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Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
25 films to check out in summer 2025: From Liam Neeson in Naked Gun to Scarlett Johansson in Jurassic World: Rebirth
When does the summer begin? Hollywood , sharing some ancient Druidical energy, always gets a few of its big beasts out of the cage before May is done. This year it was Thunderbolts* and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning . But we are plumping for the cinematic space laid out between the Cannes and Venice film festivals: June, July, August. Sorry to say, sequels and reboots still dominate the blockbuster economy. The only big-budget live-action event film not based on existing intellectual property here is Brad Pitt's Grand Prix drama F1. Oh well. There are still smaller gems to seek out. Ballerina The John Wick films helped transform action cinema over the past decade. This first spin-off features Ana de Armas as, yes, a ballerina who is training to be an assassin. Len 'Underworld' Wiseman directs. The cast also includes Gabriel Byrne and Anjelica Huston. Opens June 6th Dangerous Animals Dangerous Animals was featured in the Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Festival. One of the most surprising inclusions in the otherwise austere Directors' Fortnight strand at the recent Cannes Festival was Sean Byrne's shocker about a surfer trying to avoid being fed to sharks by a serial killer. The Australian director is hitherto best known for the 2015 horror The Devil's Candy. Opens June 6th How to Train Your Dragon DreamWorks' take on Cressida Cowell's adored children's books was one of the most charming family animations of the past 15 years. Two solid sequels followed, but now, the laws of contemporary cinema being what they are, the time has come for a live-action remake. Trailers suggest they are not moving far from the original. Opens June 13th READ MORE Elio Battle commences. A week after the Dragon flick, Pixar makes its latest play for the family dollar with an animation about a space-mad kid who is beamed into an alien world. The recent Oscar winner Zoë Saldaña is among the voices. Domee Shi, creator of the studio's delightful Turning Red, codirects. Opens June 20th 28 Years Later It is not really 28 years since the first sequel to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, but George W Bush was still US president when Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's decent 28 Weeks Later emerged. Boyle is back for zombie fun with Ralph Fiennes and Jodie Comer. A fourth film is due early next year. Opens June 20th F1 Brad Pitt (right) stars in F1 A lot is riding on this motor-racing flick from Top Gun: Maverick's Joseph Kosinski. Brad Pitt stars alongside Damson Idris and our own Kerry Condon. The veteran Jerry Bruckheimer and the top driver Lewis Hamilton are among the producers. Kosinski denied the budget was as high as a reported $300 million, but it ain't cheap. Opens June 25th M3gan 2.0 The first killer-doll movie was a hoot. So we have a right to expect yucks from a movie that hangs around the creation of a deadlier rival to M3gan called Amelia. What? Why not Am3lia? Gerard Johnstone, Kiwi director of the original, is back behind the megaphone. Opens June 27th Jurassic World: Rebirth Jonathan Bailey as paleontologist Dr Henry Loomis and Scarlett Johansson as covert operations expert Zora Bennett in Jurassic World Rebirth. Photograph: Jasin Boland/Universal Pictures The Jurassic World trilogy wasn't much cop, but it made a staggering amount of money. Express no surprise that the series continues with a return to the research facility where the experiment began. Gareth Edwards, who made the attractive The Creator, directs. Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali star. Opens July 2nd The Shrouds The Shrouds is about a company that markets live relays of decaying corpses in the grave. David Cronenberg's latest, about a company that markets live relays of decaying corpses in the grave, finally gets a deserved release after premiering at Cannes in 2024. Shows its origins as a TV series, but the atmosphere is grimly compelling. Opens July 4th Hot Milk Adaptation of Deborah Levy's popular novel about a mother and daughter's journey to Spain at a time of economic uncertainty. Rebecca Lenkiewicz, writer of fine films such as Ida and Disobedience, makes her directorial feature debut. Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps star. Opens July 4th Superman David Corenswet in Superman Lordy, this again! One David Corenswet follows Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill in the latest effort to make sense of a now-ancient superhero. The sometimes snarky James Gunn has already annoyed the nerdisphere with a trailer featuring Krypto the Superdog. Opens July 11th Four Letters of Love Pierce Brosnan , Gabriel Byrne and Helena Bonham Carter are the senior stars in an adaptation of the Irish writer Niall Williams 's sweepingly romantic novel. Rising (or possibly risen) actors Fionn O'Shea and Ann Skelly provide Gen Z interest. 'Squarely aimed at hopeless romantics,' Screen International tells us. Opens July 18th Harvest The antidote, perhaps, to Superman, Athina Rachel Tsangari's challenging drama goes among the mud and cruelty of the English Middle Ages. Caleb Landry Jones and Harry Melling star in a film that divided audiences at the 2024 Venice film festival. Opens July 18th I Know What You Did Last Summer The odd habit of naming sequels after the opening episode continues. Apparently, the new film has a fresh array of teenagers seeking advice, after covering up an automobile accident, from survivors of the original 1997 horror. Yes, Jennifer Love Hewitt is back. More power to her. Opens July 18th The Fantastic Four: First Steps The Fantastic Four could be huge, or it could be a disaster. Photograph: 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios Interesting one, this. There have been three outings for the venerable Marvel superheroes on screen this century. None clicked with audiences. The latest attempt to break the curse stars Pedro Pescal , Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Could be huge. Could be a disaster. Opens July 25th The Bad Guys 2 Hang on, what was that again? Oh, yes. That 2022 animation that cast a variation of the Rat Pack with anthropomorphic wolves, snakes and sharks (but not rats, oddly). It seems as if the gang have been called back into action to do 'one last job'. If you say so. Opens July 25th Bring Her Back Danny and Michael Philippou, Australian online pranksters who go by the collective name of RackaRacka, had a deserved hit with the ghostly horror Talk to Me in 2023. They return with a film that casts Sally Hawkins as another dabbler in occult rituals. Opens August 1st The Naked Gun No less a figure than Liam Neeson replaces Leslie Nielsen in a reboot of the classic comedy about a bumbling detective. The trailer divided fans, but anyone who saw Neeson in Ricky Gervais's Extras knows he can do deadpan comedy. Opens August 8th Weapons Julia Garner in Weapons Zach Cregger, director of the horror hit Barbarian, moves into the big leagues with a shocker about the mysterious vanishing of all but one child from the same class. Cregger has claimed Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia as an influence. Josh Brolin and Julia Garner star in a film of which much is expected. Opens August 8th Freakier Friday Long-awaited sequel to the 2003 remake of the 1976 Disney flick about a mother and daughter swapping bodies. Will this still work with a 37-year-old Lindsay Lohan and a 65-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis ? It will surely be fun to see them try. Opens August 8th Materialists Celine Song's follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Past Lives has been shuffled around the schedule with worrying randomness. It looks as if Dakota Johnson , Chris Evans and Pedro Pescal are starring in a traditional Manhattan sitcom. Nothing at all wrong with that. Opens August 15th The Life of Chuck There was puzzlement when Mike Flanagan's unheralded adaptation of a Stephen King story beat the likes of Anora to the People's Choice Award at Toronto last year – a sure sign of Oscar potential – but the sentimental philosophical yarn has all the makings of a crowd-pleaser. Tom Hiddleston stars. Opens August 22nd Sorry, Baby Arriving after raves at Sundance and Cannes, Eva Victor's tonally