MikeyB's Monthly Movie Roundup: May, June (2018)


 Well June has just wrapped up and that means its time for one of my "Monthly Movie Roundups"! The eagle eyed reader among you may say "But MikeyB the title says May/June!", and you would be correct! You see during the month of May I only saw one of the new films released that month (Solo: A Star Wars Story) but subsequently during June was able to see another May release (Deadpool 2).  So I figured I'd save May's "Roundup" till the end of June and here we are! So with that confusion out of the way lets dive right in!.

Released: May 18 2018
Director: David Leitch
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin


 Plot: Sequel to the 2016 irreverent hit that has Deadpool creating his own team to take down a time traveling mercenary named Cable.

 Opinion: I found myself enjoying this sequel even more then the original. The story is tighter this time around and the film gets the budget for a wider scope and spectacle that the first film lacked. Reynolds is still great in the role he was born to play, and Brolin is perfectly cast as Cable.

Released: May 25 2018
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke


 Plot: A film chronicling the rise of Han Solo in the galaxie's criminal underworld and how he met some of his most (in)famous friends and enemies.

 Opinion: After a very rocky production I went into this origin story with low expectations. Thankfully I walked away pleasantly surprised. Ehrenreich may not look like Harrison Ford but he completely nails the character of Solo. Howard has managed to somehow turn in an insanely fun and entertaining film and a worthy addition to the Star Wars pantheon.

Released: June 1 2018
Director: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Logan Marshal-Green, Richard Anastasios, Rosco Campbell


 Plot: After his wife is killed and he is left a paraplegic, Grey Trace receives experimental surgery that implants an A.I. controlled microchip, "Stem", into his spine to give him back mobility. When the A.I. wakes up though it decides to help Trace find the men who killed his wife.

 Opinion: I loved this low budget Sci-Fi/Action mashup. Read my full review here!

Released: June 8 2018
Director: Ari Aster
Starring: Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Gabriel Byrne



 Plot: After Annie Graham's mother dies a string of strange and horrible events plague her and her family.

 Opinion: I love horror movies. I loved this horror movie. Read about it here.

Released: June 15 2018
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell


 Plot: After the events of the first film the "Incredible" family is turned on its head when Mom aka "Elastigirl" gets out there to try and make "Supers" legal again.

 Opinion: This is a fun sequel and hits a lot of the same notes as the first, but it is lacking in any sort of agency or true emotional impact that the first film had in spades. Still you could do much worse at the theaters this summer.

Released: June 22 2018
Director: J. A. Bayona
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall


 Plot: Owen and Claire are heading back to the island to try and save the dinosaurs from a volcano that would render them extinct....again. Anyways a double cross happens and now some rich dude is selling dinosaurs on the black market and making genetically modified super killer dinos and its up to Owen and Claire to stop them.

 Opinion: If that plot sounds stupid to you don't worry, because it is. The whole movie is missing a few brain cells but thanks to Bayona's amazing direction, Oscar Faura's gorgeous cinematography, and Pratt's natural charm its a fun time waster regardless. Hey at least its better then Jurassic Park 3 (2001).

Released: June 29 2018
Director: Stefano Sollima
Starring: Benicio Del Toro. Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner


 Plot: After a terrorist attack on American soil, the U.S. government starts a secret war against the Mexican drug cartels that helped the bombers get into the country.

 Opinion: What a disappointment this movie is. I adore Sicario (2015). It's a brutal look at the ongoing battle the U.S. faces against the drug cartels of Mexico, and is a wonderful study of the futility and cyclical nature of violence and revenge. So needless to say I was cautiously optimistic for a sequel, but this is a film that truly feels like the producers and director had no idea why the first film was so good but thought "Hey we can do that!". It's a film made by committee and thats even more frustrating since the first film's writer, Taylor Sheridan, was back for this sequel. Not a bad movie by any means, but it just doesn't go anywhere and any message it could have given is squandered in sacrifice of looking cool.


 Well that concludes my "Roundup" of the new releases I saw this past May and June. Did you see anything I didn't? Differing opinion then me? Please feel free to let me know in the comments below, and as always thank you for reading and I'll see you next time!

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