Movie Review - The Mummy

The Mummy

Starring: Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Sofia Boutella, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, Marwan Kenzari, Simon Atherton, and more.

Directed by: Alex Kurtzman Screenplay by: David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman Screen Story by: Jon Spaihts, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet Cinematography by: Ben Seresin Music by: Brian Tyler

Premise: A relic hunter stumbles onto a hidden chamber in Iraq. Rushed for time, he inadvertently loosens an imprisoned force. A woman with a mission she's been trying to complete for five thousand years. Nick is the one she's decided will replace the receptacle for Set stolen from her so many years ago. No one better stand in her way. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: While we have some great acting powerhouses in this film, there is so much action,  little time is left for actual acting. Still, Tom Cruise does a nice job as Nick - relic hunter, thief, adventurer. Annabelle Wallis as Jenny got the biggest range to play with as she dealt with her feelings, her attractions, and her job. She did it well. Sofia Boutella made a nice sultry mummy. Jake Johnson was a ton of fun as Nick's sidekick Chris Vail. Russell Crowe's character was a rather big surprise once the two men meet and introductions are made. (He could still take some lessons from James Nesbitt's superb performance of the same character though. :) )

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: There was a ton to love about the special effects in this film. Watching the credits, they used a ton of different companies. They come up with some superb images.

Ahmanet's prison and the other chambers attached to it were very cool! The Crusaders' tomb when they first find it with the tunnel maker and other sections of the place were well done!

Several special effect parts used weird spiders, tons of rats, black birds and other crawling things. They looked great.

When Ahmanet first shows herself, and the transformation after her first feedings, were enthralling. The change on those she fed on also were fantastic. When she has them rise, and the bones and joints pop and snap - creepy!

Cool sand storms, walking and swimming dead, and all the cool bits using mercury. The look and feel of the base beneath London's Natural  History Museum were great. The all important dagger was a wicked looking thing!

Lots and lots of lovely effects!

3) Plot/Story - Neutral: I go up and down on how I feel about the story. A big part of my issue with it is the presentation. While they didn't give everything away in the previews, they gave away a lot. So there was little there to give a feeling of discovery or mystery in what was going on.

They also didn't do themselves any favors by having Henry tell us all about Ahmanet at the very beginning - especially when the information got repeated all over again later as Nick has visions of the past. They could have easily found the Crusaders' tomb and the wall carvings and left it at that. Thus tantalizing the viewers to discover how the Crusaders and Ahmanet might be related. But no. We got spoonfed the information instead.

A couple of scenes, while cool, didn't make a lot of sense. Ahmanet wants her new Chosen to willingly submit to the ritual. So, how was giving him nightmares of rats and monsters was supposed to do that? Other images made sense for that, but some others did not.

Also, Nick's choice in the final room I saw coming ten minutes before he made it. DUH!

There's tons of action, and they move at breakneck speeds. There's even a quick wink/homage to Brendan Fraser's "The Mummy" in the form of the Book of Life showing up at one point. But character development is pushed way back to the background.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: The whole 'gag' in the airplane was fantastic! I felt sorry for them all. lol. The fun chase scene in the Iraqi city with bullets and grenades being used all over the place kept the stunt people quite busy and looked great. Lots of good work from the team.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Tons of great and real places! Waverley Abbey in the UK, London, the Natural History Museum, the Namib Desert in the country of Namibia in Africa. These great locations added lots of visual flavor to the scenes.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: CGI mixed with real makeup gave some great looks to Ahmanet, Henry, and Vail. The writing on Ahmanet's skin alone was dazzling. When we see her close to filled out but still with gaps in various places on her face and body, it added so much! Some great contrast too between Nick and Vale in the restroom scene.

Conclusion: The Mummy is a wild ride. Great special effects and stunts. A surprise here and there. Yet a little less telling up front would have made the film more mysterious and thus more enticing to the viewers.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again.)

Movie Review - Jack Reacher: Never Look Back

Jack Reacher: Never Look Back

Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Aldis Hodge, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany, Madalyn Horcher, Robert Catrini, and more.

