MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING Review

Tom Cruise, for the better part of this millennium, has needed the Mission: Impossible franchise as much as it has needed him. During the promotional tours for these movies Cruise touts the teams and creatives behind the production as the real reason these films continue to work and the same could be said about Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, within the world of this franchise; one of the main thematic threads in the series has been how Hunt would sacrifice millions before allowing something to happen to those closest to him. No matter the amount of praise he heaps upon the stunt teams or how much importance Hunt places on his IMF colleagues though, Cruise is still the one at the center of it all, he is the main focus and in Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning it has never been more apparent that Cruise both can’t help this no matter the amount of grace he displays and that, in truth, he wouldn't have it and doesn’t want it any other way. 

The character of Ethan Hunt represents the epitome of moral righteousness, he is literally the keeper of the nuclear keys in this "final outing" for the franchise - the guy every other character comes around to supporting because deep down they know he is the one they can trust to do what is right - and Cruise has been intent on parlaying this savior-like mentality into his own persona as the keeper of the theatrical movie-going experience upon realizing this was his path back to, if not the top of the cultural mountaintop, at least maybe the industry Mount Rushmore he so quickly demolished on Oprah’s couch in 2005. In 2025, at the time of the release of The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise is now four years older than Jon Voight was in 1996 when the first film arrived in theaters. The impulse to make this final chapter as much a retrospective victory lap as a conclusive story is not without calculation; the inclusion of footage from the previous seven films, showing not only the symbiotic relationship between the franchise and its star but also how weathered both the character of Hunt and Cruise the actor have become in the nearly three decades since the initial installment is a bold choice. This is, of course, all in the name of the…ahem…mission to solidify Cruise’s reputation and legacy - a layered and complex web of how our persona and authentic selves can both be reflected through art - is as compelling a route to take as any but unfortunately said victory lap is ultimately more symbolically satisfying than it is conqueringly definitive.

THE IRON CLAW Review

After a single viewing I know that despite my disappointments with The Iron Claw they are not because of what the film delivers or how it delivers it, but simply because I wanted more of what it was already delivering. Familiar with the story of and myth surrounding the Von Erich family and always willing to be nostalgic for any kind of professional wrestling pre-1997 or so, I must admit to being rather anxious walking into the latest from Sean Durkin. Though the writer/director has only made two features prior to this (Martha Marcy May Marlene being one of my favorite films of 2011), his ability to capture tone and a sense of place is an exceptional quality when done with sincerity and those qualities serve him and this story tremendously. That said, it wasn’t Durkin, the cast, or anything glaring about this production that made me anxious - in fact, the more details that came out about the film the more excited I was to see what they might do with this epic story of tragedy and triumph - and therein lies the cause for such anxiety: could this story, this epic of the Von Erich’s, be both contained and done proper justice in this format? My fear was that this would be the rare case where the material would be better served by a ten-episode season of television than the two-hour feature we’ve been delivered and while that still may be true there is no denying the soul of this film and, appropriately so, the strength of it. 

Beginning with an introduction to the patriarch and innovator of the titular move, Jack AKA Fritz Von Erich (an electric Holt McCallany) changed the family name from Adkisson to his mother's maiden, German name (who was also apparently “plagued with bad luck”) in Von Erich as a gimmick for his wrestling persona that aided him in portraying a Nazi-like heel in the ring. The monicker stuck as all five of Fritz's sons, four of which are portrayed in the film, entered the world of professional wrestling under the Von Erich name. While this opening sequence conveys a number of critical items most important is the contrast between how Fritz and his wife, Doris (an emotionally suppressed, but blisteringly conflicted Maura Tierney), approach life, Fritz through his appearance and reputation and Doris through her faith. It is this kind of contrasting system of ideas and ideals that create the policies by which their sons live and the theories they intellectually adhere to. It makes sense then that after setting the stage as such that the remainder of the first act sees Durkin (who also wrote the screenplay) introducing each of the four boys included in his version of these events while concurrently suggesting how the nurturing of a force like Fritz and a presence like Doris imbued upon and molded them into the men they became and the fate they met. Beginning with Kevin (Zac Efron) we immediately understand that this oldest, living Von Erich brother is also the most resolute and resilient of the bunch. Efron's first scene sees him waking up in the early morning hours and going for a run against the Denton, Texas sunrise. He invites his younger brother, David (Harris Dickinson), to join him, but David elects to remain in bed. Again, Durkin knows he has a limited amount of time to tell this gigantic story and doesn't sacrifice a second of screentime as every moment tells us something about a character that will shape their story. We see Kevin, already heavily embroiled in this world through events at the Dallas Sportatorium, become the Texas Heavyweight Champion early on; only elevating the family's local fame as well as their visibility to execs in the National Wrestling Association (NWA), which was the ultimate goal.

