Flew home. I have been on Too Many Flights in the past two months, and as a result, the "movie" section of the in-flight entertainment screen no longer has any unexamined pleasures for me. Thus I went into the "TV" section, and thus I watched the first five episodes of Watson, a current CBS procedural that dares to ask, "What if Sherlock Holmes John Watson was a modern-day doctor who solved medical mysteries?" It is fairly terrible; the most interesting thing about the show is that a member of Watson's team of doctor-henchmen is ~~evil~~ and forever solving problems with amoral and pragmatic panache. She's fun! The series should be about her! (The other interesting thing is that the show has Randall Park playing "Moriarty," which is a delightful casting choice.) But unfortunately, everything else about the show seems brain-dead. It's a shame!

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) -- I was underwhelmed by DEAD RECKONING and I continue to be underwhelmed by the second part for the same reasons: too solemn, too self-serious, too sodden with "lore." These movies were better when each entry was a different director doing his own little thing and there was limited concern with "continuity." I will die on the hill that GHOST PROTOCOL was the zenith of the series.

With that said: the submarine sequence in the movie's back half was incredible and just about worth the ticket price.

(I also could have done without Hayley Atwell's sexy CPR scene in the film. It was weird when the earlier M:I films banished Ethan Hunt's brunette wife and then hooked him up with a different brunette; it is even weirder that they have removed that brunette and replaced her with a third brunette. What are we doing, script writers??)

Nobody (2021) -- The gag is "Bob Odenkirk is John Wick," but it's a good gag!

A Man Called Ove (2015) -- I'm always down for a crusty grump gradually revealing his gooey center, though I could have done with 50% fewer flashbacks to younger, hotter, nobler Ove.

Stray (2022) -- Beat it! Six hours total. In conclusion: really striking visuals (the run-down neon robot cities! the giant eyeballs in the sewer!!), but every time an interesting idea is raised, it gets anxiously watered down so that the player is never "confused." Not only does this cat understand language, but these robots have recreated entirely human-like societies! And wear clothing! And have children! Everything is very familiar in the far, far future, little player, don't you worry!

Also, there is too much cat death in this game. (To the degree that turning off animations of the dying cat is an option in the game's menu.) In particular, the "chase" sequences are frustrating and difficult, and they represent a distinct tonal shift from the rest of the game, which is all about slowly solving untimed puzzles and doing simple fetch-quests for robots.