Widows (2018)

Steve McQueen knows how to make an intense movie. Heist movies, by their very nature, are intense, but McQueen takes it to another level. Hans Zimmer's score as well as the moments of tense silence contribute to the mood. There are some gorgeous tracking shots. And Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl fame writes an engaging screenplay full of twists, grit and excitement.The plot is complex, intertwining race, power, money and gender roles. And the cast is all phenomenal.  Viola Davis is a badass.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

I was largely unimpressed by the second installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. The first one was novel, unexpected and knowingly poking fun at itself. The second one has some similar humor, but it doesn't land. It is more annoying and not as witty. We have Kingsman and Deadpool and the Lego Movie--the self-deprecating humor isn't new anymore. It does some things really well though. The music supervision is spot on. The special effects and production design is fantastic. I appreciated the movie's boldest statement, it's depiction of the video game-ification of drone warfare. I did not appreciate Mantis, a dangerous stereotype of a subservient and submissive Asian woman. Drax insults her throughout the film, insults her appearance and her personality. She seems relatively unimportant to the plot, only serving as the butt of a joke. 

Everest (2015)

Everest is a film about torture.  These mountaineers inexplicably put themselves through misery for a steep $65,000 per summit. Climbing the highest mountain in the world does not look like fun. It is unbearably cold, the air is inhumanely thin, and everyone is perpetually exhausted.  I thought Jake Gyllenhaal would have a larger part in the movie, but he was hardly in it.  The visuals are incredible though.  You actually feel as miserable as the trekkers and you feel like you're on the side of the mountain.  You feel the snow pouring down as it becomes more difficult to breathe.  It is a truly immersive experience that probably would've been great in IMAX. Nothing ever goes right in the expedition doomed to fail.  It is a dangerous adventure disaster movie.  And it is done quite well. One of the scariest moments is crossing a ladder bridged across a deep crevasse in the ice.  It is a flimsy looking ladder and there is nothing protecting them from falling down into the depths.  The aerial shot over the bottomless pit is a dizzying visual.  These are some terrifying shots.