MOVIE - Rules Don't Apply

PG-13

Wide release 11/23/16 - went to cheap theaters almost immediately

Viewed date at Century Gateway Friday, 12/9/16 MY LAST MOVIE IN TUCSON!!!

RT Critic: 56   Audience:  44
Critic's Consensus: With Rules Don't Apply, Warren Beatty takes an overall affable -- but undeniably slight -- look at a corner of old Hollywood under Howard Hughes' distinctive shadow.
IMbD Rating:  6.3/10 

Cag:  4

Directed by Warren Beatty

Twentieth Century Fox

Warren Beatty, Lily Collins

My comments: I came out of the theater feeling a little unsettled.  that's what the movie did for me, it was unsettling.  Some of it was much too long and drawn out, some of it was just delightful.  A lot of big names appeared here and there, and that was fun.  The two young leads had great rapport and I enjoyed the scenes with the two of them together most.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  An aspiring young actress (Lily Collins) and her ambitious young driver (Alden Ehrenreich) struggle hopefully with the absurd eccentricities of the wildly unpredictable billionaire, Howard Hughes, (Warren Beatty) for whom they work. It's Hollywood, 1958. Small town beauty queen, songwriter, and devout Baptist virgin Marla Mabrey (Collins), under contract to the infamous Howard Hughes (Beatty), arrives in Los Angeles. At the airport, she meets her driver Frank Forbes (Ehrenreich), who is engaged to be married to his 7th grade sweetheart and is a deeply religious Methodist. Their instant attraction not only puts their religious convictions to the test, but also defies Hughes' #1 rule: no employee is allowed to have any relationship whatsoever with a contract actress. Hughes' behavior intersects with Marla and Frank in very separate and unexpected ways, and as they are drawn deeper into his bizarre world, their values are challenged and their lives are changed.

MOVIE - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

PG-13 (2:12)

Wide release November 18, 2016

Viewed Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016 at Century Park Place....for the last time?

RT Critic:  78  Audience: 83
Critic's Consensus: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them draws on Harry Potter's rich mythology to deliver a spinoff that dazzles with franchise-building magic all its own.

Cag:  4/Enjoyed it very much, but it was a bit long

Directed by David Yates

Warner Brothers Picture

Written by J. K. Rowling

Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler (I really liked him!)

My comments:  The first few bars of music at the very, very beginning of the movie are notes from the Harry Potter theme.  After those first few notes, the music hanges.  Yes, this movie is by J. K. Rowling and yes, it is set in the world of wizards and awizardry, but other than that there's not much comparison to Harry Potter.  It's a standalone.  The setting, for one thing, is completely different - 1920s in New York City.  And for the most part, the story is about adults, not kids or even young adults.
     It's hard to compare the two movies, they are pretty much incomparable.  It was okay, entertaining, and had interesting actors.  I loved Jacob Goldstein, he was actually my favorite character in the move.  The Actor, Dan Fogler, was wonderful.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York's secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.

MOVIE - Moonlight

R (1:50)

Limited release 10/21/16

Viewed 11/29/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 98   Audience:  91
Critic's Consensus:   Moonlightuses one man's story to offer a remarkable and brilliantly crafted look at lives too rarely seen in cinema.

Cag: 4.5 - for the most part, I liked this movie a whole lot

Directed by Barry Jenkins (who also wrote it)

Plan B Entertainment

My comments:  I loved parts one and two.  A lot. But part three threw me off a bit.  The physical change in the main character is too extreme.  He was intensely skinny in the first two parts, and even though he'd bulked up incredibly, he didn't have the leanness that I felt he still would have had.  So it was hard to relate to him as the same character.  And this third part went at what seemed to me like a slower pace.  The story, as a whole, was so sad and so well told - my heart breaks for kids who are brought up in drug-addicted households and poverty, and for kids who have to deal with intense bullying, mentally and physically.  Our world.....or at least some parts of it.  Horrible.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man's struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

MOVIE - Arrival

PG-13 (1:51)

Wide release 11/11/16

Viewed date at Park Place Mall on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 after getting my hair cut.

