Well, I must say that that was a good weekend. Friday me, Scott, and Brian hit up Old Town in Pasadena and had a great time. Why have I not gone there before in all this time? It's close and is a lot of fun. We kicked off our Cinco De Mayo celebration at Moose McGillicuttys, which really hit the spot with some quality food and a very festive atmosphere. We then pretty much just walked around and explored the scene, and we even ran into, totally randomly, our NBC friend Akhila, who was also out enjoying the Old Town scene. Saturday the same crew from the night before as well as some friends from BU headed out to see Mission Impossible 3, which I'll talk more about later but was pretty damn enjoyable. And of course it was great to see the BU peeps, as it had been waaay too long since I've gotten together with any of my fellow Boston U grads who have also made the life-changing leap from East Coast to West. And Sunday, well I FINALLY got out and played some basketball with Dan K, which I had been itching to do because a.) watching the NBA playoffs has really given me a "basketball jonez" and b.) it was about time that i got some legit excercise. So, even if I lost out to Dan and his "Kaiser role" in 2 out of 3 games (all 3 were hotly-contested though), it was very fulfilling to get back on the courts and play some B-Ball. And hey, even Family Guy was pretty funny for once, so I have gotta call it a weekend well-spent.
MI:3 Review:
So yeah I don't think there's much of a need to really drag this one out - this of course is not exactly United 93. But what Mission Impossible 3 WAS was a damn good action movie, containing pretty much everything you'd want out of a mostly-mindless summer blockbuster.
First let's talk Tom Cruise. Sure, the man may be pretty nutty in real life, but let's face it - he's an excellent action-movie leading man and his big-budget film performances rarely disappoint. I mean do we have to run down the list? The guy has been above-average to great in everything from Top Gun to Risky Business to Last Samurai to War of the Worlds. And the thing is, if you start dismissing movies or TV shows because their stars are loopy in real life? Well, that severely limits your entertainment options. Guess you won't be watching any more movies with Kevin Costner - he is apparently a sketchball if recent reports are true. And John Travolta, Beck, the girl from That 70's Show - all card-carrying Scientologists. No more My Name is Earl - Jason Lee is also one of "them" as well, the few, the proud, the crazy - Scientologists. Sad, I know, but what can we do? Charlie Sheen seems like a pretty sleazy guy as well. We all know about Hugh Grant. Hell, even the almighty Kiefer Sutherland is far from a model citizen.
The sad truth is that most of these Hollywood people are nuts. Trust me. In an ideal world, our movie stars would be as great in person as the heroes they play on screen. But it just is not that way. So Tom Cruise, as an actor, is excellent here. It's not worth it to me to focus on his real-life antics with regards to this particular movie, and the weird Scientology stuff was definitely not going to prevent me from seeing the first big action movie extravaganza of the summer season.
But yeah, Cruise is very good as always as Ethan Hunt. But what about Philip Seymour Hoffman? Damn, he plays a great cold-hearted, bad-ass villain here. I only wish he had a little more screen-time. Former Felicity girl Keri Russel shows her secret-agent side in a nifty turn. Vhing Rames, Jonathan Rhys-Myers, and Michelle Q all do a great job of filling out Ethan Hunt's Team Impossible - and the team aspect of the movie is really fun and adds a cool new element to the franchise. Laurence Fishbourne is pretty much playing Badass Authority Figure #1 here, but who better to play such a role? And Michelle Monoghan as Ethan's newlywed wife is good as well, even if her main job is either to nod and smile or squirm in horror after she becomes the defacto damsel in distress.
And congrats to JJ Abrams - the Lost and Alias creator busts out some kickass action scenes. Helicopter chases, kung-fu fights, death-defying leaps from tall buildings - he delivers everything but the kitchen sink. His decision to play around with time a bit and open with a great scene that occurs towards the movie's END really pays off and sets up a lot of tension for the rest of the film, as we all wonder how Tom Cruise is going to get INTO, and OUT OF the deadly predicament we see him in as the movie opens. JJ also makes sure to throw in plenty of cool gadgets, intricate disguises (yes! after all those NBC Studio Tours where I talked about the "Mission Impossible effect" off ripping off a latex mask, I finally see it in action on the big screen ...), and exotic locales (cool, the Vatican! Shanghai! Sweeet.).
As far as the plot, it's a pretty standard Search-For-the-McGuffin-and-Beware-of-Traitors-in-the-Ranks a to b to c deal, but hey, it works. And the emphasis on the characters rather than the details of some overly complicated destroy-the-world plot is a nice change of pace.
