2 Fast 2 Furious

THE GIST: Now a wanted fugitive, Brian O'Conner's skills prove too valuable to waste, so he is offered a deal to have his criminal record expunged in exchange for his help in bringing down a drug cartel. O'Conner agrees and reaches out to an old friend with a similar skill set to help him set up the operation.

After the rather unexpected success of The Fast and the Furious, understandably, the studio set out to make a follow up with the same cast. Vin Diesel, however, wasn't happy with the paycheck and demanded more money. Feeling strong-armed, the studio refused and Diesel walked.

The studio still wanted to make the sequel though, so they proceeded to replace Diesel with Tyrese Gibson and added Eva Mendes and Ludacris.

I personally don't consider Vin Diesel a good actor; I believe his strengths are his muscular body, his macho posturing, and his deep, smoky voice. Aside from that, he manages to act, but the roles need to be tightly tailor made to fit his other skills rather than expect his acting abilities to allow him to overcome a weak script.

Eve so, he's a few notches above Tyrese Gibson, a strikingly good looking model who made the jump to movies with even less capacity to emote past a few posed facial expressions. Fortunately for him, audiences seemed to like him enough to keep him in the franchise.

Ludacris is a musician-cum-(hardly)-actor I also failed to appreciate here or in future installments. Mendes seems to have been cast simply to check the gorgeous-female-with-a-brain box. I'm not saying Paul Walker is a greatly talented actor, but he pretty much towers over every other major player.

The car chases are about the only thing of passing interest here, because the script is thoroughly weak and predictable. Probably Diesel lucked out in not being associated with this turd.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you are here because you enjoyed the first movie, tame your expectations. 2 Fast 2 Furious will get your adrenaline pumping but the joyride will likely be short lived.

Grade: 3.5

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The Fast and the Furious

THE GIST: A series of high-speed truck robberies draws the attention of the police towards Dominic Toretto, widely known in the illegal street racing circuit. Officer Brian O'Conner is tasked with going undercover, join the racing world, and take down Toretto's operation. In the process however, Brian falls for Toretto's sister Mia, complicating matters.

I highly doubt that The Fast and the Furious was concocted as anything more than an action-crime-summer-flick for rising action-star Vin Diesel and strikingly good looking Paul Walker.

I say that because the screenplay is fairly boilerplate and the outcome predictable. The acting is average as well and the characters are mostly stereotypical.

Ultimately, however, Diesel and Walker turned out to be perfectly matched as buddy-action-heroes go, and a new franchise was born. Seven movies have already followed this one, with F9 set to premiere next year, and the franchise even got its own first spin-off in 2019.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Grab your popcorn and favorite beverage and get comfy for a couple hours of guilty fun. Just don't forget to turn off your brain, since it won't have much to do here.

Grade: 6

Spider-Man: Far from Home

THE GIST: Peter is excited to go on a school trip to Europe, both to take some well deserved time off and to spend some one-on-one time with his crush, MJ. Trouble, however, follows him there, when the Elementals attack Earth and a certain Mysterio seems to be the only superhero available to fight them off. But who is really Mysterio?

In his second Spider-Man movie Tom Holland confirms that he was the perfect choice to cast as the web-slinger. By now he feels completely at home in the spandex suit, and seems to have a ball bouncing around, flinging imaginary webs to take down the bad guys.

The production's choice to take Peter out of the familiar cement jungle of New York City and plunge him into old Europe pays off. It's awesome to see Spider-Man swinging around all these well known landmarks.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Mysterio with gusto and Samuel L. Jackson seems to have a great time as Nick Fury as well.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The collaboration between Sony, which currently owns the movie rights to Spider-Man, and Marvel, whose MCU productions have broken all records in terms of both quality and box office receipts, has resulted in the best two Spider-Man movies ever, on top of the character's participation in the Avengers movies. One wonders what Marvel could whip up if they could just develop the character on their own. Let's just hope the collaboration continues (there were already signs of trouble a few months ago).

