BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Grade: C-

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, Gal Gadot, Holly Hunter, Laurence Fishburne, and Diane Lane, with Scoot McNairy as Wallace Keefe

Premise: Disgruntled billionaire Bruce Wayne becomes a crime-fighting vigilante while nursing a grudge against Superman, who has become a polarizing figure in the wake of the destruction of Metropolis.

Rated PG-13 for intense action and violence, scenes of peril and destruction, some gory/disturbing images, and brief language

It’s hard to know how Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would have come across if its plot wasn’t one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood history. This is a movie that probably would have seemed perfunctory enough as it is, let alone after its marketing team released four different trailers that spoiled nearly every worthwhile moment in the film and made the dots easy to connect even for what it didn’t spoil. But the trailers, combined, can only amount to maybe twenty minutes, and this is a two-and-a-half-hour film. Surely there’s a way, even with a lot of material spoiled, to still wangle a good, even great, movie out of that?

Well, the world will never know, because Director Zack Snyder’s film, a sequel/spinoff of 2013’s Man of Steel and obvious franchise origin story for upcoming Justice League movies, is a mess—an over-long, over-stuffed, dull, boring, clichéd mess. Batman v Superman might be the least-effective and worthwhile big-screen superhero venture I’ve seen since Spiderman 3 in 2007. It really shouldn’t be that way. Even though plenty giggled at the very concept of “Batman versus Superman” (because, duh, Superman is indestructible, thus, it can’t really be THAT much of a contest), you’re still talking about a movie that features no fewer than two pop-culture-icon characters, eight Academy-Award nominated actors, the chance to plug DC’s version of the Avengers, and to set the mood for this summer’s upcoming Suicide Squad, which looks pretty rad.  How could that be bad? Well, first you make a movie that is not very good, and then you show pretty much all the actual good parts in the trailers, leaving audiences struggling through the film to realize there’s nothing worth watching in it that they haven’t already seen. That’s not a good start.

Plot

While this movie introduces several major characters, it is still a sequel to 2013’s Superman movie ‘Man of Steel’. While not mandatory, viewing of or familiarity with the plot of ‘Man of Steel’ is recommended because several major characters are returning and this movie more or less picks up right where that one left off.

Sure, Superman (Henry Cavill) saved the world from total destruction at the hands of Kryptonian sociopath General Zod (Michael Shannon), but their grudge match leveled much of the city of Metropolis and left thousands dead. So, despite his good looks, super strength, small-town-Kansas roots, and heroic acts, many consider “the alien” a threat and a menace to society. One particular individual smarting from the destruction Superman caused is billionaire Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who lives in Gotham City on the opposite shore of a lake from Metropolis. Wayne, who was orphaned at a young age and lives a largely reclusive life with no one but his butler, Alfred (Jeremy Irons), for company, heard and watched friends die when Superman’s intergalactic smackdown with Zod destroyed one of his company’s offices in downtown Metropolis. Already scarred from the horrific childhood incident in which his parents were gunned down in front of his eyes, Wayne soon becomes a masked vigilante as a way of dealing with his grief and rage over Metropolis, beating up criminals in the dead of night and branding them with a bat symbol.

Plenty of others are on the warpath against Superman. One surviving Wayne Enterprises employee (Scoot McNairy) launches an angry media campaign against the “false god” who caused the destruction. A no-nonsense senator (Holly Hunter) conducts highly-publicized hearings in the Capitol that scrutinize every aspect of the destruction and disruption Superman has caused. And a smarmy, rich scientist named Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), head of genetic research company LexCorp, uncovers something in the wreckage of the Kryptonian machine Zod was using to destroy the southern hemisphere—kryptonite. While Daily Planet editor Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) and star reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams) remain on Superman’s side, the walls begin to close in, with Luthor making big claims, the hearings getting rougher, and the “Gotham Bat” hinting that he wants nothing more than an opportunity to pulverize Superman with his bare hands.  

What Works?

