Film: Solo

GENRE: Action Adventure

RATING: PG-13 for action violence
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 15 minutes

STARRING: Alden Ehrenreich (Hail Caesar!, Beautiful Creatures)

Woody Harrelson (Hunger Games), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones)

DIRECTOR: Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Rush, Da Vinci Code)

WRITERS: Jonathan Kasdan (In the Land of Women) &

Lawrence Kasdan (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi)

PLOT: Han Solo meets Chewbacca and Lando as he tries to save the girl and join a group of smugglers.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Worried a bit due to the director changes.

STORY STUFF: That was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed this Star Wars adventure. It was full of rip-roaring actions pieces, witty one-liners, interesting new characters, and lots of references to other things in the Star Wars cannon. Very entertaining.

ACTING STUFF: I think Ehrenreich was well cast as Han. He had the perfect mix of swagger and heart and humour. I have been getting annoyed with Donald Glover (Community, Atlanta) lately as his arrogance in his recent artistic pursuits is a put off. However, this plays nicely with his cocky Lando. I also love his obsession with capes. Clarke and Harrelson do good work as does Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. In fact, Chewbacca steals a lot of scenes. Of course, with Ron Howard at the helm, expect to see his brother Clint.

ARTISTIC STUFF: This has all the trappings of a typical Star Wars film. Great use of special effects, set pieces, score and costume. Loved the Millennium Falcon escape/battle. There is also a cameo that I was questioning but after reading up on Clone Wars and Rebels, looks like a great fit.

VERDICT: Five stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You are a Han Solo fan even without Harrison Ford.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Ocean’s 8, The Incredibles 2

Film: Deadpool 2

GENRE: Action Adventure

RATING: R for excessive violence and language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 59 minutes

STARRING: Ryan Reynolds (Hitman’s Bodyguard, The Proposal)

Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War), Zazie Beetz (Atlanta)

DIRECTOR: David Leitch (Atomic Blonda, parts of John Wick)

WRITERS: Rhett Reese & Stephen McFeely (Deadpool, Zombieland)

Ryan Reynolds (newcomer)

PLOT: Deadpool tries to get over his grief by creating a team to rescue a young boy with dangerous mutant abilities.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: I wasn’t expecting too much from this sequel.

STORY STUFF: I think this storyline was a bit better than the first Deadpool. In the first one, the middle was dragged down with how Wade became Deadpool, which didn’t really work for me. This one deals with trying to make a team and a ‘family’. Kept me more engaged, though still drags a bit. The humour was on par with the first one as well as some of the action sequences. Still enjoy the meta stuff even though I know it bothers some people. Love the Canada shout outs, especially during the post credit sequence.

ACTING STUFF: You can tell that Reynolds is having the time of his life. This must be infectious as the others are having fun around him too. It was great to see Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) again. And my goodness, some of the cameos. Hopefully moviegoers won’t be spoiled beforehand.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Some well-crafted fight scenes. Great use of slow-mo. Amazing collection of music with hilarious odd choices for action sequences (and check out the lyrics for the operatic music near the end). Fun stuff.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You are not easily offended.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Solo