precise, serious comedy follows a university lecturer as she attempts to process a sexual assault. Victor somehow finds humour in unshakeable trauma. The director stars opposite Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges and John Carroll Lynch. Opens August 22nd Eddington Joaquin Phoenix (left) as a New Mexico sheriff Ari Aster follows up Beau Is Afraid with a film that, if possible, has already proven even more divisive than that provocation. Premiering at Cannes, the new movie stars Joaquin Phoenix as a New Mexico sheriff who gives in to paranoia and conspiracy theories during the Covid lockdowns. Funny and infuriating. Opens August 22nd Caught Stealing Welcome back, Darren Aronofsky. The latest from the director of Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan casts Austin Butler as a former baseball player who gets dragged into criminal mischief during the 1990s. A starry cast also features Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith and Carol Kane. Opens August 29th
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Best Movies Streaming in June 2025: 'A Minecraft Movie' Debuts on Max
As the summer movie season continues in theaters this month with expected blockbusters like Brad Pitt's 'F1,' the live-action 'How to Train Your Dragon' remake, the 'John Wick' spinoff 'Ballerina' and more, one of the year's biggest movie sensations will actually be available to watch from home. Enter 'A Minecraft Movie' on Max. The Warner Bros. release dominated the spring box office with $940 million worldwide and caused a social media frenzy thanks to rowdy screenings in which popcorn buckets were thrown and the phrase 'chicken jockey!' was chanted by millions. Some screenings got so out of control that the police were called. More from Variety Only Netflix's Tudum Could Put Lady Gaga, 'Stranger Things,' Ben Affleck and 'Love Is Blind' on the Same Stage. It Was Exhausting Lady Gaga Does the Viral 'Wednesday' Dance, Performs 'Abracadabra' and 'Zombieboy' at Netflix's Tudum 'Wednesday' Season 2 Clip Reveals Haley Joel Osment as a Doll-Collecting Serial Killer 'It's weird when you're having too much fun and the cops get called,' director Jared Hess told Entertainment Weekly during the height of 'A Minecraft Movie' madness. 'It's funny because I think it's just literally cheering and throwing popcorn, which is so funny to me that cops are getting called for popcorn. Yeah, it's hilarious. I've seen so many funny videos.' 'It's great, especially when people are climbing on their friends' shoulders and standing up and cheering for those moments,' he added. 'It's like this crazy anticipation. But, man, I'm just glad people are making memories with their friends and families.' Will kids start throwing popcorn at home? 'A Minecraft Movie' is one of several high profile titles debuting on streaming in June. Check out the list below for more Max has not yet revealed the exact date 'A Minecraft Movie' hits streaming, it has confirmed a June launch. So yes, get ready to scream 'chicken jockey!' and throw some popcorn at your TV from home as the blockbuster hit is bound to be the month's biggest streaming sensation. Starring Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Hansen and Jennifer Coolidge, 'A Minecraft Movie' powered to $940 million worldwide to become the biggest box office hit of 2025 so De Niro's mob drama 'The Alto Knights' was a huge box office disappointment for Warner Bros. earlier this year, but perhaps it will find a larger audience when it has its streaming debut on Max this month. De Niro plays two characters, the mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, in the movie from director Barry Levinson and the writer of 'Goodfellas.'Netflix is bringing a collection of Alfred Hitchcock films to the streaming service this month. Starting June 1, a collection of classic Hitchcock films will be available to stream in the U.S. Those include 'Vertigo,' 'Rear Window,' 'Frenzy,' 'The Man Who Knew Too Much,' 'Family Plot' and 'The Birds.' These titles join Hitchcock's genre-defining masterpiece 'Psycho,' which had already been available on the streaming platform. In addition, Netflix's Hitchcock collection will include fan-favorite films inspired by the