There have to be some things that work, right? Well…some. I blame this very underwhelming film’s muddled final output on director Snyder and the writers, who tried to cram in and juggle way too much. I don’t blame the actors. For all the fuss about his casting, Affleck might come off the best of any of the actors, scowling and brooding and, occasionally, turning on the Bruce Wayne charm. Honestly, I didn’t sit there missing Christian Bale—maybe because Affleck has been such a visible, famous personality for so long, I’m just used to him being in movies—though even the top-billed star doesn’t get to do that much. With his screen time cut into by the Superman half of the plot, Affleck gets very little time to develop Bruce Wayne as a person beyond a few creepy dream sequences he has. Cavill makes an effective enough Superman, though the fact remains that, rather like Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, Superman just isn’t that interesting of a character.

Rather unsurprisingly, it’s Eisenberg who gets to have the most fun and, thus, is the most fun in this dreary film. Playing Luthor as something between his antisocial Mark Zuckerberg from The Social Network and an old-fashioned mad scientist, Eisenberg gets almost all the script’s best lines and gets to greedily chew scenery that desperately needs to be chewed on.  “Psychotic? That’s a word for ideas too big for little minds,” he says smartly at one point (yes, it was in the trailer). “I don’t know where she is! I told them not to tell me!” He cackles gleefully at another, while cornered, in a Joker-esque bit of mischief. When Eisenberg turns it up in the third act, the film finally—finally!—starts to get off the ground and feel like the big-screen comic-book entertainment it’s supposed to be, though it must be admitted even his character is short-changed, with a barely-explained secret experiment and a final scene that is dragged on way longer than necessary.

Besides the actors doing what they can with rushed, overly-busy material, the movie has a few moments where it starts to become something more. The opening sequence—the climax of Man of Steel seen from the ground-level viewpoint of Bruce Wayne—is powerful, climaxing in a gut-punch moment where a Wayne Enterprises employee, knowing his death is imminent, starts to pray fearfully. Batfleck has one great bang-‘em-up fight scene against a swarm of minions in a warehouse; most of it was shown in the movie’s most recent trailer, but it’s the only action scene in the movie that achieves the kind of oooh/aaah bravado great action can deliver. And there is definitely some popcorn-munching campy fun to be had in the climactic action scene where Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (oh yeah, she’s in the movie, too—think I forgot to mention) fight a hideous creature Luthor created.

What Doesn’t Work?

Oh boy. How much time do you have?

Well, I’ll go back over some of the criticisms I’ve already unveiled.

Over-long—well, if the movie had been really well put-together, it might have deserved its 150-minute length. But it’s not, so it feels REALLY long. This includes a Peter Jackson-esque parade of would-be ending sequences that tacks an unnecessary, additional 15 minutes onto the film.

Over-stuffed—Superman stuff. Clark Kent stuff. Superman/Clark Kent flashbacks/dream sequences stuff.  Batman stuff. Batman origin stuff. Batman as an adult stuff. Batman flashbacks/dream sequences. Batman flashbacks/dream sequences within flashbacks/dream sequences. Lois Lane stuff. Lex Luthor stuff. Justice League stuff. Plug for the next movie stuff. Brief Wonder Woman appearance. Senate hearings. Flashbacks to the Batman origin flashbacks. Another brief Wonder Woman appearance.  There’s a lot in this movie. Someone would argue there needed to be, but there’s a better way to do it than bounce around like a ping-pong ball and, in the process, short-change many of your characters. It doesn’t help that in its back-and-forth-ness, all parts are not created equal, as the Batfleck stuff is typically more interesting than the Superman stuff. Oh, and there are at least three lengthy dream/fantasy sequences, which the audience can tell right away are dream/fantasy sequences, that mean nothing to the plot that go on forever. In one of them, I sat there in disbelief, almost unable to comprehend that the director went “yeah, keep going. This obviously-not-real, not-forward-progress-to-the-plot stuff is fascinating”.