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK Review

If this second Jack Reacher movie is good for anything it's to prove that Tom Cruise is indeed just as much a movie star as he's ever been. Cruise, who has been on something of a roll lately when it comes to action spectacles, has taken some time off from being Ethan Hunt and those impossible missions he tends to embark upon in order to return to the simpler, more straightforward drifter that is Jack Reacher. There's nothing wrong with this choice, nothing at all-in fact, the 2012 Jack Reacher film that was based on the long-running Lee Child's book series was a hard boiled, no frills, balls to the wall action romp that felt practical and logical in every fiber of its being. There was an authenticity to the action and crunch to the violence that made it all feel rather congenital to who this stoic titular character really was. We didn't get much past the solid facade, but the movie itself would give us plenty of mood and attitude in order to fill in the gaps. That Christopher McQuarrie film would take Cruise away from the extraordinary stunts and instead forced him to keep his feet on the ground and running in the vein that we've come to affectionately endure Tom Cruise running in. 2013's Jack Reacher never tried to be anything it wasn't and while this sentiment could be echoed for Never Go Back in all honesty the sequel doesn't try to be much of anything at all. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is so middle of the road predictable that by the time an action scene is loaded and ready to play out there is such a disassociation between the story and Cruise simply strutting around doing his thing that it's hard to care about or invest in either. Not only does Never Go Back feel rather pedestrian in its story and acting though, but the execution couldn't feel more lazy or uninspired either. Helmed by Edward Zwick who previously directed Cruise in the sweeping and rather stunning The Last Samurai I expected more from the duo when it came to delivering simple goods that could be smoldered down into basic formula with only a dose of skill and ingenuity thrown in when it came time for Reacher to dispatch with a few bad guys. Instead, what Zwick and Cruise deliver this time around is the epitome of "just good enough" with that only being more of a disappointment when considering the talent and thus the potential involved. It may be that I watched this on a large format screen, but there are certain action sequences and, even worse, standard dialogue scenes that look as if they belong on an old tube TV. In fact, sans the cell phones, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back very much feels like an action thriller that was produced in 1994 with no higher ambition other than being considered for the long flight home.

SULLY Review

Sully is a slim 95-minutes. It swoops in with a harrowing opening sequence and then only lets its foot off the throttle just long enough to place viewers back at the beginning of 2009 and familiar with Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger once again before thrusting them into the throws of the reasons this movie exists. The toughest challenge a movie about the "Miracle on the Hudson" was always going to face was going to be finding a new angle in which to present the story to audiences who were witness to an onslaught of media coverage around the actual event; what was there to the story we didn't already know? Turns out director Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Todd Komarnicki (who has only written three feature screenplays the last of which was the 2007 thriller Perfect Stranger starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry) had plenty of material as the not so well documented aspect of the aforementioned "Miracle on the Hudson" was the fact the NTSB conducted an investigation as to whether or not Captain Sully could have in fact made it back to a runway instead of landing a pricey plane in the middle of a river. And so, what Eastwood has is a David and Goliath story of sorts where the line between good and bad is drawn early and distinctly with the script simultaneously evaluating the psyche of a man who happened to be in the right place during a bad situation that would result in him having to separate reality from the strange swirl of whatever kind of life was happening immediately following his unprecedented landing. And on many different levels, no less. This not so well publicized aspect of Sully's story combined with the revelatory state of mind Tom Hanks brings to his performance, some critical editing by Blu Murray (a frequent collaborator of Eastwood's, but someone who's never taken lead on one of his films) that lends these familiar events a whole new level of tension all packed into that slim running time make Sully a consistently perceptive interpretation of the events of January 15, 2009 that stands to be largely effective and appropriately affecting.

