REVIEW: BLACKkKLANSMAN

4/5

Do The Spike Thing.

135 Mins. Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Corey Hawkins, Alec Baldwin & Topher Grace. Director: Spike Lee.

This is America. Time to fight the power. It's your time children of the Gambino generation. The land of the free? To quote Brad Pitt in 'Killing Them Softly', "don't make me laugh"! All you have to do is hear 'The Donald' quacking his Trumped up speech in reaction to last years terrifying and tragic events in Charlottesville, Virgina that saw protesters being mowed down repeatedly and a young woman by the name of Heather Heyer (Rest Peacefully) lose her life. Even as he toes the line you can hear him take a specific side with the words that in reality if he meant, he should have chosen much more carefully. Free at last? It again tragically looks like the world will have to wait a little longer. And as we ask, "how long"? Can we really reply, "not long" anymore? These real world, all too true story clips of neo-Nazi's and white supremacists carrying burning crosses and the fire that comes after makes for an abrupt and meaningly so powerful and poignant end to a powerful and poignant film. One that shows you no matter the moral victory, as 'College Dropout' Kanye West once said when it was 'Jesus Walks' and not Yeezus tweets, "racism still alive". But now they aint even concealing it anymore. To start this joint based on something as real as it gets, Spike Lee takes it back to a clip from 'Gone With The Wind' which features a confederate flag flapping in the air above a battlefield. You may remember Hattie McDaniel won a 'Best Supporting Actress' Oscar for that picture. The first African-American to win an Academy Award. Don't forget, she wasn't invited to the actual movies premiere. Criminal. And in turning the red, white and blue all the way upside down, Lee turns this all inside out with his brutal best and most influential and incendiary movie in years. Not to take anything from the Iraq war torn like Chicago social study of 'Chi-Raq', his 'She's Gotta Have It', Netflix series revival, or his criminally underrated remake of the Korean classic, 'Oldboy' starring Thanos himself, Josh Brolin with a hammer to nail. And to begin, following the worst kind of P.S.A. from the 'Fallout' of 'Mission: Impossible' star Alec Baldwin, Spike sets the fuse off.

Get ready for the explosion! Because what looks like Spike Lee's most outrageous script idea yet is actually a true story based on the memoir and searing story of former detective Ron Stallworth, who went undercover like no other to take down the Klan in the most non-violent, Martin Luther way. Like a King he humiliates the Colorado chapter of the Klu Klux into clucking obscurity. Making and marking another change for this defiant and definitive director whose exciting and enthralling movie doesn't descend into rival Tarantino 'Unchained', 'Basterds' like revenge violence pornography. As a matter of fact neither did the bank robbery heist of his last real hit job, 'Inside Man'. Barely a bullet is fired and that's the shot he takes. His most iconic yet, guns drawn, dolly shot trademark (check his spotlit new, terrific technique of managing a crowd during a speech featuring a rhapsody of bohemian faces) making for the closest thing you get to actual chamber music from those pistols. And this holstering is really saying something in a movie full of messages. Some subtle, some C-4 bomb dropping. This 'BlackKklansman' answers a newspaper ad that hits his desk from the K.K.K. looking to recruit members under the hood. He picks up the phone, turns the dial and makes a shot in the dark call. Putting on his best 'Sorry To Bother' voice and pronouncing "WHite" like Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Django' vile villain Calvin Candie would condescendingly, Stallworth uses his real name, but fakes being a racist that hates blacks, Jews, Mexicans and anyone whose blood doesn't run Aryan. Not having a clue that this gentleman is African-American...let alone a cop, the Klan are ready to measure him for robes. But there's only so long Ron can stay in that disguise, so he recruits another beat cop to partner up with him for this undercover op as one. But it's not so simple as his buddy in this sting may be white...but he's also Jewish. And just to keep us all up to speed, this absurd story that sounds almost like that controversial Dave 'Chappelle Show' skit about the blind, black white supremacist is all too unbelievable, but all too true too.

Even this years Oscar winning 'Best Director' Jordan Peele producing this joint saw this idea and thought, 'Get Out'. But Key's other half isn't doing comedies right now. Sure this will have you laughing out loud and it's sweet satire for a sickening time. But again this is as close to the bone, flesh and blood as it gets. From the seventies soundtrack to it's authentic aesthetic and all that sweet, sweet style...not to mention that afro. This looks like a vintage blaxploitation flick and this film throwback poster to poster pays tribute and respect to all the 'Shaft' and 'Foxy Brown' greats in traditional and trademark, Lee convo confidential direction. And even the 'Ballers' T.V. star John David Washington, owning this role looks like he's been here for years. He kind of has though. Over 25 years ago back in 1992 he played a small student role in Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X' alongside Denzel Washington. Same last name. Wouldn't you have it. And yes you've got it, John David is Denzel's son. And in the same week as his pops 'Equalizer 2' vigilante hitman hit sequel comes out, the son echoing shades of the father here (that simmering below the surface intensity. Especially in those eyes. And of course the "Okay's") is actually going up against his old man with a gun, with his badge. Washington J.D. reaches all new heights showing us he's his own man too. And after Spike brought so many of his and Denzel's best classics in their perfect partnership ('Malcom', 'Mo Better Blues', 'He Got Game', 'Inside Man'), this 'BlackKklansman' may be among the 'Do The Right Thing', '25th Hour', 'Clockers' and the aforementioned greatest of his all-time roll of joints. This is the truest the man who even made 'Bad' Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant documentaries has been doin' work when not courtside at the Garden of basketball eden. It's thanks to a class cast too. Like Kylo Ren, Adam Driver on the 'Paterson', 'Silence' and 'Logan Lucky' form of his life, crossing over to an even darker side. One particular 'Meet The Parents' like basement lie-detector test mocks the Klans stupid ignorance with hilarious consequences of circumstance. How about 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' queen Laura Harrier playing a real Black Panther in the year of T'Challa? 'Spider-Man 3' before Hardy, Venom villain Topher Grace playing the Grand Wizard, David Duke with convincing between the sheets warped, behind the desk running for political office malice spit. And 'Straight Outta Compton's' Dr. Dre, Corey Hawkins too is stirring with his speech as political activist Kwame Ture. There's even a classic cameo of cameos from an iconic actor/singer and activist with his own sombering speech that we don't want to spoil. But we will say this, Bob Dylan said this legend of a man taught him everything he knows. So there you have it. What more could you ask for? How about justice? Because until this is seen, Spike Lee won't have or let mainstream America have peace. This dynamite, dynamic director says he wants to "Make America Love Again"! It doesn't get mo' better than that, or this. Power to Spike Lee. Power to the people! Now do the right thing. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Malcom X', 'Get Out', 'Sorry To Bother You'.

