King Richard

Will Smith will probably win an Oscar for this very, very, very inspirational sports movie about winners who win lots of things. No matter how elaborate the tennis training montages are, it’s not suspenseful. We know what happens. The Williams sisters win lots of stuff. The tricky part here is depicting them as underdogs. The filmmakers only partially succeed at this, because, I mean, we know what happens, right? Except for the parts we don’t know, like Richard Williams getting his gun from work and heading out to seek revenge… Is this true? Did he seek out violence? Or is this a Hollywood embellishment? As a piece of inspiration, especially for kids thinking about taking up tennis, it hits all the right inspirational notes. It’s the Karate Kid of tennis movies. Wax on, wax off, etc. But they're not really underdogs.

West Side Story

The first half of this is breathtaking, flawless, Spielberg-ian filmmaking. Spectacular, technically perfect, and fueled with pure energy. The camera moves are awe-inspiring. The problem with this movie is (spoiler alert): it’s still "Romeo and Juliet." It’s still a tragedy. Everything falls apart and everybody dies. So, it’s kind of a downer. Spielberg et al linger on these sullen moments, milking them too much. Despite the exemplary production, the overall experience isn’t a joyful one. It’s not the movie’s fault. Blame Shakespeare.

The Mitchells vs the Machines

Glowing, gorgeous animation paints this frenetic take of a dysfunctional (but actually, very functional) nuclear family during the robot apocalypse. The stick-together family theme sometimes gets lost underneath the blast of lights and colors, but it’s top-notch cartoon sci-fi.

CODA

A well-acted and straight-forward weepy about a child of deaf parents who discovers her gift for music. Lots of details about deaf culture and commercial fishing make this fresh and interesting. The filmmaking feels intentionally plain, to leave room for all of the important acting and crying. So, it’s packed with emotion; it’s rich with themes about growing up and rites of passage which is good, even though some of it is low-hanging fruit. Will very likely win some Oscars.

The Adam Project

Studio 666

Such a goof by Foo Fighters. So Scooby-Doo. A haunted house. A secret book of incantations. Some rock and roll and some hilarious beheadings. Some below-average acting by some rock and rollers. It feels like the kind of movie the Monkees would make if they were around today - directed by John Waters. Very much the tone and feeling of an art-house midnight movie from the 80s.

The Hard Way

Michael Jai White is a solid, sturdy leading man in this well-paced, low-budget actioner from Keoni Waxman. Asses get kicked.

The Batman

Skillfully made, but this did not reinvent the Batman wheel. Certain supervillains have omnipotent power, which is fine if they’re gods or mutants or whatever. But an ordinary dude orchestrating a highly-involved plan to bring down a city, by themselves, seems unlikely. And the evil motive here seems spotty. Efforts to make Batman an actual crime-solver with detective skills are welcome, but sometimes feel over-shadowed by the gothic razzle-dazzle. Still, A+ technique and strong performances make this highly watchable. There are beautiful, memorable compositions. Unfortunately, it sometimes feels like a re-run of the many, many other pop-culture Batman things.