iconic director, such as Jordan Peele's 'Us' and Zach Cregger's 'Barbarian.'As part of Netflix's June celebration of Alfred Hitchcock (see above), the streaming giant is adding a few recent hit movies inspired by the legendary director. Zach Cregger's 'Barbarian' is one such movie. The twist-packed 2022 horror movie was a word-of-mouth sensation at the box office with $45 million grossed worldwide on a production budget in the $4 million range. The timing of 'Barbarian's' arrival on Netflix also couldn't be more perfect as Cregger's new horror movie, 'Weapons,' opens in theaters Aug. 8 from Warner Peele's 'Us' arrives on Netflix this month as part of the streamer's Alfred Hitchcock celebration (see above). Peele was vocal during the 2019 release of 'Us' that Hitchcock was one of his biggest inspirations, specifically movies like 'Vertigo' which also explored the theme of doppelgängers. Lupita Nyong'o gives a tour-de-force performance in 'Us' as a mother trying to protect her family against their sinister doubles known as the 'Tethered.'Taraji P. Henson headlines Tyler Perry's latest Netflix original movie, 'Straw.' The official synopsis reads: 'A single mother's world unravels in chaos as her day goes from bad to worse to catastrophic as she struggles to care for her ill daughter. Pushed to the brink by a world that seems indifferent to her existence, she's forced to confront impossible choices in a society that offers her no safety net.' The supporting cast includes Sherri Shepherd, Teyana Taylor, Sinbad, Rockmond Dunbar, Ashley Versher, Mike Merrill and Glynn an exclusive Imax theatrical release earlier this year, Sony Pictures Classics' exhilarating documentary 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' arrives on Netflix this month. The doc explores the group's origins with never-before-seen footage and commentary from the notoriously private band, consisting of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Described as a 'hybrid docu-concert' movie, the film also includes rare, unseen performances from concert halls of Led Zeppelin's nascent tours. 'Becoming Led Zeppelin,' as the title suggests, does not include the band's entire career but focuses on its formation in the is likely to have one of the biggest streaming hits of June with the premiere of the new documentary 'Titan: The OceanGate Disaster,' which investigates the submersible explosion that became a global news story in June 2023. Per Netflix, the documentary 'delves into the psyche of billionaire OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and explores his relentless quest to bring oceanic exploration to the masses — at any cost. Through exclusive access to whistleblower testimony, audio recordings and footage from the company's early days, the film provides an unprecedented look at the technical challenges, moral dilemmas and poor decisions that culminated in the catastrophic expedition.'David Attenborough draws on 'a lifetime of experience to reveal Earth's most spectacular underwater habitats, showing that we're in the greatest age of Ocean discovery and highlighting its vital importance,' reads Disney+'s synopsis for Attenborough's latest nature documentary. 'While exposing the Ocean's biggest challenges, Attenborough's message is one of hope: the opportunity for marine life recovery on an unprecedented scale is within reach.'Emmy-winning director Cristina Costantini is behind the original Disney+ Sally Ride documentary 'Sally.' The official synopsis reads: 'Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret. Revealing the romance and sacrifices of their 27 years together, Sally's life partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, tells the full story of this complicated and iconic astronaut for the first time.'Julianne Moore already has one summer streaming hit courtesy of Netflix's limited series 'Sirens.' Can she deliver a second for Apple TV+? Moore stars opposite Sydney Sweeney and Domhnall Gleeson in the thriller 'Echo Valley' from director Michael Pearce and writer Brad Ingelsby (creator of 'Mare of Easttown'). Moore stars as Kate and Sweeney is her troubled daughter Claire, who shows up unexpected at her mother's house one night covered in someone else's blood. Kate