Allied - 1 smile

"Allied' has the star power and the look of a hit. Unfortunately, Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard's scenes together fail to ignite (more his fault that hers. He seems to be sleepwalking throughout). And the drama that takes place for the rest of the film is supposed to be full of suspense, but if you haven't figured out the ending long before it happens, you're not paying attention. Director Robert Zemeckis gets in some action; unfortunately, it's mostly the first quarter of the movie. Pitt plays Max Vatan, a Quebecois agent working for British special operations. He parachutes into French Morocco to rendezvous with Marianne Beausejour (Cotillard), a French resistance worker who will pretend to be his wife. Together they plan to assassinate the German ambassador. Then their fake marriage becomes real and Max and Marianne live in London. The plot kicks in when Max is told that his wife is possibly a German spy.

Most of the acting falls to Cotillard, who even in an artificial house of cards, manages to suggest a woman of heart. Pitt looks very good (and I have to wonder if his looks were enhanced artificially), but his good looks can no longer compensate for his lack of acting skill. Of course, there are some scripts that allow for a certain mischief in his roles, like Inglorious Basterds that enhance what acting he can do. But "Allied" is not that movie. In addition, "Allied" is overly long with plot twists that are questionable. They certainly don't make sense.

Dr. Strange - 31/2 smiles

Except for a thin plot, "Dr. Strange" is a fun movie, a fitting entry into the Marvel Universe. Dr. Stephen Strange is not the most distinctive of the Marvel characters, but thanks to Benedict Cumberbatch, he might be the most entertaining (Robert Downey Jr.'s Ironman not withstanding). When we meet him, Dr. Strange is a neurosurgeon, the best in his humble opinion, which makes him insufferable to his colleagues and his ex-girlfriend, fellow surgeon Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams). Then he drives his car off a cliff, disintegrating the bones in his hands. When surgical options prove fruitless, he seeks alternative methods, ending up under the tutelage of a Nepal-based bald woman of indeterminate origin called the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). Strange must accept that his former sense of mastery was an illusion, that there are infinite number of universes and that the spirit can exist apart from the body in a timeless and immaterial realm. He also finds himself fighting the Ancient One's former protege Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelson), who seeks, of course, to destroy the world.

The CGI is impressive, as it takes the notion that the physical world is a reflection in a mirror and that mirror can be shattered and reassembled and shattered again, or compressed like an accordion or expanded so that buildings become giant structures that fold in on themselves. The always effective Chiwetel Ejiofor is the Ancient One's second-in-command, Mordo. (A post-credits teaser suggests that he'll have a bigger role in the next installment.) Although what Mikkelson says is mostly gobbledegook, he makes a good villain and his look is inspired. His eyes seem to have been gouged out and replaced with shards of glass. And Cumberbatch makes a perfect Dr. Strange with his secret weapon, a cape with a will of its own. I'm looking forward to a "Dr. Strange" sequel.

Note: There are two post-credit teasers. Be sure to catch them both.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - 2 smiles

You don't have to be a fan of the Harry Potter series to enjoy "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." But Harry Potter fans will be reassured to see that we're still in the same universe although the continent and era have changed. We are now in the mid-1920s New York City. British wizard Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), disembarks at Ellis Island. He carries with him a battered brown briefcase that's more than a simple suitcase. Instead, it's a portal into another dimension where his collection of 'fantastic beasts' resides. When several of his creatures escape as a result of an accident, he co-opts the help of a 'No-Mag' (aka Muggle) named Jacob Kowalski (a delightful Dan Fogler), who owns a briefcase almost identical to Newt's. Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), an agent for the Magical Congress of the United States of America watches Newt's activities and decides to bring him in for unlawful importation of magical creatures. Percival Graves (Colin Ferrel), the Director of Magical Security, takes an interest in Newt's case because his arrival occurs just as the carefully concealed existence of wizardry is threatened with exposure.

