JUSTICE LEAGUE

The end of Batman v. Superman didn't just hint at the creation of the Justice League -- it showed us which DC characters would be part of it.  Justice League continues the story with a new threat, heroes coming together -- and one returning from the dead.

The movie starts with Batman (Ben Affleck) dealing with the chaos in the wake of the death of Superman (Henry Cavill).  Batman is looking into Parademons, insect-like creatures who feed on fear -- and who have been leaving a symbol of three squares in their wake.  It turns out that those creatures are soldiers for Steppenwolf (Claran Hinds), a giant alien with a powerful ax.  He wants to gather the three Mother Boxes, which together have the power to destroy the world.

Batman is putting together a team to stop Steppenwolf.  Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and the Flash (Ezra Miller) join immediately, but Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) are less willing to join the fight.  And there's a plan to use one of the Mother Boxes to bring Superman back from the dead...

Justice League was uneven.  The first half was a bit boring, from a general lack of action to the redundancy of having two reluctant heroes being pitched.  Things pick up in the second half, though, and once the League comes together it did have the feel and action of a good comic book.  The actors are good (though Ezra Miller won't replace Grant Gustin as the Flash in anyone's mind), but Steppenwolf was a bit generic as a villain.  So Justice League may not match Wonder Woman or most of the Marvel movies, but it's still a decent movie.

Overall grade: C+
Reviewed by James Lynch

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

In DC Comics, Batman and Superman have been portrayed as both allies (fighting together for good) and enemies (with diametrically opposite views on how to fight crime).  Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice tries to combine both of these concepts, plus lay the groundwork for a Justice League franchise (while borrowing from the comic books Batman: The Dark Knight and The Death of Superman).  The end result is terribly, horribly flawed.

Following the events of Man of Steel, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) has become convinced that Superman is too dangerous a being to be allowed to live.  Meanwhile, Clark Kent/Superman (Henry Cavill) believes Batman is a dangerous vigilante operating beyond the law.  The public seems to be on both sides of this division of views, highlighted by Senator Finch (Holly Hunter) calling for hearings about Superman.  Meanwhile, a chatty Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) has gotten access to General Zod's corpse and the downed Kryptonian ship, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is investigating a mysterious prototype weapon found in the Middle East, and a mystery woman (Gal Godot) has Bruce Wayne's eye as she looks into Lex as well.

While these storylines could have come together well, the execution is pretty awful.  The actors do what they can, but director Zack Snyder has a terrible sense of pacing and throws together poorly-done CGI, unnecessary slow motion, and scenes that are artificial and inauthentic.  (It doesn't help that Eisenberg's Lex Luthor comes across as manic-depressive rather than evil or brilliant.)  The movie is relentlessly grim, in both color scheme and tone, and at least a half hour could have been cut out of the movie and improved it greatly.  The romance feels forced, and there are numerous plot holes that a small child could have pointed out but somehow eluded the movie studio.

Marvel movies, with their flaws, managed to capture the heroism and fun of the comics.  Much as I'd like to see a good Justice League movie, Batman v Superman is a pretty scary preview of what that could be like.  This movie failed on almost every level (though Gal Gadot could make a good Wonder Woman, with better material) and I couldn't wait for it to end.

Overall grade: D
Reviewed by James Lynch

GONE GIRL

Marriage, media, and possible murder all combine and coalesce in the new film Gone Girl.  This movie is very dark, excellently acted, and wickedly funny.

Gone Girl opens with Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) returning to his Missouri home on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary to find his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) missing and signs of a violent struggle.  At first, Detective Rhoda Boney (Kim Dickens) isn't sure about what happened, and the community rallies together to find Amy (called "Awesome Amy" after the children's book character her parents based on her).  But Nick's poor appearances in the media make him the prime suspect; and his sister Margo (Carrie Coon) supports Nick but soon starts finding out Nick's numerous dirty secrets.

And Amy?  We see and learn about her through her journal entries -- and her marriage to Nick.  At first they were blissful, successful newlyweds living and working in Manhattan.  But when they were both laid off and money ran low, they moved to Nick's hometown.  Amy becomes more fearful of Nick's violent side, as their marital problems lead to hear fears that Nick could hurt her, or even kill her.  And then there's a big change...

Gone Girl is a combination murder mystery and social commentary.  The movie offers plenty of evidence that Nick might be innocent -- or that his secrets and demons could have destroyed his once-perfect marriage.  At the same time, everything plays out in the court of public opinion, whether it's the Nancy Grace-style reporter Ellen Abbott (Missi Pyle) who spends all her time arguing that Nick is a guilty sociopath, or Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry), Nick's celebrity lawyer who's as focused on public perception as on the law.  And we get to see the pressures of marriage that certainly had an impact on both Nick and Amy.

