Gringo
 

See this.

Black Panther
 

Watchable. Especially if you're simply trying to keep up with MARVEL's universe building.

The Wakandan tech is a bit too fantastical, but it is a comic book movie after all. Some nice performances, imagery and cgi.

Basically a son's rise to power in his father's kingdom, and the typical superhero struggle of how to use powers/abilities that can change the world for better or worse.

Upgrade
 

Watchable.

A bit stylish in points as well as gory (it is from one of the Saw guys after all) with a somewhat derivative story line and a not totally expected final plot twist.

One scene in particular was reminding me of Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead movie, and I'm not saying that as a bad thing.

I wouldn't recommend paying the pay-per-view cost unless, like me, you just want some silly mind candy for a while.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
 

meh

Not as popcorn-y fun or engaging as the first one.

The plot doesn't seem particularly original (in fact, it is quite derivative . . . it's easy to recognize the influences and themes that the filmmakers used) and makes me wonder if they just rushed this film into production quickly after the surprising success of the first film. Pratt seems to be phoning his performance in with none of the rogue-ish charm displayed in the original . . . all in all, it just kind of bummed me out, I really wanted to like this sequel.

I wouldn't recommend paying the pay-per-view price. It'll be on regular cable soon. Catch it then.

Ant-Man & the Wasp
 

Watchable.

Funny -- more straight up humor than the first, probably due to Rudd being a co-writer of this sequel, with an out-of-nowhere villain, and some excellent casting with Walton Goggins and Lawrence Fishburne. Also action-y with some well done visuals/scenes.

Never seen Hannah John-Kamen before, but she's kind of smoke-y hot. Me likey :D

Mid-credits scene ties this flick to the events of Infinity War.

Nice lol on the poster -- who the fuck is in the Ant-Man suit? Sure doesn't look like Rudd :evillol

Movie sucked, couldn't get into it.

Pacific Rim: Uprising
 

Not recommended

The original Pacific Rim was writer/director Guillermo del Toro's loving homage to the giant robot movies/tv shows from Japan that so many of us loved as kids.

He put a lot of effort into making the jaeger tech look reasonable, emphasizing the size and heft of the giant robots and wear and tear of a long drawn out war. Excellent casting, a very decent story with character development and top notch graphics -- it was a fun movie for fanboys and others.

The sequel has . . . none of those things.

Glaring, gaping plot holes and contradictions with the original. Paper thin, boilerplate characters and paint-by-the-numbers storyline. The jaegers are reduced to a mash up of Transformers and Power Rangers. I tried hard to find one thing to like about this film and can't.

Don't waste your time on this stinker.

Venom
 

Recommended.

Critics savaged this flick when it came out, but movie goers gave them the finger, making this film the tenth highest grossing movie of the year. Also earning an impressive $800m worldwide in sales.

Why? It's a fun movie.

Tom Hardy makes the Eddie Brock character his own in the same way Robert Downey Jr. remade the Tony Stark character in Iron Man. Hardy is excellent with the physical, should I say comedy, of a guy being controlled by an internal symbiote.

The symbiote is a delightful anti-hero (he bites heads off his victims and eats them after all) and the storyline of the two of them coming to accept one another has some cute moments.

Excellent graphics, the Venom character is awesomely depicted on screen. Lots of action, even though it takes a while to get Venom-ing, and does seem a bit busy at times. But it's a good popcorn flick and you don't need to be a comic book fanboy (guilty as charged) to enjoy it.

Mid-credits scene lays the groundwork for a sequel.

Equalizer 2
 

Recommended.

Actually a bit more action-y than the original I think, with a smidge more backstory on McCall.

Antoine Fuqua and Denzel are a good movie making team.

Not sure if there's any ground left to cover for a third installment, but these first two should satisfy fans for a long time.

White Boy Rick
 

Really good movie with a killer soundtrack 5/5