A Quiet Place (2018) ****

Jon Krasinski (Jim, from “The Office”-U.S.) directs and stars in this post-apocalyptic tale of a family surviving an alien invasion. Cleverly, the story skips all the explosions, military battles, President speeches and other Michael Bay-style end-of-the-world stuff (ironic, as Michael Bay is one of the producers). Instead, the film starts on day 89 of the End Times, in a world of necessary silence, where monstrous, blind aliens hunt by sound alone. The Abbott family has managed to survive, partly because their daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), is deaf, so the whole family speaks sign language. They may be uniquely situated to adapt to this reality, but it's still a tenuous existence, even more so when we skip ahead a year to find Evelyn (Emily Blunt) pregnant. It's hard enough to keep older kids quiet; how will they keep a new baby from crying?

“A Quiet Place” works on many levels. First, it's a good monster movie. We slowly get introduced to the aliens, which are truly terrifying. They are massive, fast, and bulletproof. With no known manner of self-defense, humans live in fear of them the way rabbits fear coyotes. But the Abbotts don't merely cower in the shadows. In defiance of the day-to-day terror of making a single noise, they have pressed on with life, maintaining soft, dirt paths, making cloth gamepieces for their board games, and, of course, choosing to have another child. (Evelyn displays enough medical knowledge that we assume she could have induced an abortion if she chose.)

Krasinski does a really good job directing here, including choosing to go without a score for the first 30 minutes of the film, so we can truly appreciate the near-silence of the Abbotts' world. The small cast, including the child actors, is excellent. The story is compelling, and the ending is perfect. (Krasinski does borrow some cues from the “Aliens” movies and from Spielberg's “Jurassic Park,” but he does it well, and I'm not gonna count it against him.) “A Quiet Place” is a solid flick that will keep you on the edge of your seat, hand cupped to your ear.

4 stars out of 5

A Star Is Born (2018) **

They've been making and re-making this movie for over 85 years. It started with a 1932 film called “What Price Hollywood,” about an alcoholic movie star who takes an interest in a pretty waitress, giving her a shot in the movies. Her career rises while he continues to spiral downward. Then came 1937's “A Star is Born,” ripping off the exact same story. This title was re-made in 1954 with Judy Garland. They did it again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, this time making them musicians instead of actors.

This time around, Bradley Cooper directs and plays the central character, an alcoholic rock star named Jackson Maine. Jack has so much talent that even when he can barely stand, he can play a killer set for a packed house. Still, the liquor and pills are clearly taking a toll, as is his chronic tinnitus (ringing in the ears from long-term noise exposure.) Then he meets Ally (Lady Gaga), a waitress with a songwriting talent and a killer voice. Jack falls for Ally and gives her the exposure that makes her a star, but even her love can't keep him away from the pills and the bottle. His downward spiral coincides with her rise.

Ally, meanwhile, starts out as a soulful songwriter, but her new record company turns her into a dancing pop princess without a last name. Jack is bothered by the transformation, and we assume that, on some level, Ally must be as well. She doesn't say much about it, however, and what should be a major story line never gets resolved.

When a movie has been made five times you figure the story must be pretty timeless and compelling. Unfortunately, I found the latest iteration to be boring and half-baked, despite its significant star power. The first act is pretty good, with Jack and Ally getting to know each other and their music. We get treated to a taste of the songwriting process, or at least a movie version of it, and that's fun. Like Jack's health, however, the movie just gets worse as we go. For one thing, it's called “A Star is Born,” but it should have been called “A Star Burns Out.” The main focus is almost always on Jack, and Ally as a character just gets pushed more and more into the background. The songs in this one are apparently much better than in the 1976 version, but I still didn't find the music very compelling. I did like Jack's blues-folk song “Maybe It's Time,” but the feature song, “Shallow,” the one with the Oscar nomination, didn't do it for me. It has a nice melody, but the lyrics are stupid (are they “in the shallow” or “far from the shallow”?) and the repetition of syllables (sha-a-sha-a-llow) is lame.