T.V. REVIEW: AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 5

3/5

S.W.O.R.D. & The Infinity Stone.

22 Episodes. Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Jeff Ward, Adrian Pasdar & Dominic Rains. Creator: Joss Whedon.

Thanos. There! We and they said it. Happy now? So lets move on like a click of the fingers. And that absurd death snap notion that the mad titans soul clap is going to mean a permanent end, ashes to dust for some of Marvel's mightiest heroes with Avengance. You do know half these supes in nano-tech tights that kicked the dust bucket in 'Infinity War' have sequels coming out over the next couple of years right (not you Loki!)? I mean the Spider-Man 'Homecoming' sequel is called 'Far From Home', not 'Far From Aunt May's Vacuuming Bag' for I'm not crying, you're crying out loud. And as all these cinematic comics crossover and prove it's all connected, what about 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' and it's own season five after four foreclosed with a big bang? Following it's literally explosive beginning straight out of theatres, 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' four poured a shot of gasoline onto a flaming skull and set the whole scorching season on fire. As hells angel Gabriel Luna took the John Blaze reigns and chains off the steel horse and rode through as Robbie Reyes. The new Ghost Rider in a Black Beauty galloping powered Dodge Charger, ante up. A leather road warrior who needs his own show vehicle, pedal to the metal after stealing the last one here. To pun it bluntly I'd do a deal with the devil and sell my own soul to see that 'ish. And if that wasn't enough after tapping into our deepest and darkest fears this side of the world, wide web and the advancement and assimilating threat of A.I., Marvel and ABC shot these Agents into space as simple as one, two, three for the finale, planet sized cliff-hanger of season four. S.H.I.E.L.D. in space the same time as Marvel's Avengers and those Guardians of the Galaxy A-holes? Surely we're finally in for a cosmic, cinematic crossover right? Because all of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's creations will need all the help they can get going up against the grimace of the purple one and his gold glove. But alas, they must be in a whole other galaxy, far, far away. A place no Stark or Star-Lord has boldly gone before.

Thanos gets name-dropped once. But in this gauntlet of planetary wars for stones, these 'Agents Of S.W.O.R.D.' taking a slice from the graphic novels are left with the crumbs of meteors. Save what for a few split seconds looks like a maroon leather and cool space helmet, Peter Quill lookalike (who ends up I add looking more like a young Bradley Cooper ladies) and a blue man group Kree oyster cult (sniff...Yondu...sniff. He'll always be Mary Poppins y'all!). With 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' lost in space there's more chance of the street-level Netflix 'Defenders' blasting off to help (we reckon Luke Cage could take Thanos). The next time you'll see Clark Gregg's Agent Caulson in cinemas (after the last time he was kebabbed by the God of mischief in 'The Avengers'), is next years born in the 90's, with classic Marvel anti-ageing C.G. (a God send for 'Ant-Man And The Wasps' original Hank Pym, Michael Douglas), 'Captain Marvel' movie paged in by Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. But even if they are being left on the televised sidelines again this crack team in the spy game have a whole universe of problems to deal with like for instance, "the destroyer of worlds". Sounds like Josh Brolin, but in actuality it's a lot closer to home for your favourite cable show. Just look to the Sky. But beyond the stars you'll see some other worldy things this out of this world, Tardis travelling season. Like some alien creature critters looking like cousins of those 'Stranger Things' demi-dogs stalking the bowels of this space station like Ridley Scott's greatest creation...no we're not talking about Matt Damon's 'Martian'...close. Or some fight for New York finale showdowns that will remind you of the first 'Avengers' movie...that's the closest you'll get to a cinematic collaboration assembling fan boys and girls. But for all the fists of fury and energy pulsed punches between the super suits that could really do with paying Edna from 'The Incredibles' a visit this Summer, nothing can stop the tears of an emotional ending that will have you wondering how S.H.I.E.L.D. can bring the tender touch with truer testament than their silver screen big brother. But yet despite all this in relation to the fire and intelligence of the last season this all feels a little artificial. And this show is still reeling with the loss of the charismatic and compelling Brett Dalton. No flashback or clip shows here. This series will remind you of the one and done, critically and criminally underrated 'Inhumans' IMAX spectacle. But this is a good thing (this also having it's own extended season premiere to set it off). The bad thing is that even though this season is in a whole nother solar system and time frame, five still feels like a step back from four. And with sixth sense it seems like the next 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' series will be almost cut in half to an unlucky for some, Netflix like 13 episodes. But with their closest small screen rival from D.C. 'Gotham' heading to a kiss from the rose, fifth and final season that will finally see Bruce Wayne's Bat take wing, perhaps it's all cape and cowl fitting. Maybe it's time.

