Watching Ethan Hunt save the world has been among the most cinematic things audiences could do for the past several decades. Tom Cruise as the agent who always figures things out is exciting, fun, and often the height of what films can offer up, spectacle wise. Two years ago, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One came out (reviewed here) and attempted to take the franchise in a new direction. Not just being a two part entry, it also had a more science fiction leaning premise, one that provided divisive. That was a first for the films, at least in several entries, but full judgement was reserved for when this one came out. Now, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is here to complete the story, not just for this two-parter, but for possibly the series as a whole. In doing so, it’s the biggest movie the property has offered to date, but is it the best? Unfortunately, it does offer up a lot of the same benefits, as well as issues, from last time around.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning brings Hunt’s adventures to a potential close in its biggest fashion yet. Now, if you weren’t a big fan of the sci-fi stuff last time around, that’s still in play here, though there’s less tech stuff at least. The big set-pieces and spectacles are certainly there still, which is a franchise requirement. There’s just a bit less fun here than usual, which makes the weight of the premise feel suitably heavy, though it does make it all a bit overwrought at times. At the end of the day, when the chips are down, Ethan Hunt coming to save the day still manages to thrill.

Picking up a few months after the events of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the spread of The Entity, an advanced, self-aware rogue AI, has continued unabated. Technology has been all but completely infected, to the point where few know what’s true anymore. Whole governments have been lost, along with their nuclear arsenals. The United States has only a matter of days until their missiles will belong to The Entity, leading President Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) to reach out to Ethan Hunt (Cruise), in the hopes he’ll come home, along with the key he possesses that could be the only chance at stopping this rogue AI. Ethan resists, choosing not to allow the United States the chance at taming The Entity, as that’s too much power, though with the AI having forsaken its human servant in Gabriel (Esai Morales), he know has to deal with a separate rogue agent as well.

When circumstances dictate that Ethan turns himself in, he pitches an impossible plan to Sloane, utilizing his team, as well as some government property, to go looking for the downed Russian submarine that possesses The Entity’s original source code. If he can get it, Luther (Ving Rhames) has designed something that just might stop it. So, Ethan, Benji (Simon Pegg), Grace (Hayley Atwell), and other friends, both old and new, set out for their most dangerous mission yet. Looming at the end is a face-off wit The Entity itself, one that threatens to end the world regardless of what the outcome ultimately may be.

Tom Cruise is front and center, as always, and this sequel asks him to be as intense as ever. There’s less humor to his role than we’ve seen previously, but he does wear the weight of the fate of the world with aplomb. Cruise knows how to play Ethan Hunt in his sleep, so it’s not surprising that he’s up to the task. As always, he’s at his best while doing insane stunts, letting the camera capture him in death defying situations. It’s a series staple and also just a strong use of Cruise throughout. It’s always fun to see him teamed up with Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, though Hayley Atwell gets a lot of his attention this time around. Esai Morales is less of a factor in this one, though right there for some of the biggest moments, while Angela Bassett makes for a fun President. Supporting players in this epic consist of both returning players and newcomers. They include Henry Czerny, Greg Tarzan Davis, Pom Klementieff, Holt McCallany, Janet McTeer, Katy O’Brian, Nick Offerman, Charles Parnell, Rolf Saxon, Tramell Tillman, Hannah Waddingham, Shea Whigham, and more, but through it all, it’s Cruise’s show.

Christopher McQuarrie again directs, working on the screenplay with Erik Jendresen. The time jump from the last flick does allow Jendresen and McQuarrie to move things forward and raise the stakes, which prevents too much repetition from setting in. At the same time, they lean so much on all of the other installments in the franchise, with a few of the earliest ones gaining added importance, that the callbacks almost become too much. Some returning characters are a riot to see, though giving one new character an added backstory played like parody. Still, McQuarrie has been at his best here with the direction of Cruise’s big action scenes, and here they’re as strong as ever. They’re not all-timers like we’ve seen previously, but they do feel suitably big for this doomsday scenario playing out. If anything, tighter pacing would have been welcome here, given the nearly three hour running time, but when the highs are hitting, they hit quite effectively.