is forced to go to great lengths to figure out what happened to her daughter and protect her from more danger.'Bono: Stories of Surrender' is now streaming on Apple TV+ after a splashy world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Andrew Dominik ('The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,' 'Blonde'), the film reimagines the 'U2' frontman's one-man stage show for the screen. Per Apple: 'As Bono pulls back the curtain on a remarkable life and the family, friends and faith that have challenged and sustained him, he also reveals personal stories about his journey as a son, father, husband, activist and rock star.'Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino is behind 'Parthenope,' which A24 released in theaters earlier this year but is hopefully going to gain some more traction when it arrives on Max this month. Per the studio's synopsis: 'Parthenope, born in the sea of Naples in 1950, searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters.' From Variety's review: ''Parthenope' is an exquisite treatise on cinematic beauty. Chronicling her birth, her youthful teenage summers and the years she spends adrift as a young adult, the film is an intoxicating reflection on the way people and places are seen, and the way they see themselves.'Daisy Ridley headlines 'Cleaner,' the latest action tentpole from James Bond director Martin Campbell ('GoldenEye,' 'Casino Royale'). Per the official synopsis: 'Set in present-day London, a group of radical activists take over an energy company's annual gala, seizing 300 hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Their just cause is hijacked by an extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to an ex-soldier turned window cleaner, played by Ridley, suspended 50 stories up on the outside of the building, to save those trapped inside, including her younger brother.'In a full-circle moment, the acclaimed Looney Tunes movie 'The Day the Earth Blew Up' arrives on Max this month after originally being produced exclusively for the streaming platform. Plans changed and Ketchup Entertainment rescued the movie and gave it a theatrical release to the tune of $15 million worldwide. The sci-fi comedy centers on Porky Pig and Daffy Duck as they become the unlikely saviors of the planet during an alien Soderbergh's 'Presence' arrives on Hulu this month after a January theatrical release from Neon. Marking the filmmaker's first foray into supernatural horror, the movie puts a twist on the genre by telling a haunted house story from the ghost's perspective, with the camera representing its first-person view as it haunts a suburban family as they crack under the pressure of internal and external forces. Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday and Julia Fox Johnson's 'The Actor' follows Paul (André Holland), an actor who wakes up one day in a small town in Ohio and can't remember the first thing about who he is. As he begins investigating and questioning the people in his life, he falls in love with a costume designer, Edna (Gemma Chan), and gets wrapped up in a mind-bending odyssey. Which of his many identities are truly his?Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and 'Ted Lasso' favorite Nick Mohammed join forces for the original Amazon Prime Video action comedy 'Deep Cover.' Howard plays an improv comedy teacher beginning to question if she's missed her shot at success. When an undercover cop (Sean Bean) offers her the role of a lifetime, she recruits two of her students (Bloom and Mohammed) to infiltrate London's gangland by impersonating dangerous Stewart and Steven Yeun's romance 'Love Me' centers on a buoy and a satellite who meet online long after humanity's extinction. As they learn what life was like on Earth, they discover who they are and what it means to be alive and in love. Blending live-action and animation, 'Love Me' tells an intimate romance story on an epic scale as the characters evolve from animatronic machines to human beings across billions of years. Best of Variety Ranking Every 'Mission: Impossible' Movie, From Worst to Best All 23 Best Picture Nominees Directed by Women in Oscars History 'The Last of Us' Season 2 Cast Guide: Who's Who From the Video Game?
