Heading into Final Reckoning this up coming Thursday, a quick ranking of where I’m at on the franchise:

• 1. Fallout
• 2. Rouge Nation
• 3. Dead Reckoning
• 4. Mission: Impossible 3
• 5. Ghost Protocal
• 6. Mission: Impossible
• 7. Mission: Impossible 2

My hopes are high for the 8th entry, so it will be interesting where it will he when I post my final rankings next week. On to the reviews!

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First, the premise: The Weeknd gets held hostage by a fan in a hotel after a one night stand. That is it. That is about 15 minutes of plot spread over a little under 2 hours. What we have to cover the rest of this just basically a music video that serves as a companion piece to his 6th album of the same name. On that standpoint, it’s a success. As a competent movie, it very much does not. Jenna Ortega plays the jilted woman, and she is all over the place. She plays Anima like a sociopath, and it is just insane. At one point she explains to The Weeknd what Blinding Lights and Gasoline really mean, while dancing to them, as he is tied to the bed. Just wild. Also just as baffling, why is Barry Keoghan in this as Abel’s manager? Why this? The biggest question is for the director, Trey Edward Shults: what happened? It Comes at Night and Waves were very good, competent films. Why choose this vanity project that is only here to help see an album? I understand The Weeknd is really the director here, so why take this gig? It also makes it more baffling when you learn he was co-writer of the film. This was a painfully dull “film” that probably would work better if you were a fan of The Weeknd, which I am not. I am just the person who thought it wouldn’t be that bad. I was wrong. Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video is more a movie than this. There are still 6 and a half months of films left this year, but I shudder to think there will be another worse than this one this year. I warned you.

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Following my last movie watched, anything would be better. Thankfully, this was a good one. This film is based on Joe Scaravella, the owner of an Italian restaurant that operates with actual grandmothers as the chefs. Vince Vaughn plays Joe, and he is pretty good in this. He really conveys the grief and sadness that losing a loved one entails. The supporting cast is good in this too. Our nonnas are played by Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Braccco, Talia Shire, and Brenda Vaccaro. I will say this about the film: it’s aggressively Italian. It is also beat to have two of the nonnas be Connie Corleone and Karen Hill. There is an extra level to this when you learn Stallone considered Sarandon for Adrian in Rocky, before going with Shire. This was a pretty straightforward Netflix movie, that was also kind of comforting.

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Top two next week are not had to guess. They will be the top two films of the month, so it will be interesting how high they get their numbers to go. It will also be interesting if those two really do end the runs for Sinners and Thunderbolts*.

1. Lilo & Stitch
2. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
3. Final Destination: Bloodlines
4. Sinners
5. Thunderbolts*

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Thursday is Ethan Hunt’s “final” mission, but my review for Lilo & Stitch will be the next week. I see that with the kids Sunday afternoon, and I’ll just save that for the next week’s post. What else is happening on my social media is The Favorites Tournament. That is my 11th tournament I have done, and it will be between my 16 favorite movies. That will begin Tuesday.