Def By Reputation

There is much continuing happiness in the Mapother household this week, as the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise is #1 for the second week in a row.  Which might help out when contract renegotiations happens, but personally I think Tom Cruise will have to repent for the poor performance of that Mummy movie he did.  But... but the mummy had two eyes!  We know, we know; still didn't help.  As for the debuts, well... Disney got out the vote for their latest prestige project called Christopher Robin.  Which might help come Oscar(TM) (R) (C) time, but I don't think it's animated enough to qualify for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, despite the work they did on the CGI Ewan McGregor... oh, wait, that was actually him?  Anyway, from reading the plot description of Christopher Robin... at first, I thought it would be the backstory of A. A. Milne and the childhood friends he ended up basing Winnie, Eeyore et alia on.  Some authors are luckier than others when it comes to those family slash childhood friends, because some make more memorable books than others.  Perhaps that's where the skill of the individual author comes into play.  But in this instant case, it's more of the plot arc of 1991's Hook, where a grown man gets so lost in climbing the corporate ladder, they forget that they're Peter Pan in real life, or alternate life, wherever.  Me myself, I say why climb the corporate ladder when you can fly?  Again, that's just me.
The only other debut... oops, there's three this week.  The second debut is from the new supergroup of Hollywood friends.  I never did finish that thesis about the three S's... there's the Soderbergh supergroup of Hollywood friends, the Ben Stiller supergroup, and the Adam Sandler supergroup-type association of which Rob Schneider, depending on his mood that day, either wants to or not wants to be a part of.  I mean, he's got that successful reality show now!  Why would he need to rely on anyone else at this point?  But there's always threats just off-stage, and new alliances get formed.  Vince Vaughn tried to escape the gravity of the Stiller supergroup to form his own... whatever this was.  And now the new lady Ghostbusters have their own supergroup, and given the current Twitter-fueled climate, I must do everything I can to acknowledge their might and power, of which Hollywood took notice longer ago than even I.  But if I can engage in a little act of rampant meta-criticism... because I did see a headline that read "Why Can't Hollywood Give Kate Mackinnon Any Decent Roles?"  If memory serves, Denzel Washington asked the same thing of a 60 Minutes reporter.  And I often wonder why Melissa McCarthy does the movies she does.  They don't seem to be particularly great, but I think she knows what she's doing.  For another example, Joe Pesci did quite a few movies in between the classics that no one ever mentions.  Take The Super, for probably the best example of that.  Probably a decent star's paycheck for Pesci, but even the director doesn't like to reminisce that much.  But at least now I know what that picture of Mackinnon and Mila Kunis squatting on the floor was all about.  It's out now!  And it's doing great!  And clearly it's time to give "Joni & Susanna" a second look... in my case, a first look.
The final debut this week... oh, damn.  I forgot to ask last week.  Well, guess it's time to ask... how about Brett Pieratt?  Anyway, the final debut this week is called The Darkest Minds, a delightful sci-fi romp that seems to combine the old plots in just the right way for our dreary modern times.  See, there's this old movie which beget a TV series of the same name called Logan's Run.  And as you can see from the plot description of that, it's like Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" with the limitation that life ends when you turn 30.  And if you watch MTV at all these days, well... clearly that's their credo.  Except for the host of "Ridiculousness" who's about to celebrate his 50th birthday!  Good for him.  He must have some really great motel pictures of some Viacom bigwig.  (#MotelPicturesMatter)  Well, in the Herbrand universe of The Darkest Minds, the line is at 18 years old.  People are allowed to cross the line, but everyone past the line of 18 is apparently in AARP, and they've got their thumbs on the youth of their today as hard as possible.  I can see a car floating in the poster, so... they're like the X-Men kids of Logan fame?  Just remember... whatever you do, do not piss off that one with nitrogen breath.  Otherwise, goodbye arm!