Directed by: Edward Zwick Screenplay by: Richard Wenk, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz Based on the novel by: Lee Child Cinematography by: Oliver Wood Music by: Henry Jackman

Premise: Jack starts having phone conversations with Major Turner after a successful sting. He invites her to dinner and makes his way to D.C. to meet her face to face. When he gets there, however, he finds out she's been removed from her post. She's been placed in jail while waiting to be tried for treason. Something about this doesn't seem right. Reacher becomes sure of it when he finds himself being tailed. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Tom Cruise reprises his role as the loner, ex-military man, Jack Reacher. As always, he's a lot of fun to watch. Love all his little telltale expressions. Getting caught between Turner and Samantha made for a lot of amusing scenes. Cobie Smulders as Turner had some nice back and forth chemistry with Tom. Both characters are quite set in their ways and are a bit like mixing oil and water. Making the mix even more chaotic is Danika Yarosh who plays Samantha. Her character reflects facets of both of the two as they all go on the run. 

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: This is an action film, so bullets and explosions are pretty much a must. Great job by the special effects team on all of them. Especially memorable was the scene at the warf. A ton of lead flying everywhere! 

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: I've not read the Jack Reacher book the film is based on, so apologies for not being able to give any opinions between the two. I have read one of the other books and enjoyed it quite a bit! Just need to find time to read more. :)

For once the previews did not reveal all! There's an added and unexpected element thrown into the plot they didn't give away. This added a different dynamic which for ends up prodding Reacher out of his comfort zone. While this particular complication is not new in the plot world, it made for a nice surprise. Especially since sneakily kept it out of the previews. Yay!

Action films do tend to let a few things slide so things will work out how they want. So there are a couple of bits. Sticky details like stewardesses and airport security. But they blank them out in such a way you don't realize it for the most part.

The pace is fast and slows down very little throughout. 

Samantha is super street savvy yet also conveniently clueless. But it's so much fun watching Jack having to deal with the unexpected situation that it's easy to ignore the convenient manipulation. 

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: The film has lots of lovely hand to hand fights and on foot chase scenes. Major kudos for the kitchen fight scene. The rooftop chase/fight was painful and awesome! 

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Lots of nice cinematography. Loved the wide overhead shots of Turner and Reacher running in several scenes. New Orleans was a great venue for the last section of the film. Especially with the Halloween parade and fireworks. The closeup shots, especially during the last scenes, made them even more poignant.

Conclusion: Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is a fun ride. Full of mayhem and chaos, we get a lot of action scenes and close combat. Watching Jack squirm emotionally though? Priceless. :)

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price to See Again)

Mind Sieve 6/8/15

Had A-kon this past weekend and FanExpo the weekend before, as well as month end at work so I am running behind!

This will be a quick one! :)

Bridge of Spies Official Trailer #1 - looks good!

Z for Zachariah Official Trailer #1 - Proving yet again two is company, three is a crowd. Lol.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation Official Trailer #2 - Booyah!

Have an awesome Monday!

Movie Review - Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow

Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong, Tony Way, Kick Gurry, Franz Drameh, Dragomir Mrsic, Charlotte Riley, Masayoshi Haneda, Terence Maynard, Noah Taylor, and more.

Directed by: Doug Liman Screenplay by: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth Based on the Novel "All You Need Is Kill" by: Hiroshi Sakurazaka Cinematography by: Dion Beebe Music by: Christophe Beck

Premise: The Earth is being attacked by an alien race that sprang from a meteor that fell from the sky. After a long struggle, Humanity has had its first victory and is amassing all the firepower possible to go on a large, decisive offensive. Major Cage, an ad executive before the war, is told he will be at the offensive so he can report on the progress. Cage balks at going, even trying to blackmail the general into not sending him. This only gets Cage knocked out and sent directly into a misfit group who'll be hitting the beach at the front lines. Surviving for a few minutes longer than many of his compatriots, and getting a lucky kill on an Alpha, Cage then wakes back up almost a full day before his death. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Tom Cruise plays outside his normal zone as Major Cage. The fear and wheedling cowardice of the character, and the way he even tries to act brave only because it might get him out of things, was very well done. Emily Blunt was a lot of fun as Rita. Her unhappiness at having lost the power then her surging hope when she finds out Cage has it, as well as all the awesome expressions of disappointment as she tries to train him all added a lot of flavor. Bill Paxton as Master Sergeant Farrell, along with Terence Maynard were great foils as Cage repeated time. The two men were like mirrors of the changes as Cage replayed the days over and over, their ordered world and expectations kicked out from under them as Cage matured.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up:  Lots of cool special effects in the film - the soldier transport, the exo-suits,  the exercise room, the aliens. The aliens were especially fascinating. They still gave them mouths and two eyes, strangely humanizing them, but this might have been intentional. If they'd not given them obvious eyes, it would have made them ten times more creepy and alien and since the film is rated PG-13, perhaps they didn't want to creep young viewers too much. Still, they way the aliens moved, their octopus like arms, all were awesome work.

