The Thomas Crown Affair

A stultified millionaire businessmen (Steve McQueen) concocts the perfect crime in the form of a bank heist by assembling a handful of criminals who remain anonymous to each other. Soon he is targeted by a beautiful investigator (Faye Dunaway) with the two finding their attraction to each other more than palpable. Norman Jewison's The Thomas Crown Affair is dated, aloof and dull with awful Academy Award winning music and horrendous usage of multiple split screens. The stars maintain interest but are still misused.

** out of ****

Wonder Wheel

A miserable waitress (Kate Winslet) married to a drunken though loving lout (Jim Belushi) in the Coney Island home begins an affair with an aspiring writer and current lifeguard (Justin Timberlake) which is complicated when her estranged stepdaughter (Juno Temple) returns home and repairs her relationship with her father. Stiff, overly familiar and coming off like a bad play, Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel takes form somewhat in the end but is still too routine, plus it features unnatural performances from Winslet and Timberlake. I initially thought this was just another victim of the Me Too inquisition but sadly and truly is one of Allen's worst outings.

** out of ****

The Fountain

A doctor (Hugh Jackman) ignores his dying wife (Rachel Weisz) in an obsessive attempt to find a cure for the cancer ravaging her body by way of a life sustaining substance. Meanwhile, she is struggling to finish her novel about a conquistador (Jackman) on a quest to find the Tree of Life for his queen (Weisz) during the Inquisition while, 500 years in the future from the present day, a spaceman (Jackman) is bringing his wife's remains to a far off nebula in the hopes of renewed life. The Fountain is ill-conceived, overornate, and self-serious with artificial looking special effects. Though containing potential, writer/director Darren Aronofsky doesn't know how to culminate its lackluster stories. Jackman is strong but strained and the soundtrack is excellent.

** out of ****

The Post

When government contractor Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) witnesses the perpetual standstill in Vietnam followed by a knowing Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) still selling the war to the public, he decides to steal a lengthy top secret document, later to be known as the Pentagon Papers, which was a study of the war that revealed a decades long awareness and deceitfulness regarding the hopelessness of the conflict. When these papers were published by the New York Times, they were hit with a temporary injunction by the Nixon White House, leaving the door open for the then regional Washington Post and their tenacious editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) and his team to find the source and publish the remaining documents, just at the same time their owner Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep) is taking the paper public. Steven Spielberg's The Post seems to be stretching its story farther than it wants to go with a deficient, hokey screenplay that doesn't have a whole lot to say beyond first amendment power of the press rhetoric and barely veiled references to the current administration. Its become well known how quick the movie was assembled, shot, and edited and that rushed feeling shows in the final, forgettable product. Also, Spielberg appears to be attempting an unnatural style of directing outside of his ouevre. Hanks is miscast as the hard-nosed Bradlee and only calls to memory a superior Jason Robards portrayal of the newsman in All the President's Men. Streep, however, is appealing as the softspoken, underestimated newspaper magnate. A well-recognizable cast fails to leave an impression.

** out of ****

The Shape of Water

A lonely, mute cleaning lady (Sally Hawkins) learns to communicate and eventually falls in love with the top secret Creature from the Black Lagoon currently being housed at the government aeronautics agency at which she works. Abused by the sadistic security man (Michael Shannon) and set for dismemberment, she resolves to free the creature with the help of a chatty coworker (Octavia Spencer) and her effete next door neighbor (Richard Jenkins). The Shape of Water seems like a retread of the overrated Pan's Labyrinth, and is another dark, dumbly written, strange for strange sake Guillermo del Toro reality set fairy tale that lacks the imagination that so many invest in his movies and the creativity the filmmaker so clearly believes is on display. Hawkins turns in a great silent, emotive performance and Jenkins and Shannon deliver their usual though still effective turns.

** out of ****

Die Another Day

After being captured during a North Korean mission, 007 (Pierce Brosnan) is held in a prison camp for 14 months until traded for a terrorist with a diamond encrusted face (Rick Yune) and released. Now targeting his counterpart, he allies himself with a beautiful American agent (Halle Berry) and also sets his sights on a diamond merchant (Toby Stephens) who has funded a satellite with Earth destroying implications. Brosnan’s final Bond outing is also his worst, a dull, special effects heavy, and ludicrous (even by series standards) entry with forgettable villains and gorgeous Bond girls Berry and Rosamund Pike bringing little else to the proceedings.