First Trailer for Clint Eastwood's SULLY Starring Tom Hanks

Since hearing there was going to be a film made about the story of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger that would be directed by Clint Eastwood and star Tom Hanks there has been the preconception this would be a film made solely for the purpose of winning awards while getting as close as one can to guaranteeing a hit out of a year-end drama. After seeing the first footage from the film in today's trailer premiere all those things still seem to be true, but there is now an added element of intrigue. For one reason or another there is clearly more substance behind the movie than what I expected to be little more than obvious studio awards bait. While it is probably hard for people such as Eastwood and Hanks to work on a project without really digging their creative juices into it there just seemed something about that project that felt as if it would get by on, and excuse the pun, autopilot. There are certainly many comparisons one could draw between the narrative Sully seems to be following and the Denzel Washington film, Flight, from a few years back, but given Eastwood's film is steeped in true events I can't imagine much of those comparisons not being excused. While I, personally, didn't follow the story of the "Miracle on the Hudson" past more than the initial reports that Sully and his crew had performed something of an unheard of landing on the water after both engines failed all the while rescuing every person on board there was apparently a fairly tense and lengthy investigation that took place afterward. This investigation looks to serve as the meat of the story here more so than the act of the rescue though I'm sure the landing will serve as a genuine set piece. All of that said, this trailer certainly did its job as I'm much more interested in the film than I was even yesterday. Sully also stars Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Sam Huntington, Jerry Ferrara, Autumn Reeser, Holt McCallany, Mike O'Malley, and opens on September 9th, 2016.  

First Trailer for JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK Starring Tom Cruise

I feel like part of a small community that actually enjoyed Tom Cruise's 2012 adaptation of the Lee Childs' character that has allowed the author to sell some hundred million copies worldwide. Of course, this isn't really true as the film stills sits at a (barely) fresh rating of 62% on Rotten Tomatoes and clearly made enough of a profit ($218 million worldwide on a $60 million budget) to warrant a sequel, but still-when compared to the likes of Mission Impossible, Jack Reacher feels somewhat small. Though there was some controversy over Cruise being cast in the role in the first place it felt like the 5'7' actor (the Reacher of Childs' books is described as being 6'5') more or less pulled it off in writer/director Christopher McQuarrie's original film. With McQuarrie taking the reigns on the fifth Mission Impossible film after having worked with Cruise on Reacher and now hard at work on the sixth installment, Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai, Defiance) stepped in to to fill the role of director while the sequel script comes from an early draft by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer) with a re-write by Zwick collaborator Marshall Herskovitz. This time around the story is said to follow Reacher as he returns to the headquarters of his old unit to find out he's been accused of a sixteen year-old homicide. Though this is part of the plot in the Childs' novel it doesn't seem to be the main narrative the trailer is promoting as the inclusion of Cobie Smulders as a new commanding officer in the military police takes precedence. Smulders plays Major Susan Turner who has been arrested and seemingly framed for espionage which more or less sets Reacher on an adventure to prove her innocence. While there isn't much context to these events or hint of the subplot from the novel being included it does seem as if Zwick latched on to the no holds barred style of old school actioners McQuarrie set in the first film. Let's just hope he keeps the action precise and the detective work heavy as this was my favorite aspect of the original in that it separated Reacher from his contemporaries like Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back also stars Robert Knepper, Aldis Hodge, Holt McCallany, Patrick Heusinger, Jason Douglas, and opens on October 21st, 2016.

