Duncan Jones, part II: Stranger on a train

SOURCE CODE

As it's hardly worth reviewing a twist-heavy film that's almost seven years old now without going into the twists and how well they play, I'm not going to hesitate to spoil Source Code, at least in its broader strokes.  And yet if you've somehow not seen it (and, while it was a modest hit, I suppose that's not even that unlikely), or, better yet, if you've never even heard of it, take this advice: don't read another word about it, and just watch it.  Whatever problems its third act embodies, and whatever cautious, pointless discussions of its strengths we might've had otherwise, Source Code remains a trippy, mindfucky blast, deserving of a much higher profile than it seems to have.  And that's as good a short review as any.

2011

Directed by Duncan Jones

Written by Ben Ripley

With Jake Gyllenhaal (Capt. Coulter Stevens), Michelle Monaghan (Christina Warren), Vera Farmiga (Capt. Colleen Goodwin), and Jeffrey Wright (Dr. Rutledge)

Spoiler alert: high

I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul

PIXELS

Can this movie even exist?  It obviously can—and yet that doesn't come close to answering why.

2015

Directed by Chris Columbus

Written by Tim Herlihy and Timothy Dowling (based on the short film by Patrick Jean)

With Adam Sandler (Brenner), Josh Gad (Ludlow), Peter Dinklage (Eddie), Michelle Monaghan (Violet), and Kevin James (Cooper)

Spoiler alert: mild

Impossible Week, part III: I'll die unless you kill me!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III

You've laughed, you've cried, and you've seen them fall in love—but can Ethan and Julia Hunt survive the world's worst honeymoon?  Tune in and find out.

2006
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and J.J. Abrams
With Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Michelle Monaghan (Julia Hunt), Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Keri Russell (Lindsey Farris), Maggie Q (Zhen Lei), Jonathan Rhys Davies (Declan Gormley), Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn), Billy Crudup (John Musgrave), Laurence Fishburne (Theodore Brassel), and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Owen Davian)

Spoiler alert: severe

Truly dicks

TRUE DETECTIVE

An epic serial killer procedural that can stand with the best of them, no matter the medium.  Not that there are, on reflection, that many of those in the first place, and not that True Detective doesn't rip off the few there are whenever it feels like it.

2014
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga
Written by Nic Pizzolotto
With Matthew McConaughey (Rust Cohle), Woody Harrelson (Marty Hart), and Michelle Monaghan (Maggie Hart)

Spoiler alert: severe
Content warning: the horror of pen-and-ink nudity