I’ll rank the franchise in its (potential) entirety next week, but having this story wrapped up does allow it to feel like more of the whole. Cruise and McQuarrie going down this tech rabbit hole may have been necessary to keep things fresh, but it does feel less like Mission: Impossible at times. That changes when we get to the big submarine sequence or the airplane one at the end, but when there’s a conversation with The Entity? That just doesn’t feel as much like Mission: Impossible as in prior installments to the Reckoning duo.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning works more than it doesn’t, but it does combine with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One to potentially end the series on a lower note than previous installments. Taken just as a big sequel, it more than works. It’s just that when there’s sequels in this franchise like Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and especially Mission: Impossible – Fallout, this one can’t help but feel like a slight missed opportunity to do what audiences want most out of Ethan Hunt. Still, even if this one isn’t great, it’s still pretty good, while more than scratching an action itch.

SCORE: ★★★

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Hollywood critiques usually go big and broad, skewering the town and everyone in it. The industry itself is lit on fire, using extreme examples that you can give a knowing chuckle towards. That’s the standard Hollywood satire. The Uninvited, however, is attempting to do something different. The focuses is smaller and more narrow, with the points no less sharp, but the satirical elements kept more in check. This is a mix of comedy and drama, to be sure, though the commentary being made is both timely and timeless, so the impact is just as effective throughout.

The Uninvited takes a while to find its footing. Even so, it can sometimes feel like a movie that wants to be a season of television. On the one hand, that’s a bit frustrating, while on the other, it speaks to how the characters and set up have potential for expansion. So, what we end up getting is occasionally a mixed bag, but more often still compelling on its own merits.

Rose (Elizabeth Reaser) and Sammy Wright (Walton Goggins) are a Hollywood couple arranging a small get together in their home. She’s an aging actress and he’s a manager hoping to keep his filmmaker client Gerald (Rufus Sewell) happy, so while she’s receiving messages rejecting her for jobs, he’s obsessed with this party going well. Before anyone has even arrived, the couple are already bickering, something that seems to happen often. The arrival of some guests, both expected and unexpected, soon throw things off.

While Sammy wants to start his own agency and amass a rolodex of supporters during the evening, his focus is also on young actress Delia (Eva De Dominici) who has his eye, for personal and professional reasons. Rose’s ex Lucien (Pablo Pascal), a highly paid actor, is on hand too, and while that’s complicated, he’d certainly be a get as well. However, while that’s going on, Rose is also dealing with Helen (Lois Smith), an older woman who has shown up claiming this used to be her home. Her entrance into the house begins to change everything, while serving as a pretty apt metaphor for what women in Hollywood of a certain age are told they can and can’t do.

Elizabeth Reaser and Lois Smith end up with the most to do, though Walton Goggins is no slouch. Reaser rarely gets this sort of a showcase, nor does Smith, and that’s kind of the point. They’re both very good here, too. As is Goggins, just in a slightly less demanding role. Pedro Pascal and Rufus Sewell have small moments, without question, but are far more in the background, narratively. In addition to Eva De Dominici, supporting players here include Kate Comer, Michael Panes, Roland Rubio, and more.

Filmmaker Nadia Connors (Goggins’ real life spouse, btw) takes what was originally conceived as a play and makes it as cinematic as she can. There are still long monologues that the script gives to her cast, as well as far more interiors than exteriors, but it’s never overly stagey. Connors’ writing and direction is solid, even if things never really takes off and get to the next level. Still, had The Uninvited been a season of television on HBO or a streamer, I would have been just as interested. There’s enough here, especially until Hollywood stops casting women of a certain age aside, to more than fill out that time.

The Uninvited is a good dramedy that probably could have been even better with a more singular focus on either the drama or the comedy. However, that’s not the point, and when someone like Reaser or Smith can get showcase roles, that’s the kind of thing you shouldn’t complain about. The good very much outweighs the bad here, making for a solid little Hollywood flick, one that has something very sobering to say.

SCORE: ★★★

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Watching such a movie feels truly daring, as Jia moves away from his linear works into associative territory, linking one piece of shot-on-video footage with another, completely different, celluloid image. The most impressive moment occurs near its end, as the movie cuts from a top-down shot of a ballroom, where a group of people dance during the pandemic, to a fish-eyed digital zoom of a supermarket CCTV camera, first honing in on a pack of oranges, then clumsily careening around the space, desperately looking for an image to focus on. The camera follows Bin inside the market as he reunites with Qiaoqiao. From there, pure cinema occurs. 

