Chic's Movie Review Wonderland

Of course that stuff is in “Solo.” It would be unreasonable to think otherwise. The fun should be just how we get there and sadly, Howard’s boring take on it just doesn’t fly. He manages to make the Kessel Run, Han’s claim to fame, a lengthy, drawn out bore. Who knew that parsecs took so damn long? 

It turns out that there are plenty of characters other than Chewie and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) in Han’s past. There’s a girlfriend, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), with whom Han ran street con games and his mentor, Beckett (Woody Harrelson), a career thief that helped build up Han’s future trust issues. All of them are on the wrong side of the ledger with Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), a bloodthirsty gangster with deep pockets. 

These are all cool characters, but the plot lurches forward in an extremely episodic fashion. An exceptionally filmed and fun train robbery more than wears out its welcome and the surprising dramatic events that happen during it are instantly forgotten. That’s all because “Solo” needs to get on to the next nostalgic event and it can’t possibly be bogged down in non-franchise building detritus. 

“Solo” does get a major lift when Lando and his robot sidekick, L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), show up. Glover plays Lando like he wants to be the coolest guy in the room, but isn’t quite sure the best way to do it yet. At times, he’s awkward or flustered, which is a brilliant way to show that Lando wasn’t always silky smooth and it took time to perfect his craft. 

Waller-Bridge essentially steals the entire movie as L3. She moves to the top of the list of “Star Wars” droids, easily knocking that droid that breaks down on Luke’s farm from the number one spot (just kidding, R2-D2 4-ever). 

All the fanboy stress and angina over Ehrenreich was a non-starter. He’s great as Han and somehow found a way to imitate Harrison Ford while not imitating him. Since he’s not yet soured by age and experience, Ehrenreich’s Han loads up on youthful exuberance and optimism while still delivering plenty of slick insults.

“Solo” doesn’t ruin the character, but it also doesn’t do him any justice. It’s formulaic without any inkling of creative spark. It makes one wonder if original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were going in a direction that frightened the Disney Overlords and it cost them their jobs. Instead, they have a polished, non-threatening or challenging movie from a director who clearly knows how to play the Hollywood studio game. 

There’s a few detours, but “Deadpool 2” mostly follows the infamous Merc With A Mouth as he creates a superhero team in order to protect 15-year old mutant Russell (Julian Dennison). Russell is being hunted by Cable (Josh Brolin), a soldier from the future who travels back in time to prevent the kid from committing future atrocities. 

Yes, this sounds like the tired “go back in time and kill Hitler” idea…but that’s fine because Deadpool brings that up. In fact, nearly every single aspect of the movie is relentlessly mocked. There is virtually nothing off limits, up to and including both the Marvel and DC movies. 

It would all become rather tiresome if Reynolds wasn’t the most perfect choice to portray a superhero since Christopher Reeves reversed time to save Lois Lane (more bad time travel). He’s always been a charming actor who slaved away in mediocre comedies, but this is truly his calling. It may not be Shakespearean, but nobody else could deliver such crass dialogue and come off as precious like Reynolds. 

Reynolds also benefits from a great supporting cast, particularly the addition of Zazie Beetz as Domino and Brolin as Cable. Domino’s super power is luck, which makes for some hilariously clever action sequences in which she casually survives every life threatening situation she finds herself in. Brolin gets to do most of the literal heavy lifting, which is fitting because the guy looks like he could bench press a truck. Each of them do get the majority of the banter with Reynolds and their timing couldn’t be better. 

However, the real star of this show may be director David Leitch. After directing “John Wick” and “Atomic Blond”, “Deadpool 2” completes his natural hat trick. He manages to make nearly every single action scene thrilling and funny at the same time. Leitch, who started as a stunt coordinator, is able to create action movies with relatively smaller budgets seem much larger in scale and scope, which guarantees he’ll be around for quite some time. 

The truly great moments of “Deadpool 2” need to remain unspoiled. There is a sequence so brilliantly funny and inspired that it’s downright shocking that Fox allowed it to happen. It would ruin it to go further into it, but let’s just say that no super hero movie has ever had such an elaborate set up for a series of brilliant jokes. 

It can’t be said any simpler than this: “Deadpool 2” is better than the first one. There’s no origin story to tell and it just dives right into Deadpool’s world. It even takes him to the X-Men mansion and manages to find hilarity in that tired spot. It also has an edgier, darker side to it, which helps even out the zaniness. 

Don’t let the staggering 149 minute run time scare you off. That may seem like a titanic amount of time to spend watching a comic book movie, but “Infinity War” simply needs every second to juggle multiple story threads and there’s nary a scene that could be removed for time purposes. This movie is miraculous work by brother directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who will assume the same responsibilities for the second film that picks up where “Infinity War” ends. 

