Blindspotting / **** (R)

Lionsgate

Collin: Daveed Diggs

Miles: Rafael Casal

Val: Janina Gavankar

Ashley: Jasmine Caphas Jones

Officer Molina: Ethan Embry

Summit Entertainment presents a film directed by Carlos López Estrada. Written by Rafael Casal & Daveed Diggs. Running time: 95 min. Rated R (for language throughout, some brutal violence, sexual references and drug use).

Facebook is a dangerous place to hang out lately. There are few places online—or certainly in the physical world—where our cultural divides are more clearly displayed out in the open. And yet, many of us can’t quit it. Despite all the political vitriol found there and thought manipulation I see enacted on intelligent people on a daily basis, I still like the contact I get with distant family members and acquaintances. I enjoy seeing pictures of the smaller moments that define most of our lives. I love laughing at pictures of Corgis being dogs while their owner project human presumptions upon them. I also enjoy those challenges that ask you to look at a picture until you can see an image within it that isn’t at first obvious, or the games that ask you which words you see first in a grid of letters. These challenges often claim that what you see first reflects your outlook on life or some such thing. The new movie Blindspotting, written by lifelong friends Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, offers a glimpse into a culture many of us might not be aware of along with showing its characters that the way they see their life does not necessarily match what others see and vice versa.

Ocean’s 8 / *** (PG-13)

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Debbie Ocean: Sandra Bullock

Lou: Cate Blanchett

Daphne Kluger: Anne Hathaway

Rose Weil: Helena Bonham Carter

Tammy: Sarah Paulson

Amita: Mindy Kaling

Nine Ball: Rihanna

Constance: Awkwafina

Claude Becker: Richard Armitage

John Frazier: James Cordon

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Gary Ross. Written by Gary Ross and Olivia Milch. Based on characters created by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. Running time: 110 min. Rated PG-13 (for language, drug use and some suggestive content).

I think there’s an expectation with a heist movie these days that it will be action-filled, have a bunch of twists and turns, and involve a plot that is so complicated it could require a couple of viewings to understand. The new female-centric heist flick Ocean’s 8 follows a more classic notion of the heist flick—something more akin to Rififi, considered by many to be the greatest heist flick of all time. The formula involves a group of characters with specific skill sets, who each provide a vital aspect of the heist that they lay out in precise detail and then visually execute for the audience to appreciate how it all plays out. The outside elements are well-considered by the heist crew and the pleasure comes from watching these characters work together towards a goal while the rest of the cast remains oblivious as to how they are being played. Not every detail in the plan is revealed ahead of time, but the capable and charismatic author of the heist has any speed bumps well in hand. It’s not so much about whether they’ll pull it off, but an appreciation of well-written characters and the actors who are hired to depict them.

Super Troopers 2 / **½ (R)

Fox Searchlight

Mac: Steve Lemme

Rabbit: Erik Stolhanske

Thorny: Jay Chandrasekhar

Foster: Paul Soter

Farva: Kevin Heffernan

Captain O’Hagan: Brian Cox

Genevieve Aubois: Emmanuelle Chriqui

Guy LeFranc: Rob Lowe

Mountie Podien: Hayes MacArthur

Mountie Bellefuille: Tyler Labine

Mountie Archambault: Will Sasso

Governor Jessman: Lynda Carter

Fox Searchlight Pictures presents a film directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. Written by Broken Lizard. Running time: 100 min. Rated R (for crude sexual content and language throughout, drug material and some graphic nudity).

For those of you waiting for the return of the dysfunctional group of Vermont State Troopers that brought the comedic crew of Broken Lizard into the modern lexicon, the wait is finally over. And what a wait it was. In fact until April 20^th was close enough for everyone to start making social media memes alluding to getting high but never outright saying it, I’d forgotten all together that the planned follow up to the 2001 cult comedy hit Super Troopers was even coming. In fact, it’s been almost ten years since the comedy troupes’ last feature all together.

I was a fan of their work, and it feels like I should add “back in the day” to that statement. I thought Super Troopers was some kind of stupid comedy genius, and I was a huge fan of their 2006 movie Beerfest as well. Club Dread (2004) and The Slammin’ Salmon (2009) didn’t have quite the cleverness of the other two though. I’ve missed their conversational comedic style and hope it won’t be as long before they come out with more original work. Unfortunately, there does seem to be a slight staleness to the Super Troopers universe.

Avengers: Infinity War / ***½ (PG-13)

Marvel Studios

Tony Stark/Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr.