Bin reunites with Qiaoqiao and, despite the face masks they are wearing, the two immediately recognize each other’s eyes. Jia lingers on their masked faces for a bit before Bin removes it, to the shock of Qiaoqiao, still unable to process that he’s in front of him, after so many years apart. It’s one of the most potent images in post-COVID filmmaking, where the director is able to find purpose in the sanitary limitations of the era, showing us that connections were still possible, despite the tragic situation the characters were living in.  

Many filmmakers have tried to express the COVID-19 era in film, but have failed to draw anything meaningful out of it. The only artist who got something out of the anxieties such an event drew was Steven Soderbergh when he made his paranoia thriller KIMI in 2022. Radu Jude also tried to say something out of such an event with his unofficial duology Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (both are masterpieces, by the way), but no filmmaker expressed dramatic power the way Jia does in this particular section with Caught by the Tides, let alone letting the silences of his (masked) actors speak in ways that words cannot. 

Zhao Tao’s performance is entirely silent, barring a section taken from Unknown Pleasures where the protagonist sings. But there isn’t a spoken word uttered by Qiaoqiao throughout the entire movie, and Jia lets us sit with her in silence, contemplating her future and the choices she has made that ultimately lead her to where she is during the pandemic. Even her exchange with Bin, preceding their breakup, is told through intertitles, with only their looks as the point of reference to make us feel their emotions. To some, that may be an alienating way to watch a movie, especially when Jia flows from one scene to the next without tangible linearity, a massive departure from what he is usually known for. 

However, there’s something so emotionally stirring in Zhao Tao’s portrayal of Qiaoqiao, whether in the repurposed footage from Jia’s past films or what was shot for this movie, that makes the experience so worthwhile. The best parts of acting are conveying everything you want to say without having the need to say anything. Few actors can accomplish this feat well and express a litany of emotions like this, yet Zhao Tao does it so effortlessly. Her forced smile hides feelings she doesn’t want to put forward, even though we can clearly read them. Qiaoqiao isn’t happy, and her current trajectory ensures she won’t find the peace she wants. 

It’s only during an interaction with a robot, in one of the year’s most moving exchanges, that we get to see the real Qiaoqiao, who warms up and happily smiles, for the first time, after the machine tells her, “Mother Teresa once said, if you love until it hurts…there can be no more hurt, only more love.” It’s the first occasion where we see her feel something, and the rest of the film, where Qiaoqiao ties up all of her past loose ends, gives her the courage to do what she needs to do to move on. It’s simultaneously heartbreaking and profoundly affecting, even if Jia’s associations sometimes lose their meaning, particularly in the movie’s midsection. 

That said, even if Caught by the Tides sags and loses its intent in a few places, Jia Zhangke knows he has to anchor his decades-spanning emotional journey through the eyes of his wife and creative partner, Zhao Tao. It’s through those sullen, devastating looks that pierce the artifice of cinema and touch us so profoundly that we’re ultimately moved by this daring proposition from one of China’s greatest formalists, caught in the tides of the past and present, and offering us no solutions for a future that doesn’t look as promising as it might have been envisioned, by Qiaoqiao, or society itself…

SCORE: ★★★1/2

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Before that, though, Pierret stages an opening setpiece where Areski, still on the run from Charas’ (Ramzy Bedia) murder in the first movie, is hunted down by Alexander Resz’s (Gérard Lanvin) troops in Germany. Resz is the most corrupt of all police commissioners, running a secretive drug smuggling operation right under the department’s nose, and is vying for a top position to further his reach. After Areski survives a death-defying car/motorcyle chase that ends with one of the bad guys’ bodies crushed within the inside of a moving truck, followed by a grenade blowing up another horde of baddies in a subsequent culmination of an effectively tactile knife fight, he returns to France in the hopes of gaining immunity if he testifies against Resz, which will allow him to regain the life he lost after doing something he still regrets. 