And boy, what an ending. The final fifteen minutes of “Infinity War” is a series of gut punches that will be discussed ad nauseam. Everything that comes before it happens so quickly that the movie flies by and the final moments should leave people dying for more. 

There is no getting around the fact that you simply must be familiar with events from previous films to understand what is happening in “Infinity War.” The simple explanation is that Thanos (Josh Brolin) is searching for the powerful Infinity Stones so he can use them to shape the universe as he sees fit. His motivation, which won’t be spoiled here, is extremely dark for a Marvel movie and could actually scare the bejesus out of some younger kiddos. 

All the big names show up to defend the universe and the interactions of characters that haven’t shared the screen before are a blast. It doesn’t take a guy with a baker’s dozen worth of Spider Man t-shirts to get excited to watch Peter Parker (Tom Holland) go to outer space with Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and then meet up with Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt). That’s cool no matter your level of investment in these characters. 

The Russos quickly move from locale to locale, with the main ones being Wakanda and Thanos’ home planet of Titan. A massive battle takes place on the former, with Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) leading the charge. It’s thankfully not overblown and every character gets a handful of moments to shine. 

The movie does mix in heavy portions of heart and humor and Chris Hemsworth’s Thor seems to stand out a bit more than others. Fresh off his finest outing as the character in “Ragnarok”, Hemsworth keeps the good vibes going and with ample doses of clever one-liners and almost all of the emotional heft. 

“Infinity War” really works because Josh Brolin and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have crafted the greatest comic book villain this side of Heath Ledger’s Joker. The CGI is impeccable and Brolin’s growl is shockingly relaxed, only adding to his hulking menace. He looks and sounds unbeatable and everything about the character makes you believe that he could actually be victorious in the end. 

The answer to that depends on what’s happened to those people in the last seventeen years. If you’ve grown to be hyper-sensitive to political incorrectness, “Super Troopers 2” will most definitely upset you. If you can’t handle any mockery of the stereotypical Ugly American, again, you’ll be headed for the exits. 

Of course, the Broken Lizard guys (Jay Chandrasekhar, Paul Soter, Steve Lemme, Erik Stolhanske, Kevin Heffernan) don’t care. This sequel about a group of dysfunctional Vermont police officers delivers exactly what superfans should have expected: an immature, devoid of plot comedy with ups and downs. The only difference is that the lows are way, way lower than the failed bits in the 2001 original.

The movie begins with such a wheels off, insane sequence that it rivals the brilliance of the original’s opener. The story kind of falls apart after that. The gang has lost their Vermont State Police jobs due to an unexplained incident involving Fred Savage. An obscure border dispute means that Vermont’s governor (Lynda Carter) needs a State Police force to now work in a tiny Canadian town that will soon be absorbed by the United States.

The tiny town in Quebec is none too pleased about becoming Americans and a trio of Mounties (Tyler Labine, Will Sasso, Hayes MacArthur) do their best to chase off their new police force. They also have to deal with the town’s mayor, Guy Le Franc (Rob Lowe), who owns a brothel and constantly pokes fun at uptight American sexuality and the low alcohol content of the beer. 

The bits that work are really great and many of them are much more subtle than in the original. Most of the better moments involve Heffernan’s Rod Farva, who becomes the embodiment of American ugliness. He nonstop shouts American jingoism, overeats by swallowing M&Ms whole, and has a bad comeback for everything. We all have at a shred of stereotypical “America” in us and the entire point of Farva is for us to laugh at ourselves. 

Are there easy swipes at French Canadian accents? Sure. But come on. Of course these guys are going to hammer away at how they say “sorry.” Those are easy jokes and even the extremely stupid ones are funny. Now the running gag involving Thorny Ramathorn (Chandrasekhar) becoming more and more feminine? Funny at first, but pushing it throughout the entire movie is the very definition of diminishing returns. 

Like all of his movies, “Rampage” is markedly better than it should be due to the star power of Dwayne Johnson. Somehow, Johnson manages to make lemonade from lemons and he never seems bored with any of this material. He’s selling every moment like he’s shooting for an Academy Award nomination and that enthusiasm flies off the screen. 

The story? Umm, here goes: an evil corporation’s failed science experiment blows up in orbit and a biological weapon falls to Earth that then turns three animals into huge mutated monsters and the only person that can stop them is primatologist Davis Okoye (Johnson). And yes, it is exactly as insane as you’re thinking it is. 

In addition to having the coolest name ever, Davis Okoye does get some help from geneticist Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris). She has some inside info on what’s turning Davis’ albino gorilla pal, George, into a three story wrecking machine. Eventually, the two of them get wrapped up with government special agent Harvey Russell (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a good ole boy with a six shooter holstered on his hip. 

And that's it. Stuff explodes, buildings fall down, and a giant wolf flies through the air. The sound level is cranked up so high that the only reason for it could be to audibly beat an audience into submission. The three animals do look fairly spectacular, particularly the gorilla, and they definitely do enough damage to live up to the movie’s title. 

That’s about all the actors have with which to work. Naomie Harris has to say some really insane “science” stuff and she should be commended for keeping a straight face. The villains, played by Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy, are so horribly written that audiences may not despise them because they are evil. Instead, they may hate them because they are unbearably irritating. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets paid actual currency to do the same thing over and over. His devilish grin and country boy drawl is on full display and he’s even employing that off kilter way of simply standing still. The crazy thing is that it’s enjoyable. Morgan’s wild card charisma seems to always work and if anything, he’s a world class curser.

“Rampage” could be the new poster child for how bizarre the MPAA ratings system is. This PG-13 movie is loaded with horrific, graphic violence, some of which was actually applauded during the screening. People are thrown about and swallowed whole by these giant beasts, but thank goodness none of them said a few choice dirty words. The MPAA needs to think of the children here. 

“A Quiet Place” focuses on a family of five, the Abbotts. We meet them in 2020 on “Day 89” in an empty small town surrounded by forest. The family (played by Blunt, Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, and Cade Woodward) tippy toes (literally) through a pharmacy, scavenging for drugs for their ailing son, Marcus (Jupe). We quickly learn that silence is more than golden after Regan (Simmonds), who is also deaf, narrowly keeps a toy from crashing to the floor after being dropped by her younger brother, Beau (Woodward). 

After an extremely tragic and shocking event, we move to “Day 472” and parents Evelyn (Blunt) and Lee (Krasinski) are holed up with their kiddos on a secluded farm. Due to Regan being deaf, the entire family can communicate with sign language and this has probably helped saved their lives to this point. Evelyn and Lee are simultaneously educating their kid’s minds while teaching them survivalist skills in a world where sound will literally get you killed. 

There are several secrets that haven’t been revealed in “A Quiet Place” and they are best learned when seeing it for the first time. Each development raises the stakes for the Abbott family and takes the tension to insanely high levels for a PG-13 film. Marco Beltrami’s score is sparsely, yet smartly, used to raise your pulse even higher. 

The screenplay, originally written by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, was rumored to initially only have one line of dialogue in it until Krasinski’s once over. He didn’t add much more speaking, perhaps one scene in particular that won’t leave a dry eye in the theater. For a terrifying, nerve-wracking experience, “A Quiet Place” is loaded with heart and it moves this movie from good to great. 

Krasinski’s skills behind the camera are evident, but this is also his best on-screen work ever. He could elicit laughs just with a look on “The Office” and he uses the same skills here, albeit conveying completely different emotions. 

If Krasinski’s take on the screenplay beefed up Blunt’s role, it’s difficult to blame him. It’s become old hat, but once again, Blunt is fantastic. There is one sequence that puts Blunt through the wringer and her reactions only make an already scary situation that much scarier. 

The child actors, particularly Simmonds, are also very good. Simmonds, who is actually deaf, has the meatiest role as her typical teenager problems are elevated due to the dystopian world around her. 

If all of this seems a bit vague, it’s purposeful. “A Quiet Place” not only deserves to be seen, it deserves to be seen without being spoiled. It is the kind of movie that leaves you exhausted at the end, but happy to have suffered through it. The bittersweet ending is so perfect that standing and applauding when the credits hit is forgivable. 

“Ready Player One” is set in the year 2044 and apparently, Columbus, OH is the nexus of the United States. Everyone on the planet is connected to a virtual reality world called the OASIS, where they go to play games, work, live vicariously fictional lives, etc. The OASIS was created by the now deceased, socially awkward oddball, James Halliday (Mark Rylance). Halliday left an “Easter egg” inside the OASIS and, if you find the three keys to it, the reward is ownership of the OASIS and Halliday’s fortune.

There are two groups on the hunt for Halliday’s treasure: an evil corporation led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) called IOI and “gunters”, regular folks who study Halliday as if he was a worldly scholar. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), named Parzival in the OASIS, is considered to be a top shelf “gunter” and he seems to spend all his time researching and competing inside the OASIS.

There are moments that bog down “Ready Player One”, most notably when characters are required to emote when they are their avatars inside the OASIS. There is a moment when Samantha/Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) explains her complicated backstory to Wade/Parzival that has zero emotional impact because you are watching what appears to be a video game. Zak Penn’s flimsy screenplay quickly abandons that (and mostly all dramatic threads) then moves on to more CGI action.

