MOVIE REVIEW: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT

Ethan Hunt and the IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker to prevent a disaster of epic proportions. Arms dealer John Lark and a group of terrorists known as the Apostles plan to use three plutonium cores for a simultaneous nuclear attack on the Vatican, Jerusalem and Mecca, Saudi Arabia. When the weapons go missing, Ethan and his crew find themselves in a desperate race against time to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. 

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Cast: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett

Release Date: July 27, 2018

Genres: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for some suggestive material

Runtime: 2h 27min

Review:

Mission Impossible – Fallout is truly a fantastic piece of filmmaking.  Christopher McQuarrie raises the bar even more than he did in the last entry by delivering action set pieces that are beautifully designed and filmed.  Everything about the film is big from its set pieces to its stakes.  The plot is a twisty yet simple story that has our heroes chasing down plutonium.  I wished that the film did a better job of holding its secrets a bit closer to the vest.  Some the twists are fairly obvious but it doesn’t hurt the overall enjoyment of the film as a whole.  At the center of the entire thing is Tom Cruise.  Cruise is a seemingly ageless daredevil who just wants to believe he’s literally some sort of superhero.  Returning cast members Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson aka sexy British Michelle Monaghan all turn in strong supporting turns with each getting their time to shine.  Henry Cavill makes for a solid foil to Cruise but I would have like a bit more subtleness and depth to his character.  Sean Harris returns as the villain from the previous film who is incorporated into the plot that references previous iterations, something refreshing which ultimately make the film more engaging.

A

Cindy Prascik's Review of Mission Impossible: Fallout

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for Mission Impossible: Fallout.

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

 

The past comes after Ethan Hunt and his team with a vengeance.

 

Mission Impossible: Fallout has been called the best film in its lengthy franchise, and that's probably a fair, if arguable, assessment. Ridiculously high stakes and and insane stunts make the Fast & Furious movies look like gritty realism by comparison. Fight and chase scenes are expertly choreographed and never dull or repetitive, even if they go on a bit. Tom Cruise--who, as Facebook has pointed out multiple times this week, is older in this MI installment than Wilford Brimley was in Cocoon (!!)--is in top action-hero form, performing his own stunts whenever the insurance allows and carrying the franchise on his back as if he has no other option. The cast is fleshed out with the usual array of familiar and (generally) likable faces: Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Henry Cavill's moustache, Angela Bassett, Michelle Monaghan, and Simon Pegg, who is always best thing about any film lucky enough to have him. The brilliant Sean Harris also makes a welcome return as baddie Solomon Lane. Now I shall (reluctantly) mention just a few negatives: While MI: Fallout has a LOT of moving parts, the twists aren't all that clever. They're enjoyable and satisfying, but I made a game of guessing "surprises" before they happened, and I didn't miss the mark even once. There are too many impossibly lucky turns among the chase scenes (a little of that goes a long way), and some "thinking out loud" dialogue that is too silly even for a movie as over-the-top as this. Henry Cavill's wooden delivery, while perfect for a goody-two-shoes like Clark Kent, is jarringly bad for a character that should be at least a little hard to figure out. Finally, even though it doesn't lag, Fallout would have been well served by at least a small trim of its excessive runtime. Not one of those things makes MI: Fallout less than a great movie, but, in the interest of full and fair disclosure, these are what I see as its flaws. Also, since several people have asked, no, you won't be lost if you haven't seen the previous installment (or any previous installments) in the series. The film explains itself more than well enough for even the most casual fan to keep up.

 

Mission Impossible: Fallout clocks in at a whopping 147 minutes and is rated PG13 for "violence and intense sequences of action, and for brief strong language."

 

Easily the most exciting offering of the season, Mission Impossible: Fallout is that rare commodity: a fun summer blockbuster that's also a genuinely fantastic movie. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Mission Impossible: Fallout gets eight.

