After the death of his father, Christopher Abbott’s adrift twenty-something titular character falls down a spiral of self destructive behavior, ignoring the co-dependent pleas of his terminally ill mother. There’s not much to the film other than watching Abbott’s character struggle to find stable ground all while continuing to dig himself further down a hole of drug binges, fighting, and sex with the teenaged girlfriend he met in Mexico. But it’s an incredible performance that really showcases how strong of an actor Abbott is, especially when working with Cynthia Nixon as his mother who delivers an equally strong performance in a supporting role.

In 1961, pensioner Kempton Bunton (portrayed here by Jim Broadbent) stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery as part of his campaign to provide television licences for those struggling to afford them. Broadbent is a good choice as Bunton and Helen Mirren provides the perfectly sensible foil as his wife. There’s a category of film that I tend to think of as cozy British flicks and this one falls firmly into that category: working class characters who live perfectly average lives except for one quirk which sets them apart and provides the impetus for the story. It’s a comfy way to waste away an afternoon, watching something that’s not too complex or offensive but still entertaining.

After his friend former CIA-turned DEA agent Felix Leiter’s (David Hedison in his second outing) new bride is murdered by drug lord Robert Davi, Timothy Dalton’s James Bond finds his licence to kill revoked when he choses to pursue Davi instead of following MI6 orders. When I decided to watch various Bond films, it seemed prudent to also check out each actor’s portrayal of the iconic character. I generally expect Dalton to be a film’s villain, so casting him as Bond provides a much different take than the previous actors, much darker and younger. The Drug War plot, propelled wonderfully by Davi’s ruthless kingpin who is himself supported by a young Benicio del Toro, amps up the tension and pulls Bond into a more modern action flick age. I also can never not be amused when the licence to kill is referred to as an actual thing instead of the metaphorical device I had always assumed it to be.