RT Critic:  93  Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.

Cag:  5.5  I really loved it, superior movie, may change to a 6...

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

21 Laps Entertainment

Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forrest Whitacker

My comments:  Now that's a MOVIE!  Clever, believable science fiction where you slowly figure out what's going on, and the reality is much ... deeper ... than superficial.  I'll be thinking about this one for a long while yet.  It left me with a couple of small questions, that I'm sure I'm supposed to figure out on my own (sort of like the end of reading The Giver for the first time).

RT/ IMDb Summary:  When mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team - lead by expert linguist Louise Banks - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

MOVIE - Jane Got a Gun

R (1:37)
Wide release 1/29/16 (on DVD in April)

Viewed on Netflix 11/16/16

RT Critic:  40  Audience:  38

Cag:  4.5  Liked it a whole lot

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Relativity Media
Joel Edgerton is credited as one of the three writers

Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton

My comments:  I don't add movies I didn't see on the "big screen" on the blog, but am making an exception for this one.  It's a pretty current movie and I really liked it a lot, so I want to keep track of it.  It's a rich story, and although there's a lot of killing, the gun battles aren't quite as long and drawn out as in the other westerns I've seen recently.  A gang of outlaws vs. three people protecting a small home, one of whom is totally incapacitated.  Natalie Portman and Joel Edgerton make a believable couple, and as their story unfolds as the movie progresses, it really tugs on the heart strings.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Jane Hammond has built a new life with her husband Bill "Ham" Hammond after being tormented by the ultra-violent Bishop Boys outlaw gang. She finds herself in the gang's cross-hairs once again when Ham stumbles home riddled with bullets after dueling with the Boys and their relentless mastermind Colin. With the vengeful crew hot on Ham's trail, Jane has nowhere to turn but to her former fiancé Dan Frost for help in defending her family against certain destruction. Haunted by old memories, Jane's past meets the present in a heart-stopping battle for survival.

MOVIE - Doctor Strange

PG-13 (2:10)

Wide Release 11/4/16

Viewed 11/15/16 at Century Park Place

RT Critic: 91   Audience: 90
Critic's Consensus:  Doctor Strange artfully balances its outré source material against the blockbuster constraints of the MCU, delivering a thoroughly entertaining superhero origin story in the bargain.

Cag: 5/Loved it

Directed by Scott Derrickson

Walt Disney Studios

Based on the Marvel Comic

Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swanton, Chiwetel Ejiofor

My comments:  Wow, loved this movie!  Not your "typical" Marvel/comic movie at all!  Not an overwhelming amount of fighting/action scenes, lots of incredible effects, a fantastic story, and WONDERFUL acting by Benedict Cumberbatch.  I think I'd like to see this in 3-D, although I don't usually like wearing the glasses, I bet this would be awesome!  Easy to go see again, too.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  A disgraced former surgeon named Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) becomes a powerful sorcerer under the tutelage of a mystic known as the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Rachel McAdams, Mads Mikkelsen, and Chiwetel Ejiofor co-star in this entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

MOVIE - The Magnificent Seven

PG-13 (2:12)

Wide release 9/23/16

Viewed 11/6/16 at Century Park Place
IMBd:  7/10

RT Critic: 63   Audience:  75
Critic's Consensus:  The Magnificent Seven never really lives up to the superlative in its title -- or the classics from which it draws inspiration -- but remains a moderately diverting action thriller on its own merits.

Cag:  4, Liked it more than I should have...

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

Sony Pictures

Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Sarsgaard, Matt Bomer

My comments:  The old west.  Lots of gunfights, as expected, but entertaining story.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  With the town of Rose Creek under the deadly control of industrialist Bartholomew Bogue, the desperate townspeople employ protection from seven outlaws, bounty hunters, gamblers and hired guns - Sam Chisolm, Josh Farraday, Goodnight Robicheaux, Jack Horne, Billy Rocks, Vasquez, and Red Harvest. As they prepare the town for the violent showdown that they know is coming, these seven mercenaries find themselves fighting for more than money.