Thanos...oh sorry, I thought we were starting every paragraph with his name. Anyway if season six turns out to be the last hoorah like Al Pacino no longer smelling ladies, then Clark Gregg's Phil Caulson could do a lot worse than keeping his feet in the sands of the beaches of Tahiti, holding a special someones hand. I hear it's a magical place...that is when you're not having pins and needles running through your open brain. Clark's cocksure, charismatic Caulson is the true leader of this school of spies and not having him for another full season of the agents behind the Avengers is the pure opposite feeling of having him back on the big screen alongside another Captain for a real 'Marvel'. Especially stun gun fighting fit alongside, "will they, won't they", sidekick, superior officer Ming-Na Wen's Melinda May. May this Summer sending those on the receiving end of her Black Widow making kicks back to the same 'E.R.' she made her career work mentoring in. Ming-Na alongside franchise face Chloe Bennet's quaking daisy maker Sky (or whatever you want to call her), show that this series was all about female superheroes, powers or not, making a name for themselves before the Wasp made movie-name, Marvel first lady, way overdue history alongside Ant-Man with their sequel this Summer. And as much as we would love to see Scarlett Johansson's Romanoff (at least we're finally getting a 'Black Widow' movie...thank you 'Red Sparrow'), or Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill report for S.H.I.E.L.D. duty (and don't even think about tagging Jeremy Renner. He's not even in the new 'Mission: Impossible-Fallout'. Let alone 'Avengers: Infinity War'), there's more here with the intelligence over stereotypes with some of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best and brightest. Like real hero Elizabeth Hendstridge, their unsung x-factor. And her Fitzsimmons perfect, better or worse partnership with Iain De Caestecker. Showing more dark designs behind his complex, anxious, angst-ridden character than his framework, mirror dimension, 'Agents Of Hydra' alternative ego. This show is all about coupling up the dynamic duos, as 'Coco' voice Natalia Cordova-Buckley gives more than her Bucky right arm in this phase that sees her Yo-Yo character swing back and graduate to being a series regular. She makes up for the spies we've waved goodbye to with a raised glass. As does a red-hot Nick Blood cameo for one of the best episodes of this run. But it's the shotgun axe to grind from the tank built Henry Simmons that really spreads influence and makes its mark like buckshot. Forget the "Chris Hench-worth" physique for a moment. Evoking every emotion that shows vulnerability is as much a mans strength as capability is, this man takes a swing and shot at tired notions of toxic masculinity. This Simmons is the soul of this series. And when it comes to the guest stars just wait until all is revealed about Quill and Rocket Racoon appear alike Jeff Ward's true identity for one of the most enthralling revelations of this 22 set on your T.V. Even Adrian Pasdar's Talbot soldier makes more of a general appearance this time round. Alongside first pod antagonist Dominic Rains evil-Smurf character that swaggers with sinister charisma only his vile villain snake thinks is charming. All in all and amongst all the new Marvel shows like 'Legion', 'Cloak and Dagger', 'The Gifted' and 'The Runaways' joining all those Netflix ones (let alone all those M.C.U. movies), this series that shot for the same Moon Thanos threw at Tony and tore the world apart seems better suited down to earth. But the Ziggy Stardust trip was fun whilst it postcard lasted. Even Mickey Mouse knows with the Galactus galaxy fantasia of the 'Fantastic Four' there's room in the sandbox for more to play superhero suit-up. It is a shared universe after all. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Inhumans', 'The Gifted', 'Gotham'.

REVIEW: THE EQUALIZER 2

3.5/5

Denzel On Fire.

121 Mins. Starring: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Bill Pullman & Melissa Leo. Director: Antoine Fuqua.

Okay! Cue your Jay Pharoah SNL rivalling Denzel impressions. Because Washington's new heights score the first ever sequel of his classic career with 'The Equalizer 2'. Although you could say the Hawaiian shirts of his Florida 'Out Of Time' cop was an island sand in the sun, spiritual sequel to his Jamaican steel drum 'Mighty Quinn' early glory. The New York subway remake of 'The Taking Of The Pelham 1 2 3' on the same Tony Scott tracks as the Chrysler Building sized missile of that 'Unstoppable' runaway train. The Wild West 'The Magnificent Seven' remake an Antoine Fuqua, Hawke like reunion to the leading mans Oscar winning, West Coast 'Training Day' Los Angeles crimes. And with this sequel to their 'Equalizer' the acting/directing duo partner up yet again to vigilante twist the law like the arms of the real bad guys they break. And just like a middle-aged Keanu Reeves setting off 'John Wick', or 'Jack Reacher' Tom Cruise pushing the same 60 and ankle-breaking limits completing another accepted 'Mission: Impossible', Denzel Washington is Liam Neeson going up against everyone with a pension. Even his own son John David Washington this month in Spike Lee's next, great insighting movie 'BlacKkKlansman'. One of the most defiant and definitive directors, especially to Denzel's career who made 'He Got Game', 'Mo Better Blues' and 'Inside Man' with Washington. Aswell as of course 'Malcolm X', who John David appeared in alongside pops as a young man. Armed with his best calender in recent years, the 'Philadelphia', 'American Gangster', 'Flight' and 'Fences' Academy Award nominated actor follows striking another Oscar nod for the criminally undervalued 'Roman J. Israel, Esq' with this sequel score. When it comes to legendary leading men, Denzel has no equal.

