Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1

Actors: Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, alongside an ensemble cast including Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny

Rating: 9 out of 10, Delivers exactly what you expect from an MI film and damn it, they make you love it anyways. Cruise is still amazingly doing his own non-CGI stunts and providing the needed pathos as he goes about trying to save the world yet again with his merry band of misfits. The stakes are predictably astronomical but this is the IMF we’re talking about. The fight on top of a moving train has been done so many times, but someone they make it fresh and scary. Hayley Atwell, Captain America’s (and my) crush, arrives on the scene with appropriate dash and adds a lot to the already talented cast. I just cannot dislike a movie when it delivers exactly what it promises and forces you to enjoy it. I certainly did.

MVP: Cruise as Ethan Hunt, just for the motorcycle jump

Night of the Hunter

Actors: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish, James Gleason, Evelyn Varden, Peter Graves, Don Beddoe, Gloria Castillo, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce

Rating: 8 out of 10, Mitchum plays against type as a homicidal bible thumper in Appalachia during the depression. He is so cooly evil that he’s genuinely scary. The film itself is incredible as the staging of some of the scenes grabs the eye. Mitchum is hunting for money hidden by a soon to die father with his two children. Mitchum slimily inserts himself into their mother’s life and the killing begins. Gish is particularly effective as the counterpoint to Mitchum’s pervasive evil. A great watch.

MVP: Mitchem as the deranged Harry Powell

Stagecoach

Actors: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Andy Devine, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Louise Platt, George Bancroft, Donald Meek, Berton Churchill, Tim Holt

Rating: 9 out of 10, Arguably the best western ever made where John Wayne establishes himself as a leading man. You can almost feel the camera gravitating towards him as soon as he appears. He joins a stagecoach full of questionable characters heading through Indian country towards the inevitable gunfight. Each the characters get an arc and since John Ford was helming the camera work is unmatched. Just a great film that has aged remarkably well.

MVP: Wayner dominates and becomes a star as the Ringo Kid

Red River

Actors: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, John Ireland, Hank Worden, Noah Beery Jr., Harry Carey Jr., Paul Fix

Rating: 7 out of 10, A true classic with Wayne playing against type for the first time as a true heel who undergoes a mutiny by his cowboys while leading a cattle drive. Clift just oozes charisma as the hero, adopted son, who saves Wayne from himself and picks up a gal along with way. Classic shots of the cattle drive through tough terrain, even more so as it was done without CGI. Great movie.

MVP: Clift as the gifted Matt

Blue Beetle

Actors: Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes / Blue Beetle alongside Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez.

Rating: 9 out of 10, While this super hero movie certainly has its flaws, and it does, it’s saved by the very appealing cast. I’m married to a Hispanic lady and we both laughed continuously as we heard so many of the sayings and issues that arise when our respective cultures clashed over the years. The movie focuses on a Hispanic family’s trial and tribulations as the son unwittingly becomes a superhero pursued by Susan Sarandon (good work if you can get it). George Lopez is hysterical as the weird uncle and steals every scene he’s in. The message of family permeates the plot and serves it well. Abuelas are tough. Loved the movie.

MVP: Maridueña as Jaime Reyes