Alita: Battle Angel

The ham-handed metaphor of people living in the sky vs. people on the ground/earth--a staple since "Jack and the Beanstalk"--has really been getting a workout in recent years. So it continues here. Lack of originality is one problem that manifests in this film; a certain muddiness to the plot is another issue. It's hard to tell who's really the villain here and who's just a side project. That's the bad news. The good news is, Rosa Salazar gives a very impressive performance as Alita, so much so given the fact that it's wrapped entirely in CGI. Another plus is the steady presence of Christoph Waltz. Those two principals are very likeable and drive the viewer's interest throughout these proceedings. The denouement is either provocatively left open-ended, or was meant to set up a sequel that box office receipts seem to indicate will never happen. Who knows? Alita the character is pulled off a scrap heap to become a movie's heroine--maybe her story will see a similar resurrection thanks to after-market sales.

Lincoln

A typically reverential treatment of (roughly) the last half-year of our most iconic president’s life. Given the suteur--Spielberg--one shouldn’t be surprised that this film comes across as equal parts dutiful myth-telling (or retelling, really) and vigorously-applied varnish. The latter applies especially so in the service of Mary Todd Lincoln, though her takedown of Thaddeus Stevens (great work by Tommy Lee Jones) is one of the highlights of the film. The real strength here is Daniel Day-Lewis’s masterful work in the title role. Over and above the performances, this could have been a lot better, could have rejected schmaltz and hagiography, could have presented a more probing, more insightful interpretation of Lincoln--and yet, it is still a good enough movie about a more-than-great historical character, and that elevates the accomplishment into a success.

Dark Shadows

I don’t know; this Depp-Burton thing may have run its course. Not to say that this is a bad movie, but at certain points in this picture you get the impression that maybe someone else, singly or in a pair, could have brought something better to this revision of the old TV show. There are good moments here, some nice satire of the period (a good idea not to set the action in current times), but by the end the filmmakers have gone overboard; a little too much trying, not enough just leaving it alone and letting it be. You want to applaud effort, but not so much effort that it gets in the way.