MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
written by: Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen
produced by: Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie
directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material)
runtime: 163 min.
U.S. release date: July 12, 2023
Another summer means another movie summer for Tom Cruise to save! After “saving cinema” with “Top Gun: Maverick”, he’s back for another installment of the greatest action/thriller movies series based on a television series with “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”, the seventh outing led by the indefatigable Cruise. Once again, he partners (and co-produces) with Christopher McQuarrie, the director who’s helmed the last couple of sequels, starting with 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation”, and the result is indeed another propulsive spy thriller with more outrageous spectacular action sequences in a story that surprisingly leans a little more on expositional espionage than the last two outings with the IMF gang. There’s still much to enjoy here, even if this “Part One” includes an overused MacGuffin and a phantom menace that’s obviously not going to be fully realized until next year. Read more…
SCARLET (2022) review
written by: Pietro Marcello, Maurizio Braucci, Maud Ameline & Geneviève Brisac
produced by: Charles Gillibert
directed by: Pietro Marcello
rated: not rated
runtime: 100 min.
U.S. release date: June 9, 2022 (limited) & July 7, 2023 (Music Box Theatre, Chicago, IL)
Back in 2019, Italian director Pietro Marcello premiered his second feature at the Venice Film Festival with “Martin Eden” a loose adaptation of Jack London’s 1909 novel of the same name. Known primarily for his documentaries, Marcello presented the moral and sentimental journey of an idealistic man in a captivating manner, while incorporating immersive footage from the period in an almost surreal manner. He takes a similar approach to his latest film, “Scarlet”, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival last year. It too is a loose adaptation, this time of 1923’s “Scarlet Sails” from Russian writer, Alexander Grin. This film plays like an amalgam of a tragic fantasy tale and a verite documentary, which is no surprise coming from Marcello. Read more…
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (2023) review
written by: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp &
James Mangold
produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel
directed by: James Mangold
rated: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action, language and smoking)
runtime: 154 min.
U.S. release date: June 30, 2023
After 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, what we needed was a paired down story with the titular hero as the main focus. That may seem odd since the title of the movies in this series would imply that the various adventures of a certain archeologist would be front and center, but the amount of characters in that last outing from director Steven Spielberg felt a bit too crowded. While I’m aware that many others feel that movie had loads of other problems, I did not. It had probably two too many supporting characters that took away from the time we spend with Harrison Ford‘s iconic whip-cracking “part time” teacher. Because of that, I was open to one more outing. Read more…
NO HARD FEELINGS (2023) review
written by: Gene Stupnitsky and John Phillips
produced by: Alex Saks, Naomi Odenkirk, Marc Provissiero, Jennifer Lawrence & Justine Ciarrocchi
directed by: Gene Stupnitsky
rated: R (for sexual content, language, some graphic nudity and brief drug use)
runtime: 103 min.
U.S. release date: June 23, 2023
A raunchy R-rated comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence? Sign me up! Yeah, that’s what went through my head while watching the trailer for “No Hard Feelings, the hilarious feature written by John Phillips and Gene Stupnitsky (who also directs, his follow-up to “Good Boys”), and it’s the kind of summer movie that has sadly been missing lately. Amid all the expected sequels, requels, and remakes, it’s refreshing to see an R-rated comedy headlined by someone who hasn’t gotten a shot at the genre yet, but considering her pedigree you just know she can pull it off. Lawrence brings her acute comic-timing and formidable sass to her character, along with some surprising venerable nuances. She’s a blast to watch in a movie with absurdities that run throughout sincere and silly moments. Read more…
THE FLASH (2023) review
written by: Christina Hodson
produced by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein & Joby Harold
directed by: Andy Muschietti
rated: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action, some strong language and partial nudity)
runtime: 144 min.
