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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tag: Christopher McQuarrie

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)*

Title: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Rating: PG-13
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Erik Jendresen and Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Cary Elwes, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, and Rob Delaney
Release Date: 7/12/2023
Running Time: 163 minutes

Official Site
IMDb

What did you think of this film?

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With control of the future and the fate of the world at stake, and dark forces from Ethan’s past closing in, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than his mission – not even the lives of those he cares about most.


Are There Any Extras During The Credits? No

Are There Any Extras After The Credits? Yes

Click to see whats: after the credits

Is this stinger worth waiting around for? Vote DownVote Up (-200 rating, 240 votes)

Memoriam: In Memory of
Sumner Redstone
Film Lover and Friend

Special thanks to Allison, Frank, and Javier for this submission


Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Title: Top Gun: Maverick
Rating: PG-13
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Written by: Peter Craig, Justin Marks, Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, and Ed Harris
Release Date: 5/27/2022
Running Time: 131 minutes

Official Site
IMDb

What did you think of this film?

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose”.

Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.


Are There Any Extras During The Credits? No

Are There Any Extras After The Credits? No

Memoriam: In Memory of Tony Scott

Note: An aircraft flies across the screen just before the memoriam is shown.

Special thanks to Robert, Frank, Mike, Ernest, and Javier for this submission


Usual Suspects, The (1995)

Title: The Usual Suspects
Rating: R
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite, and Kevin Spacey
Release Date: 8/16/1995
Running Time: 106 minutes

IMDb

What did you think of this film?

A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which began when five criminals met at a seemingly random police lineup.


Are There Any Extras During The Credits? No

Are There Any Extras After The Credits? No

Special thanks to Gabe for this submission


Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Title: Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Rating: PG-13
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Wes Bentley, Frederick Schmidt, Michelle Monaghan, and Alec Baldwin
Release Date: 7/27/2018
Running Time: 147 minutes

Official Site
IMDb

What did you think of this film?
The best intentions often come back to haunt you. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong.


Are There Any Extras During The Credits? No

Are There Any Extras After The Credits? No

[wpolling_archive id=”167″ vote=”true” type=”open”]


Mummy, The (2017)

Title: The Mummy
Rating: PG-13
Directed by: Alex Kurtzman
Written by: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari, and Russell Crowe
Release Date: 6/9/2017
Running Time: 110 minutes

Official Site
IMDb

What did you think of this film?
Thought safely entombed in a tomb deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient princess (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.

From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.


Are There Any Extras During The Credits? No

Are There Any Extras After The Credits? No

[wpolling_archive id=”130″ vote=”true” type=”open”]


Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Review – 3.5 out of 5 Stars

MissionImpossibleRogueNationPoster
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation is the kind of film that was meant for summers. I have seen several more ambitious and thought provoking movies this summer but Rogue Nation is the type of film that was built in the name of pure entertainment. It doesn’t have an original story and at the end of the day I would only call it pretty good, but this movie is nothing if it doesn’t have some breathtaking action scenes, a strong cast and a good sense of humor.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is the leader of IMF, a secret organization that does the dirty jobs that need to get done behind the back of the public. They have become controversial and they are shut down while Ethan is tracking down a secret organization called The Syndicate that fights for the opposite of what IMF wants. With the help of his friends Luther (Ving Rhames), William (Jeremy Renner) and Benji (Simon Pegg) as well as the help of a mysterious lady named Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) who is either working with them or for The Syndicate, Ethan must hunt (hah) down Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the twisted, brilliant soldier who has become the head of the terrorist group.

MissionImpossibleRogueNationReviewStill1

As I mentioned before, the story for this is pretty weak. Firstly, The Syndicate is a clear copy of the underground criminal organization Spectre from the Bond franchise. It’s only that much more ridiculous when you consider how that area is going to be brought to life later this year in the unsurprisingly named Bond film Spectre. Secondly, not nearly as much effort was put into building The Syndicate here in comparison to how they present Spectre in Bond. Spectre was an idea that was built up throughout the early Bond films and you actually got the sense that one person would be there to replace another if they were to fall down in those movies. It’s this maddening and unstoppable secret only spoken of in the darkest of shadows. Here, the only real big member of the Syndicate you get to see is Solomon and we never get to see any of the other big names that work for this thing. You don’t get the sense of The Syndicate being this big, complex thing that will keep chasing IMF. The way they conclude The Syndicate by the end feels too easily wrapped up as though this entire thing falls the moment Solomon falls. It doesn’t make any sense and its clear the writers have no interest in making The Syndicate this massive thing that will an equally important role in future Mission Impossible movies.