Overall, this is your basic action movie fare. But it's done really well, has a great cast, and never lets up for a minute in the action department. So while I may not remember all the details of the movie in a few week's time, I can say that seeing this movie in the theater on the big screen was one of the most purely enjoyable, "oh-damn-did you see what just happened" experiences I've had watching a movie in a while. This was definitely a great way to kick off the Summer movie season.
My grade: B+
MOVIE-TRAILER TALK:
- So before MI:3 we saw a number of hyped-up trailers - here's my take:
- Nacho Libre: Looks hilarious, I can't wait. I think like Napoleon Dynamite it's going to be hard to appreciate the humor out of context in trailer form, but I am very enthusiastic, and Jack Balck in a lucha libre costume, sporting a bad mustache and Mexican accent is just instantly hilarious. Outlook: Excellent
- X-Men 3: Seen this trailer a bunch of times now, but I have to give credit and say it's a damn good trailer, even if other footage (ie from Leno) looks crappy and script reviews are not good. Stewart and McKellan kickass in the trailer, and that bridge scene looks pretty epic, but will the movie suck or not? Hard to say at this point, but lowered expectations may make for a pleasent surprise: Outlook: Probably mediocre with a few cool scenes, but hoping to be surprised.
Superman Returns: You know, it shows you the pure power of the Superman character that people will applaud the moment they realize that they're watching a trailer for a new Superman movie. But man, that enthusiasm begins to fade as we see some fairly bland action scenes, Spacey doing his used-car-salesman Lex Luthor, and Super Man-boy flying around in what looks to be the highest-budgeted CHICK FLICK of all time. Yikes. Outlook: Making me super-nervous that it will suck, hoping it somehow won't.
- The Breakup: Hmm, this DID actually seem kinda funny. May have to reevaluate prediction that it will be terrible. Outlook: More optimistic than before ...
- Over the Hedge: As much as this movie may or may not be good, how many freaking CGI-animated talking-animal movies can they make? Seems like a good voice-cast and nice animation, but still ... Outlook: Maybe .. but c'mon - enough already!
- Horror Movie Starring Kristen Bell: Cool, a horror movie starring Kristen Bell, aka Veronica Mars. Will probably suck though. Outlook: No thanks, but please let this somehow help Veronica Mars stay on the air!
OBLIGATORY SUPERMAN RETURNS MINI-RANT:
- Reading some interviews this weekend, it became clear that one major factor contributing the apparent suckiness of the new Superman flick is that Bryan Singer and his writers seem to have no appreciation whatsoever for the source material - aka the comics. With X-Men, Singer was forced to look at the comics and draw from them, even if he did end up morphing the colorfully-clad mutants into a bunch of generic-looking vigilantes in black leather. But apparently, NO comics were used as a reference for the writers and director of Superman Returns - the main source of inspiration was the first two Donner movies. Hence the fact that Returns looks and feels like a tired retread of the same themes as those films. But those movies were made in the late 70's and early 80's, and they DON'T hold up all that well with age, save for the remarkable performances of Christopher Reeves as Superman / Clark Kent. With Batman Begins, despite its faults, it was clear that David Goyer and christopher Nolan were combing through Batman's history and picking out some of the best stuff - Ra's Al Ghul, Batman: Year One, etc. AND, they were clearly going for a NEW direction for the big-screen franchise. Goyer was a legit comic book guy, so at least you knew you were getting a certain authenticity there in the writing - it was a flawed script, yes, but it got the essence of the hero right. We don't have those same reassurances with Superman. Were Singer and co legitimately fans of the character and his history, or just of the Donner movies? Did he look at the works of John Bryne and Dan Jurgens and Jeph Loeb and Mark Waid and Joe Kelly and Alan Moore? Apparently not, and what we are left with is a watered down adaptation of an adaptation. And in that filtering process, much is lost. Kinda sad, and that's my Superman rant of the day.
Anyways ... now let's veer into the wonderful world of television, with my Monday staple, the ...
FOX SUNDAY NIGHT QUICK REVIEWS:
- No MALCOLM this week, and next week is the LAST ONE EVER! Very sad, very sad.