MOVIE - Bridget Jones's Baby

R (2:03)

Wide release 9/16/16

Viewed 11/1/16 at Century Gateway
IMBd:  6.9/10

RT Critic: 76   Audience: 73
Critic's Consensus:  Bridget Jones's Baby might be late on arrival, but fans of the series should still find its third installment a bouncing bundle of joy.

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Sharon Maguire

Working Title

Colin Furth, Patrick Dempsey, Renee Zellweger, Emma Thompson

My comments:  I really didn't expect to like this movie (the trailers I saw led me to that conclusion), but I went anyways, because I LOVE Colin Furth.  So glad I did....it turned out to be very funny, and quite good, actually!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Oscar (R) winners Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth are joined by Patrick Dempsey for the next chapter of the world's favorite singleton in Bridget Jones's Baby. Directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones's Diary), the new film in the beloved comedy series based on creator Helen Fielding's heroine finds Bridget unexpectedly expecting. After breaking up with Mark Darcy (Firth), Bridget Jones's (Zellweger) "happily ever after" hasn't quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her job as top news producer and surround herself with old friends and new. For once, Bridget has everything completely under control. What could possibly go wrong? Then her love life takes a turn and Bridget meets a dashing American named Jack (Dempsey), the suitor who is everything Mr. Darcy is not. In an unlikely twist she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch...she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby's father.

MOVIE - Inferno

PG-13 (2:02)

Wide release 10/27/16

Viewed Roadhouse on Halloween with Cyra!

RT Critic:  20  Audience:  43
Critic's Consensus:  Senselessly frantic and altogether shallow, Inferno sends the Robert Langdon trilogy spiraling to a convoluted new low.

Cag:  3/Liked it once I started understanding what was going on....but not great

Directed by Ron Howard

Sony Pictures

Based on the book by Dan Brown

Tom Hanks, Ben Foster, Felicity Jones

My comments:  For the first third of the movie I was totally and completely confused, as I imagine anyone watching this would be, unless perhaps they'd read the book.  There were three or four different factions of people working against?? with?? each other and major flashbacks.  As it slowly started making sense I enjoyed it more.  You had to really pay attention, and it would help if one had a tiny sense of 

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon in director Ron Howard and screenwriter David Koepp's adaptation of author Dan Brown's bestselling novel Inferno, which finds Langdon using Dante's The Divine Comedy as a tool in the race to prevent a devastating global pandemic. 

MOVIE - The Dressmaker

R (1:58)

Limited release 9/22/16

Viewed 10/27/16 at the Loft (tripped on the top step and my soda drenched my pizza slice.  I really do not like the upstairs theater!)

RT Critic: 54   Audience:  69
Critic's Consensus:  The Dressmaker boasts a strong central performance by Kate Winslet and a captivating array of narrative weirdness -- all of which may or may not be a comfortable fit with viewers.

Cag: Hated it and loved it: AVERAGE = 3

Directed by  Jocelyn Moorhouse

Amazon Studios & Broad Green Pictures

Based on the book by

Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Judy Davis

My comments:  The first half of this film was wonderful...but I HATED what they did to (spoiler!) Liam Hemsworth.  I know that it drew the plot along....thank goodness it didn't happen at the end of the film....but it sure set my spirits L-O-W!!!  The ending made up for it, but I was never able to pop up above the surface again.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The Dressmaker tells the story of the beautiful and talented Tilly Dunnage (Academy Award winner Kate Winslet). After years working as a dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, Tilly returns home to a town in the Australian outback to reconcile with her eccentric mother Molly (Academy Award nominee Judy Davis). She also falls in love with the pure-hearted Teddy (Liam Hemsworth), and armed with her sewing machine and haute couture style, Tilly transforms the women of the town, exacting sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.

MOVIE - Denial

PG-13 (1:50)

Limited release 9/30/16

Viewed 10/24/16 with Sheila (& others?)
IMBd: 6.3/10

RT Critic: 81   Audience:  75
Critic's Consensus:  If Denialdoesn't quite do its incredible story complete justice, it comes close enough to offer a satisfying, impactful drama -- and another powerful performance from Rachel Weisz.

