Ant Man and The Wasp Sunday July 8, 2018

Ant Man and The Wasp is set just prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War¹, which allows it to revel in the same comedy/adventure realm as Ant Man and Thor: Ragnarok. It excelled at said revelry. My own favorite moment, which I shall not spoil, was when Luis (Michael… Read more

Inferno Monday November 7, 2016

The trailers for the latest Tom Hanks Treasure Hunt, Inferno, looked kind of silly. The line “I left you a path… the hardest one yet” suggests that somebody has created a puzzle for Professor Langdon, and is deliberately leaving the fate of the human race in his hands. Fortunately, the trailer is misleading. As archaeological… Read more

Friday January 30, 2015

Deadpool: Pretty Good For February Tuesday February 16, 2016

I enjoyed Deadpool, but I don’t have any desire to see it again. I have a deep appreciation for a well-crafted joke, and Deadpool was full of those, but of necessity the jokes were contextualized with stuff I don’t love sitting through. It’s hard to figure out which side of… Read more

A Wrinkle In Time Friday March 9, 2018

I saw A Wrinkle In Time in the IMAX theater on opening night, and loved it. The film is beautiful, and the younger cast members were absolutely brilliant, especially Storm Reid and Derek McCabe. It’s been decades since I read the book. In fact, it’s been so long that I barely… Read more

Avengers: Infinity War Monday April 30, 2018

I enjoyed Avengers: Infinity War, but not unreservedly. It has brilliant, beautiful moments, and it does some daring and wonderful things with character and story, but there are reasons why audiences are not exuberantly cheering on their way out of the theater. I want to make a recommendation, but I can’t… Read more

300 II: Abs on the Rise Friday March 7, 2014

Today I saw a not-very-good movie. Yes, I'd like the two hours back. If the film has any redeeming value whatsoever it's that it's inspired a bit of interest in the actual history -- history that does not involve oiled men sword-dancing when they're supposed to be fighting.  In the… Read more

Hail, Caesar Wednesday February 17, 2016

So far this year I’ve seen three movies, and all of them have been a lot of fun. Hail, Caesar currently sits at the bottom of my list, but it’s well above the Threshold of Disappointment. Hail, Caesar is a movie for movie people. It’s full of SAG in-jokes and… Read more

X-Men: Apocalypse Saturday May 28, 2016

As much as I enjoyed this movie, I am very much ready for a superhero movie in which the story is not about how we react to the existence of superheroes. Apotheosis makes for a good story, and that’s why we have gotten so very many films that deal with… Read more

Kubo and the Two Strings Tuesday September 6, 2016

See Kubo and the Two Strings before it leaves theaters. Please? I don’t have any skin in the game here, but I feel like this film deserves more attention than it is getting. I loved it. The artistry involved is absolutely stunning. Aside from being a really good story, told… Read more

SOUL Sunday December 27, 2020

I loved Soul. LOVED. IT. The mythos was fun, the music was amazing, and the story had more heart in it—more truth in it—than anything in recent memory. As an added bonus, if you like jazz, this movie has some amazing things to offer. It’s easily worth a Disney+ subscription.… Read more

Hide From The Predators Saturday July 10, 2010

My brother Randy and I ducked out to see Predators Friday morning. Randy pointed at the great Rotten Tomatoes rating the movie was garnering and insisted that we could not possibly go wrong. As it turns out, we went wrong. Predators was not nearly as much fun as we hoped.… Read more

Wednesday January 20, 2016

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu Thursday May 9, 2019

Take a pokéball and fill it with nostalgia. Then shout “I CHOOSE YOU” and throw it. Depending on whether you’ve given your Nostalgia the right kind of pokéberries, it will have evolved into PURE JOY.  That’s this movie in a nutshell  pokéball. My eighteen-year-old loved Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, while I… Read more

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 Friday May 5, 2017

Here are the things you need to know, as a Schlock Mercenary reader whose tastes are statistically likely to align with my own on matters of humorous space opera: See Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 in theaters. It’s worth your top-dollar entertainment budget. Good reviewers, like good friends, don’t… Read more

War for the Planet of the Apes Monday July 17, 2017

On Saturday I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes back-to-back. I enjoyed both of those movies quite a bit more now than I did when I first saw them, and the refresher course made War for the Planet of the… Read more

Deadpool 2 Friday May 18, 2018

Deadpool 2 was more fun and less uncomfortable than 2016’s Deadpool. At least for me. YMMV, of course. The film unmistakably earns its R-rating, so it’s not one to bring the kids to. That said, it does clear my Threshold of Awesome, thanks to some final scenes putting it over the top.… Read more

The HUNTED Camera Loves Myke Monday February 6, 2017

I don’t watch much TV. We don’t have cable. If a program gets good reviews from my friends, I’ll pick it up on Amazon Prime, or I’ll wait until it hits Netflix. Sometimes I’ll buy DVDs and Blu-Rays. My friend Myke Cole, whose books I’ve plugged in blog posts of… Read more

Atomic Blonde Friday August 25, 2017

This twisty, retro thriller is pretty amazing on a number of counts, but I’ll lead with this: The action is tight, with some through-composed fight scenes whose choreography runs across multiple blows and throws, and therefore requires the stars to be doing a lot of the fighting themselves. It feels… Read more

Hellboy Monday April 15, 2019

The new Hellboy film is fun, and gooey, and gross, and David Harbour does just fine taking up the horns and crown from Ron Perlman. Yes, Perlman’s chin (and entire demeanor) felt almost typecast for 2004’s Hellboy, but Harbour stepped up and delivered the goods. The film is R-rated for graphic violence. The… Read more