First Trailer for MONSTER TRUCKS

Though this film was likely in development if not production before last year's live-action Goosebumps was released it seems Paramount is taking notes for the Columbia-produced kids movie as they are now ramping-up the promotional campaign for Monster Trucks, a movie about a literal monster taking over a truck to create the titular entity. Starring Lucas Till as a high school senior (who may have just seen playing a mid-forty year-old in X-Men Apocalypse) the film tells the story of Till's Tripp who is looking for any way he can to get away from the life and town he was born into. On this search he builds a Monster Truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. Naturally, after some sort of accident Till comes in contact with a strange subterranean creature who has a taste and talent for speed. This silly set-up looks as if it will lead to an even sillier buddy comedy of sorts as this subterranean creature will inevitably become Till's wingman and help him score the girl of his dreams (played here by Jane Levy). All of that said, Monster Trucks could prove to be an endearing children's film as this first trailer makes the film look just goofy enough to be rather delightful. The movie clearly knows its audience and Paramount is clearing aiming for the same demographic that ate up its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles re-boot two years ago (especially since I'm presuming this trailer is being released today because it will play in front of TMNT this weekend), but much like Goosebumps the success and longevity of its success at the box office will largely ride on the overall quality of the film. Monster Trucks also stars Holt McCallany, Barry Pepper, Tucker Albrizzi, Danny Glover, Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe, Frank Whaley, Thomas Lennon, and opens on January 13th, 2017.

BLACKHAT Review

The worst thing about Blackhat is simply how forgettable it is. The fact the title is something of a hacker term, unrecognizable to the common consumer and doesn't spark much interest makes it something of a task to even get people interested, but when the film itself turns out to be tedious and rather dull, the case is only worsened. It might have been better had the film gone out under the name, "The Untitled Michael Mann Project," but then again, audiences have been somewhat dissonant with the well-regarded filmmaker as this will mark his third film in a row where expectation likely don't meet reality. Since discovering the director for myself in 2001 with Ali and being riveted by his follow-up, 2004's underappreciated Collateral, I've always looked forward to what he has to say next. Most will know him for helming Heat, Last of the Mohicans or even Manhunter all of which were interesting to go back and watch after seeing Collateral and experiencing the evolution of his style all at once, but with Blackhat the director seems to be on autopilot. A black hat is essentially a fancy word for a hacker or someone who violates computer or internet security maliciously or for illegal personal gain. In the film, both our protagonist and our antagonist are classified under this title, but one is looking to redeem himself while the other is simply in it to see how creative he can be in order to get away with more than a few major crimes and terrorist acts. Mann clearly wants to bring his style and sense of storytelling to a topic that is both relevant and lightly documented. This is obviously a fine enough goal to have, but the final product is little more than a standard police procedural with a topical twist. With that, one walks away from the film feeling unmoved as none of the characters are completely endearing and while their plight can become interesting at points it in no way resonates, it in no way leaves an impression, but rather washed over me with an attitude of being unimpressed or indifferent to anything the villain was doing because they (the good guys) already knew they'd eventually outsmart him. This isn't exactly what you might call fun though and so we (the audience) end up feeling the same way as our intended heroes- unimpressed and indifferent because we've experienced and seen this movie so often before.

First Trailer for Liam Neeson's RUN ALL NIGHT

With the release of Taken 3 this weekend it's no surprise we have a new trailer for Liam Neeson's next action affair. From what I've heard about the unnecessary third entry in the Taken franchise though, Neeson can only go up from here. Also upping the possibility of his next project being better than another round with Bryan Mills is the fact Neeson has re-teamed with director Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown and Non-Stop). Sure, these aren't great movies, but I'd rather see Neeson do ten more original features with Collet-Serra than another Taken sequel that only tarnishes his pedigreed credibility all the more. At least the B-movie actioners Neeson has chosen to do outside the trilogy that gave birth to his new reputation know what they are and in some cases are fairly subversive of the genre we expect them to fall into (here's looking at you, The Grey and Walk Among the Tombstones). More than anything though, Neeson simply seems to be enjoying this time in his life by living up this opportunity he likely never thought he'd be afforded. It only helps that the guy is a great actor with as much presence as anyone on screen at the moment and seeing him step into these less serious roles is something of a treat even if the movies don't always fulfill their potential or aspire to much at all. In this latest collaboration with Collet-Serra Neeson plays a hitman who, in order to protect his son, must take on his former boss (Ed Harris) in a single night. The hook being the entire film takes place during the course of that single night. As for the trailer, I'm engaged and it looks fine though I can't imagine remembering much about it the day after I see it. Run All Night also stars Joel Kinnaman, Common, Vincent D’Onofrio, Holt McCallany, Beau Knapp and opens on April 17th.