Thor: Chris Hemsworth

Bruce Banner/Hulk: Mark Ruffalo

Steve Rogers/Captain America: Chris Evans

Natasha Romanoff: Scarlett Johansson

James Rhodes/ War Machine: Don Cheadle

Doctor Strange: Benedict Cumberbatch

Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Tom Holland

T’Challa/ Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman

Gamora: Zoe Saldana

Nebula: Karen Gillan

Loki: Tom Hiddleston

Vision: Paul Bettany

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch: Elizabeth Olsen

Sam Wilson/Falcon: Anthony Mackie

Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier: Sebastian Shaw

Heimdall: Idris Elba

Okoye: Danai Gurira

Mantis: Pom Klementieff

Drax: Dave Bautista

Groot (voice): Vin Diesel

Rocket (voice): Bradley Cooper

Pepper Potts: Gwenyth Paltrow

The Collector: Benicio Del Toro

Thanos: Josh Brolin

Peter Quill/Star-Lord: Chris Pratt

Marvel Studios & Walt Disney Pictures presents a film directed by Anthony Russo & Joe Russo. Written by Christopher Markus & Stephen Feely.  Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Captain America created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Star-Lord created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan. Rocket Raccoon created by Bill Mantlo and Keith Giffen. Thanos, Gamora & Drax created by Jim Starlin. Groot created by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby. Mantis created by Steve Englehart and Don Heck. Running time: 149 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action throughout, language and some crude references).

I struggle to find exactly what to discuss about Marvel’s latest epic cinematic enterprise, Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel is very good at building toward big events such as this one, and they’ve spent several movies worth over the past few years building to this movie in particular. Just look at that cast list. Don’t think I’ve listed the only faces you’ll recognize from other Marvel movies either. The subjects of those movies have their own unrelated adventures, and little details and credit cookies in them lend hints toward the greater story that they all are building toward. Now it is here. It is a good story and a fitting one considering the grandeur of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The set ups are done and the players play their part and to say any more than that would spoil everything they’ve built. So, I will leave you with this biblical verse, which in itself may be saying too much.

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

                                                                                                                        Genesis 3:19

A Quiet Place / **** (PG-13)

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Paramount Pictures

Evelyn Abbott: Emily Blunt

Lee Abbott: John Krasinski

Regan Abbott: Millicent Simmonds

Marcus Abbott: Noah Jupe

Paramount Pictures presents a film directed by John Krasinski. Written by Bryan Woods & Scott Beck and John Krasinski. Running time: 90 min. Rated PG-13 (for terror and some bloody images).

Noise is something we take for granted. There’s always noise. Even in the darkest moments of night when the world at large is resting, our world is filled with noise. I can hear the hum of trucks from the interstate a quarter of a mile away at night when everything else is quiet in the house. However, nothing ever seems as quiet as it does when you are startled awake in the night by a nightmare. At that moment, silence can be stifling. And when all seems as still as it can be, with that nightmare lingering in your brain, the slightest little sound—a creak in the floor, a branch on a window, the fractional settlements of a house that occur throughout a structure’s lifespan—can bring an uncontrollable start. That moment when you suddenly think that the breaking of the silence will cost you your life, that is where the entirety of the new horror movie, A Quiet Place, exists.

Ready Player One / *** (PG-13)

Warner Bros.

Parzival/Wade: Tye Sheridan

Art3mis/Samantha: Olivia Cooke

Sorrento: Ben Mendelsohn

Aech/Helen: Lena Waithe

I-R0k: T.J. Miller

Ogden Morrow: Simon Pegg

Anorak/Halliday: Mark Rylance

Warner Bros. presents a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. Based on the novel by Ernest Cline. Running time: 140 min. Rated PG-13 (for sequences of sci-fi action violence, bloody images, some suggestive material, partial nudity and language).

There’s an interesting trend going on in filmmaking today that I don’t believe we’ve ever witnessed in cinematic history. It seems to have started at the dawn of the superhero movie, but has been building to a crescendo as more and more filmmakers who grew up in the 80s are coming into their own in Hollywood and are turning modern films into a sort of meta homage to the films of their youth. One of the filmmakers primarily responsible for the great popularity of cinema in the 80s was Steven Spielberg, who directed many of the iconic films of that era. With Ready Player One, it seems Spielberg has been inspired to up the meta level of modern filmmaking by making his own homage to the era that he was in great part responsible for building.

Spielberg chooses the right material for his meta gambit in his adaptation of Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One. Cline is making a name for himself as an 80s enthusiast—his second novel Armada is also heavily soaked in 80s nostalgia. I can’t imagine the nerdgasmic feeling that must’ve come over Cline when he discovered that Spielberg himself was interested in adapting his 80s nostalgia-centric novel. Anyway, Spielberg’s many professional connections to all things 80s and Cline’s obsession with them makes this a near perfect teaming of creative minds. Spielberg brings in frequent superhero scripter Zak Penn, also responsible for the story behind the equally nostalgia-driven Last Action Hero, to shore up Cline’s own screen adaptation.

