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.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE Review

When you’re seven films into a franchise and up has been the only way to go for the better part of a decade there are bound to be those who look at a next entry that does the same things the last handful of entries have done, both positive and negative, and decide they’re tired of the schtick and that it’s time for the narrative to change so that the star and his brand may redeem itself at least once more. This is what seems to be happening with Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 (the cockiness of the cliffhanger likely making certain folks more eager to put the franchise in its place) yet this seventh film in the series and the third written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) only continues to improve upon or at least operate at the same level these films always have if not becoming slightly more preposterous by attempting to tackle a more contemporary and relevant issue through its story. Though story is obviously important to the Mission: Impossible films it is not their top priority, and it surprises me that such quandaries around plot semantics are what will seemingly rewrite the cultural narrative around these films that are largely lauded for their stunt work and commitment to their practicality. Personally, if Tom Cruise and McQ want to get a little more outlandish (and there is an admitted silliness here) with their antagonists I’d say they've earned a little wiggle room as they still deliver tenfold when it comes to the aspects people pay to see these excursions on the big screen for.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXYL. 3 Review

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the most confounded I’ve been by a movie in some time. I don’t know how to process it completely. As a fan of writer/director James Gunn, his first film, and a massive fan of GotG Vol. 2 (as in it’s absolutely the best non-Avengers film in the MCU) I had high hopes for the gang’s swan song. Unfortunately, this final time out with this configuration of the Guardians - at least upon initial viewing - is an incoherent, repetitive, sensory overload so grating that any attempt at emotional resonance is rendered moot. 

From the minute Will Poulter’s underdeveloped and underutilized Adam Warlock arrives to decimate the titular team it seems clear Gunn took his screenplay out of the oven a few drafts early. The character of Warlock (who was heralded as a Christ-like figure in the second film) is presented as a clown mere minutes after almost annihilating the Guardians with little to no effort. The contrast could work, sure, but it's not developed in any recognizable fashion as Gunn was clearly more interested in the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), a mad scientist of a man whose abusive yet paternal tendencies certainly fit the writer/director’s running themes in these movies, yet the High Evolutionary's arc feels as stock as the template Gunn uses to close out his trilogy. Iwuji also likes to yell. A lot. 

When I say template, I'm of course referring to the one where a main character becomes incapacitated, and the movie then spends the rest of its runtime sending his friends who desire to save them on countless missions to locate countless McGuffins required to in fact save him. I realize many a genre flick rely on these kinds of plot devices as a way of propping up their bigger thematic ideas through easily accessible checkpoints, but Gunn feels above this and that he chose to go out leaning on such a structure would only seem to suggest that the script and, as a result, everything afterward was not necessarily ill-conceived, but more feeble in the way James Gunn movies are typically bold and affecting. 

INGRID GOES WEST Review

Writer/director Matt Spicer and his feature directorial debut, Ingrid Goes West, nail it. For a long time. For most of the runtime, actually, Spicer and his film nail exactly what he and it are going for. In every detail the script supplies or that drips from Aubrey Plaza's inherently mocking facade into what the actress applies to the titular character Ingrid Goes West is as sharp as it needs to be in order to achieve this kind of sardonic satire it's going for in each of every one of those aforementioned details. That Spicer and co-writer David Branson Smith are able to craft an interesting narrative from the seemingly simple idea of exposing those who live their lives striving to create the appearance of another kind of life on social media is encouraging first and foremost, but that through this they are able to utilize that premise to support and point out all the obvious and sometimes dangerous/creepy aspects most might not consider when posting to Instagram makes the mockery that much funnier due to the fact it's so true. As with many an inspired tales, Ingrid Goes West begins strong by highlighting some of these little truths to what is not necessarily an exaggerated effect, but maybe more frightening is that depictions of Plaza's Ingrid trying to figure out the best phrasing for an Instagram comment are so accurate they need not be exaggerated, but more just held up in front of us in order to realize how trivial and silly it all really seems. Ingrid Goes West understands this semblance of effortless cool is indeed serious business to some though and with that it doesn't so much talk down to the intended audience it desires to simultaneously mock and enlighten, but rather Spicer and Smith's screenplay comes around to the inevitable (yet encouraging) conclusion that to be your own cool is the coolest cool there is. This is exemplified through a particularly hilarious and exceptionally performed character named Dan Pinto (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) who comes into Ingrid's life at a crucial time and provides the kind of real, tangible, human interaction her life and being so badly craves-even if Ingrid herself doesn't realize this for much of the film. That it takes Ingrid so long to understand the simple epiphany the film eventually has would be rather testing did the majority of the movie not land so precisely on how exhausting it can be to keep up these kinds of fronts that feel obvious in their fraudulence, but are so convincing in their execution they may as well explicitly state that one should feel inferior. That Ingrid Goes West ultimately lands on the non-revelation it does gives this hard and fast social commentary an otherwise disappointing last act.    

