Topic: The Movie Thread

On a whim, I watched Mission Impossible: Fallout today. I have been interested in the movie since the trailers looked so good back at release. Then it kept coming up on my Amazon Prime as a suggestion so, I figured I’d give it a go for 20 minutes and if it didn’t grab me then I could just turn it off. Well, after 30 minutes I was on the edge of my seat, so needless to say, I think I liked it.

The film is not without problems, though. In fact, as it goes on, it becomes more and more bloated with non-stop action and unnecessary complicated plot twists. The first couple of surprise left turns in the narrative were exciting and had me smiling and saying “Wow, awesome — I didn’t see that coming!” But boy, they went to the well a little too much and it just becomes a little trite after a while when you get a huge surprise reveal, one after another in quick succession. It makes the viewer stop emotionally investing in the protagonists plight when time after time they appear to be painted into and corner, only to find out that it was all part of the plan and everything falls into the hero’s lap just like he planned. This happened way too much.

And that’s part of the issue I had with the movie — just way too much deus ex machina with things falling into place for the heroes. Tom Cruise is bad about this in his movies. Everything always seems to go right for him and he comes across as infallible, smarter, faster, stronger, and mostly ....luckier than the villians in his movies. I like a happy ending, don’t get me wrong, and I want to see the hero come out on top and I always root for him, but I’d like it a little more believable sometimes. It’s one of the reasons why my favorite Tom Cruise movie is probably Edge of Tomorrow ; his character is kind of weak and faulty and more relatable.

Still, as one of America’s answers to James Bond, Ethan Hunt is supposed to be a badass, and he certainly delivers here. The action is nonstop. It seemed like over half the movie consisted of various car, motorcycle, helicopter, boat, or foot chases. The cinematography was great, the visuals were stunning. From London to Paris, to China — there was just breathtaking shots taken throughout some of the large open scenes.
Acting was great. Besides Cruise — Cavill, Pegg, Rhames, Ferguson, Harris, Kirby... all did a nice job. I quite liked Alec Baldwin probably the most. Something about how he carries himself in a role of authority seems spot on.

Another is the bigger problems I had was that I watched it without having seen the last two movies and it has been an age since I saw MI 1-3, so any previous plot details were very fuzzy in my memory. I didn’t think there would be carry over from one movie to the next given these last 3 movies didn’t have a number in their title, so I can only assume that Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation establish the relationship of Hunt with Solomon Lane, Ilsa Faust, and Julia. The movie tried its best to explain the backstory for us newcomers, but I have a feeling certain plot points would have had more impact if I had an invested interest carried over from the previous installments.

Although I’m being critical, as a whole I really enjoyed the movie. It’s convoluted (yet also surprisingly simplistic) plot and over abundance of action notwithstanding, it’s a fun thrill ride to take during pandemic isolation. Good popcorn flick.

@Th3solution It’s strange, I loved 4 and 5 and went to the cinema to see them but I really didn’t like Fallout. That’s despite everybody loving it, even critics who normally don’t rate that sorta movie. I better give it another go then!

@nessisonett If 4 and 5 were available on Netflix or Prime, I’d like to see them now. Seems like reviews were so lukewarm on them that I just skipped them. I might have seen parts of Rogue Nation but I can’t be sure. I think I tried to jump in on a viewing of it with friends and I just couldn’t get interested.
I think the inclusion of Cavill here is a nice change up. Cruise can still carry a movie, but he’s getting a little long in the tooth and an injection of fresh blood from a younger action star seemed to keep me interested better. That and Fallout never lets you rest, you’re always just 5 minutes away from another adrenaline pumping action sequence, so it keeps the interest of the casual viewer more. But now that I am curious as to how Lane and Hunt become rivals like this, I should give the others a try. At what point is Solomon Lane introduced? In MI4 or MI5?

Julia's mainly in the third film @Th3solution with a bit of backstory in the Ghost Protocol too.

Ilsa Faust and Soloman Lane are in Rogue Nation and I think the part of the reason for that is because Fallout is the first Mission impossible film to have the director come back for another film in the series (He also did Rogue Nation)

... There was something about Fallout that didn't quite work for me... Might be that it's a bit convoluted and messy for me. I watched it a second time a few months ago and thought the exact same of it when I watched the first time in that it just never realy clicked with me.

Ghost Protocol is my personal favourite of the series but I did enjoy Rogue Nation a fair bit too.

@Th3solution He’s in 5, which was a decent movie and literally identical to Spectre. I saw a comparison on Reddit and they’re genuinely the same movie.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I swear I saw MI3, but I just don’t remember much about it. Seems I recall liking it and I know it’s most people’s favorite, but nothing comes to me as far as plot or characters. Julia seemed to be familiar, but the whole backstory that Luther tells about her being a ghost or whatever, that wasn’t in my memory.
I do appreciate the narrative device of “hero cuts himself off from the ones he loves in order to protect them since he knows that love can be used against him by his enemies”, even if it is used frequently in these types of movies. It’s a good plot design to build tension and empathy for the protagonist — the hero who just can’t be with those he loves because the world / country needs him for the greater good.

@nessisonett Pretty sure I didn’t see Spectre either. All these espionage action hero flicks get jumbled in my memory. They are enjoyable while you watch them, but the plots are all mostly recycled. Not that it isn’t true of all genres of storytelling. I guess there are only so many plots out there and it’s all about implementation. Good vs. Evil - Conflict and Tragedy - Save the World - and so on.