Of course, that’s a pretty smart move considering every pixel of CGI and motion capture in “Ready Player One” is perfection. The opening race that combines pretty much every cool vehicle from the 1980s (Bigfoot, The Bandit’s Trans Am, THAT DeLorean) is a popcorn-chomping blast from start to finish. The massive epic finale is exciting, but it’s so loaded with characters that it’s impossible to identify them all and some are given maybe two seconds of screen time.

There is one huge reason for movie nerds to see “Ready Player One.” It is a sequence so ambitious and surprising that it should not be spoiled before seeing it. It combines scares, comedy, and is recreated so accurately that it’s downright jaw dropping.

Like most big action movies these days, the 140 minute runtime of “Ready Player One” is overblown and the ending seems to go on forever. There’s a tiny message in there somewhere that is both supportive and critical of people that play video games for days on end. It’s riddled with plot holes and the stakes for the characters are tough to actually care about, but it’s still much smarter and more fun than most action flicks.

Thankfully, the answer to that question is a resounding yes. This is possible because the movie doesn’t use real human suffering for chuckles and instead comedically barbecues the Soviet Union’s leadership into bumbling, power hungry buffoons. It also plays fast and loose with actual historic events that aren’t funny when years apart, but are downright hilarious when crammed into a four day span.

However, the most brilliant move in “The Death of Stalin” is the deliberate decision for all of the actors to use their real accents.

In a career loaded with highlights, Steve Buscemi’s turn as Nikita Khrushchev may be the icing on the cake. Buscemi turns Khrushchev into a vulgar, motor-mouth that is better at one-liner insults than governing. Khrushchev is a member of Stalin’s Central Committee which features, among others, Simon Russell Beale as Lavrentiy Beria (look him up if you dare, he was barely human) and Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov.

Once Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin) falls ill, Beria and Khrushchev begin lobbying other Central Committee members and Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana (Andrea Riseborough), in an effort to control the acting Supreme Leader of the Soviet Union, Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor). Of course, when Stalin dies, all bets are off and these shallow madmen go completely off the rails.

“The Death of Stalin” is the type of movie when there are stretches with nary a laugh out loud moment, but instead silent moments of jaw dropping, “can’t believe what you’re seeing” silence. Still, there are plenty of belly laughs and they hit hard and fast thanks to rapid fire dialogue. The aforementioned Buscemi curses as well as any actor in history and watching scenes with him and Michael Palin is pure comedic bliss.

There are also two standout comedic performances from Jason Isaacs as Red Army Marshall Georgy Zhukov and Rupert Friend as Stalin’s vodka-soaked son, Vasily. Isaacs may be responsible for the funniest moment in the entire movie and Friend is so convincing as a foul-mouthed, spoiled brat that it allows for a plane crash to be funny.

Fair warning: “The Death of Stalin” is an extremely dark comedy with stress on the word “extremely.” It’s the type of movie that will alienate many people based solely on the fact that the actual events surrounding Stalin and his communist regime weren’t exactly a laughing matter. There’s also a load of history that a viewer is expected to be aware of and it could be tough to keep up due to the speed in which dialogue is delivered.

If none of those disclaimers scare you off, you’ll quickly see that Michael Palin had to feel right at home while filming “The Death of Stalin.” It is steeped in fearless Monty Python-like wit and never becomes tasteless, all due to the Ianucci’s amazing balancing act.

The movie begins awkwardly with astrophysicist Dr. Alex Murry (Chris Pine) teaching his young daughter, Meg, about…magnets? Maybe? Anyway, Alex and his wife, Dr. Kate Murry (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), are a pair of NASA scientists trying to bend the universe or travel through dimensions or some such and shortly after being laughed off stage during a presentation, Alex disappears.

Four years pass and Meg Murry (Storm Reid) and her younger adopted brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), are struggling to deal with the disappearance of their father in different ways. Meg is a quiet, withdrawn teen with a tendency to physically lash out while Charles Wallace seems to just dress oddly and shout every single time he speaks.

Eventually, Meg and Charles Wallace meet up with Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon) and Mrs. Who (Kaling), a pair of wizards (angels in the novel) who convince the kiddos that their pops is alive and well, but trapped in a dark dimension called the It. It’s barely explained how or why, but the popular kid, Calvin (Levi Miller), shows up and he goes along for the ride.

The three of them then do something called “tessing” and they are magically whisked off to another land. There, they are joined by Mrs. Which (Oprah, going full god complex) and the “adventure” begins.

At this point, director Ava DuVernay could have ended every segment with on-screen text a la Super Mario Brothers, “Thank you Meg, but your father is in another castle.” They all bounce around from situation to situation with exactly zero of them upping the stakes or sharing a universal theme. There is only one sequence that moves the needle and it’s due to a truly creepy performance from Michael Pena. Of course, that sequence is so bizarre that it could scare younger kids right out of the theater.