Dull—how many times have seen Batman’s parents get killed now, between the big screen and the small screen? Don’t we already know he’s haunted by his family legacy? How many times do we need to see him moodily visit his parents’ grave? Why are we wasting time going repeatedly back to this pointless subplot about a bullet Lex Luthor may or may not have made? Did the source of the bullet even end up meaning anything? In how many movies do high-ranking government/military people sit around a table and tensely talk about “options”, only to settle for shooting nukes at bad guys who are probably impervious to them? Aren’t the bad guys always impervious to them? And isn’t one scene of Perry Black telling Lois Lane and/or Clark Kent that he doesn’t approve of what they’re doing and they need to stick to the job enough? Do we need more than one?

Cliché—we know the deal with Batman (orphaned, he’s sad about his parents, he’s moody, he has a butler, he feels empowered in the batsuit, etc…). We know the deal with Superman (he’s also Clark Kent, he’s impervious, people question him, he’s a good guy regardless of what people say, oh but his kryptonite is…kryptonite. It affects him. I mean, like, makes him not impervious affects him.). We know the deal with Luthor (he’s bad news, he’s sleazy, he wants to make things go boom). We know the…Well, okay, the movie probably wouldn’t have seemed nearly as cliché if we hadn’t already been exposed to nearly all the best parts. But we know enough about the general gist of these people without getting heaps of it all again. Give us something we’re not expecting (curse the marketing people who made that a not-possibility with their lovely, lengthy trailers!)!

Bottom line, it felt off from the start. Again, Affleck is fine, but it takes little time to make you miss Christopher Nolan’s pristine, detailed Batman Begins in terms of Batman origin stories. Speaking of which—Irons is passable in this movie’s interpretation of Alfred (he’s more akin to a partner in crime here than a butler/father figure), but it’s hard to watch him play the character after Michael Caine did such a marvelous job with his three-dimensional, emotional portrayal in the Dark Knight films. It really is.

Hey! Here’s an idea! In a movie called Batman versus Superman, why don’t you actually give us some BATMAN VERSUS SUPERMAN!! Honestly, I don’t think these two actually did more than exchange inflammatory tweets and mean glances until the one-hour-forty-five-minute mark. THAT’S WHY WE’RE HERE!!!  Look, even if you know that we know that they’re not gonna end up mortal enemies, at least make it more fun!

Oh yeah…Wonder Woman is in this movie! I can’t tell if Gal Gadot is a great actress or not, or if she has the kind of charisma that could have livened up this movie or not. But I did know she was playing Wonder Woman in this movie and she was going to be in it…well, why not have her in it, then? It’s a massive shame her big character reveal was spoiled in the trailers—ditto with Batty and Supes’ amusing reactions to her appearance. But honestly, for as much as we already know the drill with Batman and Superman—well, I can’t speak for other audience members, but I don’t know the drill with Wonder Woman. Why not give us more Wonder Woman? We’ve seen female characters as the mysterious woman-about-town, exchanging thinly-veiled banter with the male leads before (i.e. Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises). Oh I know, you want me to buy a ticket to the upcoming Wonder Woman movie to find all that stuff out. But, you know, if you have an ace up your sleeve in the form of a cool, appealing character your audience might like, why not use it more? We’re all going to see the Wonder Woman movie anyway!

Speaking of Wonder Woman, can I get an amen and a big check sent to whoever does her makeup and hair when she’s in costume? I swear, she got basically stomped on, body-slammed, thrown around, smashed into a car, smashed into a couple buildings, and engulfed in a cloud of dust while fighting that giant thing that looked like the cave troll from the first Lord of the Rings movie, but, at the end of it, her face was completely spotless, and there was not a hair out of place.

Content

Batman v Superman is neither Deadpool nor The Dark Knight in terms of violent content. There’s no slicing of faces or dismemberment or torture. Batman does break some people’s arms, though, as well as use their own knives against them. And when Superman is exposed to kryptonite-made weapons, they hurt him. And when Lex Luthor’s prize creature creation is shown coming out of the womb-like contraption it was grown in, yeah, that’s kind of yucky. The mood is pretty dark here, and there is some dark, shadowy content (I mean, one of its title characters is a dark, shadowy character), but it’s not much more intense than the average superhero movie.