Remaking 'The Equalizer' series from the 1980's into the first franchise of Washington's career adds another middle-weight, Hollywood hitting title to his fan favourites like the 'Safe House', 'Bone Collector', 'Fallen' and 'John Q'. Not everything has to be Oscar for it to be gold. Original Robert McCall, Edward Woodward would agree. Would you? And even in this pre-fall Catherine Wheel season of sequels and reboots, Washington still brings fireworks like D.C. on the fourth of July. Here the man armed with disarming charm and that smile and cries of laughter loads up more than '2 Guns' as 'The Book Of Eli' good book carrier goes Old Testament. In the first film Denzel shaved his head like the pugilist 'Hurricane' and brought the storm (there's another one coming here, for real). Going all old 'Man On Fire' whilst taking care of Chloe Grace-Moretz's 'Taxi Driver', Michelle Pfeiffer channeling character (who sadly does not make the return trip to this fare). Not to mention turning a Home Mart into a 'Home Alone', nail-gun arsenal of military grade hardware in store for the third act finale. Look our Marv! You see that scene where he flip took that gun right out of that guys hands and turned it on him in the blink of an instant? That's what the circle-back 30 seconds button on Netflix is for. To watch Washington make these goons gone in 60 seconds or less. Check your wrist watch. And make sure you give this guy five stars guys (ahem...erm we gave him a 3 point 5). But this aint Uber. Fancy a 'Lyft'? More like 'Murder On The Orient Express' as Denzel takes on more crimes than Agatha Christie could solve in the town of a crime, Beantown riddled Boston, Massachusettes. The minute he takes the tea bag from the folded napkin and sees the world in a Robert Downey Jnr, 'Sherlock Holmes' haze, two moves ahead time you know it's on again. Remember in 'Live Free And Die Hard' where Timothy Olyphant's classic villain called John McClane, "a Timex watch in a digital age"? Well Bruce Willis may be getting roasted by everyone these days (even Demi), but Casio is the new retro now like watches thats backlights glow in the dark. Whereas more traditional timepieces ars back in fashion. The older the face, the better the grace. You get the fine wine analogy. Denzel may be analogue, but he's still right here, right now. Always on time. Ready to take the youngbloods to school, cradle to grave. And all that equals box office ties with his own flesh and blood. This is Wahington Senior's moment. And this may just be as good, or even one step ahead of its predecessor. As Denzel's excelled nuance and larger truths in that elevates what would in the hands of a lesser actor be another paint by numbers, straight to DVD release thriller and gives it so much signature soul. With something that some twenty years ago would be the biggest thing of his career, you can always count on Denzel Washington. There's kindness amongst all this violence.

King Kong aint got...you already know the rest. But there's plenty of the "little people" this man would run up the side of the Empire State Building with them clutched in his palm just to help. Like 'Moonlight' middle-child Ashton Sanders, an anxious, artistic soul who knows how to handle himself (you saw what he did with that chair), but still knows how to bring that emotional intensity like said scene. One part of the movie were Denzel tells him man isn't spelt G-U-N and he has no idea what death is will leave you well and truly, emotionally empty like this pictures epic end. Ashton will paint Washington's apartment for $100 and change. The change being Ta-Nehisi Coates' poignant and moving letters to his teenage son about being black in America, 'Between The World And Me'. Which you don't need to also see being read by Harlem's hero 'Luke Cage' in Marvel and Netflix's Season 2 too to know you need to add to your list. First film veterans Melissa Leo and Bill Pullman also return. The former 'Independence Day' President with the stirring speeches has been doing his own grizzled grey beard detective work on Jessica Biel's heaven sent Netflix steal, 'The Sinner', whilst also working himself into quite the career rejuvanation lately. Whereas the Oscar winning 'Fighter' Leo who is the emotional arc and set-piece catalyst of this picture returns to that in every other movie formidable form. But it's 'Narcos' Pedro Pascal, so scene stealing amongst all the Statesman stars in the 'Kingsman: Golden Circle' sequel who is so whip-smart here in all the epic, electrifying action. Cracking. Just like 'Brooklyn's Finest' Fuqua's fireball, firebrand of action. This 'Shooter' director has taken it to the White House with 'Olympus Has Fallen' and he knows how to switch to 'Southpaw' too when it comes to making hits. So you know aligning with the Washington post administration makes him the perfect candidate for Denzel's big-three act of double duty, director duos alongside Spike and the late, great Scott, we only wish we could see a 'Deja Vu' with. Especially when in Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter's prizefighting corner, Antoine brings an actual hurricane to the final frames punch up. Bringing a tide of crimson that sure as hell paints and glosses over a hardware store conclusion for you to register. But hammer and nail when Denzel rings them all up you know no one can make it reign quite like the titan king of modern cinema. My man! TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Man On Fire', 'John Wick', 'Jack Reacher'

T.V. REVIEW: THE HANDMAID'S TALE-Season 2

4/5

The Handmaiden.

13 Episodes. Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel, Madeline Brewer, Ann Dowd, O.T. Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Samira Wiley, Amanda Brugel, Bradley Whitford & Marisa Tomei. Creator: Bruce Miller.