Like many child actors, Storm Reid has her ups and downs. She struggles being awkward and showing emotion, but is quite convincing in the few action scenes. It would be cruel to be that critical of Deric McCabe’s Charles Wallace…so let’s just say that it’s not good. It also doesn’t help that every time a character refers to him, they say “Charles Wallace” and it quickly becomes worse than nails down a chalkboard.

However, it’s fine to be critical of Winfrey, Witherspoon, and Kaling. For every moment they are on screen, Witherspoon and Kaling have such massive smiles that they seem drugged. Winfrey orates and bosses everyone around so much that it’s difficult to see her as anything more than smug. The three of them are downright painful to watch and were either massively miscast or horribly directed.

There is also an odd and off-putting cinematography choice: dozens of uncomfortable and disorienting close ups of actors faces. There is no doubt that it’s a purposeful aesthetic choice and there’s little reason for it.

“Game Night” works best during the opening thirty minutes as it introduces us to Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams), a couple of highly competitive gamers that meet in an almost romantic comedy, overly cute satirical way. After learning about Max’s “problematic semen” from Dr. Chin (a scene stealer in Camille Chen), the couple heads home to get ready for their weekly game night with friends.

Their game night consists of childhood sweethearts, Kevin and Michelle (Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury), and Ryan (Billy Magnussen), a dunce who brings along whichever dense female he’s dating at the time. Max and Annie’s socially awkward policeman neighbor, Gary (Jesse Plemons), does all he can to be re-invited to their parties even though he was only present because everyone enjoyed his long gone ex-wife.

Things go haywire when Max’s venture capitalist brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler), shows up. He invites the crew over to his high-priced rental home for game night and tells them he’s set up a fake kidnapping mystery for the evening. Masked gunmen burst into the house and after a shockingly well-staged and filmed fight scene, Brooks is tied up and dragged out of the house while the gang casually eats chips and watches it all happen.

“Game Night” becomes a series of car chases, shootouts, pratfalls, none of which are as hilarious as Plemons’ deadpan questioning of how three for one bags of Tostitos is good for Frito Lay. Max suffering a gunshot wound is not even remotely close to the genius and far too ignored chemistry between the ninny Ryan and his highly intelligent and older date for the evening, Sarah (Sharon Horgan).

That’s the problem with “Game Night.” Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (the writers behind “Horrible Bosses”) go for action comedy when this movie has a handful of great actors playing shells of great characters that never really are explored. There are hints of social satire regarding marriage, dating, corrosive siblings, and the inspired flip of making the ditz of the group a blond headed male instead of a stereotypical female. It isn’t exactly all wasted, but “Game Night” needed more time with verbal spats instead of actual physical ones.

At this point, Jason Bateman plays these roles in his sleep, but that doesn’t make him any less funny than normal. It’s clear that everyone is sleeping on Rachel McAdams as a comedic actress because she’s not only having a blast, she’s clearly heads and tails better than most that typically appear in films like this. Lamorne Morris and Kylie Bunbury kind of waste away while attempting to pull laughs from an ongoing bit about infidelity.

The scene stealers in “Game Night” are Billy Magnusson, Sharon Horgan, and especially Jesse Plemons. Magnusson and Horgan beautifully play off each other and her quick witted insults directed at him are only made funnier by his complete lack of self awareness. Plemons rips the movie away from everyone and is so perfect that this character could potentially be quoted by movie nerds for years to come.

“Black Panther” picks up after the introduction of T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in “Captain America: Civil War.” In that film, T’Challa’s father was killed and now, he is returning home to be named the new King. His home, Wakanda (a 100% fictional African country), is the most technologically advanced country on Earth due to their mass deposit of Vibranium (a 100% fictional…umm…metal?), but they keep these advancements secret in an effort to protect their way of life. 
While T’Challa is becoming the new King, Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, last seen in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) has been stealing vibranium disguised as Wakandan artifacts to sell on the black market. He’s aided by Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Jordan), a dreadlocked, smooth talking, trained solider who has a serious vendetta against all things Wakandan.

Director Ryan Coogler, who wrote the “Black Panther” script with Joe Robert Cole, and Jordan have created one of the most layered and sympathetic villains possible. The surprises that come with his character aren’t all that shocking, but Jordan is so invested in becoming an evil, yet sympathetic maniac that it makes you wish he was in the film more than he is. Basically, you will love to hate Jordan in this movie.

If Jordan’s Killmonger is a cynical, calculated sociopath then Boseman’s T’Challa is an earnest, eager, and wholly honorable hero. Boseman, an extremely talented actor, is finally given an original character to create as opposed to portraying historical figures. Luckily, “Black Panther” isn’t a full out origin story, which usually leads to an actor having to go through the motions, and Boseman’s superhero has as much to do with his mind as he does physically.

