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Review: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Joe Belcastro — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:49:04 +0000

So all it took was a veteran animation director in Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant) to resurrect the Mission: Impossible franchise to greatness. Why couldn’t someone track him down two installments ago?

The 133 minute fourth edition, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is simply the best in the series. Tom Cruise is in top-form and the team he surrounds himself with (Paula Patton, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner) are with him stride-for-stride. Michael Nyqvist is also one of the better antagonists the franchise has seen, despite barely saying a word (to be fair, Phillip Seymour Hoffman was not given enough to do in the third flick).

Our espionage foreign adventure (travels through Russia, Dubai and India) sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) once again being recruited for his most important mission to date. His intelligence agency that signs his pay check, IMF, believes someone is attempting to start a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. Although there’s a legitimate chance to prevent all of this from unfolding, the elusive villain, going under the name Cobalt (Michael Nyqvist), is able to trigger tragic events that forces the U.S. President to shut down the IMF agency; leaving Hunt and his team (mentioned above) on their own, using very limited resources to stop a nuclear war.

Trust me; the synopsis is a bit more in-depth than the paragraph above. What is great about having Bird at the helm is that he finds the perfect speed to pace this action-caper. And he knows the exact point to explain what’s going on as the plot thickens through a variety of techniques (action, dialogue, killer new gadgets, etc.) that everyone in the audience can comprehend.

And the action is captivating! Not only is Cruise pushing himself to unbelievable limits, the rest of his cohorts are all jumping in on the ass-kicking fun. Well, except for Simon Pegg; his weapon of choice is his brilliant timing of all his sarcastic/funny lines while serving as the group’s techie. Plus, the camera – IMAX camera – is positioned so the entire scope of where the action is taking place can be viewed by the audience. Whether its fisticuffs or an assortment of chase sequences (ranging from the prototypical car jaunts to on foot in a sandstorm) they’re all clean even though their chaotic. A novel way to describe this piece is it has intense classy action; and there’s always something new around the corner. Many of the things they do here have never been seen in these types of flicks.

Besides the obvious hook of big-budget action spots, the interlude of dialogue and emotion is just as engaging in this extended thrill ride. When Bird has to slow down to make the next turn on this journey, he does it in a manner that is relaxing and exciting all at once. He basically sets the table properly and then serves one of hell of a five-course meal. Surprisingly, this spy-mystery chase is more appealing, and told more concisely than the recent Sherlock Holmes release.

And while this is still Tom Cruise’s show, he finds the ideal compliments – his supporting cast – and allows them to take over at the wheel when appropriate.

Overall, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is scary good. Tom Cruise is in the zone once again and this is by far the best directed piece in the series. Not to mention, the best directed action piece since…dare I say it? The Dark Knight.

Put it this way, yours truly had to desperately use the bathroom about 45 minutes in…And let’s just say my bladder suffered until the closing credits.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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Second Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol trailer!

Liam — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:48:52 +0000

Paramount have unveiled the second official trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. No Eminem backing track this time, but we see plenty of well polished action scenes and special effects money-shots, along with some throwbacks to the previous films.

Watch below:

When a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin, the United States government activates “Ghost Protocol” and disavows the entire Impossible Mission Force. Ethan Hunt and his team are blamed for the attack, but are allowed to escape as part of a plan to enable them to operate outside their agency. Hunt is warned that if any member of his team is captured or compromised, they will be charged as terrorists planning a nuclear strike. He is forced to work with fellow IMF agent Brandt, who knows much more about Hunt and his past than Hunt himself.

The Incredibles helmer Brad Bird is making his live-action directorial debut with the fourth film and Tom Cruise is once again joined by Simon Pegg, along with newcomers Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton (Precious) and Josh Holloway (Lost). Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) and Lea Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds) will play villains.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will be released December 16th, 2011.

New UK trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Liam — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:47:04 +0000

Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn will be hitting UK screens later this month, and a new UK trailer has been released online in preparation.

As the movie is pretty much complete now the action scenes are prominent in the trailer, with most of the new footage involving a motorcycle and a sidecar. We also see shots of ships on fire, and some amazing scenery from Tintin’s travels.

