Summer 2017 at the movies

Enjoy!

Baby Driver

• Review: 5/5
• A wholly unique cinematic experience.  It's got thrilling car chases, a drive-in movie vibe, choreographed musical scenes (yes. it does.), snappy dialogue, pedal to the medal pacing, lots of love for iPods, genuine on-screen chemistry between the leads, and a helluva soundtrack.  Plus Don Draper, Cinderella, Django, Shane from The Walking Dead, Flea, and Frank Underwood (*I mean Jon Hamm, Lily James, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal, Flea, and Kevin Spacey).  Need I say more?  Go see it (in theaters). 

Spider-Man: Homecoming

• Review: 5/5
• Tom Holland is the definitive Spider-Man.  Of course, I had my doubts with this being the third attempt/reboot at the series in the last 15 years (hard to believe it's been that long since the original Tobey Maguire / Sam Raimi interpretation).  But they just nailed it.  Tom Holland plays the titular role to perfection capturing the essence of the character: cool, dorky, clumsy, funny, smart, and brave - just like the webslinger ought to be.  The supporting cast is also great.  Notably, Michael Keaton has had an interesting career path: Batman --> Birdman --> Vulture.  Homecoming also fits snugly into the ever-expanding Marvel canon (with little Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout) while existing in its own right as a stand-alone summer popcorn flick.  The inclusion of Iron Man and Captain America is done in a way that's very clever and works quite well.  Fortunately, we aren't made to sit through the superhero backstory once again (the whole spider bite, parent issues, Uncle Ben thing, etc) which we've already seen twice in the last two decades.  Rather, the film takes a different approach, getting viewers up-to-speed with Peter Parker's "home movie" (shot on his smart phone) which serves to set the stage for the action that's about to take place.  Very nice.  Spider-Man: Homecoming represents the best of Marvel and is hilarious, action-packed, full of heart, and entertaining from start to finish.  

It Comes at Night

• Review: 5/5
• Awesome.  It Comes at Night represents a particular brand of horror/suspense, arguing that what you imagine is often far worse than what you are shown on the screen.  The title's meaning is multifactorial, but most literally refers to the evening nightmares experienced by one of the film's main characters (a teenager).  Like the main characters, we are trapped within a relatively confined space throughout the 90-minute runtime.  The sense of claustrophobia, suspicion, doubt, fear, and mistrust is palpable.  Characters' motives are often left ambiguous, and the viewer is forced to decide who to trust.  It's compelling.  The film is a master class at avoiding the need to over-explain or over-load with dialogue while still conveying a sense of exposition and setting the scene.  We understand the dystopian nature of the film's world without being given all of the details, which works perfectly.  The ending will undoubtedly polarize viewers, particularly those who like all of their questions answered.  However, It Comes at Night quietly sneaks onto the film scene as a modern classic.

Wonder Woman

• Review 4.5/5
• Gal Gadot is perfect.  Love the retro vibe, the perfect chemistry between the leads, the optimism, the bravery, the comedy, the killer soundtrack (Wonder Woman soundtrack, click here!), and the awesome action sequences!  Wonder Woman represents a hero all viewers can aspire to be like, one who won't back down in the face of adversity but rather takes it on when others refuse to.  Note: I would've given it 5/5 if not for the opening voice-over narration (not a fan, you don't need it!).

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2

• Review: 4.5/5
• I can't stop listening to the soundtrack.  Guardians 2 offers fans of the original more of the zany antics, hilarious dialogue, beautiful cinematography/CGI, and colorful cast that we've come to expect from the MCU.  It has an abundance of heart, laughs, action, and old school music.  A thoroughly enjoyable sequel from start to finish.

Alien: Covenant

• Review: 4/5
• The sequel to 2012's Prometheus succeeds for one reason: David (Michael Fassbender).  Once again, he nails the part of the tricky little humanoid throughout the film, and this time in a dual performance.  The film is worth seeing for his performance alone.  Director Ridley Scott appears once again drawn to the hefty themes he has explored in previous films: the nature of creation, man vs machine, the consequences of exploration, deception in space.  His direction is seasoned and confident, but the film is also wrought with horror cliches.  As what seems to be a direct response to the lack of the xenomorph in Prometheus, there is an abundance of the ever-evolving alien wreaking havoc on the humans throughout the film's runtime.  While Covenant falls short of classic status, it certainly delivers the thrills and represents another stellar performance from one of the modern day great actors.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

• Review: 3/5
• Has a distinct "not as bad as the last one" but also "not as good as the first three" vibe.  Fortunately, most of the original cast are back to reprise their roles for the (?)farewell entry into the Pirates canon.  Newcomer Javier Bardem is a welcome addition and remains one of my favorite modern day actors.  There are a few really nice action sequences (pirate-zombie-sharks?  Yes.).  And I never get tired of Barbosa's classic laugh (click here for Barbosa!).  Overall, this Pirates film can tread water much better than the last entry but still can't compete with the original trilogy for sheer fun adventure at sea on the big screen.

The Mummy

• Review: 2/5
• Unfortunately, the reboot of The Mummy and start of Universal's "Dark Universe" (basically the upcoming rehash of classic movie monsters a-la The Avengers formula) isn't all that much fun.  There is a severe lack of chemistry between the leads and overall forgettable quality that permeates throughout its runtime.  Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the Stephen Sommers Mummy movies from 1999 and 2001.  They were fun, exciting, iconic, quotable, and perfect summer action blockbuster adventure films.  The reboot can't quite decide what tone it wants: part-comedy (but not that funny), part-action (but not that exciting), part-horror (but not that scary). Another glaring problem with the reboot this year is that most of the film takes place outside of the desert.  Much of the action takes place in London, and it can't help but feel somewhat out of place (however, it was a nice touch to have windows exploding to create the sand throughout the streets).  The final act "twist" regarding one of the main characters will polarize viewers.  A disappointing start to what could be a promising series of interconnected films.

Image source: https://i0.wp.com/media2.slashfilm.com/slashfilm/wp/wp-content/images/baby-driver-poster.jpg