Black Panther

Strong performances, refreshing gender diversity and fearlessly ambiguous look at morality of cultural isolationism elevate this action flick above its overly shiny visuals. Freeman’s comedic relief perfectly inverts stereotypical token roles as he quizzically wonders, ‘Wakanda movie is this?’ Sole weakness is questionable villainy of Jordan’s character’s legitimate throne claim.

Southpaw

Everything goes wrong, including Gyllenhaal’s fighting, which is right. Tracks an unlikely hero who gets hit with every cliché before failing in his quest to gain custody of an Oscar. Fuqed up story goes south as it fails to land gut-punches and shows less heart than a taped-up punching bag.

Rogue One

Rogue fits perfectly into franchise formation, forcefully awakening original trilogy’s tone while further diversifying the universe.  Felicitous casting features stellar Luna and K-2dyk’s robot reprisal, but Yen is underutilized and Desert Forest feels almost as out of place as Tarkin’s face. Against all odds, delivers hope of further franchise expansion.