Praise be to legendary Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood's sacred text that birthed season one of 'The Handmaid's Tale' on Hulu, filmed in her native Ontario. By way of Toronto this writer is so old I read this book wrote the year I was born back in school. And I sure hope more than 30 years later this narrative is part of the curriculum today. Because this caustic, cautionary tale which is now a sign of the times we live in and are making too needs to be a woke up education. So kids of today brought up on video games, reality-less T.V. and an even more real world lacking "social" media can learn to treat each other better and not for the worse this novel idea wears. If we are taught about sex in school, why are we not taught about the rights and wrongs and the do's and dont's of how we approach all our relationships? Personal or otherwise. Maybe we are now, but if not we should be, like me and my friend we're talking about only last night over a brew as he was closing up his coffee shop for the night. And the most talked about over lattes show this side of the all too white picket fenced, sanitized, saccharine solutions of 'This Is Us' is as indelible as it is undeniable. Last year season one of the outstanding 'The Handmaid's Tale' and its explosive ending, cliff-hung on the noose of a rope couldn't have come at a more timely time. Although just like the seasons of Marvel's most underrated superhero serial 'Jessica Jones' and it's 'Black Panther', 'Luke Cage' and 'Wonder Woman' real world implications, this Handmaid's show, let alone the three decades in the remaking book it was based on was wrote before the Me Too movement took hold of everyone who spent far too many years not being accountable for their actions. Now this Emmy and Golden Globe winning dystopian drama concludes it's sophomore season with a third on the way. As 'The 100' creator Bruce Miller keeps it exactly real and raw that with his cinematic series, complete with a sensational score of a pop culture soundtrack that reveals more of the hidden meanings behind these hits to the mainstream. And with iconic imagery in Handmaid primary colours of striking scarlett and snow white this makes its mark like bloods on the tracks of this runaway hit, just dying to escape from oppression.

And it doesn't get much more extreme than the hangman's gagged beginnings to the second seasons opening scene, played out to revolutionary pop singer Kate Bush's iconic 'This Womans Work' that will leave you lost for words with shock and awful disgust. And from then on out this compelling, at times explosive series doesn't let up its hands on your throat. Choked full of incendiary real world implications and incinerations, don't binge watch this show like Netflix's 'Orange (Red) Is The New Black'. Not even a two a day. Because you won't be able to take your eyes off this hard to watch story that is far from all fiction as a matter of fact. Yet 'Girl, Interrupted' star and Vulture's 'Queen Of Peak T.V.', Emmy made, Elisabeth Moss refuses to wear a crown of thorns in the only season that looks like it could take the head of 'Game Of Thrones' this coming Winter. The award winning actress started off as the Presidents daughter in the beloved administration of 'The West Wing', before showing the fifties flair of 'Mad Men' was more than just the cigarettes and suits. And with this and the Australian accented (which will make you forget that Elisabeth is actually American) 'Top Of The Lake' and it's 'China Girl', porcelain perfect sequel series, Moss' gathering body of work is as unbreakable as her soul of spirit. What more could you expect from someone who stirringly showed us like 'Shutter Island' and 'Arrival', but without a word just how haunting and moving Max Richter's 'On The Nature Of Daylight' is in the video for the most beautiful yet saddest piece of music I've ever heard? And in a second season that goes beyond Atwood's acclaimed authoring, but not her authoritative tone and words of wisdom in overseeing consultation, Moss says more with her outward expression in her eyes than she does with anything merely scripted. Part of the niche nuanced, Saoirse Ronan and Rooney Mara next generation of great actresses who like a picture can say a thousand words with just one look. Just like this whole show says more in it's 13 episode season than the 30 characters or more of a trumped up tweet. No longer going by the book, this sophomore series refuses to slump as it 'Fahrenheit 451's' the pages of Gilead's Orwellian like oppressive regime with an inferno more illuminating than Michael B. Jordan's hottest year on screen. But this is Elisabeth's moment. And in what her career will be remembered for we are only just scratching the surface of her ceiling breaking potential. In a time where actresses are finally getting what they deserve and even in this darker than the times they take on series, Elisabeth Moss is a beacon of light and symbol of solidarity for the Time's Up era that shows the more art imitates life, the more we can make sense of all this insanity. And bring it all to a long overdue, wrecking ball like reckoning.

