You Know Ethan (Mission: Impossible: Fallout, 2018)

The Mission Impossible franchise is kind of…well, a weird one. I thought the first one was okay…but the second film was a mess. J.J. Abrams streamlined things a bit and made an improvement with the third film. Brad Bird and Christopher McQuarrie directed the fourth and fifth installments…and these turned out to be the most entertaining films of the franchise. With the sixth film, Fallout, McQuarrie is the first director to return to the franchise.

The actions of the previous film have had an impact on the world terrorism scene. Ethan, Luthor and Benji lost weapons grade plutonium on a mission, and their attempt at cleanup ends up being overseen by the CIA who assign their top agent and assassin Walker to join the IMF. Angela Bassett’s Erika Sloane states that the IMF is like a scalpel, but she prefers a hammer.

Full of twists and turns, McQuarrie keeps the action going and strives to avoid being to predictable, though some of the tropes of the franchise seem unavoidable. Nobody stops the secret weapon five minutes before the countdown will end…because where is the drama in that?

Cruise does not show any signs of quitting, and he manages to keep up a convincing performance as an action hero within the franchise. Hunt is portrayed as the guy who has the small picture in mind allowing his higher ups focus on the bigger picture. Two different characters inform Ethan that he pretty much cares about the individual lives so they don’t have to.

Cruise, Rhames and Pegg have good comedic chemistry and play well together as a team. He and Rebecca Ferguson have a good tension, but thankfully, Ilsa continues to have an agency beyond a potential love interest. The film manages to make every character feel pretty important, and saving the day falls on all of their shoulders.

I really enjoyed the film…but here is my one caveat regarding the Mission:Impossible Franchise. I have enjoyed the films…but find them hard to remember. I remember I liked them. I just do not really remember much about them later. I wonder if Fallout will continue this trend.

September 1, 2018 0

The Process in Chaos (Patriots Day, 2017)

Peter Berg’s Patriots day is one of those films where going in, it may feel a bit like a “Rah Rah America!” exercise in propaganda. And while, to a certain extent, it may very well be, it is also one of Berg’s better efforts.

Patriots Day is the story of the Boston Marathon bombing and the manhunt that ensued for the Tsarnaev brothers. The film is most effective in how it is not about “one guy” in all of it. Mark Wahlberg’s Tommy Saunders is our eyes for much of the film, but it takes detours to give us insights into the people impacted who were not part of the manhunt. And this works very nicely, even if, at the beginning, it feels a bit like “Why are we meeting this person?”

This leads to one of the most powerful aspects of the film. It captures the absolute chaos of those couple of days. The intense search for leads o catch the brothers, the desperation of the brothers to escape, the evil that they were willing to for their “cause”. The horror of the people hurt in the bombing trying to find loved ones they have been separated. This is all extremely well done.

The one moment to take me out of the film, however, was what felt like a mini-documentary in which the actual people spoke on camera. I get that it may be a tribute…but it really felt like Berg did not trust the audience to have the “correct mindset” exiting the film. It also distracted me because there is no interview or mention of Tommy Saunders and his wife. This is because they do not exist. They are a combination of people. Had there been no “Here are the real people” moment, this would not have stood out so glaringly for men.

However, this is really a minor issue for an otherwise strong film.

January 31, 2017 0

Coasting to the End(Playing It Cool, 2014)

There is a lot about Playing Cool that makes me want to like it. The cast (both lead and supporting) is comprised almost entirely of actors I like a lot. The film has some nice ideas it is playing with. It has some clever visual moments.

But the pacing and the storytelling? That is where it falls flat. And it keeps it from being a movie I truly enjoyed.

That it is a cliched tale of a screenwriter (Chris Evans) who does not believe in love, but then meets that one amazing woman (Michelle Monaghan)…but she has a boyfriend (Ioan Gruffudd). He seeks the advice of his friends and family (well, his grandad, played by Phillip Baker Hall). These characters are fairly well designed. There is the gay best friend Scott (Topher Grace), obligatory art performer girl secretly in love with the lead (Aubrey Plaza), disillusioned married buddy (Luke Wilson) and Oddball Played by Martin Starr.

The film tries to attack these cliches, but rather ineffectively. And there are numerous attempts at big emotional beats. Yet, the film never really earns these. I did not get the draw between the leads, everything was a rough sketch.

