Minority Report (2002): I have a vague memory of initially disliking MR, then rewatching it and being a convert. But this all happened twenty years ago, so what about today? Well, I lean towards my first impression, though only in so far as to claim that MR is not the masterpiece I later felt it might be. The story goes that in the (near) future, a pre-crimes division is able to prevent murders thanks to the visions of three precognitives. A ball rolls down a tube with a victim’s name on it, another down another tube with the perpetrator’s and then Tom Cruise has anything between thirty minutes and a few days to determine the who and the where. Then there’s some running, naturally, and the big looming question of how you can condemn someone to (a special, dedicated) prison for something they haven’t actually done. Sure, it’s a cool concept and it does tie in with the autocratic themes the movie more implies, than explores. Watching it today, with all our current autocratic anxieties, you would think the movie would hit harder. I don’t think it really does, not in the view Spielberg framed it. I also…deeply disliked Janusz Kamiński’s oversaturated visuals, which was a bit of a trademark around that time for him and Spielberg. The plot is also tenuous and some things barely hold together, and while I only peruse the outline of Phillip K. Dick’s story this is based on, it does read as a more satisfying, uncompromising take. All that said, it’s still an entertaining movie that’s rife for a lot of debate, but I don’t think it reaches the heights I once felt it did. 8
The Guest (2014): I really, really liked this one when it came out. Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett are reunited after You’re Next (2011), but I think they managed to raise it up a level here. In one of those movies set in Nowhere, USA, this feels half Donnie Darko, half Drive, in setting, tone and visuals. Dan Stevens leads with aplomb as David, a soldier returned from the Middle East, visiting the family of a fallen comrade. He’s all “Yes ma’am” and quite a bit of a looker, and quickly connects with the teenage-ish children, Anna (Maika Monroe) and Luke (Brendan Meyer). When, as one would expect, things are confirmed to not be what they appear, the movie really veers hard into a different direction, led by a thumping electro-synth soundtrack. Rewatching it, I was a lot more taken with the set-up, than with the reveal and showdown. Still, the charm that Stevens brings makes it easy to forgive such misgivings, and you just settle into it, for the ride. 8
Major League (1989): Directed and written by to-be Oscar winner David S. Ward, this is a well-oiled underdog story, led by an impressive cast. Wesley Snipes, Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert or Rene Russo make up rag-tag group of characters, who are more or less enjoyable to watch. There’s some aging spots on this one that make it show its years, but most of it still works well. Plot is a bit of a reverse Ted Lasso, where an heiress takes over an ailing sports franchise (the 2021 renamed Cleveland Indians) and does her best to undermine them, in order to move the club to the more pleasant surroundings of Miami. In spite of her efforts to assemble a sure-fire flop of a team, the group slowly gels and overcomes the odds to ruin our evildoer’s plans. There are many things going on here, some interesting subplots, some questionable ones, but all in all I think it’s an above average genre flick. More so, it’s probably the first movie that made me kind of understand and take an interest into baseball, so there’s that as well. 7
Circle (2015): A typical sci-fi example, for an interesting idea that suffers in the way it’s fleshed out. A group of fifty people awaken in a room where they quickly realize that one by one they’re being killed off, based on who they vote for. The structure is obviously problematic in fleshing out characters and maintaining momentum, but in spite of it, I thought it did a good job at engaging. I think its biggest issues are the heavy stereotyping and its inability to transcend the formula it so quickly established for itself. Well, that and the fact that these people really don’t act like people, they are far too collected and pragmatic, with vague coalitions forming based on the most elementary (and unconvincing) of principles. Yet. Yet. Yet, I can’t deny its attraction and the sense that there’s a better movie there somewhere. Maybe in the upcoming sequel. 6
Adulthood (2025): Just listening to Bill Hader talking to Bill Simmons about Airplane! (1980) the other day and they were pointing out how the “funny” comedy has died out in recent years. I wasn’t expecting ha-ha funny from this one, but I managed to squeeze in some chuckles in spite of the awkward brand of comedy that permeates it. Awkwardness seems to be the go-to in general, whether we’re talking about this or horror, the only genre-variant that appears palatable. Well, in Adulthood, a pair of siblings, played by Kaya Scodelario and Josh Gad, reunite when their mother suffers a(nother) stroke. In their childhood home, they discover the body of a neighbour of theirs who had disappeared thirty years before and make some questionable choices to protect themselves and their mother. It is in these moments where the movie goes against the usual tropes that it breathes life, but the expectation to accept the transformation that Scodelario’s character goes through in the latter part of the movie is a stretch. Without any big standout moments, Adulthood relies on the performances of its well-rounded cast, which proves just about enough in the end to justify its existence. 6
tributary stu 