Fourth Row Center

Operation Finale (2018) ★★ ½   Oscar Isaac, Ben Kingsley, Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Joe Alwyn; directed by Chris Weitz with a screenplay by Matthew Orton. Operation Finale is based on the true story of Israeli Mossad and Shin Bet agents who, in 1960, tracked down and captured Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust and one of the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminals. It’s a story I have always thought would make a great movie, and director Chris Weitz ( The Golden Compass ) sets out to do just that, though the results are mixed at best. Ben Kingsley as Adolf Eichmann in OPERATION FINALE. Metro-Goldwyn-Ma yer      The cast of Israelis, let by Oscar Isaac, is sufficient though not brilliant. Ben Kingsley, as the enigmatic Eichmann, is superb. What suffers here is the script, which not only takes some liberties with the facts, but fails to deliver the level of high-stakes drama found in films su ch as Steven Spiel...

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018) ★ ★ ★ ★ Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson; written by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan; directed by Ron Howard. Solo is not a perfect film, nor is it anywhere as space operatic as 1977’s Star Wars or its 1980 sequel, The Empire Strikes Back . What it is, though, is a dizzying romp through the galaxy with everyone’s favorite space pirate and his Wookie accomplice Chewbacca. Back, too, are Empire scribe Lawrence Kasdan, who, along with son Jon, penned this Solo adventure.   Lucasfilm/Disney Solo is a Star Wars story, and exists in the Star Wars universe referenced in A New Hope and Rogue One as opposed to the stupefying reality presented in The Last Jedi . For fans of the original trilogy, this movie feels like home. Taking the Solo reins from Harrison Ford is Alden Ehrenreich, who makes the character his own without besmirching the character created so memorably by Ford.  Solo is a solid movie if not a great one, and so much fun. It ma...