The scenes inside Newt's magical suitcase are among the film's most engaging. The magical menagerie includes a platypus-like animal with an appetite for sparkly things (my favorite), a winged snake that 'expands to fill all the space,' an invisible entity and a giant creature in heat looking for a mate. The biggest weakness seems to be director David Yate's inability to balance the scenes of whimsy with the animals with the struggle between the forces of good, led by Newt, and the forces of evil, led by the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald (wait for it .... Johnny Depp). (At this reveal, the audience laughed!!) There are other plot strands that involve a dangerous wizard who doesn't realize he's a wizard, a rogue wizard who wants magic in America out in the open and a sadistic woman who runs an orphanage and wants all magic wielders destroyed. As an origin movie, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" has too many plot strands and not enough character development. We have to hope that the next one will be a little more focused. And I certainly hope Dan Fogler's Jacob Kowalski will take his place beside Newt Scamander.

Deep Water Horizon - 2 smiles

"Deep Water Horizon" is an effective disaster movie, plunging you, the audience, into the middle of explosions, fires and seemingly, no escape. What's not so good is it doesn't really delve into what caused this epic disaster other than 'corporate greed.' Director Peter Berg is meticulous in reconstructing the largest environmental disaster in American history and that's a gripping experience. In a broad sense, the screenplay, by Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand, blames BP, the oil company that contracted the Deepwater Horizon to drill 60 miles off the coast of Louisiana. John Malkovich plays the chief villain, engineer Donald Vidrine who urges employees to drill on despite their safety concerns. But he is a stand in for the evils of an entire industry that is willing to cut corners to save money and years of deregulation.

Experienced workers Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg), Andrea Fleets (Gina Rodrigues) and Caleb Holloway (Dylan O'Brien) prove to be ineffectual in trying to stop Vidrine from getting his way. Even the tough supervisor of Deep Water Horizon, Mr. Jimmy (Kurt Russell), can't stop events from marching on to its ultimate conclusion. Meanwhile, Berg builds tension as he cuts to the ocean floor, which is pouring out dangerous bubbles of methane that will eventually burst into flames. Once the explosions happen, the movie gets better, telling the stories of real-life-heroes, who jumped into action during the crisis. "Deep Water Horizon" is successful as a disaster movie; if you want more, you'll be disappointed.

The Girl on the Train - 2

Since I read the book, "The Girl on the Train," before seeing the movie, I wasn't surprised by the twist at the end and I still didn't like Rachel even though I like Emily Blunt, who plays the central character. The book, by Paula Hawkins, depends on the 'unreliable narrator,' which doesn't work in a visual medium. In the book, you're not sure if what Rachel reports is true or not. In the movie, director Tate Taylor employs blurred images which are likely not 'real,' but the confusion is whether this is from Rachel's perspective or a more neutral omniscient point-of-view. Nonetheless, Emily Blunt's performance is strong and sympathetic and the best thing about the movie. The rest of the cast falls into predictable stereotypes, including Justin Theroux as the controlling ex-husband, Rebecca Ferguson as the self-absorbed new wife and Haley Bennett as the femme fatale who gets in over her head.

Rachel (Blunt) spends long stretches of each weekday riding the train back and forth into New York City. Along the way, there's a particular house she looks for. Living there is her version of the ideal couple: pretty, blonde Megan (Bennett) and her husband, Scott (Luke Evans). Every time she sees them, the seem so much in love. She feels betrayed when she glimpses Megan sharing a kiss with a man who we later find out is her psychiatrist, Dr. Abdic (Edgar Ramirez). We also learn that Rachel used to live a couple of houses away from Megan and Scott. That was before alcoholism claimed her marriage. Now, her ex-husband (Theroux) lives there with his new wife, Anna (Ferguson). Things become complicated when Megan disappears. "The Girl on the Train" is watchable, but it wasn't the thriller it was supposed to be.

Accountant - 3 1/2 smiles

I really liked "The Accountant," starring Ben Affleck, an off-beat thriller featuring a math whiz with autism. Affleck, a two-time Oscar winner, plays Christian Wolff, a shy, soft-spoken accountant. He has a strip-malloffice where he helps ordinary folks get great tax refunds from the IRS. But Wolff isn't your run-of-the-mill CPA. He does most of his number wizardry for some of the world's most dangerous cartel bosses, warlords, terrorists and corporate crooks. He washes their dirty money and avoids getting assassinated by his psychotic employers who worry that he knows too much about their business. That's because Wolff is an assassin in his own right, a crack shot who uses military-grade sniper rifles like most use water pistols. Plus, he's one of the world's top practitioners of pentjak silat, a deadly, lightening fast martial arts discipline from Indonesia. Oh, he also has an expensive art collection.

