In this edition of Ranked, each of James Ponsoldt’s films – from Off the Black in 2006 to Summering in 2022 – is being compared and contrasted to judge which are the best and which are the worst in terms of artistic achievement, emotional resonance, critical reception and audience perception. These are the James Ponsoldt Movies Ranked.

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6. Summering (2022)

There are glimmers of James Ponsoldt’s typical late summer mood in Summering, and a number of ideas that seem like they could truly take flight in another lifetime, but James Ponsoldt’s first feature film in five years is by far the worst of his relatively short filmography; a film of barely threaded together metaphors that loses all direction and focus as each unrealistic moment is followed by another.

As has been typical of Ponsoldt’s time as a director, the performances in Summering are largely good. The film is centred upon four girls, all of whom add their own unique dynamics to the group and are directed to accentuate their better qualities as performers, while the adults involved also turn in layered and nuanced portrayals that are too good for the quality of film they are in.

The key issue here seems to be that the film loses track of every good idea it ever has; it drops the ball so many times. It’s confusing, not because it’s too profound or deep or interesting, but because every moment of manifested anxiety that the film is attempting to portray is tackled with such a lack of nuance or creativity – then is forgotten about or contradicted – that it becomes frankly nonsensical.

There are hints of the spirit of Ponsoldt’s better work in Summering, but given the quality of work the director was able to produce on television after The Circle (2017), this 2022 film is a huge disappointment.

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5. The Circle (2017)

The Circle Review

When Netflix announced a Tom Hanks-produced movie about internet privacy starring Emma Watson and John Boyega was to arrive on their streaming service in 2017, a lot of people were positive about what was to come. Unfortunately, what came was one of the biggest misses of James Ponsoldt’s career. Bad performances, a patronising story, below standard CG effects and an overall sense of what could have been made for a lacklustre offering.

It seems that the director often went missing when the film needed visual inspiration or an injection of character, and it was clear that he felt much less comfortable in the movie’s concept-driven formula than he had in his previous character-driven work.

The Circle at least makes sense (mostly) and isn’t entirely void of positives, but it is a red mark against an otherwise impressive character-driven filmography.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Director: James Gunn
Screenwriter: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone, Nathan Fillion, Linda Cardellini, Asim Chaudhry, Mikaela Hoover

How many trilogies really stick the landing?

In 2018, writer-director James Gunn was unceremoniously fired by Disney after some bad taste jokes from his early days as a comedian were unearthed on Twitter by right-wing trolls who objected to Gunn’s outspoken political views. Following a passionate campaign from fans and Gunn’s friends and colleagues, a year later he was brought back on board at Marvel to finish what he started. If you love this particular bunch of a-holes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is going to be an emotional one.

Scoundrel-turned-superhero Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is in a dark place after making a mistake that doomed half the universe and lost him the love of his life, Gamora (Zoë Saldaña). The Guardians were restored following the defeat of Thanos, but a different Gamora – one who doesn’t even like Peter let alone love him – now stands in his paramour’s place. When an attack on the Guardian home base of Knowhere leaves one of their number mortally injured, the team set out on a quest that brings them into conflict with mad scientist the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) and causes Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) to confront his traumatic past.

What James Gunn has been hiding in plain sight up to now is that the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is really about Rocket above anyone else. This is his journey, one that takes him from a bad start in life to being a full and happy person with people in his life he can trust and rely upon.

Much like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, if Rocket didn’t work as a VFX creation, then nothing else in this instalment (where he’s driving pretty much all the action) would either. Thankfully, the time-lapse transition between a terrified caged raccoon and Rocket’s older, cynically twitching nose that opens the film puts those doubts immediately to rest. Gunn’s empathy for all living things, but particularly those who have been mistreated, is what gives this story its power, and Bradley Cooper’s pitch-perfect vocal performance has the strength to make you feel all the feelings. Just as a raccoon crying over his lost tree friend made us shed tears in 2014, his relationship with his fellow abused creatures brings on the waterworks all over again here with some almost unbearably intense scenes in captivity. We don’t get to spend all that long with young Rocket’s animal experiment friends Lylla the otter (Linda Cardellini), Teefs the walrus (Asim Chaudhry) and Floor the rabbit (Mikaela Hoover), but we quickly grow to love them just as deeply he did.

This does have the feel of a victory lap, bringing everything full circle and giving everyone their time to shine. Everyone loves the literal-thinking lunk Drax (Dave Bautista) and towering tree-man Groot (Vin Diesel) but it is stoic cyborg Nebula (Karen Gillan) and eager-to-please empath Mantis (Pom Klementief), previously both pretty one-note, who end up being the undisputed highlights here. The former’s gruff and tough personality has gradually been eroded over her time with the Guardians, and the rare occasion when she lets down her guard and lets emotion overwhelm her really hits hard. The latter is the heart of the team, gets most of the funniest lines, and her unique power helps her and her friends out of a few tough spots in some unexpected ways.

Newcomers to this universe include Borat 2‘s Maria Bakalova as Cosmo the talking psychic cosmonaut dog who has an adorable film-long argument with space pirate Kraglin (Sean Gunn), Will Poulter as genetically engineered gold man-child Adam Warlock, and Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary, arguably the most evil and irredeemable bastard in the galaxy who will mutilate, torture and thoughtlessly dispose of countless living things all in service of his delusional mission to create a “perfect society”.

