I'll be adding to this as the year progresses.
1. Captain America: Brave New World
Perhaps the most thoroughly OK (if thoroughly forgettable) movie that Marvel Studios has yet produced. The parts they tinkered with after filming wrapped are obvious, and as a whole the production lacks focus. Oh well Marvel, you can't win 'em all? It's been a weird few years for everyone...
The most compelling character here is probably Harrison Ford's Thaddeus Ross, even though the way in which Sam Wilson defeats him is one of the most contrived plot points ever.
Anthony Mackie has some good moments in this film, and for what it's worth Brave New World increased my appreciation for his character, but I still think the wings + shield combo is a bit much, especially since neither the wings nor the shield obey the laws of physics. The fight scenes that don't involve either the wings or the shield are better, but even so Mackie's character seems lost within his own movie, sidelined behind WAY more interesting characters like Isaiah Bradley, President Ross and even Sidewinder.
A straight-ahead Red Hulk movie would have been more to the point.
2. Mickey 17
Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho follows up 2019's Parasite with Mickey 17, a science fiction movie with a wry sense of humor.
I'd seen some of Robert Pattinson's more indie efforts beforehand, and I'd also seen Mark Ruffalo in 2023's Poor Things, so the quirkiness of this film didn't really surprise me. What did surprise me was the narrative sweep of this movie, which encompasses themes ranging from immortality, the nature of the human spirit and the morality of killing.
Mickey 17 isn't bad, but it's a far cry from 2009's Moon, which does a lot more with a lot less. For me the weak point of the film was the dialogue, which relies heavily upon the word "fuck." Parasite it most certainly isn't, but there are some interesting ideas to be found in Mickey 17.
3. The Electric State
The Russo Brothers return with a movie that'll remind you of Ready Player One, and not necessarily in a good way. Chris Pratt offers his standard (if likeable) Chris Pratt performance, while Millie Bobbie Brown continues to channel an entire nation of Swifties. The robots? They range from mildly annoying to extremely so.
This Electric State traffics a fair amount of 80s/90s nostalgia, but beyond that it doesn't have much of a plot to speak of. Robots with their own intelligence are somehow bad, while robots implanted with human intelligences are somehow good. And none of the implicit leaps in AI seem, in this cinematic universe, to have amounted to anything else at all, a fact completely unaccounted for by the movie.
4. Popeye the Slayer Man
"It's the spinach! You need to stop eating it! It's destroying your mind!"
Yes, I actually paid actual money to see Popeye the Slayer Man. No idea why. Guess I was bored.
Thinking about seeing this movie? All I can say is set your expectations low and you won't be disappointed. Popeye has, for the most part, two finishing moves: the skull crush and the forearm snap. He moves really slow, and the people he chases get lost very easily.
5. A Working Man
Jason Statham outing which will remind you a bit of John Wick and maybe also Mandy. Surprisingly enough Sylvester Stallone co-wrote the script, and for director David Ayer it's something of a return to form. I think it packs more punch that The Beekeeper, another recent Statham film.
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