(trailer review) - Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning

If you have followed me for any period of time, you may have learnt a few things. I have not seen all the movies or even the classic ones. I do not just watch comic book and action movies. My cousin was 2 years older than me, so some films were introduced to me by him. I have mostly seen Arnold movies over Sly. I love Zack Snyder, Christopher Nolan and Wes Anderson movies. As well as John McClane being one of my favourite protagonists, Ethan Hunt is quite possibly at the top as I love sci-fi and spy movies. This trailer not only brought a tear to my eye, but it just had me so intrigued, and I even wondered, did they show every scene in this movie as a lot seems to be going on.


This is the sequel to Dead Reckoning part one, which was a movie that ended on a cliffhanger. Ethan Hunt is essentially battling an AI threat to save the world. It sounds bonkers, but effectively, a man named Gabriel has been tasked to do the bidding of the AI and he also has a vendetta against Ethan Hunt. This film is to pick up after the events of the first movie and looks like it pulls from every experience Ethan has gone through where he has saved the world and often, by going "rogue", to lead him to this moment facing the entity and its henchman. The part in the trailer where they are reeling off a list of "achievements" Ethan has done, such as the bombing of the Kremlin or the gassing of the security briefing, I'd imagine there is more listed there. Also, it is so great to see Nick Offerman, but the disbelief they have of someone they have trained to be a ghost and do the impossible mission makes me laugh. If you see Ethan, it is often because he wants you to see him. This ultimately looks like it may be the last Mission Impossible movie for Tom Cruise, but seeing the gang back along with Hayley Atwell, who is a new addition to the team, and those Dutch angles, I am completely involved. I have no idea where this movie's plot is going but I need to see this now! Our lives are the some of our choices. I have chosen this mission. I have accepted it.

(film review) - Mission Impossible: Fallout

A lot of people don't like Tom Cruise for his scientology or for his height, maybe for both, but for me, I don't actually care.  Tom is a superb actor with quite a bit of range but I really love a few of his films.  Live Die Repeat (or whatever they decided to call it in the end), Minority Report, Tropic Thunder and Mission Impossible, the latter being his best work and one of the best franchises out there.  His dedication to stunt work is unparalleled and I have to say his character of Ethan Hunt is what the Character John McClane is to me.  Over the years, unlike Bruce, Tom has NEVER dialled in a performance to my knowledge, I don't think he would know how to, as he is someone who has to be ALL THE WAY INVOLVED, to even breaking his ankle doing a REAL STUNT in this movie for AUTHENTICITY.  So, when they say, break a leg in showbiz, Tom actually did.  But was it worth it?  Well without sounding bias at all, of course it damn well was!!!

Fallout picks up 2 years after the events of Rogue Nation and the capture of Soloman Lane.  What is left of Lane's terrorist group get a hold of 3 Nuclear Weapons known as Plutonium Cores, while Ethan (Tom Cruise) is re-tasked to retrieving the Plutonium, he is also being shadowed by lead operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) from the Special Activities Division.  When IMF discover that an extremist named John Lark is interesting in purchasing the Plutonium, Ethan must capture him, but when that goes wrong, Ethan must pose as him.  When Ethan is actually outed as the real John Lark, IMF are forced to disband or be labelled traitors to the country and Walker must capture or kill Ethan.

Just when you think the Mission Impossible franchise could not get any better, they prove me wrong with this one, just like they proved me wrong with the last one.  Sure, I'm bias but who doesn't love all that spy stuff? On top of that, trying to keep up with the Mission Impossible story per movie and with whom you should trust is a task in itself, always has been and doubles up in this movie then times' it by 10 just to make you feel on edge.  No one can be trusted, but the world needs to be saved from these extremist groups.

As usual, Tom Cruise literally breaks a leg for this performance and apparently, flew a helicopter by himself with hidden camera's just for authenticity.  He carried out real Halo Jumps proving, there is no one in the movie world as an actor, as dedicated to their craft as him and the film is all the better for it.  There is a shot where he jumps out of a Cargo Plane which looked Amazing. The visuals and cinematography is excellent. The camera work is excellent and as usual, the action is very visceral and entertaining.  I do chuckle when he limp/runs off after breaking his ankle though, I'm not going to lie.  These films are what they say on the tin, action, espionage, thrillers and/or spy films done right.  However, it would be interesting where they will go with 7 because not only do they get better, the stunts get wilder and wilder.  Oh, and just in true Mission Impossible fashion, there is some running and there are motorbikes, two MI must haves for EVERY MOVIE and strangely enough, you may role your eyes at them, but they are still entertaining, regardless.

