FILM: The Mummy 3D 4DX (dir: Alex Kurtzman, 2017)

"I can't unsee it."

The Mummy 2017 has a lot of elements that work very well but is an oddly unengaging experience.  As many critics have been quick to point out, it is designed as a Tom Cruise action vehicle  - and he is very good here, given opportunity to extend beyond his typical action persona - but the story is thin (at times insultingly dumb) and the dialogue often weak, which sit uncomfortably with the overblown but very enjoyable set pieces.  3D is used well,  the plane crash featured in trailers is excellent (and great fun augmented by 4DX) and there are some very dynamic fight sequences.  The money is all up on the screen, but the film does not really use the central concept to give it its own identity, certainly lacking the fun romp elements of the Brendan Fraser era,  and ends up being a typical efficient modern committee-created Studio blockbuster.

FILM: My Cousin Rachel (dir: Roger Michell, 2017)

"You're not the woman I hated."

This handsome du Maurier adaptation is a slow-burning and intriguing psychological period drama blended well with the more romantic elements.  It is beautifully shot (with more than a touch of TV's Poldark - even a scything scene) with masterful framing and composition throughout.  Rachel Weisz uses her characteristic precision very effectively here, and Sam Claflin carries the film extremely well.   The small scale of the action works well with the creation of focus and intimacy, aided by terrific use of lighting and set design.  Whilst the film is essentially an upgraded BBC Sunday night drama, it works very well indeed.

FILM: Wonder Woman 3D 4DX (dir: Patty Jenkins, 2017)

"I am...above average."

Not only does Wonder Woman provide the belated first female-superhero-led film of the current cycle, but it also turns out to be by far the best and most enjoyable of the new DC Extended Universe films.  The film is a strong and efficient origin story, with the opening act set on the hidden all-female island of Themyscira proving to be surprisingly nuanced and interesting, beautifully shot and with a couple of arresting action scenes, notably a beach battle that makes no compromises for younger viewers.  As Diana meets Chris Pine's charmingly smooth but tough American spy (with Pine ideally cast and effective here) and the action moves into 1918 London and on to the World War I trenches, the world of a century ago is realised wonderfully and a whole host of gender/political/ideological issues are cleverly touched upon with wit and sharpness largely through our (super)hero's initially naïve, honest and principled eyes.  Gal Gadot gives a remarkably good performance in the title role, proving to be an engaging and magnetic screen presence throughout, and Patty Jenkins direction uses pace and fluid camerawork extremely well.  The ending is a fairly generic superhero vs villain CGI slugfest (and why does DC always seem to set them at night?), but it is presented with greater impact and clarity than, for example, the frantic finale of Batman v Superman.  Wonder Woman establishes the character fully with a well-written arc in a strongly-made film, so we can only hope that this is evidence of lessons learned for the ongoing DCEU.

FILM: Diary Of A Wimpy Kid The Long Haul (dir: David Bowers, 2017)

"I knew we shouldn't have come here."

Five years on from the last entry, and retaining the franchise director Bowers but with a reboot cast, The Long Haul aptly describes this disappointingly bland movie.  By moving from the domestic setting to a very generic family road trip, the film loses the domestic dynamic and the interplay between Greg and his friends that were integral to the previous films.  Zachary Gordon and Devon Bostick are sorely missed as the warring brothers, with Jason Drucker and Charlie Wright trying a little too hard as their substitutes here, and the extraordinary casting coup of Alicia Silverstone and Tom Everett Scott as the parents is largely wasted.  The Long Haul seems somewhat underpowered in comparison with the previous Wimpy Kid films, and oddly makes two pointed references to Mad Max and Psycho, great films but hardly appropriate touchstones for its intended young target audience.

FILM: Baywatch (dir: Seth Gordon, 2017)

"It was worth a try."

Of the two particular huge 80s TV properties - Dallas and Baywatch - that have languished in Development Hell for years while studios and writers have tried to nail the right tone to bring them to the big screen, Baywatch finally emerges without that issue having been fully resolved.  The template is clearly the money-spinning 21/22 Jump Street films, but this film is thinner on laughs (largely owing to the ridiculous two-hour runtime) and the script is surprisingly timid.  Take out a couple of deliberate gross-out scenes, and what remains is a bigger-budget, noisy, relatively straight update of the original TV show.  Johnson and Efron are both now very proficient at this kind of straight-faced comedy delivery and are well cast here, but the rest of the characters have little to do.  It is not the disaster that a lot of critics are saying, but the final impression is that if this film had purposefully gone for all-out comedy or a fully-serious take, a better film may have resulted instead of this version which curiously falls between the two.    

FILM: Pirates of the Caribbean 5 - Salazar's Revenge (US Title: Dead Men Tell No Tales) 3D (dir: Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, 2017)

"There's a witch!  And a pirate!  In my shop!"

