A Review With No Spoilers..."Avengers: Infinity War"

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Rated PG-13

Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Everyone Else! :)

Directed by The Russo Brothers

The Story:

Thanos (Brolin) is on his quest to unite the 6 Infinity Stones and wipe away half of the universe. Can the combined forces of the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy stop him?

The answer may surprise you!

Buckle up true believers for the 19th installment in a 10 year ride that is the biggest emotional roller coaster of them all.

It comes out of the gate swinging and doesn't let up until the screen goes dark and the house lights int he theater come up.

You'll laugh.

You'll cry.

You'll repeat as necessary.

When it's over you'll want to see it again, and you'll also feel like the wait to get to Infinity War was nothing compared to the wait to see what happens next. 

As fans, we have invested 10 years of our lives in these characters.

So too have the actors invested nearly as long in portraying them on the screen.

We've been lucky to have them, and however this all ends, I'm glad to have had the chance to see all of these films with my kids.

I said at the start of the year that barring some surprise, I would be penciling in Avengers: Infinity War as my favorite movie of 2018.

I think we can put the pencil down, and grab the big black Sharpie.

Don't miss this one.

Final Grade: A+

He's Baaaaaaack..."The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale"

The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale (2018)

Starring Joel McHale

The Story:

Joel's back, doing what made him famous the first time around: poking fun at the best, worst clips you can find on television today!

Seriously, that's it.

For those with a long enough memory and cable subscription, you may remember back in the day there was a little show called Talk Soup. It was hosted by Greg Kinnear, and they mocked some of the outrageous clips that were found on the daytime talk shows.

This ran for years, with Kinnear ultimately heading off to become a leading man in Hollywood, and subsequent hosts came and went, each springboarding to further fame after their hosting gig.

Then the show was rebranded as "The Soup" as television was not only inundated with crazy talk shows, but reality tv was going gangbusters and deserved a special place in the sun to enjoy the absurdity of it all.

The ringleader in all of this? Some guy named Joel McHale.

Following its predecessor's lead, Joel stood in front of a green screen and made quips about the clips until E! decided to pull the plug.

Joel headed to Hollywood and the rest is history.

Until 2018, when Netflix decided wouldn't it be great if we brought back something old as something new again?

And here we have the perfectly titled The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale.

It's wordy. It's a bit conceited. It's the perfect title for Joel's comeback.

There are guests aplenty in each episode, usually from another Netflix series or special, but otherwise you get Joel being Joel and mocking everything from the clips to his own show to Netflix ... dun dun ... itself.

All is right with the world again.

New episodes stream every Sunday, but we're getting close to the end of the first 13 episodes.

Hopefully he'll be renewed for a Season 2 later this year.

Final Grade: A-

The Weather Outside Is Frightful..."Geostorm"

Geostorm (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Gerard Butler, Max Sturgess, Eugenio Derbez, Andy Garcia, Ed Harris, Abbie Cornish,

Directed by Dean Devlin

The Story:

To battle climate change, the governments of the world create the Dutch Boy program. This series of satellites counteracts severe weather and keeps the Earth peaceful and stable. Until now. Suddenly the satellites are apparently causing severe weather and attacking major cities across the globe. It's up to the original project manager, Jake Lawson (Butler) to head into space and find out what's going wrong.

Oh Dean Devlin, how we've missed you!

These epic disaster movies with just enough tongue in cheek are always a blast to check your brain at the door, grab the popcorn and have a rollicking good time.

Here, Butler takes center stage and battles to find out if his programming has gone haywire or if there is a traitor in space trying to sabotage his best work.

There is political intrigue and corruption.

There is space sabotage and a series of red herrings to throw you off of who is behind the madness.

But at the end of the day, this movie isn't nearly as bad as it was made out to be.

It was fun, completely watchable, and yes, I'd even watch it again or heaven forbid even buy it if the price was right.

:)

Your mileage may vary.

