weekend watchlist: two tales for Pride Month that cry out for simple human acceptance
Plus grounded human experiences, from escaping a cult to — yes — doing an espionage. (First published June 3rd, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation movie review: familiar yet fresh
Works for your appreciation with gasp-inducing action sequences and an ethos that has fun with its legacy while moving in a new direction.
A Good Day to Die Hard (review)
Bland generic action pudding that manages to be sociopathic, too.
question of the day: Is it okay for female action heroes to use sex as a superpower?
Does it undermine their talents of brains and brawn if they utilize their sexuality? Is an insult to these characters to presume that they should not use whatever talent they may possess — including their sexuality — to do good, save the world, or whatever needs to be done?
Safe movie review: New York noir
A viciously cynical dark fantasy that fashions a new mythos of post-9/11 New York, a bleak but plausible world of the Russian mob, the Chinese Triads, and the NYPD as another gang vying for supremacy.
question of the day: How many things can you find wrong with the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue?
Too white, too thin, too interchangeable: the traditional cover featuring young talent on the rise always comes under massive scrutiny, and the ritual is now in full swing…
deep thought: the most incredible thing about Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol…
…is that Brad Bird made Tom Cruise human again. Or perhaps for the first time.
question of the day: Who was the most kickass female action film character of 2011?
I gotta go with Bryony, the kickass elf Wrapping Operative Grade Three, in Arthur Christmas…
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol movie review: mission finally accomplished
The most fun straight-up action movie in ages: while it touches on concerns about terrorism and rogue nukes, there’s nothing too heavy. But what makes it so special is how up-close and personal it is.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (trailer)
Explosions. Wisecracks. Leaping. Shooting. Kissing. Grimacing. Rinse. Repeat.