But Moss' June character isn't the only Handmaid in this tale marking the calenders this summer. Draped in red and with a cone of white atop her silenced head, 'Gilmore Girl' Alexis Bledel graduates to a whole new level with her secondary story that is anything but, as she shows the freedom of the oppressed lies in the truth they hold below the stuttering surface of what remains unsaid. Real strength holds true below the nervous look and mannerisms, to the actual manner of the nerve held inside. Whilst 'Orange Is The New Black' stars Madeline Brewer and Samira Wiley are truly arresting under the bars of their oppressors. But it's former 'Chuck' and 'Dexter' actress, about to star in this years 'Predator' Yvonne Strahovski who truly kills it in a story full of predatory males. Not least her on screen husband, played by former 'Shakespeare In Love' Joseph Fiennes, grizzled and reptilian in this Atwood adaptation that accents his whispering menace. A Kathy Bates, King 'Misery' like unnerving, veteran Ann Dowd also exerts her small-screen legend on the second wind of her careers library book collection of classics. Whilst more is added from the 'Seeds' of 'Room' and native Canadian actress Amanda Brugel, Royal Exchange, 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Macbeth' classically trained actor O.T. Fagbenle (who graced the stage as the Sidney Poiter son impersonating 'Six Degrees Of Separation' character Will Smith made famous, post-Prince, pre-Hollywood) and 'The Social Network's' Max Minghella who truly showed king of hearts, love in the Las Vegas sin in The Killers 'Shot At The Night' video from the love at first sight, "dear" in the headlights, first across the street moment. And guest stars in the form of the who's who of Hollywood like Academy actress Marisa Tomei, who has pure presence in every role she presents to us and former 'West Wing' and 'Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip' hero boy Bradley Whitford gone grey and 'Get Out' and 'Cabin In The Woods' sinister (so much so he becomes as likable as his, 'guess who's coming to dinner? Don't choke on your main course' character in Al Pacino's 'Scent Of A Woman') are welcome too. All to help tell a story that has been living in the blank white spaces in the edges of print for far too long. Just like all the individual stories of the people who have suffered abuse by the hands of those who need to be brought out of the shadows and to the gavel of swift justice right, damn now. Excruciating as it is to watch, this is crucial viewing for a critical time. But you don't need a man like me to explain it to you. Let's just say it like Atwood did. "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum!" Blessed be the fruit of the labor of this series. Now get ready for the uprising. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: '1984', 'The Stepford Wives', 'Top Of The Lake: China Girl'.

REVIEW: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-FALLOUT

4/5

From Paris With Hunt.

147 Mins. Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Angela Bassett & Alec Baldwin. Director: Christopher McQuarrie.

Accept it. Tom Cruise is in control of the summer. Even if last years magic 'Mummy', 'Dark Universe' Mission unravelled and Hunt has become the hunted here. The hunter? A Superman complete with that moustache and locked and loaded arm guns throwing a Man of Steen wallop of a punch. For a bathroom brawl that will throw everything at you, including the sink and the gif of the summer ("heading into work like...") in THE blockbuster of the season. And with sixth sense the 'Mission: Impossible' series franchise fuse is still running like Cruise across London Embankment rooftops. All the way to a real life concrete crushing, ankle break and the hobbling after that shows that Tom pushing 60 could even rock Dwayne Johnson, skyscraper to 'Skyscraper'. This is a man that scaled Dubai's Burj Khalifa in just a sticky pair of gloves and then descended down it with what looked like a man-sized cotton wool spool right before a sandstorm hit. The same man who in the original iconic 'M:I' abseiled down the vents of a vault with a forcefield floor he couldn't touch like lava. You remember he looked like he was sky-diving...he does that here. Before running across planes, trains and automobiles (and bikes). Before climbing cliffs, running everywhere again, white-knuckle, finger-tip hanging on to the side of war planes taking off and holding his breath underwater for 6 minutes before this sixth installment. The first 'Mission' could go toe to tailor suit with Bond and after the still successful second suffered a sophomore slump, the third in what many thought would be a trilogy for Tom showed this spy series could be re-Bourne. And after Jeremy was 'Ghost Protocol' brought in to takeover the franchise like he was Jason, that didn't work either as no matter how real Renner is like Matt Damon, iconic Hollywood stars can't top Tom like Hanks. 'Rogue Nation' became a tribute to the series and now with 'Fallout' nothing is dropped here. Even if Hawkeye is missing like his bow and arrow was in the all-out Avenger 'Infinity War'. I guess Jeremy Renner really did commit to that game of 'Tag' this year. Although he is missed here like he is in the latest Marvel. Lets hope for a mission report return to blockbuster war for Clint and Brandt. Because even if Thanos clicked his fingers again this franchise refuses to self destruct in what's counting to 30 years.

Hawkeye. Superman. Tom Cruise has never played a superhero (although he did come pretty close to bolting up as 'Iron Man' before Robert Downey Jr. Weird huh?). But at 56 and doing the things he does, whilst kicking ass of people young enough to be his son like Denzel Washington in 'The Equalizer 2', he is one. Or at least a real life Action Man. He's unstoppable. Even if you try to pull off one of his legs. At one pinnacle moment at peak action movie fare, a character frustratingly shouts, "why won't you just die?" whilst hanging off a cliff, with not much of a face. Hasn't he seen one of Cruise's movies? He survives it all. Even when he dies over and over again in his his epic 'Edge Of Tomorrow'/'All You Need Is Kill' movie that will 'Live.Die.Repeat' for another day and sequel. Continuing Cruise's hot 'War Of The Worlds' sci-fi streak from the 'Minority Report' man into 'Oblivion'. Even when films don't quite kick it and crash land for real like last years 'Mummy' reboot which really was actually the daddy, the 'Rain Man' and 'Jerry Maguire' superstar comes flying back...usually in an actual plane. See 'American Made' one of last years most underrated and entertaining best. Oh and speaking of which, did you need for speed hear there's going to be a 'Top Gun 2' Maverick? For a franchise face who also has a 'Jack Reacher' series knuckling up by the book also in a 'Cocktail' of 'Collateral' like action blockbusters. Here he's jumping out of more planes than he does big buildings as in reuniting with 'The Usual Suspects' Oscar winning screenwriter and first director in the series to accept a 'Mission: Impossible' twice, Christopher McQuarrie on qurrayman hardworking formidable form, Cruise is back for all six mission statements (aint that right Jerry?!). Show me the movie! Because this has it all fist fights, shootouts, BMW car chases through the classic European streets like 'Rogue Nation', going all 'Knight and Day'. Choppers from ones with two wheels to ones with rotating blades in the mountains above. And it's still seemingly so original...although a smart-phone remote control car pays homage (we hope) to Pierce Brosnan's mid-90's Bond with his BM. But back to the lack of green screen, of course Tom does all his own stunts for this. Watching him bomb it round in an all black bomber jacket ensemble on the back of a machine coloured the same. Riding through the streets of Paris on the back of a beautiful bike like it was a horse. Throttling from the Eiffel Tower to the Champs Elysees really is as 'M:I' iconic as it sounds. He is the champ! Even when he falls off like Puff Daddy in the 'I'll Be Missing You' video back in '96'. He takes his hits. He really does it all. He even has his ass handed to him in a bathroom...wait...what?! Ah you know, same old Ethan.

