots on a different planet and the interior of the Covenant. It’s a cohesive and convincing trip off of planet Earth for two hours. The SFX are largely excellent and wild. The movie also stands on its own, you don’t need to see the previous one to know what’s going on as enough info is given when necessary to give context about who and what and why they find on this new planet. Michael Fassbender knocks it out of the park as David and he more or less holds the movie together by keeping the sinister vibe of the movie turned up every time he’s on screen.

Now for the bad. If you’ve seen any of the other movies in this franchise, you’ve pretty much seen this movie already. It does nothing new, is entirely predictable,  and is riddled with cliches. Communication between the crew is a problem the second they get on the planet. The whole crew can’t aim worth a damn. Blood is the most slippery substance in the universe. Characters wander off alone when known threats are literally scurrying about. Inherent trust is given to the guy they just met into the bowels of a place they have no knowledge of with little more than “follow me.” The heroine, Daniels, looks like Ripley so much that it’s distracting (Katherine Waterson is great though). The shower scene is shockingly lazy and so poorly staged it’s a joke. I can’t believe a film maker of Ridley Scott’s level would even film it.

I have mixed feelings about Covenant. As much as I liked the sum of its parts, a lot of the parts are bad. I guess I’m just disappointed. I was hoping for more but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to see a sequel. A good chunk of Alien lore was laid down here and I’m interested to see where it’s taken next. Worth a rental on a rainy day.

Good sci-fi is hard to come by because it’s a difficult genre to crack. But when it happens, man is it a treat. Arrival is one such success.

When 12 alien space craft land on Earth, humanity is put on edge. In the mission to figure out who, what, where and most importantly, why they have come, linguist expert Louise Banks is enlisted. With her knowledge in language, she leads the American team to contact and communicate with the aliens.

Arrival works so well because every step in the filmmaking process was done right. What’s our story about, how can we make it stand out from the rest, and how do we get the message to the viewer clearly? The purpose of the pre-production of this film is the same as the films completed message: the importance of communication.

First, there’s the aesthetics of the movie. The alien presence is of course front and center. The ships are massive pebble shaped structures that hover silently just feet off of the ground  It looks organic, but other worldly. The interior, the little that we do see. shares the natural and minimalistic forms of the outside. The white barrier, where the aliens interact with the humans is the sole light source for the environment. Then, the rather brilliant design of the aliens themselves. The closest representation is aquatic life, but the shape and general articulation also incorporate a wild mix of human and arachnid representation. The alien scope of Arrival is very refreshing and enthralling to see.

One of the bigger selling points I found with Arrival is that it bucks the staple of an invasion movie. Yes, an attack is always on the table as a concern and a threat, but that feeds on our natural instinct to fear what we don’t know. The movie takes its time to slow things down and marinate on that tension. The intellectual side comes out to say, we have to figure this out to gives us every opportunity to come out of this on the other side. That’s where the communication comes in. We need to start with baby steps before we get to the hard questions. We must understand each other first so we don’t get mixed up.

The problems come when we stop talking.

I think this is the best work Amy Adams has done to date and Jeremy Renner as her co-star is another great choice. While the cast is rather small (I’ve been a fan of Forest Whitaker for a long time too), each one brings their own humanity to the screen.

The way this story is told is rather brilliant too. We go on this mission with Louise, she is our point of view. To talk about her journey as it comes around would take away a large part of the movie, so I won’t say any more on that (it’s the biggest hook of the movie, make sure to pay attention).

Arrival is a rather minimalist take on a close encounter alien movie, but it does actually gives you a lot. It’s foreign as it relates to other worlds and languages and rules. But it’s also familiar with its very human story. It’s expertly paced and edited (the sound work is exceptional as well) to under two hours that leaves you with much to consider while avoiding the traps of being too complex or trite.

I heard a lot of praise for Arrival when it came out and I’m happy to report that it was all well deserved.

Logan is the Wolverine movie I’ve always wanted. Shockingly good. Easily the best X-Men related movie Fox has made to date, this is the kind of story telling the mutant side of Marvel desperately needs.

Set in 2029, Logan is exhausted and not doing well. Working as a limo driver in the southern parts of Texas, he’s resigned himself to staying on the fringes of society. Stay low, make enough money to take care of the ailing Charles Xavier. While struggling to keep things together he runs into a young mutant girl that pulls him into a fight that he can’t stay on the sidelines for.