Bottom Line

Even once the ratings and reviews started coming in, I admit, I held out hope. Alas. Even though Ben Affleck outperforms the haters’ expectations and makes for a perfectly-competent Bruce Wayne/Batman, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a big, ugly misfire, a movie that’s too long and too busy and still manages to waste time, waste good actors, and not deliver anything above average or exciting that wasn’t already shown in the trailers. Honestly, even the fight scenes aren’t that cool. Spoiler: you already saw most of the best fight scene in the trailer. The reviews aren’t stopping people from seeing the movie, and I invite you to go ahead and see it and judge for yourself, but, for me, it wasn’t interesting enough, wasn’t entertaining enough, came too soon after the Dark Knight movies, and had too many, too long ending scenes. I mean, really, it came just short of having hobbits hug and cry. Here’s hoping DC’s legit-looking Suicide Squad movie makes this one look like a joke.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Directed by Zack Snyder

Screenplay by Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer

Batman characters created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger

Superman characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Rated PG-13

Length: 151 minutes

February-mid-March Movie Roundup

February-mid-March Movie Roundup

The Merc, The Dragon Warrior, The Man Who Wants To Be A Woman, The Hostage, and the Aliens

Because of a number of obligations, including Master’s degree homework, karate, and a growing desire to watch UFC fights instead of movies (but mostly homework), I haven’t reviewed any movies since January, not even the hit superhero flick Deadpool, which I saw opening weekend and which nearly everybody loved. I’ve seen a couple other films recently, too, including one on video last night and one in theaters earlier today. These won’t be full-length reviews, but here’s a quick look over the titles that have made an impression on me over the past few months.

DEADPOOL                         Grade: B+

When I first reviewed Marvel’s big summer 2014 hit Guardians of the Galaxy, I described it as a hip, scrappy younger brother of the more grown-up prestige Marvel flicks like Captain America and Spiderman. If that’s true, than February’s Marvel release Deadpool is like the crude, drunken uncle of those movies, the one who shows up at family reunions and who your parents try to keep you away from despite the fact that his rowdy, profane stories crack you up. From a sharply-satirical opening credits sequence that indicates the movie stars A Big Star, A Hot Chick, and A British Villain and was directed by Some Overpaid Dick, to a crude, yammering smart-aleck narration that lasts the entire movie, Deadpool, right out of the gate, is clearly not your average superhero movie.

And that’s good because, with the exception of a few real standouts like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel movies are starting to become a dime a dozen—bright, colorful, feel-good flicks about witty, good-looking people with cool powers who always save the world no matter what. But Deadpool—not only is it the first R-rated Marvel film, but it’s probably also the first one where the initial thing you think of when recalling the movie is not the actors, the special effects, or even the action, but the screenplay; you could easily watch this movie three times in a row and pick up something new every time, there is so much chatter. Indeed, the screenplay (penned by the writers of the 2009 cult classic Zombieland, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick), is so crude, witty, and nonstop talky it feels like it easily could’ve been created by a group consisting of Quentin Tarantino, Aaron Sorkin, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Judd Apatow, and the creators of Cards Against Humanity. This was seriously one of those movies where it’s really funny but you’re scared to laugh because you know, in laughing, you’ll miss the next funny line.

That’s not to discount the action or the actors. The action is brilliantly-choreographed, jaw-dropper-type stuff, and the actors are great. Ryan Reynolds nails his long-awaited star turn as Wade Wilson, a former special forces operative turned low-rent mercenary. Wade runs jobs for an underground mercenary ring organized by Weasel (snarky director T.J. Miller), where Wade meets Vanessa (Brazillian Morena Baccarin), a gorgeous but snappy prostitute. They fall in love (or, at least, they hook up a lot, given a surprisingly-graphic montage offering peeks into their very active sex life), but they appear to be missing out on a happy ending when Wade is diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer throughout his body. Wade doesn’t want the lively Vanessa to suffer with him as his body deteriorates, so he leaves her, and, when a mysterious man offers him the opportunity to be healed through secret science, he jumps at the chance. But it turns out to be a trick, the secret science merely meaning being tortured endlessly by cold-eyed Francis, AKA Ajax (Ed Skrein), a fierce mutant who wants to provoke the mutant genes in his victims by any means necessary. Eventually he does provoke Wade’s gene, but it’s more than either of them bargained for, and when Francis kidnaps Vanessa, Wade gets on the warpath, with a red suit and weapons and all, and seeks to save his best girl and become, well, maybe not a “hero”.

