【Dear Utol (2025): TBrgy. Chairman Episode 39】

Robert Zemeckis' WWII spy thriller Alliedis smart,Dear Utol (2025): TBrgy. Chairman Episode 39 sexy and ultimately why we go to the movies: to think andfeel with the likes of Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, two true movie stars doing what they do best.

Pitt plays Canadian pilot and Allied Forces intelligence officer Max Vatan, who we first meet parachuting into the Moroccan desert in 1942. A risky assignment awaits in Casablanca, where his British superiors have paired him with French resistance fighter Marianne Beauséjour (Cotillard).

Together they are to assassinate a Nazi ambassador at some distance and under heavy guard, but as we all know, Pitt is skilled at killing movie Nazis. The couple reunites in London, fall in love and start a family as he begins an officer's lifestyle.

It isn't long before Max learns the crushing news that Marianne may herself be a German spy. His orders are unthinkable.

This may sound like a period Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but it's not. It's a brilliant set-up for what becomes an ingeniously plotted thriller, and clever screenwriter Steven Knight deserves as much credit as Zemeckis for the crafty throwback.

Zemeckis has had a fascinating career since blockbuster hits Back to the Futureand Who Framed Roger Rabbit. There have been ups (Forrest Gump,Cast Away)and downs (mo-cap abominations The Polar Express, Beowulfand A Christmas Caroland countless horror movies he produced.

Then there was Mars Needs Moms, which deserves its own special category.

Along the way, Zemeckis has proven himself as one of Hollywood's best at movies for grownups. Death Becomes Her. Contact. What Lies Beneath. Flight. The unfairly maligned The Walk. And now Allied, which seems to have been made on a relatively modest budget considering the scope of the story, and sees Zemeckis rise to the occasion.

This may be a wartime movie, but besides one plane crash and one tank explosion, there isn't much war.

That's between Max and Marianne, and it's a subtle one. You're never quite sure who has the upper hand. The film keeps you off-balanced that way, but it doesn't cheat, and in fact, leaves several clues about the game it's playing.

Pitt is a better actor than he's given credit for, and his strengths are well-suited for Allied. But make no mistake, Cotillard is the standout here.

Old-fashioned in a fun way (unlike Rules Don't Apply, which is old-fashioned in an old way), Alliedis the kind of passionate, intelligent film that rewards patience. For anyone without it, Pitt and Cotillard will have to do.

You could do worse. Real movie stars are in short supply these days.