Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

[4] The first Independence Day is one of those films that strikes just the right tone, something between earnest and goofy-as-hell, genuinely terrifying and gloriously indulgent. It was like the best possible kind of Irwin Allen disaster movie, where the…
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

[8] Bryan Singer returns to helm his fourth film in the X-Men series, and he hits another home run. This one picks up some number of years after the events of Days of Future Past, as an ancient all-powerful baddie…
Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

[7] It's the third Captain America movie, but since most of the Avengers cast is reunited, it feels more like Avengers 3. Not that it matters -- these movies all start to feel the same anyway. I like how this…
Looper (2012)

Looper (2012)

[8] Looper is a mash-up of mobster movie and sci-fi time travel flick, but rather than getting caught up in its own clever twists on a (let's face it) hackneyed sci-fi sub-genre, the movie is wisely more concerned with creating…
Skyfall (2012)

Skyfall (2012)

[8] It's so refreshing to watch heroes and villains who are over the age of 40. Skyfall repeatedly suggests that sometimes older is better, and I couldn't agree more. Daniel Craig's third turn as James Bond is at least as…
30 Minutes or Less (2011)

30 Minutes or Less (2011)

[5] Working from a stale script that comes too late in the Tarantino wake, this dark, violent 'who's conning who' comedy is made tolerable by its flavor-of-the-week casting. If you like Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari (like I…
Dick Tracy (1990)

Dick Tracy (1990)

[5] Visually striking but emotionally hollow, Warren Beatty's film version of Chester Gould's comic creation is an underwhelming would-be blockbuster. The only character you can get invested in is Madonna's Breathless Mahoney. Everyone else, including our strong-jawed hero, is as…
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

[7] Mel Gibson returns as the iconic Mad Max, joined by Tina Turner in a fun, villainous role. But the third film in the series is also the weakest, first signaled by the PG-13 rating, a ridiculous attempt to make…
Unstoppable (2010)

Unstoppable (2010)

[7] An unmanned train is going to crash in a highly populated area unless a conductor and an engineer can stop it. It may be Speed on a train, but as action flicks go, it's still pretty entertaining. Scenes with…
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

[5] This belated sequel gets by, for the most part, on good will and fond memories of the previous three installments. It's light on memorable action scenes and heavy on silliness (the CGI mokeys and gophers are really, really hard…