Brian's Thoughts on Movies

Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise close out the Mission Impossible series with this epic film in which Ethan Hunt and his team look to stop the AI villain of the last film from starting a global catastrophe, Spoilers below: I do not think this film is the best of the series, due to a murky antagonist, but it is definitely a worthy entry with the sum of the parts exceeding the whole.  I have decided to describe the pros and cons of the film and then will give a quick overall review at the end. Things I liked: McQuarrie gives Luther gets a heroic send off.  First he creates the poison pill to disable The Entity and then disarms a bomb in his final moments.  The dialogue between Ethan and Luther is touching, and while the situation is overly contrived (and I doubt Gabriel would say really use a bomb that would destroy London when he needs Ethan-who is in London-alive).  It is evident from Luther’s IV that he is possibly dying already (did creating the poison pill som...

 Two of the most acclaimed and beloved filmmakers working today, Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler, released well received films in 2025.  Initially I was not too interested in seeing either film.  I do not naturally gravitate toward vampire films (in the past 30 years I’ve only seen Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and From Dusk Till Dawn).  When I heard vampires were the subject of Coogler’s new film I was disappointed that he had applied his superb talents to something that did not interest me.  The buzz and reviews of the film were superb though and I gradually came around to thinking that it might be worth checking out but by the time I had it had already left cinemas.   I saw the trailer for One Battle After Another when watching another movie during the summer of 2025 (probably at Superman) and it did not grab me.  I felt it was probably a misuse of Anderson’s talents to do an action film and DiCaprio’s character ju...

 Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, and Charles Grodin star in Seems Like Old Times a 1980 comedy scripted by the legendary comic writer Neil Simon about an upper middle class couple in which the husband is about to be named California Attorney General while they are dealing with the fallout of the wife’s ex-husband forced involvement in a bank robbery.  Chase plays Nick, a carefree journalist and writer who used to be married to Goldie Hawn’s Glenda, who is a public defender.  Grodin is Ira, Glenda’s second husband whose political ambitions are threatened Nick’s situation and actions. Spoilers below: In the 1980s Chevy Chase was by far my favorite comic actor.  Chase’s ability to mold his face, deliver perfectly timed dry one liners, and perform slapstick could easily put me in stitches. I have tried to stick to his classics and really enjoyed the Vacation films, Fletch, Foul Play and thought he was the funniest element of lesser films like Three Amigos and Spies Like Us (th...

The Idea of You tells the story of a romance between a 40-year old art gallery owner and a 24-year old pop singer starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine and directed by Michael Showalter. The film is based on a book that I have yet not read where apparently the age gap was bigger.   Showalter has a comic background but the only other film of his that I watched most was his honest adaptation of Kumail Nanjiani’s true story The Big Sick, about the early days of Najiani’s relationship with his wife.  The film had a lot of comedic moments but was touching.  The Idea of You is a much bigger production with numerous concert scenes and it captures a sense of the crazed public life of a popular young singer. Spoilers below: I first saw the film when it was released on Prime Video and four things about it stuck out to me.  First, Solene (Hathaway) does not recognize Hayes (Galitzine) because her daughter had been the fan, not she.   Solene speaks to Hayes him norm...

In 2023 I wrote blog post examining the Naked Gun films.  At the time a reboot starring Liam Neeson was in the works and in the post I hoped for the best but was a little concerned as I did not want to see a bad version of something I had really enjoyed.  Neeson is a fabulous actor and I’d always believed him completely in roles like the rebellious outlaw Rob Roy or as a man coping with a personal loss by bonding with his stepson in Love Actually along with his many tough guy roles in the wake of Taken.  In comedies I had only seen him spoof his own image in small roles like The Lego Movie or Ted 2.  Ed Helms had been mentioned as a new Drebin and that seemed a better fit given his broad comedic background.  Simon Pegg, a very inventive comedic actor (who has a good relationship with Paramount since he’s been in several Mission Impossible and Star Trek films) occurred to me.  Additionally no one from the original behind the scenes team (ie David Zucker) wer...

Rob Reiner, an immensely talented director, producer and actor, recently died alongside his wife, Michele.  Reiner was 78 and still sharp and very active but unfortunately he and his wife were allegedly victims of a drug fueled assault by their own son.  I have always been horrified at the idea that drugs and alcohol could cause people to hurt those we love most but I want this brief post to focus a little on some of the work Reiner left us with.  I will not apply my usual star ratings since I have not seen these films in a long time. I have never seen This Is Spinal Tap (or any other concert film) but I will get to it and its sequel one day.  I was born in 1972 so was too young for All In The Family but I have seen several clips of it and know that it was an extremely impactful and funny program. Reiner as an actor in the films I have seen him in is fast talking and had sharp comedic skills as did his father, Carl Reiner.  I think Carl was probably funnier over...