This all works together thanks to some terrific actors, directed by David Fincher.  Ben Affleck, who's gained respect and success in recent years, plays Nick perfectly as the regular guy who could as easily be innocent as guilty.  Rosamund Pike is amazing as Amy, who paints a different picture of things than her husband does (and who also has a way of getting what she wants).  The supporting cast is terrific in their roles, and Fincher manages to bring a bleakness and darkness to the proceedings -- along with frequent blasts of dark humor.

Gone Girl is certainly grim, and it's also engaging and gives the viewer plenty to think about.  Just like a great movie should.

Overall grade: A
Reviewed by James Lynch

ARGO

I'm always wary when I hear the phrase "based on a true story" applied to a movie -- it's so broad it can be applied to just about anything -- but in the case of Argo it comes closer than most.  The movie tells the incredible story of a covert rescue amidst an international standoff.

Argo begins with the tense situation between America and Iran in late 1979.  The Iranian Revolution had put the Ayatollah Khomeni in power, and the country's former leader fled to the U.S. -- with Iran demanding his return for trial and execution.  An angry mob overrab the U.S. embassy in Iran, taking the personnel there hostage and claiming they were spies.  However, six Americans managed to escape, hiding out in the home of the Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor (Victor Garber).  The six were still in danger, both from the Iranian government that knew six embassy personnel were unaccounted for and from Iranian mobs ready to kill any Americans they find.

The rescue plan for the six comes from CIA exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck, who also directed Argo): He'll travel to Iran as a Canadian filmaker scouting locations for a sci-fi B-movie called Argo, provides cover stories and forged documents for the six Americans making them out to be his film crew, and they'll all fly out together.   After working with special effects expert John Chambers (John Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) to build up some real Hollywood buzz for the fake film, Mendez travels to Iran.  But there are numerous dangers, from U.S state department doubts about the plan (Jack O'Donnell (Bryan Cranston), Mendez' boss, describes it as "the best bad idea we have, by far") to the Iranian government literally piecing together pictures of the six Americans from shredded documents taken from the embassy.  And there's still the very difficult task of getting past customs in Iran to get on a plane and head home...

Argo works well as both a historical document and a drama.  Speaking as someone who was around during the hostage crisis, I can say Argo captures the feel of the time, from the yellow ribbons everywhere in support of the hostages to the inflamatory statement from both the American and Iranian public condemning the other side.  There's not a lot of character development here, but Argo works better as a political and espionage procedural, showing how a desperate plan was put together and executed very quickly.  There's also a surprising amount of humor, namely from Goodman and Arkin as they navigate Mendez through the treacherous world of Hollywood (and their crude, funny slogan for their fake film).  Argo is solid, suspenseful movie magic revolving around a real operation during a tense time in American history.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Ben Affleck cowrote the screenplay for this film, and directs an impressive cast including his brother Casey, and other notables including Morgan Freeman, Michelle Monaghan and Ed Harris in Gone Baby Gone. Unfortunately, this film runs short of steam prematurely.

The plot centers around the sudden disappearance of a young child, Amanda McCready (Madeline O'Brien). This is a detective type of movie, and in that formula, the police are generally inept, and they live up to thaat task. The child is gone, and after a few days, the trail is getting ice cold with no leads. Enter Casey Affleck as Patrick Kenzie (Hmm, I wonder why he got the job...), with his sidekick, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan) who are private detectives that use their street smarts of the inner city of Boston, and knowledge of the neighborhoods to pick up the scent of a trail. So far, this is kind of like a young Sherlock Holmes, and I was enjoying this film. The one exception to the inept police is Morgan Freeman's character, a Captain in the abducted child unit that lost his own daughter due to a murder, and he has had an exemplary career of doing what is right.

All of a sudden, around halfway through, the wheels fall off this train, and we come to a screeching halt. The characters get confusing, and things start to get implausible. How did they end up in the middle of that drug bust? And why when Casey Affleck's character shoots an unarmed man, do the police cover the whole thing up, even if he was guilty? Since when do PI's become the judge, jury and executioner, and the police go along with it? And at the end, the outcome of all of this, which I will restrain myself from giving away, makes equally no sense that no neighbors would have called the police.

Anyway, Gone Baby Gone is a well acted film, and flies well for the first half, but like a hypoglycemic marathoner, simply runs out of steam, and can't go the distance. While some interesting issues of absolute vs relative morality get raised, the whole thing is framed out of ridiculousness, so it's just not that relevant.

Overall Grade: B--

Reviewed by Jonas