Of course, Resz wants to tie up all loose ends connecting Charas’ murder to him. In doing so, he sends out his second-in-command, Yuri (Quentin D’Hainaut), to kill Areski. Yuri, whose physicality recalls the late Ray Stevenson as Frank Castle in Lexi Alexander’s Punisher: War Zone, is a relentless killing machine who will stop at nothing to eliminate Areski and serve his boss’s needs, hoping something even more fruitful (financially) will come out of this. Because of this, police commissioner Moss (Pascale Arbillot) tasks protagonists Lino (Alban Lenoir) and Julia (Stéfi Celma) to protect the man who killed their mentor. 

It, of course, brings about complex feelings, especially during a bare-knuckled fight scene inside a moving train, initially with Areski fighting off Yuri, until Lino joins in on the fray and turns that tension-fueled nightmare into a piece of slapstick comedy. But that’s how Pierret operates, as a genre filmmaker in complete control of his story and malleable action, knowing when to be a little goofy and when to add drama to the proceedings. Each action scene, whether a one-on-one fight or an over-the-top car chase, is intricately choreographed and shot, with a striking focus on natural environments giving a tangible feeling to Jean-Baptiste Jay’s gorgeous cinematography. 

The stuntwork is staggering, and there’s real intent in elevating the stakes through how the characters operate within each setpiece. Their emotions are conveyed with their fists, or cars, especially when the mission of protecting Areski becomes decidedly personal for anyone with a target on their back, notably Moss, who thinks she has no choice in helping Resz win, when, in actuality, could’ve rose up to the occasion of exposing him for good. Action is emotion, and Pierret illustrates this directly, especially during that tram fight, where Lino’s feelings towards Areski get the better of him, until they realize a bigger threat is at play, and they must work together to stop it.

The final sequence, giving the entirety of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga a run for its money, is a real morceau de bravoure, as one would say in French. As Resz closes in on Julia and Areski, Lino tells the group, “I’ll be discreet. You won’t notice I’m here,” as he is set to take down the fleet pursuing Areski, on his way to testify. Lino, ever the most subtle and quiet person in the room, arrives on the road with a bright yellow Dodge RAM, shooting multiple fireworks out of a cannon to subdue helicopters in the sky, and eventually destroy the cars chasing them. 

It’s, as the kids say, peak cinema. The practical action and environments are a joy to observe when it’s so well-mounted and invigorating. The feeling one gets when seeing this on display is as epic as action movies get. What more could you ask for in a series whose action sequences have progressively gone bigger in scale, but always keeps its focus on the intimate character work Pierret smartly develops throughout his three installments? That’s the most surprising thing about the Lost Bullet series. It could’ve undoubtedly been a mindless action trilogy, emphasizing large-scale spectacle that stimulates the senses, but leaves strong character work to the wayside.

Yet, Pierret finds the balance in imbuing each action scene with as much emotional potency as possible, whether through flashbacks of Areski’s past, or in making us understand the perpetual pain Lino has been feeling since the death of Charas. Every setpiece gets elevated by the rock-solid performances Lenoir and his fellow actors give. Their turns are nuanced and profoundly human, ultimately making us attached to their plight as the series progresses. Perhaps this installment is less emotional than the second one, but how Pierret develops his characters is still second-to-none, especially when his cast is game for anything. 

With Christian Gudegast’s Den of Thieves franchise, rarely have we seen such impeccable character work done that beautifully complements its relentless action. It cements Pierret as a singular talent within French action cinema, but it has also solidified the Lost Bullet trilogy as one of the best action franchises of the decade.

Unfortunately, because it seemingly acts as another cog in the Netflix algorithm, most people have never heard of this series. It could be the streamer’s best-kept secret, because once you enter the world of Lost Bullet, you would hope Pierret would make fifteen more of these. However, as a conclusion, one can’t ask for anything better than what we have on screen, redefining the emotional catharsis of action cinema, one car explosion at a time.

SCORE: ★★★★

The post Film Review: ‘Last Bullet’ Caps Off an Incredible Trilogy of Action Films appeared first on Awards Radar.

