Brian's Thoughts on Movies

 Liam Neeson is a first rate actor who has never lacked for work (or fortunately the desire to work a lot).  Since his first onscreen role as Jesus Christ in Pilgrim's Progress in 1978 he has often appeared in multiple films per year.  While his star power rose substantially after the unexpected success of Taken in 2009, he had his first big ascension in the wake of Schlinder's List, a film for which I thought he should have won Best Actor.  A little over a year after the release of that film, Neeson headlined the Scottish themed film, Rob Roy, which I mentioned in my post for The Grey  . Rob Roy is directed by Scottish director Michael-Caton Jones, who directed a few other dramatic films I liked such as Doc Hollywood (1991) and City By the Sea (2002) and a couple with terrible scripts such as Basic Instinct 2 (2006) and The Jackal (1997).   Neeson excels at both drama and action and Rob Roy allows him combine both of these skills.  Rob Roy is an ...

  Director Christopher McQuarrie returns to the chair for his third consecutive Mission Impossible film,  subtitled Dead Reckoning Part I.  There is a Part II which is due in 2025, though it may be renamed.  Dead Reckoning is about an AI threat called the Entity that has become sentient and attracts the interest of countries who wish to control it.  Ethan and his team set out to find and destroy it by accessing two keys which switch hands several times throughout the film.  Dead Reckoning was about to begin production in Venice and when the shutdowns of 2020 occurred.  It re-entered production several months later starting with the big motorcycle stunt and was one of the films to help establish COVID-19 filming protocols.  Several times over the next several months filming was suspended when members of the crew tested positive for COVID-19.   Filming wrapped in the fall of 2021.  The release date was delayed by about two years from its o...

 Like all film fans I am intrigued by the Academy Awards, though less for who wins or doesn't than for it directing me to films I might otherwise not pay as much attention to.  I haven't seen all of this years' big nominated films but here are some bite size thoughts on the ones I have seen. Oppenheimer I was really impressed by both the technical and dramatic approach Christopher Nolan took with his story of the man who created the atomic bomb.  As usual Nolan uses a single word title and multiple timelines which keeps this complex yet involving tale moving quickly despite the three hour runtime.  Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr. stand out in the film that explores the science behind the development, the political cost the once-Communist Oppenheimer paid and the guilt he had to endure afterwards.  The standout sequence is the testing of the weapon in a moment that uses no CGI and is simultaneously horrific and impressive.  ***** Anatomy o...

 After the long awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released and did well at the box office but was not widely loved (and fans' frustration with it seemed to multiply over the years) I think there were mixed feelings about doing another one.  People wanted to see the series end on a stronger note but there was fear that another film might not be good.  For a few years I doubted it might be made since although Ford sounded game, Shia Lebeouf, who played Mutt (Indy's son) had trashed Crystal Skull in the press and was generating a lot of negative headlines with increasingly odd behavior.   In early 2016, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens doing extremely well at the box office, due in no small part to Harrison Ford's delightful return as Han Solo, Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm announced a deal had been made with Ford for a final Indiana Jones film.  A release date of 2019 was announced and Spielberg was planning to direct (though Geo...

 A popular debate that comes out around the holidays is whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, presumably because it is set on Christmas Eve (feel free to correct me, I haven't watched it in ages).  To that I say, how about Die Hard 2, Lethal Weapon, Batman Returns or The Long Kiss Goodnight?  All of them are all action films (two scripted by Shane Black) set around the holiday season but released nowhere near it.  In the end if the film makes you feel festive, then perhaps it is a Christmas movie but if you can enjoy it at any time of the year then it is probably just a good film.  The sixth James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, has about half of its runtime set near Christmas time.  There is a Christmas carol especially written for the film "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?".  I find the song a repetitive bore as a listening experience but within the film the upbeat theme contrasts perfectly against the tense moment in th...