MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (2018) – My rating 8.5/10

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is an action spy film written, produced and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. It is the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series, and the second film to be directed by McQuarrie, after Rogue Nation (2015), making him the first person to direct more than one film in the franchise.  Since there have been 5 Mission: Impossible films, I couldn’t wait to see if the 6th sequel could possibly be any good.  Surprise, surprise, many critics hailed it as the best installment in the series, with some considering it one of the greatest action films of all time.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout starts two years after the capture of Solomon Lane, an anarchist mastermind who was the leader of “The Syndicate” during Rogue Nation.  The remains of Lane’s organization “The Syndicate” have reformed into a terrorist group known as “The Apostles”.  While in Belfast, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is given a mission to intercept three stolen plutonium cores before the Apostles can sell them to a fundamentalist named John Lark. He joins Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) for the mission, but they fail when Ethan chooses to save Luther’s life and the plutonium is taken by the Apostles in Berlin. The team capture and interrogate nuclear weapons expert Nils Debruuk (Kristoffer Joner) and learn that he built three portable nuclear weapons for the Apostles.

CIA Director Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett) instructs Special Activities Division operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) to shadow/monitor Ethan and his team as they attempt to retrieve the plutonium, after their failed mission in Berlin. Together, Ethan and Walker infiltrate a fundraiser party in Paris where Lark is believed to be buying the cores from an arms dealer known as The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby). They track a man whom they suspect to be Lark but he is killed when Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) intervenes. Ethan impersonates Lark and meets the White Widow. He warns her that agents of the Apostles have been sent to kill her and the two evade their pursuers. .

This basically describes the introduction into “The Fallout”.  The plot thickens and gets much more intense from this point.  The action is exciting and some of the stunts are unbelievable.  This movie is brilliantly acted and executed.  From Ethan to the White Widow to Alan Hunley’s surprise involvement, you will enjoy every minute of this mission, which seems to really be impossible.  There is so much more to see and so much more to enjoy.  Tom Cruise is proving, age is just a number, for some!  Check it out, you won’t be sorry.

 

JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017) – My rating: 8/10

Justice League is a superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name consisting of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with a screenplay by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon, from a story by Terrio and Snyder. There are many reasons I’m glad Justice League was created.  I was a very unhappy camper when they decided to kill off Superman, especially by the likes of Batman, who actually has no super powers.  That was the biggest injustice in super hero history, in my opinion.  Justice League redeemed that unfortunate event, which made my day.  I also got to see Aquaman in all his glorious action, which also made my day.  So much eye candy, so little time!  I was well entertained as well.

Thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), an alien military officer from Apokolips and his army of Parademons attempted to conquer and remake Earth through the combined energies of three “Mother Boxes”. They were foiled by a unified army that included Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, humans, and Green Lanterns. After repelling Steppenwolf’s army, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in three locations around the world.

In the present, all the world is in mourning over the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), which has triggered the Mother Boxes to reactivate along with Steppenwolf’s return to Earth in an effort to regain favor with his master, Darkseid.  When Steppenwolf retrieves a Mother Box from Themyscira, Amazonian Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) warns her daughter, Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), of his return by lighting the invasion fire located in the palace.  As a result, Diana joins Bruce Wayne / Batman (Ben Affleck) in an attempt to unite other Meta-humans.  Bruce Wayne goes after Arthur Curry  / Aquaman (Jason Momoa), a member of the Justice League and heir to the throne of the undersea nation of Atlantis and Barry Allen / Flash (Ezra Miller), also a member of the Justice League and a Central City University student, who can move at superhuman speeds due to his ability to tap into the Speed Force. Diana Prince tries to locate Victor Stone / Cyborg (Ray Fisher), another member of the Justice League and a former college athlete who, after being cybernetically reconstructed after a near fatal car accident, has powers that allow him to fly, turn his arms into cannons, and manipulate technology.  Once the team is assembled, they go into action to keep Steppenwolf from acquiring all three of the Mother Boxes, but fail.  The team receives intel from James Gordon (J. K. Simmons), the Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department and close ally of Batman, leading them to Steppenwolf’s army, based in an abandoned facility under Gotham Harbor.

As usual, I’ve said enough.  The story gets even more interesting and how the Justice League keeps Earth from being destroyed by Steppenwolf is exciting.  Flash and another member of the Justice League have similar powers and are always in competition.  There are many funny scenes, as well as  lots of muscle flexing.  Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons) stepped up his role as Bruce Wayne’s butler, chief of security and trusted confidant.  Also Diane Lane reappears as Martha Kent and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.  Justice League is a great super hero film with an all-star cast and a good story to back it up.  I recommend it to all – check it out for yourself!
 