Working from a clever jigsaw puzzle of a script by Bill Dubuque, director Gavin O'Connor jumps back and forth from the present to Christian's childhood, with Seth Lee playing young Christian. We learn how Christian was molded into a fighting machine he's become. Anna Kendrick's Dana Cummings, a talented accountant at a bio-medical robotics firm, notices a serious discrepancy in the books, which causes the head of the firm (John Lithgow) to bring in Christian to go through 15 years of ledgers. Dana recognizes something of herself in the outsider Christian, and he develops a fondness for her. Jon Bernthal, a wisecracking assassin named Braxton, seems destined to cross paths with Christian and Jeffrey Tambor is effective as a convicted mob accountant who mentors Christian in prison. An always top-notch J.K. Simmons is the head of the Treasury Department's Crime Enforcement Division, who has been trying to learn the true identity of The Accountant for the last decade. "The Accountant" works best when Christian is outsmarting the bad guys and proving that super heroes don't need to wear capes and masks. (A little irony here, since Affleck also plays Batman in the new DC Comics reboot.) This is an immensely satisfying movie and here's hoping for a sequel.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - 2 1/2 smiles

Tom Cruise does a fine job with the fights and stunts that go along with playing Jack Reacher. That he does not resemble the fictional character will bother fans of Lee Child's books. For me, I like seeing Jack Reacher on the big screen and if takes an actor of Cruise's stature (both literally and figuratively) to get the movie made, then more power to him. The pacing keeps you from getting bored and the dialogue, with humorous quips from Reacher, are appreciated. And the ending to the movie is so much better than the book.

"Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" is a follow-up to One Shot (2012) and finds our hero helping a colleague, Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), who has been imprisoned on charges of espionage, mere hours after talking with Reacher on the phone. Reacher breaks Turner out of military prison, making both of them fugitives of the US Army and from a shadowy organization bent on killing them. As they search for the reason behind framing Turner, a subplot, Reacher's possible fatherhood, threatens to overshadow the main plot. Interestingly, Cruise hands the spotlight over to Smulders, much like he did to Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow. Smulders gets to run and fight just like the guys and she proves her character is no pushover. The action is not wall-to-wall, but sufficient and the banter between Reacher and all of the bad guys is one of the movie's highlights. "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" is entertaining mainly due to the considerable charm of its leads.

Inferno - 2 smiles

Although I'm a huge Tom Hanks' fan, there's no denying that "Inferno" has a 'been there, seen that' feel to it. Direct Ron Howard has created an adequate pursuit thriller based on the Dan Brown novel of the same name. The action begins in a Florence hospital, where Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) awakes with a wound to his head and no memory of what happened. Bilingual physician Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) conveniently happens to know all about the distinguished art historian and symbolist Langdon. The plot heats up quickly when a female Italian police office shoots an orderly, intent on getting to Langdon. The doctor quickly spirits Langdon out of the hospital...and the chase is on. The rest of the film deals with a mysterious artifact and figuring out the clues relating to Dante's epic Hell-envisioning poem. The future of the planet is at stake (of course).

Howard, coming off the unfortunate In the Heart of the Sea, delivers a competent popcorn-selling flick. But the premise of the whole thing is shaky. Why does our villain, an intense Ben Foster as billionaire biologist Bertrand Zobrist, not unleash his plague (to fix our over population problem) at the start of this whole thing,  instead of setting up a complex time-delayed search for clues? Anagrams are solved and Dante's death mask plays a part as agents of the World Health Organization  and other bad guys chase them from Italy to Turkey. The cinematography is beautiful as we see Italy's Palazzo Vecchio and Boboli Gardens and Turkey's underground cisterns. "Inferno" is diverting if you have an afternoon free. Otherwise, I'd wait for cable.