Final Grade:  C+

Grief Counseling..."Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Rated R

Starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell

Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh

The Story:

As the title suggests, these three billboards are placed outside of the town by a grieving mother (McDormand) questioning the police chief (Harrelson) about why her daughter's murderer has not been caught. 

There's a lot to soak in with this movie.

It's probably the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful of Martin McDonagh's catalog of films. 

That's a good thing, but all of his previous work that I've seen, I've always enjoyed. 

The cast, which I'm limiting to just the three principal players, is simply outstanding. 

I'm happy for the film and all the awards it was nominated for, and rightfully won. 

The worst part was having Harrelson and Rockwell competing against each other for the same category.

Both are great, I would personally have given the edge to Harrelson, but that's me. 

My only real complaint with the film, it wanders a touch here and there, maybe 10 minutes or so too long, but still comes in shy of 2 hours. 

I won't go into much more than that, but if you were hesitant to see it, add it to your list and see what all the fuss was about. 

I think you'll be glad you did. 

Final Grade: A-

Country Bumpkins..."Logan Lucky"

Logan Lucky (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig,

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

The Story:

Jimmy and Clyde Logan (Tatum & Driver) have decided that if they want to succeed in life, they have to stop getting walked on. So they set out to rob Charlotte Motor Speedway, but they need the help of safecracker Joe Bang (Craig). The only catch? He's currently behind bards...

And there you have the setup for an elaborate heist film that is filled with ups and downs, which actually seems to be the curse of the Logan family.

The heist itself is improbable and yet elaborately simple and complex, both at the same time.

The movie ends on a puzzling note, but for this film, that seems spot on.

Daniel Craig seems to be having the most fun of the cast, playing completely against type in this one. Of course when your type seems to be James Bond, it's fairly easy to play anything other than that.

But the role is very comedic in nature, and he seems to be relishing the whole non-leading man part and having a lot of fun while doing it.

If you've got Amazon Prime, this movie is currently available to stream.

Final Grade: C+/B- range

Strange But True..."American Made"

American Made (2017)

Rated R

Starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright,

Directed by Doug Liman

The Story:

In 1978, Barry Seal (Cruise) was a burned out TWA pilot who was recruited by the CIA to fly reconnaissance missions for them. In the years that follow that would turn to drug and arms smuggling for both sides. However when you work for the cartels and they suspect you're double-crossing them, your story will not have a happy ending.

Naturally, based on a true story goes without saying here.

Liman and Cruise are together again in the exploits of Barry Seal.

The story jumps around with what happens next, inter-spliced with video narratives by Seal taping confessionals of his unbelievable story to a camcorder.

And it was a wild ride that Barry lived.

Dramatic license or not with the actual events, this is a guy who flew spy missions for the CIA and smuggled drugs for Pablo Escobar.

Throw in arms dealing in a little thing called the Iran Contra Affair and the story is just over the top crazy.

But it's true.

It's also a pretty good film.

And that's never a bad thing.

Final Grade:  B-

A Tale Of "Wonder"

Wonder (2017)

Rated PG

Starring Jacob Tremblay, Izabela Vidovic, Owen Wilson, Julia Roberts, Mandy Patinkin

Directed by Stephen Chbosky

The Story:

Auggie (Tremblay) is a little kid who is about to embark upon his greatest adventure: he's going to public school for the first time in his life. The facial deformities that he was born with have been fairly well fixed and hidden over the first part of his life thanks to his parents who were there for him and homeschooled him. But now it's time for Auggie to branch out and see if the real world will accept him or reject him.

So if you saw the trailers, you hopefully got the misty eye or the lump in your throat as it hit all the cliche notes that a movie like this is going for.

The movie will not disappoint you.

Cliche after cliche, note after note, this film ticks off every block that you're expecting to see in a coming of age dramedy about a little boy who fits in nowhere but at home, and yet has a profound impact on everyone around him.

