April 6: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016 -- Zack Snyder)

★★★

April 2: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016 -- Dan Trachtenberg)

★★★

10 Cloverfield Lane is a predictable genre movie but for the fact that it fuses two genres that
we never see together.  It starts as an effective psychological thriller that stays locked in the perspective of the kidnapped Michelle.  This perspective limits what we know, and it leaves us guessing about the nature of her kidnapper, Howard.  Through Michelle, we see his menace and learn things about him that cause us to doubt his sanity and motivation; at the same time, we learn things about him that surprisingly turn out to be true.  Dan Trachtenberg’s direction maintains this perspective, and in doing so, builds and sustains suspense, while John Goodman’s effective performance sells that character, never giving away more than Michelle could pick up.  The horror mounts as Michelle tries to resist Howard.

After the gory standoff between kidnapper and victim that is part of this genre, 10 Cloverfield Lane becomes Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and makes several typical genre gestures there, too.  Michelle sees aliens from a distance and is also threatened up close when she’s in hiding. She finally she heads off to help in the battle against the invaders.  It’s familiar stuff from this type of sci-fi.

The originality in 10 Cloverfield Lane comes from its fusing the psychological killer thriller with the sci fi alien invasion genre, but Trachtenberg doesn’t bring much else to this project.  He hews so closely to the genre conventions that we ultimately have little investment in the characters or the outcome since we know the genre games and their rules.  The film has a clever idea (what if there really ARE Martians?) that it explores effectively, but it takes no risks in either of the genres it uses.  In keeping so close to convention, it doesn’t engage or move us, and it brings no particularly new insights to viewers.

March 22: The Witch (2015 -- Robert Eggers)

★★★★

March 21: The Revenant (2015 -- Alejandro Iñárritu)

★★★★★

January 12: The Book Thief (2013 -- Brian Percival)

★★★★

January 6: Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015 -- J. J. Abrams)

★★★★

We’re overdue a Star Wars movie that doesn’t involve a two-pronged attack on a Death Star.  It’s surprising that JJ Abrams would turn to that plot yet again.

But everything else works great in The Force Awakens, especially its nostalgic, change-of-era mood.  Camera and lighting show Hans Solo, Leia and Luke as out of shape, stooped, wrinkled and weathered by time and experience, while Rey, Finn and Poe are energetic, open, strong and eager.  Even R2D2 yields narrative time to BB-8, and Kylo Ren has emerged as a boyish-faced Darth Vader bad guy.  To his credit, Abrams makes this transition one of the themes of the film.  The older generation provides knowledge, advice, connections and support to the new characters, while the young bring their sincerity and passion.  And a strength here is that the older still have important contributions to make in the continuing fight against the Dark Side.

And this central theme aside, there are other strong elements to the film.  It’s got great visuals, especially the large-scale shots of the wrecked Imperial Destroyer and the special effects around the battles.  The story moves quickly, too, and the stakes rise as it goes from Jakku – where we meet Rey with no backstory – to the Star Killer base. There are moments of wit, like when a laser shot is suspended in the air by Ren only to suddenly burst forward after he leaves, and there are moments of drama, loss and sadness.  The new actors bring a freshness to their roles, especially John Boyega as Finn.  He launches into Finn with all the game energy and sincerity that Buster Crabbe gives to Flash Gordon.  Also, kudos to Abrams for the satisfying references to and embellishments on the earlier films; these rarely seem like superfluous fan feed.  The Force Awakens leaves us satisfied and interested in Rian Johnson’s next installment, when we’ll be able to learn more about the relations among the different characters.

This film is a fun time at the movies and even works on a meta- level.  Just as Hans, Leia and Luke are handing to a new generation the battle with the Dark Side, so does The Force Awakens represent the George Lucas generation handing this cinematic myth to the next generation.  It’s off to a strong start here.

January 4: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983 -- Richard Marquand)

★★★★

Return of the Jedi is a return to some of the strengths of A New Hope.  Richard Marquand has wisely chosen to knock back the exposition that dragged on The Empire Strikes Back, and he keeps the narrative engine buzzing.  Several character reveals hold our attention, and we remain interested in questions like whether Darth Vader can be redeemed or not.  All these keep us involved.

That said, we didn’t need a repeat here of a two-stream narrative whose main goal is the destruction a Death Star.  That plot was interesting in A New Hope but points to an imaginative void in this film.  Likewise, the cloying cuteness of the Ewoks drags on Return.  While none of the original Star Wars trilogy aspires to realism, not even characters in the Flash Gordon serials played to the audience as obviously as these teddy bears do.

But there is still the universe of Star Wars at the core of this film, a story with some suspense, characters we love and issues of some importance.  That’s more than many films offer.