KING OF THE HILL: Pretty good ep, but probably one of the weaker episodes of the last few weeks. The main Hank-as-Mr. Wilson plot was kind of amusing, but that new kid was so annoying that he got on my nerves as a viewer. And the Peggy-Dale taxidermy subplot was just ,well, weird. My grade: B -
THE SIMPSONS: As per usual lately, a decent ep that was kind of funny by recent standards but pretty amateurish compared to the classics. A few good laughs were had in the Marge-has-amnesia subplot, but rather than try something different with it the writers made this "a rift forms between Homer and Marge But Then They Finally Realize How Much They Love Each Other Part 1,903,852. " And of course that seems to be the basic plot of the show now every other week. Still, like I said, it had some good laughs and was decent overall. Oh yeah, funny chalkboard in the opening: "I will not leak the plot of the movie." Bwahaha. My grade: B -
FAMILY GUY: What? Is Family Guy back on its A-game? Not quite yet, but this ep was definitely a step in the right direction, reminding me of some of the crazy plots of the early years with much fresher humor, for the most part, than the show has had of late. While Meg's ass as otherworldly entry point was retarded, many of the other big gags were hilarious. The LOTR Gandalf falling down the abyss parody was hilarious, as was Peter randomly turning into Hank Hill. All the gags revolving around the Indian skull were pretty funny, and even the prerequisite random pop culture gags seemed to work better than usual this week - ie Dick Cheney's hunting trip and Statler and Waldorff from the Muppets (what can i say I have a soft spot for those guys). Still not at the level of Seasons 1 and 2, but a HUGE improvement from the last few weeks of awfulness, and that's nice to see. My grade: B+
OTHER TV STUFF:
- 24 tonight! What more needs to be said other than I am chomping at theb it to see Jack Bauer unleash his weekly dose of gravitas on President Logan and his cronies.
- And man, this is a big week for us TV nerds. 24 counts down to its season finale, as does Prisonbreak which should freakin' rock tonight as, finally, the prison break actually happens~! Daaaamn. Tommorow it's the season finale of Gilmore Girls, aka the last "real" episode of the show before the Paladinos call it quits. And then right after it's my most anticipated episode of anything in a while - Veronica Mars' sure-to-be-amazing S2 finale (and please lord not the last ever episode!). Wednesday, Lost has some BIG questions to answer from last week's crazy final seconds, and Thursday, That 70's Show ends its never-ending run forever as Fez and co say their final goodbyes. The Office sees a Steve Carell-penned season finale, and on Smallville's season-closer, Clark Kent must prevent the coming of ZOD~! Yep, my VCR shall be workin' overtime in the next few days.
- Still haven't watched The OC from Thursday - gotta get on that.
NBA PLAYOFFS:
- Go Suns and so long Lakers! I knew the Suns were the better team, but the Lakers have shattered my favorite teams' playoff dreams too many times by now for me to not have pangs of doubt about whether the Suns could do it. But wow, the Suns just decimated L.A., and while it was nice in a way to see Kobe and his crew utterly annihilated, I was kinda hoping for an exciting game. Oh well, nice to see The Suns live to fight another day, and I think Steve Nash validated his 2nd consecutive MVP trophy with the outcome of that series - by elevating his ENTIRE TEAM, not just his own game, with his amazing play.
- Ouch, that had to hurt for LeBron and the Cavs. Detroit is looking nigh unstoppable right now.
- I'd love to see Dallas topple to Spurs but I don't know if it can happen. Dallas has always been pretty soft in the playoffs and the Spurs tough as nails.
- Interested to see New Jersey-Miami tonight though, could be a good one.
- BTW, yet another example of Bill Walton's hilarity -- in the pregame show before Spurs-Mavs, when everyone is going through the keys to the game, Bill Walton immediately chimes in with "For the Spurs, it's all about Robert Horry" or something along those lines. Oh man, Walton always has a select few players who he champions as the best thing since sliced bread, and he has always been obsessed with Robert Horry for some reason. Yes, the man is a great clutch player, but the key to the Spurs' victory? Shyeah ...
OTHER STUFF:
- In the morning when I get up I usually blast songs from my computer set to random. So why do the WEIRDEST songs always come up? For some reason, it feels like every morning I get a song from Rent or Les Mis, a rap song from Nelly or Sisqo or something similarly terrible, and a random TV theme song. What gives?
- Stamps = an underrated commodity.
- Can't say I'm a fan of double-rims when playing basketball.
- And that's it. Prisonbreak and 24 tonight, and Foley-Edge II. Gravitas, intensity, and steel chairs. Bang bang.
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