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.
6. A Minecraft Movie
It's mostly dumb, sometimes funny, extremely colorful and it might just be the respite you need from news of tariffs, gold cards and whatever else Trump is doing (or not doing) now. The star of this movie is definitely Jason Momoa, who steals the show in much the same way he stole the show in Fast X.
Fun Fact: Director Jared Hess's first film was Napoleon Dynamite.
7. The Accountant 2
If you liked the first movie (and who didn't?) you'll like this one too. It starts 8 years after the first one ended, and it stays true to the original characters. I'm not sure that the lighter moments and the darker moments really balance out, but overall it's a good movie and I enjoyed it.
8. The Thunderbolts*
Comic book movie fans rejoice! This one's MILES better than Captain America: New World Order. It does a lot with the Sentry character, and the interplay between the various members of Marvel's anti-hero team is engaging throughout. Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus do most of the heavy lifting here, but former Hellboy David Harbour also adds a lot to this movie.
...and now we just need to wait another two months for the summer's real heavy hitters, James Gunn's Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps. Of the two movies I'm looking forward to Fantastic Four a lot more. Hopefully it'll be able to capitalize on the momentum built up in Thunderbolts*.
9. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
It's alright. My biggest complaints are the overabundance of exposition in the beginning and the fact that it's way too long. The submarine part is cool up to a point, but it grows increasingly implausible once Ethan Hunt considers egress via torpedo tube.
And the airplane stunts near the end? Impressive in their way, but a little too similar to scenes from previous movies.
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10. Final Destination: Bloodlines
Running away from death? Yeah, good luck with that. For what it's worth I'd already seen the other four movies, though I couldn't remember much from any of them.
As horror movies go Bloodlines, is very... OK, but it's not likely to leave a lasting impression. The opening bit in the badly designed tower is somewhat memorable, but upon the release of inevitable future installments you're likely to forget which entry in the series featured this particular tragedy.
My favorite imminent death scene remains that scene in the hardware store from Final Destination... Whatever It Was. Bloodlines fails to top that one, but it's OK in my book.
11. Lilo & Stitch
No, of course I didn't go see it under my own steam. I was dragged into this particular screening by the person I happen to be married to, a person who insisted that after Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning I "owed her one."
OK, whatever. Lilo & Stitch was relatively painless. It was almost funny in parts, and Lilo's older sister is played by a very beautiful actress who's endured online bullying over the fact that she's not 110% native Hawaiian.
As a guy old enough to have taken one of his children to a showing of the 2002 film in the then-local theater, I can confidently assert that this remake adds almost nothing to the original, and that it is in fact only a pale reflection of what we watched in 2002. But we all knew that right? No one was surprised?
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