My Own Little World

The Mission: Impossible series is one of the best action franchises around today. It hasn’t always been this way, but ever since 2011’s Ghost Protocol things have been looking up for Tom Cruise’s flagship films. These last two films have been an example of both the extreme lengths to which Cruise will go as his own stuntman and the correct way to make a ridiculous action movie. At their core, of course, that is what the M:I films are: bombastic, slightly silly, and self-aware heist films with a unique ability to also tie in more realistic threats than the average “grounded” spy film. I love that these films can walk that line without feeling stressed by doing so, and this latest entry is no exception: Mission: Impossible – Fallout is one of the best action films of the past decade, a monument to fun entertainment and excellent filmmaking at the same time. I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t express that the plot and characters are just as good as the action sequences...

Ready Player One is exactly what I expected. And that is a very good thing. Steven Spielberg is more or less the one who created movies like this one, and he proves once again here that he can helm a big blockbuster film in ways that few others can. There is attention to detail in the direction; there is a firm command of the power of scale; there is excitement and fun and some emotion. This is probably the most fun I’ve had watching a movie so far this year, and it is all because the man who created the template for great escapist filmmaking is back doing his thing. Of course, Ready Player One ’s escapist nature does make it suffer a tad in some areas that would seem very important like character development and a possession of deeper themes, and I know some will complain about that. While I understand how some might see this film as shallow and meaningless, there is a very good story at its core that makes me feel. It doesn’t have the emotional punch of an Oscar-nominate...

Somehow, some way, Jurassic World  is both one of my most anticipated films of the year and one of the most surprising. The anticipation shouldn't be hard to grasp: I remember seeing the original Jurassic Park  on VHS when I was give or take 8 years old. I fell in love with it immediately and even more so when last summer I saw it on the big screen for the first time at my local arthouse. So, where did the skepticism come from? Well, as I saw more and more material come from Jurassic World , I kept thinking (and hearing from others) that it looked more and more like a mindless CG crapfest similar to the Transformers  franchise...or Jurassic Park III . Thankfully, the 14 years we've waited for a fourth Jurassic Park  film were well worth the wait. Not only is Jurassic World  visually entertaining and thrilling, it also captures a lot of the magic of the original film. The majority of this magic comes from the story. The "too long; didn't read" version...