Watch below:

In the film, co-written by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim), Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), Jamie Bell stars as journalist and adventurer Tintin with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost playing detective twins Thompson and Thomson and Daniel Craig playing villainous pirate Red Rackham. Paramount will release The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in the US in December, with Sony releasing the film in Europe and overseas over the next few months.

J.J. Abrams officially signs on to direct Star Trek 2

Liam — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:17:54 +0000

This news won’t be a surprise to anyone as we’ve all been expecting it, but Vulture has word that J.J. Abrams “has finally committed to shooting Star Trek 2″.

Over the past year Abrams has been busy directing Super 8 so he was only able to focus his attention on Star Trek 2 this summer. Writers Damon Lindelof, Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman have since been working on the script based on a 70 page outline they had in May, which now looks to be developed enough for Abrams to commit as director.

Vulture says “pre-production is underway”, “the script will be done by month’s end” and “Abrams will start shooting this winter”. Paramount had originally set a June 29, 2012 release date for the sequel, but the delay in filming caused them to give G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation that slot. The studio will likely be aiming for a summer 2013 release, unless they want to rush it for late-2012 (which is already pretty crowded).

Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho are all expected to return.

New trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Liam — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 12:03:49 +0000

A new trailer for Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn has found its way online. It’s not the best quality so it’s hard to get a good look at the faces (the teaser did a good job of hiding them), but the new footage gives us a run-through of the story and we get to see a few new action scenes.

Watch below: (I’ll update with a HD version when it becomes available)

First Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol trailer!

Liam — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 07:55:14 +0000

Paramount today released the first official trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and it looks fantastic. Putting an Eminem song over a trailer filled with exploding buildings, dust storms and gun fights doesn’t work on paper, but strangely it works here.

Watch below:

When a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin, the United States government activates “Ghost Protocol” and disavows the entire Impossible Mission Force. Ethan Hunt and his team are blamed for the attack, but are allowed to escape as part of a plan to enable them to operate outside their agency. Hunt is warned that if any member of his team is captured or compromised, they will be charged as terrorists planning a nuclear strike. He is forced to work with fellow IMF agent Brandt, who knows much more about Hunt and his past than Hunt himself.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will be released December 16th, 2011.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn teaser trailer

Liam — Tue, 17 May 2011 09:43:26 +0000

As expected, Paramount today released the first official trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. The teaser only lasts a minute long so few plot details are explained, however we do get a look at Tintin himself and a few money shots, including a ship (the Unicorn I presume) sailing across a desert.

Watch below:

It’s certainly a visual treat, and reminds me of the cartoon made in the 90s. I’m not sure why they’ve intentionality tried to hide the faces (apart from the shot at the end). Maybe they’ve done it because it’s a ‘teaser’, or it could be the case WETA haven’t completed the visuals yet so they don’t want to sell the movie with incomplete motion capture.

Review: Paul

Ben — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:09:23 +0000

While Paul is not the third entry into the infamous Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s third cinematic team-up is almost as enjoyable as their previous collaborations. Let’s face it: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are both awesome movies, and without Edgar Wright behind the camera to complete the triumvirate, one might assume that another director stepping into the situation would be a bit intimidated to work with such a close-knit group. Not the case for Superbad and Adventureland director Greg Mottola, who, while not matching Wright’s unique dynamism, imbues Paul with his own pacing and comedy sensibilities that ultimately results in a very enjoyable moviegoing experience.

The story follows Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), two geeky British comic book creators who travel to America to go on a road trip to see their favorite alien hot spots across the country. Along the way, they discover an actual alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) and go on the run from Agent Zoil (Bateman), a “man in black” tasked with hunting the alien down. Pegg and Frost’s influence is felt all over this film and keeps with their signature style of slightly mocking a genre, paying homage to it, and adding an exciting new entry to its ranks all at the same time. This is one that movie geeks will love in the same way that gamers and pop culture nerds loved Scott Pilgrim vs. The World; there are so many references to other movies (alien, road trip, and otherwise) that I could spend an entire post listing all of them.

