With the Fast franchise, I have enjoyed a variety of them, but up until the death of Paul Walker, the continuation of the series has been hit or miss for me. At this point, it is becoming repetitive. The setup with spy operations, crazy destructions among cars, technology, and people jumping between all the destruction is what to expect each time there is a new Fast film. F9: The Fast Saga, however, finally establishes a separate storyline that has some value. That is because of how the storyline gears on the past of Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel).

In F9: The Fast Saga, Dominic’s brother (who he has been estranged from for years) comes back into Dominic’s life with a vengeance. His brother is Jakob (played by John Cena). Jakob is recruited by the criminal mastermind Cipher (played by Charlize Theron). Jakob seeks revenge towards Dominic for all the years they have been estranged, and Jakob has got many gadgets of destruction that may put Dominic and his team at risk. Dominic has always been the person reminding others in all the other films that family is important. But he did not keep Jakob close, and now Dominic must pay the price.

I enjoyed the storyline between the brothers in F9: The Fast Saga. The collisions and creative evil plans held my attention, but I did not find them that spectacular. I found though this had its moments of developing the inner conflicts between Dominic and Toretto, but still just repeats the technological elements of the suspense. I feel that if F9: The Fast Saga kept up more with plot developments from the past, then it would keep having a purpose for its repetitive car destructions. The film is just like a Michael Bay movie where the explosions is what is the goal of the enjoyment of the film.

Thinking back to the previous films they were more realistic. They were all just racing. It is now racing added with jets, planes, and its starting to become out of focus. Of course, though it is just a strategy to make money. However, F9: The Fast Saga I still found myself to have my moments where I did enjoy its suspense. More for the cinematic pleasure moments and in the IMAX format. Overall, I am going to F9: The Fast Saga two stars. It is average, but its hit or miss. Its main selling element is the stars Diesel and Cena.

Ming-liang Tsai’s Goodbye Dragon Inn (from 2003) is a classic where people who know and love historic cinemas will be able to adapt to the film’s movie ambience. Goodbye, Dragon Inn is engrossing in every scene and fragment, and it barely has any lines of dialogue. The film does not captivate its audience by its dialogue, but it does through many instances of clear continuity and cinematography throughout its cinema where the film takes place. I am someone who visits historic cinemas on a frequent basis throughout the Chicagoland area. Seeing this one at the Music Box Theatre made me feel deeply immersed in my movie’s habitat.

The film takes place on a stormy night at a regal Chinese cinema. The night is set to play its final film. That film is 1966 classic called “Dragon Inn.” With a rainy night, many would expect a crowd to turn up for a film, but the rain does not bring many fans out to this cinema. It has a small amount of audience, some who are into the movie, some who are less interested, and rather be social, and the entire film is just a visionary following of the many faces of who is at the cinema before its closure. The three characters in the cinema that have most of the attention Hsiao-Kang (played by Kang-sheng Lee), a Ticket Woman (played Shiang-chyi Chen), and a Japanese tourist (played by Kiyonobu Mitamura). All of them are in their own patterns as the nostalgic film plays on the big screen. With how many of them have different patterns throughout the movie, the cinema does not have much appreciation as it should.

Cinemas today relate to Goodbye, Dragon Inn. That is because many cinemas that are old and nostalgic are up and still in business and will draw in large crowds. Some may have different attendance now due to being in the early post-pandemic stages, but they still would usually grab attention. The opposite portion though, is how the cinema has (almost) no one a rainy day. The other aspect that adds to where its relatable but opposite, would be the audience not paying attention to the film. In today’s cinematic world, many film fanatics go to historic cinemas to enjoy classics, in Goodbye, Dragon Inn, the fans are going just to pass the time. What makes the film a masterpiece is its continued elements of showing every fragment of the cinema. That had me telling myself how amazing the cinema is and telling myself how cool it would be to be at that location as the characters were.

Watching this at Music Box Theatre also felt special because of how Music Box is an institute (literally). It was shown in 35 MM projection (the one true print projection format for classics). I did not want the experience to end. I felt like I was in a world of cinema history with being in a historic cinema and watching a film about a historic cinema. It was truly a mesmerizing experience that I will always remember at the Music Box Theatre.

Goodbye, Dragon Inn is essential to every cinema fanatic. For those who are frequent movie goers or have worked in cinemas (like me), they will relate to the pattern and direction that Goodbye, Dragon Inn is going. I loved this experience because it is a concept that is rewarding to cinema enthusiasts. If they know film subjects well, then Goodbye, Dragon Inn is essential among that subject. Four stars.

With summer movie season off to a semi-decent start in the pandemic calming down, films that have been sequels this summer have been impressive lately. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard takes the continued humor and action to many heights of laughs and twists that I did not expect to anticipate. When you take the laid-back humor with Ryan Reynolds and throw the vocal Samuel L. Jackson in a spy film (continued), expect many more twists than the first. Some moments may seem predictable or the same, but the laughs do not stop with this sequel. The thrills were endless.

The film kicks off with Michael Bryce (Reynolds) who is trying to recover from the episodes of the first film, and escape the stressors that being a bodyguard has caused him. He suffers from many PTSD moments, and just wants to be on a break from anything that is violent after his dangerous missions with Darius Kincaid (Jackson). Sadly though, Bryce does not catch a break. They find themselves in another lethal mission. This time though, Darius’s wife Sonia (played by Salma Hayek) is involved. Their mission is to save Sonia, but may have bigger damages than they expect to handle.

What I found most captivating with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard was how the espionage moments lead to the laughs with lots off added catastrophes. Bryce still tries to avoid violence (even when back with working with Darius), but Darius is still about causing all kinds of major damages. This sequel is like a good cop, bad cop flick where the damage only gets worse with bad cop, and remains neutral with good cop. That is where I found myself having a ball with this one. I knew that Bryce would not change his thinking, and that Darius would only cause more damage. Not just more damage, but clever misdirection for many more joyful moments. I will say for a film with Reynolds, I am starting to expect that more in his films.

This is a fun sequel, it is not amazing, but its awesome. I always love a film with the witty and satirical dialogue mixed with Reynolds and Jackson. With those two icons together, their fans are in for a wild ride. Be ready though for tons of language, lethal violence, but tons of hysterical moments. It will have you laugh just as hard as the first one (if you have seen the first one). Three stars for The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard.