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Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Real action (3 more)
Real stunts
Fantastically scored
Beautiful locations and cinematography
Pay the admission, accept this mission!
(Review from www.thechairport.com)When the Mission Impossible film franchise started it had a slightly rocky start. After a great first film, the second film fell short of the mark. Watching those first two films now you can see how different they are to the Mission we know now. Ever since the second Mission film, ever since JJ Abrams and the Bad Robot team took over, the Mission franchise has been ageing like a fine wine. Actually, it’s been ageing like Tom Cruise. Fallout, the sixth film in the Mission franchise is the best yet and easily one of the best action films of all time and it’s all thanks to its real action.

Mission Impossible: Fallout follows Ethan Hunt as he and his crew lose some plutonium they are trying to recover. The bad guys trying to use the plutonium are The Apostles, a spin-off group from Rogue Nation’s Syndicate. This time the IMF team are joined by a ruthless CIA agent, Walker played by Henry Cavill, who is there to ensure that the team retrieve the plutonium. The bad guys this time around, The Apostles, follow Solomon Lane’s thinking that to get peace the world must first experience a great suffering. With that line ringing throughout the IMF’s ears, the team is off on a race against time to stop The Apostles.

Fallout is filled with action and as far as action movies come, this film really takes the cake. Tom Cruise is just the man that everyone wants to be, as in he really seems like he can do anything. In the current state of cinema any other filmmaking team would’ve made this film with CGI effects all over yet Cruise and Fallout’s director, Christopher McQuarrie, have decided to do everything for real and it’s that element alone that makes the film.

There are moments in Fallout where you just sit there astonished by what you’re seeing happen in front of you. You feel shivers and the need to applause at the opening ten minutes of the film, your eye’s dash across the screen as you’re watching Cruise’s Ethan Hunt race through oncoming traffic in Paris and you’ll find yourself simply flabbergasted as you watch Cruise do anything at all in the helicopter sequence that you’ve definitely already heard about.

Mission Impossible: Fallout isn’t just simply an insane action blockbuster, it is more than that. Every actor on the screen knows that what they’re in is going to be something revolutionary for cinema and every actor really pulls their weight. Simon Pegg’s comedy is on point, Alec Baldwin’s acting as someone in charge is as good as ever, Henry Cavill being absolutely brutal is scary and cool at the same time. Fallout also has a good amount of female characters in it with Rebecca Ferguson and Michelle Monaghan bringing a lot of well-needed emotion and Vanessa Kirby’s Black Widow bringing a funny yet creepy vibe to the whole occasion.

The story is fairly simple as McQuarrie doesn’t want to isolate the audience, you can definitely see it if you haven’t seen other Mission Films. It’s McQuarrie and his team’s filmmaking that really make the film what it is. The cameraman who does the HALO jump with Tom Cruise deserves many awards and I would be surprised if the film, and its team, didn’t win any awards for filmmaking. If you’ve got free time too then look up how the film was made because it is quite interesting. I mean it’s rare that an action blockbuster would even be nominated but as of right now Fallout is my favourite film of the year, both for how good it is and then researching how it was made. People just don’t put in as much effort as the Mission team have done in films anymore.

Mission Impossible: Fallout is a must-see film. It’s a long film but never really feels like it. It’s a constant chase that will keep you on the edge of your seat and it has twists and turns that you won’t see coming. I was recently reading about how Christopher Nolan wanted The Dark Knight to bring back film instead of everyone filming digitally. Fallout sings a similar message and but its message is for real-life stunts. Mquarrie has evolved in a similar manner to how Nolan evolved between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Fallout gave me similar vibes of excitement and intensity and Fallout will leave its mark on you, I’m not sure how I’ll feel watching CGI action from now on. All I know is that making everything real instead of fake isn’t impossible but to repeat the magic that Fallout has, well that’s only something the Mission team can do. Mission accomplished Cruise, mission accomplished.

Score: 5/5
  
The Gray Man (2022)
The Gray Man (2022)
2022 | Action, Thriller
7
7.0 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Entertaining Enough...but...NOTHING NEW
Have you seen the touring company of Hamilton when it came to your town? You liked it, didn’t you? I sure did, but I didn’t like it as much as I liked the Broadway Company of Hamilton that I saw in NYC the year before.

Such is the case with the new Ryan Gosling/Chris Evans action flick THE GRAY MAN. It is reminiscent of the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, BOURNE and JOHN WICK films - and is very enjoyable - but I like the other movies better.

Directed by THE RUSSO BROTHERS (AVENGERS: ENDGAME) and written by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (writers of AVENGERS: ENDGAME), based on the book by Mark Greaney, THE GRAY MAN stars Gosling (LA LA LAND) as an enigmatic secret agent (is their any other kind) who is sent on a deadly mission that, perhaps isn’t what it seems on the surface (are there any other)?

This is a plot VERY reminiscent of the aforementioned MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, BOURNE and JOHN WICK films and when Chris Evans (CAPTAIN AMERICA, of course) and Ana de Armas (the latest James Bond flick, NO TIME TO DIE) show up as a few other mercenaries who might be on Gosling’s side - or might not - you can’t help but be reminded of those other flicks.

And that’s the trouble with THE GRAY MAN, it just can’t compete (at least in my memory) with those other films, mostly because it doesn’t do anything new. It is your basic “Super Spy” flick, very professionally done, but it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.

The actors (Gosling, de Armas and Evans) are very good in their roles and have enigmatic (Gosling), out of control (Evans) and mysterious (de Armas) down very well and are ably assisted by wily veterans like Alfre Woodard (CROSS CREEK) and good ol’ Billy Bob Thornton (SLINGBLADE) who seem to having a good time going along for the ride.

And…it’s a fun ride…the action scenes are well done, set-up and choreographed professionally with just enough unique ways to take out a henchman or blow-up some sort of transport to make it interesting to watch, but…again…it’s really nothing new.

An entertaining 2 hours of film-making - and a film that will have a sequel on the way - there are worst ways to spend your time and with good (enough) action sequences and interesting and charismatic performers to watch - THE GRAY MAN suits its purpose…it entertains.

Letter Grade: B+

7 1/2 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
2019 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
The cast specifically RDJ as Tony Stark, Karen Gillan as Nebula and Chris Evans as Steve Rogers That Final hour is just incredible Cap and Tony's ending to their arcs The score (0 more)
Wish some characters had more moments to shine (0 more)
"Part of the journey is the end"
A satisfying conclusion to the Infinity Saga, the best way to describe Avengers: Endgame is Fan Wish Fulfillment: The Movie. Seriously, this film lives and breathes fan service from top to bottom, yet it WORKS. Rather than coming off as obnoxiously pandering, the film’s use of fan service is more secondary to everything else, often being used in ways that are creative and even add to the comedy. And speaking of comedy, Avengers: Endgame is unquestionably one of the funniest films in the MCU, yet the comedy never detracts from the heart or the emotional weight of the film itself.

It’s legitimately shocking how much the Russo Bros have improved as filmmakers. Not only do they perfectly nail tonal consistency here, but most, if not all, of the drama scenes are well handled, the direction of actors is great, and even in terms of just visual composition (especially cinematography) and editing, they show major improvement here compared to their previous MCU works. There’s also some neat production design and Alan Silvestri provides a fantastic score.

Co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s screenplay is easily one of the strongest aspects of Avengers: Endgame. While some characters won’t get as much focus as others, the characters who are primarily focused on (Nebula, Tony, Steve and Hawkeye) each have legitimately really great, character arcs, and the way it ties them into the film’s theme of loss only makes them even better.


But despite the shockingly strong writing and direction, Avengers: Endgame mostly works so well due to its mostly committed ensemble. The acting is mostly pretty solid-strong across the board, with the standouts being Robert Downey Jr, Karen Gillan and Chris Evans who are excellent. That said, Chris Hemsworth, Brie Larson (in very minimal screen time), Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo,Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin and Don Cheadle all have their moments as well.

If Avengers: Endgame really is a farewell to many characters people have grown to love, then it is almost certainly a rewarding and satisfying one, and the third act features one of the best battle sequences in any comic book film. It might not be absolutely perfect, but it’s well performed, strongly written & directed, thoroughly entertaining and incredibly satisfying, and you’ll laugh, cheer and most definitely even cry. Without a doubt one of the absolute best MCU installments to date.
  
Promising Young Woman (2020)
Promising Young Woman (2020)
2020 | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Powerful
Emerald Fennell’s feature length motion picture Directing debut, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, is a difficult film to categorize. Is it a Dark Comedy? A RomCom? A family drama? A portrait of a character’s descent? A hard critique of sexism and sexual predators? A revenge fantasy?

The answer is - it is ALL of these and thanks to a wonderful script (by Fennell), strong Direction (again, by Ferrell) and a terrific, Oscar-worthy performance in the lead role (by Carey Mulligan) it is a very effective, very powerful film.

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN tells the tale of Cassandra who we are introduced to at a bar, obviously drunk, getting picked up (and taken advantage of) by a “nice guy” at the bar. Once back at his place, it is clear that she is NOT drunk and she confronts the “nice guy”.

To say anything else would spoil this wonderful film.

At the center of this film is Carey Mulligan (deservedly) Oscar nominated turn as Cassandra. This is a tortured soul who is looking for some sort of catharsis from a previous trauma and seeks various ways to achieve this. You see an intelligence and sadness in Cassandra at every turn and Mulligan’s performance seemed rooted in reality and was, ultimately, an effective, chillingly and (yes) sad character brought to life. It is the type of performance that I will be rooting for in the Oscar race, it’s that good.

Most of the other characters in this film fleet in and out of Cassandra’s life but all are strong performances, seemingly willing to bring their “A” game to match Mulligan’s performance and the strong script. Kudos to Jennifer Coolidge, Alison Brie, Laverne Cox, Bo Burnham, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (yes, a McLovin’ sighting!), Alfred Molina, Moly Shannon, Connie Britton and, especially, the great Clancy Brown. They all enhanced the film with their performances, working off of Mulligan effectively.

But, credit to all of this must go to Writer/Director Emerald Fennell (probably best known for playing Camilla Parker Bowles in THE CROWN) who's script is smart and thought-provoking and who’s Direction is crisp and sure. She clearly had a certain type of film in her head - the type of film that does not easily lend itself to definition/classification and packs a powerful punch at it’s conclusion. Without spoiling anything, she “ups her game” at the end of this film and I sat in thoughtful silence as the end credits ran.

Fennell is up for the Oscar for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay and I, for one, would vote for her Screenplay hands-down.

An intriguing film that is sticking with me a few days later…always a mark of quality.

Letter Grade: A

9 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
28 Days Later (2002)
28 Days Later (2002)
2002 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Verdict: Modern Zombie Gem

 

Story: 28 Days Later starts by showing a group of activists breaking into a laboratory where chimps are forced to watch some of the most gruesome sites in human history. This was designed to create pure rage and when the chimps are released an epidemic starts. 28 Days Later (title drop) we meet Jim (Murphy) who wakes up in a hospital, alone he searches looking for help but the hospital, streets and everywhere is empty. Wonder around the empty London Jim finds a church filled with infected that chase him before getting save by Mark (Huntley) and Selena (Harris) who also fill in the blanks of what happened.

Jim finds out the harsh reality of the world now but meeting Frank (Gleeson) and his daughter Hannah (Burns) gives them a chance to go to a radio signal left by the military. The group soon find the military holding up in a mansion lead by Major Henry West (Eccleston) but not everything is as it seems.

28 Days Later brings the modern infected zombie film to life in one of the best story ideas we have seen. It is good to see a story that the infection can only be spread rather than you turn when you die which is big change to all we have seen. The journey itself is been there seen that but what we get is a revenge film with infected around once we meet the military. This shows us that the enemy could come from all direction and our characters are never going to be safe in the world now. This is easily one of the best zombie based films in recent years. (9/10)


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Actor Review

 

Cillian Murphy: Jim waking up alone in a hospital he wonders the empty city before being found by other survivors, with a group he heads to the military safe zone where he ends up having to fight to save the rest of his group from not only infected but the soldiers. Cillian gives a great performance and this put him on the map for bigger roles. (9/10)

 jim

Naomie Harris: Selena the nonsense survivor who takes no prisoners which we see from the moment her fellow survivor gets infected. Naomie gives a good performance showing that she was always going to be in bigger films. (8/10)

 

Brendan Gleeson: Frank caring father who has waited for support before taking his daughter to a radio signal he has been hearing. This character may only be a supporting character but his final moments are one of the most memorable turns in this genre history. Brendan does a good job in what is just a supporting performance. (8/10)

 

Christopher Eccleston: Major Henry West who is running the military unit that has been calling for the survivors but his motives are not what they seem. Christopher gives a good performance in the role. (7/10)

 

Support Cast: 28 Days Later doesn’t have the biggest supporting cast we have a couple of other survivors as well as the soldiers in the military unit. They all help as they show us what the characters are capable off.

 

Director Review: Danny Boyle – Danny does a great job directing this zombie classic that is easily one of the best in the genre. (9/10)

 

Horror: 28 Days Later uses plenty of horror elements with survival horror shinning through. (10/10)

Music: 28 Days Later uses brilliant scores to build the tension up through the scenes. (9/10)

Settings: 28 Days Later uses the settings really well to show how empty busy places could be when the world comes to an end. (9/10)
Special Effects: 28 Days Later uses great special effects with the infected creation. (9/10)

Suggestion: 28 Days Later is one to watch for every horror fan out there. (Horror Fans Watch)

 

Best Part: Suspense building.

Worst Part: Nothing

Action Scene Of The Film: Jim breaks into the mansion


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Kill Of The Film: Frank

Scariest Scene: Jim’s returns home

 

Believability: No (0/10)

Chances of Tears: No (0/10)

Chances of Sequel: Has one sequel with talks of another always around.

Post Credits Scene: There is the alternative ending

 

Oscar Chances: No

Box Office: $82 Million

Budget: $8 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

Tagline: His fear began when he woke up alone. His terror began when he realised he wasn’t.

Trivia: The scene where Jim and Selena celebrate with Frank and Hannah was shot on September 11, 2001. Danny Boyle said it felt extremely strange to shoot a celebratory scene on that particular day.

 

Overall: Brilliant Infected Film

https://moviesreview101.com/2015/03/14/28-days-later-2002/
  
Dunkirk (2017)
Dunkirk (2017)
2017 | Action, History, War
A war vehicle running low on fuel.
The words “Christopher Nolan” and “disappointment” are not words I would naturally associate… but for me, they apply where “Dunkirk” is concerned.
It promised so much from the trailer: a historical event of epic proportions; Kenneth Branagh; Tom Hardy; Mark Rylance; Hans Zimmer on the keys; the director of such classics as “The Dark Knight”; “Inception” and “Interstellar” : what could go wrong?
But it just doesn’t work and I’ve spent the last 24 hours trying to unpick why.
A key problem for me was the depiction of the beach itself. The film eschews CGI effects – a move that I would normally approve of – in favour of the use of “practical effects” and the involvement of “thousands of extras” (as the rather glutinously positive Wiki entry declares). Unfortunately for the movie, there were some 400,000 troops marooned in this last patch of civilisation ahead of the Nazi hoard, and all of the shots refuse to acknowledge this scale of potential human tragedy. Yes, there are individual scenes of horror, such as the soldier walking into the sea against the impassive stares of the young heroes. But nothing of scale. At times I thought I’d seen more people on the beach on a winter’s day in Bournemouth! In the absence of a co-production with China, and the provision of the volume of extras as in “The Great Wall“, CGI becomes a necessary evil to make the whole exercise believable.

What it was really like…. one of the famous paintings by Charles Cundall (Crown copyright).
My disquiet at this deepened when we got to the sharp end of the rescue by the “small boats”. In my mind (and I’m NOT quite old enough to remember this!) I imagine a sea full of them. A sight to truly merit Branagh’s awed gaze. But no. They might have been “original” vessels…. but there was only about half a dozen of them. A mental vision dashed.

Did I feel a spot of rain? Looking to unfriendly skies on the River Mole.
The film attempts to tell the story from three perspectives: from the land; from the sea and from the air. The sea though gets the lion’s share of the film, and there is much drowning that occurs that (I am aware) was distressing for some in the audience.

