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Now this is what a marvelous blockbuster should be. No surprise, as Marvel Entertainment always delivers. And talk about a monumental origin story, one that also harks back to existing plots! Wow. Plus, given that all the X-Men come out to play – all of them – it's also a sequel in a way. Double wow and fully marvelous.

X-Men: Apocalypse starts with an ancient Egyptian scene as great as the silver screen has ever delivered. (It makes the recent "Gods of Egypt":http://www.viewguide.com/movies/381708 look like Ed Wood.) Then the rest is set in the 1980s, adroitly drawn.

The film is pl…

Okinawa was once a byword for the savagery of war. Hacksaw Ridge plumbs the depths of that savagery, and the grace that also attended it in the form of Medal of Honor recipient Desmond Doss. A conscientious objector, Doss was unsurpassed in bravery, personally rescuing 75 wounded men from the "typhoon of steel" that was the "Battle of Okinawa":https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa. But first the movie explores Doss's life leading up to his heroism.

In fact, the Hacksaw Ridge scenes of Hacksaw Ridge don't occur until halfway into this long movie. Director Mel Gibson dedicate…