Hugo Pagan Soto

F1 (2025): Cinema in High Gear

Cinema’s love affair with car racing is nothing new. While F1 (2025) has ignited the passion of motorsport fans with its stunning action sequences and immersive portrayal of the Formula 1 world, we can look much further back and see that this type of story has long had a place on the big screen. In 1932, the ever-bold Howard Hawks turned James Cagney into a famed race car driver in The Crowd Roars. True to his style, Hawks captured one of the earliest sound films to depict racing with a raw sense of realism, even using actual racetracks for the action scenes.

The Kingdom (2024): A Brutal Coming-of-Age in the Corsican Underworld

Posted on July 4 by Hugo Pagan Soto

The opening sequence of The Kingdom (2024) by Julien Colonna has a magical aura. Mystery surrounds the ceremony that introduces us to Lesia (Ghjuvanna Benedetti). There is an unusual beauty in the cadence with which the director portrays the ritual, contrasting Lesia’s innocence with the ferocity of the men butchering a freshly hunted animal. It’s a foreshadowing of what’s to come and the beginning of a circle that will inevitably have to close.

Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning – The Legend of Ethan Hunt

Posted on July 3 by Hugo Pagan Soto

Don’t be fooled—there’s nothing final about this ending. I can assure you that Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning (2025) is not the end of this successful franchise. Perhaps it marks the closing of a particular timeline within the Mission: Impossible universe, but the studios will surely find ways to bring Ethan Hunt and his team back. Almost 30 years have passed since the first film in the franchise hit theaters under the direction of Brian De Palma, and now, with the eighth installment, the path is being paved for a generational handover.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig: A Bold Act of Political Cinema

Posted on May 27 by Hugo Pagan Soto

In September 2022, the young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini died while in the custody of the morality police in Tehran. Amini was visiting the city with her family and was arrested for allegedly not wearing the hijab correctly. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) by Mohammad Rasoulof weaves a fictional story rooted in the death of Mahsa Amini and the protests that erupted across Iran, which led to further violence and fatalities.

The Monkey (2025): The Art of Macabre Humor

Posted on May 1 by Hugo Pagan Soto

With The Monkey (2025), Osgood Perkins continues building a legacy that positions him as a future cult director. For some, what he achieved with Longlegs—which I consider one of the best films of 2024—would have been enough. With his latest work, he confirms his sharp talent for telling macabre stories. He steps away from the serious and psychological tone of his previous film to deliver a black comedy that leans into supernatural horror to torment the audience.

The Last Movie Guy

I Love The Smell of Movies in The Morning

Author: Hugo Pagan Soto