Bumblebee (2018)

★★★½
After five mind-numbing Transformers movies by Michael Bay, we finally get the movie we should have gotten right from the get-go. Bay, a good director when he isn’t trying to create large-scale spectacles, thankfully steps aside and allows someone else to take the reins, which is the best thing he could have done for this franchise. Now, under the patient and sure-handed supervision of Travis Knight, the Transformers find themselves in a movie worthy of their passionate fanbase. Bumblebee, from a script by Christina Hodson, reboots the series, erasing the Bay universe from existence and gives us a fresh take on the longtime war on Cybertron. I can’t emphasize enough how much this movie needed to happen. I don’t dislike Michael Bay. Pain & Gain and especially 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi represent Bay at his best, and the upcoming Ambulance looks promising, but he was all wrong for the Transformers. He didn’t respect the material. Knight and Hodson, on the other hand, totally get it. Their movie is hopefully a positive sign of things to come.

A Quiet Place (2018)

★★½
A Quiet Place is an effective little horror movie that offers an interesting challenge for its characters, then comes up with ways for them to negotiate that challenge that range from subtlety clever to downright ingenious. The horrifying scenario presented here could have been rife with standard fright movie set pieces, yet co-writer and director John Krasinski wants to set the tone with atmosphere and silence, and he wants us to be patient as events unfold. The result is a satisfying thriller, though imperfect, which is unfortunate.

American Siege (2022)

½ star
There might come a time for serious discussion on whether Bruce Willis tarnished his legacy. Starting in 2014, he has relentlessly (and shamelessly) churned out a number of direct-to-video movies of dreadful quality, supposedly only working for a few days at a time before moving on to the next paycheck. I’m sure it’s fun to make money by working as little as possible, but Willis doesn’t appear to be enjoying himself. In exchange for easy money, he gives us wooden performances and stilted dialogue. Nicolas Cage has also been making a lot of obscure movies lately, but he still makes interesting choices, and his performances show that he brings his “A” game no matter what. Willis looks like he’d rather be somewhere else, but here he is anyway.

Moonfall (2022)

★★★
I read somewhere that after 2012, Roland Emmerich would be finished with disaster movies. Indeed, how could he top that? He returned anyway with Independence Day: Resurgence, not only breaking that pledge but also delivering his weakest movie by far. It was not his finest hour, that’s for sure. Was he out of ideas? After every kind of disaster imaginable, what else was left for him to toss at us? An asteroid? Michael Bay hit us over the head with that one. This kind of movie is his calling card, and I suppose we’re better off with him at the helm. After trying something different, like the solid Midway, Emmerich is back, unable to stay away from the genre he knows best. One thing he hasn’t tried yet was crashing the moon into the earth, an event humans couldn’t possibly survive. Therein lies the challenge. How exactly is he going to show us such a gargantuan spectacle while sparing humanity from extinction? Leave it to Emmerich to find a way.

Her (2013)

★★★½
Spike Jonze doesn't direct many movies, but when he does he is guaranteed to give us something amazing. Even his weaker efforts (Where the Wild Things Are) have something to offer. He cut his teeth on music videos before getting his big chance to direct a feature. What a debut it was. Being John Malkovich (1999) is a masterpiece. It still resonates with me over 20 years later. It was fascinated with the thrill one could gain by temporarily escaping one’s own identity and live another life completely. Imagine being an introvert and suddenly thrust into a new body. You could behave in an entirely different manner and take risks that you wouldn’t otherwise take. Her, Jonze’s most recent movie, is along the same lines, and is his best project since that magnificent debut.