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Captain Marvel (2019) ★ ★ ½ Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Annette Benning. Captain Marvel burst onto the big screen in a big way this month, with a post-credits sequence setting up the titular character as a major force to be reckoned with in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame .  Having never liked the comic book, this was one Marvel movie I was not looking forward to. Having seen it, I am pleased to report that I liked it better than I thought I would, but not as much as I had hoped. Here’s what I liked: Annette Benning, chewing the scenery and looking great; Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury with two good eyes; Goose the non-cat; Agent Coulson; the sinister and creeping-looking Skrulls; Stan Lee’s inside-joke cameo as himself (the year is 1995 and Lee is seen on a train reading the script to Kevin Smith’s Mallrats , in which he had a cameo); and Brie Larson, a talented actress who holds her own in a performance with dangerously high fanboy expecta...

American Gangster is directed by Ridley Scott and stars Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas and Russell Crowe as Richie Roberts. The film is a seventies period piece that tells the story of the rise and fall of Frank Lucas, the American Gangster. Richie Roberts is a New Jersey detective who is placed in charge of a special task force that is trying to discover the source of high quality heroine known as Blue Magic. Lucas, a driver for the Harlem Kingpin, takes over when his boss dies. He brings family members up from North Carolina to distribute the heroine, which he has obtained from a source in Vietnam. Using military transports, he is able to baffle the police, and remain an anonymous figure in the crime world. Robert's task force is unaware of Lucas, and is focusing on the usual suspects, until Lucas makes a simple mistake: he draws attention to himself. Excellent film and highly recommended to catch while it still plays on the big screen.

Transformers : Ok, this movie had the potential to tank big time. However, seeing it on a DLP screen was awesome. But, for big time action, it delivered. The only thing that bothered me was how hot they made an 11th grade girl. Didn't really think about the age until later and then went "ewww." Personally, I think they could have toned the Maxim down and just made the love interest because I think this could be a deal breaker for some pre-teens who want to see this. Ratatouille: It had to happen: this dish was missing something. It was not the same class of story that Pixar is known for. Near the end, I thought it was going to finally kick in, but, it never did. The kids loved it. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix : Perhaps my third favorite in the series. This movie starts off dark and pretty much stays there. I started remembering more of the book as the film progressed, so there were not many surprises. Was it great? No, but, then again, none of the Potter film...