Sicario (2015) - Home

I don't like to see movies like these, because they hit too close to the home I miss.  Sicario did not just sensationalize drug cartels; it broadcasted the crisis next door by revealing multi-national fronts of crime networks seething south of our borders.
Director Villeneuve, a Canadian really, made a movie like a Mexicano, revealing a socioeconomic dynamic that few outsiders understand.  Agent Macer (Emily Blunt) is being broken into her new assignment, battling the War on Drugs at the Mexican border in Juarez.  Emily projects all our fears as soon as we cross that border.  It's somebody else's territory not attributed to any nation.  During Macer's first raid, all the vistas, sounds, and tension are authentic.  They make a desperate return to the U.S. border where they are waylaid by Salvadoran Maras; as one of her colleagues commented, that the incident won't even make the news. People are numbed into denial and resignation stuck in such a world. The Colombian cartel's Alejandro Gillick, 'el Colombiano', (Del Toro) is the Sicario (hitman).  He aids the U.S. to arrest a Sonoran Cartel boss.  Yes, the legal lines get blurred in this covert war, leading to greater twists and turns than the border underground tunnels they patrol.  Del Toro brings the Latino villain to new levels.  He's on our side; he tortures with his silence; he endangers us.
I like that this movie shows how everybody is at war and no family is safe, depicting the true chaos at our borders and the climate of fear permeating cartel hotspots.  I leave it on 10th & Goal.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) - Part II Doldrums

Peter Jackson, director/producer, continues the Hobbit's saga with Part II. Bilbo, masterly portrayed by Martin Freeman, and Co. reach their goal of arriving to the Lonely Mountain where they must confront the dragon Smaug.
Jackson is a genius but creates substandard second parts to his trilogies.  The Hobbit movies are a prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's epic work the Lord of the Rings, also an MGM franchise.  In this Part II, our hero, Bilbo the Hobbit, travels with dwarfs and the wizard Gandalf (Ian Mckellen).  They are on a mission to wrest the dwarven kingdom of Erebor from the dragon that vanquished them, who lays resident atop the treasure horde inside the Lonely Mountain.  Jackson again does not cease to amaze us by recreating a Middle Earth that nobody else dared even try.  The creatures, worlds, and characters from the books are pure Tolkien--I've read each one.
What Jackson lacks is continuity.  I cannot believe that he leaves us hanging at the end by not revealing Smaug's fate until Part III!  Peter spent too much screen time fighting the dragon, making Smaug less ferocious.  Jackson finally introduced some of Tolkien's excellent prose in Part 1: An Unexpected Journey, just to shut it out again.  The evil Necromancer, aka Sauron, looks like a Harry Potter smoky devil.  He copied enough parts in The Lord of the Rings movies from the animated films, like cloning Elrond the half elf in Hugo Weaving--only I could notice that.
I lay this on the Winning15 yd Line.  Jackson still thrills us with great acting choices like the Master of Laketown (Stephen Fry), Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), and transcending CGI characters.

Arrival (2016) - Unique

Arrival is a one-of-a-kind science fiction movie.  Aliens arrive but they don't want to kill us; they wanted to help us.  It's all about learning to communicate with each other.
A friend told me, knowing that I'm a science fiction fan, that I might not like this movie since it's not your typical space thriller.  It immediately engaged me.  The spaceship and aliens are unique creations. They have landed on multiple sectors of the world with the intention of getting the human race working with each other for the common goal of understanding these aliens.  At first, nations are sharing their headway.  Then, as misunderstandings percolate, countries block off their information, leading to a climactic finish.  I was enthralled to see how far this alien visit, turned international experiment, would go.  The key linguist, Loiuse Banks (Amy Adams) makes the translating quite the linguistic endeavor, trying to understand the extraterrestrials while fighting off government directives. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker play excellent supporting roles as scientist and Colonel, respectively.
The ending is as predictable as getting something done in the United Nations.  I leave this on the Winning 25 yd Line, as a movie of principle that explores our own civilization.

Sully (2016) - Hero

Sully (Tom Hanks) is a great movie depicting a true American hero.  We don't get to see many of those lately in our dividing country, so they deserve full disclosure when they surface.
I thought the flick wouldn't triumph as well as it did, because the crash landing, the 'Miracle on the Hudson,' is not the main plot.  Most of the movie is about a pilot that is being persecuted by insurance and government bodies for doing the right "human factor" thing.  Clint Eastwood as producer/director opted for the best strategy.  He relives the 'Miracle' in two stages.  Yet, the main focus was seeing the ugly side of how dreaded insurance companies work amidst federal red tape. The masses ruled the day!  Sully represented our fight against the bottom line.  Tom Hanks played it out perfectly with sober steadfastness.  The final hearing rocked!  The pilots entered with such a tenable position.  It was the grand fight of the simulator vs. humans, akin to John Henry's folklore against the steam hammer.
This is also a tribute to those pilots who fly us safely through all their digital layouts.  I wish the second portrayal of the landing was more meticulous.  I lay it on the Winning 25 yd Line.

The Mummy (2017) - Beaute Fatale

{My following 10 movie reviews, or so, will be shorter than usual, since I'm on vacation and sometimes overseas.}

The newest Mummy movie successfully continues the horror tradition since 1932.  This female mummy is seductive, Tom Cruise is well Tom Cruise (Sgt. Nick Morton), and the plot is suspensefully scary.  If you're going retro, make it work...
This time, Universal Pictures did so.  A Mummy movie should not have any humorous strains, as the Brendan Fraser trilogy--which I still refuse to watch.  It's in the horror genre.  I love Fraser, but he makes me laugh just looking at him--a great gift.  Universal hired top brass to revive their franchise. It went international budget blockbuster!  Tom Cruise as the protagonist cannot fail. Sofia Boutella, as Princess Ahmanet, applies an exotic cocktail of dangerous attraction.  She is almost as desirable as Anck-Su-Namun (Venezuelan supermodel Patricia Velasquez) from The Mummy (1999). Sofia comes back to life, aiming at your heart.  Russell Crowe plays a frightful monster first.
My teenage audience was scared enough.  This was a similar starting plot with Ahmanet killing her Pharaoh and awaiting her lover in the afterlife, but it was quite a different ending.  I place it on the Winning 35 yd Line, since I side with the masses, and I'm still warming up to mummies.