MOVIE - A Wrinkle in Time

PG

Widel release 3/9/18

Viewed date at 3/25/18 at Carlisle 8
IMBd:  4.2/10

RT Critic: 41   Audience: 33
Critic's Consensus:  A Wrinkle in Time is visually gorgeous, big-hearted, and occasionally quite moving; unfortunately, it's also wildly ambitious to a fault, and often less than the sum of its classic parts.

Cag: 2.5  It was okay.

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Walt Disney Pictures

Based on the book by Madeline L'Engle (which I've read many times, beginning when I was just a kid).

Chris Pine, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling

My comments:  Pretty over-the-top.  Not at all what I had envisioned in my mind after all the times I've read this book.  Meg was nothing like I'd pictured, nor was Calvin.  And Mrs. Who, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Which?  NOOOOOO!  Okay, so I forget about the book, and think about the movie as a whole, without the book.  How does that change my thinking?  That's when the over-the-top thinking kicks in.  Mindy Kaling's character, costuming, and setting di work okay for me....
          I love fantasy, I love sci fi.  For some reason, this just didn't do it for me.  DARN!  The music was pretty decent, though....

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Meg Murry (Storm Reid) is a typical middle school student struggling with issues of self-worth who is desperate to fit in. As the daughter of two world-renowned physicists, she is intelligent and uniquely gifted, as is Meg's younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), but she has yet to realize it for herself. Making matters even worse is the baffling disappearance of Mr. Murry (Chris Pine), which torments Meg and has left her mother (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) heartbroken. Charles Wallace introduces Meg and her fellow classmate Calvin (Levi Miller) to three celestial guides-Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling)-who have journeyed to Earth to help search for their father, and together they set off on their formidable quest. Traveling via a wrinkling of time and space known as tessering, they are soon transported to worlds beyond their imagination where they must confront a powerful evil. To make it back home to Earth, Meg must look deep within herself and embrace her flaws to harness the strength necessary to defeat the darkness closing in on them.

MOVIE - Wonder Woman

PG-13 (2:21)

Wide release 6/2/17

Viewed date at 7/11/17
IMBd: 7.6

RT Critic: 92   Audience:  88
Critic's Consensus:   Thrilling, earnest, and buoyed by Gal Gadot's charismatic performance, Wonder Woman succeeds in spectacular fashion.

Cag:  4.5 It was really good, with lots of WWI history

Directed by Patty Jenkins

Warner Bros. Pictures

Actors: Chris Pine, Gal Godot

My comments:  This ended up being an unexpectedly good movie.  From the supernatural Amazon tribe, hidden away for many years in preparation to bring down Aries, comes Diana, daughter of the Amazon queen Hippolita.  When WWI spy Chris Pine breaks through the invisible barrier and crashes into the ocean near the island, he is saved by beautiful Diana.  The backstory of Wonder Woman proceeds from there.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.

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).

MOVIE - Hell or High Water

R (1:42)

Limited release 8/12/16

Viewed Sunday morning, (a great time to see a movie!) 9/11/16 at Park Place

RT Critic: 98   Audience:  90
Critic's Consensus:   Hell or High Water offers a solidly crafted, well-acted Western heist thriller that eschews mindless gunplay in favor of confident pacing and full-bodied characters.

Cag:  I'm going to go all out and give this a 6/Awesome, this was a wow movie, one that I won't forget.  Chris Pine (not one of my previous faves) was SO good, as was Ben Foster, who played his brother.  They made it seem real. And I'll take Jeff Bridges playing any part any day....

Directed by David Mackenzie

Film 44

Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges

My comments:  This was a terrific movie.  Incredible acting from all four of the major players.  Intriguing, gut-wrenching storyline.  West Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexican real towns (I just traveled through some of them, so I know they're depicted completely correctly).  Humor.  Love.  Family ties.  Conservatism vs. Liberalism.  Big guy vs. Little guy.  Rich vs. poor.  Powerful and powerless.  Overwhelming sadness and jubilant yeeha moments.  Everything done right....

IMBd Summary:  Two brothers -- Toby, a straight-living, divorced father trying to make a better life for his sons; and Tanner, a short-tempered ex-con with a loose trigger finger -- come together to rob branch after branch of the bank that is foreclosing on their family land. The hold-ups are part of a last-ditch scheme to take back a future that powerful forces beyond their control have stolen from under their feet. Vengeance seems to be theirs until they find themselves in the crosshairs of a relentless, foul-mouthed Texas Ranger looking for one last triumph on the eve of his retirement. As the brothers plot a final bank heist to complete their plan, a showdown looms at the crossroads where the last honest law man and a pair of brothers with nothing to live for except family collide.