SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

It's time for the portrait of the superhero as a teenager.  Spider-Man: Homecoming is the latest summer superhero film, with a whole lot of high school drama as well as superheroics.

Homecoming wisely skips the very familiar origin story and jumps into the life of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland) after the events of Captain America: Civil War.  Peter is bored by stopping petty crimes and wants more action, even hoping to join the Avengers.  But he's being watched and mentored by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), who want him to remain "a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."  They also give him a "super suit" with numerous setting and a talkative A.I. named Karen.

When a gang is stealing and selling advanced and alien technology, Spider-Man sees a chance to prove himself by taking down the gang and keeping it a secret from his handlers.  But the gang is led by Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), who dons a truly frightening high-tech Vulture costume to step in when his gang is threatened.

All of this is accompanies by plenty of high school drama.  Peter lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), who he doesn't want to know he's Spider-Man.  Peter's friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) finds out he's Spider-Man and geeks about it all the time.  Peter has a crush on Liz (Laura Harrier), is bullied by Flash (Tony Revolori), and always seems to run into sullen Michelle (Zendaya).  And Peter thinks if he becomes an Avenger, he can completely skip school to be a full-time superhero.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is pretty good.  Tom Holland perfectly captures a teenager whose duties as a hero keep interfering with his personal life, and one who's learning as he goes along.  Michael Keaton is a suitably creepy villain, and the high school characters are all solid.  The action is done well, and there's plenty of comedy, from Peter's nervousness to Captain America's very square recorded PSAs played for high school students.  I do think the movie spent a little too much time in high school, which made the film feel a little long.  But Spider-Man Homecoming is a worthy addition to the Marvel cinematic universe.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

THE FOUNDER

How did a small restaurant become one of the biggest chains in America?  When does ambition turn into betrayal?  And how does it all relate to the American dream?  The Founder explores all of these, in its based-on-a-true-story look at the man who was largely behind the success of McDonald's.

The movie begins in 1954 with Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), a 52-year-old dreamer whose get-rich-quick ideas have largely led nowhere and who's on the road all the time selling milkshake machines.  His life is also stressful on his wife Ethel (Laura Dern), who wishes he'd stay home with her.

A large machine order piques Ray's interest, leading him to drive out to California, where he finds a restaurant called McDonald's -- which brings people their food orders in under a minute, instead of the 20-30 minutes of other places.  Ray meets with the restaurant's founders -- brothers Dick McDonald (Nick Offerman) and Mac McDonald (John Carroll Lynch) -- who have an almost scientific method to making good food and getting it out quickly.  Ray sees a huge opportunity, and he talks the brothers into letting him franchise the restaurant -- despite their previous failed attempt to franchise and concerns about maintaining their standards.  A contract seems to take care of the latter issue.

What follows is a combination of growth and conflict.  Ray focuses on expanding and franchising McDonald's stores throughout America as a family-friendly place, while the McDonald's brothers fight with him on maintaining the standards.  (A running joke are the abrupt hang-ups between the two sides during their discussions.)  Lawyer Harry Sonneborn (B.J. Novak) talks Ray into getting into real estate, buying land for the McDonald's to be built on and charging the franchise owners to use it.  And Ray is tempted by Joan Smith (Linda Cardellini), the beautiful wife of a franchise owner with some great business ideas of her own.

The Founder is a very interesting look at capitalism: its promise and its ruthlessness.  Michael Keaton makes Roy Kroc into both hero and villain: Kroc has a never-give-up attitude and plenty of persistence -- but he also has success go to his head, Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch are fine actors giving terrific performances as the brothers who are content with what they have but find themselves outmatched by their new partner's ambition.  The story has plenty of drama and plenty of humor -- and no easy answers on who's right and who's wrong.  The Founder is a thoughtful, dramatic, and amusing take on one of the great business successes of the 20th century.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch
(who still eats at McDonald's)

SPOTLIGHT

It wasn't that long ago when  newspapers were people's main source for information, and they focused on news rather than entertainment or ratings.  Spotlight is a drama (disturbingly based on a true story) that shows that period in journalism -- and one of America's biggest scandals.

In early 2000, the Boston Globe newspaper is facing declining subscribers, increased pressure from the Internet, and a new owner: Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber), who's seen as an outsider because he's coming from Miami and has never lived in Boston -- plus he's Jewish in a largely Roman Catholic town.

The newspaper's "spotlight" team -- reporters and editors who focus solely and covertly on one story to uncover everything they can -- is made up of Mike Rezendes (Mark Ruffalo), "Robby" Robertson (Michael Keaton), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams), and Matt Carol (Brian D'arcy James).  They had been working on crime rates in Boston, when Marty gives them a new assignment: look into the story of a priest convicted of molesting children.

