Gerald's Game (2017)

Gerald's plan to get his wife to their remote lake house for a sexy weekend goes terribly awry. Based on a 1992 Stephen King novel of the same name, it's a scenario that might not sound too terrifying on paper, but for one of the couple it's a horrifying experience that won't ever be forgotten.
The novel doesn't exactly lend itself to the film format, but Dir. Mike Flanagan makes it work, pushing the psychologically strained threads of the tale into dark corners, reversals and POV angles that give the mostly static situation a unique feeling of movement and life. The believability of the story rests largely on the performance, and neither Carla Gugino nor Bruce Greenwood shirk on that aspect. The novel's most terrifying moment is the film's also. And for King aficionados there are references to at least three of his other works.

3½ wrist marks out of 5

Rules of Engagement (2000)

From a bloody war in Vietnam, to a bloodbath in the Yemen years later, and finally to a politically dodgy court room in America, Colonel Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) stands up for what he believes in.
A retired Col Lawrence (Tommy Lee Jones) stands with him, although he has doubts about his ability to get the job done favourably.
Leaving aside the supposed flag-waving that some folks accused Dir. William Friedkin of, RoE isn't a bad film, but nor is it a particularly memorable example of the courtroom drama. The dramatic combat scenes fare better, but by the time the final verdict drops it may feel like its overstayed its welcome.

3 sitreps out of 5

THE CAPTIVE [2014]

To get straight to the point, Atom Egoyan's "thriller" The Captive is like someone took a made for afternoon TV movie, chopped it into bits and put it back together again in whatever order made the least sense.
It's the story about the case of missing girl that spans over a period of 8 years.  The problem is the story sloppily jumps back and through the years, (4 different periods, I think) without any indication when or why which leads it to make next to no sense.  There's absolutely no mystery or tension, seeing as we know who the kidnapper is and that the missing girl is safe within the first 2 minutes of the film.  It's like Egoyan decided to take you for a tedious ride through the country and insulted you like a dullard the whole time before dropping you off in the last place you want to be.

½ magic flute out of 5

FLIGHT [2012]

Director Robert Zemeckis makes a bold return to his first live-action film since 2000's Cast Away for the surprisingly quiet character drama, Flight. 

Normally Zemeckis isn't particularly subtle with his work but with the help with some finely subdued performances from Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle and Kelly Reilly, Flight is able to stay grounded and focus on wonderful & complex character moments.  It's wonderful to see Zemeckis drop the motion-capture animated films for something a little more quieter and hardly depending on any FX at all.

3½ upside down planes out of 5

Batman: Under The Red Hood (2010)

Someone calling himself The Red Hood attempts to take control of Gotham's criminal underworld, an act that doubles as a kind of challenge to Batman. The Dark Knight tries to prevent further casualties, but something about The Red Hood bothers him on a deeply personal level.

The character designs are mostly great, and there's some timely black humour, more often than not courtesy of Black Mask (Wade Williams).

It's rated PG 13, but the violence is more extreme than any of the previous films, with multiple murders, explosions, and even a bag of severed heads being thrown around. It's perhaps a case of making it more grim in the hopes that it'll appear more mature, but the result arguably lessens the dramatic power of the storytelling and at worst sullies the purity of the series.

3 flashbacks to a better time out of 5

STAR TREK [2009]

When the mastermind behind TV's LOST, Alias & Fringe, J.J. Abrams was announced as the director of the 2009 reboot of the Star Trek franchise it created quite a stir with Trek fans and Abrams fans alike.
Apart from some unforgivable flaws and changes to the universe, Abrams take on the Trek is nothing short of an entertaining ride. Highlighted with a solid story, action, humor and wonderful spot on performances (particularly from Chris Pine, Zackary Quinto and Karl Urban) the new Trek is more balls than brains.
In a time with ridiculously dark comic book movies and brainless comedy after brainless comedy, Abrams optimism and humor in Star Trek is a refreshing breath of fresh air.

4 Wil Wheaton's voice is everywhere out of 5