The Best
The best: Nostalgia
The worst: The work "solution". Ouch.
Comments: This movie was too good for a short comment. I shall write a full review.
Rating: See the review!
The best: The whole thing?
The worst: Cheating sub-plot.
Comments: No way to do it justice without a full review.
Rating: See the review!
Not a Waste of Time
BlackkKlansman
The best: Great plot
The worst: Biased storytelling
Comments: First of all - this movie shocked the heck out of me. I did not expect this to be much, but it was honestly a great movie. If the two movies above had been slightly less incredible, then BlackkKlansman would have been up there. True(ish) story, with some really incredible acting from Adam Driver and John David Washington that brings the movie to a whole new level. Special mention to Topher Grace as David Duke - it's very surreal to watch that.
Rating: 8/10 - Shy of great, but at the top of the pack
Ant-Man and the Wasp
The best: The humor
The worst: Clumsy exposition
Comments: Looking at the worldwide gross of this movie, you probably don't need my comments. But it's exactly what it was sold as - the lighthearted funny cousin of the more serious Marvel Cinematic Universe. Paul Rudd is amazing, Michael Pena steals the show again. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is kinda wasted and used mostly for set up. But the movie is a fun and enjoyable "summer movie".
Rating: 7/10, because I'm a sucker for the comic book movies
Mission Impossible: Fallout
The best: Twist and turns
The worst: Going a bit overboard on the helicopter chase.
Comments: It's trip number six with Ethan Hunt and the crew. Luther and Benji are in fine form. This movie actually impressed me, as it was a return to the mean after Rogue Nation; which I did not like. Another summer movie that checks all the boxes: new bad guy, great action scenes, a vehicle chase or four, surprise twists, and a clean resolution. But Tom Cruise is very good (and, of course, he has a scene while sprinting) and the cast plays off each other very well. Henry Cavill was an interesting addition, and the interplay between his ominously-named Agent Walker and Ethan Hunt carried a good portion of the movie.
Rating: 6/10 - Better than average, but nothing special
The Darkest Minds
The best: Amandla Stenberg
The worst: Script and direction holes
Comments: Yes, I am in the minority for enjoying this movie. Yes, the movie is derivative and a retread. Yes, the movie craps all over the source material. I don't care. I liked it. It (over)played the right emotional notes for me at the time, and I'm good with that.
It's not great, it's barely good. But it was enjoyable. And some days that's more than enough for me. Amandla Stenberg was very good, and the dystopian world depicted was interesting.
Rating: 5/10 - It's either going to work for you or it's not
Ouch
The Happytime Murders
The best: You'll laugh. And sometimes feel bad for laughing.
The worst: So much. The "love" scene is the office stands out.
Comments: Nothing new here, except the puppets. In all fairness to the movie, at no point did they hide what kind of movie they were. Of course, that didn't stop about 4 parents from bringing young children to the showing I was at (really, really, really bad call). It's raunchy, it's over the top. It tries so hard to give a real plot, and comes somewhat close at times. But ultimately this movie is a failure - not because it's off-color or in poor taste, but because it doesn't go far enough. We've seen everything in this movie before, albeit without the puppets. But if you are going to go for a movie in this genre, you have to find something original. You could have replaced the puppets with South Park characters and I'm not sure I would have noticed.
Rating: 2/10 - Just......no.
The Equalizer 2
The best: Fighting in a hurricane.
The worst: It's everything wrong with a sequel that has no new ideas.
Comments: This was my big disappointment. It wasn't the worst movie I saw (congrats, Happytime Murders), but it left me feeling the most let down as I left the theater. Part of that is how much I enjoyed the first movie. The rest is because this movie didn't feel like it was trying. It was just going through the motions of the first movie. It updates the plot from protecting somebody to revenge, and the show was poorer for it. This movie had almost no high points and was just....flat.
Rating: 3/10 - Just go see the first movie again.
