Operation Hail Mary (2026)

A 3 person crew is shot into space to the one star in the universe that isn't dimming to find out why it isn't dying. Coming out  of hibernation only the science officer (Ryan Gosling) is still alive, and he is very fuzzy about what he is doing their. Making contact with an alien, himself the only survivor of a similar mission, he and his new friend have to work together in order to save their planets.

There have been very few films that I've seen that were what my mother called the "god films". These were the films that  I cam out of dazed and confused and in the words of my mom "you look like you've just seen god".  I haven't had one of those experiences in decades, until yesterday when I saw OPERATION HAIL MARY.

Why did the film move me? beyond the fact that it is a great film, it moved me to a place of wonder. I felt like I was five again and I was watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. This was a film that filled me with a wonder sta discovering the most magical thing in the world. Watching the film Armstrong was walking on the moon for the first time.  Forgive me, but I was and am a space kid and thats where my heart lives.

Beyond the sense of wonder the film is glorious because the film does things that we never see any more. There are characters. Gosling may get an Oscar nomination for one of the best heroes in cinematic history. He is a likeable guy who doesn't rise to the occasion so much as have greatness forced on him. We don't get arcs like this in movies...ever. Youi understand why he and his classes (he's really a school teacher) and Rocky bond. He is very human, and closer to us than Hollywood ever gives us.

The more important thing the film gives us is a sense of danger. There are very real stakes. The universe is effectively going to die. Things go wrong all along the way, Gosling is sent into space because the person who he replaced was blown up doing an experiment. Most intriguing is the fact that Gosling knows that when and if he finds a solution, he can't go home. The trip into space was one way. We know early on the hero is going to die. And the movie takes the eventual end and makes us forget, but up the stakes as Rocky and Gosling must save each other repeatedly. Things go wrong. Stuff happens. None of it contrived, but exactly the sort of thing that could happen.I was a sobbing mess because I care about the two friends trying to do something impossible.

This is truly one of the top films of the year and the last decade. Hollywood spoiled us with this.

While I may have an issue with the ending (which comes from the source novel) I still love this film in ways reserved for very few films.

See this film and find your sense of wonder.

(Because I know I am going to get asked, some of the god films are:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS- which was for years my favorite film, but which I fell out of love with thanks to tinkering.
ET- which I saw at an early sneak preview and was unaware of what it was. I'm no longer interested in the film because it is of its time and because they kept farting with it (guns no guns)
MISHIMA- yes the Schrader film. This was a film that just picked my and took me somewhere else. The film still rocks my world though I don't quite vibrate as I did when I came out of the first screening (and my momreally said "are you okay- you're vibrating")
There are one or two films but those are the ones I always point to because of conversation specifically about how I was coming out of them)