Mission: Impossible

i havent seen Alias so i think abrams' bag of tricks didnt seem worn out to me at that point too

Watching MI2 for the first time and christ this movie really hates Thandie Newton.

i really wanted to like rogue nation (i love this series! i loved jack reacher) but i didn't :((((((( like why do u have the most up for doing his own stunts leading man of all time and have the main set piece be obviously cgi....why do the stakes feel so low....why is the car chase 4x less exciting than jack reacher...why isn't having a compelling villain a priority for movies like this...every scene with alec baldwin and/or jeremy renner could have been excised...idgi guys

wow i might've loved it as much or more than Reacher, which i saw multiple times in the theater... it doesnt beautifully skirt that ridiculous/awesome line which is what gets me hooting thru most of Reacher, but its got more heart... McQ's made 2 of my favorite action movies of the last decade at this point

i loved that mcquarrie couldnt resist reacherfying Ethan Hunt a little... not too much, but that alec baldwin speech about him being the living manifestation of destiny, so perfect, so reacher. at the same time it keeps rolling with that weary/humble angle on EH that they had in Ghost Protocol and which blends really well with cruise's intensity & charisma, he's never been more likable than in these last 2 m:i's

I just rewatched 1 and saw 2-4 for the first time over the past week. I didn't remember much caring for the first one at the time (which is most of the reason I never saw the others, and I think I may have unfairly lumped it in with De Palma's lackluster mid-'90s stretch of films) but it was quite good. If I'd seen 2 at the time, though, it would've likely ended my interest in the series just as decisively as it was quite bad. It could've just as easily been a parody of a Woo film (all of his signifiers, poorly and laughably employed). 3 and 4 were pretty great junk, though. I'm glad they finally put the emphasis back on the team dynamics in 4 and I hope it carries over into the new one.

mi2 and face/off share so many things that made me woah at the time and make me cringe now....lyfe

canks recommendation is the highest praise and will be treated as such

fuckin nailed it

so much fun

why isn't having a compelling villain a priority for movies like this

crazy talk Harris was vvg here

There were some good moments, felt like the Syndicate could have been a little bit more ominous but I liked the casting of the players and the origin angle

I did realize upon walking out that they could have changed all of Renner's dialogue to "derp IMF derpy doo" and it'd be the same film

that's not plot that's merely breathing space. movie knew this and put more emphasis on eyebrow placement than exposition movie otm

This was pretty great, yeah

y y y

I'm not sure cruise has ever been funny before? or is it just a better drafted positioning of his usual character into joeks?

nb lestat dancing with the corpse that time excluded, but that's was def laughing at not with

loved this. was skeptical of the 'best mi yet' claims cuz i thought it very unlikely ghost protocol could be topped but this may beat it. was extremely impressed by rebecca ferguson, very much hoping she comes back or gets another action movie. thought kenan did a great job as the villain.

lol

as antagonists go i'd have this guy only behind hoffman (or voight in the first one but the first one is kind of an outlier in that there isnt' a big bad they're going against, the antagonist isn't apparent until nearly the end)(loved the callout to the breakin in the first one in this one also). also liked out he went out more than any of the others, the sheer animal hate and contempt, more satisfying than hoffman getting taken out by a car or dude falling down a garage.

The villain reminded me of Tim Heidecker. I kinda wish it had been.

I really really liked the part at the opera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb49-oV0F78

yes

i'm a tiny bit worried by the slight vv serious your past will come back to haunt you Skyfall/Spectre vibes the trailer opens with but the rest of it looks good and Rebecca Ferguson is back on a motorcycle so I'm down.

excited for this

it's kind of amazing how this series seems to fly under the radar, there's just so much noise out there about so many franchises and reboots and this just keeps on trucking and making money without making a huge splash anymore. it manages to add new characters and it still doesn't feel too overcrowded (probably bc they also cut loose a few characters when needed.) i can't think of another series that has essentially gone as long as this where the first three films are (possibly!) inferior to the next three. i'm making a major assumption on FALLOUT based on the above alone, but the skill with which 4 & 5 were executed gives me good cause for optimism.

Ferguson reminds me of Amy Ryan a bit.

I'm 100% in for a second McQuarrie-directed chapter

yeah the last MI movie was everything that Spectre wasn’t (ie enjoyable, great)

not that there’s a direct relationship between the two franchises but they occupy a similar fandom i think. but yr cache is spies gadgets & chases the best way forward is NOT stupid

MI films also have the advantage of not slowing down to turn into a grim kitchen sink dramas about the past and families.

M.I. franchise >> Bond franchise

I'm 100% in for a second McQuarrie-directed chapter

― mh, Tuesday, February 6, 2018 12:19 PM (thirty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same

I never saw the last one but they've done a pretty good job of maintaining the right tone, yeah. Neither stakes-free nor portentous

i can't think of another series that has essentially gone as long as this where the first three films are (possibly!) inferior to the next three

feels right to me. i have affection for 1 and 3 but ghost protocol & rogue nation felt like considerable upgrades in characterization and complexity

agreed that this is better than the bond series even though it's sort of an unfair comparison. there are so many bond movies! and yet so many of them suck

MI2 is hilariously bad

3 was overrated 4 a good solid comeback 5 was just excellent

1 was great 2 was huge fun but fell apart upon rewatch/over time

OTM to say that it is better than bond and def doesn't get credit it deserves as a series

Esp when u include Knight and Day and Jack reacher which yknow u should

MI is definitely, inarguably superior overall to the bond movies made over the same period, there's no question (though Casino Royale is the best single film)

MI1 is an extremely good cold-blooded DePalma action movie but my enjoyment of it is more objective than subjective.

MI2 is a ridiculous movie which is kind of amazing, I actually remember hardly anything about it other than being somewhat bored and somewhat impressed by the full Woo treatment and how it failed w/that material.

MI3 felt kind of cheap to me for some reason. I never like to dis films for seeming like TV shows but it felt like a very special episode of Alias. However I did LIKE it.

Haven't seen the JR movies but Knight and Day is horrible

also idk if i'd consider any m:i movie as great as on her majesty's secret service. yet

MI is definitely, inarguably superior overall to the bond movies made over the same period, there's no question (though Casino Royale is the best single film)

― Simon H., Tuesday, February 6, 2018 1:00 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah otm

that said it would be nice if Mads got a turn as an M:I villain since they're arguably the series' weakspot

Casino Royale was made by an exceptional filmmaker in total sync w/his star which i think is also what the MI films have mostly had going for them.

vs Daniel Craig sniping subtly in the press about the last couple films + whatever the hell happened on Quantum of Solace.

We should poll the hollywood movies affected by the writers' strike of that year.

Tom Cruise has this career spot now where he's either a superhuman in action films who is unbothered by normal human concerns (MI, Jack Reacher) or a self-questioning protagonist who has to find a fundamental truth in a science fiction film (Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow) and it's pretty funny.

Casino royale falls to shit at crash scene

MI5 is better imo

Do any of the M:I movies have a moment (such as the television series almost always had) where Martin Landau rips off his phony face and he grins in triumph at fooling the villains yet again? Asking for a friend.

Plenty of them but it might not mean as much to you as none of them are he

Ought I to go straight to rogue nation and see how well it sits with me before sampling the others?

First one is a good starting point then three to five in order if it lands imo

imo you could start with any of them as long as you grasp the basic premise

imo the thing that's the most wild about the second one, other than it being a misfire in tone, is that Dougray Scott was stuck on the set because the production went long, and was replaced by Hugh Jackman in the X-Men film