The 3rd and final season of Hanna finds Hanna secretly working from within the sinister Utrax organization to destroy it and secure her freedom.
She forms an alliance with her former nemesis, ex-CIA agent Marissa Wiegler, to bring down the program. Their mission involves:
Personal Stakes: Hanna’s attempts to lead a normal life are complicated by a romantic subplot with an activist named Abbas, whose safety becomes a primary concern as the operation reaches its climax.
Internal Sabotage: Coercing high-ranking agent John Carmichael to aid their cause.
New Threats: Facing Gordon Evans (played by Ray Liotta), a powerful former military man who oversees the Utrax “Pioneer” agenda.
80% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes sounds about right to me. Worth watching if you like (silly) thrillers.
I was only briefly a big fan of Michael Jackson. Like almost everyone, I bought Thriller in 1982 — listening to the CD in my car hundred of times.
He and are about the same age, so I could relate to the radio sensation becoming a superstar.
The movie is worth seeing — but you could wait until it gets on streaming. No rush. It’s not nearly as good as Bohemian Rhapsody, by comparison.
Michael is a biographical drama about the life of Michael Jackson that was released in theatres and IMAX on April 24, 2026. The film has become a massive commercial success, setting the record for the biggest worldwide opening weekend ever for a biopic.
… the film spans Jackson’s life from his early days with the Jackson 5 in the 1960s to the peak of his solo career during the Bad tour in 1988. …
While the film has been a “megahit” with audiences, it has faced mixed to negative reviews from critics.
“Sanitized” Narrative: Critics have widely panned the film for being overly “safe” and avoiding the more controversial aspects of Jackson’s life.
Many of the family were involved in the movie. But Janet declined to be included. Michael’s daughter, Paris Jackson, has publicly criticized the film for its inaccuracies.
Jackson is portrayed by his nephew Jaafar Jackson and as a child by JulianoKrueValdi, both in their film debuts. Both fantastic.
I checked to be sure father Joe Jackson was no longer alive to see his portrayal in this film. Joe died in 2018.
Google to see all the historical inaccuracies. For example, the movie suggests Michael’s first solo project was Off the Wall (1979), completely ignoring the four solo albums he had already released with Motown in the early 1970s.
Mireille Enos as Marissa Wiegler, the CIA operative put in charge of the UTRAX program, who turns from a foe to an ally and mother figure to Hanna should win awards for this performance.
Hanna season 2 received significantly stronger reviews than its first season, with many critics praising its ability to move beyond the source material of the original 2011 film. It holds a critical approval rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 67% for Season 1.
Project Hail Mary is an international effort to send a crew to Tau Ceti is a suicide mission hoping to find a solution to stars dimming throughout the universe.
… as Grace approaches Tau Ceti, he sees an alien spacecraft. …
The ship’s pilot is a rock-like, five-legged alien …
The Wedding People (2004) is funny. But a black comedy, dealing with suicide.
Unsurprisingly, it ends up life affirming.
Phoebe Stone, a newly divorced literature professor who checks into a luxury Newport, RI, hotel intending to take her own life.
Mistaken for a wedding guest, she becomes unexpectedly close to the bride, Lila, ultimately finding a reason to live through new connections, honest conversations, and a chaotic, week-long wedding party.
If you like making fun of rich people, this book’s for you. 😀
Premise: Phoebe arrives at the Cornwall Inn with no luggage, reeling from a failed marriage, IVF, and her cat’s death, intending to die in a place she once hoped to visit with her ex-husband.
The Unlikely Bond: Lila, the bride, discovers Phoebe’s intent and, desperate to keep her perfect wedding from being ruined, gets involved with her. Their candid conversations, filled with unexpected humor and emotional depth, bring them together.
The Wedding Transformation: Phoebe is drawn into the wedding festivities, eventually acting as a sort of reluctant confidante and maid of honour to Lila, who is facing her own anxieties about her marriage to a man named Gary.
Themes: The novel balances the dark themes of grief, suicide, and loss with the light, chaotic energy of a destination wedding, focusing on themes of resilience, self-discovery, and second chances.
TriStar Pictures is adapting Alison Espach’s bestselling 2024 novel, The Wedding People, into a feature film.
As a 19-year-old at Oxford University, Sherlock Holmes is not yet the master detective he grows up to be. He is raw and unfiltered, and he lacks discipline.
A murder at Oxford puts Holmes’s freedom at risk, and he sets out to solve his first murder mystery that leads him to a global-level conspiracy.
The novel follows a team of four women who are sent out into a government-managed, uninhabited location called Area X to study and survey the land and ecosystem. They are the twelfth expedition, with previous expeditions having fallen apart due to disappearances, suicides, aggressive cancers, and mental trauma. …
… the biologist discovers copious bloodstains and a large hidden pile of hundreds of past expeditions’ journals, some detailing battles against a monstrous presence …
It won the 2014 Nebula Award for Best Novel — but I can’t really recommend it. I won’t go on to the sequels.
Rick McCharles 