The Spectacle Is Pushed Into Overdrive In The Exceptionally Exciting Mission: Impossible - Fallout

22 years after the first Mission: Impossible came out, you'd think this series would have run out of creative reasons for Tom Cruise to run really fast, but not only is this franchise still going on, its last two entries have been its strongest. Christopher McQuarrie's Rogue Nation and especially Brad Bird's Ghost Protocol were the two strongest installments in the Mission: Impossible saga yet with both carrying all kinds of inventive action sequences that put one at the very edge of their seat. The newest Mission: Impossible entry, Fallout, see's McQuarrie back in the director's chair and while the results aren't quite as good as Rogue Nation and Ghost Protocol, Fallout still finds this series in superb form and delivering the kind of thrills so many blockbusters can only dream about.

Top Gun May Have The Need For Speed, But It Also Needed Some Energy And Fun

1984's Risky Business was what put Tom Cruise on the map, but two years later, his position on that map as a movie star of note was cemented with Top Gun. A box office and pop culture phenomenon that's still impacting cinema to this day, Top Gun was the film that solidified the kind of crowdpleaser action blockbusters that Tom Cruise is still most famous for headlining in the modern-day world. But is there more to this Tony Scott directed movie than just a popular Kenny Loggins song? Sadly, in my viewpoint after watching this one for the first time, there really isn't. Top Gun is instead one of those hugely influential movies that's far worse than the motion pictures it ended up influencing.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back More Than Earns the Distinction of Being One of Tom Cruise's Most Tedious Movies

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the perfect movie for people who were chomping at the bit to see a Tom Cruise blockbuster worse than The Mummy. It's a total snoozefest for everyone else, one that can't even muster up enough competent fistfights to satiate action film junkies. This Edward Zwick directed project looks and acts like a USA Network TV movie that inexplicably managed to cast one of the biggest movie stars of all-time in its lead role. While I found the first Jack Reacher to be a mixed bag, that very same motion picture looks like a John Wick movie in comparison to this turkey of a sequel.

Paul Thomas Anderson's Sprawling Magnolia Is Incredibly Engrossing And Unique Cinema

There is no attempt to ease the viewer into the world of Magnolia, the film is just off to the races once the first frame comes up on-screen. Before you know it, the audience is tossed around multiple different storylines happening in close proximity to one another with a similar bleak yet darkly humorous tone permeating the majority of the individual subplots. As the camera frantically moves around from one person to the next, it may seem like this will be too much too fast for a viewer to process but in actuality, it's all too easy to adjust oneself to the unique atmosphere of Magnolia and the similarly idiosyncratic way it tells it's myriad of stories that all transpire over the course of a single day.

American Made Has Tom Cruise Doing Strong Work In Committing 1980's Debauchery

My yearning for Tom Cruise to do more non-blockbuster work has been heightened by seeing him in American Made, which has Cruise delivering one of his better performances in a while as Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), an airline pilot who passes time in his mundane life by smuggling certain everyday items across the border for those willing to pay up for such items. He's caught in the act by a CIA agent known as Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) who offers Barry the chance to use both his piloting skills and his yearning for a more exciting life by piloting a plane that can take photos of the bases of operations for Communist insurgents located South of the American border.

In Laman's Turns: It's Time For Tom Cruise To Embrace Bold Roles Again

Tom Cruise's career trajectory absolutely fascinates me. Once Risky Business happened and cemented Mr. Cruise as a movie star, he had well over two decades of prosperity as a leading man, one that was marked by a notable sense of variety. Cruise had some notably popular action movies in this era (Top Gun of course as well as the Mission: Impossible features and two early 21st century Steven Spielberg blockbusters) but he predominately did dramas in the 1980's and 1990's. The likes of Born Again On The Fourth Of July, Jerry Maguire, Rain Man, The Firm, Magnolia and Eyes Wide Shut paired him with a whose-who of famous auteurs that led him to frequently high box office and similarly recurring (though not always there, of course) critical praise.

When It Comes To Creating A Top-Notch Crime Thriller, Collateral Is A Real Beauty

Tom Cruise, like fellow late 20th-century movie star Will Smith, seems to be stuck in a rut in the current stages of his career that see's him just trying to do one type of role in one type of movie (lead heroes in blockbusters) as a way to keep his career going when in fact his fame used to come from doing all sorts of different types of roles in a wide variety of genres. In fact, looking over his pre-2005 meltdown, starred in non-action films by filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson, Oliver Stone and Stanley freaking Kubrick while his three best 21st-century action blockbuster movies (Minority Report, War Of The Worlds and Edge Of Tomorrow) have him inhabiting more interesting and complicated individuals rather than the generic leads in recent fare like Jack Reacher, Oblivion, and The Mummy.

Where To Even Begin With The Cinematic Cataclysm That Is The Mummy?

