Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

You can hardly go wrong telling a story with great characters. The strength of this series has always been its stable of astonishingly vibrant and memorable characters, from the original core set to the additions to the team in the second and now third installments--they have all been outsized, wildly entertaining and profoundly likable. That even applies to the computer generated personages, who really shine in this sequel. Rocket and his enhanced animal friends, in flashbacks to the past, bring such emotional depth and honesty to the story’s key points that their example opens up whole new vistas of consideration about how movie audiences can connect to characters, ideas and other facets of the movie-watching experience. Maybe even the dreaded AIs have something to offer the medium, something that those who grew up strictly on human-centric cinema would never have expected to be possible. Then again, maybe it’s all just a standard comic-book movie hoot and a half, with laughs and fun stuff and “did that look cool” sprinkled throughout a well-formed big-screen joy ride. You can just take it as the latter and leave all the deep thought stuff to others, if you like. This outing certainly serves up plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and a host of trademark flourishes that the franchise fans will expect to see. Yes, there is a certain amount of absurdity to the main storyline; if you think about it (not recommended), the whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense. But such concerns have quibbling written all over them. This is just plain movie fun, and if you don't get regular helpings of that, you're doing it wrong.

Avatar: The Way of Water

I can’t help thinking that this story could have been told with a bit more economy. And I don’t just mean as regards the lavish amount of money that was obviously spent to put all those CGI visuals on the screen. One suspects that the plot, as presented, could have been shown in the standard two hours instead of the three-plus clicks you get here without any real degradation of the telling. This is not to say that this flick indulges in a heavy dose of padding—perhaps to make it more epic and thus justify its price tag—but a few less and/or shorter sequences of ostensibly awe-inspiring vision of the fantastical might have chopped the running time down a bit. It’s a real commitment to watch this film. At least those visuals are indeed state of the art; Cameron doesn’t kid around when he’s in world-building mode. Other aspects of the production do raise questions. On the performances of the cast, it’s hard to make a judgment, due to most of the thespians being almost wholly digitized. Are these CGI characters striking powerful emotional notes, or just making hysterical ham sandwiches of their scenes? Hard to say given the distance, so to speak, between the viewer and the unreal actors. “Avatar” is not just a plot device in the film but a fundamental aspect of the whole production. (And, despite this site’s standards, a "hiss" can only express so much.) Also, it’s hard not to downgrade the movie for utilizing the trope of bringing dead people back to life; it opens the whole thing to the charge of simply being a recycled product. And after all, shouldn’t a work of hard science fiction—and this film otherwise qualifies—refrain from a device so unscientific, even if it’s dolled up with cloning and other sciencey hand-waving? Finally, this is meant to be the middle movie of a trilogy, and that always brings its own storytelling issues. Still, even with its questionable aspects and a long running time, it must be noted that this film never drags; your interest rarely wanes throughout the length of this journey. This work rests right on the cusp of that fine line between a fully fledged positive review and so-so label. A MEOW seems right to me, but your mileage may vary considerably, wherever you’re coming from.

Avengers: Infinity War

Well…that's one scenario. I'm not so sure it was the best scenario, because the whole thing came across as very uneven, sometimes funny and entertaining, sometimes just plain grim. You don't want flicks like this taking themselves too seriously. Unless they really mean the serious. This one doesn't feel quite so sincere. That said, I suppose it's not a bad way to spend a couple of hours; basically, you're hanging out with a bunch of old (by this time) friends, and though they sometimes annoy you, you appreciate their company, too. And it won't last forever, so you might as well enjoy them while they're still around. Just don't expect them to be great all the time.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2

Most of the time, the heavy use of nostalgic music--in this case 1970s and '80s stuff--is just a marketing tool used to rope in a specific, ticket-buying cohort. Not so here; the music actually plays a pivotal role in the story. It's a thread that ties things together in an interesting way, more so than the tunes in the first installment. Expanding out from that, this film wears its Eighties heritage more flamboyantly than any other flick movie of recent vintage (as does its predecessor); it's no wonder then that folks like myself are eating this stuff up. All that wry, ironic, and even a little bit cruel humor goes a long way to creating the likeability, even if a lot of this story is obvious both in terms of plot and visually. There are a lot of ways of earning an audience's good graces, and these folks pull out all those stops, enough to make an enjoyable sequel. Enough for a third go round? We probably don't have a choice, but, sure, I'll go along.

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.

Guardians of the Galaxy

This movie gets a huge leg up in generating goodwill from its audience through its amazing soundtrack. The music nails it for appealing to viewers of a certain age, who most likely already have these songs on their preferred listening device--people like yours truly. Then again, it probably does some damage if those viewers recognize the soundtrack as a cynical ploy to appeal to said demographic, and thus boost ticket and home viewing sales. Call all that a wash, and thus we're stuck with trying to judge this film on its own merits--and that is a hit and miss proposition. For every space opera element that is derivative, predictable, and stale, there's also a piece of cleverness, good humor, and just sheer entertainment that offsets the problems. If we do the math, I think the whole thing winds up in the plus column; not by much, but enough that this one gets a passing grade, something just high enough to keep that goodwill going for the inevitable sequel.

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.