Everybody Ben-Hurts: Wherein I answer all your questions about the new (fourth) big-screen adaption of the 19th century novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ except "Why?"

Jack Huston, who is descended from showbiz royalty but in no way related to Keanu Reeves, and Toby Kebbell in the fourth movie version of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur.

Here's is the sort of sterling-quality joke that got whittled from what started out as a straight-up review of the new, Timur Bekmambetov-directed adaptation of Ben-Hur, but quickly turned into this.

EDITOR: Agreed. So they got an actor of Middle Eastern descent?

KLIMEK: They got a guy from Memphis.

EDITOR: You mean Memphis, Egypt?

KLIMEK: I do not. His name is Morgan Freeman.

EDITOR: I have heard of him.

KLIMEK: He has been in some other movies.

You can't blame me for digging in to the little differences between new and old, especially in light of the fact that Ben-Hur '59 is a venerable classic that I first saw when I was whatever age I was last Saturday night.

1959: BEN-HUR, from the director of THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES.

2016: BEN-HUR, from the director of ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER.

— Chris Klimek (@ctklimek) August 8, 2016

Texas Holds 'Em: Hell or High Water, reviewed.

Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham as a pair of Texas Rangers. (CBS Films)

After what feels like a streak of mediocre-to-awful summer blockbusters (Star Trek Beyond excepted), David Mackenzie's thoughtful, attentive crime drama Hell or High Water is a relief. My NPR review is here.

Self-Inflicted Wound: Suicide Squad, reviewed.

"I loved you in that movie Focus." Will Smith and Margot Robbie. (Clay Enos/Warner Bros.)

I was genuinely curious about Suicide Squad, because I admire many of writer-director David Ayer's films, and because I like the sturdy bad-guys-on-a-dangerous-mission premise in general. (I finally saw William Friedkin's 1977 thriller Sorcerer a few months ago, and I loved it.) But Suicide Squad is at least as awful as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and probably would've been lousy even if a panicked studio hadn't commissioned an edit from a company that specializes in trailers. Anyway, I performed an autopsy for NPR.

While can't endorse the movie, I strongly endorse my friend Neda Ulaby's All Things Considered piece about Kim Yale, who co-wrote many issues of the late-80s Suicide Squad comic with her husband, John Ostrander. He gets shouted out in the movie in the form of a sign for the "John F. Ostrander Federal Building," but Yale does not. I'm glad Neda stepped in to correct the record.

Vestigial Tale: Jason Bourne, reviewed.

Matt Damon, gouing through the moutions in a fifth Bourne. (Universal)

Look, I enjoyed the circa 2002-7 Bourne trilogy, and it's surprising to me that I've never gotten around to 2012's Damonless, Greengrassless The Bourne Legacy given how much I liked writer/director Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton. But as I aver in my NPR review, Jason Bourne isn't just the least of the Damon-starring Bournes—it's not even as good as SPECTRE, which suffered an acute surfeit of goodness. And Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. are both far more imaginative and colorful diversions, spywise and otherwise.

It gives me no joy to deliver unto you this disappointing news.

Free Enterprise: Star Trek Beyond, reviewed.

Zachary Quinto is all ears. (Kimberly French/Paramount)

Star Trek Beyond, the third Trek in the 50-year-old franchise's rebooted "Kelvin timeline," wants to be a Skyfall-style cocktail of tradition and modernity. I wish it were bolder, but it's energetic and fun. Here's my NPR review.

Hot Buzz: I interviewed Simon Pegg for Air & Space / Smithsonian

Sofia Boutella and Simon Pegg in Star Trek Beyond (Kimberly French/Paramount).

What a pleasure it was to speak with Simon Pegg, an actor and writer whose work I've long admired, for my day job with Air & Space / Smithsonian magazine. I've been overseeing a special section of our September issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, and I was especially keen to have Pegg — as the co-screenwriter of the new movie Star Trek Beyond, as well as one of its key cast members — be a part of our coverage. He was as enthusiastic and smart and funny as I'd dared hope. You can read the interview here, and my NPR review of Star Trek Beyond will be up Friday.

I wanted to discuss the blog post he wrote about George Takei, but our time was limited and I thought he'd already explained his position quite eloquently in prose. There was an obvious moment when we might've talked about how subsequent Trek movies might deal with the tragic death of Anton Yelchin last month, but I'll be honest: In the moment, I just didn't think to ask the question. Or about his role as Ogden Morrow in the film version of Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One that Steven Spielberg just started shooting last month. He's a busy guy, this guy.

They mostly come out at night, mostly: ALIENS, briefly recalled on All Things Considered

Writer/director James Cameron with Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn on the Pinewood Studios set of ALIENS circa 1985. (Fox)

I was thrilled to get an invitation from All Things Considered to blab briefly with the great Audie Cornish about one of my favorite movies on the 30th anniversary of its release: SpaceCamp. No, it was ALIENS. Duh. The segment aired at the very end of an ATC that started off with live audio of the "Roll Call Vote!" chant from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. They're coming out of the goddamn walls, just like Private Hudson said.

You can hear the segment here. I had more to say than they could use, but that's radio, and hey, this is a show primarily devoted to, you know, real news. One of the first pieces I ever wrote for NPR was largely about ALIENS. I have a narrow range of interests, I guess.