The action is all very polished and exciting, and because this is the team’s last ride it all feels a lot more dangerous for our heroes somehow. A fight in a corridor in the final act might be the finest couple of minutes of action in the MCU to date – not only is it meticulously choreographed, ludicrously entertaining and set to a killer Beastie Boys track, but it lets the team work in violent harmony and gives every member of the team a chance to showcase their special abilities, each getting their own big character moment at the same time.

James Gunn has always happily leaned into the sillier visual and conceptual aspects of space opera, and rarely have such strange ideas been more convincingly brought to life as here. From a bio-formed space station seemingly made of meat to learning that the city of Knowhere (built inside the skull of a dead space god) can actually be driven to a new location, and even to a mirror image “Counter-Earth” populated by humanoids forcefully evolved from lower lifeforms, big swings are taken. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an epic, galaxy-spanning quest, but all this imagination vitally remains in service of a very intimate story. 

A minor criticism that could be levelled at this particular Guardians iteration is that the soundtrack isn’t as memorable or pitch-perfect as in the previous two films, with John Murphy’s (Sunshine, The Suicide Squad) original score extensively incorporating choral singing provoking a stronger reaction than the vast majority of the needle-drops. Similarly, the final act of the film, after over two hours of putting every Guardian through one life-threatening incident after another, keeps piling on the jeopardy to an almost absurd degree even when it is already fit to burst.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 brings this unlikely team’s journey to an immensely satisfying and appropriately epic conclusion. It is spectacular to look at and really funny, but it is also easily one of the darkest stories in the Marvel universe and does not pull its punches to make its pretty explicit discussion of abuse and animal testing any more palatable. We may see some of these characters again down the road, but for now it’s a fond farewell to them all, especially the acerbic Racoon who just wanted to be loved.

Score: 21/24

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The Bubble (2022)
Director: Judd Apatow
Screenwriter: Judd Apatow, Pam Brady
Starring: Karen Gillan, Iris Apatow, Pedro Pascal, Leslie Mann, Fred Armisen, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon, Guz Khan, Peter Serafinowicz, Maria Bamford, Vir Das, Maria Bakalova

Judd Apatow has had a long, sturdy career in film and television comedies. His work, in films like Knocked Up and television shows like Freaks & Geeks, has often exhibited a naturalistic approach to its characters, with his masterful 2009 film Funny People even pointing his honest lens on success and aging within the entertainment industry. In his latest film, Netflix’s The Bubble, he broaches the subject of the entertainment industry again, this time focusing on a group of actors filming the sixth installment of a massive studio franchise – a series of dinosaur-themed action films called Cliff Beasts – in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and all the troubles that ensue within that challenging scenario. In a meta sense, though, there is an inherent issue with depicting the challenges of such a scenario when the challenges themselves are so uniquely unrelatable and unnecessary, especially in the context of a global pandemic. This is a flaw in the fabric of Apatow’s failed film industry satire that he is never quite able to overcome.

The satire in The Bubble feels deeply insecure, in the sense that it is far too obsessed with getting ahead of the audience’s perceptions of this film’s evident flaws instead of embracing a clear-eyed satirical perspective one way or the other. If the intention here is to make an Albert Brooks-style satire on Hollywood vanity — which is the most flattering read on this to have — then what Apatow fails to do is pin down whether we should be laughing at these characters or caring for them. When you can’t do that, especially when your film is centered around a pandemic that has negatively impacted the lives of millions, the best course of action is to adopt Gal Gadot’s tone-deaf “Imagine” video as a point of comparison and practice some self-awareness. As a film about shooting needless entertainment in the middle of a pandemic – which The Bubble is self-admittedly guilty of – any commentary on “mindless” blockbusters and how a “making movies is fun and isn’t that what it’s all about?” mindset is both harmful and wasteful, and is ultimately undone by this film’s own existence.

The only acute sense of self-awareness that The Bubble has to offer comes in the last scene where a few of the characters, referring to Cliff Beasts 6, say that the opening of their film is weak but maybe if the ending is strong it won’t matter as much. But not only is that another case of insecure satire trying to distance itself from its own criticisms towards soulless studio films, it is also barely true about The Bubble itself. This ending sting, in which we see the premiere of a documentary depicting the events that we saw, followed by the aforementioned conversation between characters, is reminiscent of the mid-credits scenes you’ll find in Adam McKay’s latest two films, Vice (2018) and Don’t Look Up (2021). One hopes that Apatow’s career is not heading in a similarly self-important and out-of-touch direction as McKay’s did, though The Bubble’s lazy and pointless ruminations on current events is not promising.

A major discrepancy between The Bubble and Apatow’s past work is the lack of naturalism here. Of course, the film’s meta-textually incorporates its extremely unnatural environment, so it is completely unintentional, but the issue remains even through the film’s attempts to focus on the private and personal moments of its characters, unfortunately. The Bubble also has the typical visual blandness of a Netflix original, with no differentiation between the film and the “disastrous” film within the film, which lends to its lack of naturalism. Worse yet, The Bubble is occupied with broad quips about how movie theaters may never exist again, so its embrace of Netflix’s uniform ugliness is yet another indication that this film has little respect for the art of film-making. 