** out of ****

War for the Planet of the Apes

During his ongoing war with the humans, Cesar finds members of his clan loyal to the rogue Koba aligning with the enemy. When his wife and son are slain, he seeks out the barbaric colonel (Woody Harrelson) responsible yet finds himself captive in a prison camp where hundreds of apes are being treated as slaves under pitiable conditions. Ponderous, minimally plotted, overlong and dull prequel sequel, with more than few nods to Apocalypse Now. Harrelson, the only principal human character in the movie, isn't believable as a sadistic, bloodthirsty officer while the CGI and work of Andy Serkis continues to be remarkable.

** out of ****

The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography

A photographer retreats from the hustle and bustle of 1960s New York to Boston where she discovers her calling: taking natural photographs in her home studio on a rented, oversized 20x24 Polaroid camera. Uninspired Errol Morris documentary, one of his worse, where he curiously opts to forgo the use of his Interrotron, a device which has helped maintain the fascination level in his movies. As for the subject, though Dorfman seems wise and affable, this is essentially a profile of a family portrait photographer who just happened to be friends with Allen Ginsberg and snap a couple pictures of Bob Dylan.

** out of ****

The Descent

A year after one of their own lost her whole family in a traffic accident, an all female group of thrill seeking friends reunite to tackle an unexplored cave in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. With resentments abounding, they find themselves lost and targeted by the cavern's demonic primordial inhabitants. A few effective scenes aside, The Descent is beset by second rate acting and a third rate script with cheap scares that devolves into total idiocy once the narrative leaves the realm of believability. The production also has that same cheap early digital feel that plagued 28 Days Later.

** out of ****

Pan's Labyrinth

In the early days of Frano's Spain, an adolescent girl, lost in a fantasy world of books (and indeed seeming to be actually living out her own fable) relocates with her mother to a wooded compound where her new sadistic army captain step-father is rooting out the few bands of remaining rebels. Meanwhile, she is visited by a mysterious faun and given three tasks to complete, tasks which will have tragic and otherworldly repercussions. Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth is dumbly written and realized, clumsily welding together fairy tale and violent realism elements, and not nearly as imaginative as many give it credit for.

** out of ****

A View to a Kill

007 (Roger Moore) is sent on the trail of psychotic billionaire and horse race cheat (Christopher Walken) who seeks to corner the microchip market by causing massive earthquakes to destroy Silicon Valley. Moore's last appearance, although he settled into the role over time, is one of the weakest entries in the series in spite of some good action sequences some good action sequences. Walken is a surprisingly bland villain, Tanya Roberts a feeble bond girl, and Grace Jones is just bizarre as the femme fatale.

** out of ****

For Your Eyes Only

A weapons system aboard a British Naval sub is attacked and sunken which James Bond (Roger Moore) is called in to retrieve before the perpetrators or the Russians can reach it, as he is joined by the beautiful, revenge bent daughter (Carole Bouquet) of an allied Greek scientist who was also targeted. For Your Eyes Only is a tepid, low-tech 007 entry with lazy storytelling and the dialogue at its lamest, with Topol making a welcomed supporting character, Carole Bouquet a beautiful Bond girl, and Julian Glover a flimsy villain.

** ½ out of ****

The Indian Runner

A Nebraskan deputy sheriff (David Morse) tries to understand and welcome his troubled brotlher (Viggo Mortensen) into his home after his return from Vietnam, but his wayward nature puts him on a course of self-destruction and in contention with everyone who crosses his path. Much of Sean Penn's directorial debut resonates, with a story inspired by Bruce Springsteen's Highway Patrolman, but the movie is pretentious and immaturely conceived, lethargic and overlong. Morse is a strong, stoic presence and Mortensen has his moments if the overall performance is inconsistent.

