While no one is going to win an Academy Award for their efforts the collective authenticity of the primary cast is never in doubt, and as such caring about whether they live or die is surprisingly easy to do.

Upgrade is a total blast, and if in the coming years this bit of muscular, blood-soaked science fiction silliness were to spawn a sequel I’ll be first in line to see what sort of aggressively violent trouble Grey and STEM will get themselves into next.

What I will say is that, much like the first film, I’m totally fine with Deadpool 2, readily enjoying much of it. But that still doesn’t mean I plan on revisiting this sequel anytime soon.

I cannot get past the simple truth that, in the end, as bad as it all appears, as amazing as the heroics might be and as astonishing as the fighting is, nothing happens in Avengers: Infinity War, all of the answers to the various questions aggressively put forth by the filmmakers to be answered in future MCU endeavors yet to be released.

While a step up from Cline’s book, and while Spielberg does make a number of attempts to comment and dissect many of the more noxious elements regarding gender and race that are found inside the story, Ready Player One never seems to be fully able to reconcile any of its major themes in ways that aren’t either condescending or offensive.

Black Panther becomes a movie that grows beyond its comic book roots, Marvel allowing Coogler the freedom to craft a vital, representative, culturally authentic and universally reflective adventure almost certain to be enjoyed, debated and discussed for many years to come.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle might not be a great movie, but sure as heck it’s an entertaining one, and unlike its forerunner this is one kid-friendly action spectacular I wouldn’t mind watching again.

Thor: Ragnarok proves to be so creatively loopy, not to mention so consistently hysterical, I found it hopeless not to enjoy myself while sitting in the theatre watching things play themselves out to their conclusion. Waititi delivers the goods, and for fans of the MCU his arrival ends up being a breath of fresh air worth getting excited about.

Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle is a tone-deaf, oftentimes frustrating, frequently insulting and moderately offensive exercise in gruesome misogynistic excess that’s made almost as if to convince pubescent 13-year-old boys it’s perfectly okay to treat women as ditzy dolls and little else.