Beasts of No Nation (2015)

For all its plaudits, this bombed at the box office. Some theaters declined to play it because it also went straight to Netflix streaming. Plus, I suspect that many prospective viewers were reluctant to watch such a dark story in an immersive environment with no pause option. Well, there's no better time for me to check out something bleak than right after a fun flick.

The film was shot in Ghana, with some lines in Krio and Twi, but honors its title by not specifying where in West Africa it's set. The decade is hard to guess too. Amid a civil war, prepubescent boy Agu (Abraham Attah) gets separated from some of his relatives and witnesses the killing of the rest. He runs into a rebel battalion, whose unnamed Commandant (Idris Elba) recruits him with an almost fatherly approach. That's not much if any better than wandering the wilderness alone....

Zootopia 2 (2025)

I had been looking forward to this sequel at least as much as I had to Inside Out 2. When I learned that it would feature a good-aligned snake, I grew even eagerer. So I talked my parents into joining me at a theater. (If you go to a family movie in December, expect an obscene number of ads. I finished my candy before the first preview.)

Within a week after the last scene of Zootopia, lapine Officer Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and her new ZPD partner, reformed vulpine hustler Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), are losing their heroic public image and the support of Chief Bogo (Idris Elba), thanks to Judy's highly irregular, reckless approach to crime fighting and Nick's complementary unserious attitude. It gets worse when they start aiding and abetting Gary De'Snake (Ke Huy Quan), a pit viper who steals a city treasure that he believes holds a secret that will vastly improve life for the marginalized reptiles in Zootopia. Crime boss Milton Lynxley (David Strathairn) wants to keep that secret at any price, and he pressures new mayor Brian Winddancer (Patrick Warburton) into authorizing a deadly hunt for the rogue cops.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

I was a little surprised when this became slightly more popular than its predecessors, especially with critics. I thought that Shadow the Hedgehog's star had faded, judging by his near absence from recent video games and TV shows. But perhaps his signature angst really speaks to modern cinema's favorite demographic, teens. When the movie came up on a menu at the Red Cross, I went right for it.

The three ET friends who make up "Team Sonic" -- Sonic (Ben Schwarz), Tails the Fox (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), and Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba) -- are not world-famous yet, but the government has an improved opinion of them, as evidenced by a request that they help neutralize a powerful threat. Shadow (Keanu Reeves, once again playing an alleged ultimate life form) has escaped from a secret facility, and despite 50 years of stasis, he can hold his own against all of Team Sonic together. Also newly free after 50 years is the spry grandfather of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Jim Carrey), Prof. Gerald Robotnik (also Carrey), who used to study Shadow with his consent. Both of them are so furious at what the government unjustly did in connection with their project that they plan to kill far more than the guilty parties.

Molly's Game (2017)

For me, stories that focus on poker are, well, gambles. I liked the 2006 Casino Royale overall, but I thought scenes at the namesake were the weak points. Maverick couldn't get me excited about the climax. Rounders dizzied me a little. Maybe that's why I put off seeing this recommendation. Nevertheless, it was one of the most familiar titles left on my Netflix list, and I was in the mood for a change of pace.

This is based on a true story, but only the protagonist is identified by her real name. In the 2000s, Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) becomes a secretary for "Dean" (Jeremy Strong), a real estate developer who also runs high-stakes underground poker games, where she collects huge tips. Since Dean is almost impossible to work with, Molly starts her own classy casino in a hotel room. She tries to keep everything strictly legal at first, but one desperate slip is enough to get unwelcome attention. Oddly enough, her worst legal trouble comes years after she discontinues her practice, when the FBI wants to strong-arm her into telling on criminal customers. Despite her lack of accessible funds, she persuades expensive attorney "Charlie" (Idris Elba) to defend her.

The Harder They Fall (2021)

I would not have thought to see this if my friend hadn't asked to while visiting. I'm not sure I'd even heard about it before, despite a few familiar names involved (he knew the cast better). Some rating sites score it highly; others deem it fair to middling. At worst, we could enjoy snarking together, but we both hoped it wouldn't come to that primarily.

On-screen text warns up front that the story is fictitious, but the main characters -- seven of them, at least -- are not. The lead is Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), a late-19th-century outlaw who makes a point to target fellow outlaws, as by robbing robbers. Marshal Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo) ostensibly arrests him but means to enlist his help against a mutual foe: Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), who had killed Nat's parents in front of preteen Nat and carved a cross on his forehead. Buck has just been released, and while his intentions for the town of Redwood might be honorable, he will stop at nothing to acquire the money to fix it up, even at the citizens' expense.

The Suicide Squad (2021)

Given the underwhelming performances of Suicide Squad (2016) and Birds of Prey (2020), I figured that this would be OK at best. I took more interest in it after seeing an episode of the ensuing TV series, Peacemaker. Then I learned that this was the kind of sequel that makes very few allusions to past events, so I wouldn't feel too left out.

The title refers to a ragtag bunch of talented convicts who have opted to do ostensibly heroic black ops in exchange for lighter sentences, albeit with the threat of remote execution if they don't follow orders (no actual suicides herein). Their current mission: Sneak onto the island of Corto Maltese and wreck the lab of a powerful secret project before the new tinpot dictator (Juan Diego Botto) can use it against the U.S. Don't get too attached to the first several squad members we see, because most don't make it past the beach. Fortunately, the B team hasn't been intercepted yet....