With a better-written narrative and this cast (including Sam Elliott as Jack's brother and Andrew Dice Clay as Ally's dad) this could have been a great movie. As it is, running 2 hours 16 minutes, the movie manages to be long and boring, while still leaving out key parts of Ally's story. If it were shorter, a LOT shorter, I'd say watch it when you have nothing better to do, but at this length, I can't even recommend that.

2 stars out of 5

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) ***

This 90's dark comedy has aged remarkably well. John Cusack play Martin Blank, a hit man thinking of getting out of the business. His intended last job happens to be in his hometown, the week of his high school reunion. Martin has some unfinished business with a high school flame (Minnie Driver), so he figures he'll mix business with pleasure. Back in Grosse Pointe, Martin pursues Debi (Driver) while being pursued by a rival hit-man and a couple of rogue government agents.

“Gross Pointe Blank” is a noir comedy that gets the mix of noir and comedy right, and it can be enjoyed as such, but the movie does try to dig a little into deeper issues on the question of redemption. Martin didn't exactly set out to be a hired killer (the government selected and trained him), but he is obviously morally capable of it. After years of that life, the big question he now faces is, “Can he change?”

It's a fairly straightforward story, but well-told and perfectly paced. Cusack and Driver are excellent, with a great supporting cast including Jeremy Piven and Joan Cusack (John's sister). The only miscasting is Dan Akroyd, who never becomes convincing as the rival assassin.

My one complaint besides Akroyd is the soundtrack, not that it's bad, but that there's some revisionist history going on here. This is one of those movies that makes it look like we were all listening to nothing but cool-ass alternative and punk music in the '80s, stuff like “Echo and the Bunnymen,” “The Pixies,” and “The Cure.” I wish. My recollection of the decade is that most people were listening to either hair-metal or Paula Abdul. Still, I wouldn't want to watch a movie that featured the music that was actually on the radio back then, so I'll give them a pass.

“Grosse Pointe Blank” holds up great to a repeat viewing, and if the movie slipped by you the first time around, you might want to dip back into the '90s and check it out.

3 stars out of 5

Bad Times at the El Royale (2018) ****1/2

Let's face it. It's been a while since Tarantino was Tarantino. Sure, “The Hateful Eight” wasn't bad, but it felt like it dragged on a bit long, and I honestly haven't felt any drive to re-watch it the way I have re-watched, multiple times, his early films like “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction.” The good news is, there's a new guy in town who can write and direct genre fiction with the kind of fresh, original energy that made Quentin Tarantino famous. Writer/director Drew Goddard is known for creating “The Cabin in the Woods,” and he also wrote the excellent found-footage monster movie "Cloverfield" and adapted the screenplay for  "The Martian."  These projects have given him the kind of Hollywood cred necessary to assemble a stellar cast for “Bad Times at the El Royale.”

This noir potboiler features a singer (Cynthia Erivo), a priest (Jeff Bridges), a vacuum salesman (Jon Hamm), and a hippie (Dakota Johnson) who converge at a faded California/Nevada border hotel one stormy, fateful night. They all have secrets, of course, as does the desk clerk (Lewis Pullman). It turns out the hotel has a secret corridor behind all the rooms that gives access to one-way mirrors and hidden microphones. From the corridor, the clerk films people's various private activities, and on this night, there is plenty of private stuff going on. As each pursues his own agenda, the storm builds, and so does the pressure.

Some have complained about the run-time of this film, and at 2 hours 21 minutes it does run a bit long. It's still shorter than “Pulp Fiction,” though, and like that movie, there is plenty to keep you on the edge of your seat. Even with some scenes going on for quite a while, the performances are so compelling and the story so good that I never got bored. Any one of these actors could carry a film on their own, and together they are dynamite. Cynthia Erivo, in particular, is a revelation, particularly when she coolly puts a murderous cult leader (Chris Hemsworth) in his place.

When you stay at the El Royale, you have to choose whether to stay on the California side or the Nevada side, but if you love a good, Hitchcockian, neo-noir potboiler, your choice is easy. Rent it, or catch it on HBOGo, but definitely check out “Bad Times at the El Royale.”

4.5 stars out of 5