Thankfully, much of the self-indulgent bloat of the previous sequels has been stripped away for this fifth entry, but the fundamental problem remains: there is nothing new for this franchise to offer.  Although the story, characters and beats sail perilously close to the original film which is the clear touchstone here, there is much to enjoy: 3D, physical and CG effects and use of camera are fine, there are some lively sequences (including a bank robbery that takes the concept to a whole new level and the ghost-sharks are good), Bardem is a reasonable villain, Scodelario and Thwaites - two strong young actors - are suitable Knightley/Bloom substitutes, and the third act is strong with a charming final scene.  Nevertheless, it is still overlong, a lot feels too familiar, and Jack Sparrow is no longer swaggering fun but simply dumb (although, like Jar Jar Binks, children love the character).  This is one of the more tolerable Pirates sequels, but do not go looking for anything startling or new.

FILM: King Arthur - Legend Of The Sword (dir: Guy Ritchie, 2017)

"I'm not controlling it."

Well, Warner Brothers knew what they were getting, and King Arthur delivers exactly what it says on the tin, a mega-budget Guy Ritchie movie, but unfortunately those two elements do not necessarily sit together comfortably.  With its geezer dialogue that jars with the high-fantasy The Lord Of The Rings visual trappings and Ritchie's trademark unorthodox stylised direction style, the movie is at times kinetic and energised, but at others simply messy in delivery.  Storytelling is often hampered by unnecessary narrative trickiness where clarity and a clear forward momentum would have helped enormously, and the film certainly loses its way in an extended mid-section assassination attempt and its aftermath.  Whereas all of these ideas largely worked in Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, owing to a lighter touch and the interplay between Downey Jnr and Law, King Arthur is much more heavy-handed, even down to its leaden music score, and the scale of its often-impressive visual effects seems too big.  Law and Hunnam are fine - if anything, Hunnam's Arthur might have benefited from even more swagger.  Overall, King Arthur has some interesting ideas, such as the origin of the sword in the stone, but it too often feels like a mis-match of style and material, and over-long as a result.

FILM: Colossal (dir: Nacho Vigalondo, 2017)

"It looks like a Wes Anderson film in here.  I love it!"

A bigger audience deserves to give Colossal a chance, as it is not just quirky and interesting but it also delights with its visual and aural creativity.  Anne Hathaway almost charms as the out-of-work party girl who appears to be linked psychically to a monster that repeatedly appears in Seoul, and her performance gets stronger as her character gets more complex later in the film, and Dan Stevens again does good work as the comparatively uptight boyfriend, but the real standout turn here is from Jason Sudeikis as the bar-owning old school pal which is wonderfully clear, effective and delivers the developing character well.  Scenarios develop and unfold in interesting ways, leading to a fairly audacious and satisfying ending. In spite of its title, Colossal is quite a small, intimate movie that delivers very satisfyingly on all counts.

FILM: Snatched (dir: Jonathan Levine, 2017)

"I'm breaking up with you."
"When?"

Sometimes with a movie the idea sounds better than the reality, and this rather forgettable and lightweight comedy from the director of Warm Bodies and 50/50 disappoints.   What should have been a breezy fish-out-of-water comedy with a brilliant marquee pairing of Amy Schumer (here, variable) and the wonderful Goldie Hawn (who occasionally performs minor miracles with very little) does not catch fire owing to thin and predictable material which pulls off a couple of good gags in spite of seeing the pay-off way ahead.  Whilst not a disaster, Snatched reeks of wasted opportunities.

FILM: Alien Covenant (dir: Ridley Scott, 2017)

"Have fun, y'all!"

Alien Covenant has clearly divided the critics, and it is very easy to see both sides.  Scott has certainly listened to the die-hards after Prometheus, and the fan-boy button-pushing starts almost straight away and is very pleasing.  In spite of his previous reservations, Ridley Scott does manage to restore some of the fear of the titular beastie, with the new neomorph in particular providing creature attack scenes that are swift, sharp and full-on.  A very controlled and contemplative prologue under the opening credits swiftly sorts out some - but certainly not all - of the plot head-scratchers that Prometheus gave, and Covenant certainly provides a successful progression of the xenomorph and an engaging explanation of how it came to be.  However, the links to the previous prequel (this is getting complicated) are also what undoes Covenant to an extent, as the new film judders to a halt whenever the big themes of creation, free will and chance are seemingly needed to be discussed, especially in a patience-testing sequence of scenes about two-thirds of the way through.  However, for the most part the film works very well: the action set-pieces are great (two of them in the final act in particular), the idea of the colonist main crew all being couples adds a good dynamic and more emotional heft, the plotting and dialogue are notably better than Prometheus, and Waterston, Fassbender and (amazingly) McBride are all very good.  From the sci-fi angle, Covenant looks superb, and the degree of replaying a number of the franchise's Greatest Hits is just on the right side of acceptable.  What is expected to be the next (closer) of this trilogy that links directly into the original Alien is set up effectively, but Covenant also leaves one gigantic plot-hole regarding Alien/Aliens that will be very interesting to see how it is resolved.