Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

My View:  Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning  (2025)  PG-13  In Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), an IMF agent and leader of a team of operatives, is on the hunt for Gabriel (Esai Morales), a rogue operative who’s after control of a powerful AI entity that can destabilize the globe. Ethan’s strength has always been his loyalty to his team. This time, it may be his downfall. I am a fan of the Mission Impossible franchise (with the exception of the first film, which I have problems with), and it’s always fun to see what incredible and dangerous stunts Tom has decided he can survive. This may be the final installment of Ethan Hunt’s missions (though, like soap operas, no one is ever truly dead or retires in the MI world), and that’s a blessing and a curse. The film is too long (pack a lunch because the running time is 2 hours and forty-nine minutes), has way too much exposition for its own good, and has a diving sequence that seems to take 30 minutes. Plus, the film’s bad guy is probably the weakest of the film’s series. The film has plenty of callbacks from previous films, especially the last film, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One since it’s only been a couple of months in the timeline since the end of Part One. Having said all that, I had fun with this film with all the stunts and the fact that, once again, the film’s core is that it's not Ethan’s mission but his team’s mission. Watching Simon Pegg portray the stressed Benji is always enjoyable, and the chemistry between Hayley Atwell and Cruise is fantastic. In fact, if they want to keep doing MI's and Mr. Cruise decides to hang it up, I wouldn’t mind going on a mission for two with Grace’s Hayley Atwell. The last twenty minutes of this film are worth the price of admission alone as Cruise does his best to die climbing on and over not one but two bi-planes (Howard Hughes would be so proud). It’s a feat of thrilling stunt work that has you on the edge of your seat. You can’t deny that Tom Cruise is one of the best action heroes we have ever had (possibly the best), and this film is an excellent testament to that fact. So grab a big tub of popcorn, go light with the drinks, and watch a man do everything he can to entertain you.  My Rating: Full Price  Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning Website  Now playing in theaters nationwide. 

Familyfaire: Lilo & Stitch  (2025) PG   Lilo & Stitch is about Lilo (Mala Kealoha), a rebellious six-year-old orphan who has recently lost her parents and is being raised by her older sister, Nani (Sydney Elizabeth Augdong). Lilo finds and befriends a strange-looking ‘dog,’ who she names Stitch. What Lilo doesn’t know is that ‘Stitch’ is a genetically engineered extraterrestrial creature designed to cause chaos and destruction and is being hunted by the alien United Galactic Federation. Disney hasn’t had the greatest success with live-action remakes of their animated films. Remember Aladdin with Will Smith (shudder) or the Tom Hanks’ dreadful Pinocchio? I am happy to say that the newest adaptation, while not quite up to the standards of the original animated film, is still a good film that, while there are a few changes made to the plot, captures the spirit and the fun times of the original. A lot of the credit goes to the two leads in Maia Kealoha as the spirited and independent little girl Lilo and Sydney Elizebeth Agudong as the sister Nani, who is in way over her head trying to raise Lilo and keep social services from taking Lilo away. In crashes Stitch (voiced again by Chris Sanders), who we all love as the rascally alien who loves to create mayhem and mischief. What I like about this film is while the beginning is all CGI aliens, once we get to Hawaii, other than Stitch, everything else is pretty much live-action, including the two aliens assigned to bring Stitch back, Jumba, the mad scientist (Zach Galifianakis) and Pleakley, the ‘Earth expert” (Billy Magnussen, for the most part are in human form, which helps with keep the film based in the human world. The film works because of Maia Kealoha, who is such a force of good-hearted nature on screen that she makes us believe Stitch is real and right there by her side. Kealoha is a joy to watch on screen, making you root for this weird little family that battles the odds to try to stay together. The film does a fantastic job of keeping the message of the animated film alive. I loved how much the Hawaiian traditions are incorporated into the film, and how the themes of love and belonging form the basis of the film's message. Lilo & Stitch is a heartwarming and touching film with some great laughs and performances by the two leads that make this film work as well as it does. So put on a grass skirt and get ready to do a hula or two. Just duck when Stitch gets that soda gun.      My Rating: Full Price Lilo & Stitch Website  Now playing in theaters nationwide.