Bottom line: Like its titular hero, Deadpool is fierce and feisty, with lots of laughs, endless wit, wild action, and some fine performances. It is, however, a hard R, with graphic nudity and sex, lots of swearing, and some gory details. As previously mentioned, this is not your father’s or even your older brother’s superhero movie. It’s crazy entertaining, though.

Deadpool is rated R for strong, bloody violence and gore, constant profanity (including graphic sexual references), graphic nudity and sexuality, and disturbing images including scenes of torture

KUNG FU PANDA 3                                   Grade: B+

I wasn’t planning on seeing Kung Fu Panda 3—in fact, I rolled my eyes and sighed when I first heard it was actually being made (“oh please, another sequel?”), but my dad, my younger brother Will, and my little sister Addie and I have a Kung Fu Panda tradition, so I went along when I heard they were going to see it. And—surprise!—it was actually pretty great. Like the other films (the original came out in 2008, Part 2 in 2011), it was brightly-colored, quickly-paced, exciting, funny, and populated with lively, likable characters. Oh, and—as was also true of the other films—it improbably had quite the sentimental streak, with a strong emotional chord audiences can appreciate.

In Kung Fu Panda 3, a notorious villain of old, General Kai (malevolently voiced by the always-terrific J.K. Simmons), escapes from the spirit realm and returns to China seeking to capture all power and rule. His abilities include super strength and the ability to suck the chi (energy) out of his opponents and use it for himself. He immediately sets his sights on the Jade Palace, where the country’s finest warriors train under Master Chi-Fu (Dustin Hoffman). As before, Chi-Fu’s prize pupils are the Furious Five—Mantis (Seth Rogen), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Viper (Lucy Liu), Crane (David Kross), and Tigress (Angelina Jolie). And then there’s Poe (Jack Black), the round, bouncy panda, who was improbably chosen years before by the great master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) to be the Dragon Warrior, the masterful leader who would save and protect China. When these warriors hear Kai is on his way, they prepare to fight, but Poe is distracted when his biological father appears. A panda named Li (finely-voiced by the gravelly Bryan Cranston), Poe’s father is anxious to bond with him and even give kung fu a try, but Poe isn’t sure about this, and neither is the adoptive father who raised him from childhood, the snippy goose Mr. Ping (James Hong). Poe is brought back to the panda village from whence he came, but his two fathers are butting heads and he’s questioning everything about who he is and who he’s supposed to be, and it’s right as Kai begins a seemingly-unstoppable assault on all the country’s greatest warriors.

It’s a pretty similar recipe to the first two go-rounds. A scary, impressive villain seems unstoppable until Poe figures out an unlikely way to stop him, which includes persuading his warrior friends to try things they never imagined they’d try. It’s not super original, but, like Poe’s schemes, it ends up working. And the voice work, from all these current and former A-list stars, is a treat.

Bottom line: There’s a lot of laugh-out-loud humor, catchy sentiment, impressive villainy, and bonding moments that warm the heart. It’s not Pixar-level animated greatness, but it’s not trying to be. It’s clear some thought went into it, though, and, for a third animated sequel, that means a lot.

Kung Fu Panda 3 is rated PG for some intense action and peril, rude humor, and some scary moments

THE DANISH GIRL                                   Grade: B+

If Poe the Kung Fu Panda was questioning who he was and who he was supposed to be, his internal conflict still has nothing on the internal conflict of the titular character of The Danish Girl, a prestige drama released late last fall by Academy-Award winner director Tom Hooper. Based on a 2000 historical fiction novel by David Ebershoff—which was itself loosely based on real events—Girl is about Einar and Gerda Wegener, a married couple of painters living in Copenhagen circa 1926. Einar (the always-fine Eddie Redmayne), is a celebrated painter of remarkable landscapes. Gerda (26-year-old Swedish actress Alicia Vikander) is a portrait painter who has long been overshadowed by her husband and who hasn’t had the success or the breakthrough opportunities he has. Despite this slight conflict in success, they are quite happy, modeling for each other, causing friends to swoon with their love stories, making love constantly and dreaming of starting a family.

