Recent theatrical viewings

[Rev. Powell]

There's no need have seen the first entry to enjoy this, the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. 3.5/5.

Sounds good: I always thought the highest grossing Indian film was this:

I think that may be the correct answer if you adjust for inflation.

It's really hard to believe it isn't this one:

! No longer available

[BoyScoutKevin]

Cars 3

When animated objects show as much or more emotion than most humans. When animated objects come across as being as human or more human than most humans. Then you know you are seeing one heck of a film.

Another reason to see it, for race fans, is that the filmmakers brought in almost a dozen people associated with racing to voice some of the characters in the film.

Next time: we'll have to see what is showing on the 4th of July, if not then, Spiderman : Homecoming, the weekend after. This is apparently the 6th theatrical Spider-man film, but it'll be the 1st one I've seen.

[Rev. Powell]

IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017): In the near future a plague has wiped out much of humanity, and Paul and his wife and son live in a remote farmhouse; when a man breaks into their home looking for food, they suspiciously take him and his family in while secretly doubting his true intentions. Slow-developing and minimalistic, but multiple levels of paranoia keep the audience engaged. 3/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE HOUSE (2017): Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler start a casino in their wacky loser friend's basement to fund their daughter's college bill. Surprisingly, this is a devastating satire about how rising college costs are deforming the core values of the middle class. Naw, I'm yanking your chain: it's a couple of bankable stars doing journeyman work in a sitcom-pilot quality script that uses some hip grossout violence in a vain attempt to hide its essential lameness. (I take my father out to see one movie a year, and he almost always picks a bad comedy). 1.5/5.

[javakoala]

THE HOUSE (2017): Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler start a casino in their wacky loser friend's basement to fund their daughter's college bill. Surprisingly, this is a devastating satire about how rising college costs are deforming the core values of the middle class. Naw, I'm yanking your chain: it's a couple of bankable stars doing journeyman work in a sitcom-pilot quality script that uses some hip grossout violence in a vain attempt to hide its essential lameness. (I take my father out to see one movie a year, and he almost always picks a bad comedy). 1.5/5.

You have my sympathies. The minute I saw this film mentioned, I knew the Razzies had another winner on their hands.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Nobody does it better than . . . Marvel.

Spider-man : Marvel

My take on the film.

From another Stan Lee LOL! cameo to one of the funniest after credit sequences one will ever see, this film cannot be underestimated. While it is the 1st Spider-man I have seen, it is probably the best Spider-man to date. It is also probably the best Marvel film to date.

Casting. It is all in the casting.  From the hero to the villain ((more on him later) to the character on the Staten Island Ferry, who has only 2 lines, they can cast like nobody's business.

The twist. I have seen any number of twists in films, but this one just hits you between the eyes, and then when you are thinking about it, it comes back and hits you again. Thus, this has to be one of the best twists ever seen in a film. And to make it better, the twist is not overplayed, but treated as a normal event.

A hero is only as good at the villain her or she faces, and who'd have thought that Mr. Mom would make such a great villain. But, then he is one of those actors whose ability you underestimate.

And a villain is only as good as his or her hired help. Thus, it was good to see the helpings get some significant screen time.

And the best element in the film. The human element.

There is probably more than 2 things wrong with the film, but I saw only 2.

1st. While the actor playing Spider-man is younger than the 2 previous actors to play him, he is still too old to play a 15-year-old.

2nd. I don't know whether it was the way the film was projected or
the 3-D glasses I used to see the film or
the film was kept purposely dark in places,
but I had trouble trying to tell what was going on in places.

There will be a sequel in 2 years. There was to be a sequel even before the film grossed, to date, over 1 weekend a box office in the U.S. of over $117 million.

As for what is next, nothing to November to Thor : Ragnarok, which will be my 1st Thor film. Which means I'll be saving some money, as I can't get in and out of a theater without spending at least $20, and that is just for 1 person.  And which will open 2 weeks before DC's Justice League opens. And while the film maybe better than the trailer, from the trailer, it looks like Marvel has yet to have any significant competition from DC.

