One of the best family films I've seen in a long time, Disney's 2017 live-action re imagining of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is terrific. Having seen the original many times in Jessi's younger years, I thought the music would hold up, but was surprised how perfectly created the sets and characters were executed. Emma Watson (Harry Potter films) is a great Belle, Kevin Kline fleshes out the character of her inventor Father and Luke Evans (The Girl On The Train) is a terrific Gaston. Once Belle ends up in the castle, an all star cast including Ian Mckellen, Emma Thompson and Ewan McGregor knock it out of the park as the characters we all know. Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) is a terrific beast, with special effects rendering a very fierce manimal. Disney spared no expense, throwing $160 million at the project and showing every dollar on screen. The effects, cast, sets, costumes, special effects and music are all first class. Whether you're reliving the earlier version with your family or discovering it for the first time with grand-kids (or just your inner kid), this is excellent film making. Josh Gad, who we saw in "The Book of Mormon" on Broadway, brings the same comic timing to his role as LeFou. All the controversy around the film around Disney somehow pushing a gay agenda with the film is unfounded. You're going to have to look very closely to find anything but a pleasant message of inclusion in this tale as old as time. With over a half a billion dollars at the box office, this was a crowdpleaser of the highest order. Look for it to rake in plenty of dough as fans buy it for repeat viewing at home. The photography is terrific, giving our 4K Sony a workout and providing plenty of jaw dropping visuals. Theatre fans will enjoy Audra McDonald's presence and voice as well. This is a terrific movie for the entire family and gets an appreciative A. If you're one of the few who haven't seen it by now, go ahead! Be....our......guest.....

Powerfully moving, quiet and fascinating, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD is a testament to friendship & family. I always expect Tom Hanks to excel, but he's superb here as PBS Kids Show host Fred Rogers. When he's told that he'll be featured in Esquire magazine's Hero Edition, Rogers extends a kind welcome to reporter Lloyd Vogel. Vogel (Matthew Rhys) has built his career on scathing exposes on a wide swath of victims. He's insulted and palpably embarrassed to even be assigned to do a 400 word puff piece on Mister Rogers. As Vogel's wife Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson of "This Is Us") tells him before he leaves for the interview, 'Don't ruin my childhood", but can Lloyd fight his instincts to ruin the man? Rogers extends every courtesy and Lloyd is baffled by Rogers kindness. He assumes that its too good to be authentic, that Rogers must be a dark person behind the facade. Watching Lloyd's fast-patter, assault instinct fade under the un-withering goodness of Rogers being is a tribute to Rhys and Hanks. It could have felt manipulative, but both men never let a moment feel less than authentic. Director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) presents the film in a challenging way, with Mister Rogers opening the film just as he did the daily kids show and presenting Lloyd's story as the lesson of the day. At first, I found myself resisting the structure, but its so funny and I guess "charming" is the only word, that you quickly get drawn into Lloyd's flights to Pittsburgh being portrayed with that tiny city model that opened every episode. There are fantasy sequences with Lloyd immersed inside the TV show, lessons of mortality and empathy that never feel heavy-handed. The boldest choice is deep into the film, when Hank's flawless Mister Rogers has a quiet moment with Lloyd in a diner. He asks Lloyd to take one full minute, to consider a specific question about his life. Less than 15 seconds into that minute, Hanks moves his gaze to stare directly into your eyes as the viewer. It's a silent and powerful plea for you to examine your life in the same way. Damned if I didn't spend the next half minute silently examining my own life to answer that powerful question. It pulls the film deeper and higher, setting up a strong final act. Chris Cooper (August Osage County) is perfect as Lloyd's estranged, alcohol father. He's one of our best actors and is given a wide palette of emotions to play here. He's terrific. Hanks has said in interviews that the hardest part of playing Rogers was to slow down his speech enough to accurately portray the man. Hanks nails it and richly deserved his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Mister Rogers is a secondary figure in the film to Lloyd and the story of the way his life was changed by meeting the man. Filled with heart, empathy and kindness, its a terrific movie that leaves you feeling good, but never patronized to in its storytelling. Once you see it, make sure and also watch the documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor" for an in depth look on how Fred Rogers truly broke ground in children's television, tacking topics like the Vietnam Way, Divorce and Death for his pre-school viewers. It's also a startling piece on an amazing man. A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD gets an A. If you can survive Hanks stare into your eyes and not think about your own life, you better check your pulse.....