However, one day, when Gerda’s model friend (Amber Heard) fails to show up for a portrait session, Gerda persuades Einar to sit for her, wear a pair of stockings and shoes, and hold a dress up to himself to provide her a subject. Gerda paints Einar as a woman, and the gender-ambiguous subject becomes a hit and finally gets her the big break she’s always sought. However, this role play also awoke a long-dead inner voice inside Einar, one that suggests he’s not exactly who he should really be. These feelings are furthered when Gerda happily and unknowingly persuades Einar to dress as this female model for a gala they’re attending, and Einar is flirted with, and then kisses, a man. When a shocked Gerda confronts him later, Einar admits that, though part of him is as surprised as she is, part of him always knew that side was present. He calls it Lili. To Gerda’s surprise and consternation, Lili not only doesn’t go away but, soon, is present more than her husband is. Soon, her husband, Einar, is a complete stranger who she doesn’t see anymore, and Lili is her constant companion. However, as devastated and shaken as this turn of events feels, Gerda can’t make herself hate Lili. She refuses to let doctors tell Einar/Lili she is insane, or schizophrenic, or in need of a good shock therapy or a straitjacket. And when they find a doctor who can actually perform a sex change surgery, she doesn’t stand in the way of Lili becoming who they both soon believe she was always meant to be.

While I’ve read that a lot of real-life details were fudged both in Ebershoff’s book and in Hooper’s film—for instance, I read that Gerda and Einar’s relationship deteriorated quickly once the Lili persona appeared—The Danish Girl is an undeniably-moving and powerful film. While real-life transgender cases (Caitlyn Jenner, the Wachowski siblings) have made this a Movie of the Moment kind of deal, even traditional viewers can glean lessons from the drama. Much like star Redmayne’s last film—the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, which won him the Best Actor Oscar—the movie dares you to consider what you would ultimately do for someone who you say you love. Would you stand in the way of them finding themselves? Would you allow them to pursue their own ultimate happiness at the expense of yours? And, conversely, is it right and acceptable to pursue a course of action for yourself you feel is right when it threatens to undermine and even shatter the happiness of another person? Is it selfish? Where is the line between selfishness and giving?

Like Hooper’s last two celebrated films—2010’s The King’s Speech and 2012’s Les Miserables—The Danish Girl contains music, drama, and acting of the highest caliber. Redmayne is arguably even more impressive here than he was in his chameleonic turn as Hawking last year—his portrait of the kind, sensitive Einar turned kind, gentle, and yet more than slightly-selfish Lili is a bold, brave, powerful piece of work. There’s a reason there was conversation about Redmayne possibly winning back-to-back Best Actor Oscars this year. And yet, for the second year in a row (after Felicity Jones last year), Redmayne is equaled if not bested by his primary female costar, with Vikander doing sensational work as the brave and supportive audience surrogate, Gerda. Like Jones did, Vikander makes you feel the pain of someone wanting to be completely selfless and supportive and yet falling back on basic human needs and desires as well. Just like Lili, Gerda deserves to be happy. It’s a wonderful performance, one that well-deserved the Best Supporting Actress Oscar she won for it last month. The two leads are given fine support by Ben Whishaw as Lili’s coy, shy love interest, Sebastian Koch as the doctor who finally offers the right answer, and an outstanding and unrecognizable Matthias Schoenaerts as Einar’s lifelong friend (and potential love interest for Gerda), Hans.

Bottom line: A fine, old-fashioned drama, The Danish Girl could have offered a few more details but, with two remarkable lead performances and a resonant, relevant, powerful emotional story, it’s an undeniably-affecting film.