Grade: 8

Spider-Man: Homecoming

THE GIST: After feeling great being part of a team of superheroes like the Avengers, Spider-Man has to go back to being a high school teenage kid, and the role feels tight. When he sees an opportunity to bring down a group of criminals led by Vulture, he takes it, even though he might not be ready for a job of that caliber.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is the first time Tom Holland gets to carry a whole movie as Spider-Man, and he hits it out of the park. While Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield held their own in the role and infused it with their own unique takes, Holland is really the embodiment of the web-slinger; the closest an actual human being could come to resembling that particular character.

This is thanks to his youth (being around 20 when he made this movie, he can easily play a teenager); his innate exuberance (which Peter Parker should exhibit in or out of a suit); and his athleticism (thanks to studying dance), which allows him to perform many of the stunts required by a film such as this, lending extra "humanity" to the role.

Holland plays great opposite baddie Michael Keaton. Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and Tyne Daly each have either small roles or cameos but are all welcome additions.

Needless to say, the visual and sound effects are eye-popping.

THE BOTTOM LINE: If you like Spider-Man or comic book hero adaptations, then this is a must-see.

Grade: 8

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Midsommar

THE GIST: A group of friends is persuaded to travel to the Swedish rural hometown of one of them and partake in a fabled mid-summer pagan festival. What begins as an idyllic experience quickly devolves into an open-eyes nightmare at the hands of an inescapable cult.

Midsommar is so not what you might expect from a horror movie. It certainly has its share of scares, but nothing like the typical haunted-house/possessed-creature fare. In my opinion this movie was far scarier than the vast majority of those.

Florence Pugh turns in an excellent performance, joined by Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, and Will Poulter.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I definitely recommend this feature because it's a really good movie, but it's not for the faint of heart or the squeamish among you. I say, fortify yourself and watch it though, it's worth it.

Grade: 7.5

Shaft

THE GIST: The untimely and suspicious death of a close friend forces JJ Shaft to reach out to his estranged father for help. Their investigation uncovers a messy web of intricate parties, each with their own interests.

The latest installment of Shaft sees Samuel L. Jackson return in the title role he quite successfully made his own almost 20 years ago. Here, he's sharing screen time not only with the original John Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree as his uncle, but also with who is certainly hoped to represent a continuation of the franchise, Jessie T. Usher, as his son.

Roundtree and Usher certainly hold their own, as do Regina Hall, Titus Welliver, and Luna Lauren Velez, but hardly anyone is a match for Jackson, whose presence dominates above all others.

THE BOTTOM LINE: This crime-action-thriller is fun enough and it shouldn't scare off the casual viewer who hasn't seen any of the previous installments.

Grade: 6

Shaft

THE GIST: Called to investigated a racially motivated murder, Shaft loses his cool and smacks the wealthy, smug suspect, allowing him to get bail, during which he flees the country. When he returns, and is arrested, Shaft makes it his personal mission to ensure he's held accountable for his actions by looking for the only witness who can nail him for good.

This Shaft is a semi-sequel to the original 1971 Shaft starring Richard Roundtree, who here plays that same character, John Shaft, as the retired uncle of Samuel L. Jackson's John Shaft.

Jackson is perfect in the role and clearly relishes the part. Good turns from Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, and Toni Collette as well.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The topic of racism resonates strongly even today and there are some good action scenes, but overall this is a vehicle for Jackson and above all a throwback to the blaxploitation movies of the '70s. If you're into that kind of movie you'll enjoy this, otherwise you'll probably find your eyes rolling a few times.

Grade: 5.5

Yesterday

THE GIST: After an accident, a struggling musician wakes up in a world that looks exactly like the one he's always known, except that no one knows who The Beatles were. In this timeline, they never existed. What does one do when he's the only one who remembers their songs?

Yesterday is a lively comedy at whose core lie some very interesting questions.

Himesh Patel hits it out of the park with a fine performance and some very heartfelt renditions of hit songs from the past we all know. In a small part, Ed Sheeran is also quite good, especially for not being an actor.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Whether you're a Beatles fan or not, the concept is interesting for any music fan, and the movie is really enjoyable.

Grade: 8