What makes this painful is the film has terrific imagery. Whenever Evan’s screenwriter starts getting philosophical, the film gets interesting to watch. There is a terrific scene where the Screenwriter (Evan’s and Monaghan’s characters are simply credited as “Me” and “her”) starts mocking the notion of there being “someone for everyone”. He talks about how there are those people who are such social misfits, there is no way they could find someone…but he is surprised by how many of them do. The picture becomes more colorful and vibrant, except for Evans, who is now black and white. There is an animated sequence where Grandad tells the tale of how he pursued the woman he loved (an outlandish tale of swimming an ocean, riding wild horses and so on). Evans talks about how his heart has let him, and stands in the background chain smoking. And we see Evans off to the side, smoke billowing from every pore, like Humphrey Bogart. The movie is wonderfully expressive at times.

As a said, I like the cast. In a fun bit of casting, Anthony Mackie is Evan’s agent (kind of a business wing-man). The cast is well chosen for their roles…

But the movie takes so any shortcuts, it never earns the big emotional beats and revelations. “Me” realizing who he would spend the rest of his life on a boat with after reading his friend’s (Grace) favorite book? It feels empty…it should be this hopeful and uplifting moment, but the film skips so much it feels rushed…except it somehow manages to slow down to a crawl, especially when focused on Evans and Monaghan. The film is full of ideas, and some pretty lofty intentions. But it jumps past what it needs to invest in. There is no sense of a real life for these characters.

The writers have only two movies (both Chris Evans films) to their writing credit and this is Director Justin Reardon’s first full length feature. I see some genuine potential in all three, but this film is not a ideal final product.

The creative style and cast make me want to like this movie. The cliches and lack of depth make me disappointed that it does not live up to those things.

August 17, 2015 0

Artifacting (Pixels, 2015)

Pixels is a mash of Ghostbusters and Adam Sandler’s Nostalgia machine with a lot of likeable actors supporting Sandler and James based on a clever 2:34 minute short film by Patrick Jean from 2010.

The short explanation of the film is that in 1982 the U.S. government sent out a tie capsule into space, aliens with VCR technology thought we were declaring war and attack us with video games from 1982 (or earlier). The world’s best hope is not our military or scientists… it is washed up guys who were super good at video games in 1982.

The idea certainly could have been a lot of fun. But the film was mashed through a standard Sandler Comedy Filter. The jokes depend on Sandler’s 80’s nostalgia (which translates scattershot jokes based on “har, har-80’s!” with no regard to accuracy). The whole opening sequence is set in 1982 where we meet every major character except Michelle Monaghan’s Violet as children. The jokes reference 80’s celebrities whose careers had not taken off in 1982. We learn Adam Sandler’s Brenner is a prodigy at video games, Kevin Jame’s Cooper is only good at the claw game, Ludlow (Josh Gad) has no friends and Peter Dinklage is a gaming champion. Brenner almost wins the championship, but in the end loses to Eddie.

Apparently, this destroys Brenner, and when the film picks up he is a entertainment system installer, which is how he meets skilled scientist and 2nd Lt. Violet, who is getting a divorce. After a failed attempt to kiss Violet, the two spend the movie sparring in that generic “these people hate each other but are really falling in love” fashion.

The movie is very generic in every fashion. The script has no life, and relies on cheap stereotypes (in an Adam Sandler film?!). Gad’s Ludlow is a creepy conspiracy theory nut who admits to having kidnapped people. He is also obsessed with Lady Lisa, the heroine of Dojo Quest. Dinklage’s Eddie is a prisoner who wants a threesome with Martha Stewart and Serena Williams as a condition of helping save the world.

The effects are good (which is not surprising). The cast is promising (Dinklage has the best performance) yet ultimately everyone feels like they are just playing expected roles. Monaghan is the love interest and mom, Brian Cox is Angry Old Man and Josh Gad yells then trails off quietly in his delivery… Adam Sandler is his usual failed schlep and Kevin James channels his Bumbling Man Character through the president.

The film makes “odd” choices…one example is Lady Lisa. All the alien video game warriors are pixelated. Every single one. Except Lisa. And the only reason I can gather is that she is supposed to be a hot woman. So, who cares, right? Sexy trumps your established rules.

This film is supposed to be a comedy. I did not laugh once. Not even a chuckle. I did smile a couple times where the film moved up in level to mildly amusing. But the film is genuinely awful.

July 26, 2015 0