Boseman and Jordan are formidable stars, but the ladies absolutely steal “Black Panther” away from them. Laetitia Wright is T’Challa’s younger sister and tech expert, Shuri, and her snappy comebacks provide the movie’s only comic relief. Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia is not only T’Challa’s former girlfriend, she’s a spy that travels the world collecting intelligence. Finally, Danai Gurira is Okoye, the head of the all female warrior group called the Dora Milaje. Okoye is a tough as nails and it would be a blast to watch Gurira punch and kick for hours.

Some of the greatest moments in “Black Panther” are the aerial views of the gorgeous “country” Wakanda when accompanied with a fantastic score by Ludwig Goransson. It appears just as futuristic as the cities in “Blade Runner 2049”, but shown with beaming optimism as opposed to dreary, nonstop rain. After nothing but low budget indies, Coogler definitely proves he’s capable of working with and getting the most out of a truly massive budget.

Lewis plays Reynolds Woodcock, a dressmaker for the rich and famous in 1950s London whose charming public persona hides his private obsessive-compulsive-like behaviors. Every step of his life, both personal and business, is seemingly managed by his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville). Initially, their relationship seems quite bizarre, but the longer time spent with Reynolds lessens the weirdness of it.

When visiting his countryside manor, Reynolds meets a waitress named Alma (Vicky Krieps) and the two are immediately smitten. For a confirmed bachelor who may be an expert womanizer, Reynolds treats their growing relationship with such high levels of respect and care that it continually raises the romantic tension to almost unbearable levels.

“Phantom Thread” becomes a sneaky, darkly funny power struggle between Reynolds and Alma about who has the upper hand in their relationship with Cyril as the referee. There are some scenes so brilliantly written and acted that one can only imagine Anderson sitting off camera barely able to contain his laughter. Now, it’s not exactly laugh out loud-type stuff here, but it’s funny nonetheless.

There’s never a scene without Lewis, Manville, or Krieps and each of them are absolutely perfect in their roles. Manville may be having the most fun as she’s the only character allowed to snipe back at Reynolds from the very first scene. She plays Cyril as someone who knows she’s in charge, meticulously handling every business detail for her brother while also maintaining a constant air of calm.

Krieps is a relative unknown and she goes toe-to-toe with Lewis in several scenes, which she handles as if she’s been asked to do so for years. There’s a load of shocking manipulation built into her character, but since it’s all due to love that makes it seem okay.

“Phantom Thread” has the rare performance from Daniel Day Lewis where he is completely vulnerable. His cockiness hides an extremely insecure and unsure person screaming out for help. The normally bombastic Lewis is very reserved and even his insults seem politely doled out. If this is his last performance, it’s pleasantly subtle and he never goes full “drink your milkshake.”

One could argue that the main character in “Phantom Thread” is Jonny Greenwood’s gorgeous score. It’s an omnipresent score that only stops during key moments that require silence. At times, the music so matches the moment that only the most downtrodden people won’t feel their heart racing.

“Phantom Thread” may not be Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie, but it is definitely his most comforting. If you removed all of the brilliant quirks and out of left field plot developments, it would be a typical romantic period piece. Anderson has flipped this normally boring genre by crafting characters with depth and using plot devices that would never be on the radar for many filmmakers.

“I, Tonya” is shot as a mix of movie and documentary, with several scenes of characters being “interviewed.” The main story tellers, Tonya (Robbie), her ex-husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and Tonya’s mother, LaVona Golden (Allison Janney), all relay their versions of the way certain things happened with characters confirming or denying the events explained by others. This very clever concept creates an almost mythical atmosphere that blurs fact and fiction.

Of course, the famous Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver) incident is the centerpiece of the film and it’s shot and edited in a way that is equal parts shocking and funny. It’s only made more absurd by the actions of the ringleader of the attack, Shawn Eckhardt (Paul Walter House), an imbecile who claims to be Tonya’s bodyguard.

“I, Tonya” never tries to do too much, even when it could have touched on how the entire story was at the start of the “cult of personality” tabloid-style of journalism. It smartly stays focused on the wheels off life of Harding, thus showcasing the truly exceptional cast that elevates the entire movie.

Much is being made of Allison Janney’s performance and while it is quite good, it is a fairly stereotypical portrayal of an evil mother. Janney does manage to calmly dole out insults while constantly sucking down cigarettes, which is impressive in itself. She will most definitely be on the short list for Best Supporting Actress, but her cruel, one note character may not be enough to push her over the finish line.