Globe and Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Beat the S&P 500 With This Cash-Gushing Dividend Stock
You don't need to uncover the next big artificial intelligence stock to outperform the broader stock market. Sometimes, consistent and profitable growth is all you need to achieve outsize investment returns. Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) is an animal healthcare company that split off from Pfizer in 2013. The stock has beaten the S&P 500 ever since, and now may be as good an opportunity as any to buy the stock. Here is why Zoetis is a compelling buy today, and why investors can continue to expect outstanding investment returns over the coming years. A powerhouse product portfolio with many winners Innovation is at the core of the pharmaceutical business, where companies invest substantial resources to develop and obtain regulatory approval for drugs and therapies. Once approved, their patents essentially block out competition for years. The catch is that drug development often fails, so the winners need to compensate for the failures, too. Size and deep pockets are advantages here, and Zoetis sits at the top of the mountain in animal health. The company develops and sells devices and drugs for treating pets and livestock, including cats and dogs, cattle, fish, swine, and poultry. The company expects 2025 sales to exceed $9.2 billion, driven by a portfolio of approximately 300 product lines, including 17 blockbusters that generated at least $100 million in sales last year. Its diversity translates to stable revenue streams. Zoetis' annual sales have continually set new records every year since the company began trading over a decade ago. Zoetis grows and gushes cash, a lucrative combination Zoetis is a highly profitable enterprise, converting roughly $0.25 of every revenue dollar into free cash flow. Having billions of dollars in annual cash profits enables Zoetis to hit the investing trifecta for great stocks: Doing all these things simultaneously is why the stock has performed as well as it has. Data by YCharts. Importantly, this should continue for the foreseeable future. Studies have shown that millennial and Gen Z Americans are driving growth in pet expenditures and ownership rates. Pet owners form emotional bonds with companion animals, which will likely translate to a growing market opportunity for Zoetis, as well as pricing power and spending resiliency through economic cycles. Additionally, livestock remains a long-term growth opportunity. A growing global population will consume more protein, and Zoetis' worldwide footprint should position it for growth in emerging markets, where much of that growth is likely to occur. The stock's valuation isn't usually this attractive You would look at Zoetis and its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 30 and assume the stock is expensive. Ironically, it rarely becomes this cheap. Analysts estimate the company will grow earnings by an average of around 10% annually over the long term. Most stocks with healthy but unspectacular growth don't trade at such valuations. However, Zoetis' business has been such a consistent performer that investors value the stock for its safety. No stock is a sure bet, but you can feel pretty confident about buying and holding this one. Data by YCharts. Ideally, the stock's valuation will become even cheaper, but as you can see, that's a risk because it hasn't fallen much from these levels in over a decade's worth of history. If Zoetis continues to perform as it has, the stock has a good chance of at least maintaining its current P/E ratio, meaning growth and dividends will drive the stock's returns. Investors can realistically expect somewhere around 11% annualized returns, driven by earnings growth and a rising dividend that yields 1.2% today. It's not explosive, but solid, steady returns can outrun the broader market over the long term. Should you invest $1,000 in Zoetis right now? Before you buy stock in Zoetis, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Zoetis wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025
Malay Mail
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
Lilo roars, Cruise returns, and vampires bite: US cinemas see massive Memorial Day box office boom
LOS ANGELES, May 26 — Theatres across North America are enjoying an exceptional Memorial Day holiday weekend, with two much-anticipated blockbusters bringing in an estimated box office total well over US$250 million, analysts said on Sunday. Disney's family-friendly Lilo & Stitch earned an estimated US$183 million, a record for the four-day Memorial Day weekend, according to Variety. The film has already taken in an additional US$158 million internationally, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations reported. 'This is a sensational opening,' placing the film among the top three Disney live-action remakes, said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. Maia Kealoha (as Lilo), Hannah Waddingham, Courtney B. Vance and Zach Galifianakis star, while Chris Sanders again provides the voice of the chaos-creating blue alien Stitch. Paramount's new spy thriller Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning — the latest, and ostensibly last, in the hugely successful Tom Cruise series — opened to an estimated US$77 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada. Gross called that an 'excellent' opening, likely the best ever in the series. Ticket sales, however, need to make up for a huge production budget estimated at US$400 million. In third, dropping two spots from its opening last weekend, was Warner Bros. and New Line's horror film Final Destination: Bloodlines, at US$24.5 million. Kaitlyn Santa Juana stars as a young woman who must deal with the grisly aftereffects of her grandmother having long ago cheated Death. Fourth place went to Disney and Marvel's superhero film Thunderbolts, at US$11.6 million. Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan lead a motley bunch of misfits and antiheroes. The film has taken in more than US$350 million worldwide. And in fifth was Ryan Coogler's vampire thriller Sinners, raking in US$11.2 million. The film has now earned US$259 million domestically to become one of the highest-grossing R-rated films ever, according to Variety. — AFP
