Movie Nation

It’s safe to say that “Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3” is an emotional roller-coaster, a fan-friendly ride through “the feels” that puts our motley, space-traveling crew in peril and revisits old trauma as it does.

If you’re the least bit attached to these characters, you can’t helped but be moved. A little.

But at some point, as we revisit “Volume 3’s” major subtext — grimly cruel animal testing — for the umpteenth time, the viewer is forced to realize that a roller coaster is just a piece of engineering designed to deliver frights and breathless simulations of near-death-experience dangers for our entertainment.

At some point, these suffering, doomed and dewey-eyed digital critters are just ham-fisted manipulations that aren’t so much moving as triggering. All that’s missing is Sarah McLachlan singing underneath pictures of neglected and abused puppies, the only “on-the-nose” song missing from the usual “Original Hits, Original Stars” soundtrack.

The laughs are fewer and farther between as writer-director James Gunn bids this career-making franchise farewell and tries to transport his jokes-that-take-no-prisoners tone over to Warner Bros. and the DC comic universe. And he’s decided to leave Marvel with a Rocket — the violent, wise-ass and tech-savvy raccoon who doesn’t think he’s a “raccoon” — origin story.

No, that was never going to be pretty.

Star Lord Peter (Chris Pratt) has crawled into a bottle since his ex-assasin love Gamora (Zoe Saldana, Best in Class, Best in Cast) died and came back all cynical and all business with no memory of ever being in love with the dorky human whose taste in music is locked in the early ’80s.

Hurled into a new fight against a new caped, gilded superfoe (Will Poulter) to save Knowhere, the rustic spaceport and Guardians HQ, Rocket gets badly hurt. Nebula and Mantis (Karen Gillen and Pom Klementieff), Peter and the crew realize for the first time how “engineered” he is, and that Rocket can’t be saved without getting around some intellectual property-protecting bomb that was implanted in his gut.

Drax (Dave Bautista), re-grown Groot (the voice of Vin Diesel), a seriously-upset Peter and the Guardians get Gamora’s help with her space-faring criminal pals known as Ravagers (Sly Stallone plays their leader) so that they can infiltrate the headquarters of the corporation that made Rocket the way he is.

An icky “bio engineered” portal that looks like the offal that’s ground into hotdogs must be penetrated, a custom-designed planet called “Counter Earth,” filled with beasts bred and manipulated into wild-boar people, goat folk and the like must be visited and one of the most interesting and menacing Marvel villains this side of Magneto, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji of TV’s “Peacemaker,” “The Split” and “Designated Survivor) must be bested to secure the means of saving “my best friend,” Peter insists.

“Second best,” Drax always corrects him.

Just make sure you don’t fall into a trap, kids.

“It’s not a trap. It’s a STAND off!”

There’s one truly dazzling fight among the many shoot-outs/punch-outs/space battles of this quest, an “Old Boy” inspired blast through a corridor packed with minions, soldiers and foes and lots of slo-mo flips, shots, punches and martial arts and wrestling moves.

The always-amusing fanboy fave Nathan Fillion plays a meat-suited guard amongst the bad guys, a rare light touch added to the generally glum proceedings.

Gunn’s story is making some sort of point about reaching for “utopia” in all the inhumane and cruelly wasteful scientific ways, about human failings and foibles that can’t be engineered away any more than trauma, lost love or simple regret can.

That’s a vague, fumbling over-reach in an action comedy that is never more than five minutes away from a fresh blast of classic rock — whose boundaries are stretched to include RadioHead, The Beastie Boys, The Mowglis and The Flaming Lips here — and never more than 10 minutes away from its next grim, seriously bummer baby Rocket flashback.

We all have our own parameters for how and when we’re willing to be manipulated by a film, and diehard fans of this goofy, jokey trilogy may have more tolerance for this than me. I found the yanking of the heartstrings glib and the attempts at cheap sentiment just that — cheap.

These pictures have grown less cute, less charming and less fun with each passing installment, and this one just drags as it meanders towards its over-hyped lump-in-throat finale.

But you have to respect players who deliver performances that register underneath the makeup, prosthetics and effects, with Klementief, Iwugi and Fillion standing out.

And Saldana’s auditioning for better roles by transforming Gamora into someone we haven’t seen in the earlier films, someone not the least bit invested in playing the “spitfire,” ready for a “meet cute” with a lead character/leading man whose appeal she forgot and, after three movies, we can excused for forgetting as well.