Cag: 4/liked it a lot

Directed by Mick Jackson

Participant Media

Based on a true story

Rachel Wiesz, Tom Wilkerson

My comments:  Saw this with Sheila and had a bit of a talk about it afterwards.  Learned a lot about the British justice/legal system, lots of things are different from the US.  Hard to believe that people actually either believe that the Holocaust never happened or want to totally erase it from history.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Based on the acclaimed book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier, DENIAL recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt's (Academy Award (R) winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (Cannes Award winner Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, the burden of proof is on the accused, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred.

MOVIE - Mechanic: Resurrection

R (1:50)

Wide Release 8/25/16

Viewed Wed. 10.19.16 at Century Gateway

RT Critic:  26  Audience:  44
IMDb: 5.7/10
Critic's Consensus:  none!

Cag:  3.5 Definitely enjoyed it...

Directed by Dennis Gansel

Summit Entertainment

Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones

My comments:  This was a very entertaining bang bang, shoot-em-up, MacGyver-to-the-extreme movie with glorious locations/settings.  An extremely clever (and buff) retired hitman reluctantly goes on one last spree to make himself dead and gone forever, sot that he can live out the rest of his life in peace - in beautiful locales with beautiful Jessica Alba.  When you look past all the ridiculous killing (all bad guys, of course) the story was a blast.  Now I need to see the 1st Mechanic, filmed in 2011.

IMDb Summary:  Arthur Bishop thought he had put his murderous past behind him when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life. Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents.

MOVIE - The Accountant

R (2:08)

Wide 10.8.16

Viewed 10.17.16 at Park Place

RT Critic:  49  Audience:  87
Critic's Consensus:  The Accountant writes off a committed performance from Ben Affleck, leaving viewers with a scattershot action thriller beset by an array of ill-advised deductions.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Gavin O'Connor

Warner Brothers Pictures

Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. T. Simmons, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor

My comments:  I loved this movie.  Some of the critics didn't...probably because it was all wrapped up in a neat little bow, which is what I really loved about it.  Bill Dubuque, who wrote the screenplay, was brilliant.  He took a number of seemingly different vignettes and wove them together to make one story.  He must have needed a wall to map it out!  Spectacular storytelling!   Yup, violence, and killing...but sweetness and humor and a grand mystery as well. And Asberger's.  And love, although it definitely wasn't a love story per se.  Top it off with small roles for both John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor (and fantastic parts for Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, and J. T. Simmons) and this became a real winner for me...one of my favorites so far this year!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Christian Wolff is a math savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Behind the cover of a small-town CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world's most dangerous criminal organizations. With the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King, starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars. But as Christian uncooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it is the body count that starts to rise.

MOVIE - Florence Foster Jenkins

PG-13 (1:50)

Wide Release 8/11/16

Viewed Friday, 10/14/16 at Century Gateway

RT Critic:  86  Audience:  74
Critic's Consensus:  Florence Foster Jenkins makes poignant, crowd-pleasing dramedy out of its stranger-than-fiction tale -- and does its subject justice with a reliably terrific turn from star Meryl Streep.

Cag:  4.5 It was really good, liked it a lot!

Directed by Stephen Frears

BBC Films

Based on a true story

Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg

My comments:  Biopics are truly interesting - usually I come away with a "No Shit!" kind of reaction.  This was quite a story, acted beautifully by the three protagonists.  Perfect for their roles, I was particularly impressed by Simon Helbert (of Big Bang Theory fame), his facial expressions and gorgeous piano playing blew me away.  I loved the end, when Meryl Streep got to sing beautifully, showing ho Ms. Jenkins pictured herself singing the entire time.  So poignant...and somewhat sad, I guess, though you don't come away from the film feeling at all sad.

IMDb Summary:  Florence Foster Jenkins, born Narcissa Florence Foster, was an American socialite and amateur soprano who was known and mocked for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. The historian Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer". "No one, before or since," he wrote, "has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation."