There is no doubt that art is subjective. I'll always remember being at the MOMA in New York City, standing in front of a huge 10' x 10' Jackson Pollock painting that was a white canvas with one drop of eggshell color paint that was dripped down the right side. As I stood there thinking "what a joke" a man and his family walked up and he told them in breathless, excited tones that this painting was his favorite one in the entire museum because of all the emotion it conveyed. It's the same feeling I have after watching BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD, a Best Picture nominee, Cannes Winner, Sundance Winner....on and on. Seriously? 9 year old Quvenzhane Wallis is admittedly very good as Hushpuppy, a young girl living in the devastating squalor of "The Bathtub" outside the New Orleans levees. Her mother is dead and her father lives in a trailer next to hers, both seemingly part of the muddy hell they call home. When her father falls ill and reappears after days of leaving her alone in the swamp, he is irrational. Their "teacher" tells of a great storm coming that will level civilization and leave great prehistoric beasts roaming the land that will eat Children whole. Soon, the storm starts and their world is destroyed by the rising waters. Am I supposed to be stirred by the magical spirit and brilliant allegory to...what? Katrina? Civilization? Global Warming? I find nearly every adult's actions in the Bathtub borderline abusive. When medical staffs come to evacuate and help the children, the film treats them like invading Nazi's from which an escape must be planned. Like the Pollock painting, I think this is one of those films that strikes all the right notes of something that is so incoherent, so emotionally overwrought, so vivid in its depiction of the poor that surely it must be an important piece of art. Like the Jackson painting, I would just dub it as S I C. Self Important Claptrap that earns a D.

Drowned under endless waves of mildly funny physical and verbal comedy that relies far too much on lowbrow punch lines, BAYWATCH completely wastes a terrific cast. Dwayne Johnson has screen presence to spare and scores the most chuckles as lead lifeguard Mitch, the giant leader of the most aggressive beach squad on the planet. A very game, hilarious and ripped Zac Efron stars as dim-bulb Olympic swimmer Matt Brody. (Ryan Lochte anyone???) He fares second best as he matches wits and skills with Mitch in a David v Goliath size matchup. The first few minutes, you witness a great Dwayne "The Rock" action rescue and then giant letters saying BAYWATCH rise from the ocean as he turns to the camera. It's funny and self aware and I thought "Hey, they get that Baywatch was a really incredibly bad and stupid TV show so they are going to have fun with it!!" and then....hmm... Like a bad episode of the show, the team finds themselves immersed in a beach side drug ring, Mitch and his team think they're cops and the mild giggles go on and on. Priyanka Chopra (TV's "Quantico") is a beautiful and decent villain, getting off one of the best lines of the film when she tells the team that she would have gotten away with her plan "except for you meddling lifeguards and your bigger, stronger Hasselhoff". The rest of the cast blends into the sand in an endless parade of lame jokes seemingly written by fourth graders. I dont mind lewd comedy if its funny, I often embrace anything that crosses way over the line, but its got to be SMART lewd and this is a long way from well written. I felt bad for Johnson, he's got star power to spare and has fun calling Efron every name BUT Brody, but he's not given much to do. Maybe this huge box office bomb that didnt even earn back its budget will put the halt to Hollywood spending hundreds of millions of dollars adapting horrible TV shows for the big screen. Let's hope. BAYWATCH gets a soggy, lame C-.