Malay Mail
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' and ‘Final Destination: Bloodlines' duking it out in Malaysian cinemas now
MAY 24 — The summer blockbuster season is approaching fast as we move even closer to June, but things are already heating up in cinemas everywhere as Hollywood studios make their usual move of releasing a few expected blockbusters even earlier in May to avoid the congestion that normally happens in June and July. The big guns like Superman, Jurassic World Rebirth, The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, 28 Years Later, Elio, How To Train Your Dragon and Ballerina will all be coming from June onwards, and I haven't even mentioned the ones that I'm personally very excited about like M3GAN 2.0, Nobody 2, Weapons and The Naked Gun. Come to think of it, this is maybe the first summer since Covid-19 came into our lives that really feels like a full-on Hollywood blockbuster summer season, with so many big movies competing with each other and a wide variety of smaller titles that might just make some good money as well. And judging from the box-office collection this year, especially from how great movies like A Minecraft Movie (with US$931 million or RM3.9 billion collected worldwide) and Sinners (US$322 million worldwide, for an R-rated movie!) have been doing, it looks like people are flocking into cinemas to watch movies again too. So, as we await the bounty that will arrive in Malaysian cinemas from June onwards, here are some blockbusters from May that you need to check out. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning I've always had a huge admiration for a well-executed action movie. If you asked me, I'd say that only a truly accomplished director can deliver a well-executed action flick, because it takes every tool in a director's box of skills/tricks to be able to pull it off. Tom Cruise waves as he attends the premiere of the film 'Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning' at the Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City May 20, 2025. — Reuters pic The last four Mission: Impossible movies are some of the greatest action movies that Hollywood have ever produced, three of which were directed by Christopher McQuarrie (the genius who made The Way Of The Gun), who also directed this instalment, touted as the final film in the franchise. While the previous film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning was a model of action movie efficiency (if you really think about it, every single scene in that one is part of an action set-piece, with the only breather coming in after the death of one major character), this final instalment betrays everything that made the previous four films such great models of efficient action moviemaking. The Final Reckoning has its action moments, yes, but its almost 3-hour runtime is full of exposition and clunky dialogue, and the amount of coincidence that needs to happen to move its needlessly complicated plot forward will annoy even the most ardent fans of the franchise. If this is really the end for this franchise, then it's a damn shame that it had to end things this way. It's not the worst blockbuster you'll see this year, but it's really nowhere near the awesome standards set by the last four instalments. Final Destination: Bloodlines Finally, after 14 long years, the most foolproof horror franchise is back to entertain and traumatise the audience. Every single movie in this franchise has the same plot – open with a spectacular death scene involving a crowd of people, which turns out to be a premonition so that the main character can save a group of people, and then spend the rest of the film marvelling at the creative ways that death can catch up with you even after you think you've cheated death. And that's the brilliance of the franchise, the audience knows the plot already, and the pleasures are to be had in the many creative kills that the movies set into motion once death starts making its way into the kill list. Unlike other horror reboots, there's no need to explain why this new movie exists, or why the villain is back, or why a legacy character is back among the new faces. Directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (who made the standout Freaks a few years back) have full understanding of the beauty and simplicity of this concept, and have managed to deliver another standout opening death scene in the franchise. We've seen a horrific plane crash, an unforgettably gnarly roller-coaster accident and probably the greatest highway pile-up in movie history in previous movies, and in this one we're served with the horrors of what might happen during the opening day of a restaurant on top of a tall observation tower (think KL Tower) called the Skyview. The time is the late 60s, and this one is called Bloodlines because the character who had the premonition, Iris, managed to save everyone, so every single one who survived will have death on the hunt for their bloodlines as their children and grandchildren shouldn't have been born. How about the kills? Without spoiling anything, let me just mention that some of them involve a tattoo and piercing parlour, an MRI machine, a peanut allergy and the ever-reliable family barbecue in the backyard. Already collecting US$122 million worldwide in just a week, this one looks set to revive the franchise for many, many years to come, and I'm all for it.