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, strong language, suggestive/drug references and thematic elements

Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillen, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Will Poulter, Sylvester Stallone and Chukwudi Iwuji, with the voices of Bradley Cooper, Maria Bakalova and Vin Diesel.

Credits: Scripted and directed by James Gunn, based on the Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning Marvel comic. A Marvel Studios release.

Running time: 2:30

“AKA” is a solid if generally unsurprising terrorist thriller built around a French undercover killing machine with “particular skills.”

“Lost Bullet” actor turned star and screenwriter Alban Lenoir leans on genre formula tropes and thriller cliches entirely too much in this somewhat sluggish outing, directed by “Lost Bullet” and “Lost Bullet 2” helmer Morgan S. Dalibbert.

We meet our hero as he’s being hustled into a remote terrorist hideout in the mountains of Libya, one of those cave lairs that make you wonder “Who makes, sells and ships them their pre-fab hostage-holding prison cells?”

He affects an escape through that classic French “Papillon” use-your-bum trick, reassuring a non-government organization aid worker/activist being held that she’s “going home.” Our unnamed assassin then slaughters every AK-47 wielding Arab in sight.

But something about the mission seems “off the books,” and when this fellow gets home, we see Adam Franco, as we learn he’s called, commissioned to do more “unofficial” and unauthorized work. His country, or some folks in it, need him to track down a Sudanese terrorist (Kevin Layne) who blew up something in Paris and is sure to blow again.

Franco’s boss (Thibault de Montalembert) orders him to infiltrate a French gang whose leader (Éric Cantona) is cozy with this ex-smuggler/terrorist.

Let the genre conventions commence!

This time Franco will use his own background — something happened in his childhood that made him infamous, and he later spent years in the French Foreign Legion — to join Victor’s gang, make himself useful with his “particular skills” and throw his weight around as he hunts for clues.

Pee Wee (Saïdou Camara) is who he’s paired up with in the gang. Victor’s wife (Sveva Alviti) who runs a club/brothel must be impressed. The teen daughter (Lucille Guillaume) must be tolerated. And their bullied little boy Jonathan (Noé Chabbat) must learn to idolize this walking muscle who is now his driver, protector and boxing instructor.

Of course there’s a gang war that Franco is walking into even as he’s supposedly frantic to find this terrorist who is expected to strike again. And there are government intrigues that hint at why this operation is both hush-hush, with more than a whiff of “extra-legal.”

Lenoir is a perfectly credible man of action, unlike all these thrillers that have Neeson, Gibson, Stallone or Denzel throwing haymakers well into their AARP dotage. The fights are well-choreographed, the shoot-outs well-staged, if seemingly a bit arbitrary.

These guys learned a few things making two “Lost Bullet” movies, both of which were on a much higher plane than “AKA.”

But the incidents, relationships and even the intrigues here are all over-familiar tropes, which prevents this competently-made thriller ever rise to the level of engaging.

Rating: TV-MA, graphic violence

Cast: Alban Lenoir, Sveva Alviti, Kevin Layne, Éric Cantona, Saïdou Camara, Thibault de Montalembert and Lucille Guillaume

Credits: Directed by Morgan S. Dalibert, scripted by Morgan S. Dalibert and Alban Lenoir A Netflix release.

Running time: 2:04

New cast, Nov 17 holidays release date. They’re expecting big things.

Not sure anybody asked for this, but you know the suits loved what the earlier films did for their bottom line.

The hardest hurdle for any new take on Peter Pan to overcome is simply justifying its reason to exist.

There have been many Peters, many Wendys and many Captain Hooks. We’ve seen the story told this way and that, from most any point of view you can think of, and even seen the original story of the J.M. Barrie play and the animated version has been a fixture for going on seven decades now.

But here’s Disney serving up “The Boy Who Could Fly” and the Girl Who’s Really Good at Telling Stories once again as “Peter Pan & Wendy.” Sadly, you can make the case that this is one of the better “bedtime story” versions of this tale, as it’s perfunctory enough to be sleep-inducing.

We have a good Wendy, brought to lively life by Ever Anderson of “Black Widow” and one of her mother Milla Jovovich’s “Resident Evil” outings. Jude Law makes a ruthless enough Hook, who has his brooding, vengeful character “explained” via back story almost as thoroughly as the infamous Robin Williams/Julia Roberts/Dustin Hoffman take on “Hook.”