Well what a surprise BATTLESHIP is! I have to admit I totally blew this one off when it hit theaters with the same "why would I want to see a board game made into a movie" attitude that most of America had at the time. Director Peter Berg made a great film in "The Kingdom" in 2007 that nobody went to see and Battleship suffered the same fate in the summer of 2012. It's a shame, because this is a slam-bang, summer action movie of the highest caliber. Alien beings of the Transformer variety invade Earth in response to us sending a signal into the heavens introducing ourselves and they do NOT come bearing gifts. Taylor Kitsch (acquitting himself nicely after that horrible mess John Carter) and Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) are Navy brothers, Liam Neeson is their Admiral and beautiful Brooklyn Decker is Taylor's girlfriend, who also happens to be the Admiral's daughter. All of that is secondary to the action scenes, which reflect all of the $200 million budget with some truly spectacular set pieces and action filled battles between our Navy and the invading Aliens. As a fan of SOME of the Transformers films, I thought this would be tired, but it's surprisingly well done and has just enough laughs and well done story lines involving some Pearl Harbor vets to bring everything together in the last 20 minutes. Over two hours, but fast moving, familiar yet fresh, Battleship has some real firepower. It was only during the end credits that I realized just how cleverly they worked in the coordinates you call out in the game and those nasty little pegs that sink battleships. Pretty clever! Battleship surprised me all the way to a solid B.

In 1965, impossibly wide Cinerama screens were filled corner to corner with stars and WW2 action in the box office hit BATTLE OF THE BULGE. Robert Shaw, hot off his film debut in OO7's "From Russia With Love" stars as German tank commander Colonel Hessler. The best the Germans have, he's put in charge of a major attack near Belgium that would have turned the tide of the war back to the Nazi forces. As Christmas 1944 nears, popular opinion is that the Germans have surrendered and troops are ready to head home. Luckily for us, we have Henry Fonda starring as Lt. Col. Kiley, who is convinced that a tank attack is coming. Much like the lone voices sounding the alarm pre-Pearl Harbor, he's largely ignored until its far too late and the Panzers are rolling into US camps. The film is massive in size and scope, with nearly three hours of military planning and action. The first third is mostly planning, but Director Ken Annakin (The Longest Day, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines) serves up almost constant action in the final two hours. Dana Andrews, Robert Ryan, George Montgomery lead the cast, with Charles Bronson in one of his first breakout roles and Telly Savalas serving up some comic relief. While a lot of the full scale action is exciting and well shot, some of the model work is so bad it's stunning. I could have shot a couple of these sequences in my backyard with my iPhone and achieved more realism. But anytime the camera sweeps over snowy landscapes with full size tanks and explosions, its impressive. The film premiered at the Pacific Cinerama Dome Theatre in Hollywood on December 16 1965, the 21st anniversary of the battle. 54 years later, its an interesting tribute to the one million men and women that served in WWII. While it may be questionable as a faithful retelling of history (Eisenhower criticized it as historically inaccurate) there's no arguing its entertainment value. BATTLE OF THE BULGE gets a respectful B-.

1969's Battle of Britain is a star-studded, action filled and sadly confusing mess of a war picture. With very fond memories of seeing this with my Dad and brother Mark back in the day, I was surprised by how muddled the story is to follow. Certainly the British defense and defiant stand against the Nazis is a compelling part of history and a testament to the bravery of the few rising above a massive, non-stop onslaught. Director Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever) knows action and he knows class and there is no shortage of either in the film, but after watching hundreds of planes crash into the ocean and battle with no concept of the objective of any dogfight or mission, it just becomes a blur. Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Susannah York give their all, but each role is so interchangeable that characters come and go with little regard for storyline. Producer Harry Saltzman wanted to top his James Bond franchise and spent millions of his own money to film real dogfights in the air using real, refurbished planes from the Battle of Britain. To that end, its spectacular, but just think how much more the audience would care about that dogfight if they could actually follow the action with some investment in the pilots and their mission. A HUGE, costly misfire that visually packs a punch, but goes on forever. Repetitive, silly music score also detracts from the flow. We'll give it a C.

