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I haven't. But I've heard it's a classic so I ought to get around to it.
Discussion of Rogue Nation on another thread inspired me to watch this 4th installment in the long running MI series last night. It was outstanding in the theatre all those years back (in contrast to 2006's MI3, which I thought was melodramatic sentimental hooey, apart from Philip Seymour Hoffman), and it continues to delight every time I watch it.
This is a film which really plays up the teamwork in the MI team. It all clicks and fits together beautifully, after 3 prior more or less mediocre attempts. While I'm generally not a big fan of Hollywood 'go-to boy' Jeremy Renner, his analyst William Brandt is just about perfect. Simon Pegg's lovable computer geek Benji Dunn comes out of the shadows in this one, and provides most of the humour. Paula Patton is credible and strong as Jane Carter. Most importantly, lead Tom Cruise finally steps up and delivers an Ethan Hunt for the ages. Bringing a sense of humour, coolness and style worthy of James Bond, Cruise owns it in every scene. He is a joy to watch here.
Main villain Michael Nyqvist (of the Swedish The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo fame) is excellent as chief bad Kurt Hendricks, aka Cobalt, although he's not in Hoffman's league. The real star here imho is, ironically, Lea Seydoux's Sabine Moreau, an assassin who only works for diamonds. I say ironically because I can't wait for any scene that Seydoux is in while watching this film, which is in stark contrast to my emotions when watching her in SP. She's perfectly cast here, and is not given much to say (less words to mangle) thankfully. Her obvious beauty and slightly mischievous action girl look are used to maximum effect in this film, and it's a credit to the film making team. Vladimir Mashkov's FSB operative Sidorov is also excellent, as is Anil Kapoor as Indian playboy Brij Nath.
The action is completely off the charts, and is worthy of a superior Bond film, let alone an MI effort. Of course there's the now legendary climb up Dubai's Burj Khalifa as the hightlight. However, the brutal and visceral climax fight in the rotating parking garage (apparently in Mumbai) is absolutely brilliant also, and has 'best of Bond' written all over it for inventiveness. Let's not forget the opening scene in Budapest, which gets things off to a tense start. I love the way the camera zooms in with multiple shots of the Budapest skyline as Michael Giacchino's superb score kicks in after the 'Bad Robot'.
Other standouts include the Russian prison break, the escape from the Moscow hospital (so simple and yet so damn effective) and the BMW chase during the Dubai sandstorm. That sandstorm by the way, is the kind of 'learning experience moment' that I used to enjoy so much in classic Bond films. A 'saki' moment if you will. I was not aware that Dubai had sandstorms prior to watching this film. Now I know.
The only negatives, imho, are the shoddy special effects when the Kremlin is blown up, and also when the missile hits the Transamerica building in San Fran and falls into the Bay. I also was not too keen on the epilogue bringing in Mrs. Hunt, because it reminded me uncomfortably of the sap in the third film.
There's something about this movie that recalls the Gilbert Bond films. It's action packed. It's larger than life. The stakes are high. The lead actor is at the top of his game. Most importantly though, it's just so damn 'cool' and so much fun.
Highly Recommended!
Edge Of Sanity (1989)
Even with the abundance of sleaze, I might go as far as to call this my favourite Jekyll & Hyde film.
Shocktober 2016
Day 1: Edge Of Sanity (1989)
Is that the film with Anthony Perkins?
DAY 1
400 DAYS
Technically a "psychological science fiction film", Matt Osterman's 2015 indie can easily be seen as straightforward paranoia horror. Not wasting time on semantics here, let me just say that this is another one of those relatively short, low-budget "space" films like Moon, Love, Apollo 18, Europa Report, ...
A team of four astronauts partakes in a 400 day simulation experiment underground. After a while, cabin fever sinks in and then the underground facility is suddenly plagued with horrible noises from the outside and strange apparitions inside the place. When the brave foursome ventures outside, it would seem as if the world has suffered from a near total apocalypse.