And that's where a cavalier Henry Cavill comes into play, cockily cocking his biceps and triceps for that stall breaking fight with kicking 'Skyfall' super stuntman Liang Yang, as classic as the car and cycle chase after a prison truck breaking heist that feels like 'The Dark Knight' Joker anarchy in the middle of just another sleepy day in France. You're going to love a supped up supes as Clark Kent goes rogue undercover. And as for "moustachegate" that made Superman look like John Travolta, I must ask you, was 'Justice League' sadly even worth it? For what it's worth Cavill was Christopher Reeve classic in 'Man Of Steel' and oh yes the criminally underrated dark design of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice' (in 2016 it seemed like this writer started a one man Twitter campaign in defence of 'BvS' all year). But for those superhero schedule conflict like Renner wondering why the 'Mission: Impossible' team didn't just Gillette the facial fuzz, wait until you see it in all its glory here. It's almost like its own character in itself. Henry who showed how slick and suave he was under the integrity of the 'S' on his chest in Guy Ritchie's spy game 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' remake, shakes, stirs, sweats and suit sheds his rumoured Bond audition. This hero for hire flanked by 'Black Panther' queen mother and Tina Turner herself, Angela Bassett on regal, roaring form. Butting official operative heads with original 'Hunt For October' Jack Ryan, Alec Baldwin. As following in the spy steps of him, Harrison Ford, Affleck and Pine, 'A Quiet Place' loud talent John Krasinski is about to step out 'The Office' for his own Amazon primetime series based on Tom Clancy's classic character. Cruise's own muse has plenty to focus on with 'The Greatest Showman' staged showstopper Rebecca Ferguson stealing the show again with her Black Widow killer kicks and headlocks by the legs. Not to mention Vanessa Kirby's White Widow, kissing goons goodbye femme fatale, with the eyes of previous connections to this series. And who could forget the lost love of Michelle Monaghan? Back like (because), she never left Hunt's heart. Ever since late, greatest villain Phillip Seymour-Hoffman played with all that. But returning like McQuarrie villain Sean Harris is sneeringly and sinisterly vile and great. Even when all tied up and exactly where he Joker straight jacket wants to be. It's a good job Hunt has his crack team of wisecracking 'Star Trek' Scotty, Simon Pegg (in it almost as much as Tom now) and original Luther (after Vandross, but before Idris) Ving Rhames from the first movie back permanently. And all this lights, camera, action set to a killer themed soundtrack, fuse set off by aces Las Vegas band Imagine Dragons, breathing fire into this epic explosion. What more could you choose to accept for your mission report? This review will self des...TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', 'Spectre'.

REVIEW: ANT-MAN & THE WASP

4/5

Honey I Blew Up The Avenger!

118 Mins. Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Tip "T.I." Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Forston, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne & Michael Douglas. Director: Peyton Reed.

Cue the 'Mission: Impossible' (shoutout to 'Fallout' out right now!) theme bongos. Because like Michael Pena's Luis...I got a story to tell. O.K. So you know in the summertime when you're looking for something to do on another lazy Sunday? You go for a picnic in the park right? But then halfway through when you're trying to enjoy your sandwich some ants come through in a line and walk off with the expensive pastries. And you're like, "ahh damn just when I was about to enjoy a treat this week. I knew I should have stuck with the oatmeal packets". So you try and wash all this down with a Dr. Pepper and then a wasp flies in your face like a disapproving finger and you're all like the Hulk using Loki as a handmade fly swatter trying to shoo this thing away. Looking more like Star-Lord in a dance-off without any music the way you move around. And...erm...this has nothing to do with the story. Sorry, you know I get excited. O.K. So there's this billionaire, playboy, philantrophist right. And he builds this suit out of iron more expensive than Bruce Wayne. And then this guy in a leather jacket and eye patch who looks like that guy that's in every movie breaks into his place one night and is like, "Yo! Let me tell you about the Avengers initative. We got this one guy who guy from World War 2 we injected with something that aint truth serum. And this God from a whole other realm who won't let go of his hammer, or the number of who makes his hair that wavy and so full of volume. We also got two assassins who don't really have powers. But one kicks names and takes ass and the other has a bow and arrow...oh and we have a Hulk". And this billionaires like, "look I told you I don't wanna join your boyband! What is this N-Sync? Don't fear me baby. It's just Justin!" But then the brother of the guy with the nice hair is like, "I wanna be king" and takes it out on New York and all those Avengers they like...assemble and stuff.