There is very little burying of the lede with Clown in a Cornfield. You know exactly what you’re being offered, while the filmmaker knows exactly what to deliver. Now, is the final product anything to go wild over? No. At the same time, is it done a bit better than you might expect? It sure is. This winds up being a solid little horror film that offers up a few little differences to allow it to slightly stand out from the pack.

Clown in a Cornfield is sort of a poor man’s Thanksgiving, in that some of the elements that Eli Roth utilized for his slasher are in evidence here. Roth’s movie is the superior one for a number of reasons, but this flick certainly has its charms. It’s not trying to be over the top like the Terrifier franchise (mostly just sharing a clown element), instead going for something a bit on the throwback side of things instead.

Quinn Maybrook (Katie Douglas) and her father Dr. Glenn Maybrook (Aaron Abrams) have just moved to the quiet little town of Kettle Springs looking for a fresh start. The former is starting a new school, while the latter is the town’s new doctor. What they find, instead of just a new start, is a community that has fallen on hard times after the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down, resulting in a real feeling of hopelessness. Quinn makes friends with some of the local kids, finding a community, though her father thinks they’re up to no good. In short order, a bigger problem will emerge.

As the townspeople continue what seems like years of bickering, with the adults turning a glowering eye towards the teens, a sinister clown emerges from the cornfields of the town. Frendo the Clown is here, once the town’s mascot, but now the harbinger of death for all who stand before him. As Quinn and her friends try to survive, the body count rises, while questions remain about just what is going on in Kettle Springs?

The acting is about what you usually get out of a slasher movie, though no one is outwardly bad. Katie Douglas is your garden variety scream queen, doing exactly what’s required. Aaron Abrams is fine, though mostly doing the sort of horror dad things as well. The supporting cast, teens and adults alike, include Kevin Durand, Carson MacCormac, Verity Marks, Vincent Muller, Cassandra Potenza, Will Sasso, Ayo Solanke, and more, mostly existing as fodder for Frendo.

Director Eli Craig takes a no frills approach to the fright flick. The same goes for the script he penned with Carter Blanchard and Adam Cesare, save for the economic despair that gives the bones of this one something a little unique. The gore is solid, there’s a mild twist towards the end, and some unsettling images. What more do you want out of a standard issue slasher? The movie gets in, gets out, and likely leaves you satisfied.

Clown in a Cornfield is pretty much what you expect, with a few interesting bits towards the end to give it a little more personality. The film is more or less just doing its job, so if you want to watch a murderous clown, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. It’s not the extremes of Terrifier, sure, but who is Art the Clown’s equal these days anyway?

SCORE: ★★★

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You almost immediately know if the humor of Tim Robinson is up your alley or not. Whether it’s through I Think You Should Leave or elsewhere, Robinson presents like no one else. Personally, I find him hilarious and strange, in equal measure. Watching him, especially here in Friendship, there’s this alien quality to him that so few comedians even attempt. Robinson’s characters are always just missing this little bit to have them understand a given situation. Here, not only is that the case, but the loneliness of being a modern adult man is layered on to it. There’s more going on here than you might expect, though obviously couched in some of the biggest laughs I’ve had in some time.

Friendship is easily one of the funniest movies of the year, while also being among the weirdest. Every scene just plays out a little different than you might expect, even when you go in assuming things are going to be strange. Whether it’s the reaction to a new Marvel, a drug trip, or just about anything in between, a Tim Robinson character does things like no one else. Provided you’re on his wavelength, this is going to be an absolute riot.

On the surface, Craig (Robinson) is your garden variety suburban father and husband. He has an office job, married up with Tami (Kate Mara), who has just beaten cancer, and embarrasses his son Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer). Look a little closer, though, and you’ll see that there’s something off about him. Is he just awkward and lonely, or is something more significantly wrong there? Craig may not even know himself, but a change in his rut unlocks something new in him, from which there’s no going back.

When Austin (Paul Rudd) moves in to the town, Tami has Craig go over to their new neighbors with a mis-delivered package. An overnight weather man, Austin captures Craig’s attention immediately, kicking off a friendship with a late night adventure through the city’s sewer system. Then, Craig comes on a little too strong to Austin and his other friends, leading him to sever the budding friendship. Craig does not take it well, with things devolving from there, though the details are best left for you to find out yourself.

Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd are both at their funniest here, while Kate Mara and Jack Dylan Grazer very capably bounce off of the former. Robinson is the star, truly, bringing his persona to the big screen. It translates hilariously, while giving us more time to linger on the psychology and pathos of his character. Rudd, on the other hand, is seemingly delighting in playing the straight man, though he has his fair share of wildly funny bits. Supporting players include Jon Glaser, Conner O’Malley, and more, but Robinson is front and center.

Writer/director Andrew DeYoung impeccably finds Robinson’s specific voice and wavelength here. This feels very much like I Think You Should Leave in tone, though instead of little tidbits, it’s one story for feature length. The momentum sustains, too, which I was a bit concerned about. The opening sequence has a really hilarious moment, though it’s in the back end when some of the absolute funniest things actually happen, which had me almost crying, I was laughing so hard. Still, DeYoung is able to linger on the darkness, as well as the idea of lonely men needing or not being able to deal with friendship. There’s more here than meets the eye.

Friendship is one of the funniest films of 2025, without question. That it’s so unique and specific as well just feels like a bonus. I will completely understand if there’s folks who just don’t get this one at all. For me? I couldn’t stop laughing. If you share that feeling when it comes to Robinson, trust me, you’re in for a treat.

SCORE: ★★★1/2

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I’ll watch Ben Foster in anything. I find him to be one of the more compelling and underrated actors in the business. So, when there’s a film that features Foster playing a different type of a role, as well as one where he gets to fall apart? I’m very much seated. Sharp Corner gives us Foster acting his ass off, even if the movie isn’t always fully sure what it wants to be. The issues are there, to be sure, but they don’t prevent you from appreciate Foster.

Sharp Corner is a weirder one, especially early on, when it threatens to almost be a black comedy. Soon, it turns much more into a psychological drama or even thriller, especially once things begin to crumble by the midway point. Even when the flick can’t make up its mind, Foster is doing great work and pulls you through.

Josh McCall (Foster) and his wife Rachel Davis-McCall (Cobie Smulders) are just moving into their dream home, along with their young son Max (William Kosovic). No sooner have they put him down for the first time in the new house does a terrible car accident happen outside. There’s a sharp corner out there and the drunken teenager couldn’t handle it. Max is scared, Rachel is unsettled, and Josh becomes obsessed, while assuring everyone it won’t happen again. It happens again….and again…and again.

The more these accidents happen, the worse they get, while Josh becomes more and more determined to save lives. In doing so, he’s ignoring the needs of his son, the concerns of his wife, and even putting them at risk. The further down this path he goes, the clearer it is that he needs to turn back, yet the more determined he gets.

Ben Foster gets to play both some of his lowest key work as well as some of his most intense, which is saying something. The latter is not shown as normal, considering we’ve seen him be incredibly intimidating on screen before. Here, he’s obsessed, sad, and hard to get a read on, which gives him a lot to play with. Cobie Smulders has her most substantial film part in some time, though the narrative does not really flow through her. In addition to William Kosovic, the cast includes Gavin Drea, Jonathan Watton, and more.

Co-writer/director Jason Buxton, working with Russell Wangersky, is at his best when the focus is on Foster. It’s a hard character to identify with, but they never make him a monster, so you’re still invested in him coming through the other side. Sharp Corner is on less firm ground when the therapy and work subplots are only given half attention to. The family dynamic, led by Foster’s Josh, is the most interesting, so it’s where the focus should be, and more or less is.

Sharp Corner succeeds because of Ben Foster. This is the type of role very well suited for his brand of intensity, especially when given a slightly new angle. Even if the film is far from perfect, watching Foster is never anything less than compelling. Because of him, this is a movie worth seeing.

SCORE: ★★★

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Give Nicolas Cage even a little bit to chew on and he’ll make a meal out of it. We’ve known this for years now, and yet, it still is just as enjoyable to bear witness to. The films vary in terms of quality, to be sure, but when Cage goes for it, he goes for it. The Surfer is yet another example of this, with the movie also attempting to offer up a bit more than just a Cage psychological thriller. It’s not always successful, admittedly, but there’s enough here, led by Cage, to warrant a recommendation.