I cannot think of any flaws with this film at all as Henry Cavill is excellent, the supporting cast are also excellent and if anything, maybe we could have the IMF team do just that little bit more than what they are already doing, somehow.  It's great to see Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames etc, but where do they go next? Does Ethan have a successor because he must die, right...eventually?  Well, let's hope Tom doesn't and he intends on doing more movies because although we have no clue where they can go next, wherever they do go, it will be entertaining, guaranteed, Tom's Leg Approved.

(film review) - Ready Player One

If I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, I've not seen a Steven Spielberg movie in a while.  Well directed by anyway, as he does produce a lot of movies.  The last directed movie I saw was The Adventures of Tintin and the last produced movie, well executive produced anyway, Transformers: The Last Knight.  While I fell asleep watching Tintin (but I did like it, I was just exhausted), I can say I didn't really like Transformers: The Last Knight because although it was the usual Transformers fun, it was essentially not that great.  So, seeing the trailer for this movie and all the easter eggs, I knew this was going to have, made for a really interesting watch.  And having seen the movie, I can tell you exactly how it was.

In the real world 18 year old Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), otherwise known as his avatar handle Parzival in the virtual world is known as a Gunter.  He lives in Columbus Ohio with his Aunt and does what most people do in their living conditions, escape reality to enter the virtual world of the Oasis.  The Oasis (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation) created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow is a place where you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want and be whomever you want to be.  Wade aka Parzival is an avid gift hunter and spends his time tracking gifts and collecting coins, but when James Halliday dies, a prerecorded message went out to all users enabling them to own and control the Oasis if they are able to find the 3 keys hidden in the Oasis.  But with power, comes corruption and corporate.  Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), the CEO of Innovative Online Industries also wants to seek out the 3 hidden keys to control the Oasis himself, so the ultimate hunt and a game of cat and mouse ensues as everyone in the Oasis tries to track down all the clues to finding the hidden keys with a powerful and hungry Nolan who will stop at nothing, even if it means real world crime, just to achieve his goal.

I tried not to spoil this movie by giving too much away, but with that said, the plot it straight forward, but the fun comes with the chase, the tension and of course, the many many many easter eggs littered throughout the movie.  An Easter Egg is a item/object that represents real life or universal pop culture.  It is a message, image, or feature hidden in a video game, film, or other, usually electronic, medium and it's sole purpose is to be found but may represent, ie. real life or pop culture.  A lot of films will do this, but if you are still unsure and you have played video games or have watched TV/Movies over the years and still do not know what an Easter Egg is, THIS movie will DEFINITELY have you understand what one is before the movie is even quarter of it's way through.  Another reason as to what makes this movie fun to watch is EXACTLY this and how many you can find.  Steven Spielberg (and just like the book this movie is based on) uses all the references he possibly can grabbing from past directing work, games and Warner Bros. content.  This means that, not only is the DeLorean time machine from the film Back to the Future franchise directed by Robert Zemeckis in it, a film which is under Steven Spielberg's production company and Spielberg being the mentor of Robert, but there is a very brief Batman cameo, a Warner Bros intellectual Property and a prominent Iron Giant cameo among many many more.  Not to give too much away but you will see popular game characters and as we are in the world of gaming, a lot of things you will come to recognise as a gamer, like a lot of things you'd come to recognise as a watcher of movies.  Wreck it Ralph did something similar.

Spielberg will have you rewatching this movie over and over again because not only is it fun, but the easter eggs alone will keep you busy.  The acting is superb although cheesy in some places and if i'm honest, I didn't realise the film would have more than a few curse words, but if you are a gamer, curse words are apart of your vocabulary.  Although I had only seen Tye as Cyclops of the recent X-Men franchise at this point, he was very good in this movie and acting along side Ben, made for good tension and drama.  It was also nice to see, Hannah John-Kamen, who I had recently seen in Tomb Raider and is in the up and coming Ant-Man and the Wasp.

If you like Nostalgia, movies, gaming and that classic Steven Spielberg directed movies such as Batteries Not Included or anything else you found fun in the 80's, this movie is definitely for you!  Plus, there is no way you will see EVERY Easter Egg in one viewing, have a re-watch.