Most impressive is the scene where Cage and his troop reach the battle. The chaos was intense, with creatures and men are fighting everywhere. The mini helicopter incident also came out really well. The minivan section, even more so.

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: There are a ton of things that I loved about the plot. They even took some movie fallacies and actually gave them reasons for happening and then did things to surprise you on top of it. The hero, for example: Cage is a total coward. Only self preservation propels him once the weirdness kicks in, and if you watch closely, he still tries to weasel out of everything despite the progress he makes. It's a hard won battle for him to finally get past it - it wasn't instantaneous and the signs are there that he's still trying not to be involved. Loved, loved, loved this.

The other aspect that would seem suspect but which they pulled off brilliantly was the aliens having one central main intelligence/hive mind that if defeated humans would win everything. No easy victory here. Despite the fact that one decisive blow could end it all, the creature is aware of this and has taken steps. Major and surprising steps! Even multiples steps! And the humans have to pay a high price to pay to even get a shot at trying to succeed.

Another major point I loved, though it was super understated, was how Cage found out information on those around him to use later. We only see one instance of this, but that one time basically sets the stage for all the others, and explains why he knows things these people would never tell another soul - death side confessions. A lot of them. Gave me chills just thinking about how many times he had to watch them die over and over to get all the info he did.

Time travel is tricky, and while they explain some things, they don't explain all. Again, they give you just enough information to figure things out if you think about them. Hubby and I had a fun discussion afterwards. The altered DNA brought Cage and his memories back each time, but also seemed to bring back his body slightly changed, yet repaired. So muscle memory and other physical skills always came back with him. At the end, a seeming incongruity actually makes sense when you think of the stolen level of power achieved.

Little comedic moments, and just watching how Cage changing changed those around him as he'd come back for yet another round, kept the repetition intensely interesting.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: There were a ton of stunts and a ton of stunt people in most of the 'gags'. Between the explosions, crashing vehicles, and the spinning aliens, there were people running, flying, getting bashed about and more on a pretty constant basis. Like I mentioned earlier, the attack area was chaos personified. It definitely had the feel of the landing at Normandy back during World War II, but even more intense and with aliens,. Great work by everyone.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Filmed mostly in the UK, there were a lot of lovely spots used for the film. Once Cage and Rita realize where they truly need to go, we got some nice sweeps of the French countryside. The Louvre scenes also were nicely done, though in truth, it did give the feel of a sound stage despite the size of the area.

Conclusion: "Edge of Tomorrow" is a great piece of science fiction. Lots of action, stunts, and special effects, dressed around a good solid plot. They even take a couple of bad movie habits and make them work! If you can manage it, definitely see it in IMAX 3D or regular 3D.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Paying Full Price to See Again)

Movie Review - Oblivion

Oblivion

Starring: Tom Cruise, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and more.

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski Screenplay by: Joseph Kosinski, Karl Gajdusek, and Michael Arndt  Based on the Comic Books by: Joseph Kosinski and Arvid Nelson Cinematography by: Claudio Miranda Original Music by: Anthony Gonzales, Joseph Trapanese, and M.8.3

Premise: Earth won a war against an alien race, but in doing so spoiled most of the planet. Humanity has no choice but to migrate to Titan. Yet in order to do so, the water of Earth  must be collected and turned into fuel. Safeguarding the suction machines from the remnants of the alien force are automated robotic guards. Jack Harper and teammate remain behind on Earth to make sure the robots keep functioning properly to defend the larger machines. But the attacks of sabotage by the Scavs seem to be getting more inventive. If only the weird dreams wouldn't keep plaguing Jack, he'd be better able to deal with these threats. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting -  Total Thumbs Up: Tom Cruise gave a great performance as the curious Jack Harper. Andrea Riseborough brought a lot more into the film than is first apparent, giving greater depth to the truth's later revealed. Olga Kurylenko added her own sublime touches to the story as well. Morgan Freeman was his usual wonderful self.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The special effects start from the moment the screen goes dark. When the Universal Logo starts, make sure to look closely. You'll see the orbital Tet and then the Earth itself transform into what it is in 2077. Made for a nice little touch.

