A Star Is Born (2018)

A famous musician Jackson Main (Bradley Cooper) boozes his way through a concert and rides to a local bar to have...what else booze. He sees a fantastic performance by Ally (Lady Gaga) in drag and the next segment of A STAR IS BORN is the best as Ally is raw and Main confesses what it takes to be a good musician, you tell them what you want to say. Ally sings "Shallow" which is the best number in the whole film. Lady Gaga belts it out on stage and it is moving. Jackson Main has this deep voice which he stole from his brother. His pa was a drinker and died when Jackson was young. His ma died at his birth and this really torments the singer inside since he had no one to idolize, although it is kewl how he tells us who he really idolized near the end of the film. Cooper really digs inside and puts on an award-worthy performance. The character haunted me for a few days and I usually do not let fiction get under my skin. As the film winds down we find Jackson feeling out of place in the music world as he watches his now wife, the star from the movie's title, become more of a pop star than a singer, superficial than real and Main isn't sure how to live with it all in the way he would want to. We see him in rehab talking about how he tried to kill himself. There was so much more that could have been drawn out of him and out of the story at this point but the movie can only last so long. By the way Dave Chapelle shows up and delivers a wonderful line. [4.2 stars]

Stalag 17 (1953)

With the slew of terrific war movies coming out in the 80's and 90's this comes off a bit dated for the modern viewer and black and white instead of color doesn't help. STALAG 17 is any-thing but dull however as there are comedic interludes and the drama builds with force as it moves along. The talented cast is placed into a prisoner-of-war camp and they carry it all the way to the concluding credits. First off we should mention William Holden as the American who gets in good with the German soldiers who guard the camp. Robert Strauss as the Animal who somehow has a crush on Betty Grable that just won't go away. You and I want them to get some relief or even escape and that's when the film really gets cooking. There is a failed attempt near the beginning of the movie at an escape: the Nazi guns are waiting and kill them. The camp has an edge now and the American who is suspected of conspiring with the Germans is William Holden's character who gets a beating but whom we suspect is not guilty. There is a trick that the guards have established with an infiltrator named Price (Peter Graves)involving a light bulb, said trick gets spotted by our oppressed American who wants the others to stop suspecting him. He has the kewlest character, sly and unflappable. The tension mounts as the leaders of the POW camp can't find an officer they know is hidden somewhere. The American unloads how he knows who the infiltrator is and the camp decides to let him go underneath the camp and escape with the hidden officer. The suspected spy is let out and the guns shoot at him, meanwhile the two prisoners run off to freedom. How I enjoyed the ending. [4.5 stars]

The Black Panther (2018)

The film of the year my friends. The vibranium of the hidden nation Wakanda is so valuable one of its own goes against Wakandan principles to sell it. The king confronts this pocket-filler and is forced to save Zuri who spies for the king. By violence ofcourse but I won't go into details but what is important is the king keeps vibranium to his nation and that the dastardly dude who took it has a son who is left behind by the king. The Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) returns home many years later and seeks out his sister for the enthronement ceremony. She is a tech wizard and can make a car out of dimes if need be and their mother is the queen played by Angela Bassett. They all gather near some gorgeous waterfalls, my favorite setting in THE BLACK PANTHER. T'challa is made to lose his powers (how kewl) of Black Panther to fight the mountain king for the throne. A battle ensues which shows the heart of this film, how love for our fellow man is placed for all to behold. T'challa holds out his hand and says to the king that though he lost he doesn't have to be killed, stand up mountain king and be proud of your bravery and valiance. The nation lauds T'challa as their king which they lost as you may remember in Captain America's film. T'challa visits the elders and is given comfort his father is alive in the spirit. Now the darkness spreads as the boy we saw in the beginning has been determined to find Wakanda and ask for the kingship. He intends to dispense the vibranium at the right price. A battle is expected as before but this newcomer (Michael B. Jordan) throws T'challa over the falls and we watch him fall and our hearts sink. The new king is mean and does not respect Wakandan values. Meanwhile his sister (Lupita Nyong'o) and mother travel to the mountain king for help as their home is in turmoil. The king tells them why come to me now when you never bothered before. The queen is deferent and the Wakandan nation peers out from her eyes, show us love since we are one. Beautiful. This is what films can do, powerfully deliver a point. The mountain king shows them the body of T'challa which is kept on ice, he is barely alive. They find a way to revive him and he is not vengeful, this man has  a heart and we want to follow him. They go back and the rest I can sum up by saying the vibranium is kept safely in Wakanda. [5 stars]