This movie is Wolverine stripped down to his essence. The loner, the maverick, the samurai, the tempest that’s struggled to keep it together his entire life. Gone are the over the top globe trotting theatrics of the previous Wolverine (and X-Men) movies and it’s done to great effect. Simple works for Logan.

When we join him, it’s clear the past few years have not been kind to him. Then we see Professor X who is holding on by a thread, his illness making one of the world’s most powerful mutants a ticking time bomb. It’s alluded to that when Charles first got sick, something terrible happened (I like that it’s never fully addressed). Another deep scar for them both. This world they live in has gotten very dark. This gives Logan a singular goal: keep himself and Charles safe. Get away to make Charles less of a threat to the population. That’s all there is to his life. Then he meets Laura which pulls his past into the present. The hero must come back.

And what a hero he is. The R rating lets the action lean into Logan’s powers in all of its brutal glory. A living weapon that is devastatingly brutal in close quarters. Laura is no slouch either, she’s an absolute animal. This is no “save the world” story. It’s kept close to the chest, just like the action scenes. Ferocious and impactful, each scene makes its mark.

They found a hell of an actress in Dafne Keen for Laura. She’s perfect in every way. It’s really like watching a young Logan so their interactions together work. It’s a complete arc from his desire to run to the acceptance that he’s needed and needs others. You can’t be alone and be happy. It’s the connections and decisions you make on behalf of others that matter.

This movie is a series of correct decisions. It’s restrained when it needs to be and pops off when it must. No dialog is wasted. Some of the most powerful moments come after the storm and are whispered to those that matter.

Logan: It wasn’t me.

Logan smiles: So that’s what it’s like.

A triumph of a film, let alone a genre picture, Logan is fantastic.

Jason Bourne- Overall, the Bourne series is very good. I liked the last one with Jeremy Renner. After Matt Damon backed away, I think they came up with a smart angle for Legacy to keep the franchise going without him. This is the 5th movie in the series and it brings back Damon and director Paul Greengrass. I love spy movies and this one is built more or less around closure for Jason. It’s a simple plot but effective. Bring in some returning characters, sprinkle in some new ones and sandwich all those people between elaborate action set pieces. So that’s all good. But again, Paul Greengrass. His style drives me nuts. Hyper kinetic, jarring direction. Fast zooms to establish where something is taking place followed immediately by a camera jerk to the left or right as a character enters. He adores moving the camera with punches as if that adds to the impact of hits. It doesn’t. It robs fight choreography and stunt men of their hard work to sell the action. If you can’t see the results, it doesn’t matter what happened before it. It ends up looking like they had no prep or filming time for the fights and had to cover up rushed work. Thankfully the vehicle chase scenes aren’t marred by such stupid filming decisions (the motorcycle bit at the beginning is largely fantastic as is the final car chase). That said, it’s left open for more movies and so am I.

Independence Day: Resurgence– Hmm. It’s pretty much what I expected. The original movie was fun when it came out 20 years ago and is really stupid. This is exactly the same, just 20 years later with different special effects techniques. I was 15 when the first one came out and I think anyone who is 15 for this one will dig it as much as I liked the first. Then time passes and you go, “Oh, no.” ID:R is popcorn filmmaking at its most cookie cutter presentation. It’s a sequel, so everything has to be bigger. Those massive ships that invaded 20 years ago? Nothing by what rolls up in this one. More destruction, bigger explosions. More stupidity. It’s just dumb. Horrible one liners delivered so ham fisted that everyone behind the camera while filming must have winced. References to the first movie to remind you that yes, this is a sequel. Characters who show up exactly where they need to be at exactly the right time almost every scene. The coincidences are out of control. Groups of characters able to communicate with the thinnest of technological explanation that boils down to “just go with it.” Child actors put in for absolutely no reason. It is what it is, not a good alien invasion movie. I will say, the special effects are often exceptional. At least you can see where most of the money went.

