Captain America: Civil War

Two guys shy of an Avengers flick, Captain vs. Iron: Dawn of Cinema deals with identical themes of dreadful DC doppelganger but beautifully bolsters battles with empathetic characters, meaningful motivations, and plot logic. Even cinematic universe building blocks feel like more than just superfluous strands to expand Marvel’s dark web.   

Too Big to Fail

The economy hurts Hurt in this unrelated direct sequel to Margin Call.  Almost documentary table-talk film remains more entertaining than Stone’s Wall Street: Puts you to Sleep, and maintains appropriate amount of neutrality.  Phenomenal supporting cast perfectly portray 12 angry rich men.  Overall, insightful and cautionary but not a game-changer.

The Village

Underrated middle-act in Shyamalan’s predictably twisty career.  Well acted by an all-star cast and cleverly conceived.  Film is greatly hurt by clunkiness of the reveal and several forced lines of explanation thereafter.  Though his performance is great, Brody’s senseless (story-wise) character drags plausibility of film into pit spiked with silliness.

Dark City

Rufus is confused by lack of daylight so naturally he turns to Jack Bauer to count the hours. Proyas applies Crow sensibility to Chinatown sci-fi and populates his crazy Brazillian city with Riff Raff, Hurt, and a dreamy Connelly. Moody, atmospheric and clever, and outside the Matrix by one year.

Into the Wild

Penn graduates acting and disappears into directing his Milky boyfriend. Hurt softens Hurt and Harden as Hirsch races speedily through a cast of comedians and meets vampiric new girl next door. Beautifully executed piece has perfect mix of romance and realism to make anyone almost want to be Supertramp. Almost.

Vantage Point

Incredible. Incredible premise. Incredible premise executed. Incredible premise executed terribly. Incredible premise executed terribly with. Incredible premise executed terribly with horrendous. Incredible premise executed terribly with horrendous plot. Bored yet? It gets worse. Features obnoxiously coincidental ending. Viewers who enjoy this film will likely empathize with Whitaker’s totally irrational character.