The Incredibles 2 (2018)

The animated superheroes are a family now but superheroes have been banned. A rich man and his sister invite the stretching woman in to rekindle interest in heroing. She does well but we don't know who the bad guy is who controls people somehow by hypnosis. Samuel L. Jackson plays Frozone who helps the heroes out (successfully?) in stopping a runaway hydrofoil. The Incredibles have a baby boy, forgive me I can't recall if he was in the original, who has powers that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. In fact the whole movie has enough action and plot nuances to satisfy the average viewer. I couldn't figure out who the bad guy was which they cloaked well.  The scene with the suit designer and the kewl young lad was priceless. THE INCREDIBLES 2 is just a summer fun ride at ye olde moviehouse. [4.4 stars]

Rounders (1998)

The straw-colored mane of McDermott (Matt Damon) fills up the screen ala Redford as the players concentrate on the cards during an underground poker game. McDermott thinks he has the KGB guy (John Malkovich) who talks to his Oreo cookies while the others ponder their next move. But McDermott is outmaneuvered even holding such a good hand and loses oodles of dough. His girlfriend lives with him but on the terms that he never go back to that gambling lifestyle and he agrees and tries law school and a night job. He drives to prison to pick up his old friend Worm and is enticed to play one more game, maybe to help Worm get on his feet, maybe to try to see if he still has it. He wins and it hooks him back into the game. Worm owes a bundle of cash from prior to his punishment and locks McDermott into holding it in his name. This was a mistake and now McDermott has to rise above the trying times as once a group of police officers suspect cheating (and Worm did) and a few bruises later he lands at his bachelor pad a bachelor, yes his girl has left him. ROUNDERS deals head on with the negative side of the story. He sits down with his professor (Martin Landau) and has a heart to heart. He is told that sometimes the thing you love isn't popular but in the end it is you, never mind what the world says. He borrows some money and decides to take on Teddy KGB and his delectable cookies once more. I won't spoil the ending but I will tell you they show a kewl scene from World Series Of Poker. [4.1 stars]

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

A quirky film with originality. A woman named Michelle is distracted while driving and we then see her alive in an underground bunker made by Howard (John Goodman). He tells her he rescued her from the car crash and brought her down because there are aliens above. Another man is also with them. Michelle starts preparing to escape obviously thinking he is bonkers but a woman tries to get in the bunker. She has a skin malformity. Michelle now believes there has been a chemical weapons attack not by aliens but by conventional forces. Now Howard confesses to hitting her car on purpose. She wants to escape but plays it safe by preparing random materials which could be put together to act as a mask. She pushes a heavy object over Howard and runs to the exit. We don't feel sorry for him since he coldly shot dead the other man in the bunker. Here is where 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE gets novel. Suddenly it is no longer a psychodrama but an alien film. A kewl-looking futuristic hovercraft comes over and the world has changed into an invasion zone. She concocts a Molotov cocktail and there is an action sequence involving the new character, or should I say characters?, in the movie. Nothing quite like this. [4.4 stars]

Dunkirk (2017)

Three separate storylines, reminiscent of INCEPTION, are blended together to tell what happened to soldiers blocked off from rescue during World War II. The first one follows Tommy, a soldier who runs to the beach to escape gunfire. He pretends to be a medic to get a wounded man on board a ship but is denied. Let's switch to the boat. They have two lads on board and are within distance of Dunkirk and proceed to go there but see a soldier, shellshocked, in the drink and hoist him in. There is a close-up on his face when they tell him they are headed to Dunkirk. He has other ideas. Let's switch now to the third story where a pilot has trouble with a broken fuel gauge. He ends up crashing in the ocean and may die since he can't open his overhead canopy. Mum's the word. DUNKIRK keeps weaving the three plot-lines together like what was done in INCEPTION, which builds drama as to what will happen at the end. The advertising for the movie gave too much away but I won't. One of the lads loses his sight and dies. This was an honest element to bring in the film; we need to have whatever bond we felt for him broken to add reality to the grimness and finality of war. Summer's best film and kewl underwater action sequence. [4.4 stars]