The Surfer is at its best when it just lets Cage cook. The more it tries to play around with your bearings and sense of time, the wobblier it gets. However, when Cage is just acting his ass off, slowly but surely breaking down, there’s more than enough to grab on to. Is it one for the ages? No. Is it a movie worth seeing? Yes it is.

A man (Cage) has returned to the picturesque beach of his childhood with his teenage son (Finn Little), planning to do some surfing. The kid doesn’t seem to want much to do with his father or the beach itself, but it holds great importance to the man. He’s also attempting to finance the purchase of a nearby home, clearly putting not just time and money but also a large degree of his mental wellbeing into acquiring it. When the two arrive on the beach, they’re almost immediately told “don’t live here, don’t surf here” by a group of tough locals. The son is ready to call it a day, though the father feels humiliated, beginning a back and forth conflict.

The more the man confronts the locals, led by Scally (Julian McMahon), the greater the conflict gets. He’s consistently beaten and broken down with every encounter, resembling more of a crazed bum than the businessman we initially met. As he gets pushed towards his breaking point, there are hints of why this matters so much to him, as well as what he might ultimately be willing to do in order to achieve his goal.

Nicolas Cage gets to exhibit some control over his manic side here, while still getting to go pretty wild. It’s a consistently compelling performance from Cage, showcasing a lot of his best skills as an actor. You’re in his corner throughout, even when you want him to give up the ghost, and that’s a credit to his ability to get you on his side, regardless of the behavior at hand. Julian McMahon is the best of the supporting players, mixing charisma and intensity, while Finn Little is fine in a smaller role. The rest of the cast includes Alexander Bertrand, Nicholas Cassim, Rory O’Keeffe, and more, but this is Cage’s show.

Director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin try to mine a lot out of a little here, with more success than not. There’s a degree of intentional frustration on display, which can go either way, as repetition sets in. They need it for The Surfer to work, to be sure, but it does start to grind your gears after a while. Cage saves the day, especially since Martin’s script is a little on the nose at times, while a bit obtuse at others. Finnegan does make the beach hypnotically beautiful, especially as Cage gets uglier and uglier looking, and that’s a nice dichotomy.

The Surfer is far from perfect, though Nicolas Cage is very much on point. That alone makes it a curiosity, but what does work from a filmmaking perspective helps to set the movie apart. This is not some great hidden Cage gem, to be fair, but it is a film with enough interesting things going on to reward a patient viewer. It’s a slow burn, with Cage lighting up the screen, and that’s enough for me.

SCORE: ★★★

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe needed this. The MCU has never been seen as less important or essential to film culture than currently, with a lot of that being self-inflicted wounds. Their upcoming Fantastic Four movie is somewhat make or break for Marvel, so the initial thought might be to dismiss Thunderbolts* as an also-ran. That would be a mistake, since this flick is one of Marvel’s more successful efforts or late.

Thunderbolts* comes at a crucial time for the MCU. As such, having a rock-solid film, one that does much more right than it does wrong, and points the needle towards a Marvel future that audiences are actually curious about, is truly a clutch maneuver. Plus, it’s just on its own a fun antihero adventure, one that mixes action, comedy, and even some emotional exploration.

We pick things up here with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) in a rut of sorts. She’s doing jobs for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), though is planning to make a change. Something just isn’t right for her. A meeting with her fake father Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) leads to her suggesting to Valentina that she’d like to do something more front-facing. Valentina, currently the CIA Director and ensnared in impeachment proceedings, offers her one last clean up job before a promotion. Of course, nothing is that easy, as Yelena soon finds out. Arriving at a location to prevent a robbery, she encounters three other antiheroes in John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), each of which thinks they’re there to stop the other. Soon, they realize that Valentina has set them up, hoping to eliminate loose ends.

They also come across Bob (Lewis Pullman), a mysterious man that’s been experimented on. Forced to work together, they escape, aided by Red Guardian, before being picked up Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who is trying to figure out what Valentina is up to. Together, they all embark on what becomes a very dangerous mission, one that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts when Bob’s experiments turn him into The Void. To defeat him, or even save him, Yelena and company will have to deal with their depression, their traumas, and become a true team.

