Solo, A Star Wars Story

Plot: Young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and girlfriend Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke) try to escape their home planet Corellia, but get separated. Han ends up in the army, but he deserts to take up a life of crime with Beckett (Woody Harrelson). After a caper to steal the space fuel coaxium from a train goes badly, he meets Qi'ra again who now works for a crime boss. Han, Beckett, and Qi'ra link up with Chewy (Joonas Suatamo) and head out to steal more. They get a ship from Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), and head to Kessel and coaxium mines. What follows is lots of thieving and double-crossing that leads to the twist-filled ending.   [imdb]    [photos]

Review: There are some great scenes in a story that is easy to follow. Like James Bond movie there are big, showy scenes that individually are fun, and a story to string these together. Most of the characters are well acted, and the end was surprising.

This is a Han that shoots first, and the fans like that. He also gets to talk himself out of trouble just like in older movies, and he brags, but gets caught doing so, like in the older movies. These are welcome fun. Ehrenreich said he tried to incorporate Harrison Ford's mannerisms.

I liked the robbery scene on the train, and the theft of the ore. I did not care for the Kessel Run portion of the movie, because the space monster seemed silly.

 I liked to performance from Alden Ehrenreich, and the irreverent tone that the writers gave him. I loved Donald Glover, he instantly made a character right from the beginning. Emilia Clark was not so great, aside from her initial scene on Kessel, she doesn't show much emotion. Perhaps her coolness was to foreshadow her inner loyalty, or it was just poor acting. Woody Harrelson as Beckett is a central figure in that he is the big-hearted, seen-it-all, rascal that Han grows up to be. He does a great job with it.

The casting of Erin Kellyman as be-freckled young pirate/revolutionary Enfys Nest was a little odd. I can easily imagine a young woman revolutionary. She would be strident, active, and urgent, and that is not what Erin showed us. After she takes her mask off she wants a drink, which seemed out of character; more like a has-been older pirate.  On the other hand, she may be a message that a revolutionary can be anyone. That ties into the end of The Last Jedi with all the children readying for the fight.

Cast: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover, Erin Kellyman

Directed by: Ron Howard

Written by: Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan who are father and son. Lawrence wrote Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Force Awakes. 

The Music: Orchestral music by John Powell with one song by John Williams. The music was familiar and briefly had themes from older movies, but was generally new melodies in the same style. 

The Visuals: Top notch throughout, except the Kessel run, which I didn't care for. 

Rating: 3.5 stars: It was fun to watch, and I'd like to see it again. Does it have a moral center? Maybe. Han did give his money away before he went thieving again.

Somehow this movie feels like a three and not a three and half, but the pieces are good. So I am staying with it. 

More: Veteren writer Kasdan says Han has a cynical, "I am going to survive this scene" attitude.

Spoiler: Han gave 99% of his treasure away to the photo-revolution, and stiffed his criminal partners. I'm not sure how true to the character of Han that is. Although it fits with winning the Millennium Falcon in a card game.

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Tully

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This is one of the least representative posters for any movie. There are no kid's party scenes with stickers,
 although mermaids and cupcakes are featured. 

Plot: Marlo (Charlize Theron) just had her third baby, and she hires a night nanny to help her get some rest. Tully (Mackenzie Davis) turns out to be more than she seems, like Mary Poppins. She nannies baby Mia, but also Marlo, helping out in surprising ways. Marlo feels better and then the movie ends with a twist.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This is an magical-reality movie about motherhood played so well by Charlize Theron, and accented by the wonderful and under-appreciated McKensie Davis. This story is like Mary Poppins, who primarily helped Mr Banks love his family more. Tully primarily helps Marlo learn to care for herself.

After you see the twist ending, one asks "What does it mean? That is the wrong choice.

This a poem that is a little bit magic. The end is real for those of you who need it to be real, but also a magical love story about mothers and babies and families and struggles and growing up and generations and all dipped in nostalgia & lost childhood.

I liked the performances by both Theron and Davis. 

Cast: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Ron Livingston

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Written by: Diablo Cody

The Music: Eclectic mix featuring orchestral music by Rob Simonsen and two folk songs by Beulahbelle

Rating: 3.5 stars: Could it be 3.0? Maybe. I liked both Theron and Davis. I liked the magical reality story. The end is satisfying, and people can read it how they want to. 

More: Formerly skinny Charlize Theron gained 50 pounds for this part. Pretty remarkable. It took her a year to lose it again.

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Avengers: Infinity War

Plot: Thanos wants to kill half the people in the universe in his form of Malthusian population control, and to do that he has to collect the six infinity stones that have been scattered about in previous Marvel movies. Thus we can unite many all the story lines in one movie. Thanos fights with all the boys and girls, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Spiderman, Star Lord, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, Gamora, and Black Widow. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: I needed to see this movie because it had been building for so long. It is like a new installment in a long running series, and it can tie up many loose ends.

