Mission Impossible III (2006)

The third film in the Mission Impossible franchise sees Ethan Hunt played by Tom Cruise and directed by J J Abrams trying to protect his girlfriend from a sadistic arms dealer played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. You have the usual stellar supporting cast with Michelle Monaghan as Julia, Ethan’s Fiancee, Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Maggie Q as his support team with Simon Pegg as Benji in the laboratory supporting the team.

This is the usual Mission Impossible fayre with guns, explosions, improbable circumstances and cool gadgets. Overall the story is big enough to keep you interested and small enough that you care, from the start that brings Ethan back to the IMF you do care about the fact that he is just trying to live a normal life. The effects are believable but with Abrams at the helm you know that there are going to be twists and turns and a couple you can see coming if you have seen enough of this sort of film.

I found this film as enjoyable as the others without being anything special the simple fact is if you found anything enjoyable within the first two films then you will surely enjoy this venture, I give this a hearty 3 stars, worth seeing if you like the action spy films. 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Film of 2012 #40

This comedy from Shane Black was sort of below my radar, I was aware of it but not much about it. When I heard it was a comedy and the rough outline it intrigued me enough to give it a go and it was most enjoyable. It is a very styalised film with Robert Downey Jnr as the Narrator and speaking directly to you very aware that it is a film you are watching and there are scenes where the tape is rewound. There is a definite style within the film that could be a bit off putting for some people. I have to say that it is an enjoyable film with Robert Downey Jnr in his days before Iron Man showing a bit of the skill that we would see in later films. Val Kilmer as gay Perry an actor that was always a bit meh to me as I was never really sure if he was any good or not and I had not seen him in anything I really liked him in. He plays the gay private eye very well and then the female lead is Michelle Monaghan someone who has been around for a while but never really expoloded in to being but she played the part of Harmony very well.

The story is told in a sort of Noir style with the narrator telling the story and leading the audience and there is a hint that the narrator in this case might not be fully trustworthy. There are what appear to be plot holes but I think that this is all part of the telling and the fun of the film. However it could jar with you if not expecting something as strange as this. I think that it adds to the charm of the film and it actually makes me want to explore some real Noir films as I am not aware of actually seeing these films. I have seen several parodies done and it all leads me to want to see and learn more.

Overall this film is a bit different to anything I have seen recently and I would recommend that everybody sees it, a solid 3 star recommend, let me know if you have seen it and if you liked it or not.   

Source Code (2011)

Cinema in Falkirk, 2nd April 2011.

Just saw the new film from Duncan Jones the man that made Moon (@manmademoon on twitter) and it was fricking awesome. I am a Sci-Fi and horror film fan so the trailers for this definitely pushed my Sci-Fi buttons and I was not disappointed.

Jake Gyllenhaall never disappoints me I have to say that he plays a character that you like and you are with him from the beginning as he learns things as you do. Now the story is not that original, however there were a few times that I was pleasantly surprised as you have two realities going on. You can guess what is going to happen at times but they deliver it in such a way that I looked forward to it, I think I saw some things coming as I have seen a lot of films.

I think will give this film the first 5 star rating I have given any under my new reviewing system, I really enjoyed the whole thing, there are a few things that could have been done differently on the whole I was thoroughly entertained and intrigued to see what would happen which is the point of films.