Adventures in Words

  Glen Powell and Adria Arjona in “Hit Man.”  Netflix photo via IMDB.com Topping the Netflix movie charts for a while now, “Hit Man” is the rare case of a wry comedy loved by critics as much as audiences. It's being hailed as Glen Powell's breakout role after decades in the supporting trenches. (Yes, that was Glen playing John Glenn in “Hidden Figures” and Jake “Hangman” Seresen in “Top Gun: Maverick.” Seems the guy knows how to fly.) Foxy Adria Arjona co-stars, steaming up the lens whenever the camera sees her. There's beaucoup chemistry between her and Glen, even though it's hard to keep track of who's playing whom in any given scene. But “Hit Man's” secret weapon is actually on the other side of the camera.  Director Richard Linklater, who cowrote the script with Powell, is one of a handful of filmmakers who used to be known as  auteurs . They make meta movies, bigger than the sum of their parts. Their creations are self-aware of themselves as movies, even as

  Brie Larson in "Lessons in Chemistry."  Photo by Michael Becker/Courtesy of Apple - © Apple TV+ 2023 via IMDB.com Of all the movie goddesses I've been fortunate – more like crazy lucky – to meet in this lifetime, Brie Larson stands out.  It was the 2013 Maui Film Festival at Wailea where she was receiving the Rising Star Award. I was slotted to interview her before the award presentation, but when we ran into each other in the driveway leading up the festival's offices and spectacular outdoor amphitheater , we decided to just do it there. No photographers. No personal assistants. No festival staffers impatiently watching the clock. Just the two of us.  From first introductions to a smiling farewell twenty minutes later, the entire encounter happened by the side of the road Just 23 at the time, Brie was hardly the biggest name on the honorees list. But according to the festival staffer wrangling the celebrities, she was the coolest. Hands down. No entourage, no airs.