Yara Shahidi makes a perfectly pixiesh Tinkerbell and Alyssa Wapanatâhk is a fierce and fleshed out representation of the Native American girl Tiger Lily. Peter (Alexander Molony)? He’s a bit bland, and almost a non-entity in this take on the tale, which leans heavily on the “never growing up/growing old” thing as its overriding theme.

Asking Peter to explain his age-old emnity for Capt. Hook is usually explained away the way Peter dismisses the question here, “Because he’s a a pirate and I’m Peter Pan.”

“Pete’s Dragon” director and co-adapter David Lowery’s A-budget picture has terrific sets, a full on pirate’s brigantine and some lovely effects. The cave and the Canadian Maritime locations — Newfoundland and Labrador — are gorgeous.

The casting is as diverse as you might expect these days, and even The Lost Boys include girls, lots of them. “Representation” is always a good thing, but it cannot be the only thing, the main reason for bringing us a new “Peter Pan.”

Aside from reminding us that Peter Pan was the original ageist as well as being the reason “Peter Pan Syndrome” is totally a thing, it’s hard to figure out why we’re here. They’ve dispensed with the storytelling Wendy did at home, inspiring her brothers (Joshua Pickering, Jacobi Jupe) to take up Neverland-style sword fighting, with old-enough-to-go-to-boarding-school Wendy joining in.

Peter’s supposed to overhear a story and decide Wendy must come with him back to Neverland. He must have caught her act earlier in this rendition. Wendy’s urged to take steps toward adulthood by her mother, and as there’s no pushback of “romantic” interest in Peter (younger, shorter), that hangs over the film as its Big Theme, even if it’s no Big Thing.

There’s a smattering of music. Pirates do like the sing, even when Jim Gaffigan is our reliable first mate Smee.

And Molly Parker, playing Mrs. Darling, sings a bit of lullaby that Anderson repeats that is almost as good as anything in the Disney “Peter Pan” animated musical.

But the action beats are kind of half-hearted, and that’s the only time “heart” came to mind when watching this emotionally flat, somewhat dull attempt at bringing Peter to a new generation and keeping Disney’s brand attached to the 100-year-old-plus intellectual property dreamed up by J.M. Barrie.

Rating: PG- squeaky clean

Cast: Ever Anderson, Alexander Molony, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Jim Gaffigan, Joshua Pickering, Jacobi Jupe, Yara Shahidi, Molly Parker, Alan Tudyk and Jude Law.

Credits: Directed by David Lowery, scripted by David Lowery, Toby Halbrooks, based on the play by J.M. Barrie. A Disney+ release.

Running time:

May 5.

Looks sweet.

The acting is bad, the screenplay is worse in “The Wraith Within,” a low-budget thriller about “cursed” stuffed bear and the white-haired demon who goes around stabbing random Texans in revenge for a horrible crime long ago.

Five friends (Shane Christopher, Zara Majidpour, Allison Hawkstone, Brian Hodges, Gabriel Aronson) return to sleepy Junction, Texas for a reunion.

They don’t look all that happy to be there, amongst the “inbreeds” who stayed behind. Yeah, that’s how the Austin crowd refers to their classmates.

Testy, foul-mouthed encounters with shopkeepers, the sheriff (earringed, pasty-faced and long-haired Michael Madsen) and assorted others at the actual reunion should make our quintet out-of-towners wonder if it’s all worth it.

And that’s before this haunted teddy bear turns up, stuff starts flying off shelves, knives almost impale people, and then “almost” turns into a body count.

No sense bragging about how you’re going to “Jamie Lee Curtis this mother-f—-r.” The only deep insights the sheriff has are “That is a sh—y-ass way to go,” and a smirking “Not havin’ a great day.”

Let’s consult the local Native American (Jonathan Joss).

“Peckerwood, I know you’re not that stupid.”

The dialogue is bad, the line-readings of it are worse. A couple of the cast aren’t native English speakers and the strain of trying to make bad lines sound natural proves an over-reach for them. Not that the gringos are any better.

The deaths are not all that interesting, but the makeup “effect” is modestly chilling.

All things considered, this is just plain bad, even by horror C-movie standards.

It was directed by Aaron Strey and scripted by Carlos A. Samudio, lest you think I’m blaming the actors alone. Well done, all around.

And before you ask, no, it’s not even “bad movie drinking game” bad.

Rating: unrated, violence, profanity

Cast: Shane Christopher, Zara Majidpour, Allison Hawkstone, Brian Hodges, Gabriel Aronson, Trey Davis, Jonathan Joss and Michael Madsen.

