Morbius

There didn’t seem to be much of a point to this flick--either in its execution, nor in its reason to be. Nor is the backstory for the characters particularly deep or all that compelling. The action sequences are okay, but not especially spectacular, and if you’re trying to make the case that the protagonist has anything special and unique about him… he doesn’t. Morbius’ one unique power, echolocation, doesn’t actually work in the way it’s depicted here (and it bears more than a passing resemblance to The Dark Knight’s radar/sonar/microwave mapping trick—so its both wrong and derivative). Maybe that’s the best summation of this film—wrong and derivative--and that’s not exactly the tagline you want to throw on the poster. I suppose this flick isn’t awful, but it is hardly necessary. Making a cinematic universe is difficult. Witness this effort if you don't believe that.

The Little Things

This movie does make an observation: cops are, themselves, a bit of a mystery. I said it was a observation--not necessarily a good observation...nor does that make for a good movie. Indeed, this whole exercise, rather than good, is mostly a run of the mill murder mystery, the kind that has been done many times before, and done better before--even in the eyes of those of us who are not particularly entertained by the thought of people being brutally murdered. The putative selling point here comes in the form of a lineu of heavy hitters among the principal cast, but only Jared Leto really does anything special with his role--and even his creepiness is contrived in the service of the needs of the story, rather than showing a true organic character. Rami Malek is just a waver between brooding and tense throughout the proceedings, while Denzel Washington mostly just plays it tired. There's little that's profound in the story's ultimate twist, no matter how much this flick wants you to believe there is. Ultimately, "little thing" is a descriptor that is all too accurate.

Blade Runner 2049

The dystopian future is approaching at breakneck speed, and apparently--paradoxically--it will be very languid. I don't especially mind a movie with a measured pace, particularly if the film is filled with interesting details, visuals, and information. I'm not sure that description applies here. There seems to be some biological/biomechanical dilemmas posed by this outing that don't really jibe with what has gone before it (both in the original Blade Runner and in android/replicant rules as understood in the Alien movies). Plus, on top of all that, if you view the universe from a common aboriginal point of view--that all things in nature, even rocks and trees and whatnot, have souls--then a lot of the philosophical undercurrents of these films kind of goes down the drain, or at least gets muted somewhat. I can't say I ever really got bored with it, but I just suspect this movie could have been a lot better.

Girl, Interrupted

Not bad, but it didn't really seem to say all that much. I suspect that, if not for the presence of Angelina Jolie (right in her first bursting onto the scene--and into fantasists' minds--moment), this movie would hardly have merited all that much attention.