Apocalypse Later: Ad Astra Redux

I just want to start by saying I didn’t want to watch this film. It’s not that the film looked bad, cheesy, or uninteresting, but I don’t exactly have an affinity for a typical-seeming space adventure. Gravity was cool to see on the big screen, but not on a television. Life was all nihilism and no hope. Ad Astra seemed like somewhere in-between Deep Impact and Space Cowboys. It’s time to admit that I was wrong to doubt this film. Overview James Gray‘s newest film thrusts Brad Pitt into the eternal void from which there is no escape except a good ol’ fashioned cathartic father-son relationship. Roy McBride (Pitt) is an accomplished astronaut living in the somewhere near future, where commercial flights to the moon and Mars are no longer atypical (thanks, Richard Branson). Following a fatal accident where he was one of the only survivors, McBride is brought in

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Jim’s Top Ten Films of 2018

For one reason or another, I was able to see a good chunk of 2018 movies, and I feel confident enough to throw down a top ten list. Films are subjective, and lists are arbitrary. Even in my final decisions, the order changes daily. Sometimes my initial reaction to a movie I’ve seen increases days after the viewing, and other times it wanes. Talk to me in a year from now, and two or three films I’ve yet to catch up on might easily replace titles on the list you are about to receive.

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