 This assignment quickly balloons, as the reporters find evidence of priests being transferred around rather than removed or arrested, the possibility that Cardinal Law (Len Cariou) knew and covered up the crimes, and that the number of priests who molested children grows from four to thirteen to dozens.  Victims of abuse share their stories, and attorney Mitchell Garabedian (Stanley Tucci) represents victims while aware of the uphill battle he faces.  There's also immense pressure to sweep the scandal under the rug, as politicians, priests, and the religious public try to shift attention and evidence away from the scandal.  But the reporters keep digging...

Spotlight is a very effective movie, in the style of All the President's Men.  Instead of explosions and chases, we see reporters chasing down leads and persuading people to talk about what they'd rather keep hidden or to themselves.  The cast is excellent, the story goes at a smooth and direct pace, and the movie makes you believe in the power and dedication of the press.

The scariest part of the movie comes at the end, when we see how widespread the Roman Catholic church's pedophilia scandal was.  Spotlight shows how some dedicated people worked and fought to reveal the scandal -- and it makes for a powerful movie.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch

BIRDMAN

 Here's an unusual mix of a movie.  Birdman: or, (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is part comedy, part drama, part roman a clef, part theater, part satire, and part insanity -- overlaid with a jazzy drumbeat.

Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, who's something of a dark parody of Keaton.  Riggan had been a blockbuster movie star playing Birdman in three movies over two decades ago.  Now he's a washed-up actor, staking everything -- his reputation, his finances, even his sanity -- on a Broadway production of  theRaymond Carver short story "What We Talk About When We Talk about Love"  that Riggan adapted, directs, produces, and stars in.

 Naturally, the play -- still in previews -- seems to have nothing but problems.  Riggan's lawyer and friend Jake (Zack Galifanakis) is working to keep everything working together.  Riggan's cynical daughter Sam (Emma Stone) is fresh out of rehab and wandering around as an assistant.  Laura (Andrea Riseborough) is one of the plays' stars, and tells Riggan that she's having their baby.  When a stage accident takes out an actor, Broadway newcomer Leslie (Naomi Watts) brings in her boyfriend Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), who's box office and critical gold; he's also amazingly hard to work with.  Oh, and when he's alone Riggan hallucinates that he has superpowers and that Birdman is talking to him to get him to do more Birdman movies.

Birdman is a whole lot of things, as it meanders from comedy to introspection to fantasy to drama as much as the (seemingly) single camera shot that jumps from characters to characters for the whole movie.   While it works, it's also disjointed and somewhat disorienting.  The movie has terrific acting, and there are plenty of laughs (especially the Times Square walk) and moments of tenderness and discovery.  But it's hard to settle in and enjoy or appreciate one scene or tone before the movie jumps into a new one.  Birdman is definitely unique and enjoyable, but I wish it had come together or held together a little bit tighter.

Overall grade: B+
Reviewed by James Lynch

4 FILM FAVORITES: BATMAN COLLECTION

Long before Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale revitalized the Batman franchise, four movies brought the Dark Knight to movie audiences in the 1980s and 1990s. Two of these movies were very highly respected, two were truly hated by comic book fans, and all four are together in 4 Film Favorites: Batman Collection.

After Frank Miller's grim and gritty rendition of Batman in 1986's comic book miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the movies followed suit soon after. The first movie, Batman, seemed like a big gamble -- the director of Pee Wee's Big Adventure with the star of Mr. Mom? -- but all the elements came together very well.

Michael Keaton's costume may not have allowed him to turn his neck, but Keaton brought a gravity and thoughtfulness to both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Getting Jack Nicholson as the Joker was perfect casting, as he brought a manic, lunatic streak from start to end. The combination of Tim Burton's directing style, Danny Elfman's heroic score, and Anton Furst's decaying Gotham City landscape brought the darker side of Batman to the big screen. There were flaws -- some huge plotholes, Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) doing little but scream and get kidnapped a lot -- but the movie was a huge success.

How do you follow up a movie that had a great villain? Toss in two villains! Batman Returns not only returned Burton and Keaton but added two costumed villains from the comic books (plus Christopher Walken as evil businessman Maximillian Shreck.)

Batman Returns featured beauty and the beast. Wearing a tight vinly bodysuit, Michelle Pfeiffer was the psycho, whip-wielding femme fatale Catwoman (as a guard says, "I don't know whether to shoot her or fall in love with her"). On the other side of the spectrum, Danny DeVito became the Penguin, a short, deformed, crude, sexist villain who, oddly enough, ran for mayor of Gotham City. As with the previous movie the plot had plenty of weaknesses, but the movie was dark fun.