MOVIE - Queen of Katwe

PG (1:24)

Wide release 9/30/16

Viewed Monday, 10/10/16 at El Con with Sheila
RT Critic:  91  Audience:  88

Critic's Consensus:  Queen of Katwe is a feel-good movie of uncommon smarts and passion, and outstanding performances by Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo help to elevate the film past its cliches.

Cag:  4.5 Liked it a whole lot

Directed by Mira Nair

Walt Disney Studios

Based on a true story

David Oyelowo, Lupita N'yongo

My comments:  A little long, but it seems like most films lately have been.  Based on the true story of a young girl from the "slums" of Uganda who, even though she couldn't read, learned to master the intricacies of chess, out-thinking her opponents, and with the support of her small community of Katwe, going on to win championships in all of Africa, under the guidance of a part-time minister/coach (and his wife).  Though practically homeless and incredibly poor, she is also forged by a loving mother and three supporting siblings.  (Note:  the fabrics in this film are unbelievable, gorgeous, colorful!)

IMDb Summary:  "Queen of Katwe" is the colorful true story of a young girl selling corn on the streets of rural Uganda whose world rapidly changes when she is introduced to the game of chess, and, as a result of the support she receives from her family and community, is instilled with the confidence and determination she needs to pursue her dream of becoming an international chess champion

MOVIE - Bad Moms

R (1:41)

Wide release 7/28/16

Viewed Monday, 10/3/16 at Park Place by myself

RT Critic:  60  Audience:  73
Critic's Consensus:  Bad Momsvboasts a terrific cast and a welcome twist on domestic comedy -- and they're often enough to compensate for the movie's unfortunate inability to take full advantage of its assets.

Cag:   3- Liked it all right

Directed by John Lucas & Scott Moore

Block Entertainment

Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christina Applegate

My comments: This movie could have been completely hysterically funny, but there were two problems....first is that they tried to put too much "reality" into it (the divorce & repercussions) and they hit too many particularly stupid notes ('mean girl/bully PTA president pulling all the shots, instant easy turnaround at the end).  50% was just great - raunchy, racy, and almost off-the-charts bad taste, while the other 50% was eye-rolling.  Good entertainment.

RT Summary:  In this new comedy from the grateful husbands and devoted fathers who wrote The Hangover, Amy has a seemingly perfect life--a great marriage, over-achieving kids, beautiful home and a career. However she's over-worked, over-committed and exhausted to the point that she's about to snap. Fed up, she joins forces with two other over-stressed moms on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities--going on a wild, un-mom-like binge of long overdue freedom, fun and self-indulgence--putting them on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn and her clique of devoted perfect moms.

MOVIE - Cafe Society

PG-13 (1:25)

Limited Release 7/15/16

Viewed Sunday 10/2/16 at Century Gateway (by myself)

RT Critic:  71  Audience:  63
Critic's Consensus:   Café Society's lovely visuals and charming performances round out a lightweight late-period Allen comedy whose genuine pleasures offset its amiable predictability.

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed & written by Woody Allen

Perdido Productions

Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Steve Carrell, Blake Lively, Parker Posey

My comments:  I don't think I realize how much I love Woody Allen's work.  For the most part I love this film, and I adore the way he ended it.  The settings - 1930s Hollywood and New York City - as well as the costuming - were terrific.  I love the way that real personalities (like in many of his other films) were examined.  Casting was terrific.  The juxtaposition of the three siblings was my second favorite part, but I think a little bit more story about Bobby's brother and sister was needed to round out the story a bit and would have definitely enhanced the movie.  My favorite part?  The Jewish influences and humor.

RT Summary:  Set in the 1930s, Woody Allen's bittersweet romance CAFÉ SOCIETY follows Bronx-born Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Hollywood, where he falls in love (with his uncle's mistress), and back to New York, where he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life. Centering on events in the lives of Bobby's colorful Bronx family, the film is a glittering valentine to the movie stars, socialites, playboys, debutantes, politicians, and gangsters who epitomized the excitement and glamour of the age.