Also, for as uninspired as the overall story is, it sure has a confusing way of explaining a lot of areas of the plot. On a small scale, a lot of the smaller pieces that are there to move the story forward seemed unsatisfying. The film seems to create these ridiculous, hard to follow plot points that justify another action scene or help move its mundane, useless storyline forward. It goes out of its way to make the story this hard to follow thing which I can usually respect in something like a drama or a science fiction. The problem is that the overcomplicated story here clearly isn’t meant to be understood and you can shut it out and have an equal if not better experience watching the flick doing so. The movie goes out of its way to add these weird twists and sloppy explanations and if you try to follow them you will be rewarded with something that is not nearly as rewarding or enriching as it presents itself up to be. The movie is smart in the artificial, messy way that doesn’t require for them to include actual intelligence.

The movie does largely accomplish being high entertainment in two different areas, the action scenes and the charm. The film has the shame of being a really good action film the summer of one of the most beautifully crafted action movies I’ve ever seen (oh what a film, what a lovely film). That being said, this movie manages to have some really impressive scenes that will leave you wondering how they were able to do that. The moment of Tom Cruise hanging outside the door of a plane has been posted everywhere by now but to actually watch it and then remember that this is a real stunt that Tom Cruise pulled off is unbelievable. An intense scene with an equally unforgettable stunt happens later on when Ethan Hunt has to rob something underwater. He actually has to hold his breathe underwater for 3 to 4 minutes all while being tossed around by this strong current. It’s such an exciting, well shot scene that makes you wonder how Cruise was able to perform it and how director Christopher McQuarrie was able to shoot it.

But all of this doesn’t match the brilliantly executed fight scene at the opera house in Vienna. The basic premise of what is going on here sounds like something out of an old Hitchcock movie. Ethan is fighting a sniper during the play as this assassin tries to take down the Austrian chancellor on a specific note in a song. It doesn’t have the best stunts in the film or the most tension but it is proof that a fight scene can be beautiful if it’s perfectly shot and edited. The classical music mixes together with shots of the two men fighting at the top of this opera house all while these other people on different sides are trying to a much smaller extent to foil the plans of their opponents. It’s this excellent moment of chaos set to this classy, magical setting and soundtrack. It’s hard to explain here but it’s grand and epic when you’re watching it unfold. It’s this simple sounding action scene but it manages to be both an original piece of filmmaking as well as a thrilling tribute to a much more elegant age in studio thrillers.

MissionImpossibleRogueNationReviewStill2

The movie has great action scenes but it’s also helped by its great cast. The film has this group of actors who are doing their best possible version of something they’ve done countless times before in previous movies. Tom Cruise plays the eccentric, action film leader he was in Oblivion or Top Gun. Simon Pegg plays the wacky comedic relief he was in the Star Trek films. Alec Baldwin is the stern, cynical bureaucrat like in Mercury Rising or Pearl Harbor. The difference here is that these actors seem to be doing the perfected versions of these parts they’ve play dozens of times. Tom Cruise is one of the best action film stars working in Hollywood and he breathes wit and charm into these parts that would’ve felt dull and bland with a darker, more humorless lead like Chris Hemsworth or even Brad Pitt. Pegg is significantly better here than in the Star Trek film because he manages to play an important part to the story as well as be really, really hilarious. I also used to consider Jeremy Renner a very uninteresting actor when it comes to being in action films but I think he’s starting to become a lot more charismatic in films like this and Age of Ultron than he was several years ago in The Bourne Legacy. The definite best of the lot is new Mission Impossible star Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa. She’s smart, cool and sexy and the confusion and frustration she has with being caught between these two identities makes for the heart of Rogue Nation. Ilsa is the femme fatale that you would expect to see in again, an old Hitchcock film. It’s also really respectable that she doesn’t end up with Hunt by the end of the film.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation isn’t surprising or new but it packs a lot of fun due to its likable cast and some outstanding action scenes. I would definitely recommend checking this action flick over all the ones that still happen to be in theaters. It’s a cool, breezy piece of popcorn entertainment that will leave you feeling pleasant and satisfied.

Rating:(3.5/5)

Review by: Ryan M.

Release Date: 7/31/2015

Rating: PG-13

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris and Alec Baldwin

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Screenplay by: Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce

Based on the television series by: Bruce Geller

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015)

MissionImpossibleRogueNationPoster

Title: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation: An IMAX Experience)
Rating: PG-13
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie and Drew Pearce
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames
Release Date: 7/31/2015
Running Time: 131 minutes

Official Site
IMDb

Ethan and team take on their most impossible mission yet, eradicating the Syndicate – an International rogue organization as highly skilled as they are, committed to destroying the IMF.


What did you think of this film?

During Credits? No

After Credits? No

Note: Clips featuring the main characters while their names go by are shown during the start of the credits.

[wpolling_archive id=”50″ vote=”true” type=”open”]


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