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 Review

With the first Guardians of the Galaxy I went (or at least wanted to go) into the film with little to no expectations. Of course, with Vol. 2 it would be next to impossible to do the same unless one had skipped the first which, of course, would then only mean it would be next to impossible to fully understand or better yet, appreciate, what this second film has to offer. And so, despite having some expectation for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 there wasn't much beyond suspecting that writer/director James Gunn might hand pick a new list of late seventies/early eighties hits to set something of a remixed version of the original's events to while pushing whatever story points the Marvel overlords needed pushed forward. If this sequel teaches us anything though (and it does try to teach if not at least say something significant) it's that sometimes expectations aren't detrimental to the overall effect a piece of art can have. That's right-I'm calling a Marvel movie, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 specifically, a piece of art as well as stating that it surpasses all expectations. I'm saying this loud and clear because I feel like it would be easy to think otherwise about the rather unconventional super hero movie that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 actually is. It seems it might be easy to be disappointed in the sequel because it doesn't exactly fit into the conventions we've become conditioned to expect. How does Guardians numero dos buck this trend that Marvel has so perfectly perfected as of late? Well, the first thing it changes is that of setting up a convenient villain in the form of another Thanos crony looking for world domination (Gunn literally thought bigger this time, going for galactic domination) while also giving our heroes a real and emotional investment in the plight of the antagonist. Sure, the film opens with the guardians on a for hire mission that sees them doing battle with a large CGI monster for the purposes of getting paid handsomely by a race of snobby and rather pretentious Goldfinger/Goldmember lookalikes, but this is essentially only a framing device and reason to usher Michael Rooker's Yondu back into the fray. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is instead mostly about the relationships between the members of the titular team and developing those dynamics in exchange for progressing the overall Marvel arc. Where Vol. 2 really exceeds though, is in balancing the exploration of these relationships with that of still telling an effective story, the guardians story, and there's just something special about a ginormous, big-budget, special-effects extravaganza that feels this personal. Also, Baby Groot.

New Trailer for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

I'm as excited as the next guy for Director James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but did we really need another trailer? That full-length trailer we got back in December that has been playing in theaters for months now kills every time and after the new clips released during the Super Bowl it seemed there would be no need for anything else major from the Guardians of the Galaxy promotional team, at least not until a couple of weeks before release when momentum really needs to buid. Alas, here we are still with three months to go until the official release date of the film and we have yet another full-length trailer set to the tune of yet another seventies soft rock track (this time it's Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain," from 1977) that infuses the clip with a nice amount of momentum and surprising freshness. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 kicking off the summer of 2017 in that first weekend of May slot that Marvel has now dominated and considering that recent news story that touted the film receiving a rare 100 score in test screenings one can understand why Marvel and is intent on riding the hype train through the next three months as well as giving audiences venturing out to see Logan this weekend something new to chew on until then. Given the trailer Gunn and his team have put together one can bet it will do just that. Surprisingly, we get to see a lot of new footage here with the trailer mainly focusing on the rag tag group that make up the titular guardians while highlighting the humorous banter between them as it intends to sell the humor of the piece just as much as it does the special effects and action. Luckily, we still don't have a real keen sense of what story the film will be telling though we do get our first glimpses of Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) and Ego (Kurt Russell) in motion for the first time. In the end, this trailer is as promising as one could hope while still seeming to maintain much of what the film truly has to offer. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 also stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Zaldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillian, Michael Rooker, Glenn Close, and opens on May 5th, 2017.