But wait there's more. Like all kinds of superheroes that tic-tac shrink, crawl up walls, even wizards that don't make balloon animals or give ten points to Griffindor more. There's even a dude in this place called Wakanda that has all this special metal called vibranium and stuff and his distant relative is like, "hey you should share that stuff with your brothers and sisters around the world". And his cousins like, "no"! And he's like, "I wanna be king"! Wait...haven't we done this one already? Meanwhile the billionaire and that ice cube from World War 2 with muscles have a falling out. They breakup like a band...like The Beatles. The billionaires like, "sign this piece of paper before I punch you in your perfect teeth". And the ice cube with muscles is like, "nah! I have to protect my friend whose as old as me, but has some anger and integrity issues. He's already had his arm replaced so his hip is probably next and our pensions are coming up so...lets fight in an airport and get arrested and stuff". So they do. But whilst there having this fight this guy we almost forgot about because he's so small grows to like twice the size of ten Shaquille O'Neal's. And he's all like, "oooh I am Giant-Man now! Give me your orange slices"! But no one has any. Just house arrest. And while the rest of the Avengers apart from the guy whose arrow he rode (not like that) go off to fight this big purple dude that also kind of looks like Shaquille O'Neal, but sounds more like what you would find on Cable, this guy now shrunk down to the size of an Ant-Man stays at home. Meanwhile all these Avengers that have been assembling over what seems like a decade chase this purple dude round the galaxy whilst meeting some real a-holes, as he chases this fancy looking glove with sequins on it. You know the type of one that would make a good Christmas present for your girlfriend. Because it is August after all. And this purple guys like, "I can destroy half the universe with just a click of my fingers". And those Avengers are like, "no you can't"! And he's like, "yes I can...CLICK"! And he does.

But that's not important right now. We need something fun and entertaining we can laugh at after that epic force of tear jerking. And our Ant-Man, Scott (played by the 'I Love You' man, most likable, funniest man alive, Paul Rudd. Just watch him slap bass, bite James, chat himself up in the mirror and apply 'Sex Panther'...nothing to do with T'Challa. 60% of the time he's funny everytime...and you know that makes perfect sense) has some seriously funny growing pains. Not to mention he can't leave his front door like a reverse vampire. So he has to improvise adorable games and stuff and more card tricks than that dude that lived in a box for a month with no food (hey! We've all been there David) to play with his cutest daughter Abby Ryder Forster. Or a guy that kind of looks like Kim Jong is going to put him away son. No...I'm not being funny, Randall Park played him in his 'Interview' with James Franco...he's hilarious. Scott wants to go straight so his little Peanut's parents, his ex-wife Judy Greer and her new man and surrogate step-father Bobby Cannavale don't get salty and tell him the chips are down. He likes the group hugs. But Scott's got even bigger fish to fry and planes to land...that's how you say it right?! And we aren't talking about his X-Con security business with motor-mouth review inspiration Michael Pena on jukebox hitting form, 'Trap Muzik', 'Urban Legend', 'American Gangster' and 'Sleepless' rapper slash actor Tip "T.I." Harris and the equally hilarious David Dastmalchian. Wasn't he that weird guy from 'Prisoners' who kept snakes in toy chests? Ha! Prison. Oh...where was I? Well they're not exactly the X-Men but these ex-prisoners have it locked down. Get it? You see Scott went off and his own Ant-Man trail and left the Wasp in her nest. Man that stings. But now sharing top billing like she stole the show in 'The Hobbit', Evangeline Lilly upgrades and suits up and is like, "nah, this is my movie too! I have blasters dawg!" as she becomes the first female superhero in Marvel movies to get her name in the titles. And boy does she bring the bright lights. They'll need it in the LSD trip that is the Quantum Realm too as that guy they robbed Michael Douglas dusts off his Hank Pym suit and some mind-blowing C.G.I. to look for his lost love in the form of Janet Van Dyne. Or should we say Michelle Pfeiffer...or should we even say Catwoman?! And if he finds her she'll probably all be like, "what took you so long? We had dinner plans at eight! Eighty years ago!" Two acting legends playing two comic-book ones. What could go wrong? Well how about 'Django' and 'Hateful Eight' Tarantino stud Walton Goggins playing a Southern gentleman without hospitality. Getting his 'Iron Man 3', Guy Pearce with an accent on like, "yo! I want a piece of this too and don't even think about touching my chandelier Sia?" Or the real villain in the form of Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost of 'Game Of Thrones' past. Walking through walls and barriers of pain and villian justification this side of Killmonger or those who want to print 'Magneto Was Right' t-shirts with Thanos' name in place. And I thought Casper was scary. She even has a surrogate father figure in the giant heart of legend Laurence Fishburne's turncoat S.H.I.E.L.D. agent whose all like, "don't worry girl. I'll be your dad. You know what I'm saying?"! But how will it all play out now Morpheus takes the red pill and enters Marvel's M.C.U. matrix? All this, a 'Bullitt' like phasing, phenomenal car chase that comes from a Hot Wheels toy set and stuff and car door to door fight through the iconic slopes of the streets of San Francisco like Michael. Driven and directed by the returning Peyton Reed who took the wheel from more than just one Cornetto 'Baby Driver's' Edgar Wright. And not to mention a heated kitchen fight that's like, "here take this, and this smushed tomato, and this too". As it throws everything except the place where you wash your hands. Even a salt shaker. Daaamn! Add this with a dash of a real big catch off Fishermans Wharf and just a pinch of a Stan Lee cameo as classic and the funniest best since the last 'Ant-Man', "yeah crazy, stupid fine"! And all you wanted to know was is this movie good, right?! Yes! TIM DAVID HARVEY

Further Filming: 'Ant-Man', 'Captain America: Civil War', 'Downsizing'.