Credits: Directed by Aaron Strey, scripted by Carlos A. Samudio. A Gravitas Ventures release.

Running time: 1:17

A full generation has passed since the empowering and adorable “Bend it Like Beckham.” A lot has changed about the Desi diaspora in the UK, and in cinema about their lives.

The proof is in a mouthy, punchy and gonzo action comedy about an arranged marriage in something quite unlike “Polite Society.”

Writer-director Nida Manzoor’s debut feature is outlandish, over-the-top and furiously funny. She’s the creator of that loopy female Muslim punk band TV comedy “We Are Lady Parts,” and she doesn’t break punk stride in this “You girls these days” look at the state of young womanhood in the fading patriarchy of this corner of Britannia.

Ria, played by Priya Kansara in a break-out performance, is a skinny teen with stuntwoman dreams. She writes letters to her favorite stuntwoman, that badass Eunice Huthart. She makes delusional, slightly inept videos for her Stuntgirl Ria channel and dreams of getting Huthart to let her intern with her.

Her school advisor dismisses that notion. Her indulgent parents are waiting to shut this “silliness” down. And the towering all-girls school bully (Shona Babayemi) kicks her arse when she demands a demonstration.

Only older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) encourages her. But Lena’s freshly-dropped out of art school and a bit lost herself. Then the handsome, rich young doctor Salim (Ashay Khanna) gives her Lena the eye, and his family and their family take an interest in setting them up.

Yes, another generation has passed and they’re a long way from the Subcontinent, but “arranged marriages” are still a thing. Only Dad (Jeff Mirz) doesn’t like the semantics of that “brand.”

“You should see it like ‘Lena has outsourced the search for a suitable match to us so that WE can carry out the necessary due dilligence,” keeping her from wasting “unnecessary emotional capital” on flirting and dating and all that.

Sure, it’s the match.com era and business is business. But it’s nice to see romance still blooms among the Indo-Muslims of the UK.

Ria flips the f-out. And that’s pretty much how this foul-mouthed teen, not shy about talking back to Mum (Shobu Kapur) and Dad, puts it. She won’t allow her sister to give up her art dream for “some smarmy wanker.”

She accuses Lena of “doing a Jane Austen.” And with her schoolmates (Seraphina Beh and Ella Bruccoleri), she lays out a plan to tear this wedding asunder.

The teens reference classic romance and action film conventions — obstacles to love, plot devices that might prevent the nuptials. They don disguises to get into a men’s locker room at Salim’s gym and plot even bigger capers as the picture takes a seriously loopy turn past melodrama and into full on diabolical conspiracy, real or imagined.

“Oy! There’s a reason tropes are tropes! Because they work!”

“Polite Society” sprints through its first scenes, struggles a bit when things go over-the-top and finds the fun again for a blitzkrieg of a finale. Yes, there’s a big fat Indian wedding, and a big dance. But there are also epic throwdowns — fights with martial arts movie wirework — big time villainy and a “Thelma & Louise” rag-top T-bird becomes a getaway car.

The larger theme here is hanging on to your dreams, a bit tired and tiresome in this affluent spoiled-kids setting.

But that’s “You girls, these days” in a nutshell, no longer under a familial or cultural thumb and not limiting their dreams to “doctor” or “Stepford Wife” or even simply bending it like Beckham. Try to stop them and you might get an “I am FURY” if you’re lucky. Next thing you know, some Van Damme “helicopter kick” might come right at your noggin.

Rating: PG-13, violence, profanity, sexual situations

Cast: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Ashkay Khanna, Nimra Bucha, Shobu Kapoor, Shona Babayemi, Ella Bruccoleri, Jeff Mirz and Seraphina Beh

Credits: Scripted and directed by Nida Manzoor. A Focus Features release.

Running time: 1:44

Let’s not get all choked up, ok? Keep it together. Be professional.

I mean, come on. It’s Chris Pratt.

The first trailer to this November laugher from Searchlight is LOL cute. A teensy bit of Ted you know who vibe.

A feel good sports movie for the fall? Let us pray.

A piece of Portuguese history, lore that’s little known outside of the land of Port and corks.

A fantastical Marco Polo figure who visited Africa, India, China and Japan in the mid 16th century, a chap few believed when he came home (he plainly made some things up) is the subject of this hit or miss period piece/adventure.

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