The Matrix - If you are not one of us, you are one of them.
Posts tagged "film"
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Generally speaking, if you drop the adjective “Best” and replace it with “Most,” you come to a better understanding of what the Academy Awards are often about. “Most Editing” would be an apt label for the kinds of movies that win trophies for being so obviously “edited,” particularly through action scenes or across multiple plot-strands, that even audiences who rarely think about film editing sit up and take notice. “Most Sound” and “Most Sound Effects” would explain the lingering fascination with explosions and submarine pings rather than subtler work connected to mood or character, and “Most Visual Effects” is even more self-explanatory. “Most Original Score” works if we parse “Most” not onto “Original” but onto “Score,” since the compositions possessed of the greatest uniqueness and creativity rarely win or even get nominated, but movies crammed with music often do, even when the winning composer wrote almost none of it (see: Babel). Actors are often rewarded for doing the Most Acting, especially in the Supporting divisions, since “Most” connotes both the fussiness of one’s thesping (just ask Renée Zellweger and Tim Robbins) and the awful-lotta screen time that nominees like Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cate Blanchett, and Natalie Portman tend to have over truly “supporting” actors.Nick Davis
Magneto Origin Scene in X-Men (2000)
This scene was copied shot for shot (with a few differences) in the 2011 film X-Men: First Class - I prefer the original version, though perhaps by not drastically changing the scene the makers of the latter film were attempting to pay homage to it.
a Mission Impossible series roundup
It’s the school holidays and I watched all three of these movies, none of which I’ve seen before. I’ve also never seen the original TV show, so I’m judging these movies on their own merits.
I neither particularly like or loathe Tom Cruise, though he was my favourite part of Magnolia.
But the “Tom Cruise” persona is one of the main problems with this series - because it changes. The character in all three movies is different - he’s always ‘Ethan Hunt’ and a spy and a member of the Impossible Missions Force, but the character has a different air about him each time. Nothing from past movies is ever referenced, and there is no consistency as to how Hunt will respond to situations. This isn’t only down to Cruise’s portrayal, but the directions that the scripts and directors take; they’re less concerned with creating a ‘series’ and more concerned with capitalising on a name to make yet another Cruise spy blockbuster that features latex masks and wires.
Thus, with the different character, the movies are all very different too. Mission Impossible (1996), directed by prolific director Brian de Palma, has a more subtle dramatic tension and pacing, and is the closest to a “real movie” or a “film” if I’m allowed some pretension. It has it’s problems; the plot is incredibly confusing not due to the movie’s intelligence (although I do appreciate its intelligence) but simply because the movie does a bad job of presenting it. This movie simply wasn’t what I expected and did keep me guessing - by far, the most engaging and exciting entry in the series.
Mission Impossible 2 (2000) is completely different. It’s the worst one. John Woo, a Chinese martial arts director took helm here and consequently the movie is exactly like a Chinese martial arts film, with the flirtatious femme fatales and the back flips and silly fights and chases. The plot is simpler, but for all the wrong reasons and where action and development were married seamlessly in its predecessor, this entry into Hunt’s franchise doesn’t care for it. The most tense part of the feature involves watching Cruise free-climb a mountain; this comes at the very beginning of the film and isn’t even part of a mission. When the audience is most engaged in a part of the movie that has nothing to do with the rest of it, there’s a problem.
Mission Impossible 3 (2006) is a lot better and that’s due to the work of JJ Abrams. This was his first movie though he’d worked a lot in television before (creating Felicity and LOST) and in fact Cruise hired him after binge-watching the first two seasons of ALIAS. Again, this movie is very different to the other two and the character just seems like another man - I don’t mean that he’s changed since the last film, I literally mean he just seems like another guy. I guess he’s a little more developed in the sense that we see Hunt trying to maintain a relationship with his wife blahblahblah this movie is slickly produced and entirely predictable. There is absolutely nothing new in it, it is enjoyable but also unremarkable.
In conclusion, this series is more or less mediocre. Out of five, I’d give Mission Impossible three-and-a-half stars, Mission Impossible 2 two stars, and Mission Impossible 3 three stars. It will have a legacy - when we think Tom Cruise, one of the biggest stars in movies, this series will likely be one of the first things we think about. The spy movie will always be Bond, but Mission Impossible films have been more successful individually than them, so it’s obviously a franchise that resonates with people. Light fare, worth seeing in the cinema but there’s much better action movies.
I’m excited to see what Pixar’s Brad Bird, who made The Incredibles and Ratatouille will do with the series. Yup- he’s directing the next one, “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” (which won’t be animated, of course). His animated ventures have all been not only heartwarming family films but have also demonstrated a visual aptitude and understanding of the grand setpiece that few other directors have. So I hope he won’t disappoint me. Maybe you’ll watch it too; but be assured that you won’t need to watch any of the prior films to understand it, and only the first one is interesting anyway.
“Wherever you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth.”
If you like disturbing sci-fi short films, you’ll like Blinky.
Movie Review: Animal Kingdom (2010)
I don’t normally like Aussie movies. Actually, I haven’t seen very many, but if our television shows are anything to go by, I don’t think I would. I was reluctant to see this, despite its critical acclaim - I think as Australians, we too easily cling to our own and cry magnificence when really, it’s just mediocre.
But Animal Kingdom is magnificent, and a quality film. It’s tense the entire way through, has a strong emotional core, wonderfully acted, and beautifully shot and edited. I had chills both during and for minutes after.
