Hotel Artemis

I have a bad feeling about this. ‘This’ in this instance meaning the future as depicted in movies. It’s never all that good; in fact, most of the time, it’s depicted as downright wretched. So it is here. That in and of itself is not a reason to pan a movie, but it had better not the only thing in the presentation—there’d better be something else on display to make the audience feel like they should care about what’s going on in that still-to-come dystopia. This outing, for instance, nearly gets there with some likable characters, including Jodie Foster doing her game best to provide some major depth to a story that, all in all, is lacking in the dimension department. A lot of what goes on here seems oddly detached. It probably doesn’t help that everyone on the screen/scene is, at best, morally ambiguous. Pay attention you storytellers out there: goodness still matters. It’s hard to root for criminals from the jump, and even when they display some redeeming qualities, that doesn’t automatically get a spectator cheering. At least this film has brevity going for it; it clocks in at a tidy hour and a half, and that helps raise some goodwill where the rest of the proceedings fall short. You can check in here, if you like; just don’t expect five-star accommodations.

Snowden

Regarding tangled webs we weave: we give a great deal of thought to the webs, but we tend not to consider much about the weaver. If we do give consideration, it's usually to condemn and judge--nothing particularly positive. Oliver Stone set out to shift against that with this biopic of both the man and his actions. The attempt was not entirely successful; there are enough inconsistencies that nagging feelings about the verdict are inescapable. Some of the problems are simple movie-making issues. For instance, Shailene Woodley portrayal of Snowden's girlfriend starts off sharp and smart, but devolves into a hyper-emotional almost-bimbo. (Though it may be the best testimony to Snowden's integrity, that he was willing to forgo his hottie for the sake of personal freedom.) The best work here is probably from Rhys Ifans as young Ed's mentor in the spook world; he covers the whole gamut from menace to nobility in an excellent performance. So is Snowden a hero or traitor? There's no point in saying in a review of this movie; the answer is largely a matter of personal viewpoint (though the film's coda, with various media reports of government action to curb surveillance, seems to present a pretty good case in his favor). You'll just have to judge for yourself.

Star Trek: Beyond

It’s probably a bad sign for this version of the series that, at this point, the viewer starts to ponder questions that have little to do with the movie immediately in front of him. Questions such as: how much longer will this cast stay together? Are they going to be basing any future movies on original episodes, or can they keep coming up with original ideas? Original, in this case, being a relative term, since there seem to be some elements of movies we’ve seen before in this flick. The crew--or at least certain members--being marooned on a strange planet is a familiar trope; the powerful external threat to the Federation is just about an every-other-movie plot point; we’ve even seen the Enterprise crash and burn before. So story is probably not the selling point for this franchise; given that, they’d better have an appealing cast for the crew, and fortunately the producers scored on that front. The primary cast features likeable actors who fit their roles well; that’s probably why this movie remains appealing and entertaining despite some otherwise stale elements. But you have to wonder: how much longer will this one go on before there’s yet another reboot needed? The next “beyond” may require another go round with another “next generation” if they can’t up the game a little further for this crew’s next outing.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

There has to be a temptation to downgrade this effort, both for some obvious fanboy bait and a certain lack of originality. This second movie is not a shot for shot remake of that second movie; more like a mirror image of the first; or perhaps it’s a photographic negative where the picture is the same but the tones are reversed. However you want to put it, what remains for the viewer is much of what we got with the previous movie in this reboot sequence: an appealing cast crafting their own versions of these well-known characters, and just enough respectful recognition of what went before to make a remake/reboot seem not quite so obnoxious. Indeed, any who’ve never seen the originals of this series might even be getting a better experience; without the clouding effects of fandom obscuring the weaknesses of the original, new audiences may be able to judge this film for what it is: more than good enough.

Star Trek (2009

The J.J. Abrams remake. Better than I expected. Lots of nods to the stories so well known to everyone who watched the original series (mostly in reruns) all those years ago, and that vouches for the filmmakers’ sincerity in rebooting this franchise. And the cleverness of the plot, in the service of bringing new ideas to this and future efforts, promises something more than just another set of rehashes when the inevitable line of sequels comes knocking on our cineplex doors. All in all, a promising (re)start.