I can safely say that among the long running action franchises out there, “Mission Impossible” might just be my favorite. Not only has the series managed to re-invent itself time and time again, but Tom Cruise continues to impress and compel as series hero Ethan Hunt. He is a classic hero, a man who is bound to his work, or else the world literally falls apart at the seams. He’s a daring, bold, and clever force of nature, but he’s also one chained forever to the IMF, forced to confront not only terrorist threats, but the fall out of his past enemies that have come back to finally haunt him.
Tag Archives: Action
Tag (2018)
One of my most anticipated movies of 2018, “Tag” is based on a true story of a group of friends who managed to stay in touch for decades by engaging in a game of tag. Playing the game since they were kids, and finding ways to be in other’s lives for the sake of playing the game and one upping each other, current “it” player Hoagie begins gathering his group of friends for one more big game of Tag. It seems their friend Jerry is retiring from the game, and in all the years they’ve played he’s never once been tagged. Now with Jerry about to get married, the group takes it upon themselves to take advantage and end his streak once and for all.
The First Purge (2018)
I’ve come around on “The Purge” movies in 2018. What I once thought of as goofy exploitation movies, are now goofy exploitation movies with a point. They’re exploitation we need right now, they’re kind of angry diatribes about society that I’ve come to respect. Stuff about the white privileged banking off of the purge, the purge becoming an industry on to itself, “The Purge” posing as an alternate universe tale where the female candidate for president reigned supreme, and now where “The First Purge” begins as an “experiment.”
Skyscraper (2018)
I’m a big fan of Dwayne Johnson. What ever he’s in, I’m automatically going to watch no matter what as he packs a star quality that’s been missing in movies for fifteen years. I guess with every action star, it’s an oath they take that they must have their own “Die Hard” in their repertoire, and “Skyscraper” is that inevitable point in Dwayne Johnson’s career as a big screen hero prone to playing men staring down impossible odds. I’m sad to see that “Skyscraper” is about as bland and forgettable a vehicle as it gets, which is a shame since the premise has at least some potential to be quite an exciting twist on a creaky, worn formula turned sub-genre.
Ready Player One (2018) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of “Ready Player One” is a fantastic, mind blowing amalgam of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Tron,” and “The Matrix” all rolled in to one multicolored strobe of pop culture. You’d think with the rapid fire barrage of pop culture nods and winks to video games, anime, and television series that “Ready Player One” would lose sight of its narrative. In the end, though, Spielberg keeps a firm grip on the novel by Ernest Cline, never once losing sight of what made the original novel such a must read in 2011.
Beast Stalker (2008) (Ching Yan) [New York Asian Film Festival 2018]
After a gunfight and car accident, a cop pursuing a long time criminal foe is involved in the death of a child. His guilt pushes him to chase the criminal even more fervently. The child’s mother, a prosecutor, pushes for the most severe punishment for this criminal.
Rampage (2018) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
At the very least, video games seem to be evolving to where they’re no longer abysmal and are gradually edging toward entertaining. “Tomb Raider” was a blast, and “Rampage” is a fun ninety minute diversion. Based on the pretty plotless classic video game of the same name, Brad Peyton’s movie injects science fiction, action, giant monster movie madness, and yes, even features the game’s iconic monsters rampaging through civilization, bringing down buildings left and right. It’s bits and pieces of “Mighty Joe Young,” “King Kong,” and “Jurassic Park” that tries to deliver on many levels.