Styles going in One Direction…. down.
Nolan also pushes his quirky “timeline” manipulation too far for an audience that largely expects a linear telling of a classic tale. It’s day; it’s night; the minesweeper’s sailing; then sunk; then sailing again; a Spitfire crashes, then crashes again from a different perspective. I know many in the audience just didn’t ‘get’ that: leaving them presumably very confused!
That being said, the film is not a write off, and has its moments of brilliance. Kenneth Branagh (“Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit“, “Valkyrie”) – although having a range of Nolan’s clipped and cheesy lines to say – is impressive as the commanding officer. Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies“, “The BFG“) also shines as the captain of the “Moonstone”: one of the small boats out of Weymouth (although here there is a grievous lack of backstory for the civilian efforts). And Tom Hardy (“The Revenant“, “Legend“), although having limited opportunity to act with anything other than his eyes, is impressive as RAF pilot Farrier. His final scene of stoic heroism is memorable.
Fionn Whitehead is also impressive in his movie debut, and even Harry Styles (“This is Us“) equips himself well.

A surfeit of horror leads to a lack of compassion. Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard and Fionn Whitehead look on as the death toll mounts.
The cinematography by Hoyte Van Hoytema (“Interstellar“) is stunning with some memorable shots: a burning plane on a beach being a highspot for me.
And Hans Zimmer’s score is Oscar-worthy, generating enormous tension with a reverberating score, albeit sometimes let down by unsuitable cutaways (for example, to scenes of boat loading). Elsewhere in the sound department though I had major issues, with a decent percentage of the dialogue being completely inaudible in the sound mix.

Kenneth Branagh, impressive as Commander Bolton RN.
I really wanted this to be a “Battle of Britain”. Or a “Bridge Too Far”. Or even a “Saving Private Ryan”. Unfortunately, for me it was none of these, and this goes down as one of my movie disappointments of the year so far.
  
    Bible Reina Valera

    Bible Reina Valera

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    Bible in Spanish RV (Reina Valera) Version: Reina Valera - Offline do not need an internet...

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Lee (2222 KP) rated Dunkirk (2017) in Movies

Jul 26, 2017  
Dunkirk (2017)
Dunkirk (2017)
2017 | Action, History, War
Breathtaking and Intense
It's 1940 and the Nazis are overpowering the British army, forcing them to retreat to Dunkirk in an effort to return home to England. The English channel is all that stands in the way of the 400,000 soldiers that are stranded on the beach. The story begins with Tommy (Fionn Whitehead), making his way through the town as propaganda is being dropped from the sky, informing them that the enemy are closing in. After a brief dash to avoid the bullets that begin raining down on him and some fellow soldiers, he barely manages to make it to the beach where the immense desperation of the situation becomes apparent. Thousands of men lined up, waiting for something to free them while bodies wash up on the beach. The cinematic scale is, as you'd expect from Christopher Nolan, impressive. And it doesn't let up from then on.

We follow three different stories, covering land, sea and air and spanning differing time-frames. Intersecting and even overtaking each other at crucial moments, which sounds confusing but actually works very well. After being introduced to the perspective on land, which then continues to play out over a week, we're introduced to Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) as he prepares to set off from England by yacht along with his son and another local boy, loaded with lifejackets and keen to do their bit to help bring our boys home. This storyline is set to play out over the period of one day. Finally, we're introduced to RAF pilot Farrier (Tom Hardy), whose story will play out over an hour. He's up in the sky, over the channel. As we alternate between each story, momentum is never lost and the tension continues to grow as time, and available options, begin to dwindle. On land, bombs, bullets and torpedoes repeatedly prevent a successful escape, sinking boats and ships. Up in the air, a damaged fuel gauge means that Farrier has to constantly guesstimate how much fuel and time he's got left before dropping out of the sky, while single-handedly taking out enemy planes in the process. Down on the water, Dawson and his small crew have their own drama after rescuing a stranded soldier (Cillian Murphy). Clearly a broken man who takes a turn for the worse upon realising that they're not headed for home and are in fact on their way back to the hell that he's just left behind.

Despite featuring a number of famous faces, probably the most surprising cast member of all is Harry Styles. Every time he features in a scene, and he does feature quite a bit, it kind of threw me off balance and I was just expecting him to cock the whole thing up. Luckily he doesn't. This is a truly breathtaking movie, with no over the top CGI or gore and with everyone at the top of their game. Perfectly ramped up tension, accompanied by an intense musical score from the fantastic Hans Zimmer. The dogfights, featuring real spitfires filmed over the English Channel, are also incredible with the roar of their engines and bullets flying. The movie does an amazing job of fully immersing you in this pivotal moment of history. It's truly edge of seat stuff throughout. Incredible.