[Rev. Powell]

THE BIG SICK: A stand-up comic falls for a grad student who comes to his show, but two big problems stand in the way of their happiness: his traditional-minded family insists he marry a Pakistani girl, and the girl falls into a coma after they have a big fight. Even though it's based on a real story, it plays like a well-done formula romantic comedy, with the tweaks coming from the immigrant background and the extended interplay with the potential in-laws (nicely portrayed by Ray Romano and Holly Hunter). 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES: The legendary ape leader Caesar swears revenge against a renegade human Colonel, now amassing a private army and using ape slave labor to build fortifications. Par for the course in this rare summer blockbuster set outside the Marvel Universe. They say this is the end of a trilogy but it left plenty of things unresolved and there's room for more stories before Charlton Heston gets back to Earth. 3/5.

[BoyScoutKevin]

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES: The legendary ape leader Caesar swears revenge against a renegade human Colonel, now amassing a private army and using ape slave labor to build fortifications. Par for the course in this rare summer blockbuster set outside the Marvel Universe. They say this is the end of a trilogy but it left plenty of things unresolved and there's room for more stories before Charlton Heston gets back to Earth. 3/5.

I'd say that whether this is the end or not, since a number of things were left unresolved, and there's room for more stories, depends upon how well this one does at the box office.

[Rev. Powell]

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS: Space agents Valerian and Laureline acquire a space McGuffin sought by a civilization of alien ectomorphs. This movie uses extreme busyness and constant eye candy to paper over some essential flaws: a cliched space opera plot and the miscasting of boyish Dane DeHaan as a dashing, veteran rogue. 2.5/5.

[Ted C]

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS: Space agents Valerian and Laureline acquire a space McGuffin sought by a civilization of alien ectomorphs. This movie uses extreme busyness and constant eye candy to paper over some essential flaws: a cliched space opera plot and the miscasting of boyish Dane DeHaan as a dashing, veteran rogue. 2.5/5.

Is it as visually amusing as The Fifth Element? Because that's all I want from it.

[Rev. Powell]

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS: Space agents Valerian and Laureline acquire a space McGuffin sought by a civilization of alien ectomorphs. This movie uses extreme busyness and constant eye candy to paper over some essential flaws: a cliched space opera plot and the miscasting of boyish Dane DeHaan as a dashing, veteran rogue. 2.5/5.

Is it as visually amusing as The Fifth Element? Because that's all I want from it.

It's not quite as good as THE FIFTH ELEMENT overall, but it is in that league. You won't be disappointed with the visuals.

[Rev. Powell]

A GHOST STORY: A young musician (Casey Affleck) dies and comes back as a ghost (under a sheet with eyeholes cut out), moving back to his house and silently observing his wife's grief. Amounting  to more than its gimmick of an Academy Award winning actor doing 90% of the movie mute and hidden under a shroud, it's ultimately a thoughtful and melancholy meditation on eternity and attachment, aimed at the patient and seasoned adult moviegoer only. 3.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

DUNKIRK: In 1940 the Nazis have pinned the British army to the beaches of Dunkirk; we watch the evacuation through the eyes of a footsoldier, an RAF pilot, and a civilian volunteer of one of the "little ships" that ferried soldiers across the channel. More desperation than valor (although there's some of the latter), and that survival element makes Christopher Nolan's harrowing war movie feel real and legitimately dangerous. 4/5.

[Rev. Powell]

THE WOMEN'S BALCONY: In Jerusalem, women resist a charismatic conservative rabbi who moves into their congregation after their synagogue is damaged and the old rabbi goes senile. Nothing groundbreaking, but the film confidently makes its anti-fundamentalist, pro-community case with enjoyable lightness and memorable characters. 3.5/5.