#Middlebury
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” (PG-13) – Confession time: I’m not what you’d call a “Star Wars” fanatic. I’ve seen (most of) the movies, but I’m not emotionally invested. So your opinion about “Solo: A Star Wars Movie” may be different if you have strong feelings about the franchise. In my case, I found it to be a fun, engaging space Western – complete with a train robbery – and a charismatic romp befitting the character it centers around: Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), a rascal with a deep heart and something to prove. After he is separated from his scrappy partner in love and crime, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), he vows to spend his life plotting her rescue – which will involve Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) and an even bigger heist in the second act.
“Uncle Drew” (PG-13) – Dax (Lil Rel Howery) is a Harlem streetball manager who loses his team (and the life savings he invested to enter them in a tournament) to a childhood rival named Mookie (Nick Kroll). Hard outta luck, an old-timer introduces him to Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving), a streetball legend, who agrees to join him in forming a new team that they’ll fill out with Drew’s old gang: Big Fella (Shaquille O’Neal), Preacher (Chris Webber), Lights (Reggie Miller) and Boots (Nate Robinson). It’s camp and dumb and the laughs actually come at a steady dribble before the Big Message at the end – not quite a slam dunk, but pretty good for a movie based on a Pepsi commercial.
“Hot Summer Nights” (R) – Set in early ’90s Cape Cod, “Hot Summer Nights” puts the drug-dealing scene front and center. Sent to the shore after a personal tragedy, Daniel (Timothee Chalamet), an awkward teen who seems unlikely to become an insatiable dealer, meets local bad boy and weed dealer Hunter (Alex Roe). They form a lucrative partnership, as Daniel secretly also forms a romantic entanglement with Hunter’s sister McKayla (Maika Monroe). While the summer and the salty air mix, a little bit is not enough, and things spiral out of control.
John Travolta in “Gotti” (Lionsgate photo)
“Gotti” (R) – John Travolta delves deep into the makeup chair for “Gotti,” which perhaps unsurprisingly chronicles the life and times of mob boss John Gotti, affectionately known as the “Teflon Don.” No charges of good filmmaking are sticking here. Gotti is simply not a sympathetic character. If this were a sensationalized, true-crime glitz flick, I could get behind it, but it appears to be an attempt at a serious character study. It doesn’t help that it has a just-slapped-together feel – Travolta plays John Gotti, and his real-life wife (Kelly Preston) portrays Gotti’s wife, Victoria, and the Travoltas’ daughter plays the Gottis’ daughter, etc.
New TV Releases
“Preacher” Season 3
“911” Season 1
“Billions” Season 3
“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” Season 3
© 2018 King Features Synd. Inc.
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