This summer, there were also non-Marvel movies to consider…
Alice Through the Looking Glass…lol. Grade: D- [Yeah, centering a sequel nobody asked for around the idea of a sentimental backstory to the Mad Hatter was a brilliant idea, and audiences responded accordingly.]
Star Trek Beyond…Worse than the first two “Star Trek” films, and I wasn’t a real fan of those either. This gives all signs of being a franchise on auto-pilot. Idris Elba does what he can as a philosophical villain, but his voice is put to much scarier use as the villainous Shere Khan in “The Jungle Book.” Grade: C
Now You See Me 2…I know this isn’t a good movie, I know it isn’t, but something about it is really enjoyable in a slick, basic-cable kind-of way. [If you’re half-asleep one night watching this on USA or TNT you’ll have fun.] And it’s saved almost entirely by Woody Harrelson in a joyful double role as dueling magician twins. The few scenes where he’s hurling insults (and mind games) off himself might show the rest of the male cast—the overly brooding Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Dave Franco, etc.—what it’s like to actually have fun in a ridiculous movie. Grade: B-