Too dark, for some. Fearing the kids who were buying Batman toys would be terrified by the movie those toys came from (McDonalds pulled its toys), there was a decision to lighten up the franchise. Enter director Joel Schumacher. There's a scene in the show Robot Chicken where a fan at a comic book convention shouts "Look! It's Joel Schumacher, history's greatest monster!" Looking at his two entries in the Batman movie franchise, it's hard to disagree.

Batman Forever continued two-villain motif, as Tommy Lee Jones played Two-Face and Jim Carrey was the Riddler. Val Kilmer took on the roles of Batman/ Bruce Wayne, making him flat and uninteresting. Audiences also got to see Robin/Dick Grayson on the big screen; this Robin was also a young adult, played by Chris O'Donnell, making it.... odd that people talk about him like he's a helpless young orphan. Nicole Kidman had little to do as psychiatrist and love interest Chase Meridian; at least she didn't scream as much as Basinger.

If the first two movies had plot holes, Batman Forever had gaping chasms. There was also a return to near-camp silliness, from the painful dialogue to the almost neon color scheme for so much of the movie. A tendency to shift to slow motion in most action scenes didn't help, and Jones and Carrey seem to be competing to see who can ham it up the most. And yes, the body armor worn by Batman does feature visible nipples.

If you ask people what the worst superhero movies are, Batman and Robin will always be present and may be named the worst. While my personal vote for the worst is Pumaman (great on Mystery Science Theater 3000, wretched on its own), Batman and Robin would earn this dubious silver metal.

Thinking that less must mean better, this outing has three villains and three heroes. Mister Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger, painted blue) wears a robotic exoskeleton, shoots a freeze gun, and never stops making puns involving the cold. Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) is a nature lover with hypnotic love dust, a poison kiss, constricitng vines, and an increasingly silly series of hairstyles. Finally there is Bane (Jeep Swenson), who is big and grunts out one or two word sentences.

As for the heroes, George Clooney becomes Batman/Bruce Wayne -- and the charm he's shown in so many movies since doesn't appear here. O'Donnel reprises his role as Robin/Dick Grayson, and he's no more interesting this time around. The new heroine is Batgirl/Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone, whose career peaked with Clueless), Alfred's niece (despite looking about 50 years younger than him) and Oxford student (despite having no trace of a British accent) who becomes Batman and Robin's new partner pretty much by surprise.

The challenge with Batman and Robin is figuring out which part of the movie is the worst. Is it the return of the Bat-Nipples on the costumes of the men? Batman's Bat-Credit Card? Thurman's playing Poison Ivy like Mae West? More slow-motion action sequences? A car chase across the arms of a giant statue? There is so much here to hate. The best thing: The sequel suggested by the shot at the end never materialized.

So, how to grade a four-pack of films? My advice: Watch the first half of 4 Film Favorites: Batman Collection for a look at the quality renditions of Batman that preceded the current versions -- and use the disc with the latter two movies for target practice.

Overall grades:

Batman: A-

Batman Returns: B+

Batman Forever: F

Batman & Robin: Can I give a movie a F-?

Reviewed by James Lynch

The Last Time (2006)

The Last Time is a lackluster look at the high pressure world of business sales. It stars Michael Keaton, Amber Valletta, and Brendan Fraser.

The premise is that Keaton is Ted, the all confident master salesmen moving some industrial product (that is purposely kept vague throughout the film). He is the top seller out of his office. He gets partnered up with Fraser who portrays Jamie, the Middle Western bumpkin that was a big fish in a small pond back home, but now is in over his head. Relocating to NY, he now is on his way to living the American dream with a big house in suburbia, and an attractive wife, Belisa (Amber Valletta). The one thing holding Jamie back is that his sales have turned cold, and we're talking ice cold. In fact, since he relocated, despite being a superstar in Ohio, he can't sell one darn thing. As the film progresses, Belisa and Ted have an affair.

For the majority of this film, it was simply too predictable. At many points, I was easily anticipating the next line, or what would happen next wondering why anyone would make a movie with a plot with so few twists and turns. However, in the last few minutes, that I won't give away, it all becomes clear, and I was lulled out of my sense of normalcy. It also gives new meaning to the phrase "It's just business."

The Last Time, despite a good performance by Keaton, would have been a C+ without the last ten minutes, so it was saved by the bell (or the DVD eject button in this case).

Overall Grade: B-

Reviewed by Jonas

Trailer here.