My View: Fear Street: Prom Queen  (2025)  R   Set in 1988, Fear Street: Prom Queen takes place as students at Shadyside prepare for the prom, and the ‘it’ girls are fighting to get support to be voted Prom Queen. An unusual candidate, Lori Granger (India Fowler), joins the race. Suddenly, some candidates go missing one by one, and Lori could be next. I enjoyed the Fear Street trilogy that came out back in 2021, including the excellent Fear Street Part One: 1994, which did a great job of making us care about the characters and had plenty of twists and turns to make the horror film fun. I'm disappointed that I can't say the same about this Fear Street movie, which starts out as interesting but then turns into an unimaginative and tedious killing spree. Lori is an outsider whose mother murdered her father when they were both in high school. Lori's best friend is Megan (Suzanna Son), who is a fan of horror films and gives off the vibe that she might be in love with Lori. The killings are run-of-the-mill slasher-style film killings, full of blood and minimal scares. The film gives us some significant clues that make it very easy to figure out who the killer is, and the ending is one big mess with the reason why the killings are going on, which is incredibly stupid and poorly done. Skip this mess of a film and go back to 1994 for a better time.   My Rating: Cable  Fear Street: Prom Queen Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

Indiefest:  Jane Austen Wrecked My Life  (2024)  R   In Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Agathe (Camille Rutherford) is a Jane Austen fanatic who works at the world-famous Paris bookstore Shakespeare & Co. Agathe is lonely and unlucky in love, always complaining about her lack of love life. When Agathe suddenly receives a Jane Austen writing residency, she meets the son of the husband and wife who run the residency (Charlie Anson) and now must choose between a writing career or her love life. I am a big fan of the Jane Austen film adaptations (I just saw the 20th anniversary showing in theaters of the 2005 Pride & Prejudice), so I was looking forward to this film and was not disappointed. Agathe is a woman with a troubled past and hopes to be a writer like Jane Austen, but she lacks the self-assurance to act on it. Her best friend, Felix (Pablo Pauly), sends a chapter that she has written, and Agathe gets an invitation to a writing residency to work on her book. However, it's not just any residency; it's named after her favorite writer, Jane Austen. Agathe feels she is living in the wrong time period, feeling she would have everything she desired in the world that Jane Austen profiled in her books. Taking a big leap, she goes to the residency, and there she meets a distant nephew of Jane Austen, Oliver (Charlie Anson). Oliver doesn’t make a great first or even second impression, as he seems rather snobbish, standoffish and thinks Austen is overrated. Anson has that English wit and style where he can be charming and a jerk at the same time. As with Jane’s work, we know Oliver is the man that Agathe will fall in love with, and of course, like in an Austen novel, there will be obstacles to overcome, tears will be shed, and our heroine will have doubts about her work and her love life. Camille Rutherford is perfect as a headstrong but constantly messing up Agathe. Rutherford is adept at both the romantic side of Agathe but also shows a flair for comedy, as Agathe seems to always making a fool of herself just as Oliver shows up. It’s a role that Rutherford excels in, making us like Agathe and root for her even when Agathe doubts herself and her writing, we feel she can overcome anything to succeed. And on the way, much like Jane Austin's stories, maybe Agathe can find love in an unexpected place with a man who resembles a bit of Mr. Darcy.   My Rating: Full Price  Jane Austen Wrecked My Life Website   Now playing in selected theaters. 

Indiefest: Sister Midnight  (2024)   Sister Midnight tells the story of Uma (Radhika Apte), who is a newlywed in an arranged marriage to Gopal (Ashok Pathak), a husband who ignores her, even in bed. Uma, frustrated at being a housewife and disillusioned with her life, begins exploring the world at night, which will land her in unlikely situations. Uma is not the typical Indian bride that we are used to seeing in Bollywood musicals. She is foul-mouthed, doesn’t have a clue how to cook (even rice), and is not happy with either her husband (who mostly ignores her) or where she is living (trash is everywhere in this Mumbai slum). She is miserable, and to show her independence, she gets a cleaning job at night. Uma explores the nighttime and soon discovers that she might differ from most housewives. She might be a vampire. Sister Midnight is a film that, almost from the beginning, takes tons of hilarious twists that you're not expecting. It’s not a film where you are always going to know what is going on, but you will have fun watching where it goes and how Uma, played by the magical Radhika Apte, adapts to her new way of life. It was a delight to watch, never knowing what was going to happen next but always knowing that Uma was going to react with a cuss word or two and keep going as her world gets weirder and weirder, and we are right there along with her, waiting to see what the heck is going to happen next.  My Rating: Full Price  Sister Midnight Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