Sebastian Stan is being a bit overlooked awards-wise. Like Janney, he’s playing an exceptionally unlikable character, but he has a bit more range. It’s not exactly fun watching him be an abusive husband, but Stan makes up for it by perfecting the art of acting like a moron. His mustache is award-worthy alone.

Arguing against Margot Robbie as your Best Actress Oscar winner should be a lost cause. Robbie manages to create pity for one of the most hated athletes in all of sports. It’s a “love to hate” type performance as she says and does some fairly ugly things while grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Robbie is already a star, but “I, Tonya” gets her the critical success her career had been lacking.

Craig Gillespie seems to have studied every single Martin Scorsese movie and taken plenty of notes. There are a handful of lengthy tracking shots cleverly edited and set to radio hits of the 1980s and 90s that are right out of the Scorsese playbook. The beauty is that it doesn’t feel like an unoriginal ripoff.

Neeson plays cash-strapped Michael McCauley, an insurance salesman living in the New York ‘burbs. He and his wife, Karen (Elizabeth McGovern), live hand to mouth as they try to pay for their son’s Syracuse education. This habitual, fairly mundane life is explained via a very clever opening credits sequence that moves through time as this family does the same thing over and over across multiple seasons.

Micheal’s creature of habit lifestyle hits a brick wall when he learns he’s been fired. After a few beers with ex-partner Alex Murphy (Patrick Wilson), everyone discovers that Michael used to be a New York City police officer. Naturally, this becomes an extremely important plot device for what is to come.

When he boards the train to go home, Micheal is approached by a mysterious woman (the always cool Vera Farmiga) and presented with this quandry: if you find the person that doesn’t belong on your daily train and identify them, you’ll be paid $100,000. The rub is that he will never know what will happen to this person after he singles them out.

Director Jaume Collet-Serra (marking his fourth collaboration with Neeson) treats “The Commuter” like a pot-boiler thriller, but simply cannot help himself. There are a handful of excellent close quarters fight sequences in which Neeson takes a few beatings, which makes perfect sense in an action-thriller such as this one. However, it’s as if Collet-Serra realized the point in which the plot begins to fall to pieces and he ramps up the action to fully preposterous levels in an effort to distract you from the eye-roll inducing mess.

It’s kind of a shame for “The Commuter” to devolve into a B-movie. It also has the undignified distinction of casting Sam Neill then only using him in two extremely lame scenes. It is quite cool to see Jonathan Banks step outside of the box and play a grumpy nice guy instead of his more common grumpy mean guy persona. The rest of the cast simply checks off the normal list of action movie stereotypes.

It’s hard to believe that the actor that portrayed Oskar Schindler in such a powerful and elegant way now plays roles best described as “Liam Neeson as Liam Neeson.” Neeson smirks and scowls and has shouted out the same dialogue (honestly, almost word for word) in what seems like a dozen movies. Is Neeson nothing more than a paycheck actor now, moving on from challenging work to low budget, low risk box office nonsense? It sadly seems this way.

This sequel barely has anything that connects it to the 1995 original other than the opening scene in which the board game is found. Instead, this story takes four high schoolers and drops them into a video game version of Jumanji.

The switcheroo plot begins in the real world with nerdy Spencer (Alex Wolff/Johnson) working on homework for high school football star, Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain/Hart). Naturally, they are caught and sent to detention. Along the way, vapid and self-obsessed Bethany (Madison Iseman/Black) and the snarky, quiet, smart girl Martha (Morgan Turner/Gillan) join Spencer and Fridge in detention.

While cleaning a school storage room, they stumble across the Jumanji video game and the next thing they know, they are transported into the jungle and turned into the game avatars they had chosen. Of course, their game characters are the polar opposites of their real life selves. From there, they must defeat the evil Van Pelt (horribly miscast Bobby Cannavale) and win the game in order to get back to real world.

If they made something as generic as “Central Intelligence” work, “Jumanji” only further cements that Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart should demand to only make movies with each other. Their chemistry and timing, as mind boggling as it seems, is impeccable. Here, Johnson is back to being the straight man (mostly) while Hart delivers non-stop one liners and rarely do they fall flat.

Not only does Gillan get to look tougher than all three of her male co-stars, she gets most of the signature-type fight scenes. It’s also quite amusing to watch her awkwardly flirt with Johnson’s version of Spencer when she’s not exactly rough on the eyeballs. It’s a solid, fun role for someone that’s been in huge blockbusters before (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), but has been virtually unrecognizable in them.

If anything, Gillan deserves a lion’s share of credit for keeping a straight face while watching Jack Black morph into a teenage girl. He abandons his extremely grating “Jack Black as Jack Black” performance and steals this movie away from everyone. Yes, it’s several versions of the same bit told over and over, but if you can’t laugh while watching Black flutter his eyes and flip his hair then you may just be a bit too serious about your movies.