Apatow has assembled a mostly promising ensemble of actors to portray the film’s cast and crew – including Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, Keegan Michael-Key, David Duchovny, as well as his mainstay cast/family members, wife Leslie Mann and daughter Iris Apatow – most of whom are portrayed as self-righteous, oblivious and phony. It’s difficult to explain the plot without breaking into several tangential descriptions of the film’s vignette-heavy structure, but it feels that in tandem with its thematic lack of focus, Apatow struggled to let the cast thrive together, instead relying on their existing talents and letting whatever happens happen. What’s odd, though, is that Apatow’s eye for talent is usually a source of his success. On top of essentially cementing the movie-star status of the likes of Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and more, his previous two directorial efforts – Trainwreck (2015) and The King of Staten Island (2020) – managed to be extremely charming, airy stories that centered on comedians who are generally controversial, if not outright disliked. Not to mention that his entire oeuvre is full of brilliantly-placed cameos and bit-parts that also function as Hollywood in-jokes (see: Lebron James in Trainwreck; Action Bronson in The King of Staten Island; the onslaught of celebrities playing themselves in Knocked Up and Funny People). All of this exhibits a unique understanding of talent that is missing in The Bubble, which still fills itself with awkward cameos and characters who show minimal understanding of current pop culture. 

Karen Gillan’s character is exemplary of the issue with The Bubble’s treatment of its characters at large. Portraying the returning star of the series, who skipped out on starring in the fifth entry only to find no success in other endeavors, she comes into this film full of insecurity and afraid that her co-stars will hate her. Being the ostensible lead, she also faces issues that encompass the intended themes and messages of the film overall, such as having a difficult time feeling connected to the film she is making as different elements are slowly removed and replaced due to budget constraints, studio interference and general on-set chaos. The returning question that lingers around her character, though, is whether the audience is meant to care for her or not. After an extremely dangerous on-set experience that left several cast and crew members injured, Gillan’s character tries to take to Iris Apatow’s character’s massive TikTok following, which Apatow doesn’t allow her to do because “no one wants to hear celebrities complain”. The problem is that this is the worst time in the film that such an argument could be brought up, because not only are unsafe working conditions in Hollywood an extremely real issue, but it’s additionally unclear whether we are meant to agree or not.

The reigning champions of The Bubble are the actors who play the non-celebrity workers on the film set, played by Samson Kayo, Maria Bakalova, Galen Hopper, and Harry Trevaldwyn. These newcomers are where you can feel Apatow’s eye for talent, and quite clearly should have been given greater focus within the film. Had the plot been centered around any one of these actors, grounding the film with folks who are being put in this unsafe position without the same benefits of fame and money, it could have erased many of the film’s uncomfortable issues, as well as injecting a fresh sense of humor into the project. The fact that Apatow literally casts his wife and daughter and yet it doesn’t feel like he can acknowledge his complicity or privilege, nor does it feel like he is interested in at least utilizing their relationship for sympathy, shows that his position as the rich director of this film is the cause for its lack of valuable perspective, which is felt all the way through its bloated 126 minute runtime.

7/24

Written by Nicholas Armstrong

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Stuber (2019)
Director: Michael Dowse
Screenwriter: Tripper Clancy
Starring: Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani, Mira Sorvino, Natalie Morales, Jimmy Tatro, Betty Gilpin, Karen Gillan

Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) star as a cop and his uber driver in 2019 action comedy Stuber, a new take on the buddy cop genre from It’s All Gone Pete Tong and What If director Michael Dowse which takes inspiration from Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys to deliver an enjoyable but far from groundbreaking funny actioner that will come and go about as quick as an Uber driver’s illusive 5-star rating.

Taking advantage of Bautista’s and Nanjiani’s recent rises to prominence, Stuber combines the comedy chops of the two vastly different performers to offer the genre’s most prized possession: believable opposites in the roles of Good Cop and Bad Cop – the twist to the formula here being that Nanjiani isn’t actually a cop at all, but an uber driver. It’s hardly the genre deconstruction offered in The Nice Guys, but it is if nothing else a loving embrace of the tropes Shane Black’s 2016 release so gleefully unraveled.

Following a shaky opening that sees Bautista land in Nanjiani’s Uber because of short term blindness caused by laser eye surgery – which acts as just one example of the screenplay’s lack of imagination – Stuber grows into its own as a serviceable if unremarkable 90 minutes of throwaway fun, the kind of film that would be a good choice for a watch-along.

Some of the jokes miss, but a lot of them hit, and some hit quite spectacularly, while most of the action is weaved into servicing character, narrative or laughs in a way that ensures the picture stays largely entertaining throughout.

If you’ve seen a buddy cop movie before, you’ll recognise the formula. One cop loves the job and will stop at nothing to see justice served, the other just wants to get home to eat dinner, see his wife or, in this case, have sex with his best friend (Betty Gilpin). It’s hardly “I’m too old for this” Lethal Weapon, but it’ll do, especially when Bautista and Nanjiani deliver everything with such a tangible chemistry.

Perhaps most significantly, Stuber’s delivery of the typical buddy cop elements of Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys does lend itself to critical engagement of the genre’s historical prejudices and representations of masculinity, the largest difference between the two leads here not being their professions or their appearances but instead their versions of masculinity: Bautista being compared to Steven Seagal by Nanjiani in the film as the aggressive muscle bound hero typical of an 80s action flick, and Nanjiani being the more modern, self-reflective, smaller and more socially conscious star of modern times, Bautista grunting at him to “man up”. As you could expect from any such tension, lessons are learned on both sides, the modern hero adapting to a more aggressive historical approach and the classic hero becoming more open with his feelings, his trust and his ability to use a smart phone. It’s not a lot, but it’s enough to warrant time served, a glimpse into the potential of the idea at its heart.

