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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
We all share the same fate.
Filmmaker(s): Christopher McQuarrie

Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the world's fate at stake and dark forces from Ethan's past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan must consider that nothing can matter more than his mission—not even the lives of those he cares about most.

The Women I’m sensitive to situations where women are the drivers. What we usually have in these kinds of films is a superhuman guy, often going ‘rogue’ (a movie term) dealing with bad guys. There’s a minor shift here where the opponent is not a secretive, well...


Published April 2, 2024
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River (2023)
Filmmaker(s): Junta Yamaguchi

The one-hundred-year-old Fujiya inn stands in the quiet region of Kyoto. Mikoto is standing in front of the Kibune river at the back of the building when she is called back to work. But two minutes later, she finds herself back at the river again. The whole inn seems to be stuck in a time loop!

Gentle flows There are films that use the cinematic vocabulary reluctantly. Most of those have visual exposition, alternated with action sequences as a common model. Or we have ‘character studies’ that use the camera like a novelist would, to penetrate the skin, so we can follow a...


Published April 2, 2024
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The Beekeeper (2024)
Expose the corruption. Protect the hive.
Filmmaker(s): David Ayer

One man's campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers.

Unchoreographed Say what you will about the Wick movies, but at least the standard was on tradecraft. Wick’s movements through bad guys was designed within the scope of actual martial arts and arms training. I think that is the standard now for western fight scenes; it...


Published April 1, 2024
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Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental (2023)

Combustable This is a companion film to “Elemental’, being more of less the story of the director/writer’s life and how it influenced that animated project. It is a charming piece, done well; clearly, Pixar talent was behind how it was themed and assembled. I am a sucker...


Published March 2, 2024
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Elemental
Opposites react.
Filmmaker(s): Peter Sohn

In a city where fire, water, land and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy will discover something elemental: how much they have in common.

Spatial Depth I suppose most people will talk about the story. It has the by now standard Father dynamics. The also now standard tension from a systemic (I hesitate to say ‘environmental’) threat rather than a bad guy. And a love story of the typical kind...


Published February 28, 2024
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Wish (2023)
Be careful what you wish for.

Asha, a sharp-witted idealist, makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force – a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star confront a most formidable foe - the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico - to save her community and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.

Many in One I won’t lead this with a rebuttal to those that did not enjoy it because they thought it woke, and part of a grand conspiracy against something. I will lead with what I think is a brilliant, effective cinematic decision. Pixar’s world is about...


Published February 18, 2024
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Wonka (2023)
Every good thing in this world started with a dream.
Filmmaker(s): Paul King

Willy Wonka – chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time – is proof that the best things in life begin with a dream, and if you’re lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible.

Paddington’s Twist I never was a particular fan of Dahl’s, but I do have to admire the coherence he brought to his projects. There were bad guys and good guys, children and mothers, yearning and magic. But these all occurred in a world that worked together....


Published February 18, 2024
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The Mysterious Affair at Styles (2022)

The Big Reveal This almost made it to my list of fours, just based on its ambition. But I am returning to comments after an absence, and don’t want to be rash. It seems unlikely that you will see this, so I will uncharacteristically describe it. The...


Published February 4, 2024
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Poor Things
She's like nothing you've ever seen.
Filmmaker(s): Yorgos Lanthimos

Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a debauched lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Things Inside Things This is not a film that grows on you and settles within your soul as cinematic enrichment. First, let me tell you that the period of watching was very pleasant. What this older man saw was a woman navigating within values I hold...


Published January 13, 2024
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Napoleon (2023)
He came from nothing. He conquered everything.
Filmmaker(s): Ridley Scott

An epic that details the checkered rise and fall of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.

Lettered Narration Interesting characters make interesting films, so we are led to believe. Filmmakers certainly believe it, and here is one of the most interesting historical figures ever. So why not? Especially since you have budget, a master filmmaker and good actors. But usually it doesn’t work;...


Published January 9, 2024
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