May 27 2022

Top Gun: Maverick

Serving over thirty years as one of the Navy’s top fighter pilots, Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell (Tom Cruise), finds himself chosen to be an instructor for Top Gun, the elite school for fighter pilots; but, the training and wisdom he will impart will be his final post. Overshadowing his mission is the reconciliation between multiple friends, family, and lovers. To thread the needle further will require the best dog fighting and diplomacy Mitchell has ever had to employ, will it be enough to bring him and his students home? Written by a team of writers based on characters from Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. and story by Peter Craig and Directed by Joseph Kosinski this beast of a blockbuster, delayed to theatres for nearly three years due to the pandemic, is poised to demonstrate the power that Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Tom Cruise are able to wield over the film going population. Narratively this incarnation of Top Gun parallels its 1986 predecessor at nearly every turn, although this go round we’re given a shred more raison d’etre and depth to Mitchell’s character, and, conveniently we’re given closure to a handful of loose ends along the way. But in reality, it’s not character development we’re after here, it’s F-18 fighter jets, sound barrier breaking iron winged angels screaming across the sky in glorious formation performing combat maneuvers to dizzy the senses, that’s what we’re here for, to that end, you’ve come to right place. With impeccable cinematography and a noted minimal amount of CGI trickery, this is a film that indeed begs to be seen on the biggest screen possible with the most immersive sound one can fathom. Bottom line, it’s a Tom Cruise action flick, and, love him or hate him, his films are crowd pleasing mega hits for a reason, this one’s no less. Running two hours and eleven minutes Top Gun: Maverick is rated PG-13.


May 20 2022

Men

Following the death of her ex-husband (Paapa Essiedu), a young woman, Harper (Jessie Buckley), heads to the English countryside to settle her mind and relax. But, peace and relaxation are quite possibly the last thing she’ll receive as the process of birth, life, death and regeneration is embodied in this quaint village. Finding solace will take some deep self work.Written and Directed by Alex Garland brace yourself for rich religious overtones, exploring principles of the circle of life from the Norse and Judeo-Christian backgrounds. Unsettling, disturbing, and all together wonderful at the same time, this cinematic journey mixes just the right dashes of horror and suspense to successfully spin the audience and reflect on the evolution of men, or lack thereof. This is a mood piece and not for the faint of heart, but, worth the attempt to digest. Running one hour and 40 minutes, Men is rated R.


May 6 2022

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

When Dr. Steven Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) finds himself caught up with a young girl (Xochitl Gomez) from his dreams, theories and mysteries of the Multiverse start to expand and reveal themselves. Deciphering what’s coming his way will require help from not only from his own universe but from the multiverse as well– A mind bending journey that will require the lightest and darkest of magic to survive, keeping one’s sanity and purity may not be possible.Written By Michael Waldron and Directed by Sam Raimi, this dark turn into the Marvel world runs like a Coney Island rollercoaster with the brake lines cut. Which is to say, it’s almost total chaos with just the hint or suggestion of control to arrive the viewer through a spectacle that can only be described as Raimi vision, and, it’s a blast. Smattered with signature cinematography and creative guts, Raimi has been granted a lot of license to create a film that accurately blends the worlds of Horror, Fantasy, and Comic book schtick into a messy but cohesive picture. All points of the ensemble sit nicely in picture including Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. And, score from Danny Elfman puts the finer point on things to polish this ride into its frenzied peak and release. Worth seeing on the big screen, this compact by today’s standards (2 hours and 6 minutes of runtime) moves at a swift clip from start to finish. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is rated PG-13.