MOVIE - The Hollars

PG-13 (1:28)

Limited release 8/26/16

Viewed September 2016 somewhere in Tucson

RT Critic:  44  Audience:  58
Critic's Consensus:  The Hollar sgathers an impressive assortment of talented stars; unfortunately, it's all in service of a story that's been played out more effectively in countless other indie dramedies

Cag:  4
Directed by John Krasinski !!

Sony Pictures Classics

John Krasisnki, Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins, Margo Martindale

My comments:  I didn't take notes after watching this, and am writing this at least 100 movies later!  But I remember liking it a whole lot, and although it was sad, didn't feel too depressed afterwards, what you'd probably refer to as a dramady?    I also remember enjoying all the actors, some of my favorites.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  John Hollar, a struggling NYC artist is forced to navigate the small middle-American town he left behind when news of his mother's illness brings him home. Back in the house he grew up in, John is immediately swept up in the problems of his dysfunctional family, high school rival, and an over-eager ex-girlfriend as he faces impending fatherhood with his girlfriend in New York. From a script by Jim Strouse that is at turns hilarious and heartbreaking, John Krasinski's second feature is a poignant look at the bonds of family and friendship.

MOVIE - Captain America: Civil War

PG-13 (2;26)

Wide release 5/16/16

Viewed 9/25/16 (Happy Anniversary!) at Century Gateway

RT Critic: 90   Audience:  90
Critic's Consensus:  Captain America: Civil War begins the next wave of Marvel movies with an action-packed superhero blockbuster boasting a decidedly non-cartoonish plot and the courage to explore thought-provoking themes.

Cag:  4 - liked it a lot
Directed by Anthony & Joe Russo

Walt Disney Pictures

Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, 

My comments:  Very glad I got to see this before it left the big screen!  Many of the Marvel characters - some I don't even know - come together and then split into two factions: Captain America's side (wanting the Avengers to stay an independen's s organization, choosing what problems to take on themselves) or Ironman's side (wanting to sign a treaty that will allow the world governments to be the starting off place, deciding when they'll be needed).  It was actually a lot of fun - particularly near the end when Spiderman and Antman were enlisted!  No Hulk in this one.  Fighting, especially the "big one" near the end, wasn't too boring because there were not real good guys vs. bad guys - it was Avengers against each other without hatred and trying only to stop, not maim or kill.  Super long movie.  Enjoyed it.

RT Summary:  Marvel's "Captain America: Civil War" finds Steve Rogers leading the newly formed team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. But after another incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability, headed by a governing body to oversee and direct the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers, resulting in two camps-one led by Steve Rogers and his desire for the Avengers to remain free to defend humanity without government interference, and the other following Tony Stark's surprising decision to support government oversight and accountability.

MOVIE - Star Trek Beyond

PG-13 (2:02)

Wide release 7/22/16

Viewed Friday, 9/16/16 at Century Park Place

RT Critic: 83   Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Star Trek Beyond continues the franchise's post-reboot hot streak with an epic sci-fi adventure that honors the series' sci-fi roots without skimping on the blockbuster action.

Cag:  2: BORING but okay

Directed by Justin Linn

Studio Paramount Pictures

Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana

My comments:  I love sci-fi.  I've always enjoyed Star Trek.  But for this one no stretching-of-the-imagination could help explain (and shorten) all the chase/fight/zapping scenes - which make up about 80% of the movie.  The remaining 20% was delightful, fun and funny, lots of tongue-in-cheek, clever, eye-rolling reparte...but I couldn't WAIT for it to end.  Ho hum....

Fandango Summary:  In this third installment of the rebooted Star Trek film series (which began with J.J. Abrams's Star Trek in 2009), Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) struggles with a personal crisis as he and the crew of the Enterprise are attacked by a dictator named Krall (Idris Elba). When an assault by Krall leads to the destruction of their starship, the team end up marooned on a remote planet inhabited by aliens both hostile and helpful.  Star Trek Beyond is dedicated to both Leonard Nimoy (who passed away in 2015) and Yelchin (who died after filming concluded).