My View:  Fountain of Youth  (2025) PG-13  A treasure-hunting mastermind, Luke (John Krasinski), who has stolen art and other artifacts for a living, is about to go on a quest to find what could be the secret to immortality. He will need all his skills and wits to accomplish his goal, but he also needs the help of someone even smarter than him: his estranged sister, Charlotte (Natalie Portman). When you think of fun, adventure films chasing lost artifacts, you think of the Indiana Jones series, the Brendan Fraser film The Mummy, the 50s classic King Solomon’s Mines, the goofiness of National Treasure, and the rom-com adventure Romancing the Stone. Fountain of Youth will never make that list. A wasted cast that includes Krasinski, Portman, Domhnall Gleeson, Eiza González, and even a bit part for Stanley Tucci (surely shot either during his Italian travel series or The Conclave) and a plot that becomes so incredibly complicated as it goes along, and a hero in Luke who thinks he can get away with anything by being smug and saying very unfunny quips and you get a mess of a film. Other than a fun open with Luke on a motorbike being chased across busy city streets, the film is a lot of people pondering clues while looking at artifacts and paintings. Portman seems uncomfortable in the role of the sister who disapproves of her brothers stealing art but secretly wants to join in. We are constantly reminded that Luke and Charlotte’s father was a respected archeologist, primarily because of the constant dreams that Luke has dealing with his father finding a lost golden plate. The only cast member who looks like they are having fun in this film is Eliza Gonzalez, who is chasing Luke across the globe, having to beat up a ton of people, including Luke (even though he is always eluding her by trickery, right after hitting on her). Fountain of Youth’s end concludes too easily and with little fanfare, other than a very elaborate set that would make a Lego master drool and a firefight that apparently has no consequences in one of the wonders of the world. That Apple decided that this Guy Ritchie directed film would stay on the streaming platform and not play in theaters tells you just about everything, including that you can watch it while folding clothes or surfing the internet on your phone. Or better yet, watch one of the films I mentioned earlier. Any of those will keep you from constantly checking your email. My Rating: Cable   Fountain of Youth Info  Now playing on the Apple TV+ platform. 

Forgotten Film:  The Quick and the Dead  (1995) R  A female gunslinger called The Lady (Sharon Stone) rides into town with revenge on her mind. Her arrival in town coincides with the start of a dueling competition for gunslingers hosted by John Herod (Gene Hackman), the richest man in the town and who wields power with an iron fist. It’s interesting to see director Sam Raimi’s ode to the Spaghetti Westerns of the 60s and 70s. This was Russel Crowe's first major Hollywood role, playing a former gunslinger who quit to become a preacher. Sharon Stone hand-picked Raimi to direct from a script that was won by TriStar in a bidding war when Westerns had a small revival in Hollywood. Leo DiCaprio looks like he is ten in the role as The Kid, the son of Herod. Leo’s The Kid is a brash young man who thinks he is the fastest gun in the West and enters the competition to get the respect from his father that he has never gotten. Hackman is the man in this film, playing a bad guy who wants everyone to join in his pain. I love the ending of this film with a gunfight, including explosions that are right out of the Sergio Leone playbook (A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). Stone riding off into the sunset, or is it sunrise, after causing as much mayhem as she could, is an ode to all the great westerns of the past when the hero left after completing their mission.  My Rating: Full Price  The Quick and the Dead Info  The film is available to rent/buy on Amazon. 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Lilo & Stitch:  Stitch Visualization 

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  F1  (2025) PG-13  Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is a retired driver who thought he had burned too many bridges to ever return to F1 racing. An owner (Javier Bardem) wants to make a splash in the racing world and brings in Sonny to team with a new hot shot driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Joseph Kosinski, known for ‘Top Gun: Maverick"‘ directs the film. The movie is backed by the F1 association, and portions were shot around some of the F1 races, and many of the current drivers of F1 are in the film.  F1 Website  The film will be in theaters nationwide on Friday, June 27, 2025. 

Until Next Time!