The Jungle Book (2016)

Being between disc deliveries and aware that this movie would stop streaming soon, I gave it priority. I hadn't been sure I would ever see it, since I'm not keen on Disney (re-)remaking its own classics. But it does get online ratings to rival if not best the 1967 full animation, and it didn't look like a total retread in ads.

Not that it's much if any closer to the Rudyard Kipling story collection either. The focus remains on pre-adolescent "man cub" Mowgli (Neel Sethi) living among wolves until semi-guardian panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) compels him to leave for a village before misanthropic tiger Shere Khan (Disney favorite Idris Elba), thought to be a match for the entire pack, can hunt him down. After some trouble separates Mowgli from Bagheera, he meets sloth bear Baloo (Bill Murray), who wants him to stay in the jungle as a comrade, lest he become just like other humans. Further complicating the question of what to do is Shere Khan's threat to the wolf pack if Mowgli should escape for good.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Thor's eponymous movies always struck me as somewhat odd compared with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He's not exactly designed for viewers to relate to, being a demigod prince from another realm. And unlike Wonder Woman, he really doesn't face any of the challenges that ordinary people typically face. This may explain why I never felt the motivation to watch his movies in a theater -- until now.

When the not-so-immortal King Odin (Anthony Hopkins) passes away, Princess Hela (Cate Blanchett), goddess of death, can finally return from a long exile, planning to expand Asgard by conquest. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) together are no match for her. Complications in their retreat send Thor to Planet Sakaar, where he promptly gets enslaved (the god of thunder is surprisingly susceptible to electrical shocks) as a gladiator. If you've seen the ads, you know that that's how he meets "a friend from work" for the first time since Age of Ultron....

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Thankfully, I did not let Nemesis be the last Trek film I ever watched. But I did approach STB with a little trepidation. Reports of it being more like the original series than the previous two installments clashed with the trailer playing the Beastie Boys, which George Takei himself thought made it look generic apart from the fleet uniforms. And how long would the hyped new same-sex match for Sulu (John Cho) demand our attention?

The answer: about three literal seconds. More important is the touching notice that First Officer Spock's (Zachary Quinto) alternate-timeline counterpart (the late Leonard Nimoy) has passed away. It distracts the present Spock from his personally chosen mission to do his part for the few remaining Vulcans, which yielded a peaceable breakup with Lt. Uhura (Zoe Saldana).

But this, too, does not concern the main conflict. Before long, the heroes are attacked by unfamiliar aliens, who capture many crew members and a portion of a powerful weapon. The disabled Enterprise crashes on the enemy's mountainous planet, where Krall (the ubiquitous Idris Elba) is a Federation-hating life energy vampire out to annihilate the new space city of Yorktown. As the key crew come back together from their separate pods, they enlist the aid of badass alien woman Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), who has a bone to pick with Krall.

Zootopia (2016)

Like with The Force Awakens, I had been cautiously optimistic for months. As a patron of the furry fandom (don't read too much into that), I was initially caught between tentative gratitude for Disney possibly pandering to us and/or seeding the next generation...and apprehension that that might be all they were doing. Remember Chicken Little (2005)? It too looked cute, well-rendered, and a bit different from usual, but it bombed due to bad writing. Of course, Pixar aside, that was a less successful era for Disney animations. Once I learned that the co-directors had done Bolt, Tangled, and Wreck-It Ralph between them, I worried less. When people who had seen it started talking, well, animatedly about it, I stopped worrying altogether and got both parents to come along.

For those wondering how the premise differs from other animal-centric Disney fare, consider this: Has Donald Duck ever flown south for the winter? Did Bambi get a job? No, most Disney animals either (a) are nonhuman only in physical appearance, for aesthetic reasons; or (b) go naked on all fours, whether or not we can hear them speak. The mammals of Zootopia have a modern-style civilization but exhibit enough behaviors in common with their real-world counterparts that the makers must have thought hard about who should be what. Contrary to a rumor I've read, they did not inherit the Earth from bygone humans but developed intellect and society on their own -- which, unlike in some fiction I know, means that traditional carnivores limit their primary protein sources to the non-anthropomorphic fish and bugs.

The story follows Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin, best known for Snow White on Once Upon a Time), a rural rabbit who doesn't let lifelong discouragement by others stop her from pursuing her dream job in law enforcement in the big city. Becoming easily the smallest member on the force, she gets a vote of no confidence from Chief Bogo (Idris Elba). Fortunately, the mayor's office promotes affirmative action, letting her push her way into detective work on an otherwise neglected missing-otter case. Her only lead: Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), a conniving, street-smart red fox whose swindles are mostly within the bounds of the law, but not so legal that she can't manipulate him into helping. What they find is more alarming than they expected: numerous cases of predators behaving like their primitive ancestors.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Some of the biggest weaknesses from the mostly great The Avengers have been reduced this time around. For example, with more screen time, more character importance, and an actual use of his code name, Hawkeye doesn't get nearly so shafted (no pun intended). The climactic battle doesn't feel quite so lacking in practical progress, nor does victory come at so little cost to the heroes. I think there's more cause for tender emotions.

But I must stop a little short of calling the latest sequel equal, let alone better. In particular, it has issues of pacing. A good chunk is either too fast or too slow, as evidenced by my dad sighing next to me. I suspect that the DVD will be loaded with deleted scenes or at least descriptions of planned moments. I almost wish director Joss Whedon threw in as much as he'd wanted, but 2.5 hours makes for a pretty uncomfortable sitting already. And you probably will prefer to see it in a theater.