** out of ****

Moonraker

After a shuttle is spacejacked, 007 travels to a billionaire's (Michael Lonsdale) Californian compound and then the far reaches of space while, with a the help of a sensual CIA agent (Lois Chiles) posing as a research scientist, uncovering a genocidal plot to wipe out the world's population and start anew with only the most beautiful members of each of race. After a series peak with The Spy Who Loved Me, the Bond series returned with this curious piece of cheese and obvious Star Wars ripoff that approaches so bad its good territory. Lonsdale makes an adequate villain and Richard Kiel's return as Jaws is much welcomed.

** out of ****

Detroit

An aspiring Motown singer (Algee Smith) and a friend, along with a security guard (John Boyega), a returning Army vet (Anthony Mackie), and others regrettably assemble at the Algiers Motel near the epicenter of the 1967 Detroit riots and find themselves victims of the crazed and tortuous police force searching for a sniper alleged to have fired from the establishment. Made with screenwriter Mark Boal, collaborator on her recent high profile projects (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty), Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit is made with the sole and express intention to incite plus is scattershot and overlong, with too many unnecessary, drawn out scenes and underdeveloped characters, and a misguided inclination to treat the dreadful incident like a horror movie.

** out ****

Baby Driver

Mostly mute and traumatized from a childhood accident with a preternatural ability for getaway driving and earbuds constantly playing an array of popular music, an idiot savant (Ansel Elgort) is compelled to work off an exaggerated debt for a crime lord (Kevin Spacey) and, when attempting to emancipate himself, he is targeted along with his waitress girlfriend (Lily James) by psychotic fellow bank job members (Jaime Foxx and Jon Hamm). Another cute and ostensibly hip entry from Edgar Wright is the latest Goodfellas knockoff and adds nothing to the heist movie except bad music. Elgort boasts zero charisma and the rest of cast, with the exception of an amusing Spacey, appear in write-off roles.

** out of ****

20th Century Women

A product of the Depression Era, an older mother and single parent (Annette Bening) attempts to understand her punk influenced adolescent son (Lucas Jade Zumann) who seeks guidance from a sickly artistic tenant (Greta Gerwig), an aloof maintenance man (Billy Crudup), and an advanced peer (Elle Fanning) in 1979 Santa Barbara. Phony, magniloquent Mike Mills production, who took nearly the exact same approach with Beginners (ostensibly depicting his father, here his mother), is the kind of material with appeal solely for West Coast liberals and middle-aged Gen-Xers. Bening delivers a nice performance and helps buoy the film along with Gerwig and Zumann. Sean Porter's photography helps too.

** out of ****

Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War

Prominent Massachusetts Methodists Waitstill and Martha Sharp risk their lives and ultimately sacrifice their marriage and much of their own savings in order to personally assist the exodus of hundreds of refugees as Hitler increases his territorial holdings in Greater Europe. Directed by Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky, Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War is a cheaply made, limited telling of an intense story of selfless heroism, which opts mostly for testimonials and almost entirely forgoes any opportunities the story offers for intrigue.

** out of ****

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Against orders, Kirk and his crew smuggle the Enterprise away from headquarters in order to retrieve Spock's corpse from Planet Genesis as the presumed dead doctor's consciousness seems to have taken over Bones. Meanwhile, with the Klingons closing in, Kirk's son leads a separate expedition exploring the rapidly evolving characteristics of the targeted planet. Leonard Nimoy directed this supremely uninspired installment, which has been credited by some for keeping with the spirit of the series and for its admittedly strong special effects, though the movie is awfully uneventful, cheesy, and sluggish.

** out of ****

Snowden

At a Hong Kong mall in 2013, as Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) meets with media contacts in an attempt to pass classified documents gained from a Hawaii based NSA outpost, his professional career is looked backed upon beginning with an Army stint followed by a CIA run and some contract work that led to a continuing disillusionment at how the U.S. government cataloged its own citizens. Snowden has some of your typical Oliver Stone paranoia, sermonizing, and alternate history, which is all well and good for the iconoclast director, but the movie is way too pat, reverential and largely non-screenworthy and after more than two decades of not being able to craft a worthwhile film, it almost seems like Stone has plumb forgotten how. As for the acting, JGL falls into that trap of resting entirely on impersonation while the rest of the cast is limp and uninspiring except for Nicolas Cage who shines in an all too small walk on role.

** out of ****