John Wick -- Chapter 3: Parabellum

There's an inherent contradiction in writing a review of a movie like this. The thing is almost all action; words are largely superfluous. Which is not to say it isn't enjoyable. The flick is exactly what you expect it to be, and there's a certain virtue in its simplicity and lack of pretense. If you've got the bloodlust, you'll dig it, few questions asked. The only real uncertainty here is how long these well-cast actors will be willing to reprise these particular roles (with at least one more sequel obviously set up on the horizon). Speaking of casting, a side note for the producers: sign those dogs up for a long term deal; they're real scene stealers. Taken as a whole--a bullet hole, no doubt--it works. As long as this crew can avoid the Baba Yaga of bad box office, one supposes this run will go on. I for one am good with that.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

I'm not sure about this. This movie and its predecessor seem to want to be a looser, updated version of James Bond, and in some ways it pulls that off. It's got all the action--in spades--the gadgetry, the humor, the 'save the world' trope...it's all in place, and I can't really say it's not entertaining. And once again, the filmmakers have a certain amount of political insight where they try to deliver a satirical but somewhat cogent point. All well and good. But--and it's a huge 'but'--there are problems here, too. The combination of sophisticated and crude will clash a bit too much for some viewers. This film (and this applies to the previous entry, too) relies almost obsessively on long action sequences that are heavy on visual and camera gymnastics: stuff that looks good at first, but gets tedious after a while, despite the director's obvious love affair with his own shot-making cleverness. And, in addition to being crude, this outing is also remarkably violent; only the John Wick movies are a match for the violence displayed here, and those flicks are substantially darker in tone. This is almost like "playful psychopathy" here--which isn't always funny and entertaining. Toning it down a bit would probably make for a better movie--though I wouldn't count on seeing that in the seemingly inevitable third installment.

Die Another Day

(Re-viewed and reviewed as part of the 2017 "Watch all James Bond movies in sequence" project.) Brosnan goes out with a bang. Several of them, in fact. Brosnan was, by this point, a solid number two on the Bond list (after Connery, of course); his films largely held their own among entries in the canon. This one did not impress me that much upon first viewing, but it has aged well and earns higher marks upon a second showing. The strengths here are in the action sequences, including some truly audacious work with hovercraft, cars (on ice, no less), and a helicopter escape from a disintegrating cargo plane. the eye-candy remaining top notch, with Rosamund Pike getting bested by Halle Berry (it’s closer than you’d think). There are downsides: we’ve seen the orbiting super weapon at least three times now. But generally, this is an entertaining and satisfying entry in the series; at this remove one wonders why any felt an urgent need to reboot the franchise. Perhaps Brosnan had simply had enough. The reboot idea turned out to be golden, in hindsight, but on the strength of this flick, at the time, you could have made the case to keep going with one more effort along these lines.

Cloud Atlas

What the hell was that? If you can coherently answer that question, I guess you’re more intelligent than me. I’m a long way away from figuring out the point of this exercise, and that ‘MEOW’ rating is perilously close to the damning HISS! And yet...I must say, though I didn’t understand it, I didn’t ever really want to stop watching it, either. There was enough weird interest woven within this mess to keep it, in at least some respects, compelling. Perhaps the generosity comes from a number of good actors making the best of what they had, or maybe it comes from a desire to recognize the risk-taking that this film represents; at least someone tried to do something different. But for most folks, the "story salad" will be too difficult to follow, as the interconnections (apart from the actors) are too opaque to strike any real sparks of recognition and synthesis. All in all, a noble failure.

Catwoman

Believe it or not, there actually is some fun stuff in here--but man, when the stupid hits, it hits! Someone was way too enthralled with being hip-hop and showing off the CGI. Wry, cynical humor--a staple of superhero stories--is noticeably lacking through most of the movie. And while Halle Berry may be easy on the eyes, that only goes so far. Not even the presence of a whole clowder of cats--a personal delight--can keep the interest level high. If you see this one coming, hiss and run away.

X2: X-Men United

Ah, I'm such a sucker for anything that reeks of "cool." Throw some special effects in front of me and I'm happy. I have a feeling I should have liked this movie less than I did, but I certainly don't think there was anything egregiously wrong with it. There's a subplot about a particularly religious mutant that opens the doors to a lot of speculation, but they left it thoroughly undeveloped. Too bad. You have to settle for fairly run of the mill sci-fi superhero stuff. Still, that's usually entertaining--and so it is here.

Monster's Ball

One of the most melancholy movies I have ever watched. But that's not a pan, just the nature of the beast. Despite its heaviness, the story ultimately gets past all of its pain, anger, and sorrow to bring us somewhere near redemption. Not to be missed by any serious film watcher.

X-Men

Well-done comic book adaptation. Some of the mutant powers are a bit on the outlandish side, but hey, you're not supposed to believe in this shit. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan provide just the right touch of gravitas to an otherwise popcorn-light movie.