Unsane / **½ (R)

Bleeker Street

Sawyer Valentini: Claire Foy

Nate Hoffman: Jay Pharoah

Violet: Juno Temple

David Strine: Joshua Leonard

Angela Valentini: Amy Irving

Bleeker Street Media and Fingerprint Releasing present a film directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by Jonathan Bernstein & James Greer. Running time: 97 min. Rated R (for disturbing behavior, violence, language and sex references).

When reviewing a movie like Steven Soderbergh’s latest feature, Unsane, a critic is faced with a dilemma of split purposes. On the one hand, you are reviewing a thriller that depends upon the tropes of the genre and the storytellers’ abilities to surprise and create tension for the audience. On the other hand, you’re reviewing an experiment of sorts. Soderbergh’s second feature film back from his brief “retirement” is not the first feature film to be shot on an iPhone, but the success of such films—mostly in terms of box office—has yet to reach a point where any sort of verdict has been made as to an audience’s willingness to accept such a film medium as mainstream. For the most part, Soderbergh’s experiment is a success in that it doesn’t feel like an experiment in the slightest; which raises the question, why exactly was this screenplay chosen for this experiment?

The screenplay by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer raises questions about the mental health industry in this country. These questions are important and legitimate, focusing on the very real practices of a select few voluntary admittance facilities that take advantage of their clients’ lack of knowledge about their rights and the willingness of insurance companies to cover such admittances without question for short periods of time. Unfortunately, other aspects of the screenplay bring into question the legitimacy of the mental health industry as a whole and could be seen as exploiting the realities of mental health issues for the purposes of schlock entertainment. I’m all for schlock, but there were times while watching this film that I felt uncomfortable about how little understanding the filmmakers were displaying in order to pump up the horror entertainment value of their story.

7 Days In Entebbe / *** (R)

Focus Features

Brigitte Kuhlmann: Rosamond Pike

Wilfred Böse: Daniel Brühl

Yitzhak Rabin: Lior Ashkenazi

Shimon Perez: Eddie Marzan

??: Ben Schnetzer

Patricia Martel: Andrea Deck

Jacques le Moine: Denis Ménochet

Focus Features presents a film directed by José Padilha. Written by Gregory Burke. Running time: 106 min. Rated PG-13 (for violence, thematic material, some drug use, smoking and brief strong language).

At Midnight of May 14, 1948 the Provisional Government of Israel declared the new State of Israel and applied for United Nations membership the very next day. Since then the State of Israel has been in conflict with the Palestinian people, who were displaced by the UN when the Israelis were given land the Palestinians claimed as their own. The conflict has frequently been bloody and involved the international community at large in the form of hijackings and violent protest throughout Europe. Even in writing these sentences I am wary of my word choices for fear of offending one side or the other. I have no dog in this race, but since it has been an international political issue for the entirety of my life, I am somewhat fascinated by the subject matter.

The new film 7 Days in Entebbe examines the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight by two Palestinians and two Germans, who took the fairly inspired and unexpected tactic of landing the plane in Entebbe, Uganda for negotiations under the protection of the unpredictable leader of that country, General Idi Amin. This is the fourth cinematic telling of this particular story, but the first to come after much of the details of the incident have been declassified by the Israeli government. The screenplay by Gregory Burke, who previously wrote the screenplay for the politically charged ’71, focuses on three different storylines. His first focus is on the two German hijackers, Brigitte Kuhlmann and Wilfred Böse, portrayed by the film’s biggest names Rosamond Pike and Daniel Brühl. The second examines the decision making process by the Israeli government, in particular the opposing viewpoints between then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Minister of Defense (and future Prime Minister) Shimon Peres. A third, less fact-based storyline follows an unnamed Israeli Defense Force soldier who is part of the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal responsible for executing the risky rescue operation cooked up by Peres’s staff.

My Favorite Music of 2017, part 2

In part two of My Favorite Music of 2017 we get to combine both of my extracurricular passions—music and movies (and a little TV). I listen to just about as much soundtrack music as I do popular music. I probably even try more soundtrack music out, but these are the ones I kept coming back to over and over again throughout the year. I divided the music into three categories—movie scores, television scores and compilation soundtracks. The compilations are new to this year’s entries. Popular music has long been an element in movies, and at about the time of the Miami Vice television series producers and studios realized that good music compilation soundtracks could be additional moneymakers. They soon became a staple. I kept this list down this year, because I really don’t listen to a whole lot of pop compilation albums. But there were a few entries that really struck me this year. Here are my favorite music soundtracks of 2017. (All release dates are 2017 unless noted).

My Favorite Music of 2017, part 1

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2017 was one of the better years for music I can remember. Well, I should probably qualify that. It is a year in which I personally have been able to immerse myself in music more fully than I have in quite some time. Every year that I come around to making this list, I always start out thinking I’d like to say something about each of my entries. There are two reasons that I don’t. The first is that I’ve chosen 20 albums and 10 shorter format entries for this list and this is only part one. These are my popular music choices, while part two will consist of movie soundtrack entries. Were I to write about all 50 entries on this list, I’d be writing for most of 2018, and it’s already the middle of March. The second reason I don’t write about the music is that after going full bent on my favorite sounds for the past couple of months, I’ve come to the conclusion that the music really speaks for itself. This is my favorite music of 2018 (all in no particular order).