The CG work for Paul’s alien body was surprisingly impressive, never aiming for “realism,” per se, but always remaining fluid and true to the character. And speaking of the character, Paul was hilarious. He’s a smoking foul-mouthed version of E.T., embracing (and at times contributing to) human pop culture in a way that makes his character almost pleasant among all the cursing and drinking. Honestly, Paul himself was the character about whom I had the biggest doubts going in, but Seth Rogen – an actor yet to give a truly excellent performance in my opinion – did a fantastic job with the voice work and really gave the alien an extra spark of life that would be hard for many other actors to replicate.

The movie featured smaller roles for a lot of people we’ve seen in comedy before. Kristen Wiig is charming as the extremist Christian whose world is turned upside down with the discovery of extraterrestrial life (her character also doubles as Pegg’s love interest and provides a bit of conflict between Pegg and Frost). Sigourney Weaver has a small cameo as the determined head of the government agency looking for Paul. Bill Hader (“SNL”) and Joe Lo Truglio (Superbad) play rookie agents tagging along with Bateman, David Koechner (Anchorman) and Jesse Plemons (TV’s “Friday Night Lights”) are a couple of redneck homophobes that become bitter enemies to our heroes, and Jeffrey Tambor (“Arrested Development”) has a small role as a self-centered comic creator the guys meet at Comic-Con.

Speaking of Comic-Con, the movie has the best depiction of the convention I’ve ever seen on screen. It’s such an accurate representation of what it’s like, and though the movie wasn’t actually shot at the convention, it could have fooled me. I had a chance to attend my first Comic-Con last year with the guys and girls at GeekTyrant (check out all our coverage here), and Paul not only captured the physical accuracy of the convention center and surrounding areas but also the giddy feeling of excitement it provides – geeking out as only geeks can.

If I have any qualms with the movie, it’s that the story was a bit predictable at times. Due to personal bias, I’m more willing to forgive predictability with movies that embrace fun than ones that aim for seriousness, so this wasn’t as big of a turn off for me as it most assuredly will be for some. To me, the comedy and the heart are the most important parts of this movie, and they hit on all the right beats. A lot of people will find the anti-Christian overtones to be a bit off-putting, but aside from that one issue, I think the entire film has an infectious enthusiasm to it – all of the protagonists are extremely likeable and Pegg and Frost’s writing makes it very easy to root for them. The pacing was solid, with no scene dragging on too long and the action moving quickly across different locations to keep things visually interesting.

Paul is a great entry into the ranks of the Pegg-Frost collaborations, and a new high point in Greg Mottola’s career alongside Superbad. This movie will undoubtedly put smiles on the faces of movie lovers across the country as they take an insane road trip with these characters that ends at the absolute perfect location. Until next time…

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Another trailer for Paul

Liam — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:43:50 +0000

head over to Yahoo! has released a new trailer for Paul which stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver. The teaser trailer we got back in October was only 70 seconds long, but this latest trailer is the full 2 minute 30 seconds one.

The movie follows two British comic book geeks (Pegg and Frost) who go on a road trip through America. On the way, they discover an alien named Paul (voiced by Rogen) at Area 51 who needs their help.

In the trailer, embedded below, we get to see a lot more of Seth Rogen’s alien character who exposes himself on a number of occasions, turns invisible, and brings birds back to life.

The film is directed by Superbad director Greg Mottola so fans of that type of comedy should be looking forward to this, as will fans of Pegg and Frost’s earlier work in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Paul will be released on February 18th in the UK and March 18th in the US.

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Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Ben — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 02:05:43 +0000

In what could be the final movie in The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader brings the same epic scale we’ve come to expect from the first two movies and provides a satisfying (possible) conclusion to the film series based on C.S. Lewis’ classic novels.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always my favorite book of the series, so it stands to reason I was more optimistic about this film than the ones that came before it. To be clear, I’m a fan of both previous movies - Prince Caspian more so than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Director Andrew Adamson is replaced by former James Bond director Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough), and Apted doesn’t skip a beat making this feel right at home in the Narnia series. The tone, visual style, and effects are a perfect fit with the rest of the movies, and though the story is incredibly derivative from seemingly every fantasy story ever told, I still think this is my favorite among the three movies.