U.S. release date: June 16, 2023
This is the year we will likely see the last of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) superhero movies from Warner Brothers/DC Comics. After “Black Adam” and “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” tanked, the decision to shelve it all and hand the reigns over the co-chair/co-CEO reins to James Gunn and Peter Safran makes sense. They’ve been working on cleaning the slate and plotting out a whole new schedule for what’ll be called the DCU (it all sounds very MCU and that too makes sense) in hopes of creating better stories…not necessarily better movies, mind you, but better stories. So, before we get James Wan’s “Aquaman” sequel, there’s “The Flash”, which is the very first time the scarlet speedster headlines his own movie. Read more…
PAST LIVES (2023) review
written by: Celine Song
produced by: David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon & Pamela Koffler
directed by: Celine Song
rated: PG-13 (for some strong language)
runtime: 106 min.
U.S. release date: June 9, 2023 (select theaters) & June 23, 2023 (wide release)
I believe in love at first site and that it’s possible to have lifelong feelings for someone you perceived as your “first love”. That doesn’t mean you wind up with that person and it also doesn’t mean that if you were to go back in time and follow through and stay with that first love that everything would’ve worked out wonderfully. Nevertheless, the heart reserves a special place, one of tenderness, longing, and curiosity, for that first special someone that somehow either got away or never happened altogether. That place in the heart is true and real and it feels like that’s what writer/director Celine Song is touching on in “Past Lives”, her superb directorial debut that is one the very best films of the year. Read more…
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (2023) review
written by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and David Callaham
produced by: Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller & Christina Steinberg
directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson
rated: PG (for sequences of animated action violence, some language and thematic elements)
runtime: 140 min.
U.S. release date: June 2, 2023
As I experienced “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, I found myself wishing that every superhero movie could be animated. Think about it – no actors aging-out, no need to recast roles, and no rushed visual effects resulting in subpar quality. Sure, some stunt people might be out of work, but hey, less liability. In animation, the opportunities are endless, just like the “anything goes” potential of the source material, and if the animated features would be this epic, immersive and flat-out amazing, why not? Read more…
THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) review
written by: David Magee
produced by: Marc Platt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, John DeLuca & Rob Marshall
directed by: Rob Marshall
rated: PG (for action/peril and some scary images)
runtime: 135 min.
U.S. release date: May 26, 2023
Most of Disney’s live-action remakes of their animated classics have ranged from mediocre to awful, save for a select few. Since there’s unfortunately no sign of the studio rethinking this tactic, one has to wonder if there will ever be one of these to come along and make us think otherwise about what a bad idea all of this is. Well, don’t look at “The Little Mermaid” for your answer. You won’t find it in this update of the Ron Clements and John Musker’s musical classic of the same name from 1989, itself based on the Hand Christian Anderson fairy tale. When fans of that beloved classic see director Rob Marshall’s iteration, there’s really no getting around how each shot, song, line of dialogue and story development, will be predicted – so, where’s the draw? Read more…
KANDAHAR (2023) review
written by: Mitchell LaFortune
produced by: Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Brandon Boyea, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Christian Mercuri, Scott LaStaiti & Ali Jaafar
directed by: Ric Roman Waugh
rated: R (for violence and language)
runtime: 120 min.
U.S. release date: May 26, 2023
Gerard Butler and Ric Roman Waugh have a good thing going. They make action flicks that are better than anyone expects them to be. “Angel Has Fallen” was the first one the Scottish actor and American director made together, a surprisingly solid sequel that became a hit and then came another one, the end-of-the-world disaster thriller, “Greenland” in 2020. Now the pair reunite for a third collaboration with “Kandahar”, a modern-day action thriller with spy elements that is essentially a character study and an enthralling one at that. It’s a movie that subverts expectations by provided more than just nonstop action, focusing on the motivations and personalities of the characters we’re introduced to in a more geopolitical storyline. Read more…
There were two films that screened at the recent Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) that felt like they were cut from the same cloth. Both “The Unknown Country” and “Waiting for the Light to Change” were made by female filmmakers and both films revolve around young female characters on their own personal journey, external and/or internal. By combining stunning pastoral visuals and an overall naturalistic and lyrical style, both in performances and mise-en-scène, these two independent films offer a distinctive viewing experience. Read more…