Rogue One– As a casual Star Wars fan, this RO is a fun watch. But just like The Force Awakens, one viewing is going to be enough for me. This movie tries, at every frame to be in the Star Wars movie. It sometimes feels like the production was so concentrated on that goal, that it was never allowed to do anything new. There are new characters (who tend to mumble in the beginning for some reason), new places to visit with a prequel story that most people know the ending to. Sure, the journey takes up 99% of the film so that ultimately works. The special effects also work. There’s some gorgeous stuff from start to finish that establishes the galaxy in believable ways. I also liked how this story embraced the “war” aspect of Star Wars. While we’ve seen a lot of space battles in the series (and RO matches that bar) the on the ground fighting gets greatly expanded. That felt new. As mentioned there are a lot of new characters and many of them are great. But it’s fleeting. You don’t get to spend much time with them so there’s little character building. For a universe so well established, many of those important to the story is just a blip in time. I guess we can expect spin off comics and merch for many but that feels lame to me. As strong as the last act is in terms of action (the ultimate being Darth Vader’s hallway slam poetry session) there is a stupid amount of stupid hoops they had to jump through. We need to get this thing that’s really hard to get to! *work to get to it* Ah, it’s behind all this stuff and we gotta get it manually with this claw machine game! *gets it* Now we gotta go up! *go up* Now put it in! And it doesn’t work! Is the power on? Oh, it’s telling me the somaflange isn’t aligned right. We have to align that, I guess. I hope the guys in space are doing their thing for us to finish this at the very last moment. Even the last bit with Vader is contrived. He could have got what he wanted with a force grab and be done with it. I don’t know, maybe I’m turning into a fuddy duddy.

The Accountant– This turned out to be a surprise for me. I don’t remember this Ben Affleck led thriller even coming out in theatres. The easiest way to explain this is that it’s Affleck’s Jason Bourne. Christian Wolff has a completely different background and has a day job to cover up his side work. Good story (seems like it could have started as a book but I didn’t think it did) that Affleck sells well. The action is fantastic and unlike a certain director, you can see what’s going on at all times. My only problem is when the movie comes to a screeching halt for a massive exposition section. Like, all of Wolff’s backstory comes out in this section and then the story starts back up for the third act. There had to have been a better way to do it. Not enough to ruin the movie for me as I’m still going to recommend it. I’d be down for another one. I like the character a lot and I think a sequel could turn out to be much better.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping– This movie is so stupid it’s great. Conner is a former boy band member who’s about to release his sophomore solo album. When it tanks, he does everything he can to keep his career alive. The Lonely Island guys are behind this so the songs are obnoxiously terrific. It parodies what pop music has become (more or less the nonsense lyrics that passes for rap now) perfectly and highlights how the tide of popularity can swing in an instant. Being famous can come at a high price. There are tons of cameos and while I laughed throughout, the limo scene is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. It’s worth watching just for that.

Director Bong Joon Ho’s last film, Snowpiercer knocked my socks off so I was really looking forward to this one. As a whole, it delivered, but there are some weird choices.

Okja is a super pig, a new kind of animal that its owner, the Miranda Corporation, promises will be a world changing animal. Non-GMO, terrific for the environment and a new source of food for the growing world population. Over 10 years, the Miranda Corp has rolled out a plan to introduce this new species to the world. A few of these infant animals are sent across the globe to farmers who will raise them and then a “Worlds Greatest Super Pig” competition will be held to celebrate this wonderful project.

Mija is a young woman in South Korea who, with her uncle (grandfather?), raise Okja. Then the Miranda Corp comes a calling and it becomes immediately clear that the Corporation has been less than truthful. This film takes a look at how the human population survives and thrives today and the morals that come with it. There are so many people consuming so many resources that it’s a constant race to keep ahead of it all. Marketing and profit rule our capitalist planet and any lie is worth telling to sell a product.

Much of the movie is about the ethics of the meat industry. Okja is designed to tug at the heart strings. She’s super cute, gentle and smart to the level of being problem solvers (these super pigs are not cows or chickens in the brains department). There’s a personification to Okja where she has a personality and the visual FX are good enough to make you think that she’s real.

Once Okja is taken from her home, Mija is on a mission not to rescue her pet, but her family member. You got all the battles of humanity here. The Miranda Corporation is heartless and gross who frame everything as they’re doing all this for the great good of humans. Ethics and compassion be damned, these critters are made to be delicious and profitable. The Animal Liberation Front is the animal activists on the case to stop Miranda and expose what they are really up to (Okja is genetically modified and these sentient beings are being made simply for mass slaughter).

