Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation
Paramount Pictures
Rated PG-13 for action, violence and brief partial nudity
Cruise And Company Reunite To Topple Terrorist Organization
Rogue Nation is the fifth installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise featuring Tom Cruise as the dashing and daring Ethan Hunt. This episode has everything you’d expect from an action-oriented espionage thriller: international intrigue, irresistible eye candy and edge-of-your-seat fight and chase sequences.
Just past our unflappable protagonist’s death-defying airplane stunt in the picture’s opening scene, we find him put out to pasture and retiring to Europe where he soon disappears from the grid entirely. It seems that his Impossible Mission Force (IMF) is being disbanded by the U.S. Senate Oversight Committee at the behest of CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin), an inept, if well-intentioned bureaucrat.
A governmental directive for IMF spies to come in from the proverbial cold gives evil a license to thrive, especially the Syndicate, a clandestine confederacy of assassins bent on what else but world domination. Ignoring the orders of his superiors, Ethan instead recruits former colleagues William (Jeremy Renner), Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) for help in toppling the power-hungry terrorist organization. And the team of veteran sleuths is ably assisted in that endeavor by Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), an inscrutable double-agent with mysterious motives.
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, MI5 is as cerebral and multi-layered as it is high-octane and visually-captivating. Overplotted to the point of incomprehension, this is one brainteaser you might be better off not bothering to decipher. I say, simply sink into your seat and soak in the sweeping panoramas, the IMF team’s infectious camaraderie, and wave after wave of their derring-do, whether by land, sea or air.
The epitome of a bona fide summer blockbuster!
Excellent (4 stars)
Running time: 132 minutes
Best Of Enemies
Magnolia Pictures / Magnet Releasing
Rated R for sexuality, nudity and profanity
’60s Documentary Revisits Legendary Debates Between Gore Vidal And William F. Buckley
Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, Jr. were among the most brilliant and articulate minds of their generation. The pair were also polar opposites, politically, which made the idea of hiring them to appear in a series of televised debates an absolute stroke of genius.
This was the brainchild of ABC-TV back in 1968, at a time when the network’s news department lagged far behind both CBS and NBC in the ratings. The plan was to have the liberal Vidal and conservative Buckley square-off during its coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions being staged that summer in Chicago and Miami Beach, respectively.
Arranging the showdown proved to be easier said than done, since the men not only hated each other politically, but personally as well. After all, Buckley saw himself as the defender of old-fashioned values and the status quo in the face of the ’60s counter-cultural revolution demanding equal rights for blacks, gays, women and other oppressed groups.
As expected, sparks flew during the spirited tete-a-tetes marked as much by effete Buckley’s arcane syntax as by firebrand Vidal’s iconoclastic comments. However, because neither participant wanted to lose, what began as sophisticated intellectual analysis eventually degenerated into an exchange of insults.
When Vidal referred to Buckley as a “crypto-Nazi,” he lost his composure and called his opponent a “queer.” A defamation lawsuit and counter-suit ensued, and the litigation would drag on for years.
Co-directed by Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville, Best Of Enemies is a fascinating documentary which revisits a seminal moment in the history of TV. For, the explosive Vidal-Buckley arguments over hot-button topics ranging from religion to sexuality served to usher in a new era in terms of discourse over the airwaves.
Besides archival footage of the debates, the conventions and anti-war demonstrations raging right outside, the film features commentary by luminaries like Frank Rich, John McWhorter and the late Christopher Hitchens. A must-see account of the birth of passionate, television punditry.
Excellent (4 stars)
Running time: 88 minutes
OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam’s Kapsules:
For movies opening August 7, 2015
Fantastic Four (PG-13 for action, violence and profanity) Marvel Comics reboots its beloved film franchise with a riveting, character-driven roots adventure. Co-stars Kate Mara, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell as the titular quartet. (In English and Spanish with subtitles)
Ricki And The Flash (PG-13 for sexuality, profanity, mature themes and brief drug use) Meryl Streep plays the title character in this musical dramedy as an aging rock star who returns home to make peace with her long-suffering husband (Kevin Kline) and daughter (Mamie Gummer) after years on the road. Support cast includes Rick Springfield, Audra McDonald, Charlotte Rae and Sebastian Stan.
Shaun The Sheep Movie (PG for crude humor) Stop-motion, animated adventure about a mischievous lamb (Justin Fletcher) who leads his flock from the the farm to the big city over the course of an exciting day off. Voice cast includes Kate Harbour, John Sparkes and Richard Webber.
Assassination (Unrated) Historical drama, set in 1933, revolving around Korean resistance’s plot to kill the military commander of Japan’s occupy forces. Co-starring Ji-hyun Jun, Jung-woo Ha and Jung-jae Hee. (In Korean with subtitles)
Call Me Lucky (Unrated) Prestige biopic chronicling the enduring standup career of irreverent, funnyman Barry Crimmins. Directed by Bobcat Golthwait, and featuring commentary by fellow comics Margaret Cho, Kevin Meaney and Patton Oswalt.
Cop Car (R for violence, profanity and brief drug use) Kids do the darndest things thriller about a small-town sheriff’s (Kevin Bacon) pursuit of the 10-year-old delinquents (James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford) who took his patrol car for a joy ride. With Camryn Manheim. Shea Whigham and Kathleen Bentley.
The Diary Of A Teenage Girl (R for profanity, drug use, underage drinking, graphic sexuality and frontal nudity) Coming-of-age saga, set in San Francisco in the ’70s, about a rudderless rebel (Bel Powley) who embarks on an ill-advised affair with her mother’s (Kristen Wiig) handsome boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgard). Cast includes Christopher Meloni, Austin Lyon and Abby Wait.
The Gift (R for profanity) Suspense thriller about a happily-married couple (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall) whose life is turned upside-down after a chance encounter with a high school friend (Joel Edgerton) in possession of an unsettling, decades-old secret about the husband. With Busy Phillips, David Denman and Allison Tolman.
Homme Less (Unrated) American Dream deferred documentary chronicling the plight of homeless, former fashion model Mark Reay who keeps up appearances by day, while sleeping on a Manhattan rooftop at night.
The Prophet (PG for mature themes, violence and sensual images) Animated adaptation of Khalil Gibran’s epic poem. Voice cast includes Liam Neeson, Salma Hayek, Quvenzhane Wallis and John Krasinski.
The Runner (R for profanity and sexuality) Nicolas Cage handles the title role in this potboiler, set in New Orleans in the aftermath of the BP Gulf oil spill, about an idealistic but flawed politician whose career is ruined by a scandalous affair. With Connie Nielsen, Sarah Paulson, Peter Fonda and Wendell Pierce.
Sneakerheadz (Unrated) Foot fetish documentary examining the explosive popularity of sneaker collecting all around the world.
