Every Woman is a Wonder Woman

As has been said many times before, it took 75 years to give Wonder Woman her own franchise. Not a great one for diversity and inclusion. The story is simple, the execution flawless. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) heads into Europe to destroy Ares, the god of war and the perpetrator of WWII. Worth more than just a watch

16/20

The Finest Hours

With overtones of barely believable dramatics, and depictions of natural disaster that would put an alien planet to shame, The Finest Hours, it must me remembered, comes from the Disney stable. And Disney shows – as always – how the impossible is achieved with true panache. Bernie (Chris Pine) seeks to resurrect his rather patchy coast guarding history with heroics beyond all belief, that we are told closely approximate true events.

13/20

Darkness and Light

In Star Trek – Into Darkness, JJ Abrams scripts a taut thriller that is centered around a former starship captain – Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) gone rogue – rather than the hackneyed alien encounters of old. Apart from saving the introductory planet through dazzling special effects, and one minor Klingon encounter, there is no long drawn alien engagement. Rather, it is James Kirk (Chris Pine), and Spock (Zachary Quinto) coming to terms with their personalities, their relationship, a misguided leader in Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), and of course the great Khan threat. The special effects are expectedly mindblowing, including possibly the first instance of the equivalent of base jumping in space. This is a different Star Trek, with more overtones of terrorist threats and dual personalities, than the copybook 20^th century Star Treks and their extra-terrestrials

14.5/20

Rise of Innocence

 

Do you believe in Jack Frost? How about Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Rabbit, and Sandman? It is when the innocence of children believe in these, that they come to pass. Else, they disappear. And what of Pitch, aka the Boogeyman? Again, the belief of children alone makes it come to pass, or otherwise. Together, the Guardians must defeat Pitch, who is out to basically steal from children the very essence of childhood – the sense of wonder. What stands out in Rise of the Guardians is the truly exceptional visual effects. The quality of production herein is truly outstanding, which keeps it from becoming just a children’s fable at the theater and keeps the adults – well, believing. A must watch for children that parents will enjoy as well

14/20

The Beast Cometh

Longtime train engineer Frank Barnes (Denzel Washington) is training newly recruited conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine) in the town of Fuller in northern Philadelphia. In the meantime, a combination of carelessness and unforeseen circumstance puts one freight train # 777 on a collision course with several others. A few other facts come to light as the situation unravels – the runaway train has no air brakes on, it is on full power, and – hold your breath – it has four containers of molten phenol – a highly inflammable and toxic substance that could decimate one of the many towns on its way. Will the Unstoppable train finally yield to the elaborate attempts to get marines on board to cut the power, or some old-school thinking and brave execution by the protagonists? Veers on edge-of-the-seat, appears technically sound without too much artistic license, and opens up the train-related adventure genre after a long spell of myriad Hollywood vehicular misadventures

13.5/20

The First Trek

The first thing that struck me about Star Trek is the simplicity of execution. For a TV series that I remember for its inherent complexity in terms of the issues depicted, the introduction to the key characters, their motivations and their budding interrelationships is surprisingly devoid of complications. The special effects though undoubtedly top of the line (and hence in sharp relief to the TV series), are by no means the focus of the story. This is about how young leaders take responsibility for thinking through and resolving challenging situations, well too aware of the consequences if they take a misstep. In terms of characters, while Kirk is a little over the top as a brash young man, Spock comes across as the conflicted half-man half-Vulcan with all the inherent conflict in such a character. Not worth # 46 all time on IMDB, but definitely an un-missable movie of the year

16.5/20