I liked it. It was fun to watch. There were many small scenes with a few characters interacting, like an anthology. It was tied together by bad guy Thanos, who was smarter than most bad guys in that he had a reason for his death & destruction. Thanos (Josh Brolin) is the real center of the film.

Infinity War has a big surprise ending, that will keep me guessing until the sequel. At least this did not end like even other action movie. 

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hollad, Chadwich Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Karan Gillan, Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie. 

Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo

Written by: 16 people!

The Music: Orchestral music by Alan Silvestri. Not so noticeable during the movie, but the end credits sounded good. 

The Visuals: About like you'd expect. The fight scenes are not super detailed, and the is no blood and gore. They were trying to reduce the gross-out factor. 

Rating: 3.0 stars: It doesn't feel like more than that. I do want to see it again though. 

SPOILERS: Wow, who would have thought so many characters would die. I thought they'd kill off some of the older characters like Iron Man and Captain America because those actors didn't want to do any more films, but it is almost the opposite. The younger characters died, leaving the old guard to pick up the pieces in Infinity Wars 2.

I suppose that there will be some time traveling or alternate reality that will allow everyone to come back to life. Publicists for Marvel say that the mass killing will cause major changes, and everything will not be business as usual.

It is important to note that AntMan, who has a movie opening this summer was not in the movie, and that Captain Marvel has a film next year prior to the next Avenger's movie. Captain Marvel was referenced in the teaser scene after the credits.

Worse SPOILERS: Seems that in the comic book, people who are killed by the soul stone are sent to the Soul World, which is inside the sole stone. In the comic, one character (Warlock) can communicate with them. 

Yet more: So why did tech billionaire Tony Stark have a flip-phone? Is this movie really set in the past? Seems not. It looks like that was a burner phone sent by Captain America to Tony in a previous movie. 
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The Big Sick

Plot: Pakistani Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) is a small-time stand-up comedian and he mets white-girl Emily (Zoe Kazan), and they flirt, have sex, and become a couple. Then Emily learns that Kumail's Pakistani parents will never approve of him marrying a white Christian girl, and she breaks up. Soon Emily gets very sick and lands in the hospital. Kumail goes to the hospital, meets Emily's parents (Holly Hunter/Ray Romano), and makes friends.  This sets up lots of sit-com fun after Emily wakes up. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This is likable film. It has some refreshing new beats with a Pakistani family, some comedy club jokes, and a dose of hospital drama.

It turns out that the writers Emily Gordon and Nanjiani are married to each other, and this is based on a true story. I usually don't like true stories, but this was good. 

Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Aidy Bryant

Directed by: Michael Showalter

Written by: Emily Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani

The Music: Not very noticeable

The Visuals: Nothing special. Mostly speaking scenes 

Rating: 3.0 stars: Fun to watch. Different. Still light. 

More: .

Even More: Easter egg, in the scene where Kumail returns to the hospital room after calling Emily's parents, it is really Emily Gordon in the bed rather than actress Zoe Kazan.

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Ready Player One

Plot: In a dystopian 2045, everyone spends their free time in the online world called Oasis, a cross between Second Life and a MMORPG, massive multiplayer game. The owner of Oasis died, and in his will he created a contest where the winner is the new owner.  Wade aka Parzival (Tye Sheridan), is out there trying to win where he meets cool girl Art3mis aka Samatha (Olivia Cooke). Being exceptionally geeky, Pazival solves the first puzzle followed quickly by Art3mis, and they are the world-wide leaders in the contest.

But once he was in the lead, evil corporate player Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) and his minions of IOI computer gaming-playing employees swoop in to copy Perzival in the game and to hunt him down in the real world. As the struggle moves to the real world, we see the real Wade and Samatha who of course are not as cool as their virtual selves, being weaker and damaged and perhaps desperate.

Wade and Samatha live in an apocalyptic version of Columbus Ohio, where mobile homes and wrecked automobiles are chaotically stacked one on another. Soon we meet their other allies, Helen/Aech (Lena Waithe) and Daito (Win Morisaki) and they are on the run in the real world just as their avatars battle in the virtual one. At the end there is a big battle in the virtual world that ends in a world-ending explosion -- well almost.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: This movie was great. It's a Sci-Fi with relationships between the characters. Both the dystopia city and the flashy virtual world are cleverly imaginative. The story is complex, and it helps if one read the book, but I have read the book, and this is a great version of it.

I love the way they visualized the game, the players, the battles, and the dystopian world in Columbus. I loved the stacks of mobile homes and the secret game-playing room Wade had hidden in a pile of wrecked cars.

I liked the interaction between the characters. The flashy way people appear virtually is nothing like the way they are in the real world, just like how people put on (figurative) masks in their social interactions, and inside they are different, sometimes scarred as Art3mis was. It is a critique of the Facebook society

The movie has had some negative reviews, and I want to react to that. It is a young adult movie, so it is a little juvenile, for example, Sorrento's (Ben Mendelsohn) evil IOI goons are cartoony.   Secondly, the book is full of video game references that I did not understand, and the movie is no different. Perhaps this is due to licensing deals, or perhaps these are generic forms of video game tropes that others are more familiar with.

