In the summer of 1939, Richard and Frances Myles are approached at their Oxford college to do a simple-sounding spy-related task during their upcoming European vacation. One thing leads to another until eventually these amateur spies are on the run in the Tyrol. MacInnes had traveled in Europe in the 1930s and brings a strong sense of place to the locations she describes, as well as a strong dislike of the to­tal­i­tar­i­an­ism that the Germans had fallen into.

De Reünie is a Dutch film starring Thekla Reuten as Sabine, a woman who is disturbed by her half memories of her final year of secondary school some twenty years ago, when her girlfriend Isabel dis­ap­peared without trace. The arrival of Olaf—once a classmate, still a jerk—at her workplace triggers more memories as they are drawn together. Slowly, very slowly, through extended flashbacks, we learn more about that fateful spring in a small coastal town as Sabine and Isabel fell out of love. In the present day, both Sabine and Olaf grow more …continue.

I'm familiar with most of Shake­speare's plays, but not only had I never seen Cymbeline before today, I knew nothing about it. While the per­for­mance we saw was enjoyable, I began to see why it's one of the lesser-known plays. It's one of Shake­speare's later, minor comedies, with such familiar elements as a cross­dress­ing heroine, confused and separated lovers, false ac­cu­sa­tions of infidelity, stolen princes, a knavish villain who gets his come­up­pance, and a loyal servant. It's easy to see a tired Shake­speare trotting out yet another comedy to amuse the groundlings.

We saw the Greenstage production at the scenic Lake Wilderness …continue.

Three bomb disposal techs in Iraq are the subject of The Hurt Locker: Sgt James (Jeremy Renner), Sgt Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), and Spec Eldridge (Brian Geraghty). James has grown addicted to war and he is reckless and cavalier about disarming bombs, while Sanborn is in­creas­ing­ly angry at James' en­dan­ger­ment of them all and Eldridge grows ever more terrified and fatalistic. The Hurt Locker is a gritty and visceral war film. We have no idea what's going to happen next and anyone could be blown up or shot at any time. The bomb makers …continue.

The Ghost­busters remake is a light­weight but enjoyable summer comedy and a lot of fun. Four women, mostly dis­cred­it­ed scientists, fight an increasing number of paranormal incursions and kick some as­s—with­out wearing skintight clothing or being adjuncts to male leads. Internet trolls may be outraged but the non-tra­di­tion­al casting works. Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones are funny and jell together. And Chris Hemsworth as the hunky but dim re­cep­tion­ist is an amusing bit of reverse casting, while Kate McKinnon seems to have become a queer icon overnight.

I dislike Hol­ly­wood's …continue.

1018AD. King Cnut of Denmark (aka Canute) has recently conquered England, and now must broker peace between the Saxons and the Danes at Oxford. Also in Oxford are Winston, a talented il­lu­mi­na­tor of man­u­scripts, and Halfdan, a roguish half-Danish half-Saxon landless noble. A prominent Saxon has been murdered and Cnut commands Winston and Halfdan to in­ves­ti­gate.

While the mystery was reasonably while done, I found the anachro­nis­tic speech patterns quite jarring. The book is translated from Danish; I presume this is also true in the original.

Star Trek Beyond is the best of the Kelvin timeline Trek movies, easily surpassing the two previous episodes in the reboot.

The Enterprise is lured into an ambush where the ship is destroyed by Krall, a mega­lo­ma­ni­ac who has a grudge against the Federation. Most of the crew are captured, leaving only a few of the officers at large to run around fre­net­i­cal­ly. They find an ancient Federation ship, free the crew, and stop Krall before he can destroy a giant starbase.

I thought that this was the best of the three Kelvin …continue.

Abigail has gone missing from creepy Blackwater Farm days before her tenth birthday. Her twin Olivia has been mute ever since. Their strange mother is not helping matters and the father is acting oddly too. DC Jennifer Knight, who belongs to a secret psychic police task force, is the family liaison officer. She must convince Olivia to break her silence and reveal what she knows before time runs out for Abigail.

This was a reasonably good thriller that I think would have been better without the su­per­nat­ur­al elements.

Millenia ago, the Dark Elves almost destroyed the Nine Realms with their ultimate weapon known as the Aether. Now the Con­ver­gence, when the Nine Realms briefly align, is imminent and the surviving Dark Elves have returned to reclaim the Aether. Meanwhile on Midgard (Earth), as­tro­physi­cist Jane Foster discovers portals linking the realms, whereupon she in­ad­ver­tent­ly becomes the host of the Aether. Thor rescues his lover and brings her to Asgard. Many battles ensue across the Nine Realms as Thor prevents the Elves from invoking the Aether at the Con­ver­gence.

I preferred the first Thor film …continue.

By 2154, the rich have moved off-planet to a utopic habitat, while the teeming billions languish in slums below. Elysium has Med-Bays which can cure anything; Earth scrapes by. Max (Matt Damon), an ex-con des­per­ate­ly in need of a cure, agrees to shoot down the shuttle of an Elysian CEO and hijack his brain. This lethal variety of industrial espionage leaves him holding the keys of the kingdom and makes him Los Angeles' most wanted.

Blomkamp has taken the ever-growing gap that exists between rich and poor today, and ex­ag­ger­at­ed it into an un­scaleable cliff with the …continue.