This film offers little that we haven't already seen in other and much better films. It's also quite unclear how the story eventually unfolds and how we are to interpret the ending. Praising this film for some clever ambiguity or for challenging our cerebral capacities à la 2001: A Space Odyssey would be several stretches too far. So the overall assessment will be: muddled, messy, uneven. That said, there are times when, upon my first viewing, I was rather intrigued, a little frightened even, so HEY!, that's a welcome surprise in an otherwise pretty uninteresting film. Counting in those few brief moments of suspense and semi-horror, I can at least rate this film a little better than Rotten Tomatoes and its minions do.
But only a little...
OCTOBER 2016 HALLOWEEN MARATHON
Excellent
Great
Good
Tolerable
400 Days
Awful
Yes, that's the one.
I've always wanted to see Edge of Sanity being a pretty big fan of the Jekyll/Hyde story. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a copy. I'll bet it's great with Perkins in the lead.
Then I also watched Ace Ventura. I had to pick this or the second hobbit. Wanted to have some laughs and wasn't that keen to watch three hours of fantady + the annoyingly frequent commercial breaks.
Today I found my long misplaced Who Framed Roger Rabbit. They dont make em like they used to. Great fun and good movie making. The makers did a grand job drawing tge line thin between real life acting and the actors interacting with the toons. Also it has a good film noir inspired plot.
He is very good at both parts, he does a little scenery chewing as Hyde (which the film makers took a less is more approach to his appearance).
Succeeded in what it wanted to do but "bottled it" IMHO re dealing with the issues of corporate governance etc and just went for the popcorn, big explosion market. A missed opportunity and could have been another "Big Short".
Kurt Russell was superb and deserves an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
Russell was indeed excellent. The man's still got it.
Haha, that's an awesome pick, @FoxRox. Scooby Doo: Zombie Island captivated me when I was just a wee boy. We had a VHS of it that I watched to absolute death, and if a tally was ever done of each film I've seen in my life and how much I've seen it, I guarantee that movie would be very high in the number of re-watches. I still vividly remember entire sections from the film without having seen it for over a decade, it's so implanted in my memory.
Maybe I should return to it for my own little run through of Halloween films.
It's definitely a great nostalgia pick - as are all Scooby Doo films that are grown up with. I'm sure they're not as much fun for an adult who hadn't seen them before, since they're a little corny and kid-oriented. Still, I love some of them.
@FoxRox, another favorite of mine has three witches in it who are actually musicians and the film has a similar Halloween theme much like Zombie Island. I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head, but I imagine you've seen it at some point.
@0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999)! I have that one as well (I own 5 animated Scooby films, 2-pack of the live-action ones - 2 is a guilty pleasure - and the first two seasons of the original series).
EDIT: On another note, I've had the urge to rewatch Sam Raimi's Spiderman Trilogy. Love those movies (yes, even the third).
They feel very much in the vein of Scooby Doo as you expect them to be, and I think the casting across the board was spot on. I'm partial to #1-more childhood nostalgia-but I quite like #2 as well, especially with how the film portrays the gang as a real team that need each other to pull through tough spots. Those films felt very true to the spirit of the cartoon, even including all the iconic original villains in live-action form.
Scooby Doo was an almost unconscious source of childhood nostalgia for me that I've only realized the true effect/impact of recently, looking back, and never during the time I was absorbing all the shows. I still remember the original cartoons on re-run I'd watch one after the other as a boy, and the newer takes on the property that we've seen in the last twenty years or so. I even love the version of Scooby Doo where the gang were all little kids solving mysteries. Lots to love.
A gentile murder mystery with Diana Dors getting top billing. Someone show me an alternate history (and how to get there) where Dors' career continued on the success that she enjoyed in the 1950's, & where the Kardashian clan don't exist, and I will go and live there.
And for my Shocktober marathon:
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
While this owes a debt to Scream, in the way that Friday The 13th owes a debt to Halloween, but this film more appeals to me as a 1990's horror film (rather than trying to be too clever). And it stars Jennifer Love Hewitt. :x
Night Of The Seagulls (1975)
Those undead Templars rise once more in the 4th and final film in Armando de Osorio's horror quartet. This least exploitative film of the four, has a dreamlike quality to it. It is also my favourite of the four.
Shocktober 2016
Day 1: Edge Of Sanity (1989)
Day 2: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Day 3: Night Of The Seagulls (1975)