Deadpool 2

Picks up right were the first left off, Wade is Deadpool is a smart-ass, carefree, independent superhero who only really wants what HE wants. He is connected to his girl, but not to any greater cause or life purpose. Reynolds continues to play this role with great success and inhabits the character fully. The self-mocking humor is pervasive, and all the action/language is appropriate to the character/story and not just gratuitous. In this sequel, the main plotline follows Wade as he is moved by events from carefree to responsible. I guess it is the maturation of a teen superhero. But this film is also a victim of the extravagent-is-normal disease affecting movies these days, so even though it does everything right, it is still just alright.

3 stars (out of 5)

Solo

Han is an enterprising street urchin working on a backwater smuggling planet for a caterpillar like crime lord. I presume that was the pitch line for Solo, and of course you would buy it. Here we get the back story of Han Solo, describing his maturation into the world of smuggling and being a good guy at heart. We see how he meets Lando and Chewie, and we get all of this with an appropriate return to the campy action of the original, while still feeling like a modern space opera. On the down side, it seems to me that after watching this big budget, tentpole, popcorn, summer blockbuster movie, it was all of those things and meh! at the same time. I wonder if we have come to the point where there are so many big budget, tentpole, popcorn, summer blockbuster movies every year all year around that it is now the status quo and not so special. They are just movies, not cultural events. It doesn't take away from the movie, but it does alter my emotional engagement after the fact.
4 stars (out of 5)

Manhunt

Directed by John Woo, who I normally like, this is the story of a lawyer who is in the wrong business for a powerful corporation, but has exceeded his utility. So of course, they send pharmaceutically enhanced, trained since they were stolen from the orphanage, super soldier assassins to remove him from the picture. But he isn't (removed that is). It just falls flat, as a movie.
2 stars (out of 5)

Bullethead

Set in Indonesia, a man wakes up in the hospital with a head injury, and amnesia. As his memory slowly returns in flashes, he finds he he a highly trained mobster muscle. They tried to kill him now he is out to get free of his past. That is the entire depth of the plot and characters. Poor attempts at interstitial story between fight/kill scenes do not satisfy.
2 stars (out of 5)

Taken (Serial)

Season 1

Former CIA agent Brian Mills witnesses the murder of his younger sister at the hands of a drug cartel kingpin, who arranged this murder because of Mills own killing of the kingpins brother. After the capture of this cartel kingpin, Mills is hired to be a member of an elite team of spies who work (basically) directly for the president. Each episode sends the team on a mission of national importance, while also weaving the season long storyline of Mills obsession with his sister's killer. In many ways, this is typical spy/military TV thriller. However, while the story is clearly U.S. centric, and is explicit projection of covert power, the feel of the show is strongly European. That is, a few line/context changes over the course of the season and this is Crossing Lines or any number of Scandanavian/Euro police/military procedurals. I can't quite figure out why this is so... but it is...

4 stars (out of 5)

It Might Get Loud

Rewatched this doc  and liked it again, maybe even more. Three guitarists getting together to be musicians. This time my favorite scenes were watching the three lean in and watch the others when they were playing. The pure joy of musicianship is evident.

5 stars (out of 5)

Avengers: Infinity War

As one of the biggest films in history, with the most fanatic of fan bases, there is not much I can say about this that has not already been said. Plot: Thanos continues his quest to capture all the infinity stones to put in his fancy glove so he can reduce universal population by 50%, all with a random, bias free, natural selection promise. A sort of super-hero, modern age version of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. And the Avengers (all of them) get together to stop this madness. Part of the fun of this film is seeing the Marvel characters that previously had no knowledge of each other, meet and introduce themselves and develop their pecking order/working relationships on the fly. Continued excellence from the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Sidenote: After the next film, will they need to refer to this forevermore as the MCPU (Marvel Cinematic Parallel Universe)?

4 stars (out of 5)