MI3 was done by JJ Abrams if I remember right @Th3solution. I didn't think much of it, though it was better then MI2 and it did bring in Simon Pegg as Benji so... that's something 😅

I think part of the problem the Mission Impossible films have to me is that none of the villains have been particularly great or very memorable... They never really have a chance to shine cus nearly all of the focus is on Tom Cruise and crew and feel pretty one note in comparison.

The other day I caught Independence Day: Resurgence on TV. I was working (at home) during the time it was on so I couldn't give it my undivided attention, but I thought it was alright for what it was.

It's biggest problem seemed to be that it leaned on nostalgia for the original a little too much (a few scenes seemed to be lifted wholesale, just now in even bigger scale), and while I believe the original was a technical showpiece for it's era (even amongst other blockbusters), Resurgence comes across as just another in the pile.

Still, it was nice seeing some faces on the big screen you don't see much anymore, and works for an afternoon of dumb fun.

I saw 1917 yesterday. It was excellent. the one shot did a lot to make it more personal and to really have you follow them through their journey. Considering all the noise it made at the Oscars though, I do have to say I didn't quite have the wow factor that some of the critics and general reception had for the cinematography, not because it wasn't amazing, but because to them a one-shot was basically something new and brought in something unique and well done, whereas if you've played God of War, not only have you already seen a one-shot, I would argue it's a superior one-shot. The way it captured the fights and helped tell the personal story of Kratos and his son was simply used to better and more powerful effect than 1917 did for it's one-shot.

@RogerRoger, on that note, as it happens...

This morning I watched Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (Blu-Ray) - The second of the prequel trilogy, it's part of my ongoing quest to watch through the series in earnest (which I haven't really done, at least not in a long time).

It does have it's weak points, such as it's over reliance on CGI (though being newer, I think it looked a bit better than Episode I in this regard), and it doesn't necessarily have it's own self contained narrative (instead acting more as the set up for the next entry), but I still enjoyed watching it.

I liked the "car chase" segment in Corsucant (while some may find it silly, I actually liked seeing the brief glimpses into "regular life" here, whether it be the night club Anakin & Obi-Wan hunt down the assassin in, or the 50's style diner staffed by aliens. Usually our heroes are either on the front lines or on the run in derelict parts of the galaxy, so it's a side of this universe you don't often see), the scene where Obi-Wan is chasing Jango Fett through that asteroid belt, and the final battle was pretty cool too (especially since it's rare to see so many Jedi active at once).

It was tonally a bit darker than Episode I (a sign of what's to come), but still had a key amount of cheesiness to balance the whole experience out.

@RogerRoger Don't you have Disney+? They are all on there aren't they?

Columbia Classics Collection: Volume 1 4K Blu-ray

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=26642

I just saw One Cut of the Dead, really cool concept and a genuinely funny/inventive movie - really enjoyed it. Highly recommended! 99p rental on Amazon.

@LN78 I've got a feeling that will cost a wedge! Apart from film grain, older films look fantastic in UHD. I was really impressed with the Alien, Black Hawk Down and Predator UHD discs.

Yeah I hear that about Disney, not sure why they are so reluctant to support the more advanced HDR formats on disc. I bought Thor: Ragnarok before I found out. Will not be buying another UHD disc from them until they fully support the format. And I won't need to as most of them are Disney+.

@RogerRoger Same thinking here. I'm coming to the end of a few shows on Prime so will likely cancel that if there is much on Disney+ that tickles my fancy.

@RogerRoger @RR529 Y’know I used to be very dismissive of the prequels but I’ve definitely come around. Yeah, they do a lot wrong but they’re brilliant popcorn movies to slag off with your pals. They’re really quite imaginative, which I only saw after seeing just how unimaginative the sequel trilogy was.

@RogerRoger I tend to rotate them anyway with only Netflix being the only constant as my mum has a profile under my sub.

In regards to the Star Wars collection, it might be worth getting it on normal blu ray seeing as Disney don't support Dolby Vision or HDR10+ currently, if that kinda earning bothers you that is. I know if I was spending that amount of money on a collection, I would want my moneys worth in terms of picture and sound quality.

@LN78 Cheers, I'll check it out. 👍

I tried out Disney+ earlier. Unfortunately I only lasted about 40 minutes into Thor Ragnarok as it kept buffering, and although the picture quality was good it was not in UHD. Unless things are being throttled in the background because of COVID-19, but I've not experienced such drops in picture quality whilst watching Amazon Prime, Netflix or Google Play. So I just watched the 4K UHD disc I had instead. 😁

So i will watch a few other things, but suffice to say unless things improve I shall not be carrying on after the free trial. Maybe sign up again when things are back to normal again.

I watched Escape to Witch Mountain yesterday. Man, I loved this film and the sequel as a young kid. It sort of creeped me out at the time. Probably got me interested in sci-fi, actually. I couldn’t remember a lot of it - it was fun to watch it again.

I also watched Terminator Dark Fate, it was as unnecessary as I thought it would be but much like the new Alien movies I still enjoyed it for what it was.

@JohnnyShoulder I just watched Onward on Disney+ (a decent Pixar outing, but probably middle of the pack as far as their standards) and it streamed in 4K without issue. Of course, I don’t know if there is a difference in the US version of the service. But if there is some kind of optimization that has to occur, then perhaps the UK version will be up to speed in a couple months. I wasn’t a subscriber in the opening weeks in the US, so I’m not sure if the roll out was rocky, but it’s been smooth the whole time I’ve subscribed.