Okja is a really well story that is all things you’d expect in a tale like this. Touching, exciting, heroic, maddening and crushingly sad. The last act of the movie is some crushing stuff, it can get hard to watch. While the special effects bring Okja to life, the live cast makes everything believable. Tilda Swinton, Giancarlo Esposito, Steven Yeun, Paul Dano and Jake Gyllenhaal round out the well-known cast members. Korean actress Seo-Hyn Ahn as Mija is easily the best though. Her journey is a harrowing one and every step, jump, slide, crash, and plea is a meaningful one.

Now for the two things that stick out to me. The way the Super Pig Competition goes down in New York City is really half baked. Sure the event was a sham in the end, but I don’t see how putting up a clearly stressed animal (even under the ideal circumstances the Miranda Corp thought it was going to go down) was going to give the public good feels about it. Then we have Jake Gyllenhaal as Johnny Wilcox, a Steve Irwin type animal TV personality. I don’t understand why they had this character act that way. He doesn’t match what’s going on at all. He sticks out so much from the rest of the movie it’s like Willy Wonka showed up on the Titanic. Distracting and ultimately useless, the character could have been cut entirely and not be missed.

The ending is probably the only way that it could have been done to make it satisfying and complete. I’d call it realistic as it straddles the line of being too happy to be believable and too upsetting that it would turn off a large part of the audience. Plus, Mija gets in done in a way that fits one of the major themes of the movie. It makes sense and it works.

Overall an effective and well made movie. Recommended.

Let’s get it out of the way in the opening sentence: Wonder Woman is the best DC movie since The Dark Knight.

Wonder Woman and the quality that this film brings to DC fans has been long overdue (to put all of my cards on the table, I’m speaking as a fan of Man of Steel ). I loved pretty much every aspect of this movie and anything I didn’t like is more or less a nitpick (you gotta suspend your disbelief a few times to “go” with movie logic).

The origin story of Princess Diana, Amazonian from Themyscira, daughter of Queen Hippolyta. With the blood of the god Zeus in her veins, young Diana is trained to fight in preparation for the eventual return of Ares, the God of War. She witnesses a pilot crash just of the shores of her home and saves his life. This man, Steve Trevor, is the first to step foot on Themyscira. He tells the Amazonians of the war that’s raging beyond their protected home. Years of fighting and millions dead with no end in sight. Diana recognizes this as her destiny. Ares is back and she must leave with Steve to stop the God of War’s plans.

First, as everyone already knows from her brief screen time in Batman v Superman, Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman. She embodies the comic book hero in every way. She’s perfectly cast, as is Chris Pine for Steve Trevor. This movie is two fish out of water stories, first with Steve on Themyscira and then Diana in Europe. They have an onscreen chemistry that moves with every beat of the story. They’re really funny together and they have a bond that grows through every scene. Their tale is a powerful one.

Wonder Woman feels like something we all need right now. She’s a hero for everyone and stands tall for justice in a world that often feels cynical and dark. She stands by her rock solid morals and speaks up every time she needs to. She questions the status quo and objects to others who make dodgy choices. She’s an instrument for positive change. Not only that, but Steve Trevor is too. In the beginning, there’s what at first seems like a throwaway joke. Diana asks Steve if he’s an average representation of man. He replies with “I’m…above average.” It comes back as an example of humanity.

A gorgeous movie directed by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman spans a lot of locals during the first World War. It’s a believable period piece with a man character that has super powers. Themyscira is gorgeous, London dirty and the battlefield grotesque. It’s shot really well with nice wide shots and careful movement that looks exciting but doesn’t get you lost.

Wonder Woman has some of the best action scenes around, which I am eternally grateful for. You don’t have to wait long for a huge battle at the start, and action is sprinkled throughout the second act that culminates in the clash of the titans at the end (I have no problem with how wild it gets at the end. I want my comic book movies to show their roots). There is some excellent fight choreography and each set piece brings something new. Wild defensive moves, crazy feats of strength and some brilliant stuff with the lasso that I don’t think has been done before. Diana is a monster on the battlefield. The woman has a goal when she drops into a room of bad guys: time to knock some sense into these fools. She’s an unrelenting force with a cutting sense of efficiency and grace.

