★★★★
Amazon’s Alexa meets Stark’s J.A.R.V.I.S in Upgrade, a viscous cybernetic revenge thriller from Insidious scribe Leigh Whannell. More stylish than anything in the director’s preceding oeuvre, the film offers a smart take of familiar conceits, with its grisly action bolstered by an abundance of charisma and exquisite choreography.
★★★★
For much of its runtime, Spike Lee’s BlackKKlansman plays as a mid-tier, blackly comic drama ought to. It is undemanding, funny and worthy. But then comes the sting, a punishing final third sickens the soul before a closing bite breaks the heart.
★★
The Spy Who Dumped Me – likely conceived title first – opens like a typical post-Bourne thriller and segues into familiar spoofing territory. Two fish-out-of-water heroines flounder across Europe, from set piece to set piece, screaming and flapping all the way. If the script, by director Susanna Fogel and co-writer David Iserson, leaves something to be desired, you’d be hard pressed to notice thanks to likeable central performances from a well-paired Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. A pity, then, that they’re not quite enough.
The Film Blog 