King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword

Charlie Hunan plays a reluctant Arthur. He is 'the born king', who was wisked away into exile when his mother and father were killed by his uncle (Jude Law), and the magic sword Excalibur is buried in a stone. Raised as a thief, his born leadership skills make him the chief thief, which gives him an 'army' of his own when the time comes to move the plot along. Arthur pulls the sword out of the stone, journeys on a path of discovery, and defeats his evil uncle. This is action only, through and through. No character has any depth beyond Arthur, and his only depth has been fully revealed in what is written here. The action is adequate at best. What may redeem this movie is the look. Colors and sets give us a particular style that is consistent, stark, and dramatic. But rarely does look alone make a good movie.
2 stars (out of 5)

Wonder

The story of a middle school kid (Auggie) going to school for the first time. He has been home schooled his whole life, primarily based on that fact that he has led a life of surgery and health problems. But now his body is up to the task, and apparently his parents think his psyche as well. The lifetime of surgeries have left his face deformed and scar-laden, which is perfect for a middle school bullying film. Auggie encounters his share of bullies, but also finds his share of friends. It is an up-and-down path as he discovers what it is like to be liked, hated, disappointed, and forgiving. Of course everything works out in the end and we all feel good about how we as viewers would surely be the friendly middle-school kids. Probably a good discussion film to watch with gradeschool kids, but too wrapped up and obvious for the older crowd. But I felt good in the end.
4 stars (out of 5)

Monster Trucks

I was in the mood for some silly diversion. This was definitely it. The plot is based on the local oil drilling company hitting a pocket of underground water, which releases some massive telepathic, octopi like, super intelligent creature to the surface. One of them takes residence in our protagonists pickup truck and functions as the engine. The symbiotic relationship that develops between monster and teen (spoiler alert) leads to the teen getting a girlfriend, the monster going home, the oil company getting shut down. And of course, the  monster in the truck is the conceit that leads to hilarious [must roll eyes when reading this sentence] hijinks. This is not a serious movie. This is an after school special that cost too much to actually sell as an after school special. But since I was looking for a silly diversion, I got exactly what I wanted. Based on that, I have to give it
3 stars (out of 5)

Proud Mary

Taraji P Henson plays a hit-woman working for a Boston crime family. Her connection to the family is more than just employment, but it is not clear if that relationship is familial or some form of indentured service. Likely it is both simultaneously and therein lies the drama. The plot for this film comes from a young boy that Henson lets live when she kills the father. She eventually takes in the boy and inadvertently starts a mafia turf war. Then she needs to clean up her mess and get herself and the boy out of Dodge. Unfortunately, this is not very engaging in its execution. So...
2 stars (out of 5)

The Post

Well written, well acted, fascinating story. The Washington Post is a 'local paper' in 1960's with a style section that is equal in importance to the political coverage. This film covers the development of the paper into a national political reporting leader based on its role in covering the story of the pentagon papers. These papers were a series of classified documents leaked to the press giving an in-depth look at what the US government knew about Vietnam, and how it made decisions about the war effort. Meryl Streep plays the first female publish of a major newspaper as she struggles to make the transition from socialite wife of a newspaper owner to a newspaper owner who is invested in journalistic integrity. She has Tom Hanks as her editor to push/pull her along this journey. Really a fascinating story as I was not really aware of this piece of history (just before my time). In terms of overall movie enjoyment, the obvious comparison here is to Spotlight of a couple years ago, and maybe based on temporal relevance, I liked that one better. But don't get me wrong, this good, and should be seen.
4 stars (out of 5)

Molly's Game

Jessica Chastain plays Molly Bloom, former aspiring olympic downhill skier who crashed out of the sport and needed something to do. She lucked into a personal assistant job where she was able to manage a high stakes poker game, and basically made her entire income from tips. When things went sour with her boss, she moves to New York to set up her own game and gets caught up in the wrong crowd leading to her eventual arrest for illegal gaming. The story is told mostly in flashback as discussion with her lawyers reveals the history. While not anything near the complexity of the late 2000's housing crisis, this film had a feel very much like The Big Short. I will say that as a written and directed by Aaron Sorkin film, I expected lots of wandering the hallways, long dialogue scenes a la West Wing. And sort of got it in the form of long monologue voiceover from Chastain. But somehow it seemed appropriate and was not distracting or annoying. I learned quite a bit about gaming and poker, and Chastain was excellent as basically the entire show (voiceover and all). 

4 stars (out of 5)

Bright

Hailed by some critics as the worst movie of 2017, I clearly had to see this. And I have no idea what they saw. Will Smith plays a police officer in basically modern time Los Angeles. However, in this world, elves and fairies and orcs are part of the population. Smith's partner is the first Orc police officer ever, the result of a newly instituted diversity program. And since Orcs supported the Dark Lord centuries ago, they are the one race despised by all. Add to this racial drama magic wands, terrorists, and typical gang controlled neighborhoods. Granted, this isn't academy award level acting or writing. But for the fantasy nerds out there, this reminded me of The Word and the Void trilogy that was built out of the Shannara world. Buy into the evolution of races where humans aren't the only ones to survive as an opening premise, and then imagine what life might be like. Of course the elves are the wealthy, pretentious upper class. Of course the orcs are despised. But beyond this, I loved the dialogue with the chief orc about how he really is just misunderstood as he tries to throw an inter-racial party. I tolerated the over-the-top magical evil girl. I appreciated the cheesy buddy-cop banter. I enjoyed the small details (fairies attacking the birdfeeder, deep hole under orc-land, bumbling orc super strength, etc.).
4 stars (out of 5)