'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1' A Review

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One is an action movie, the 7th installment in the MI franchise. Ethan Hunt(Tom Cruise) is back and this time he has to take on a world conquering AI dubbed "The Entity" (aka Skynet). The movie opens on a Russian submarine sequence(aka Hunt For Red October). There's a great car chase with a small car(Italian Job). A train fight(Mission: Impossible the OG). A train collapsing sequence(Uncharted). A delightful high budget pastiche of things that have already been done!

Cruise is physically able to do a lot of the stunt work which is really cool but the script and the convoluted, saccharine, borderline incoherent plotting he can't do much with and frankly looks too old and tired to really be super spy Ethan Hunt anymore. The supporting cast are all talented actors but most seem to be showing up for a paycheck/because of a contract requirement and are mostly saddled with plodding exposition. Other than Hayley Atwell, the new face in this installment, who really gives it her all and is by far the most compelling character in the movie there is not much at all in the way of recognizable humanity.

The action sequences, many done fully or partially practically are really cool. But there are not enough of them in the bloated near 3 hour runtime. The McGuffin that the whole movie is in pursuit of and the world ending threat are transparent plot devices and don't actually translate to stakes or interest. Not to mention, as noted above, so so so much of the movie is derivative, pulling directly from other movies or even within the franchise itself. Christopher McQuarrie is a decent director but he has only rarely been a competent screenwriter and his screenwriting involvement in this franchise has been a classic demonstration of diminishing returns. Pass the torch Chris.

Great spectacle, terrible story.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't See It.

Tell Your Story

Its become a cliché at this point

the power of speaking one's truth

its become a soundbite, a meme, 

a tool of the self-help industrial complex

and yet the impact of the act is not diminished

in this time of trial (work related)

as I sit with this acquaintance

and relate the particulars of my past

my drinking, my struggles, my transformation

I am brought back to myself, solidified

I am reminded that I have survived.

'The Out-Laws' A Review

The Out-Laws is an action-comedy about a earnest enthusiastic bank manager Owen(Adam DeVine) who's finance's absentee in-laws come into town for their wedding and drag Owen into their criminal past.

DeVine's affability somewhat works here but it's a bit to broad and forced to really click. The supporting cast, for the most part, are a bit more successful with the comedy and the actual emotion because it's played in a more grounded way. He's not bad but it's just a performance that doesn't match the movie he's in. Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin as the titular parents of the bride are wonderful but, with an exception here or there, they're not given enough to do. Nina Dobrev as Owen's fiancé Parker is unfortunately little more the set dressing. Thankfully the supporting cast is kind of shockingly dripping with talent- Lil Rel Howery, Lauren Lapkus, Richard Kind, Poorna Jagannathan, Michael Rooker- are all great and that depth on the dench as it were raises this mostly pedestrian/recycled idea a bit above the fray.

Visually it has the same kind of homogenized workman-like shot-in-Atlanta-suburbs feel that many Netflix movies do. The one thing that elevates the production design above the fray is some of the action sequences, particularly a bank-robbery-come-car-chase that peaks in a cemetery. Pretty incredible and, taken in context, odd given they most of blown a lot of their budget on it.

Shrug-inducing but not in a bad way.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.

'Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny' A Review

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is an adventure movie, the 5th installment in the Indiana Jones series. The movie opens in a flashback to 1944 Indy(Harrison Ford) and his buddy Basil Shaw(Toby Jones) are captured by Nazi's in their attempts to recover stolen antiquities. As they escape they encounter Nazi physicist Jürgen Voller who they relieve of half of the titular Dial. Flashfoward to 1969, Indy is retiring as a professor and estranged from his wife Marion. His goddaughter Helena Shaw(Phoebe Waller-Bridge) comes calling asking about the dial, they are then pursued by the CIA and Voller and his thugs. A global pursuit ensues.

Ford is comfortable and magnetic back in the role, he gives it the commitment and dignity needed to make this more than a simple nostalgia grab. Waller-Bridge is miscast, she plays the role like a deviation of Fleabag and the self-involved naturalism doesn't really play and the script doesn't help(aside from an effective emotional scene right at the end). The supporting cast all have pretty thinly drawn characters which isn't necessarily a problem but paired with a convoluted protracted plot, in total, other than Ford there's not much to latch into here.

Visually the movie is sufficient but there's an over-reliance on obvious green screen, the de-aging during the flashback is fine but still this technology isn't particularly convincing and certainly begs the question why bother. The action sequences aren't really inspired or impressive and the attempts at injecting stakes and emotion into the classic Indiana Jones mcguffin mostly fail.

Not Crystal Skull level but overlong, confused, and not particularly engaging.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Stream It.

Panic Attack

We're all aware
of this notion

of being pushed to the limit

of having a breaking point

but it is rare 

when such a thing actually occurs

when, for whatever reason,

our body, mind, or spirit give out on us

when we are left, even for a moment,

shattered, weak, hopeless

it is in these moments are we tested

not in strength or courage or even will

but in acceptance, in indifference

situations cannot be controlled, we know this

what we can change, what we can decide

is our opinion, our perception

and endure.

'No Hard Feelings' A Review

No Hard Feelings is a comedy about Maddie(Jennifer Lawrence) a 32-year-old Uber driver/bartender who gets her car repossessed for failure to pay property tax. In an effort to save her house she answers a ad from two parents to "date" their 19-year-old son in exchange for a car.

Lawrence is miscast, she plays the role like its dramatic and although she has a reputation for being goofy and down-to-earth as a person in the media her career has been in dramatic roles(aside from the "satire" Don't Look Up). She doesn't have much comedic timing to speak of and the sequences of physical comedy she has play awkwardly and ineffectively. Andrew Feldman, Percy, is also miscast, this is a classic broadway actor not a comedian and he to plays it so straight tonally the movie makes little sense. The supporting cast, not a comedian among them, help to underscore this bizarre incongruous tone.

Incompetently shot with visible continuity errors in many scenes it is clear the production was on a budget and in a rush. Aside from tone there are so many plot incongruities that the heavily manufactured premise never gets off the ground not to mention that it is inherently questionable. The financial logic of Maddie's situation that drives her into this is non-existent. For a supposedly hard-R comedy there is very little fun or shock.

The industry has mostly veered away from major release comedies and R rated ones in particular. It is baffling that this is the type of movie that, given that, gets greenlite. Lawrence is a star but she's not a comedian and her star power alone can not make a hit. Not to mention attempting to cast and execute a comedy with Scott MacArthur as the sole actual comedian.

A trainwreck of a flick.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't See It.

Simulation Theory

Silo, West World, Matrix
these are all, in essence
Allegory of the Cave

and why do we like these

why is this millennia old concept

so eternal

because it speaks to

one of humanities

most enduring qualities

curiosity

the questioning of that

which we are presented

the insatiable drive

to discover that which is beyond us.