This story follows the younger Pevensie siblings Edmund (Skander Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) while they’re stationed in England during WWII. Their older brother and sister have been shipped off to America, but the former King and Queen of Narnia must stay behind, living with their insufferable cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) until they can travel stateside safely. When all three of them are suddenly consumed by the waves of a strange painting hanging in their home, they surface in Narnia, where King Caspian (Ben Barnes) is leading a ship called The Dawn Treader to find seven lost lords as an all-consuming darkness sweeps the land.

Apted does a fantastic job of translating this story to the big screen, and the addition of 3D fits pretty well in this world. Excusing some focus issues and slight blurriness at times, the 3D was well-executed and didn’t distract from the story or feel like a cash grab. The visual effects were surprisingly impressive, from the opening painting scene featured in the trailers to the sweeping vistas of the magical land in which the story takes place. Make no mistake, this is no How To Train Your Dragon – but it’s solid 3D in a movie climate that seems content with dumping crappy 3D on patrons and expecting congratulations for doing so. More impressive even than the visual effects was the way Apted framed the action, avoiding shaky camera work in favor of geographical awareness (a decision which almost always features the best possible outcome). An escape sequence on a seemingly deserted island was especially well choreographed.

Because the film centers around the youngest siblings, it features a great deal of “growing pain” scenes, in which Edmund and Lucy must overcome adversity and mature into adults, mirroring the same scheme used with Peter and Susan in Prince Caspian. For the most part, these moments are well-handled, though the premise of a darkness sweeping the land that tempts people is a bit heavy-handed. Speaking of this evil-incarnate, it serves multiple purposes in the film, from consuming human sacrifices to – in a move straight out of Ghostbusters - taking on the form of whatever fears it. It also appears as a green version of the Smoke Monster from LOST, which was almost as laughable as the concept of the smoke itself. Aside from that aspect being a little too on the nose, I didn’t have many problems with the rest of the movie.

Will Poulter has an interesting arc as the annoying cousin, Eustace Scrubb. He spends the first half of the film begging the audience to murder him with their minds thanks to his brash personality and haughty sense of higher intelligence. But as the movie progresses and he undergoes a bit of a transformation (I won’t ruin it in case you check it out), he actually becomes not only tolerable, but actually empathetic. His relationship with the brave mouse Reepicheep becomes a focal point of the movie and is one of the more entertaining elements on display.

Ben Barnes continues to stand out as Caspian, and I honestly believe he has that movie-star quality about him that could easily earn him some choice roles in the coming years. I expect great things from him, and expect this guy to quickly become a rising star in Hollywood. The other actors bring their same acting styles from the earlier films across here, which is to say that they are adequate but not breathtaking. Voice work from Liam Neeson and Simon Pegg was as good as you’d expect from actors of their stature, although Neeson’s role is much more brief than previous installments in this franchise.

I haven’t read the book on which this is based in probably 15 years, so I can’t speak to the accuracy in that regard, but the film version basically presents us with an alternate telling of Homer’s The Odyssey. By sea, the crew travels to various lands in search of these lost lords and is tested at every turn, from magic spells to cursed food and everything in between in a morality tale about having faith and overcoming temptation. Since The Odyssey is one of my favorite stories, that explains my enjoyment of this movie. The same themes are present to a degree; actions have consequences in Narnia, a lesson learned for when the characters return to the real world.

Issues of faith are tackled head on, with the film embracing its Christian undertones – let’s face it, overtones – and though this movie borders on sanctimonious at times, I didn’t think it ever crossed the line into being overly preachy. This series has proudly flown its flag from the beginning, so you know what you’re getting yourself into here: if you can’t handle a little positivity in your movies, stay home for this one.

The film plays an interesting game in its final minutes, effectively wrapping up the Pevensie storyline but leaving an opening for another sequel just in case this one makes bank at the box office. If I were to guess, I’d say this is the last we see of Narnia until the inevitable reboot in 10 years, and I’m OK with that. If you have kids, or you’re a sucker for adventure tales, I’m sure you’ll find something to enjoy with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Until next time…