With a runtime of over 2 hours, I was concerned that it would be too long, but there wasn’t a moment when I was bored. I think it’s really well paced with each scene being meaningful and well thought out. Nothing ever drags on. I liked all the guys that Steve brings on board for their quest, it gave the on-the-ground wartime section a Band of Brothers feel. While the two central villains are rather trite (can’t do much new with a German general and Dr. Death gets little screen time), I’m all about Ares. While he hangs back in the shadows for some time, once he’s out, he makes a hell of a presence. His armor is cool, he looks menacing and he’s crazy powerful.

Ares is a terrific foil for Wonder Woman and an effective way to bring about the message of the movie. Diana leaves home with a very nieve idea: all she has to do is kill Ares and his influence over mankind will be gone. It will end the war and man will simply be good again.  It’s a childish view that would be great if it were true but man and all of our faults are much more complicated than that. I really liked Ares dialog with Diana in trying to turn her and that was all underscored by the stages of their fight. The “above average” line I mentioned earlier from Steve comes back here as well. He stops her from doing something in a “greater good” moment that winds up getting many people killed. Diana is furious with Steve and blames him for not caring about others for a rational that doesn’t make sense to her. This action puts her faith in mankind into question. Later, Steve goes to great lengths to protect others. It’s through Steve following his words to action that she sees that Ares is wrong; mankind is good and is worth helping.

I’m stoked that Wonder Woman delivered. I love the ending and I hope the ideas and energy of this story roll into Justice League. The stage is set for even more fun and excitement.

The introduction to magic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m not a Doctor Strange fan as I’ve never touched one of his books, so I went into this with a blank slate.

Doctor Strange is good. That’s how I felt about it from beginning, middle, to end. The highs are high and the lows are generic and boring.

Dr. Stephen Strange is a gifted neurosurgeon and an obnoxious man. That is until he gets into a car crash that severely damages his hands. Then, he’s just an obnoxious man. With his life’s purpose gone, Strange is adrift. On the search for alternative healing, he finds a whole new world he thought could not exist. The mystic realm is a powerful and mind altering place and Dr. Strange falls in right when the earth needs a defender from another dimension.

The set up is certainly nothing special and I found Steven Strange a hard character to like before he’s “reborn.” In fact, I found few characters in here to really care about. They all fit a worn out mold and at worst, they’re present to do little more than explain things to the audience (Mordo and Wong). Benedict Cumberbatch as Strange does his Cumberbatchiest to put on an American accent. Cast wise my easy favorite is Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One. She can class up any role she takes and TAO is by far the most interesting and well fleshed out character in the movie.

The other sore thumb in this movie is the humor. Just about all of it hits the dirt like a big mouth bass gasping to live. I don’t know if it’s this way in the comics, but Strange’s cloak being sentient rubbed me the wrong way. As far as I’m concerned the only living fabric I can believe in is the rug from Aladdin. I don’t want to use the word stupid but there it is.

Now for the pluses. I’m a big Mads Mikkelson fan and he gobbles up every scene as Kaecilus. Sure his motivations for villainy is about as complex as Strange’s origin but at least he looks cool doing it. I think he’s one of the better MCU villains.

Also, this movie is a knockout in the VFX department. I think they invented new colors for the mystic elements that bend, twist, and warp around the screen. It’s wild to look at and the magic elements lead to really interesting and unique action. Also unique, I never thought I’d see tutting used as a fighting technique. That’s a brilliant idea to use as the basis for conjuring spells. Put the digital fireworks over that and you get visuals that would make the Fullmetal Alchemist cast jealous. The climax of the third act is fantastic too, which made up for much of the early boredom I felt.

Of all the Marvel movies released so far, Doctor Strange sits somewhere in the middle for me. Worth a rental when you find you have the time.

Rangers lose to Ottowa 4-2. Incredibly disappointing to say the least. It should have been 4-1 Rangers. At their best, this team had the real chance of a solid run to at least the conference finals. Winning the Cup, always up in the air. But the team that could have made it that far, didn’t show up enough. All season long there were collapses that took a long time to dig out off. Weird funks that made them look like amateurs.

After another good but limping season, I expect big changes for next season.