Ad Astra

A contemplative space adventure. See, here's the problem with a contemplative space adventure: it tends to be a lot of thinking, not much action--so when the action finally does come, the viewer has been lulled, if not to sleep, then at least into a state of quiescence that leaves him somewhat indifferent to the proceedings. That's a problem for any movie, let alone a big-budget space show like this one. It's all rather grim, which is not necessarily something that makes for an automatically bad movie, but is something that requires some extraordinary effort, some extra special part of the presentation to redeem that grimness. That never really shows up here. Instead, you just get Brad Pitt showing his age, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland really showing their ages, a putative co-star (Liv
Tyler) who's barely there throughout, and a long, slow journey that ends mostly in disappointment (not to mention a bit of spaceflight absurdity). The trip to these stars simply does not shine.

Jason Bourne

At this point, one must approach the continuing popularity of these Bourne movies with a certain amount of perplexity. The plain truth is, except perhaps for the first one, they're just not very good. It's easy to look at the main player in the spy genre -- James Bond flicks -- and laugh at them for a certain amount of campiness, but at the very least those movies have made, and continue to make, a minimal effort to spin out some character development for their main actors. In contrast, Matt Damon's genre vehicle has never really bothered with carving out a real identity for anyone involved in the proceedings. Lack of identity is, to be sure, the point with Bourne, but that doesn't mean everyone else in the cast has to be a mannequin; a sense of who these people are -- and why we should care about any of it, beyond bromides about national security and such -- would make for a more effective story, and thus movies more worth watching. You don't get that here. You do get some pretty decent action sequences, but that does not really a good movie make. If you're truly a fan of the series -- somehow -- I guess you'll want to see this, but really everyone else should have long since moved on from here.

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.

No Country For Old Men

Not bad, but nothing even close to what its hype and awards made it out to be. In fact, there's a lot here not to like: little reason to care about the "good" characters, the villain is absurdly indestructible, some directorial shenanigans that are designed to draw the viewer to errant conclusions. And that narrative structure: if a second year film student, instead of the Coens, tried to pull that off, he'd hear a lot about losing his point of narration. Instead, if you are the Coens, you're called geniuses and lauded for convention breaking. These emperors may not be naked, but they're down to their underwear, at least. Posted 4/16/09.

The Missing

Half of a good movie. It's most interesting during the scenes between Tommy Lee Jones's "gone native" old man and his estranged rancher daughter, played by Cate Blanchett. That tense dynamic always keeps it interesting. Less successful are the scenes involving the missing daughter/granddaughter and her captors. Rather than add to the drama, the plain presentation of the captors and their evil leader actually detracts from the movie--it's much more intriguing when the girl just vanished into thin air. But it's not a total loss. Call it a toss up--watch if you have the time.

Men In Black II

Well, it's not the utter waste of time it could have been. And what it lacks in originality it certainly makes up for in brevity (gotta love a movie that barely clocks in at 90 minutes, especially in these overblown days). Mostly, it supplies a decent number of smirk-worthy moments, and if you expect no more than that, you'll do fine.

Space Cowboys

I guess it's OK if the geezers get to go for a ride once in a while. It's all very predictable, but Eastwood, Jones, Garner, and Sutherland deliver performances you expect from seasoned professionals. If you've got nothing else to do, you could sit down and watch this one and not feel like the time's been wasted.

Double Jeopardy

Much comment has been made about the absurdity of the premise (that Ashley Judd's character could kill her supposedly dead, cheating husband and get away with it). That's not a killer for me--you folks ever heard of suspension of disbelief?--but besides Tommy Lee Jones getting his kicks, there's not much here.

Blue Sky

Tough to go wrong with Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange, but this one comes close. Features a story that is too turgid for the average viewer, and that is also ultimately forgettable. Probably best to skip this one.