M.I. - DEAD RECKONING PT 1 PROVES THAT TOO MUCH ACTION JUST MAY BE TOO MUCH...

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - MISSION IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PT 1 [2023] - [PG13] - Paramount+ - Directed by Christopher McQuarrie. Written by Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen. Starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Ving Rhames, Simon Peg, and Rebecca Ferguson. Budget $291 Million.

The film tells the story/plot of an AI program that is able to make decisions, create phantoms through computers, and also seems to be sentient in a strange way when activated; in the first sequences of the feature, a Russian sub has the AI program and falls prey to it's evil nature. The program was developed by an organization in Russia and there's a special two part key that is required to initiate the program. A female spy named Grace [Atwell] has one part of the key, while Llsa Faust [Ferguson] somehow has the other. Ethan Hunt [Cruise] is offered a mission to acquire both keys and take control of the Russian AI program, and if possible, dismantle it. Hunt puts his team together again and with little hope to succeed in their mission, head out to find the two parts of the key and find out what this AI program is all about.

THE GOOD - This is a star studded action film. This is a stunning addition to the Mission Impossible series and there's a perfect reason why the film was cut into two parts. There are some pretty impressive action sequences, choreographed fight scenes, and spectacular digital effects in this film. Cruise continues to perform all of his own stunts and he truly does some crazy stuff that is just too hard to believe. Location spotting for this film must have been a tremendous effort as the production covered over four countries.

THE BAD - Some of the action sequences are way too long and could have been cut short. The director [and the script writers] just love to see Cruise run and run and run; every other scene in this film has Hunt running this way and that, and I understand that Cruise is in great shape for his age. One part I can't shake off is the directors choice to over-present the addition of Atwell as the mysterious Grace character-spy in the film; the director trying to show the viewer that she IS beautiful, sexy and a tremendous actor…when she's NOT!

POST MORTEM - There were several times that I got bored watching the long, extended action sequences that seemed too far fetched and just took the fun out of watching an action film. Many of the performances between actors were over extended and too dramatic at every turn. There sure is a lot of compassion between the team members and I am sure we all know what is at risk if Hunt can't perform above and beyond to complete the mission. I just think that more writing should have been considered to better develop the good guys and the bad ones as well. This is a good movie, just don't stop too long to check your text messages when some useless dialog is mentioned during the middle of an action chase scene and you loose track to where you were on your phone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 [3.5 of 5 Stars]

TOM CRUISE AND "AMERICAN MADE" HAD IT'S MOMENTS OF BRILLIANCE!

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - AMERICAN MADE [2017] - [R] - Netflix - Directed by Doug Limen. Produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Doug Davison, Tyler Thompson, Brian Oliver, Kim Roth, Ray Angelic. Written by Gary DPinelli. Starring Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright Olsen, Jesse Plemons, and Caleb Landry Jones. Budget $66.5 Million.

Based on the hot-trotting life of Barry Seal [performed brilliantly by Cruise], a former TWA pilot and an alleged former member of the CIA who flew missions to arm guerilla soldiers in South America in the 1980's; who became a drug smuggler handling marijuana and cocaine shipments through a private company, became an informant for the DEA to avoid prison. Mexican Cartels eventually launch a "Wanted Dead" hit on him, forcing Seal to frequently move around and record his own history on video.

THE GOOD - There are lots, and I mean LOTS, of areal sequences that are captured on camera; all of the piloting on the private planes were actually piloted by Cruise and his acting team. The locations for this film cross over many small countries and large bodies of water to capture the right feel for what Seal went through during his "missions" to arm guerillas and bring back "supplies." There are many 1980's memorabilia moments that are brought back to life with movie wizardry and the cinematography is spell bounding at almost every turn. Cruise is definitely at the top of his game, performing brilliantly and presenting a character who is under tremendous strain in trying to stay alive in dealing with both the Cartel's and the guerilla fighters he has to deal with.

THE BAD - The pacing is all over the place in some parts of the film. IMO there are some flash back moments that could have been better edited or inserted into the film. There's not enough information on who the Cartel leaders are in the film and the directing seemed to drop the ball as to better explain who each were and what their real involvement was when dealing with Seal.

POST MORTEM - This is a good film. I recommend watching it over a weekend when you have nothing else or better to do. The film drags at times, but there was a lot of emotion to cover in the history of telling Seal's true life story. There are some tremendous areal stunts in the film to keep you on the edge of your seat; and to think that Cruise did all of his own stunts is just crazy!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 [3.5 of 5 Stars]

“TOMORROW WAR” TECHNICALLY AND TRANSPARENTLY DISAPPOINTS

🎥 🎞 Movie Review 🎞 🎥- THE TOMORROW WAR - [PG13] - Amazon Prime - Chris Pratt leaves this fundamentally flawed movie with a plot so predictable, that it just took the fun out of watching this pile of over dramatic, poorly scripted crap that I wish I had ever decided to watch for a fun evening. Chris basically plays the same character he played in "Guardians of the Galaxy," always obnoxious and filled with quick comebacks.

Presented with some fantastic graphic effects, this mesh up of crap tries to pull off a chaotic, fast paced atmosphere with some badly placed emotional slow downs that can only be saved by another rupture of alien prowess that suddenly no one in the film ever expected. Adding to that, there are too many similar plot devices in this movie that were obviously taken from the Tom Cruise 2014 film, EDGE OF TOMORROW; which now in hindsight, makes me giggle as even the titles of the two projects are similar. In both movies, the "alien species" that is invading the earth has a male and female species who are vital to defeating the enemy. At least in Cruise's "Edge of Tomorrow" movie, they at least explained the male and female species, where in this stupid movie, there's no explanation about how the leading scientist first discovered the male and female species.

Take for instance, the "toxin" that is constantly brought up in the movies plot, there's no explanation how the science team found out about it, or what female alien was originally captured and studied. You just have to accept that it as done at some point not shown and that's how it is, so sit back and take it. And in this film it's up to Chris' character to save the day by bringing a cure for the "toxin" back to the future, while he has to find a way to save his futuristic daughter. And lets not talk about how in movies, anyone can just jump onto plane and fly into Russian airspace...Whoah, boy!

Some funny things to note; (1) I laugh that the inconsistencies of the weapons used in the film premise. In the beginning, the bullets used in the film have little effect on the alien hoards thick skin, but toward the end of the movie, the bullets have enough effect to kill them on impact...yeah, you'll see that in the movie. (2) The movie does a horrible injustice to "time and relativity" and sells short of explaining how time works and how traveling through time can have repercussions if the time traveler doesn't respect how time works. And BIG number (3), Global Warming is the sole reason why the aliens began to thrive on the planet...SERIOUSLY???

I need to create a "DOGSHIT" rating for crappy films like this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ [3 of 5 Stars]