4 Favorites: May 2025
Two horror films (well, three if you don't like Tim Robinson) and Tom Cruise's latest death wish
Welcome back to the 4 Favorites series!
This is the first time in a while that this is full of only new movies. Summer blockbuster season is here.
But now, as Vin Diesel says … THE MOVIES:
“Clown in a Cornfield”
I was pleasantly surprised by this one. We are an AMC A-List family now1, and I used one of my A-List slots this month for a horror movie that I knew Taylor wouldn’t want to see.
I went in knowing nothing about this movie, except that it would probably feature a murderous clown in a cornfield. I was not wrong (the film features multiple clowns, actually), but I loved the way Eli Craig’s adaptation of Adam Cesare’s YA horror novel plays it straight. The premise is outlandish, but there’s no winking irony- these teens are fighting for their lives against a bunch of murderous clowns, and that’s that.
This movie also has something to say when it’s not serving up evil clownery, and its commentary about how older generations will literally do anything except give in to the younger generation’s progress felt timely, if a bit preachy at times in the third act.
Coming soon to video on demand.
“Final Destination Bloodlines”
After 25 years of “Final Destination” movies, you get the gist: At the start of the movie, a character has a premonition about a massive disaster that will kill lots of people, and then prevents said disaster because of their premonition. But because that character and those people were supposed to die, Death comes to collect from everyone who made it out of the original disaster alive, killing characters to increasingly gory and convoluted Rube Goldbergian effects.
What “Final Destination Bloodlines” presupposes is…maybe Death takes a while if the premonition saves enough people?
In this, the sixth installment of the horror franchise, a woman named Iris saves a lot of people from a disaster at the Seattle Space Needle a nondescript restaurant that looks a lot like the Seattle Space Needle for contractual reasons. She, along with her fiancé and unborn child, lives and has a long life. But because she wasn’t supposed to exist, her descendants weren’t, either. Now, Death keeps making its merry way through all the victims and victims’ families that were supposed to die decades ago, and it’s up to Iris’ granddaughter Stefanie to break the chain.
That new riff on a familiar concept would be enough reason to buy a ticket. But this go-round is also horror icon and franchise vet Tony Todd’s swan song. The late actor recorded his one scene in the movie knowing it would be his last, and he made it count. His monologue toward the end of the movie sees him, and his character, accepting his mortality and vowing to enjoy the time he has left. He gives this franchise its ethos: “Life is precious.”
Ask that girl for her number. Forgive that person who wronged you. Call up that family member just to tell them you love them. We could all go at any time- why waste time worrying about it?
Now playing in theaters.
“Friendship”
You’re either on this film’s wavelength or you’re not. Personally, I’m all in.
Tim Robinson takes the abrasive form of hubristic comedy he perfected on his sketch show “I Think You Should Leave” — featuring characters who just don’t know when to quit — and expands it into a full-length comedy about a sadsack named Craig (Robinson) who ingratiates himself into the friend group of his new, charismatic neighbor Austin (Paul Rudd). When the two have a falling out, Craig can’t let it go. Cringe comedy, lots of yelling and increasingly absurd situations ensue.
This is the anti-”I Love You, Man,” with Rudd taking the Jason Segel role from that movie. And while I understand people calling “Friendship” a feature-length “ITYSL” sketch, the final result is a much sadder and darkly funny look at how hard it is for men to create meaningful friendships as we get older.
That, and it has one of the best drug-trip scenes in years and the best deployment of Connor O’Malley I’ve seen in a long time.
Now playing in theaters.
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”
Whew. If this is truly Tom Cruise’s last “Mission” movie, I hope the man takes a break. “Final Reckoning” has him wingwalking on a biplane, diving down into a submarine without a tank, lighting his parachute on fire, dropping out of a helicopter and, of course, running all over the place.
Don’t worry about plot details. This supposedly final installment is heavy on the mumbo-jumbo about AI this, The Entity that, nuclear warfare all over. The story is even more loose than its predecessor, the clumsily titled “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning: Part 1.” Just know that Ethan Hunt, and therefore, Tom Cruise, must once again save the world, and Hollywood, respectively.
This is far from the best of the franchise. You have to get through a lot of sweaty plot devices and exposition in “Final Reckoning” before you get to see this generation’s answer to Buster Keaton finally deliver on some stunt setpieces. But when Cruise delivers, by Xenu, he delivers.
That’s a Scientology joke, because this movie is also weirdly about Scientology and how individuals shape the world. I think maybe one of my biggest cases of separating the art from the artist comes when Thomas Cruise Mapother IV decides he wants to do some hairbrained stunt for me, the audience. I hope he keeps doing it forever.
Now playing in theaters.
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This newsletter is written by me and edited by my favorite person, Taylor Tompkins. Views expressed here are my own and don’t reflect the opinions of my employer.
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I love you, Alamo Drafthouse, but you really need to get your shit together. Why won’t you hire more workers? Why do I have to pay convenience fees per ticket if I already pay a monthly subscription fee? Why do you refuse to implement a rewards program? What happened to your menu? (It’s Sony, I know the answer is Sony.)