Right now, with all they affectingly put voice to suddenly back into the zeitgeist once again, with police violence against minorities being documented in a way it never has been before, it feels like this couldn’t have been released at a more appropriate moment. Straight Outta Compton isn’t just a great musical biopic, it’s a great movie, period, and as such seeing it should be at the top of everyone’s list no matter what their racial, social, political or gender background might be the entire world over.

But, not only is the villain’s reasons for seeking the end of the world as we know it exceedingly lame in a Greta Garbo I-want-to-be-alone sort of way, the fashion in which the heroes unite to stop him is even more nauseatingly ill-advised. [Fantastic Four (2015) is] a dimwitted descent into dullsville, the only clobbering going on the wallop delivered to the audience’s jaw as they sit there watching things fall apart right in front of their collective eyes.

If you think you know where The Gift (2015) is headed from there you’d be dead wrong, Edgerton taking things into far more disturbing and devastatingly insidious psychological terrain than anything I could have anticipated beforehand.

In the end, though, it’s Streep who elevates things to the heights they ultimately ascend to. Demme cannily keeps her in the center of the stage, so even when others are shining it is Ricki we’re thinking about. It’s as terrific a performance as any the veteran four-time Academy Award-winning actress has given over the last handful of years, Ricki and the Flash topping the charts in large part solely because of her.

Here’s what’s happening in Episode #16 (download .mp3): It’s Cinema Squabble time as the Seattle Movie Critics round table is back discussing a broad cross-section of the past 2 weeks in cinema. Reviews of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation / Vacation / Shaun the Sheep Movie / The Gift / Ricki and the Flash / Fantastic Four Discussion on the Great Comedic Actors […]

Shaun the Sheep Movie is a delightful, family-friendly, stop-motion sensation that gets better and better as it goes along. A priceless gem about friendship, family and sacrifice, it’s a consistently witty marvel filled to the brim with ingenious sight gags, endearingly original comedy and sublime characterizations – all of which are accomplished without any dialogue whatsoever – I absolutely adored. In short, it’s sheer perfection, and I’m not at all sheepish trotting out such an obvious pun as that in order to say so.

But, in the end, it’s the way Dante keeps absolute control of all that’s happening that is most wondrous. So many tangents going at once, so many balls in the air, yet Innerspace rarely falters, never take a misstep, everything building to a rollicking, humorously joyous conclusion that’s as winning now as it ever was way back in 1987.

Showdown in Little Tokyo might not be any good, but that doesn’t make it a disaster, and while I’m still scratching my head wondering why Warner Archive bothered with this one for fans of the stars giving the Blu-ray a look isn’t remotely a bad idea.

Wyrmwood is a hoot. It’s also remarkably easy to re-watch. I had a blast revisiting this one, and I imagine genre fans who lap this sort of stuff up greedily will likely end up feeling much the same. Simply terrific.