(film review) - Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

I like Tom Cruise, but there are people who don't. I don't know what it is as to why people don't particularly like him, whether it is his face, his acting, his nose, I don't know. I mean, if you don't like him because of his height, then I guess that could be a reason why you may not want to take him seriously, but with prejudices like that, ultimately, you are preventing yourself from having some fun in the cinema. He isn't that much shorter than Robert Downey Jr. and everyone loves Ironman (a 6-footer). An example of fun at the cinema would be, Edge of Tomorrow. The marketing for that film was poor and it made you think it was Oblivion 2 or something. Even though Oblivion wasn't that poor, it just wasn't a great film. Edge of Tomorrow is a great film and it just didn't get the push it really needed, whether you like Tom or not. Excellent story acting and a stunning Emily Blunt. But what I will say is that, Tom knows how to make action movies, action thrillers as well. Collateral was great. The Mission Impossible franchise is a franchise which knows exactly who it's audience is and what to do to make a very entertaining film, like the Fast & Furious franchise. So what I'm really saying here is, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is brilliant.

The Impossible Mission Force is a highly organised, skilled and dedicated ghost unit who operate undetected across the world saving the world from notorious villains and threats. When rumours of the Syndicate emerges, Ethan Hunt tries his best to seek out who they are and their agenda. With the pressures of the IMF having their operations shut down, Ethan discovers that the Syndicate is a Rogue Nation, who are the polar opposite of IMF and are also highly organised, skilled and dedicated. Ethan and his team are tasked with the impossible mission of revealing a ghost organisation twhotheoretically, does not exist and stopping them from acting out their sinister plans.

Pretty simple right? I mean the synopsis is far from impossible. Their task doesn't sound impossible does it? Ethan, Benji & Luther can do this type of thing with their eyes closed! Well, I can only state to you that this film combines the tension of the first film and the action of the last film, Ghost Protocol and gives you an excellent sequel. The team as we know it is the same. The dynamics are lived in and you can tell, everyone has each others back. The camaraderie is real and evident in the film. So as everyone works together, the stakes are believable. And boy are there some pretty high stakes. There is a under water scene which plays out soo well, I was clutching my chest as my heart couldn't take the suspense. Gasping here and there and gasping for breath, the suspense was actually trying to kill me, I swear. The action scenes were enough and engaging, it didn't over do it. With the perfect amount of comedy, gadgetry and fisty-cuffs, this film aims to please and does it soo damn well. If you saw what the trailer had to offer, the film offers that and then some without being over the top or extravagant.

If you are looking for a film to see, it's not Fantastic Four, unless you really have to. It is this film. You are going to have fun with this. If you don't, it's because you hate Tom Cruise and his face.

(film review) - Star Trek Into Darkness

I was thinking to myself just now, 2009? I'm sure I did a Star Trek 2009 review!? So, I went trekking through my archives and never found it. Needless to say, you probably saw what I did there, lol, but that isn't why I mentioned it. I saw Star Trek 2009 and it was such a refreshing retro futuristic film that if you know what I mean, then, you know what I mean.

Just to give an idea of the film.

The film starts with Chris Hemsworth (Pre-Thor) as the first officer, George Kirk of the USS Kelvin, sustaining heavy attack by a Romulan ship in which commander Nero (Eric Bana) is searching for Spock and sends the USS Kelvin into oblivion just after George manages to rescue the crew by sending them to safety and his pregnant wife Winona who is about to give birth to James T. Kirk. Years later, reckless yet intelligent Kirk joins starfleet and meets up with emotionless Spock, has a bar punch up along the way, an allergic reaction, becomes a major pain in the ears for Spock who ejects him off the ship onto some 'any' planet and then manages to catch up with Nero by using the gas clouds of titan as a cloaking device eventually and...yeah, Kirk saves the day and everyone cheers. Needless to say, I found the film extremely sexy! There was just too much going on in the film.

This new film continues the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his adventures on the Starship Enterprise to boldly go where no man has gone before and the film starts with Captain Kirk and Dr. 'Bones' McCoy (Karl Urban) running for their lives as they try their hardest not to be killed by the primitive civilisation who dwell on the planet they are observing. After violating the Prime Directive in order to save Spock's (Zachary Quinto) life, Kirk is demoted by Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and has been reduced to first officer of his own ship.