The different vehicles in the film were a lot of fun. Jack's flyer is totally cool. The guardian robots were intimidating and fun to watch. They even seemed to have a little bit of a personality, intentional or not. I loved the scanner sequences. They did a lot of nice work with HUD displays and computer tops.

Some cool laser battles and explosions were spread around during the film. Nice stuff! And wait till you see the pool!

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: Jack gets the audience 'up to speed' with a quick summary of how the Earth got to the state it is presently in. Then he mentions the fact he's been routinely mind wiped - a great trigger for letting the audience know things are possibly not what they seem. The repetition of certain phrases and actions hold more meaning than those doing them at times comprehend. Keep an eye on the character of Victoria - at a couple of spots her expressions tell whole stories on their own. Plus it is through and from her that little hints get dropped that all is not what we might think.

Overall, the story was solid. Several surprises show up twisting the story in directions that won't be expected. The science took a couple of hits towards the end of the film, however, as the typical Hollywood ploy of 'destroy the one big thing and it will make all others stop functioning' gets used, despite the actions and facts negating the feasibility of such a course actually stopping the action going on down at the ground. Still, that and the fact the ship wasn't scanned (or if it was, that it didn't pick up the energy signatures of the energy cores), only took away a little of the otherwise quite satisfying film. (Though  - if they'd shown the fighters try to shield the cores in some way, it would have totally fixed the issue.)

There are several bits of homage to older SF films in the movie, but also several to Tom's first big film"Top Gun." (Hint: The flyer has the first one.)


4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Fun action sequences and stunts during the exploration of, and the combat at, the New York Public Library. The massive battle at the hidden base was also good.

Better still was the hand to hand fight in the radiation zone. Tom really does make combat look easy. The one point that impressed me the most on this sequence was the attention to detail on the angles. The moment the gun went off, the poised bodies tell you exactly where the shot went, even though it will be almost a full minute before they actually show it. (Not so exciting was the fact they used this old movie cliche, but at least they pulled it off well.)

5) Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Great use by Claudio Miranda of overhead sweeping shots. It  brought home the isolation of the task Harper and his teammate lived under, while also showing some truly gorgeous benefits of living there as well. It also was a great way to show the audience the huge amount of devastation the planet had suffered and how the events of over fifty years ago changed the face of New York. When Harper rides the motorcycle through the desert of beached ships, it was eerie and fascinating all at once. Seeing well know NY icons as they stand in 2077, made it even more disturbing.

6) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: The costuming and makeup departments did a lot of subtle things that really ramped up the overall feelings and impressions. There was the duality of opposite extremes created purely from the different states we found Jack and Victoria in. Jack toiled, he sweated, got hurt, became dirty. Victoria on the other hand usually looked fresh, rested, composed inside and out, even when being ignored or bypassed by Sally. This was defined even more when we get to compare the contrast between where Jack and Victoria live together to the little hide away Jack has made for himself on the ground.

Conclusion: "Oblivion" is a good science fiction film, actually bringing forth what SF does best. The few faux pas in the science toward the end are not too hard to ignore and don't take away from the enjoyment and the great plot twsists. Keep an eye on Victoria - her side of things will add a lot of meaning and depth to things revealed later. Make sure to pay attention when the Universal logo starts!

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)

Movie Review - Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Starring: Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqist, Vladimir Mashkov, Samuli Edelman, Josh Holloway, Lea Seydoux, and more.

Directed by: Brad Bird Written by: Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec Based on the Mission Impossible TV Series by: Bruce Geller Original Music by: Michael Giacchino

Premise: Ethan Hunt and his team are framed for an explosion at the Kremlin. Without support, the team follows the only clue they have to try to find the real culprit and stop him from carrying out his plans. (PG-13)

Review: This film was a lot of fun! Everything you'd expect and more.

The stunts and CGI were top notch, as were the hand to hand combat scenes. Tom Cruise makes all his jumps, leaps, slides seem smooth and easy as if he'd been born for action work. This smoothness is something which I'd noticed before in his last film "Knight and Day". Yet there are also plenty of normal people action and mishaps, with consequences for bad aiming or timing. I cringed for them a couple of times.