 

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE ROGUE NATION

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his teammates reunite for this pulse-pounding sequel, in which they attempt to take down a secret international organization known as the Syndicate--highly skilled ex-IMF agents who are intent on bringing down their former outfit. Christopher McQuarrie directs this new entry in the Mission Impossible franchise, with Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, and Simon Pegg co-staring. ~ Daniel Gelb, Rovi

Director: Christopher McQuarrie 

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Alec Baldwin.

Release Date: Jul 31, 2015

Rated PG-13 Sequences of Action & Violence and Brief Partial Nudity

Runtime: 2 hr. 11 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Family

Review:

Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation is probably the best action film of the summer.  It’s one of the most well round action films in recent memory.  Christopher McQuarrie ably directs set piece after set piece each larger and more extravagant than the last.  It’s quite a feat when the big set piece that’s been playing on all the trailers is just the start of the film.  At its center is Tom Cruise.  I constantly have to remind myself that Cruise is 53 years old because he’s just so impressive in his action films.  Say what you will about his personal life but the man makes for a perfect movie star in everyway imaginable.  He’s at his best here hitting all the right beats and even throwing in some comedic bits here and there.  The supporting cast is strong if under utilized.  Rebecca Ferguson makes for a surprisingly believable agent.  She’s able to go toe to toe with Cruise in the action department and her and Cruise have a solid rapport together.  Simon Pegg and Cruise have great chemistry together with Pegg nailing the comic relief portion of the film.  .  Jeremy Renner gets the short end of the stick though as he’s sidelined for the better part of the film.  Renner has a substantial role but it’s really just lots of standing around looking at screens or talking to people on the phone.  His action sequences are zero in this entry.  Ving Rhames is pretty much in the same boat but to a lesser extent.  The plot is a tad convoluted but never really that important to the proceedings since they made Sean Harris looks about as nefarious as humanly possible with the only thing missing being a shot of him punching kittens.  The film is a lot of fun all around but it could have been trimmed by a good ten or fifteen minutes at the very least.

A-

Cindy Prascik's Review of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Dearest Blog: Thanks to an early dismissal yesterday, I was able to get out to see Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation on opening day.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

After the IMF is disbanded and its agents forced to report to the CIA, Ethan Hunt's crew has to go off-book to battle the evil Syndicate.

There are two things regular reader(s) already know I'm going to say about Mission: Impossible - Rouge Nation. Number one: it's a great movie you should go see right away, then go see it again and again. Number two: NOT ENOUGH JEREMY RENNER! There, that's that out of the way.

Rogue Nation kicks off with a spectacular action sequence that perfectly sets the tone for an edge-of-your-seat couple hours. Crazy stunts galore and great fight choreography are exciting to watch and keep the movie moving at a good pace. The plot is well-crafted, and beautiful locations compliment the story nicely. Tom Cruise is the very definition of A-List, a star who carries the movie without ever seeming to steal screen time from the rest of a pretty decent ensemble. Cruise again performed many of his own stunts, including that crazy plane thing you've undoubtedly seen in all the trailers and ads by now.

Not just the action hero, not just the handsome leading man, Cruise is also a pretty funny guy, though most comic-relief duties rightfully fall to the brilliant Simon Pegg. Now that it's clear Ethan Hunt isn't going anywhere, it seems the filmmakers aren't quite sure what to do with William Brant, so--though Jeremy Renner probably doesn't have any less screen time than the other supporting cast--he doesn't seem to have much to do. (Renner is in a similar, unfortunate situation with the Bourne franchise.) It's fair to say no movie was ever worse for having Sean Harris or Tom Hollander, either. If I had one teensy complaint about Rogue Nation, it's the usual: it would have been pretty simple to trim this to a two-hour runtime, and the movie would have been sharper and more enjoyable for it.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation runs 131 minutes and is rated PG13 for "sequences of action and violence, and brief partial nudity."

A straight-up awesome blockbuster and easily the best movie of the summer, of a possible nine Weasleys, Mission: Impossible - Rouge Nation gets eight and a half.