There’s no doubt that Johnson wanted to start with a banger and he opens with a huge space battle between General Leia’s (Carrie Fisher) Rebels and the First Order. It firmly establishes Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) as the space Maverick with the cute robot BB-8 as his Goose sans bromance. Unfortunately, the opening sequence is a bit of a dud and is the first of many decisions that Poe makes that turn out to be, well, fairly pointless.

The First Order-Rebels space chase is one of three main threads. Another picks up where “The Force Awakens” left off with Rey (Daisy Ridley) crashing Jedi Island to enlist Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) back into the fight against his former apprentice, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). There’s a lot of “Luke and Yoda in Degobah” happening here with one scene in particular almost a mirror image of another from “The Empire Strikes Back.”

The final thread involves finding a code breaker so former Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) can sneak onto the First Order’s main Star Destroyer and disable their tracking system. With the help of another Rebel, Rose (Kelly Marie Tran), he travels to a zany pleasure planet where the rich and powerful spend their time in casinos while gambling on races involving what appears to be a horse-llama hybrid animal with a human face.

The first 90 minutes of “The Last Jedi” contains a lot of filler that seems created only to allow each character to have something cool to do. There are times when characters with solid backgrounds betray what has firmly been established in past movies and many times, it’s done only for humor purposes. All three of them eventually meet and then “The Last Jedi” really hits its stride.

Even with about half a dozen moments that seem like the movie is ending, the final hour of “The Last Jedi” is cooking with gas. The action is a blast and perfectly filmed, the characters look and sound great (even with one truly eye-roller of a line), and the plot twists simply must go unspoiled. Director Johnson and cinematographer Steve Yedlin have put together scene after scene with only one goal in mind: make these characters look cool. There is an exceedingly epic moment with Luke Skywalker that could inspire people to be unable to sit still. It’s that fantastic.

The actors are doing better than anyone in the Lucas prequels, but that’s a very low bar to clear. Arguably the most accomplished and skilled actor in the movie, Oscar Isaac, is once again a one-dimensional character with little to do. John Boyega is good, but it’s more of the same for his portrayal of Finn. Domhnall Gleeson’s evil General Hux is so completely over the top and ridiculous that it’s borderline irritating.

Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill carry a load of emotional heft in “The Last Jedi”, almost just based on who they are. They are both quite good and they each get some hair-raising, tear-jerking moments that are sure to be included in the “Star Wars Greatest Hits” clip.

“The Last Jedi” belongs to Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver and rightfully so. Not only are their roles written in spectacular fashion, the actors hit all the right notes and the movie almost drags when it’s not focused on them. They have the most to work with and the tension between them is captivating.

The movie begins on May 10th, 1940, which is the day Churchill was appointed to Prime Minister by King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn) after the forced resignation of Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup). After warning of the dangers of Hitler’s rise in Germany, Churchill creates a new war cabinet and goes to work in attempting the daunting task of protecting the UK from the Nazi Germany march across western Europe.

As the movie moves forward, it focuses on Churchill’s Greatest Hits with massive on-screen font that displays important dates in history. Naturally, the centerpiece of “Darkest Hour” is Churchill’s “finest hour” address to the country and Wright turns what is nothing more than a man sitting in front of microphone into a breathtaking moment.

The entire speech is shown in “Darkest Hour” and it will be one of the finest sequences of 2017. It is a perfect combination of every aspect of filmmaking. The lighting, editing, sound, music, and Bruno Delbonnel’s cinematography turn an unbelievably intense performance from Oldman into an inspirational moment that should make audience members ready to run through a brick wall to defend England.

While “Darkest Hour” has moments when the normally stern Churchill is loaded with self-doubt, if there’s a flaw, it’s the lack of development in Churchill’s personal life other than when he mopes and needs a pat on the back. He seems to get most of his motivation from his wife, Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), and his assistant, Elizabeth (Lily James), but these roles are very one-dimensional and even a touching moment regarding Elizabeth’s brother is fairly glossed over.

Instead, “Darkest Hour” focuses on the politically charged climate and Churchill’s immeasurable stress levels. This allows Gary Oldman, visually transformed via fantastic makeup, to disappear into the role and it’s easy to forget who is behind those tiny, circular glasses. Oldman has always been a character actor and “Darkest Hour” allows him to stay in his comfort zone while getting the showiest role of his career. As of now, Oldman is the frontrunner for the Best Actor Academy Award and it will take an exceptional performance to get what would be his first Oscar out of his hands.

With “Dunkirk” and now “Darkest Hour”, it’s been a fantastic year for World War II movies. They are extremely different films with the former having barely any dialogue and the latter loaded with it. It would make for an excellent double feature that highlights what was happening on each side of the English Channel during an exceptional time in human history.