Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ★★★★☆
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Cary Elwes, Indira Varma, Esai Morales. 12A cert, gen release, 163 min
The latest in the long-running series maintains quality with a crazy romp based around the peril posed by a computer network that threatens to take over the world (obviously). Cruise, knocking on 60 during the shoot, appears implausibly comfortable throughout a film that, at two-and-three-quarter hours, somehow manages to seem only about 15 minutes too long. The action sequences — particularly a fabulous car chase about Rome — are hectic, crunchy, noisy and wholly satisfying. The support is up to scratch, but Atwell stands out as a professional thief who gets in the hero’s way to notably entertaining effect. Full review DC
The Out-Laws ★★★☆☆
Directed by Tyler Spindel. Starring Adam DeVine, Pierce Brosnan, Ellen Barkin, Nina Dobrev, Michael Rooker, Poorna Jagannathan. Netflix, 95 min
There seems little chance Netflix will offer us a comedy in the vein of Ernst Lubitsch or Preston Sturges. So make the most of an entertainment that comes in at the altitude of a better Adam Sandler joint. That actor is, indeed, a producer on this hectic romp concerning a white-bread couple who, on the eve of their wedding, discover that one set of in-laws are, ahem, outlaws. Brosnan and Barkin have a blast as the sleek thieves in a film that generates enough laughs to excuse the lowness of its brow. DC
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Smoking Causes Coughing/Fumer Fait Tousser ★★★★☆
Directed by Quentin Dupieux. Starring Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anaïs Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Amamra, David Marsais, Adèle Exarchopoulos. 16 cert, limited release, 78 min
Dupieux’s demented spin on Power Rangers notches up the crazy as some of France’s most respected actors don metallic codpieces and square up to a towering rubber tortoise. Together, Benzene (Lellouche), Nicotine (Demoustier), Methanol (Lacoste), Mercury (Zadi), and Ammonia (Amamra) are Tobacco Force! On the beat, they discourage children from taking up the habit; at home, they are happy to light up. Smoking Causes Coughing skips between zany plot ideas as the Spandex-wearing heroes, sojourning in the countryside as part of a team-building exercise, swap campfire tales. Joyously out there. TB
The Damned Don’t Cry/Les Damnés ne Pleurent Pas ★★★★★
Directed by Fyzal Boulifa. Starring Abdellah El Hajjouji, Antoine Reinartz, Aicha Tebbae. Limited release, 112 min
Cribbing a title from a similarly articulated Joan Crawford vehicle, The Damned Don’t Cry follows a teenage boy (El Hajjouji) who lives an uncertain existence with his mother (Tebbae) in a Muslim variation on Jim Thompson’s The Grifters. It’s a melodrama worthy of Douglas Sirk, yet it presents uniquely. The performances by first-time actors are raw and electrifying. The tragedy is offset by the beautiful, exotic tableaux of Leos Carax’s regular cinematographer Caroline Champetier. A strikingly original score by Nadah El Shazly adds to the emotional sweep. Full review TB
