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The Rise of Skywalker echoes past Star Wars, weakly if assiduously. It’s more a forced march through a hero’s journey than a rollicking adventure. Even its surprises don’t much surprise, being echoes of great surprises from previous episodes. Worse, the echoes also extend to the characters popu…

The stars are the thing in Hobbs & Shaw, an amiably over-the-top ultra-action comedy that’s more charismatic than funny. The Rock, Jason Statham, Idris Elba and Dame Helen Mirren don’t come cheap. Good thing they’re worthy of the millions they received, since the script is third rate at best. …

12 Strong is no run-of-the-mill war movie, to be valued on its moral complexity and clever comebacks. No, 12 Strong is morally simple and often wooden, making it rather unfashionable in our morally confused era. Of course, we also live in the Islamist Era, sharing God’s Earth with a medieval …

Ready Player One is plenty of fun, yet is leavened by SciFi seriousness. It’s also kind of a cult movie, yet worked for a newbie like me. The more pop culture you know, especially 80s pop culture, the more fun it is.

Steven Spielberg’s best SciFi in 25 years is often an extended visual tickl…

Nearly two dozen major characters populate Avengers: Infinity War, a massive cast if not an infinite one. Many are major moviestars — Downey, Hemsworth, Hiddleston, Cumberbatch, Pratt, Boseman, Brolin. They can be very proud of Infinity War. It’s formulaic, but so were the great symphonies. T…