Agent Palmer

“Hi, howya doin? I’m Arlo Guthrie and you’ve probably listened to or heard about a thing called Alice’s Restaurant.“

That is the beginning of the narrative that is spoken at the start of the movie, Alice’s Restaurant, and also used as the trailer for the film as an explanation of what the movie is and how it is based on Arlo Guthrie’s song of the same name.

Sure, it’s about a video game, and those kinds of movies don’t typically hold much water but 2014’s Need For Speed movie contains a plot no more or less complicated than the plot from any of the NFS games, which I played many many times.

And it has the combined superpower of a young Rami Malek, Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Kid Cudi, plus the amazingly talented and brilliant Michael Keaton, and the show-stopping cars you would expect it to have.

Anna, directed by Luc Besson, cast/has three legit stars in it: Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, and Cillian Murphy. After a failed relationship ends suddenly, she is recruited by the KGB. After a year in training and two in the field, she learns the promise of freedom after five years of service is a lie. She is also a successful model between jobs, and working dual professions is hard on her.

Under the thumb of the KGB, including her handler, Alex (Evans) and intelligence officer, Olga (Mirren), she is a precise and methodical killer.