If you're looking for a pretty good Saturday afternoon sci-fi, action flick (like we were on a HOT July Saturday) BATTLE: LA fits the bill. It's like Independence Day light, focused on just a few platoons defending Santa Monica (I guess "Battle:Santa Monica" had more limited appeal...) and it gets a lot of things right. Aaron Eckhart is really good, as is Michael Pena as a brave dad caught up in the action. How many times can Michelle Rodriguez play this same character so well? ALIENS is one of my all time faves and she delivers that same character in a much quieter version here. Creature effects are good, early invasion scenes are really well done. Nothing too ground breaking or important here and lots of VERY CLICHE stock characters from a thousand other war movies, but an enjoyable Saturday matinee on the couch! B-

Their are a lot of great names behind 1987's *batteries not included, including Steven Spielberg as Executive Producer, Brad Bird (Toy Story 3, The Incredibles) who wrote the screenplay and director Matthew Robbins (the greatly underrated Dragonslayer). Perhaps too many cooks spoiled the kitchen on this one, because its just a confused, silly mess. Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy lead a cast of down on their luck, last tenants in a building slated for demolition. They all need help, which arrives in the form of miniature alien spaceships with the ability to repair anything...with the exception of a really dumb movie. I remember seeing this with Jess when she was about 4 and I don't remember her ever asking to watch it again. So I guess she has more sense than I did! *clever story and forward momentum not included.......Lots of A talent and a D movie.

About an hour and fifteen minutes (or about halfway) into BATMAN V SUPERMAN, I had one question that kept filling my head. "Remember when Superman movies used to be fun?" The late seventies and early 80's Richard Donner/Richard Lester films were exciting, thrilling and fun to watch. I couldn't wait to see them again and again. Once will be enough for Zack Snyder's ponderous, overlong serious epic, where smiles are as rare as a brightly lit scene and everyone's filled with angst, personal issues and a social burden heavier than a kryptonite boulder...but we'll get to that later. I'm not going to reveal any major plot points that haven't already been shown in the trailers, no spoiler alerts necessary. After a long title sequence in which you can feel Snyder straining (and failing) to bring something fresh to the story of Bruce Wayne's parents being killed outside a Gotham theatre, the film's best twenty minutes begin, with a different perspective of the finale of "Man of Steel". We see Bruce Wayne trying desperately to get to the towering Wayne office building, while Superman and General Zod's battle in the skies tears down building after building. As Wayne is enveloped in massive, billowing clouds of dust all too reminiscent of 9-11 footage, the film cleverly sets up an analysis of the physical and human impact of those alien invaders that we've watched in all those Avengers and Transformers, Batman and Superman films. Flashing forward, we see a Metropolis under construction, rebuilding while paying tribute to Superman. But Batman is filled with hate, determined to hold Supes accountable for all his friends and workers lost that day when the Wayne tower collapsed as collateral damage. And then.....the film begins to collapse under its own drab, dark weight. I don't mind dark. No one will ever accuse the Nolan Batman trilogy of being filled with laughs, but they were so well written, acted, designed and directed that you were flown through the darkness with a clear delineation between good and bad. In Snyder's film (and perhaps in today's world) no one is allowed to be good or bad, everyone has pain and angst and guilt and doubt, like some cosmic redistribution of happiness in which you must also feel guilt in equal measure. Blech. The Marvel movies know how to have fun. It appears the DC films are going to fall all over themselves to be bloated, serious epics and that wil not bode well for future films in the series. Let's hope someone gets Snyder out of the director chair like Star Wars did Lucas, so someone can mix in some entertainment along with the doom and gloom. Snyder's best film in my opinion was one of his smallest, his 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead". It was lean, fast, smart and oh yeah, FUN. His "Watchmen" was a very similar mess to this film. So what's good about this film? Ben Affleck is a very good Batman, probably a little better as Bruce Wayne than he is as the Caped Crusader, but damn good. Gil Gadot makes a great Wonder Woman and leaves you hungry to see more of the character in her upcoming stand alone film. Henry Cavill is very good as Superman, but is given surprisingly little to do for the first half of the film. There is also one dramatic plot twist on Capitol Hill that is ballsy, powerful and very well executed. It, for a moment, lifts the movie into unexpected territory, before Snyder crashes it back to ground with the much more predictable Lex Luthor making a monster subplot. Which takes us to what's NOT good in the film. Jesse Eisenberg is WAY over the top as Lex Luthor, all tics and no substance. The monster he creates is really silly and bad, like some angry dog turd Michelin Man, just ridiculous. Hanz Zimmer is phoning it in with the music score, with some surprisingly weak "help" from Junkie XL, who did great work on "Mad Max" Fury Road" and "Deadpool". XL's theme for Wonder Woman is so loud and bombastic it about knocks you out of your seat every time she comes on screen, screaming at you 'HEY! THERE'S WONDER WOMAN AGAIN!!!" uh yeah, we get it. This is supposed to be the film that paves the way for the Justice League films, with all of our heroes together on screen. If Snyder's directing them, I can't say I'll be excitedly waiting for any of them. Christopher Nolan produced this film. I wonder what his take was on the very final seconds of the film, which somehow manage to simultaneously honor and bastardize his final moments from "Inception". If he's like me, he just rolled his eyes and was excited that the dawn of justice was finally over.... Batman V Superman gets a predictable and boring C-.

