The Professionals (1966)

Nothing to do with the British TV series by the same title, nor does it relate to Léon: The Professional. It's a western with a whole posse at the center, something I hadn't seen in a while. If my mood didn't convince me to watch, the fact that it stops streaming on Netflix next week would.

In the late 1910s, a bit later than usual for the genre, wealthy rancher Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) hires four talented if unruly individuals -- explosives expert Rico Fardan (Burt Lancaster), general weapons expert Bill Dolworth (Lee Marvin), horse wrangler Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan), and scout Jake Sharp (Woody Strode) -- to head into Mexico and retrieve his wife, Maria (Claudia Cardinale), from Jesús Raza (Jack Palance), a former soldier and continuous rebel in the Mexican Revolution. The movie is less than half over when the pros reach Maria, but the plot thickens when they realize that despite Joe's claim, Raza didn't abduct her. She loves him, and her marriage was forced by purchase. Each searcher must decide whether he wants the reward money enough to take her back against her will.

Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (2018)

It had been surprisingly long since my last anime movie that was unambiguously a fantasy. All I knew about this one was the cover image, but it seemed promising as a departure from my latest viewings.

In what I'd call a flintlock fantasy, Maquia belongs to a human(oid?) race called the Iorph, who stop physically aging in adolescence. They live in a secluded utopia until an invasion by the Mezarte kingdom, bent on learning how to replicate their longevity. In the commotion, Maquia, then age 15, rides a Renato (read: six-eyed wyvern) and ends up far away. She discovers and adopts a newborn orphaned boy, whom she dubs Ariel. Over the course of decades, she must find her place with regard to Mezarte society, the surviving Iorph, and Ariel.

The Match (2026)

As reflected in this blog, I haven't been making much time for movies lately. Fortunately, my dad invited me to a Latin American film festival, which started yesterday (perhaps in honor of Mexican Independence Day). I picked one of the more popular entries, with little regard for the subject or genre.

This is the first documentary I've known to be based on a book. The title refers to a 1986 FIFA World Cup match in Mexico, remembered chiefly for two goals against England by Argentina's Diego Maradona, one spectacular and one controversial. Of course, you can't really spend 91 minutes (about the length of the match) talking about just that, so we get a lot of historical background about the heated rivalry between the two teams, followed by the aftermath.

Coyote vs. Acme (2026)

For three generations, my family has enjoyed Road Runner and Coyote shorts more than most Looney Tunes outings. It didn't take much to convince my mom, sister, and nephew to come to a theater with me. I was a little worried that a live-action setting would spell less family-friendliness, but hey, I'd seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit many times by my nephew's age.

Wile E. Coyote, mute as usual, finally decides to hire toon-focused Albuquerque human attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue Acme for all the dangerously defective products he's used to try to catch the Road Runner (Eric Bauza, who voices most of the male toons). Kevin balks at the idea of covering lots of products in a single lawsuit, but avid intern Paige (Lana Condor) thinks it's just what the struggling firm of Avery, Jones, and Maltese (no doubt named for Tex, Chuck, and Michael) needs. Of course, a megacorporation has a tough lawyer, namely Kevin's ex-classmate Buddy Crane (John Cena). And it's not brutal only in the courtroom.

Get the Gringo (2012)

I think this is the first movie I've seen with Mel Gibson in an acting role to have come out after 2000. Certainly the first after his two notorious scandals of the 2000s. I'm not sure what prompted me to save it to my YouTube watch list, but I know the main reason I chose it: a short runtime.

A robber (Gibson) tries to escape the police by crossing the border, only to get caught by corrupt Mexican cops. Keeping his loot for themselves, they send him to an unorthodox prison that's basically a walled-off, crime-ridden village, complete with families and a rich-poor gap. Not an easy place for an American to survive, but as a former U.S. Army sniper, he has skills to draw the attention of the de facto leaders....