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The summer movie season is under way. This week we got the first big blockbuster of the summer season, while I also looked ahead at a few movies opening May 12. My thoughts on all of them are below!

Book Club: The Next Chapter (Theaters May 12)
Starring: Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen
Synopsis: The second week of the summer movie season features an onslaught. Without a major blockbuster release, it’s more of a choose your own adventure. Being Mother’s Day Weekend, we get offerings that are more geared toward the female audience. One of those includes the sequel to Book Club. Released in 2018, the film followed four lifelong friends whose lives changed after ready 50 Shades of Grey. It’s an interesting set up, but it worked because of the connection between the stars—Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen and Diane Keaton. Now, five years later, we get a follow up. The film picks up in the present. It begins by showing how the quartet survived life in a pandemic, keeping the book club connection alive via online meetings. Finally able to meet again in person, Vivian (Fonda) shares some big news—she and Arthur (Don Johnson) are getting married. This starts them down the path of memory lane. Quickly, Carol (Steenburgen), whose restaurant closed during the pandemic, suggests they all finally take a trip to Italy. The suggestion comes that it become a bachelorette trip of sorts, and after thinking on it and working out all the details, the four friends embark on an overseas journey. It doesn’t all go as expected, but it’s time for the ladies to reflect and share a fun adventure together. You get the nature of the film through the marketing campaign. There are precious few surprises in this film, which is mostly about having more time with these characters and seeing how they progressed from where we left off. Most are still dealing with the same issues and still wrestling with how they want to live their lives, especially now that they’re firmly in the retirement years. The four stars have good chemistry together, which helps. There are some laughs and some fun locations to see. But when it comes to plot and a narrative that moves forward, this one is a bit too by-the-numbers. It’s fine and a pleasant journey but it doesn’t have some of the spark of the original. By contrast this feels a bit stale. For the core audience, it will work to have more time and another adventure with these friends. But overall, the film is just OK and not likely to carve out a big audience in the midst of a busy summer movie season.
Rating: Rated PG-13 for some strong language and suggestive material.
Verdict: Three stars out of five

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (Theaters)
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, and Will Poulter
Synopsis: All journeys end. It’s a part of life, and often the ending can carry even more significance than what came before. For some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most loveable heroes, that ending comes as we kick off the summer movie season. We’re going to be seeing a lot of familiar favorites return to the screen this summer, from Dominic Toretto and Ethan Hunt, to Optimus Prime and Indiana Jones. And yet we begin with a film I’ve long been anticipating, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.  It’s been billed as one final ride with the Guardians as we know them. It’s a ride that began in 2014. It was a relatively lesser-known set of heroes who burst onto the scene in a James Gunn film. Now, these Guardians have been an integral part of the MCU for nearly a decade, producing three stand-alone films, a holiday special and serving as part of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: End Game. Gunn, too, has moved on. He’s dipped his toes into the DC waters and now is set to lead that comic book franchises next phase. But first, we get our farewell to the Guardians. And plenty of pressure on how it would all end.  I won’t go too much into the plot here so as not to ruin the enjoyment. I’ll say only that this focuses on Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and his painful origin. It seems his creator, The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), is determined to get him back. He’ll use anything at his disposal, including Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) to do it. The Guardians, meanwhile, are at a crossroads, looking for purpose. No one more so than Peter (Chris Pratt), who is still mourning the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and her new form which doesn’t remember their time together. Can they come together, one last time, to stop the High Evolutionary and save Rocket? I knew this would be a film where my emotions would be swirling. We’ve seen nearly 40 films in the MCU and, despite that, the Guardians have always been my favorite. I was excited to see the chapter and not ready for the journey to end. And yet, this film delivered. It’s fun, it’s a big spectacle and it’s emotional. But more than that, it’s satisfying. I love Rocket and I love that in this film we get to understand him a little better. I also love the bond between Rocket and Peter and what that friendship has come to mean for both characters. We get some fun introductions. We get some crazy worlds, and we get some fun cameos from folks who’ve worked with Gunn before. But the crucial thing is paying tribute to these characters and providing a strong ending. We get that here, too. I appreciate Gunn’s writing and style and that comes through, once again, with this film. It feels like a perfect end to this chapter for the Guardians, one that provides a satisfying movie-going experience and one of the better offerings in the latest phase of the MCU.
Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, strong language, suggestive/drug references and thematic elements
Verdict: Four and a half stars out of five

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Theaters/Apple TV+ May 12)
Synopsis: We all struggle at times. Sometimes it’s with family. Sometimes it’s with money. Sometimes it’s with health. While we all struggle, that struggle—no matter what it is—doesn’t have to define us. More than anything, that’s the take away from Still, a new documentary from director Davis Guggenheim that lets Michael J. Fox tell his story in his own words. Fox has Parkinson’s Disease. It’s a daily struggle that’s taken a toll on him, his family and especially his wife, Tracy Pollan. And yet, it’s instantly clear that Fox won’t let his diagnosis, or that daily struggle, define him. He remains charming, honest and delightful as he shares his story, looks back on his career and takes viewers inside his daily grind with the disease he was first diagnosed with more than 30 years ago. The film takes a journey with Fox, as he shares about his start, his big break and what it was like making Family Ties and Back to the Future at the same time. He chronicles meeting Pollan, his career arc and the diagnosis that changed everything. Through it all he’s open, honest and immensely entertaining. I’ve long enjoyed Fox as a performer. I have seen Back to the Future countless times and always admired his comedic style and performance. It’s quite possible I admire him more now after hearing his story through this film. A good documentary tells you a story in such a way that it connects you to its subject. This film from Guggenheim does just that. You are instantly drawn into Fox’s story, and the way it intercuts footage of him in projects helps give it energy. This film originally debuted at the Sundance Film festival and figures to be one that is in contention for best documentary feature by year’s end.  Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is airing in select theaters and debuts on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 12.
Rating: Rated R for language.
Verdict: Four stars out of five