All the heavy serious mission tension is eased here and there by beautiful comedic moments. Even better were the flares of temper or impatience, making the team members people and not just cinematic machines.

The cinematography was gorgeous. A spanning view from the Dubai hotel to the horizon with a blooming sandstorm was incredible. Each city got wonderful spanning views and added a lot of foreign flavor.

My only complaint was a couple of items either never explained or done so quickly viewers could easily miss them. There are subtle hints but nothing is ever vocalized. This is mostly in relation to faulty equipment and the bad guy seeming to have some of the IMFs technology. But it doesn't detract too badly from the overall film.

One touch that I loved, and totally humanized some of the members, was some of the agents's reticence to actually do certain aspects of the job. Normally on these type of films the agents never hesitate to do things common people would be scrambling not to do. It was nice seeing them hesitate or actually having to work themselves up to do them. Very humanizing.

Over all, it was a great film. Definitely worth watching!

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Would Pay Full Price to See It Again!)

Mind Sieve 11/7/11

Welcome! Loads of things to share!

  

Flight of the Konkordski - Russia's TU-144 and the deep mystery/conspiracy surrounding the disaster. Post by Holmes.

image from concordesst.com

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol featurette from Total Film.  Tom really did do all the stuff off the building in Dubai. Dang!

Two clips from the forthcoming Twilight Breaking Dawn part 1 over at The Hollywood Reporter.

From Total Film, first official images of Tim Burton's remake of Tim Burton's Frankenwennie.

The Myth of the Pumpkin by Donna Newton. Some cool pumpkin photos. The birthing one is just amazing. lol.

Over at the YA Authors You've Never Heard of Blog, Kim Baccellia shares some Urban Legends. Including The Weeping Lady, The Blue Lady, and the Chupacabra.

From TL Jeffcoat - Weapons Weekly: The Kusarigama of the Ninja.  Has a cool little video showing it's us in action if you've never seen one.  :)

Dr Who - "The Ballad of Russell and Julie" Wrap Party Special.  This is a hoot! With Davids Tenant, Katherine Tate, and John Barrowman doing a tribute to Russel T Davies and Julie Gardner. ROFL!

Designing from Bones by Gene Lempp - Zoo Arcane - Evil Little People.EVIL! Eeeeevvvvviiiillll little people! (So don't be messing with me, bub!) :P

Examiner.com has a cast picture of the "Hunger Games" as well as cast reactions.

Festival of Late Bloomers (as in writers) Day 2: Fairy Tale Tuesday by Debra Eve. Cool article on Charles Perrault author of Tales From Mother Goose!

Book Trailer for Rachel Caine's latest in her Morganville Vampire series - Last Breath. (If only mine could be this cool! Waaaaahhhhh!)

Social Media 101: Klout by Grmln (Twaitter) - Nice quick article telling what it's about. Weirdly enough I signed up on it last week after it was mentioned on a blog last week. I must have been a good girl because it started out at 36 and is now at 46. It's weird stuff.

Billie Joe Woods explores the question What if I don't Have a Book Trailer? (I can't say whether they do anything or not, but I have one for each of my books now! Bwahahahaha!)

How To Win the Hearts of Bloggers - Scoring the Book Review, Guest Post, or Interview by Kristen Lamb.

The Life Cycle of a Blogger - 10 Stages by Roni Loren. Lol. Worth it just for the insane pics alone! Hee!

The Inkslinger's Invocation: The Writer's Prayer II by Chuck (NSFW) Wendig. Booyah!

Scarier than Halloween - Bad Clauses in Publishing Contracts blog post by Agent Kristin. 

Guest post by Barbara Baig on How Deliberate Practice Can Make You An Excellent Writer.

From John M Cussick - Ten Surefire Ways to Turn Off a Prospective Agent. Yeah, DOH!

25 Things You Should Know About Writing Advice from Chuck (NSFW) Wendig.

Kristen Lamb - Keeping Focused and Nailing the Pitch - Understand Your Seed Idea. Kristen uses the word log line to also equal pitch. But to me they're something else altogether? I'm probably wrong though! Heh.

A MUST READ!  Writing Ain't Easy by Rachelle Gardner. (Why I was just having this mental conversation with myself the other day! lol.) Just good stuff to know. :)

Okay, ya'll if this doesn't keep you busy for a bit, nothing will! Heh heh. Enjoy!