Whenever a collection of flawed characters in desperate need intersect in movies, it usually manages to stamp out the salad and kill the mood in an elephant in rural China-kind of way. But then they got those Pandas...

And Thomas McCarthy's directional debut is warm and fuzzy, funny in an Bill Murray on Ari Kaurismäki light kind of way, and so bloody confident in its audience that it rides its dramatic subtleties all the way to the train depot. My…

"but all things considered I wouldn't be shocked if I return in a couple of years..."
-Monsieur Flynn 2013

Yeah, how about that. Turns out I know myself pretty well after all these years.

I couldn't for the life of me give you a good reason as to why I've watched this movie as often as I've done. It doesn't even quite fit the guilty pleasure quota, because I'm not so sure I get all that much pleasure from it.…

27th movie for 30 countries 2015

Oh, boy. Let's once again start with the history-lesson. This movie is remembered (infamous) for its indecency; a naked Hedy Lamarr swimming and running in the forest, close up of her topless, and (one of) the first theatrical released to feature a female orgasm on screen. That was more than enough to get it banned in both the US and by the Nazis, as well as being condemned by the Pope.

Hedy Lamarr was…

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November...

It seems I return to this movie once a year around this date, and it's no coincidence. It's just too bloody brilliant to not enjoy over and over again. It's also a reminder the Wachowski's isn't all about The Matrix, Natalie Portman isn't any longer the poster child for creepy relationships (Léon and Beautiful Girls), and Britain has got a bunch of highly qualified actors lying around doing far too little... just to mention…