CREED II - Rocky Road to Victory

2015's Creed ended up being one of my favorite films of its year. I've gone on record saying that it's a masterpiece and - in my opinion - the best overall film in the Rocky saga. So, needless to say, my apprehensions that things would go off the rails immediately with the sequel (which Creed writer/director Ryan Coogler passed on to make a small indie drama called Black Panther) were fairly high.

Luckily, while Creed II may not be the masterpiece that its direct predecessor was, it's still a damn fine entry into what has now become one of my favorite film series, and packs a couple powerful secret weapons that make it more than just a solid cover of earlier numbers.

THE MEG - Bruce Almighty

I, uh. . . look, I at least had to try to equal the pun on the poster, ok?

THE EQUALIZER 2 - Social Justice Assassin

Sometimes you go to a certain kind of movie because you're following an ongoing franchise, sometimes it's because a popular property that you're invested in is getting a compelling cinematic adaptation, sometimes you're a fan of a particular actor or director, or sometimes you're just in a foul mood and want to go watch someone dispatch violent justice in an unapolagetic "dad movie."

And sometimes it's kinda all of the above?

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - Against All Odds

What's that, you say? You like your epic genre entertainment to really put you through the wringer during the penultimate chapter? Well, have I got good news for you!

. . .in a manner of speaking.

RAMPAGE - On Like Donkey Kong

"So, the movie is about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and his gorilla friend -"
"Ok, I'm interested."
"But the gorilla gets exposed to Science Gas and grows big -"
"I'm sold."
"And then Johnson has to help his big gorilla friend fight two OTHER giant monsters -"
"Look, you're sweetening a deal you already closed, but keep going..."

Yeah, I liked it.

READY PLAYER ONE - Somewhat Buggy Beta

There are few filmmakers - hell, few artists - with such immediate cultural cache as Steven Spielberg. The man is single-handedly responsible for the matinee fever dreams of multiple generations of movie-goers as well as being able to put together Oscar-nominated films on the turn of a time. So the fact that he decided to be the one to adapt Ernest Cline's novel celebrating a whole bunch of the "stuff" that Spielberg was either involved with producing, or more directly responsible for, always seemed like. . . an odd choice.

How do you make a decent film out of a coming of age novel about celebrating your own stuff?

As it turns out, you make the movie all about how empty the pursuit of only "stuff" is in the long run.

BLACK PANTHER - Make it Reign

Immediately after getting out of Black Panther, my overriding thought was that this must have been what it felt like to see Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie on the big screen in 1978 and watch a filmmaker redefine a genre for an entire generation.

Since then, damn near all I can think about has been when I can next go back.