Gringo / ** (R)

Amazon Studios

Harold Soyinka: David Oyelowo

Richard Rusk: Joel Edgerton

Elaine Markinson: Charlize Theron

Sunny: Amanda Seyfried

Mitch Rusk: Sharlto Copley

Bonnie Soyinka: Thandie Newton

Miles: Harry Treadaway

Angel Valverde: Yul Vazquez

Robert Vega: Hector Kostifakis

Jerry: Alan Ruck

Amazon Studios and STX Entertainment present a film directed by Nash Edgerton. Written by Anthony Tambakis and Matthew Stone. Running time: 110 min. Rated R (for language throughout, violence and sexual content).

The Edgerton’s appear to be a family of many talents. Hailing from Australia, Joel Edgerton is the better known of the brothers in the United States. He stars in his brother’s latest feature Gringo. Most would recognize him from leading roles in films like Warrior, The Great Gatsby, Exodus: Gods & Kings, Blank Mass, Loving and The Gift—which he also wrote and directed. His older brother Nash Edgerton directs Gringo. Gringo is Nash’s second feature film after the 2008 Australian thriller The Square, which took the top spot as my favorite film of that year. Gringo has some of the earmarks of that film but lacks its sharp tone and strong protagonist.

My Favorite Movies of 2017

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Just a few observations before my very late list this year. As I was compiling all the information for these films, I was struck by how many of the directors of these movies wrote their own screenplays. I believe we have entered the second age of the cinema auteur and I believe this observation supports that theory.

This would also explain why my list is so long this year. As I usually do, I originally placed these films in order from my favorite to my least favorite of… well… all the movies I gave four stars to this year, which always seemed like a strange practice because I think they’re all great. I realized this as I started to write about Get Out and noticed it had somehow fallen all the way back to number 9 on the list. I moved it back up to the top three, because somehow the top three are my top three, but really none of the films on this list are really in any particular order because they are all incredible movies. I don’t think I ever felt the movies I honored on this list each year were all on such equal ground before.

Here are my favorite films of 2017:

Black Panther / **** (PG-13)

T’Challa/Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman

Erik Killmonger: Michael B. Jordan

Nakia: Lupita Nyong’o

Okoye: Danai Gurira

Shuri: Letitia Wright

Everett K. Ross: Martin Freeman

W’Kabi: Daniel Kaluuya

M’Baku: Winston Duke

N’Jobu: Sterling K. Brown

Ramonda: Angela Bassett

Zuri: Forest Whitaker

Ulysses Klaue: Andy Serkis

Walt Disney Pictures presents a film directed by Ryan Coogler. Written by Coogler & Joe Robert Cole. Based on the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Running time: 134 min. Rated PG-13 (for prolonged sequences of action violence, and a brief rude gesture).

You’re going to read a great deal about the box office of Black Panther. You’re going to read many quotes from critics calling Black Panther “ground breaking.” You’re going to read that Black Panther is the best comic book movie ever made. For most people, none of this will really matter. For most people, Black Panther will just be a good time at the movies. It accomplishes this with a predominantly black cast in an international story that includes only two white supporting characters. That right there is the biggest reason why all of the previous things I listed are true. However, what is most remarkable about Black Panther is that all of those things said about it would also be true even if most people didn’t go to see it.

The 15:17 to Paris / *½ (PG-13)

Spencer: Spencer Stone

Anthony: Anthony Sadler

Alek: Alek Skarlatos

Ayoub: Ray Corosani

Joyce: Judy Greer

Heidi: Jenna Fischer

Spencer (11-14): William Jennings

Alek (11-14): Bryce Gheisar

Anthony (11-14): Paul-Mikél Williams

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by Clint Eastwood. Written by Dorothy Blyskal. Based on the book by Anthony Sadler and Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone and Jeffery E. Stern. Running time: 94 min. Rated PG-13 (on appeal for bloody images, violence, some suggestive material, drug references and language).

The 15:17 to Paris, Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort, is a film of our times. The world has become violent. Terrorist attacks are becoming so common that we are teaching our children how to live in a world rife with them. We look for examples of how to survive them. More importantly, we look for examples to follow to inspire us to be better in the face of evil. Eastwood has found those examples in Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler. The first two service men, all three lifelong childhood friends who helped to thwart a planned terrorist attack on the Thalys train line from Amsterdam to Paris. There is no doubt that these three men are heroes. This, however, is not the movie they deserve. Nor is it the movie we deserve from their example.