Florence Pugh leads the ensemble and does some of the better work we’ve seen from an actress in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Pugh is excellent, especially when she’s confronting the demons of her past. David Harbour gets to lean into the comedy and be the comic relief, which is occasionally needed. Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, and Wyatt Russell are fine, if slightly underserved, while Olga Kurylenko has very little to do. Supporting players include Wendell Pierce, Geraldine Viswanathan, and more. It’s an overall solid ensemble, though one easily led by Pugh.

Director Jake Schreier gives this flick a slightly different look and feel from most Marvel works. Working off of a screenplay by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo, Schreier leans into some darker elements, while never eschewing the comedy he starts out putting front and center. Cinematography by Andrew Droz Palermo and a score from Son Lux suggest the more independent roots at the core of a project that does merge the blockbuster with the indie at times. The pacing could be tighter, especially in the first two acts, where there isn’t a ton of forward momentum, though the third act does make up for it. The attempt to explore emotions and psychological damage is something that Calo, Pearson, and Schreier deserve a lot of credit for.

Something of note to me is how this is maybe the first time that Marvel has made the villain an overt metaphor. The closest would be Killmonger in Black Panther, which is one of their most effective villains. Here, we have The Void representing depression and trauma, which is more than the MCU usually gives us. So, I can appreciate that.

Thunderbolts* is fun, which is huge, with the added bonus of having a little emotional weight in the back half. Does the film cure all that ails Marvel? No. Is it a movie that gets the MCU back on track? Not quite. That being said, it’s a necessary success that could change momentum if the next few efforts are up to snuff. We shall see…

SCORE: ★★★

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It’s hard to watch The Legend of Ochi and not come away very impressed by its production value. For a relatively tiny sum of money, the film presents a fantastical version of the 1980s that looks closer to the 1880s at times. Plus, there’s a clever and cuddly little critter at the center of the flick. It all goes towards crafting a family friendly fantasy adventure, effectively too, which is huge considering the story itself leaves something to be desired.

The Legend of Ochi is sort of like what might have happened if Jim Henson had been able to make a weirder indie film with Amblin, or if Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli had gotten a chance to do a live-action feature. Henson and Miyazaki would have made more memorable works overall, but this still is a creative vision with enough going in its favor to warrant a light recommendation.

A period piece set in a remote village on the island of Carpathia, we see how humans live in fear of a fantastical species of animal known as ochi. For pre-teen farm girl Yuri (Helena Zengel), she has been raised to fear and hate them. In fact, her father Maxim (Willem Dafoe) has told her and her adopted older brother Petro (Finn Wolfhard) that an ochi killed her mother. He takes his children on an ochi hunt, which sets off our adventure.

While the men are hunting ochi, Yuri discovers a wounded young one that has been left behind and separated from its mother. Initially caught in a trap, the ochi needs a little tending to from Yuri, and in short order, a bond begins to form. So, she begins a quest to bring the little critter home. It will take her around Carpathia, while Maxim becomes paranoid about the danger of the ochi. Both will also come into contact with Dasha (Emily Watson), who has an unexpected history with them.

Helena Zengel does a good job bonding with her puppet co-star, lending the relationship more than exists on the page. Zengel has a presence about her that fits for the fantasy setting, so that helps too. Willem Dafoe is having a lot of fun here, even if he’s not being particularly challenged. Emily Watson and Finn Wolfhard are fine in smaller roles, though they all suffer from being a bit under-written. Supporting players include Andrei Antoniu Anghel, David Andrei Baltatu, Carol Bors, Razvan Stoica, and more.

Filmmaker Isaiah Saxon has a look for his feature that’s to die for. The handcrafted nature of the fantasy setting, as well as the puppet ochi itself, are great. He directs it all with confidence, too. It’s only the screenplay keeping me from more enthusiasm. Simply put, the story is real thin. It’s just enough to work, but you do find yourself wishing there was more here. It’s promising work from Saxon, though with a better script, he’d really be on to something.

The Legend of Ochi is a visual treat that aims to be a new and timeless fantasy classic for all ages. It falls short of that mark, but it does manage to be decently entertaining. Provided you limit your expectations somewhat, it’s easy enough to enjoy this film for what it is. Plus, prepare to fall in love with the ochi…

SCORE: ★★★

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