Knives Out

Rian Johnson continues to show the world why his is a fantastic director and that the Last Jedi and Looper where not flukes. With the thought and ingenuity that when into this film, it is a real wonder that they were able to pull it off so masterfully. It is a true whodunnit that will have you guessing until the very end. I often try to figure out or guess the outcome of films before they happen as my namesake will suggest and even I, the great Sherlock Holmes was off the mark. And what this film does that even my own films have failed to do in the past is set up the ending with quite obvious hints to the perpetrator that if the audience is truly looking for they can see. It does not take a genius of high IQ to pick up on small minuscule details that are not even shown to the audience. And that is what truly makes a good mystery film. Is it believable and upon second viewing the audience can see how the crime was committed in real time vs the reveal in the end.

 Daniel Craig puts in a truly phenomenal and hilarious performance as Beniot Blanc, a private investigator who is mysteriously hired to investigate the suicide of a famous mystery writer. It is wonderful to see him play off of Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon and Chris Evans as the spiteful children/grandchildren looking for their inheritance. It is a true wonder to see him interact with the coming out party for Ana De Armas who plays the dutiful nurse caught up in the family drama. De Armas has been relatively unknown until now and should not be forgotten again. She easily takes center stage in the film and uses her compatriots to elevate her status. Usually with such a stacked cast, the least known actor is relegated to looking foolish or out of their league. This is not the case in Knives out and De Armas even puts a few of her colleagues to shame. Knives out delivers on all fronts and could not have been a better response to all the Star Wars haters that were calling for Johnson's head.

This easily earns an A+ and I would consider it one of the best films of the year.

Spider-man: Homecoming

We all must leave home in order to discover ourselves but sometimes I'll return home is just what the doctor ordered. This is exactly what Spider-Man has done returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man was one of the best parts of Captain America Civil War and his character is built on in magnificent ways throughout homecoming. His witty charm, his lovable ignorance, and his comic book nerd like innocence is a breath of fresh air to the Marvel franchises. The one and only downside to the film is Tony Stark's inclusion, which to be fair was much less than anticipated. This film reiterates the problem with Tony Stark's Iron Man in all Marvel movies. In all films before Civil War he has been the Maverick or The Lovable Rebel to The Avengers but ever since Civil War Marvel have been trying to shoehorn him into the Now Noble hero. Instead of making him completely Noble they try to flirt with the line of keeping him Rogue like but also authoritarian. This comes off terribly when he scolds Peter Parker for going off and doing things on his own and blaming him for when things go wrong on plans he does not tell Peter about. Luckily Spider-Man is able to carry most the film on his own with his comedic dialogue and his new guy in the chair John something or other. Refreshingly his love interest is neither Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane and can be given a fresh take on prepubescent crushes. There an awesome Easter egg to his other love interests near the end of the film leaving it open for Marvel to either take a big leap from the comics or walk it back in the next film. This film critic cannot wait for the next film with Spider-Man and that is coming from someone who has become disillusioned with the idea of Marvel's Universe. A- rating

Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Let me start this off with if you remove this movie from the marvel universe and simply look at it as an action movie it is a fun adventure that is a little rushed but all around good fun. When you insert it in to the Marvel machine and examine what was promised and the thought that should have gone into it, the film is an incredible disappointment. To start the movie off the Avengers are storming a hydra base attacking human hydra members. Form this scene, and subsequent scenes involving battles with robots, it is incredibly clear that the humans are CGI. I mean it’s horrifically obvious. The avengers look like they are fighting with ragdolls with what these hydra members looked like. Having this introduce the movie to the audience seems to be a huge let down when they are trying to hype you up with a quick reunion battle. The audience is then rushed through the creation of the main villain of the film in a sequence where he goes from nonexistence to the most evil thing the avengers have faced in a matter of 10 minutes. It is difficult for me to take a villain seriously when he is rushed into the film at lightning speed, given little development and chooses a stupid premise to destroy humans. James Spader does his absolute best to bring out the baddie in Ultron and does a spectacular job when he is talking. But when it comes to action, Ultron is about as menacing as a wet towel. There is never a point in the film where I felt there was a chance that the Avengers would lose. Another poor decision by Marvel is the portrayal of certain members of the team. Black Widow and the Hulk are shoehorned into a romance that has little to no build up going from 0 to lets run away together in 10 seconds. Tony Stark makes a monumental judgment error and creates Ultron, only to decide to make the exact same mistake again later in the film hoping for different results. As was pointed out to me by an online critique, Captain America gets more ribbing and flack for telling Tony to watch his language than Tony gets for creating supposedly the deadliest Artificial Intelligence ever. There are a few scenes that start to build the tension between Tony and Captain for Marvels next film, Captain America: Civil War, but by the end of the film everyone is lovey dovey. Age of Ultron was billed as a very dark film with a prominent theme being death. As it turns out there is actually very little death and the few that happen have little to no emotional impact due to the build of the characters. This has mostly been a nitpicking of a decent action film; my disappointment comes from the expectations from marvel and what appears to simply be a placeholder Avengers film, keeping the fans appeased until The Infinity War. 2 ½ stars out of 4.