After a meeting is held in regards to a former starfleet agent going "rogue", the meeting is attacked by said rogue agent in which Kirk and his crew are assigned by Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) with the task of hunting rogue agent down. However, they find out that rogue agent, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) is currently hiding on the Klingon homeworld of Kronos in which no starfleet ship may go near without igniting a full scale war between the federation and the klingon empire.

As I'm not one to spoil movies for the viewers, I can only say that if you liked the first Star Trek 2009, you are going to absolutely love this one. The first film was just sexy. Considering how old school and futuristic the enterprise is, makes you appreciate what they were trying to do back in the 60's and to have the starship re-imagined from the outside in or inside out also makes you appreciate the future of things. Equipment, vehicles etc. Just everything was done in a old school way, like the TV series, but with modern imaginings of future concepts. This film continues this and basically improves on the first film in many ways other than character development. I found that the first film established the characters a bit more as this film didn't focus on much of the characters other than Kirk, Spock & Uhura. Even when Scotty got his screen time, meant that Sulu, Bones & Chekov didn't get as much time to shine. Not to say that it wasn't there, but not as much as the "main" characters.

Cumberbatch was awesome as the main antagonist and delivered a brilliant performance. Clearly stealing many of the scenes and just doing everything right! Peter Weller also did a great job and I can only say that his performance on top of Cumberbatch gave you the 'Bang for your Buck'.

But like I said before, if you liked the first one, I can not think of a reason as to why you wouldn't like this new one. The sound the starship makes going into warp is enough to send you into a frenzy. And without spoiling it, but the last few scenes involving Spock are absolutely priceless! Should J J Abrams do something similar for Star Wars, I'm sure he will capture the hearts of nerds everywhere!

Go watch if you like action, a touch of comedy and good over evil and sci-fi. If you don't like any of that, then your just boring, aren't you!

(Vintage Film Reviews) - Hot Fuzz

Dependent on your humour, this film is quite possibly one of the funniest films you would see this year!
This film stars the same actors from 'Shaun of the Dead' Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

The films main hero is a Police Officer called Nicholas Angel from the London Met who is a Police officer who is well and truely, DEDICATED!!!! He is the kind of officer who pulls out all stops and goes that extra mile. Nicholas Angel is so good at his job and dedicated, his police department "promotes" him to another town in england because he makes them look bad.
This town is called Sandford, where the "crime" rate is so high, that they need a police officer like him to clear it up and bring peace back to the town. The town needs an officer like Nicholas Angel to teach their officers how to take care of situations.
The town seems 'crime-less' and is so small in comparison to London, that everyone knows everyone who is anyone and who is sleeping with who, what for and why. It is a town so small that, crime, doesn't actually happen and if it does, it is an accident or are several otherwise unnoticeable crimes and misdemeanors, in short order (such as shoplifters, underage drinkers and a farmer storing a huge supply of illegal weapons in his barn).
Also, being partnered with a well-meaning but overeager and naive police constable Daniel "Danny" Butterman, the son of the local police chief Inspector Frank Butterman, and a committed action movie fan, things don't half get better for Nicholas Angel. And with the thoughts that Danny believes that his new big-city partner, Nicholas Angel, might just be a real-life policing bad boy, just like Bad Boys the film, with Car Chases and guns blazing, Danny is over the moon to be his partner and is itching to buss a cap in someone's.....you get the point.

Grisly "accidents" soon start to occur and are then linked to a hooded figure. Who is this figure? Why is the town so closed-circuit? and why is it that, Simon "Sissy" Skinner, the charming but sinister manager of the local Somerfield supermarket, always seem to be around the crime scene with something smart to say? Angel suspects him of murdering the victims due to their involvement in a lucrative property deal, but that doesn't go down very well with the town's people and having already clashed with all members of his police force, things aren't going down to well for Nicholas Angel as he is already in a town where nobody likes him along with finding the town difficult to adjust to.
However, despite all this, Nicholas is the only one who can bring an end to all the chaos that is going on in the town.

This film is funny. There is hand to hand combat, guns, car chases, secrets, lies and all sorts of craziness to make you think, 'shut up, man had that in his barn?'. When the action came, it was decently paced, realistic (to an extent) and most of all, was hilarious.

10th May 2007 at 06:57am