What to watch in cinemas this week | May 15–21
Sinners, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, and Black Bag
Summer cinema is back, and so am I. For the most part, releases sucked for the last two months, so I chose to wait rather than send you to chicken jockey garbage.
Summer is the time of fluctuating cinema visits. In most of the USA, you go more frequently for the blockbusters and AC. In Germany, and probably other EU countries, you take advantage of a month of vacation days and cheap travel options while avoiding the cinema, which has no AC, usually.
Cannes also started this week, which marks the start of the Awards campaign season. I’m excited for the slate, including new releases from Wes, Tom, Ari, Julia, Richard, Dominik, Jafar “The GOAT”, Lynne, Kelly, Carla, Joachim, Spike, Harris, Scarlett, Kristen, Ethan, and Fatih.
Still in cinemas, must see
Sinners (Ryan Coogler, USA)
is easily THE film of the first half of 2025 so far. It tells the story of black culture through music and zombies, shot on both 65mm and IMAX. A new Coogler / Michael B. Jordan release shouldn’t have been so shockingly great, but Warner Bros. and reactionary trades really dropped the promotional ball at the start of its release. I was also hesitant when hearing that Jordan is playing twins in a zombie movie, but it’s so much more.
Recommendation of the week
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Christopher McQuarrie, USA/Uganda)
is upon us. The dropped part two eighth and final installment of Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt; it’s finally here, ready for us to watch and behold, and judge and cry and tense up as Cruise saves the world (cinema) one last time.
Plot bio: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team continue their search for the terrifying AI known as the Entity — which has infiltrated intelligence networks all over the globe — with the world’s governments and a mysterious ghost from Ethan’s past on their trail. Joined by new allies and armed with the means to shut the Entity down for good, Hunt is in a race against time to prevent the world as we know it from changing forever.
German release this week; wide USA release next week.
American releases
Either go see “Sinners” if you haven’t or wait for “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” next week.
German releases
Black Bag (Steven Soderbergh, USA)
I don’t know much about this, other than it’s Soderbergh and Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. The latter two are a married couple, something about being secret agents. Nothing more needs to be known.
Plot bio: When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband – also a legendary agent – faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country.
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