The Mummy is so much fun, I really was shocked by how well-made it was. Sure, it gets more than a little obsessed with generic CGI mayhem, but The Mummy is a ton of fun, with strong lead performances that make casual conversations between the characters super entertaining, I'd totally recommend giving the 1999 version of The Mummy a watch! The 2017 take on The Mummy on the other hand....there's no easy way to put it, so lemme rip this band-aid right off and just say it: The Mummy is a full on disaster, a film that can't be counted on to deliver solid scares, originality or competent action. If you told this movie to go make two pieces of toast, I'm sure it would end up burning down the entire house in the process, that's how massively incompetent it is.

War Of The Worlds Review (Classic Write-Up)

The horrific events of 9/11 thrust American pop culture into a new age marked by uncertainty, particularly when it came to American Summer Blockbusters. In the twenty-six years since Jaws was released, Hollywood had been churning out big-budget affairs each summer to capture the masses worldwide. Obvious concerns soon came up that this escapist fare would have to change in order to fit into a post-9/11 world, especially given that most blockbusters in the past five years had been attempting to replicate the success of Independence Day, which featured scenes of well-known buildings and landmarks being destroyed that wouldn't fly as cinematic reverie now.

Johnny Depp Set To Play The Invisible Man In The Revamped Universal Monsters Universe!

One of the most interesting forthcoming franchises in Hollywood has to be the revamped version of the classic Universal Monster Universe. Back in the 30's, Universal beat Marvel Studios to the punch by decades by having various scary figures like Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolfman rub shoulders. This isn't the first time these individuals have received the remake treatment (The Mummy got a trilogy of Brendan Fraser led remakes while The Wolfman was bestowed a super expensive update in 2010), but this is the first time someones trying to replicate the shared universe aspect of these old features.

Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation Review

The ballad of Ethan Hunt didn't really kick in until the third Mission: Impossible film, but boy howdy, once it did, the entire franchise suddenly took on an irresistible allure that made not watching these movies the real impossible mission (thanks folks, I'll be here all week!). After that third entry came its successor, Ghost Protocol, easily the best film in the saga in my book. I was sure nothing could top that Brad Bird directed feature, and while Rogue Nation doesn't quite top that 2011 effort, it comes pretty damn close, which is an impressive feat in and of itself!

Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol Review (Classic Write-Up)

An air of uncertainty hung over the release of Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol. Would audiences really come back to the franchise five-and-a-half years after the third Ethan Hunt adventure sunk to the lowest box office the series had ever seen? Could Brad Bird pull off his first ever live-action film? Could they compete in the Christmas 2011 timeframe against Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows?

Rain Man Review (Classic Write-Up)

Nowadays Tom Cruise is well known for his action performances, and for good reason. The dudes got the Mission Impossible films under his belt, and his most recent movies like Jack Reacher and Oblivion have all been focused on explosions and testosterone. In sharp contrast to those high-octane features is Rain Man, a 1988 Barry Levinson effort that is one of the rare films to accomplish the feat of being both the no. 1 movie at the domestic box office the year it was released and winning Best Picture.

The List!!!: Five Notable Fourth Movies

                                     
In The List!!!, I do a list that just reeks of being click-bait, analyzing a particular topic or subject that pertains to something major occurring in pop-culture. This week, in honor of a fourth Transformers movie being unleashed onto the world, I take a look at other notable movies that were the fourth entries in their respective franchises. Just a heads up; to be in this particular list, you have to be the fourth movie released in a franchise, not fourth chronologically. 

Edge of Tomorrow Review

Those Mech-Suits they're wearing are awesome by the way

Few times in my life have I been more surprised then when I heard the good buzz for Edge of Tomorrow. Critics were loving the film, which looked like a Source Code knockoff. And yet, the buzz kept mounting, making its disappointing American box office all the more surprising (internationally, it's in much better shape) Plopping into my seat of my Monday night screening of the film, I was intrigued; would the film truly live up to it's lofty reputation?

Box Office Analysis: A Rose By Any Other Name...Might Have Made Some Money

Tom Cruise stars in Generic Sci-Fi Time Travel Movie We Don't Have
 Confidence In But We Sure Hope It Makes A Lot Of Money In China!!

I haven't seen Tom Cruises latest action movie, Edge of Tomorrow, yet (hopefully I'll catch it tonight so I can have a review up tomorrow). However, I do know plenty about it's production history, including the notable fact that it went under the title All You Need Is Kill for a long period of time until it was switched to its more generic current name. In a recent interview, I believe it was one of the producers who explained that the change was because of the sensitive atmosphere nowadays to violence.

Box Office Predictions: Can Tom Cruise Conquer The Stars?

In Box Office Predictions, I take a look at the forthcoming weekend and see how new releases and holdovers will fare.

As late as 10 years ago, a summertime Tom Cruise tentpole could be guaranteed to be one of the biggest films of not just the season, but also the year. Since those days, he's been extremely more hit and miss, with his only $100 million features coming from Mission Impossible and a (hilarious I might add) cameo in a Ben Stiller film. Edge of Tomorrow has been dogged by both the press and audience members ever since it's first trailer came out, but extremely positive reviews seem to be turning the tide for the movie. I doubt it can all of a sudden churn even an Oblivion sized opening, but I'll be daring and say this thing just barely cracks $30 million.