(And you can bet that'd be nine if it only had more Renner!)

Until next time...

Dear Filmmakers: It is VERY important that you find more screentime for Jeremy Renner. Please and thank you.

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Aloha & San Andreas

Dearest Blog, yesterday it was off to the pictures more because it's what I do on a Saturday than because there was anything I was all that interested in watching. The weekend's offerings: Aloha and San Andreas.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing not previously divulged by the trailers.

First on my middling agenda: Aloha.

A former military hotshot gets a second chance at life and love in Hawaii.

Aloha isn't normally the type of movie I'd watch unless and until it crossed my path for free on cable; however, a super cast made it a better option than the dreadful-looking Tomorrowland to complete my San Andreas double-bill.

Aloha's biggest flaw is that it never really decides what it is. Tangents are many, fully explored ones are few, and things always seem to be happening and people behaving in ways that don't quite make sense. The movie clocks in under two hours; it might have done well to better flesh out a few things. NOT encouraging yet another bloated less-than-epic Hollywood epic, but Aloha feels a bit like a puzzle missing a piece.

The movie makes little use of Hawaii's great natural beauty, though it doesn't willfully try to make the island seem unappealing, either, like the Descendants did. Also in its favor over the Descendants: people in Aloha actually wear real, grownup shoes sometimes. Hooray for socks!!

The aforementioned super cast almost--almost!--manages to compensate for Aloha's other shortcomings. Alec Baldwin and Danny McBride make the most of their limited screen time, and Bill Murray, John Krasinski, and Rachel McAdams are perfect fits in supporting roles.

Bradley Cooper is nothing short of fantastic in the sort of leading man role that's perfect for a guy with his looks, even if he's been both good and lucky enough to break out of that mold for the most part.

Young Jaeden Lieberher is the movie's scene-stealer, precocious, but not annoying. Finally, whatever higher power you believe in, if you don't think Emma Stone represents His/Her/Its finest work, well, then, I just don't know what's wrong with you. She is earnest and beautiful and 150% terrific, and lights up every scene she's in to such a degree that it hurts when she's missing. So, yeah, Aloha is kind of hokey, but in the end I was rooting for almost everyone and I actually liked it.

Aloha runs 105 minutes and is rated PG13 for "some language, including suggestive comments."

Despite its being the second romance forced on me by a pitiful spring film slate, I didn't hate it.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Aloha gets five.

Next up, San Andreas.

Dwayne Johnson is better than you are, and you should make every effort to be in his company when beset by disaster.

Listen, San Andreas is the kind of thing that's normally right up my alley, but a done-to-death idea and effects that looked kinda wonky in the trailer left me ambivalent. I'm pleased to say that, though it may be the most stupidly implausible movie I've ever seen (and remember, I like movies about radioactive spiders and talking dragons), San Andreas is also quite fun.

Truth: San Andreas is dumber than a bag of hair. Lowest-common denominator laughs. Contrived scenarios. Insipid dialogue. Painful "inspirational" shots backed by a comically-swelling score. Had I rolled my eyes just one more time, I'd be looking out the back of my head to write this review.

I'd heard some complaints about the accuracy of the movie's earthquake science, and while I don't doubt those are entirely true, I don't think most folks would have noticed or cared; the bigger problem is that everything else is so ridiculous you can't even buy into the mundane.

The supporting cast ranges from "I love that guy!" (Will Yun Lee) to pretty likeable (Hugo Johnstone-Burt and Art Parkinson) to super annoying (Alexandra Daddario) to "What the hell are you even doing here?" (Paul Giamatti).

I'm sorely disappointed to discover that the beautiful Carla Gugino is an ugly crier. Of course none of that really matters, because the movie belongs to Dwayne Johnson. Despite the fact he doesn't do much smiling or taking off his shirt (the two things he does best, for my money), he remains one of the more engaging leading men working in Hollywood today, and at his side probably isn't the worst place you could be when the world goes to hell. San Andreas is pretty entertaining, and that's mostly thanks to Johnson.

