Godzilla vs Kong

 This is very much what it says on the tin - it works better than some of the previous monsterverse films in that it's not indulgent about the human stuff (even Skull Island, which had the best human stuff by virtue of having three great supporting actors with Jackson, Reilly and Goodman, still managed to give Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston almost nothing to do) and it knows what you've come for. There's still ridiculous pseudoscience, and things that make no sense (why are people still running around the streets of Hong Kong in the finale rather than getting to shelter, and why is the neon still on except because it looks really cool when Kong and Godzilla are lit by it?) It also doesn't overextend its welcome too much, wrapping up pretty quickly after the last big fight. It feels big and exciting and fun in a way that a lot of wannabe epics never quite succeed in doing.

The Father

 An exercise in tension as we see through Hopkins unreliable narrator eyes the events of his mental decline, as people around him become more uncertain and his hold on reality becomes increasingly tenuous - how this effects his daughter and others around him. It does bear its theatrical origins a little with some slightly overly-rich phrasing in dialogue, but the performances of Hopkins and Colman absolutely hold it together.

Chaos Walking

 Okay but a bit muddled sf story of a planet where men's thoughts are visible - never quite gets good use out of its central device and winds up feeling a bit flat

White Riot

 There's a better doco to be made about the rock against racism movement than this one, which disappears into the backroom a little too much much and basically drops dead after the late 70s, with not a lot of follow up on what's come since. Still some interesting moments, but mostly a missed opportunity

French Exit

This never quite pops into something as interesting as it has the potential to be - it's the kind of film where the homeless guy in Central Park sounds like he's had extensive elocution training at Julliard, and the excess stylization arrives instead of actual jokes. Michelle Pfeiffer is majestically wonderful as our protagonist but she's stuck playing against mostly a set of not-quite-as-interesting characters - there's nice Parisian scenery and the occasional weird note but it never really adds up to anything of substance.

Judas and the Black Messiah

 An interesting chapter of history with a great central performance from Daniel Kaluya and some slight narrative messiness - it's not entirely sure whether it wants to talk about the FBI operation to take Hampton down or about Hampton - in particular, the appearance of some of his wife's poetry is a bit awkward. In the end Hampton sorta becomes a figure rather than a character. Still strong, but not quite as good as it could be.

Endgame

 A weird mix of thriller, comedy and action movie, as an assassin and an actor end up swapping identities after an accident in a bathhouse sees the assassin losing his memory, with a lot of moving subplots, goofy spoofs on the Chinese film industry, romantic twists and turns and one or two mentions of Peter Brook and Stanivlaski. It's an enjoyable romp with Lau deploying his considerable charisma in a number of different ways, and Xiao Yang as the actor-turned-assassin showing goofy tough-guy moments. If it's not particularly deep or substantial, it's a fun cinematic occasion.