First Trailer for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2

Director James Gunn released a "sneak peek" trailer for his follow-up to the breakout Marvel success of 2014 in Guardians of the Galaxy just over a month ago although I hesitate to call what we saw only a sneak peek as it ran over two minutes and gave us a look at each of our favorite characters and what they're seemingly up to these days. That said, it was clear this wasn't the last we'd see/hear from the Guardians prior to the end of the year with Disney rolling out Rogue One in less than two weeks. With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 kicking off the summer of 2017 in that first weekend of May slot that Marvel has now dominated for the past six years save for 2014 when Winter Soldier opened the first weekend in April (due to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 claiming the opening weekend that year) you can bet Marvel and Kevin Feige are intent on getting the hype started as soon as possible. Given the trailer Gunn and his team have put together one can bet it will do just that. While some of what we see here in the full-length trailer is more or less the same as what we saw in that aforementioned "sneak peek" we get the added reassurance that if nothing else, this sequel will be really funny and feature some great banter between the core members of the team. There is no revealing of any previously unknown story elements and we don't see any footage of new additions Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) or Ego (Kurt Russell) though we do get our first look at Mantis, a former member of the Avengers in the comics, played here by Pom Klementieff. Still, this trailer is as promising as one could have hoped if you enjoyed the tone and humor of the first. Proving more of the same isn't always a bad thing here's to the hope that train of thought is only to ease us into the sequel with the actual movie offering something slightly different from our first experience with the team. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 also stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Zaldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillian, Michael Rooker, Glenn Close, and opens on May 5th, 2017. 

OLDBOY Review

Spike Lee's remake of Oldboy will go down as one of the bigger disappointments of 2013, that is, if it is remembered at all. This is unfortunate though as it feels to me that this is one of those films that was locked out and given up on before it even had a chance. Initial reaction to that previous statement goes to the fact this was originally planned as a wide release, but was quickly cut back to a limited roll-out which typically accompanies smaller films where the studios expect positive buzz and strong word of mouth to build anticipation for it once they expand to more cities. This obviously didn't happen in the case of Oldboy as it was pretty much dead in the water from the time the earlier decision was made to push it back a month from October 25th to November 27th. Back to the initial reaction statement though, while it may go to the aforementioned unfortunate scenario it seems the truth is that this project was probably dead from the moment it was greenlit by whatever studio head thought it a good idea to remake the 2003 Korean film that has amassed an extremely loyal following and is considered a masterpiece by many. Though I always thought the purpose of re-making something was to bring it to the attention of those who might not otherwise discover the original there are those more cynical who believe the sole purpose of piggy-backing off the name of a successful foreign film and Americanizing it is purely for profit while hopefully guaranteeing a win financially; they are probably right. Still, that clearly all but backfired here as no one thought through how you might market a film where much of its story and the suspense that goes along with it are dealt in the twists and surprises the film holds close to its chest. No one seems to have thought through that this brutally dark picture isn't what most moviegoers are looking for at Thanksgiving and that it would have likely been better facing off against Bad Grandpa than Frozen. This piece is not meant to question why the film failed financially or in its marketing though, but instead if the film itself was even necessary. I haven't seen the original Chan-wook Park film and so I was no less than intrigued by the trailers and anxious to see what a director like Lee might do with this perplexing material.