While Stuber isn’t going to be the first name on everyone’s lips, nor one to stick in the memory for a prolonged period of time, it is a genuinely entertaining piece of cinema that ought to bring a few smiles to faces. If not for the buddy cop formula (which remains a trustworthy source of light-heartedness despite its limited number of appearances over recent years), then Bautista and Nanjiani ought to do the trick, the moments of genuine belly laughter being the icing on the cake.

Stuber isn’t in the same league as recent buddy cop movies The Nice Guys and 21 Jump Street but it offers enough to look beyond its obvious product placement and most unimaginative elements to bring it home leaps beyond the likes of Chips and Let’s Be Cops.

10/24

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
Director: Jake Kasdan
Screenwriters: Jake Kasdan, Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Danny DeVito, Danny Glover, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius Blain, Madison Iseman

Two years ago Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was released and it was a pleasant surprise. Far from just another nostalgic re-do, it was zippy, quippy and unexpectedly full of heart. You of course missed the late great Robin Williams as Adam Parish but soon grew to love these new characters played by a cast having the time of their lives and couldn’t wait to meet up with them again. Jumanji: The Next Level has more of what works and also a fair amount of what didn’t, and still doesn’t.

After their return from the video game world of Jumanji, Spencer (Alex Wolff), Martha (Morgan Turner), Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) and Bethany (Madison Iseman) get on with their lives. Unfortunately Spencer’s college life isn’t what he wants it to be and he’s tempted to boot back up the damaged magical game cartridge again to control his chosen avatar Smoulder Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson). When his friends come looking for him, they and two unexpected new players (Danny DeVito and Danny Glover) enter a very different Jumanji world.

If the previous film was about learning to brave enough to be the version of yourself hiding below the surface, this one’s about accepting all aspects of who you are – the good, the bad and the boring. Real life intrudes on your free time, which is why escapism in any form is all the more important to retain your sanity.

They really commit to the video game conceit again. Regular players of action-adventure games like the “Tomb Raider” or “Uncharted” series will recognise the film’s world as a typical expanded game sequel, with a more elaborate plot and challenges, and with our heroes progressing from a jungle level to a desert level to an ice level and so on. The game has certainly changed, with a brand new quest, new characters to meet and different players inhabiting the avatars and changing their personalities as a result.

Martha is the only original player controlling her chosen avatar Ruby Roundhouse (Karen Gillan) so her experience makes her the de facto party leader, and it’s great to see Gillan get to play front-and-centre for a change. Kevin Hart pulls out an uncanny Danny Glover impression, but Dwayne Johnson’s Danny DeVito mostly amounts to him pulling a face and going “Ah?” every few minutes. There’s an extra big laugh to be had from Dwayne Johnson in a surprise blink-and-you’ll-miss-it second role as well, so look out for that. I’m not really sure if Jack Black acting like Fridge really works, or whether the impression itself constitutes as “problematic”, but rest assured everyone will not stay in the same avatars they started in for the duration.

Awkwafina (The Farewell) is a great addition to the ensemble, continuing her run of eclectic scene-stealing roles as new player character Ming, here really selling that there’s an awkward teenager at the controls of her avatar for much of the runtime, though at one point she gets to be DeVito as well, doing a much more convincing job than Johnson in the process.

What the last film really lacked was a great villain, and things aren’t much better here. Game of Thrones‘ Rory McCann does his best to inject menace into Jurgan the Brutal, and amusingly can make the man formally known as The Rock look small when they go head-to-head, but he’s probably only in the film for about fifteen minutes total and you’re crying out for something more going on behind his luxurious beard. They should just cut their losses and get Jonathan Hyde back next time.

The action is a skillfully put together series of frenetic chases, tangles with aggressive wildlife and comedy fight scenes with a satisfying rhythm and plentiful gags overriding an occasional CGI sheen. There’s also some well-timed and entertaining callbacks peppered throughout. You could probably do without so many old-man-is-forgetful or old-man-is-deaf jokes but far more of the comedy lands than doesn’t.

We still don’t know what happens to someone in the Jumanji game who loses all their lives. Mortality is touched upon in the film, perhaps inevitably for a film exploring alternatives to real life and featuring two characters in their seventies. Maybe we’ll get the answer next time in the third film of this trilogy that is explicitly set up. In the meantime, it has been nice to catch up with these characters on another fun, if a little drawn-out romp through Jumanji.

15/24

Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Screenwriters: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Don Cheadle, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Brie Larson

The Avengers are back, this time as a depleted albeit universe-trotting combination of humans, super-humans, bionic beings and Gods alike, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes coming full circle from their debut outing in The Avengers (2012) by re-establishing the core group in their attempts to save the universe from that which has already occurred: Thanos’ Infinity War snap that wiped out half of all life – the decimation.

