Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Spine-tinglingly sensational cinematic experience weaves a wonderful alternate world where ground-breaking arachnimation, comic comedy, and philosophical depth can co-exist simultaneously, and even as the brilliantly genre-bending cast of characters struggle to thwart trans-dimensional fusion they introduce our less-advanced reality to futuristic concepts like… genuine diversity, moral ambiguity, and increased spider-sensitivity.

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Annihilation

Garland goes from mechanic to organic with deep dive into Area Ex, annihilating conventional narrative amidst shimmery translucent visuals dense with opaque meaning. Simultaneously adds and subtracts from source’s actively ambiguous characterization, while sparse script and rich score imply just as much depth as the stony performances of the cast.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Spaceships idle infinitely along while wonderfully diverse heroes meander about on meaningless missions, diving through plotholes to find silly set-pieces like the Dobby-horse race and 50 shades of Rey’s red room of pain. Mediocre choreography and weak story compete for worst place with Poe’s deadly stupidity and Kylo’s aim-all-guns strategy.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: An Old Hope resurrects the mythic feel, playful tone, and wondrous excitement of its pre-prequeled predecessors, perhaps a bit too exactly.  Solo chews up scenery but Leia is re-imagined as a droid, while new faces breath life into Ta2ine, and vague visions force fans to watch future films.

A Most Violent Year

Chandor drapes gravity of All over Margin’s complexity and masterfully molds the gripping moodiness of Call is Lost.  It’s Wall Street meets Drive, if James Grey had directed it, and further cements Isaac and Chastain as two of the most serious actors working today.  Still, definitely a most deceptive title.