The greatest strength of this movie is they realized that telling Auggie's story might get a bit redundant after 90 minutes of over and over, cliche after cliche of what Auggie is dealing with.

So in the wisest move ever, the movie shifts off of Auggie and instead tells side stories that run parallel (and have flashbacks) to life with Auggie in in. Friends. Family. Those that have known him forever and those that are just getting to know him.

Again, you know the road they are going down from the moment the movie starts, but it's still an enjoyable road nonetheless.

Final Grade:  B+

It's A Rough Job..."The Hitman's Bodyguard"

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

Rated R

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Elodie Yung, Gary Oldman,

Directed by Patrick Hughes

The Story:

Michael Bryce (Reynolds) used to be the best Triple A rated bodyguard in the business. After a disaster he couldn't have seen coming, he's now striving to keep himself employed and working to get back to the top. Hired to escort international assassin Darius Kincaid (Jackson) to testify in court to put a war criminal (Oldman) behind bars, the two have to survive countless assassination attempts and each other if they hope to make it out of the situation alive.

If you saw the trailer and thought it looked like a silly, fun action flick, well you were right.

Ryan Reynolds is back to doing his usual routine of playing himself/Van Wilder/Wade Wilson.

It's worked for his entire career in most movies, so why stop now?

Paired with Samuel L. Jackson, the two get to enjoy the camaraderie that comes in the usual buddy comedy/mismatched dynamic duo genre and all the trappings and cliches that entails.

I happen to looooove that genre, so I'm a fan.

Fun film that with a few tweaks along the way could have been even better than it was.

Your mileage of course can vary.

Final Grade: B-

The Freedom Of The World Rests On "Dunkirk"

Dunkirk (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh,

Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan

The Story:

Late May 1940, the Allies have been pushed out of Europe and now are desperately bunched up on the beaches of Dunkirk awaiting transportation back to England. Thankfully, Hitler decides to stop the advancement of tanks on their location and this gives the Allies the small window to charter boats (and lots of them!) to cross the channel and save the troops. They hope to get a small fraction out... they end up saving them all.

For those that failed to read up on their history, this is indeed based on the true story of a pivotal moment that saved Europe from completely falling under Hitler's relentless march.

Nolan's three-headed tale bounces between land, sea, and air to show different people trying to escape death or heading straight into it to save lives.

It's a good film, but I didn't find it nearly as great as much of the hype that followed it.

Best war movie ever? That's pretty lofty praise.

I would argue that it wasn't even the best war movie of last year. I'd give that title to yesterday's film that I reviewed, Darkest Hour. They even touch on the Dunkirk evacuation, and I felt in the brief moment of that mission, they almost conveyed it in a better scope than the entirety of this film.

But that's just me, feel free to judge for yourself.

Final Grade: B

The Right Man For The Job..."Darkest Hour"

Darkest Hour (2017)

Rated PG-13

Starring Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily James, Ronald Pickup, Stephen Dillane,

Directed by Joe Wright

The Story:

As the Nazis roll through Europe, Great Britain is facing an internal crisis of their own as Chamberlain (Pickup) resigns as Prime Minister and recommends Winston Churchill (Oldman) instead. However while the majority seem to want to forge a peace with Germany, Churchill seems determined that England draw a line in the sand, and fight!

It's rare to have the 2 hour biographical drama that you wish would have kept going, or might get a sequel, but then, Winston Churchill is the rare subject that likely deserves it.

Oldman disappears into the role and carries the picture that pretty much is a short snapshot of him getting selected as Prime Minister and the first weeks in office.

But that's because quite a bit of events kept churning up in that window of opportunity.

The movie blazes through this time period, while also giving a brief look at his life at home with his wife (Thomas) as well as Churchill breaking in a new secretary (James).

Having read and watched other Churchill biographies, this one hits most of the high points of that crucial time period and thanks to the spectacular work of Oldman, leaves you wanting more.

Definitely worth a look.

Final Grade: B+