The Danish Girl is rated R for graphic nudity and sexuality, some language, and disturbing images including a brief scene of violence

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE                                     Grade: A

Just months ago, a taut suspense drama about a young woman kept locked in a confining structure made the rounds at end-of-year awards ceremonies. 10 Cloverfield Lane may be set up similar to Room, but it has a completely different feel. In Cloverfield Lane (a sort-of sequel to the 2008 thriller Cloverfield), Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) isn’t sure what’s out there beyond the confining, claustrophobic fortress she’s found herself in. Before the car accident, everything was normal—albeit, she had just walked out on her boyfriend. After—she wakes up with an IV and a knee brace, but in unfamiliar surroundings: a stocked, locked, and cinder-block-enforced doomsday bunker only otherwise populated by a cautiously-optimistic young man in an arm cast (John Gallagher Jr.) who says he’s glad to be there, and a hulking, scowling, unsettingly-intense Navy retiree (John Goodman), who is full of conspiracy theories and tells Michelle the outside world as she knew it is gone. Gone from what, Michelle can’t discern, because neither man seems to know, exactly. Nuclear war? A Russian invasion? A Korean invasion? Aliens? Some new technology or biological threat? Michelle is sure it’s a trick, a paranoid scheme, or, at worst, a half-truth. The big man who brought her there says they can’t even go outside, or open the doors due to the radiation and the fallout, but, to Michelle, this seems like a ruse to keep her there. But she can’t deny something is going on, because they occasionally hear strange noises, the word HELP is scratched on a window in the cellar, the power occasionally flickers and the walls shake, and her host (Goodman’s Howard) has one set of keys to all the door locks that he keeps on him at all times.

I won’t say more except to say that, thankfully, 10 Cloverfield Lane manages not to let down this intriguing, taut set-up with a bogus, over-the-top scare finale like a cheap horror movie would, or to just pretend it was all made up, like a Shyamalan film might (remember The Village?). From the opening credits onward, Cloverfield is searingly-intense, a pulse-pounding, nerve-jangling thriller where the sound of mere footsteps makes you cringe and panic. This is due largely to Goodman, who is best known for voicing jolly, good-natured animated characters (The Emperor’s New Groove’s Pacha, Monsters Inc.’s Sully) but who is scary-psychotic here, with a few hints of good-guy-ness but a demented twinkle in his eye. Winstead and Gallagher are good, but Goodman, and the suspenseful screenplay, are the winners here. Want proof that this is good stuff? It’s produced by J.J. Abrams (who recently set the world on fire with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and only after he made LOST and re-made Star Trek) and one of the credited writers is Oscar nominee Damian Chazelle, who penned and directed the terrifying-suspenseful drama Whiplash two years ago.

Bottom line: It’s hard to imagine a more straight-up intense movie this year. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a piece of work, a taut, terrifying film with fine actors, a very intriguing set-up, and a plot that is two-thirds mystery and final third wild action. You won’t be able to feel your legs after this one. Trust me.

10 Cloverfield Lane is rated PG-13 for disturbing/scary moments, language, and some violence

DEADPOOL (2016)

Directed by T.J. Miller

Screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

Based on the character created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Stefan Kapicic, and Gina Carano; with Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead

Rated R

Length: 108 minutes

KUNG FU PANDA 3 (2016)

Directed by Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh

Screenplay by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger

Featuring the Voices of: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, J.K. Simmons, James Hong, Angelina Jolie, Randall Duk Kim, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Kate Hudson and Dustin Hoffman

Rated PG

Length: 95 minutes

THE DANISH GIRL (2015)

Directed by Tom Hooper

Screenplay by Lucinda Coxon

Based on the 2000 fictional novel by David Ebershoff

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Amber Heard, Sebastian Koch, and Adrien Schiller

Length: 119 minutes

Rated R

10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (2016)

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Screenplay by Josh Campbell, Matthew Stuecken, and Damien Chazelle

Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, and John Gallagher Jr.

Rated PG-13

Length: 103 minutes