Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

This is the first time in two years I've seen a movie set primarily in Southeast Asia. I couldn't help but be suspicious of the hype: Is it popular for being great or simply for being decent and having a mostly Asian cast, as is so rare for Hollywood? And how much does the Asian aspect matter to the plot?

Well, let me answer the latter question first: somewhat. Rachel (Constance Wu), a middle-class New Yorker of recent Chinese descent, agrees to accompany boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to the wedding of his friends Colin (Chris Pang) and Araminta (Sonoya Mizuno) in his native Singapore. Only then does she learn that Nick is famous, being the likely heir to one of Singapore's biggest and oldest fortunes. Of course, this means that Rachel sticks out like a sore thumb at the festivities; others look down on her as a gold digger or, at best, not in the same league. But Nick's mom, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), also of Chinese descent, has a different concern: the allegedly incompatible philosophies of the East and West. She doesn't trust an American, even one who can speak Cantonese, to respect the tradition of heeding one's mother.

Christopher Robin (2018)

One can well be forgiven for mixing this up with Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017). It even includes the latter's titular phrase more than once. But this Disney feature concerns only the fictional authority figure of the 100 Aker Wood, not the real-life son of author A.A. Milne.

Christopher leaves his stuffed animal friends behind when he goes to boarding -- or, as they would put it, "boring" -- school. After a whirlwind tour of his life thereafter, we find him (now played by Ewan McGregor) an efficiency manager with ironically little time for non-work, much to the displeasure of his wife (Hayley Atwell) and daughter (Bronte Carmichael). When a live Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings as usual) finds him again and asks for help finding the rest of their friends, Christopher can only take it as a nervous breakdown from overwork, but for his own peace of mind, he pays a visit to his old stomping grounds. Initially, he plans only to drop Pooh off, but it's hard to shake off sentimentality altogether.

Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)

For once, an M:I entry has the same director as last time. As such, it enjoys clearer continuity than usual, perhaps helping us remember the order of the unnumbered sequels. (I might have been the only person in my theater to recognize a callback to the first movie in the form of a funeral for "Max.")

The Apostles, the Syndicate's offshoot following the arrest of leader Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), have acquired three nuclear bombs and plan to sell them to a terrorist code-named John Lark. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) accepts the mission to stop them, partly by impersonating Lark. But while the FBI director (Alec Baldwin) trusts the Impossible Missions Force now, the CIA director (Angela Bassett) doesn't, so Ethan must go with CIA agent August Walker (Henry Cavill), who's not introduced with good humor and thus will be obnoxious at best. Indeed, Walker initiates the suspicion that Ethan is Lark....

Summer Stock (1950)

Yup, another "summer" movie. I was unaware of the theatrical term to which the title alludes. There might be a double entendre, considering the agriculture herein.

Somewhere in New England, Jane (Judy Garland) has just had two farmhands quit on her due to poor outputs of late. Fortunately, her fiance, Orville Wingait (Eddie Bracken), has a rich father (Ray Collins) willing to buy her a tractor to make up the loss...and unwilling to let her forget it. Jane's work faces further disruption when her sister, Abigail (Gloria DeHaven), begs to let her troupe practice and perform in the barn, because they never get a good place. Jane agrees on the condition that all the actors/singers/dancers pull their weight in farmwork, which they don't do well. Stage director and star Joe (Gene Kelly) is Abigail's fiance, but he and Jane start emotionally straying toward each other. It doesn't help that the Wingaits disdain show business....

The Wanderers (1979)

I could see someone mixing this up with The Warriors. Superficially similar titles aside, they're both 1979 flicks about all-male gangs dealing with other gangs in New York City. Both are also short on particularly famous people in key roles. The biggest difference is that while The Warriors is set in an unspecified near future, The Wanderers takes place in what was then 15–16 years in the past, 1963. It even includes a scene of reactions to the JFK assassination, tho that has no bearing on the plot.

The plot is fairly loose but primarily concerns a gang of Italian-Americans on the verge of war with a few other gangs, including the self-descriptive Baldies, who are kind of taking over the place; and the Del Bombers, who, being all Black, got into a slur-slinging match with the Wanderers that hit nerves on both sides, thanks to an injudicious high school teacher. (The Baldies may look like skinheads, but they're less racist than the Wanderers, having a Black member.) And none of those gangs is as threatening as the Ducky Boys....

Eighth Grade (2018)

This is the type of movie I don't normally watch in a theater nowadays, barring group invitations or award nominations. But it seems better for my mind not to associate solo outings with only blockbusters, documentaries, and re-released oldies. Besides, indies could use the financial support.

From the title, you might expect a nine-month timeline; instead, it's only the last week of eighth grade for Kayla. She has reasons to look forward to high school and, of course, vacation, but in the meantime, she still faces plenty of stress. Factors include a scarcity of friends, between the shyness of herself and the snobbishness of some peers; a loving but embarrassing father; and curiosity regarding the "bases," if you get my drift. (She remains a virgin, but there's a reason eighth-graders aren't allowed to see this in theaters without adult supervision.)

Whiplash (2014)

For years, this had been the highest entry on IMDb's top 250 that I hadn't seen (a distinction presently held by Dangal at #80). Sources had suggested that it was not exactly pleasant to watch, and my dad got the same impression. But I could ignore its many awards and consistent high scores across all major rating sites for only so long.

Andrew (Miles Teller) is a conservatory freshman with a thing for drumming. The jazz band's conductor, Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), is pretty much Drill Sergeant Nasty, only he waits until you mess up to get angry at you. I'm not sure whether he's especially hard on Andrew or our perspective is limited by the spotlight, but Andrew is certainly under a lot of stress -- which drives him to become the drummer Fletcher wants.

Lion (2016)

Why did I wait this long to see a rather popular, uncontroversial Academy Best Picture nominee? Mainly because the plot summary sounded like all I needed to know. It's even been adapted into a TV commercial, so how much more could we get from a nearly two-hour movie? Still, six Oscar nods, even without wins, are nothing to sneeze at, and this was the most tempting option on my streaming list at the moment.

The true story begins in a little-known Indian town in 1986, with a family poor enough to make some desperately risky choices. Such risks lead to five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) waking on a train far from his family. Knowing way too little information to return, he ends up in an orphanage and is then adopted by a Tasmanian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). Only more than halfway through the film do we come to the unique aspect: After two decades, someone gives Saroo (now played by Dev Patel) the idea to use Google Earth until he recognizes his hometown.

Summertime (1955)

Not for the first time, I watch a movie in the summer because of its title. I suspect that I put it on my queue for Katharine Hepburn. Possibly for director David Lean, but despite my love of Lawrence of Arabia and Bride on the River Kwai, his hits rarely do much for me.

Jane (Hepburn) goes alone on vacation to Italy for the first time, specifically to Venice. She makes the acquaintance of a young, apparently orphaned boy with good English skills who alternately begs, attempts shady sales, and does her favors, garnering mixed reactions from her. She also meets shopkeeper Renato (Rossano Brazzi), who initially gives her creepy vibes but rapidly charms his way into her heart. Unfortunately, he doesn't tell her that he has a wife somewhere....