Mission: Impossible (1996)
it’s funny that people used to regard it as unfollowably complex. I’m not saying the plot is straightforward, but if you pay attention then it’s all there. Obviously it can’t be that there were no complicated movies made before 1996, but I guess because at the time it was a summer blockbuster (not enough CGI or superpowers for that nowadays, of course) people didn’t expect to have to think about the story. Arguably it displays the kind of intricacy and complexity we specifically praise in spy thrillers, meaning the film has actually aged very well indeed.Read more here.
Paddington 2 (2017)
Famous for its untarnished 100% Rotten Tomatoes score after almost 200 reviews (the best critical record of any film ever), Paddington 2 consequently comes with an awful lot of hype attached — perhaps too much for a movie that is, at heart, just a kind-hearted bit of fun about a marmalade-loving bear. But then, in our current climate, such a film is less barely necessary (unlike many sequels) and more a bear necessity.Read more here.
Red Sparrow (2018)
the whole movie is sort of… seedy, but without owning it. It wants to be about sex and to somehow be honest about that, while also trying not to titillate in any way. It wants to be realistically violent, while merely being nasty in just one or two scenes. Conversely, it also wants to be a grown-up, labyrinthine Le Carré-esque thriller, but it’s so busy trying to repeatedly fool you that it forgets to properly engage you.Read more here.
“Christmas in July” Review Roundup
for people who live in places where 25th December falls in summery weather, all the trappings of the festival don’t feel so appropriate. Hence at some point someone conceived of “Christmas in July”. I don’t think it’s celebrated on a specific date, but it turns out there is a “Christmas in July” in London — a great big marketing event... Well, what could be more Christmassy than massive commercialisation? [It] seemed as good a point as any to post this selection of leftover reviews from the festive viewing I enjoyed seven months ago, including...Read more here.
- Elf (2003)
- Scrooged (1988)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
More next Sunday.