Thankfully, the effects are also better than the trailer would have led you to believe. There's one awful bit of green-screen, but the rest is huge and quite effective. Felt a lot like being on a rollercoaster, and I saw it in 2D; I can only imagine the 3D is utterly vomit inducing, in the best possible way. The movie also does a great job at maintaining tension, a fingernail chewer from start to finish.

San Andreas clocks in at 114 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense disaster action and mayhem throughout, and brief strong language" (a single f-bomb that you can see coming a mile out).

It's a disaster alright, but it's a fun one.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, San Andreas gets four.
 
Until next time...

Pretty sure this is a metaphor for something..

[Trailer] Rock of Ages

I’ve been a big fan of movie musicals because I fell in love with Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge.

Before that I can say I was generally disinterested in most musicals, since I just can’t get enough of them.

The teaser for Rock of Ages looks like it could be lots of fun with a nice dose of self aware cheese……

Movie Reviews: IT’S COMPLICATED

Friday, January 01, 2010
Movie Reviews: IT’S COMPLICATED
IN THEATERS

IT’S COMPLICATED

Jane (Streep) is the mother of three grown kids, owns a thriving Santa Barbara bakery/restaurant and has—after a decade of divorce—an amicable relationship with her ex-husband, attorney Jake (Baldwin). But when Jane and Jake find themselves out of town for their son’s college graduation, things start to get complicated. An innocent meal together turns into the unimaginable—an affair. With Jake remarried to the much younger Agness (Lake Bell), Jane is now, of all things, the other woman. Caught in the middle of their renewed romance is Adam (Martin), an architect hired to remodel Jane’s kitchen. Healing from a divorce of his own, Adam starts to fall for Jane, but soon realizes he’s become part of a love triangle. Should Jane and Jake move on with their lives, or is love truly lovelier the second time around? It’s…complicated.

Cast: Meryl Streep, Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin, Lake Bell, John Krasinski

Director: Nancy Meyers

Opened December 25, 2009

Runtime: 1 hr. 54 min.

Rated R for sexuality and some drug content

Genres: Romantic Comedy, Comedy

Review:

Remove Streep and Baldwin from It’s Complicated and you have a barely passable sitcom plot and writing. Thankfully writer director Nancy Meyers, who’s got a monopoly on the middle age rom-com market, has these two wonderful talents to prop up what is a surprisingly pedestrian script. Meyer’s direction here is typical of her usual style; everything looks wonderfully affluent and polished so much so that even the messes look clean. The plot and situations are fairly standard fare and there’s nothing is terribly surprising or fresh about it. Handing this script to lesser lead actors and you have a certifiable sleeping pill of a film that would fit nicely in a Lifetime marathon between the marital abuse films. Talents like Streep and Baldwin are held in such high regard because they are able to pull up the ordinary and make it engaging and fun when it has no business being so. Streep is a truly a rare talent and continuing her recent hot streak she shines emitting zany comic energy only occasionally crossing into over the top territory. Matching her move by move is Alec Baldwin. Baldwin’s wonderful comedic timing is in full display here, something he does regularly on TV’s 30 Rock. Baldwin isn’t afraid to go the extra mile for a laugh. He and Streep share some wonderful onscreen chemistry together and they keep the audience engaged through some of the more clichéd portions of the film. Steve Martin is there as a potential love interest but he’s so under utilized, outside of an inspired party scene late in the film, that a smiling cardboard cutout would have been just as effective. John Krasinski supporting role is the only one that has any heft to it and he show’s that his comedic talents aren’t limited to TV. The remainder of the cast is mostly forgettable but they aren’t given anything to work with in the first place. Meyer’s has had much stronger showing as a director and writer, luckily she’s blessed with 2 incredibly strong leads who make this film far more fun than it ever deserved to be.

C