With the audience-pleasing combination of fresh ideas and a nostalgia towards revisiting the core group, Avengers: Endgame has shattered pre-sale and preview records, and is expected to become the highest grossing movie of all time. The Marvel Studios culmination project, directed by franchise leaders The Russo Brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Captain America: Civil War; Avengers: Infinity War), is more than a blockbuster, it’s a cultural event around which all of superhero cinema is set to pivot. In the years to come, we’ll discuss the superhero sub-genre as either before or after Endgame, the 21 Marvel releases and countless films from other studios bound together under one banner defined by this film, the result and/or pay-off to every superhero movie ever released to this point and the cinematic version of a thank you letter to those who’ve stuck with it for so many years. Disney, Marvel, Marvel head Kevin Feige, The Russo Brothers and everyone involved with this film seemed to have had one goal in mind: pleasing everyone.

Endgame, or more aptly Fan Service The Movie, is a film not lacking in issues – a plot defined by leaps in logic (both within the film itself and the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe) as well as conveniences big and small being the central most concern – and much like many a season finale, Endgame was arguably outshone by the series’ penultimate episode (in this case Infinity War) in an artistic sense. But, that’s not to say that it wasn’t possibly the greatest season finale of all time, a new standard bearer for the ultimate long-term, many-franchise-long, pay off. For fans of the MCU, this is almost everything you could have wished for, and for those going in without 21 films of knowledge and a backlog of Marvel comic book information to guide them, there’s more than enough about Endgame to not only keep your attention but to truly shock, inspire and wow you. Endgame is a blockbuster that pushes all the right buttons.

Logic holes and plot conveniences aside, Endgame does actually feature a very solid narrative through-line considering the number of factors at play, encapsulating motivations and potential issues in amongst its countless battles and nostalgia trips, never seeming to shy away from offering real stakes (despite such concerns regarding most Marvel releases to date) and satisfying narrative conclusions – it seems Marvel’s apparent lack of faith in traditionally secondary characters has waned due to the success of projects like Guardians of the Galaxy and that the studio is finally embracing the inevitable: that nobody lives forever.

Endgame is, without a doubt, the biggest superhero tear-jerker to date.

It is perhaps assumed that an Avengers film is going to look good at this stage, and in Endgame that is certainly the case once again, the CG-rendering of characters like Hulk and the challenging battle sequences seamlessly blending with the cleverly assembled visual motif of the Russo Brothers’ live-action footage, providing the true peak of superhero-related CG work to date. What’s more is that Endgame sounds fantastic, the work in sound editing working to deliver extra impact to every punch and the score being integral to the emotion of the piece, not least to reacquainting us with the themes and traumas of previous movies and thus the narrative arcs of the central most characters.

As a standalone artistic venture, Endgame may not quite live up to its predecessor (arguably the greatest offering Marvel have constructed to date) on the page, but it is without a doubt a phenom of the genre despite this and does, in almost every other conceivable way – importance to the franchise, to its audience, to cinema and to culture – outstrip Infinity War, making it quite possibly the greatest superhero movie of all time and certainly the most important.

Take some tissues and stay through the credits despite there not being an after-credit scene because it’s likely we’ll never see superhero cinema reach the heights of this again. Every single minute of the 3 hour run-time will captivate you (and then some). Laugh, cry and be left in awe at the majesty of the peak of the Marvel mountain…

23/24

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Screenwriters: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Josh Brolin, Chris Pratt, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Chadwick Boseman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Carrie Coon, Pom Klementieff, Sebastian Stan, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Benedict Cumberbatch, Idris Elba, Letitia Wright, Vin Diesel, Danai Gurira, Paul Bettany, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Mackie, Benedict Wong

Unforeseen and unprecedented, Avengers: Infinity War delivers a conclusion of a lifetime that you’re going to want to see on the big screen and ahead of someone spoiling things for you. May you never have concerns about Marvel’s lack of conviction again…

10 years and 18 movies in the making, Infinity War was asked to juggle the massive expectations of its audience as well as the need for each of its franchise leading characters to be served appropriately. And, through some of the Russo Brothers’ now trademarked story-centred action, a premise that demanded attention and stakes, and a strong effort to invest in the arc of the villain, this full stop on the first 10 years of the MCU has managed to do just that. This is more than a superhero movie, it’s a defining moment in modern cinema.

The most pressing positive from the film comes from the brains at Marvel Studios – headed by studio head Kevin Feige – whom seem to have listened to concerns regarding the quality of the universe’s villains and made rectifying that issue their first port of call regarding Thanos in Infinity War, ensuring that the character’s desires were not left without explanation; that we were given the correct amount of insight into the tyrannical titan’s motivations, as well as his – for lack of a better term – humanity. In the space of a few hours, the most important of peripheral MCU figures became directly important to the story of the film and the future of the franchise, spearheading the direction of the conflict not as “generic ‘unwelcomed other’ number 4” but as a genuinely believable monstrous being with all the bells and whistles needed to make him a credible threat – on a scale of Malekith in Thor: The Dark World to The Dark Knight’s Joker, Thanos was a lot closer to The Joker.

That’s not to say that Thanos encompassed the entire film in the same way that The Joker did however, as the directors and their writing team did an incredible job in ensuring that each of the heroes was given their moment to shine too, with the franchise’s most prominent figures each finding room to manoeuvre in a cast of characters larger than arguably any in history. Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Starlord and Captain America were each given important direction and a lot of screen time through which to fulfil their tasks, and their interactions with secondary characters made for moment after moment of fan service that reached levels so high that Infinity War is almost untouchable in such a regard. This hectic and all-encompassing presentation did make performances harder to judge, and it’s fair to assume that there won’t be a single Infinity War cast member being nominated for their role in the movie at next year’s Oscars, but that’s not to deny the gravitas of Robert Downey Jr, Chris Pratt and Chris Evans in particular, each of whom offered tidbits of how special each of them are at important moments in the film; with Josh Brolin’s Thanos performance also being notable in its own right despite being so heavily masked by CGI.

