A Profound Journey
Est. 1995
Articles published in 2015.
J. J. Abrams hands the franchise back to the fans by handing them the film they already loved, with a sharp new cast doing the heavy lifting. Familiar to a fault, but alive in a way the prequels never were. 8/10.
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Spielberg and the Coen brothers turn a real Cold War prisoner swap into a quiet, beautifully made thriller about one stubborn man and his principles. Restrained, grown up, and led by a near silent Mark Rylance. 8.5/10.
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Johnny Depp disappears into Whitey Bulger and Scott Cooper builds a cold, watchful Boston gangster film around him. The story is familiar, the menace is not, and on sheer screen presence it earns its place near the front of the genre. 8/10.
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The four-film saga ends not with an arena but with a march on the Capitol, and a heroine asking whether the people who armed her are any better than the ones she is shooting at. A grim, satisfying close. 8/10.
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Sam Mendes returns to give Daniel Craig's Bond a proper villain, a confessed organisation and a surveillance subplot with teeth. Less surprising than Skyfall, but handsome, confident and built to rewatch. 8/10.
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Denis Villeneuve crosses the border into the cartel war and comes back with the most controlled, most frightening thriller of the year. A procedural with the floor pulled out from under it. 8.5/10.
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Ridley Scott swaps dread for competence and makes a survival film about doing the maths. It is funny, clever, gorgeous to look at, and the most purely enjoyable thing he has directed in years. 9.5/10.
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Guy Ritchie turns a 1960s television relic into a tailored, unhurried Cold War caper that values style and chemistry over plot. Slight on stakes, generous on pleasure, and built to rewatch. 8/10.
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Christopher McQuarrie takes over the franchise, hands it a proper antagonist and a breakout co-lead in Rebecca Ferguson, and produces the most controlled Mission yet. 8.5/10.
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Marvel closes its second phase not with a god or a billionaire but with a burglar, a heist and a man the size of a fingernail. The smallest premise on the slate turns out to be one of the most enjoyable. 8.5/10.
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