In 1992, BASIC INSTINCT stirred up both controversy and big box office results with its blend of cop thriller, graphic sex and bloody violence. Michael Douglas is in great form as San Francisco police detective Nick Curran, called in to investigate the brutal ice pick murder of a former rock star/current philanthropist. When the trail leads to the rocker's girlfriend Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) the mystery begins. Catherine is possessed of wealth beyond measure, success as a murder mystery novelist and an apparently voracious appetite for Nick. Douglas and Stone play well against each other, teasing every bit of tension and mystery out of the in-your-face screenplay by Joe Ezterhas (Flashdance, Showgirls). Jeannie Tripplehorn is good as Nick's therapist, who also happens to be his ex-lover, George Dzundza (The Deer Hunter, Crimson Tide) has fun as Nick's detective partner and Wayne Knight (Newman!) adds some humor as a policeman, especially during the now famous commando interrogation scene, set in the slickest post-modern room you've ever imagined at a police station. Jan deBont photographed the film and it looks fantastic, making the most of it's bay locations and the world of the entitled that Catherine plays within. deBont would soon move into the Director's chair with "Twister" and "Speed" and delivers here while working for director Paul Verhoeven, who made some of the best films of the 90's in "Robocop" and "Starship Troopers" while also slithering in with some of the worst, like "Showgirls", which I've never managed to survive more than 20 minutes of without bailing. The mystery serves him well in BASIC INSTINCT, with Catherine's books detailing the murders well before they happen, which either provides her the perfect alibi and points to a copycat killer, or sets her up as one of the most deviant and calculated killers in memory. It's for you to discover. The sex is far more graphic than what you'd see in films today, pushing the envelope in its frankness, but there's a lot more going on here than the sex scenes. It's a murder mystery more suited to film noir than its more lurid moments may suggest. Douglas has rarely been better and as the bodies pile up, we share his confusion on who the killer really is. Jerry Goldsmith tops it all off with one of his best music scores, almost always lingering beneath the blood, sweat and rich settings. BASIC INSTINCT still holds up as a clever and entertaining murder mystery for those of us not easily offended. Just don't ask Catherine to make you a drink with ice and you'll be fine. BASIC gets a B. Followed 14 years later (!) by "Basic Instinct 2".

Trying to catch up on all things Kubrick in 2012. This 1975 stately, slow (but never boring) historical film is beautiful to watch. I became fascinated with just how PROPER the world was then. Even dueling to the death was quite highbrow! The guys wear more makeup, wigs and tights than a glam rock fest, so glad we live in the 21st century! GREAT photography, set design, costumes and narration. Ryan O' Neal's Scottish accent comes and goes rather distractingly, but he is better than expected. Talk about the lives of the 1%....THIS depicts the one percent of the late 1700's! Barry gets a B.