So what does the movie mean? It means that people are more important than money, and the online experience needs to be about people too. 

Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Weite

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Zak Penn based on the novel by Ernest Cline

The Music: Orchestral music that fit the mood by Alan Silvestri, who has done many movie scores. 

The Visuals: I loved both the virtual world and the real world. This is the best part of the movie.

Rating: 3.5 stars: As I left the theater, I gave it 4.0 stars, but I don't think it quite measures up. My highest complement is that I want to see it again. Fun. Fun-to-watch. 

 

More: Here is a nice article on the adaptation of the movie. The movie had a bigger role for the Perzival's posse and especially for Art3mis. In the book it is Wade that infiltrated IOI rather than Art3mis.

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I Kill Giants

Plot: Troubled teen Barbara (Madison Wolfe) prepares each afternoon to battle giants with homemade traps and a battle axe, named Coveleski. At school she gets picked on, in part because she always wears halloween-style rabbit ears. Counselor Mrs Molle (Zoe Saldana) tries to talk to Barbara, but Barbara doesn't want help. Sophia (Sydney Wade), Barbara's sister, tries to look after her at home but Sophia is young herself and has to work to support them. The neighbor girl, Karen (Imogen Poots), sees how eccentric Barbara is, learns about her plans to fight them. At the very end, there is a big twist.  [imdb]    [photos]

Review: I Kill Giants is always interesting. It is a really strange tale. Early on, it is ambiguous about whether there really are giants coming as in a Harry Potter movie. It is clear Barbara is troubled, but perhaps also clued-in about the coming giant apocalypse. Barbara is so plucky and self-assured that she preservers. Her determination and her pain are her endearing qualities.

I liked the dialog, and I liked Madison's performance. 

Cast: Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Sydney Wade, Imogen Poots

Directed by: Anders Walter

Written by: Joe Kelly based on his graphic novel

The Visuals: The giants themselves were creepy, and hidden most of the time.  Harbingers, another creature were distractingly low-tech -- like canvas and spray paint. 

Rating: 2.5 stars: A good story

 

More: .Walter adapted the script to remove supernatural creatures from the early part of the film to prolong the tension about whether Barbara was fighting real giants or just ones in her head. link

Even More [MAJOR SPOILER]: In this fascinating interview, Director Walter and a film critic who just lost a parent, talk about the death of a parent, and how/whether to depict that in art.

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Love, Simon

Plot: Simon (Nick Robinson) is in high school, and he has a good life. He has friends who like him, an intact family, a sister who cooks him breakfast, a computer, a car, a phone and a fancy house. His problem, to the extent it is a problem, is that he is a closeted gay guy. That is his "huge ass secret." Simon starts anonymously emailing another closeted student in his school, and soon he depends on the email  for emotional support. In time another student, Martin (Logan Miller) finds out and blackmails Simon. Blackmail leads to the predictable consequences, and this sets up the final scenes.   [imdb]    [photos]

Review: I liked Love, Simon because I liked the relationships between the four students, Simon, Leah (Katherine Langford), Abby (Alexandra Shipp) and Bram (Keiynon Lendeborg). The relationship is positive and the dialog pulls out the strains inside Simon with other peers. The dialog is light and humorous with a some sitcom jokes and PG-13 humor.

Love Simon has a message, but it is softly pedaled. I was expecting another Brokeback Mountain, but in Love, Simon the romantic relationship is all in a chat window.

Jennifer Garner, playing Simon's Mom, has a great scene at the end talking about what Simon means to her. Emotive. It does a nice job of setting the outing in context, and helps resolve the relationships in the family. There is scene with the father, played by Josh Duhamel, which is OK, kinda sappy.

Overall, I liked it. 

Cast: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Keiynon Lendeborg, Jennifer Garner

Directed by: Greg Berlanti, who has made a lot of TV superhero shows, Supergirl, The Flash, my favorite Arrow, and more. 

Written by: Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker based on the novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

The Music: Good soundtrack. Four songs by the Bleachers and some other pop + HipHop. There is also traditional orchestral music by Rob Simonsen. 

The Visuals: Mostly people talking. The final scene on a ferris wheel is filmed simply, as if on a budget.  

Rating: 2.5 stars: Fun to watch, with a message but not preachy.

 

More: Director Berlanti felt emotional watching the dailies while making the film. "I went to look back at the footage, and I stopped watching it very quickly as a director and started to watch it as an openly gay person. And crying in happy scenes and wondering, 'Why am I emotional?' And showing it to my friends who are also gay, and seeing them have the same kind of [reaction]. I think it was just the power of representation."

Even More: Alexandra Ship played Storm in X-Men Apocalypse. The other young actors have  much less experience.

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