Questions will also be raised about the quality of Infinity War to viewers unfamiliar with the franchise’s predecessors as the movie clearly placed a lot of its content against the backdrop of an expected familiarity between those watching the film and the characters within it. And sure, to a person fresh to the universe, Infinity War is hardly the film it would be to a person who’s a fan of the MCU, a reader of the comics or even a film goer who’s seen the vast majority of other Marvel movies, but to judge the 19th instalment of a universe with such traditional film criticism credentials would be to misunderstand the very nature of this once in a lifetime beast. Infinity War isn’t a film that 99.9% of people will begin their Marvel Cinematic Universe journey with, and though they’ll need a lot of catching up if they do choose to go down that route, the film’s lack of exposition and direct-to-action approach is actually to the movie’s benefit, keeping the run-time as low as it can be, the action and excitement high, and the story at the forefront of everything on the screen.

It’s in the story that Infinity War, and particularly the work of the Russo Brothers, comes to bare fruit, because for a film with so many must-see names, characters and moments, set across planets in different galaxies, everything somehow miraculously not only fits together, but also makes sense. The film’s narrative through-line is so strong that Iron Man can be fighting in one place while Star Lord fights in another, and at no point does it seem unnatural to be with one character as opposed to someone else, and while the film is filled to the brim with action set pieces and beautifully put together CG, the Russo Brothers ensure they never lose touch of the main arc of the film in what can only be described as a spectacular feat in direction – one that is complimented by every other aspect of post-production.

In short, this superhero-war-action movie is a moment in time that you shall never forget. This is a film so entwined with the history of a genre its own predecessors have come to define that it cannot be overlooked as anything other than a year defining, decade defining, genre defining all-time classic that belongs in the same echelon as The Dark Knight and The Empire Strikes Back in terms of quality blockbuster material. If you get the chance to see this on the big screen, do it. This is an event invitation you’re not going to want to pass up on; the near perfect comic book movie.

22/24

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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Director: Jake Kasdan
Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Rhys Darby, Bobby Cannavale, Nick Jonas
Plot: Four teenagers are sucked into a virtual game of Jumanji and cannot return to the real world until they defeat the villain Van Pelt and restore harmony to the jungle.

Despite an uncontrollable desire to hate this film, it has managed to refresh a rebooted concept and bring new energy to the typical archetypal cast of angst-ridden teens. Let the reluctant enjoyment commence.

Four teenagers get sucked into a videogame – now there is a plotline the average twenty-something tends to avoid, especially when it is playing around haphazardly with your childhood memories. The original 1995 Jumanji conjures up familiar visions of the late Robin Williams running wild with a spear; evading Van Pelt, and making us all chuckle.

Joe Johnston’s 90s flick was undeniably the best emotional development action adventure fantasy romp since The Goonies, and praised (seems laughable now) for its groundbreaking CGI effects.

The reimagining sees the battered board game turn into a slightly more up-to-date Nintendo 64 games cartridge, because as watching the original caper proves; there’s nothing scarier than old graphics.

Director Jake Kasdan made sure that the refreshed premise had some cliché character archetypes. Jumanji features a “popular ” (Madison Iseman/Jack Black), a “jock” (Ser’Darius Blain/Kevin Hart), a “nerd” (Alex Wolff/Dwayne Johnson), and an “outcast ” (Morgan Turner/Karen Gillan) at loggerheads in detention. It is basically The Breakfast Club ft. wild animals and The Matrix.

The foursome soon have to start working together when they are sucked into Jumanji and tasked with breaking the curse and saving the land.

In a Freaky Friday twist, they all embody the avatar they chose at the start of the game. Needless to say, they certainly don’t align with who they are in the real world – humorously highlighting the allure of escapism that video games emit.

The group reflect today’s teen by being painfully digitally aware, giving the film meta undertones as they make fun of repetitive sub-characters and in turn, their new avatar identities.

Jumanji’s backstory is relatively weak, and focus is kept firmly on the heroes rather than the villain (Bobby Cannavale) who rarely features and struggles to evoke a shudder. The game-ified “cutaway” scenes unfortunately mirror the poor back story commonly found in video games too well, especially for a feature-length film.

Dance fighting, cake eating and stellar comedic performances from The Rock and Jack Black undo the four writer screenplay faux pas. While it does not stand up to the original in the minds and hearts of many millennials, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle staggers itself to stand up as a standalone.

10/24

The Circle (2017)
Director: James Ponsoldt
Screenwriters: Dave Eggers, James Ponsoldt
Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega, Ellar Coltrane, Karen Gillan, Glenne Headly, Patton Oswalt, Bill Paxton

The latest film to star Emma Watson (Harry Potter; Beauty and the Beast) comes via Netflix and James Ponsoldt’s adaptation of Dave Eggers’ novel “The Circle”. With several hits already under their belts for this calendar year, and one of the most star-studded casts in its history, could the streaming giants turned mega-power distributors maintain their high batting average or was this film a swing and a miss?

In short… it was one heck of a miss.

