Not your typical daikaiju film. In a way, it’s a “Gojira” reboot, but the drama is mostly human, the characters are politicians, and emphasis is on how a bureaucracy will respond to a daikaiju threat. Godzilla could be a typhoon or tsunami or any other natural disaster. Sounds awful, right? I can’t believe I liked it, but I did. I watched the whole damn thing with rapt attention. Script, acting, cinematography — all excellent. It has a message for Japan — and for Americans.

The less said about this, the better (for those who haven’t seen it). I will say it’s crazy, it’s over the top, it’s got twists I didn’t see coming, and even some comic relief. Not your average horror film and well, well, well worth seeing.

I’m blown away by the beauty of the rendering and the in-your-face theme of self realization. This is not something you expect out of the statist-collectivist pits of Hollywood. According to the collectivists, the individual is worthless (“You didn’t build that”) yet here we have this gutsy, free-thinking gal ignoring her culture’s be-happy-with-what-you’ve-got ethic and striking out on her own to improve her lot, and thus saving everyone else in the process. This is right up there with “Tomorrowland.” Must be some closet libertarians at Disney beside Brad Bird.
FF=0

Longtime Ditko fan though I may be, I never got into this comic book. Strange was a total-Ditko creation. Stan Lee came on later. I loved the art but found the stories hokey. Did like this film, though. Some of the effects are mindbending. Cumberbatch brings the right amounts of suavity and arrogance to the character and the pacing kept my finger off the FF button (well, except for the fight scenes). Ditko should have got credit for some of the art direction as well.
FF=1

I’m not sure what to say or even think about this. It’s a little bit “Rain Man” and a little bit “John Wick” (though paced more like the former). It employs most of the thriller tropes but in a somewhat different way. Do you see my problem? I can’t say this is a must-see thriller but I was engaged enough to keep my finger off the FF button.
FF=0

I thought, How can you make a feature film out of a 208-second flight? Turns out a lot of behind-the-scenes drama was cooking after that amazing landing. Turns out the NTSB was trying to hang Sully out to dry for not turning back to LaGuardia or heading to Teterboro in NJ. Turns out this film is worth seeing.
FF=0

I wanted to like this but was very disappointed. I expect better from Shane Black. I know it’s supposed to be a buddy movie/action-comedy but I simply didn’t buy any of it. Give me something to hang on to! The little girl was cute but didn’t belong in most scenes. Gosling trying to channel Lou Costello after he finds that corpse is just plain embarrassing. I had a few chuckles but the flimsy story doesn’t hold together.
(low FF because I kept hoping things would fall into place; they didn’t)

FF=0

I seem to be in the minority (as usual) but I liked the cast and had some good laughs from this. If the 1984 film had never been made, this might have been the start of a franchise. But the 1984 film is in the canon, and its iconic cast and jaw-dropping succession of outrageous twists, culminating in the humongous Stay Puft marshmallow man, make this come off as an also-ran. Too much deja-vu / been-there-done-that to make me want another look.
FF=2.