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: Dawn of Justice (2016) – My rating: 7/10

As a loyal fan of Superman, especially the last remake “Man of Steel” I am truly upset with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  There’s a lot to be said about this film, which is actually a follow-up to Man of Steel.  I will try to be as fair as I can in bringing you the facts as I know them.  Both films were directed by Zack Snyder (how could he do this to us?)  Both films starred Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Superman’s adoptive parents, Jonathan & Martha Kent, respectively and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.  Somehow, Jimmy Olsen was pretty much left out except for a voice in Dawn of Justice as a CIA agent.

Some 18 months after Superman destroyed General Zod in Man of Steel, he has moved in with Lois Lane and is seen as a threat to humanity by Batman.  However, after learning of Batman’s (Ben Affleck) intentions and accusations against him, Superman believes Batman is also a threat and plans to stop him by using the Daily Planet articles as Clark Kent.  Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) CEO of LexCorp has his own set of ideas to take down Superman.  Lex Luthor’s plans also include creating meta humans which would include Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) who is also the daughter of Zeus.

While all plans are put into motion by Batman, Superman and Lex Luthor, the audience is left to be confused and bored to death by the rantings and ravings of Lex Luthor.  Some of his speeches were so long, I began to doze off.  Things really got out of control.  I didn’t know where I was at times.  Jesse Eisenberg is a fantastic actor but one cannot help the script they’re handed.  It was brutal and ambiguous.  It was never made clear why Superman was targeted as a villain.  It didn’t make sense why someone who fought the good fight for decades suddenly was deemed bad.  Batman was so angry throughout the entire movie that I thought he was going to bust a gasket.  Ben Affleck made the worst Batman I’ve seen, bar none.  He looked fat and stocky in the Batman suit and his face seemed so fat under the mask, I couldn’t help but laugh.  He seemed gigantic and reminded me of Humpty Dumpty.  And who’s idea was it to cast Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth?  That was a mismatch I couldn’t quite understand.  In conclusion, because I know the future of the next sequel, I’m no longer upset with the outcome of this film but I will say Batman V Superman was a bad idea.  I absolutely hated the Batman character and wasn’t too thrilled with the movie.  I really felt the Batman character killed the movie plus the long Lex Luthor speeches finished it off.  The script made little sense and the ending really pissed me off.  I for one, am looking forward to “The Justice League Part I”, starring Henry Cavill as Superman,  now in production — due to be released in 2017.

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. (2015) – My rating: 8.3/10

THE OLD:
From the moment THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. started, I thought I wasn’t going to like it.  The old fashioned clothes, the old technology, the old hair styles, the old cars, the old music and well, I thought it was just going to be OLD!!  Not that there’s anything wrong with old, it’s just not my favorite thing to do, watch old footage of old films.  As a young girl, I faithfully watched The Man from U.N.C.L.E. every week and was quite smitten with David McCallum who played KBG Agent,  Illya Nickovitch Kuryakin along with Robert Vaughn who played CIA Agent, Napoleon Solo in 105 episodes from 1964 through 1968, but these two new guys were not those two familiar guys.

THE NEW:
However, these two new guys are quite handsome and did a brilliant job of portraying the CIA (Henry Cavill as Solo) and KBG (Armie Hammer as Illya) agents who begrudgingly worked together for the good of their countries to get the job done.   Also working with  Illya and Solo as an Intelligent Agent is Gabriella “Gaby” Teller (Alicia Vikander) who is also the daughter of an alleged Nazi Scientist, Udo Teller (Christian Berkel) who is being held against his will and forced to build a nuclear weapon for a very rich couple’s, Alexander and Victoria Vinciguerra (Luca Calvani and Elizabeth Debicki, respectively) private organization.  The trio, Illya, Solo and Gaby are assigned by their respective governments to stop this transaction from happening and steal the schematics when it’s over.  The agents find a way to make peace without sinking to any underhanded deceptions among themselves.

In the end, the trio is reassigned to a new international organization under Alexander Waverly’s (Hugh Grant) command. Waverly then deploys them on a new mission in Istanbul under their new code name: U.N.C.L.E.  (According to TV history, Waverly is the #1 of Section I of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. He is one of five regional chiefs in charge of the multi-national agency.  In this film, Waverly is a high-ranking MI6 operative who reveals that Gaby Teller is an undercover agent under his employment.)  In the end, I really enjoyed The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,  excellent story telling, brilliant acting, good special effects with just the right touch of humor.  Kudos to Guy Richie who directed this film.  Well Done!  I’m looking forward to a sequel.