The Circle is the sort of picture that had a lot of potential – it was a cautionary tale regarding internet privacy, attempted to cover our afflictions with technology (both social and personal), and it was released in a contemporary landscape filled with people, businesses and services promising us that their way is the right way, often actioning such without our knowing consent (a huge theme in the film) – yet the finished product was uninteresting. Vapid. The entire production felt uninspired and underwhelming, as if someone had promised to unravel the mysteries of the universe only to show you a YouTube conspiracy video. Of course, The Circle was photographed more artistically, but the effect was a lasting one.

Perhaps the most exhausting aspect of The Circle was its dull screenplay and the almost juvenile way in which it tackled its complex subject matter and related contemporary issues. The story followed Emma Watson’s twenty-something customer assistant Mae whose live-at-home lifestyle was traded in for the university-like experience of working at “The Circle”, a mini society packed into an ovular-shaped island. Upon starting her new job, Mae would become privy to the increasingly invasive means by which her company were “offering services” to its customers, only briefly pausing to question the absurdity of such when coming into contact with enigmatic cohort Ty (John Boyega – The Force Awakens) or childhood friend turned underdeveloped love interest Mercer (Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood). Seas of people were photographed in elation at the announcements of said invasive technologies, the presentations of such being set at bullet pointed intervals throughout the screenplay in what required an absurd suspension of disbelief to truly buy into. Could it be possible that we’re all so stupid? That none of us value privacy or can question technology’s foray into it? According to The Circle, that’s not only possible, but an absolute fact that only the enlightened and the humble can see past – the enlightened and the humble being the screenwriters who believe they’re opening our minds to this age-old debate, and the mindless sheep being us… the public that the movie represents in the most basic if not reductive way.

Perhaps the biggest casualty of this poorly developed story and the bemusing metaphors beneath it, is co-screenwriter and director James Ponsoldt whose career prior to this movie had featured a top-to-bottom feature-filmography of quality pictures. The director of The Spectacular Now and The End of the Tour, two independent films universally beloved by critics and audiences alike, had developed a career out of presenting identifiable and layered characters in character-driven pieces, stepping out of this zone for the concept-driven The Circle, thus exposing himself as being much less talented in this respect.

Contrary to Ponsoldt’s previous work, the vast majority of characters in The Circle were lacking any real humanity that was worthy of investment, with each of the movie’s central and supporting characters being significantly underdeveloped. Recognisable and talented actors like John Boyega, Ellar Coltrane, Karen Gillan, Glenne Headly and Patton Oswalt each felt like needless additions inserted by studio big-wigs to bring eyes to the product, with the only standouts being Tom Hanks as Tom Hanks (the falsely nice leader of “The Circle”) and the late, great Bill Paxton, whose MS-suffering father character was perhaps the only likeable person in the entire movie.

Emma Watson was, of course, the movie’s focal point, and Ponsoldt did do an adequate job of telling the tale through her character’s eyes. Watson however, fresh off the $1Billion success of Beauty and the Beast, appeared largely absent in her role, delivering lines with a sloppiness undeserving of her calibre and expressing only mild discomfort or happiness at any given time, seemingly perfecting the Kristen Stewart brand of sigh-acting her way through projects she’s uninterested in. As a result, she didn’t come across like someone worth routing for, resulting in the feeling that Paxton’s character and performance could have brought more weight to the movie’s overall story arc, resulting in a film with at least a small amount of gravitas.

Aesthetically, The Circle was no more than a mixed bag either. It started well, presenting the San Francisco Bay in a golden glow as Watson’s Mae kayaked her way into the vast expanse of water, but it soon faltered in its CG interpretation of the island upon which “The Circle” was situated, and its CG-heavy scenes from that moment on only became worse. Even Ponsoldt’s typically flowing camera movements at moments of spiritual awakening or revolution were absent courtesy of the way the filmmaker had boxed himself in via his screenplay’s situational reliance upon unmovable sets. Only on very few occasions did Ponsoldt’s true artistic flair speak through the camera, as unfortunately he was reduced to a glorified concert and presentation recorder for most of this film.

The Circle is, then, best described as an almost insulting modern recreation of 1984, featuring some below par acting, average photography and a screenplay that missed the mark in quite a tragically glorious fashion. To those new to Ponsoldt’s work, I’d suggest checking out his better earlier films, as The Circle is dull and unworthy of your time. Watch 1984, Network or The Truman Show instead.

5/24

Star-Lord and crew are back for the most anticipated Marvel sequel in years, and with a few notable stars added to the mix, and a host of 70s and 80s pop gems providing the musical backdrop, James Gunn and company have managed to capture a lot of the original’s magic in a funny and colourful romp that didn’t quite manage to spark lightning in a bottle for a second time but was still mountains of fun.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is, first and foremost, evidence of the sort of summer blockbuster tentpole movie that we, as audiences, deserve and have come to demand. Typically, such movies are modes of escapism filled with oceans of beautifully constructed CGI, so many high profile names that the movies barely know what to do with them, a rocking soundtrack and the oh-so-important comic relief at times of high stress; and Guardians 2 is all of these things. Where James Gunn’s movie separates itself from the lesser appreciated members of its genre, like Suicide Squad, X-Men: Apocalypse, Ben-Hur and Independence Day: Resurgence, is in the filmmaker’s loyalty and admiration for the characters at the heart of his movie and the ways by which he trusts the audience to work some things out on their own. Guardians 2, much like its predecessor, is more than its genre’s simple constructional parts, it is a character driven spectacle movie that successfully combines awe with empathy and vitally doesn’t let marketing interfere with story. As is the case with any film of its ilk, there are moments of forced connection where a rising score works to try and create a sense of empathy where there isn’t one, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 seems to hit the emotional beats nine times out of ten, and nine out of ten ain’t bad.

