Women Talking (2022)

I almost skipped this Best Picture nominee because of the rape theme. Then it won Best Adapted Screenplay. Besides, I had mostly liked Promising Young Woman, so maybe this would be similarly watchable. Now I might as well tell you up front: While there's no on-screen depiction or even audio of the crimes, it's not for the faint of heart.

Netflix's DVD jacket doesn't even adequately describe the first minute; the one-sentence summary on the Netflix webpage is better for that. The setting is in 2010, but you could be forgiven for initially thinking it's much earlier because of the low-color Mennonite community, called only "the colony." In its isolation, it has become worse than the Republic of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale in some ways: All post-infancy girls and women have been repeatedly gas-sedated and awakened with telltale signs of rape. Men tell them it's the work of ghosts or demons, lies, or imagination run wild (even when pregnancy results?), until one man gets caught breaking in and then spills on several others, who all get arrested. Alas, most other men in the colony leave town to contribute to the bail, tho that mercifully keeps them away for a couple days. Most of the movie takes place in that interim as women consider three options: stay and try to forgive everyone, fight a revolution, or run off to start their own colony.

Paddington (2014)

I hadn't expected to see this, but people kept bringing up the title character in connection with Elizabeth II, because the filmmakers had them appear together in a short video to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee. While she is not in either of his feature films, this viewing seemed an oddly decent way to pay my last respects to her.

The sudden demise of his uncle (Michael Gambon) prompts his elderly aunt (Imelda Staunton) to send the iconic young bear (Ben Whishaw) from their Peruvian jungle to London, where she hopes he'll find succor from the anonymous explorer (Tim Downie) who befriended them 40 years ago. The first hospitable human he meets is one Mary Brown (Sally Hawkins, who would later take special interest in another nonhuman). Since his given name is hard for humans to pronounce, she dubs him after the train station where they meet. Her husband, Henry (Hugh Bonneville), is reluctant to house Paddington even for one night, citing stranger danger to their kids, but Mary can be persuasive. As they search for the explorer, the explorer's daughter Millicent (Nicole Kidman) searches for Paddington -- to make a museum exhibit of his corpse.

Paddington 2 (2018)

Until a few months ago, I had never read a Paddington Bear book in my life, so I brought no nostalgia to this viewing. Ordinarily, I'm leery of live-action adaptations of kiddie books with CG animal stars (Christopher Robin being an exception because Disney already had practice with the franchise), but this one didn't get a Stuart Little 2 reception. Indeed, it was astoundingly successful. Would I be about the only reviewer not to love it?

The possibly adolescent cub (Ben Whishaw) has been living with his adoptive human family, the Browns (Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, and Julie Walters as the housekeeper), in London for some time now, but he hasn't forgotten his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) back in Peru. He hopes to earn enough for a unique antique book for her birthday present. Alas, he spills its whereabouts to neighbor Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), who secretly knows its value as a treasure map and has the skills to steal it and get away via disguise and stage magic. What's worse, Paddington, in his attempt to stop the unidentified thief, ends up taking the fall and going to prison. The Browns do what they can to find the real thief, while Paddington makes do with a different sector of humanity for company.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

I made a point to rewatch the 1964 Mary Poppins first. Good thing I did, because judging from my memory, I must have dozed off during "Stay Awake" and missed all the rest as a kid. Pity: It seems more enjoyable to an immature mind with little idea how actual adults behave. I feel like I got more out of Saving Mr. Banks. Still, there was enough of merit in MP to keep me interested in the sequel.

In 1934, some 24 years after Mary left the Banks estate, her former ward Michael (Ben Whishaw) is a flaky banker and widowed father of three on the verge of losing their old house if he can't find a share certificate. His sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) lives elsewhere in London but pays frequent visits to help. Michael's two oldest kids, tweens Annabel (Pixie Davis) and John (Nathaniel Saleh), have had to grow up a bit in the year since their mother died, and youngest Georgie (Joel Dawson) can be a handful. Before long, the titular event happens, and the ageless mage (Emily Blunt) intends to do the Bankses a good turn once again.

Cloud Atlas (2012)

The Wachowskis have not done a great job of sustaining their directorial popularity in the wake of The Matrix, with V for Vendetta being their one other major hit as writers and producers. This may explain why they decided to try something different, adapting a David Mitchell bestseller into one of the most expensive indies yet, sharing credit with German cult director Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run).

Specifically, we get six alternating subplots across different settings and even genres. In 1849, an American aristocrat visiting a Pacific island contends with illness, envy of his wealth, and a burgeoning sympathy toward slaves. In 1936, an aspiring British composer works on "The Cloud Atlas Sextet," but his history of gay sex limits his options for exposure. In 1973, an investigative journalist follows a murder trail toward a horrible San Francisco corporate conspiracy. In the present, an elderly British publisher learns the ups and downs of working with a thuggish author, followed by the untrustworthiness of his own brother. In 2144, South Korea has been manufacturing female clones for servitude, and one with the telltale serial number 451 rebels. In 2321, an unspecified disaster has led to Hawaii being divided into primitive tribes and a handful of elite technocrats, and one of the latter needs assistance from the former.

What draws these subplots together? Lots of little things: a recurring birthmark on focal characters, parallel moments in their lives, actual references to the past. Oh, and more than a dozen actors play multiple roles, among them Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, and Wachowski staple Hugo Weaving, hinting at reincarnations. If there's a single overarching theme to the whole thing, it's championing resistance against tyranny -- which, come to think of it, describes the other Wachowski movies I know.