A Wrinkle in Time:

Based This Disney production has been around before as a two-part TV mini-series in 2004 that was shot in Richmond and Vancouver, with a mostly Canadian cast based on the young adult book written by Madelaine L'Engle and its subsequent sequels. Chris Pine is Dr. Murray, a physics PhD. along with his academic PhD wife played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.  They lecture on the possibility that space and time can be folded over, and that one can theoretically access vast distances by just going through the fold.  We join the story on the 4th anniversary of the disappearance of Dr. Murray who vanished without a trace, leaving his wife to raise their two children alone, Meg (Storm Reid), age 13, and younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe).  The books had a pair of twins as well who don't appear here.  Meg is a troubled young teen, acting out since the disappearance of her dad.  Charles Wallace seems to have secrets, and indeed he does, having befriended a spiritual being that lives in a nearby deserted house, said to be haunted.  Soon, three ethereal beings appear to Meg and her brother, led by Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which, Reese Witherspoon as Mrs. Whatsit, and Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who.  What follows could be an episode of Oprah's show ... talk of becoming the best "you" you can be, unlocking the power within, learning to trust, and recognizing that love conquers all. We set out on a journey to the ends of the universe looking for dad, who has been imprisoned by the "It."  The movie is visually stunning, the story pretty standard as Meg finds herself, and her purpose, and leaves young viewers longing for a sequel.  Rated PG.

Death Wish:

This is a remake of the 1974 film that starred Charles Bronson, based on the novel by Brian Garfield.  The concept of this new Bruce Willis vehicle is the same, although some details have been changed.  The main character is still Paul Kersey (Willis) and he still has a wife and daughter who were savaged in an armed robbery on their home.  The wife is played by Elisabeth Shue, and the daughter by Camilla Morone, Lucy and Jordan respectively.  As in the original, Lucy is killed in the event, and Jordan is in intensive care in a coma, from which she may not recover.  Clearly typecast as a police sergeant, Dean Norris, who played a similar role as Hank on Breaking Bad - here he Detective Kevin Raines, does his best to investigate the event, but it's a long, slow process and it appears that the criminals have all the advantages.  Paul Kersey, an architect in the original, an ER surgeon here, watches as his family has been decimated, and nothing seems to happening about catching the bad guys.  He goes after them himself, quickly getting the name "The Grim Reaper" on social media as one of his revenge killings goes viral.  There are holes in both the plot and the production, which is set in Chicago, but filmed in Montreal, and one scene with a bowling ball that is outright silly, but I liked the message, which is even more relevant today that it was in the '70s, that of gun violence and what a regular citizen can do, and I liked Willis ... Rated 14A in Canada, R in the States. 

The Hurricane Heist:

Two genres are combined here, disaster movie and heist film, and it doesn't work at either level.  The crooks who are robbing the US mint are doing so as a Force Five hurricane comes crashing into the area, and although the movie is a straight action film, there are plenty of laughs, none intentional, and none in a good way.  One of the first laughs is that the setting is a mint facility in Gulfport, MI, but the movie is shot in Sophia, Bulgaria, which, try as it might, looks nothing like Gulfport, MI.  When the Razzie awards come around next year for the worst movies of 2018, this one will definitely be on the list, very near the top!  Staffed by a cast of actors who clearly really need the money, including Ben Cross and Maggie Grace, you'll find that most of the big action scenes take place against the backdrop of the worst of the hurricane, so you really can't tell what's happening.  Trying to be as good as Sharknado, but a long, long way to go.  Rated 14A.

Cargo (2017):

Just in case you haven't had enough of the zombie genre in post-apocalyptic worlds, here's one more for the pile.  The star is Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit Trilogy), and this is the second time he has been in a zombie film, the first being Sean of the Dead with Simon Pegg.  This film narrows its focus on just one family, and what the zombie epidemic is doing to it.  Shot in Australia's Outback, the film's setting is every bit as much a character as the people in it.  For fans of Aussie movies, you may recognize a number of actors from 2002's Rabbit Proof Fence.  They need that fence now, just to keep the undead at bay.  Rated 14A. 

The Foreigner:

Jackie Chan is the star here - but it's a more subdued and older Jackie than the one we saw in such films as Rush Hour in 1998.  As Quon, he's slower, he's quieter and he is just a simple businessman in London when a politically motivated act of terrorism takes away the only relationship he has left, that of his teenage daughter.  Determined to find out whom is responsible, he visits the office of an MP (Pierce Brosnan) who is clearly patterned after a real-life version, and who had ties to the Irish Republican Army.  No one in government wants to help Quon ... he comes back day after day, until events take a turn, and we realize that this quiet man has a past ... and now he is after revenge.  Good movie!  Rated 14A.