Guardians 2 is, despite this, quite a stretch from being as great as the first movie. The ways in which it seems to falter the most are due to a number of developments that have occurred between the two films. Firstly, the Guardians’ huge critical and financial success in 2014, and their confirmed involvement in Avengers: Infinity War, have placed different demands on the filmmaking process that have seemingly restricted Gunn to a sensibility much more like the film’s Marvel Cinematic Universe brethren than the original movie ever came close to being. What was once a standalone product with self-referential and almost meta humour (including, remember, a dance-off as the epic final show-down between good and evil), has filtered much more into the typical Marvel way of doing things, with much less of the convention busting jokes and therefore just a little bit less heart and originality than Guardians 1 so marvellously contained – pun intended. Second of all, it seems that the success of the movie’s original gifted Gunn the sort of budget that the filmmaker didn’t really know what to do with and thus was freely done away with in scene after scene of ‘cool CG’ battle shots, aircraft boarding, etc. that left the earlier parts of the movie feeling heavy and slow in comparison to the picture’s quicker and much more satisfying second half. Along the same lines came a seemingly more typical presentation of the story too, with countless establishing scenes for the movie’s many characters precursing a huge universe-saving battle – revolving around an entire planet – which was the centrepiece of the movie (much like every Avengers film ever). We’ve seen it all countless times before and, despite providing a relatively high-stakes version of the trope courtesy of a well developed villain – somewhat of a rarity in Marvel movies – and a much more convincing threat to our heroes than in the original or much of the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 still couldn’t quite overcome how over-used its formula was.

This did, however, create the spectacle that Guardians 2 needed as an excuse to present its outstanding visuals, the likes of which are without comparison in the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each scene was filled with a vibrancy unlike much of the ‘clear as day’ cinematographic techniques in the rest of Marvel’s central Avengers franchise, separating it from the pack in terms of visual appeal. As referenced above, the CGI was also hugely impressive and leaps beyond much of the work done in The Avengers or Avengers: Age of Ultron. There were a few sequences in which the camera worked against the wonderful work of the CG to create an effect whereby the film felt like more of a top-end video game than a cinematic work of art, but these were small missteps in an otherwise fantastic piece of visual artistry.

Crucially, the camera was also pointed at the right people. The Guardians were their usual fantastically individual and different (for action comic book movies, at least) selves, only with improved individuality for Gamora (Saldana) and Nebula (Gillan), two characters of whom much of the original’s criticism was dealt courtesy of being underdeveloped. The building of each of the core group’s members was as cleverly constructed and well performed as in the original only with the benefits of not having to introduce them anymore, with this movie tending to lean towards more typically emotional fare than much of what occurred in Guardians 1, something that helped to grow the characters of Rocket (Cooper) and Yondu (Rooker) substantially and brought out some of the best work from its cast. The crucial addition of Kurt Russell was a welcomed one too, with an immersible performance to boot, but Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Debicki who played Ogord and Ayesha respectively, seemed more like bonus features by the film’s end than any meaningful casting choice or character addition, with each performer bringing very little to their roles. It was, however, the Guardians as a collective upon which the film hinged, and in the writing of their group dynamic and the strong comedic performances by much of its cast (particularly Dave Bautista as Drax), the same sense of comrardery between them felt as real and present as ever, with a closer family dynamic seeming to occur naturally as the result of their actions in Guardians 1.

The group was, of course, brought together by music, a theme that is highlighted throughout much of the franchise and is present from the very opening sequence in Guardians 2. The promotional material for the film paid the music a great deal of attention and the film delivered on its promise of using it as creatively as in the original. The soundtrack was a symphony of classic hits with some of the titles being highlighted by the characters themselves as being useful metaphors for the situations they were going through or had been through in the past. Usefully, this brought about a more conscious attention as to the meaning of the songs being used in the film and thus utilised them as a source for emotional input for characters who were holding emotions back at certain points, therefore enhancing them as heroes worth routing for without the need for expository dialogue or out-of-character declarations.

Where Guardians 2 most prominently succeeds is in the presentation of the family of outcasts that it brought together in the original, and the ways in which they’ve grown to appreciate each other despite each of their less likeable qualities. Much like the franchise originally was to Marvel, the group are different to everyone else, and James Gunn’s presentation of the ways in which their differences make them the only people capable of defending the good of the galaxy is one of the more drawing aspects of the franchise as a whole, and particularly this second movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise is much like the misfit toy we all played with as children or that many of us felt like at certain points in our lives, and that is what is truly identifiable about it and particularly the group of heroes. It is this connection that fuels the success of everything in this movie and does the most difficult job of making you care.

Conclusively, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 may not be quite as good as the original, but through the passion of its screenwriter-director and the world class work of its cast and crew, creates an identifiable group of characters on a romp of an adventure that could be the blockbuster of the year and is certainly worth your ten bucks.

18/24

Author’s note: if you haven’t seen this yet, be warned that there are five post-credit scenes.