Avengers: Infinity War

        It's hard to avoid the marketing machine surrounding this film but I have to say, it lives up to the hype...and then some. This is the blockbuster Marvel fans have been waiting for. Almost every Marvel film for the past decade has led up to this point and directors Anthony & Joe Russo make sure no one leaves the theater disappointed.

             All your favorite heroes are back, from Iron Man to Spiderman and Doctor Strange to Captain America and Black Panther to take on the cosmic threat of Thanos, the Mad Titan. Thanos is searching for the six Infinity Stones that will give him ultimate power and it's up to almost every superhero in the Marvel universe to try to stop him. That's the basic plot. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely keep it simple and yet when you have to cram so many characters into the story, they remarkably keep it balanced as well. The screenplay splits the characters into mixed teams, protecting the stones and coming at Thanos and from different directions.  The story contains plenty of humor but also moments of shock and devastating surprise.

           The Russo Brothers make sure there is plenty of action and everyone gets their fair share of screen time. Credit the writers and directors for structuring the story in such a well balanced way that every scene counts and never feels gratuitously overstuffed. Every shift in the story works and it's never boring. Even the quiet moments are important and emotional.

          While it gets a little sloppy in some of the big battle sequences, the CGI is generally excellent. There is great attention to detail in creating Thanos. Josh Brolin's features and voice are married to CGI and motion capture work to create a living breathing villain. The same can be said of Rocket Raccoon, voiced again by Bradley Cooper and Groot, voice by Vin Diesel.

          As with all Marvel films, it's become standard to stay for the post credits scene or two. In this case, there is only one but it is very important to the story and true fans will recognize the clue of things to come.

         Marvel continues to raise the bar for comic to film adaptations. Keep them coming....

Beirut

     Jon Hamm is a terrific leading man in this tense political thriller. Working as an American diplomat in Beirut in 1972, Mason Skiles life is shattered one night and the film quickly jumps ten years.  Now self employed as a corporate negotiator in Boston and drinking heavily, Mason is drawn back to Beirut to help rescue one of his best friends, who has been taken hostage by extremists.

     Co-starring Roseamund Pike, Dean Norris, Shea Whigham, and Mark Pellegrino, the film is a real world "adult" drama with a engrossing story of political intrigue. In a past life, Mason Skiles would have a lot in common with Don Draper, Mr. Hamm's character on "Mad Men", so the transition to leading man in this instance is a comfortable one for Mr. Hamm. It's not a total stretch but enough to showcase Mr. Hamm in a solid leading role. Ms. Pike as Sandy Crowder, starts the film with not much to do but her part becomes stronger and more detailed as the film goes on and Ms. Pike handles the role admirably. 

     Tangiers substitutes for Beirut and the film looks very realistic.  It boils over with the tensions of the region and an epilogue reminds us of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and Beirut in the '80's.

Ready Player One

      The latest science fiction adventure from director Steven Spielberg is based on the best selling novel by Ernest Cline. It is high speed escapist fun that splits its time between the real world of Earth in 2045 and the virtual reality world of "The Oasis".

       Ty Sheridan stars as Wade Watts, a young man living in "the stacks", a ghetto of sorts in Columbus Ohio. He spends most of his waking hours as "Parzival", his avatar in the world of The Oasis. Designed by James Halliday, played by a terrific Mark Rylance, The Oasis started out as an immersive online game but has now become a way of life for most people. When Halliday dies, he leaves behind the ultimate game, find three keys that reveal clues to an "easter egg". Whoever finds the egg, will control the Oasis and Halliday's fortune.

       The film co-stars Ben Mendlesohn as Nolan Sorrento, the villainous CEO of a company out to control The Oasis for themselves.  Also starring are Olivia  Cooke and Lena Waithe as friends of Parzival, Simon Pegg as Ogden Morrow, the co-creator of The Oasis, and T. J. Miller as the voice of i-Rok, an Oasis villain.

      Mr. Spielberg is the perfect director for this story. He infuses his love of sci-fi as well as pop culture into every scene. Much of the viewing fun is spotting all the pop culture references, some more obvious than others. He also stresses themes of diversity and family with his cast choices and their interactions.

      There are eye-popping visuals in a story that never seems to slow down as it toggles between what's real and what's virtual reality. Targeted for a very specific audience, it is loud and overwhelming at times but fans of this genre will really enjoy themselves.

A Quiet Place

    Co-written and directed by John Krasinski, this horror film offers a new twist on your typical monster movie. Mr. Krasinski stars along with his wife Emily Blunt, as parents of three young kids trying to survive in a world inhabited by creatures that hunt by sound.

     The film drops the audience right into the story without much of an explanation as to the origin of the creatures. They are devoid of sight and smell and rely completely on sound to hunt. They are powerful and fast and seemingly have wiped out most life on the planet as we meet the Abbott family scavenging in an abandoned town, avoiding the creatures by making as little sound as they can. The family communicates by sign language, walks barefoot and tries to make some kind of life on an farm they have found in the countryside.

     Without sound, the audience must adapt to the rhythm of the film, which heightens the visual impact. Mr. Krasinski employs a terrific score and amplification to create tension from natural sound and movement. This makes for a very suspenseful film as the creatures find their way to the farm despite the best efforts of the Abbotts to keep silent.

     The cast is terrific with Ms. Blunt a stand out. Her expressive acting is riveting especially in the scene where she endures giving birth, trying to remain silent under horrendous conditions. Millicent Simmonds, a deaf actor, plays their daughter and she too, is terrific, especially in the last third of the film. Noah Jupe plays the older son, Marcus and Cade Woodward is the youngest son, Beau.

      The central theme is really about family and less about the monsters. The violence is kept to a bare minimum and so is any bloodshed.  Mr. Krasinski prefers the tactics of Alfred Hitchcock to create tension and suspense. Less is more in this instance. A nail in a floorboard becomes one of the scariest visuals in the film. I highly recommend seeing this in a theater with an audience rather than at home where I think it will lose some of it's impact. The scares are better when you can share them with others.