Solo

Set longer than long time ago, this space spectacle successfully stands alone. An appropriate amount of camp and coolness lend further fuel to a film that doles up the right ratio of references to revelations and, ‘trust’y tropes aside, manages to maintain tension despite obvious direction and less obvious directors.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

The violence, depth and moral ambiguity fit the McDonagh bill, and though the characters are astoundingly strong and fantastically flawed, the scripting is looser than Bruges, and the ending less inevitable. Occasional comedic moments stretch too far tonally, but the drama definitely delivers while McDormand and Rockwell, well… they rock.

War for the Planet of the Apes

War breaks Dawn’s over-obsession with monkey action and rises to the Apex of virtual emotion. Delivers remarkably little war, drifting instead into the style of a Chimp Eastwood revenge western. Beautiful cinematography, confidently slow pacing and a majestic score make the Hateful Ape an incredibly powerful and deeply human experience.

Mockingjay: Part 1

Expository non-plot hardly whistles by as the capital pays the bird to remain flightless in the hopes of raking in more Pan-Emerican dollars.  Meanwhile the rebels leak a host of nude photos to raise public awareness, while Gale gets stormier, Peeta gets thinner, and Julianne regrets not making better contacts.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Apparently the game-makers caught and fired whoever did the Shakicam to part 1, because this sequel is well choreographed and crisply shot.  With deeper character development, larger cast, and imaximum number of digital tricks, the only thing extinguishing this fire’s sure victory is a twisty spoiler of a ship-sized plothole.