The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: A Review of a Decent Spy Movie

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. debuted this past week around the world and it was fun. Its hard to describe though. Its a Cold War spy movie where an American agent has to team up with a Soviet agent to take down a criminal organization planning on selling an atomic bomb to a Nazi remnant hiding in South America. Imagine James Bond films of the 60's but more stylized and with a slightly heavier tone. There was beautiful women, cool action sequences, car chases, boat chases, a couple gadget gags. A lot of the movie revolved around the relationship between the two spies as they tried to interact with each other despite a history of trying to kill each other.

The movie is a pleasant action adventure. Henry Cavill plays an American Agent. I found this surprising as a British actor, but he was believable and entertaining. He played a smart-ass character with a bit of an attitude. Then there is Armie Hammer. I thought his fake Russian accent would be bad, but it didn't really bother me. He was fun as an adversary for Cavill and he felt like a Russian spy. It made sense. My favorite cast member was Alicia Vikander as Gaby. Her character is awesome. She is mysterious and interesting. She is strong-willed and knows she can take care of herself. She does a great job with a character who you believe is one person, but then you realize that the character is completely different as the movie progresses. She is the highlight of this movie, and it is the second time she has outshined her co-stars in a movie this year, as she did that in Ex Machina as Eva. She is so good and I can't wait to see what she does next.

As for the story, it wasn't that complicated and actually not completely memorable. It was your classic style spy movie with good action. But the story wasn't the highlight, it was the stylized nature of the editing that was memorable. At times there were scenes where you followed both spies through their activities on different parts of the set and the screen was split like a comic book. There were frames and different things happened in different frames and actors would cross from frame to frame. It was actually really cool. It could have been really corny, but they did a great job with it and it wasn't something I had seen done like that for an action movie before.

This movie also felt more like a set up for a franchise than anything else. It stands alone, but it ends and you get the feeling that the next film will be better. I wouldn't mind seeing another and I would definitely go, but I kind of feel this movie is evident of an issue the studios have these days. They are so interested in creating the next billion dollar franchise that they forget to just create a good singular movie. They are so focused on "Where do we go next?" that they forget about "What are we doing now?". Eventually that will be fixed but this movie suffers from that trend. The movie could have used more work on making the story better so that it was more memorable and interesting. It was too cookie cutter. The characters were interesting, the villain had potential, but you never felt suspense. There was never any weight to the story. A little more attention could have done this film some good.

Overall, I had a fun time seeing this movie. It was interesting enough to keep me captivated and was a good time a the theater, especially since I had never seen it before and it wasn't a sequel. It felt fresh and I appreciated that. If you are looking for something to do on a quiet Sunday, go see this. If your wallet is tight, then wait for it on cable. This should do well on cable. I give it a 3/5.

Trainwreck: Not a Trainwreck...

So Trainwreck staring Amy Schumer finally came out here in the UK, so I went to see it, and I was pleasantly surprised. This was a thoughtful, endearing comedy that pulled all the right strings, was cast very very well, and was a successful comedy in a year that was seriously lacking them.

To start off, I didn't really know what to expect from this film. I saw the trailer and wasn't blown away, so I was worried this would turn into a stupid gross-out comedy that tried to make the simple jokes. Instead we got a movie that actually makes a point and is strong and doesn't take the easy jokes, most of the time. There were a few moments that did, but you expect that in a movie like this. I tend to not like Amy Schumer's comedy. It has nothing to do with her personally, but for some reason I just don't laugh. However, I thought she was really funny in this movie. Her character was interesting and I loved how she played it. The progression her character takes was great and you saw an attitude shift in her as she gained more and more life experience. She shined in every scene. This was the perfect role for her. But the funniest parts of this movie involved scenes with other characters in it. Bill Hader was great in this. He was really funny and played a great second lead in this movie. He add more weight to Schumer's performance and added to the scenes he was in. His scene with Matthew Broderick and LeBron James in the intervention scene was comic gold.

The smaller roles were great too. John Cena played one of Amy's boyfriends and was spectacular. He has a squeaky clean image in real life, so it was jarring to see him play a dirtier role in this kind of movie, but he was great. I laughed every time he was on the screen. The movie theater bit was particularly scene stealing. The biggest surprise however was LeBron James. He was playing an exaggerated version of himself, but he was really really funny. He has great comedic timing and was the shock of this film. It was a breakout performance for him. He was the comic relief alongside Bill Hader, which is different, but it totally worked I didn't stop laughing when he was onscreen.

I thought this movie was really funny, but sometimes I felt they did take the easy route towards jokes. I really like it when any type of comedy movie or tv show makes jokes about social issues  by putting characters in situations where the absurdity of that issue is clearly visible and understandable without the viewer having to be directly told by the writers. The best comedies let the absurdity of social inequality speak for itself, but this film blatantly verbalizes the joke even though it was already evident what they were doing. When this film did it, it didn't feel like the joke was natural. It felt pushed and forced and was jarring and took me out of the movie. I immediately felt like the social critique was being explained to me like I was some sort of idiot. It was disappointing mostly because those scenes had already made their point successfully and didn't need the unnecessary tag.

Overall, this movie was really funny. Was it the funniest movie ever, no. But it was a really good, really smart, socially aware comedy that was well written, directed, cast, and acted. If you are looking for a fun movie for a Friday night go see this. If you are looking for something to see instead of Fantastic Four, see this movie. As for a rating, I give this movie a 3.25 out of 5. Very enjoyable and captivating. Worth a trip to the theater.

Fantastic Failure: Fantastic 4 Review

Here is my review of Fantastic 4. One of, if not the worst superhero movies of all time. This movie is a complete trainwreck. For more in depth analysis, check out my full video review below. I rate this movie a 1/5 stars. So far it is the worst movie I have seen this year. If you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your time and spend your hard earned money on a good movie like Mission Impossible Rogue Nation or anything else for that matter. This movie is just bad.

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation: An Instant Classic

Tom Cruise still has it. He is still a blockbuster MOVIE STAR. He, his team, and Bad Robot may have created the best Mission Impossible movie ever. This movie was great and it re-solidified Cruise's position as a movie star.

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation is a bunch of fun. The movie starts of fast and never slows down. The clip of Cruise hanging off the side of the airplane happens in the first 60 seconds of the film. And if you were wondering, Cruise did all his stunts including hanging of an airplane for all 9 takes of the scene. The story in this film revolves around Ethan Hunt becoming a rogue agent hunting down a secret organization of rogue agents. It sounds similar to every M:I movie which all involve some level of rogue agents, but this film takes the theme in a new and refreshing way. The story progresses well and makes logical steps and doesn't become too unbelievable. There are very few plotholes and overall the story makes sense. It is a spy film, a revenge film, a heist film, and a mystery film. It plays with story tropes from all these types of films, mixes them together, and produces a wonderfully enjoyable film that is captivating and interesting.

A movie's story is important, but it doesn't matter if the characters are not well rounded and connect with the audience. You don't have to worry about the Ethan Hunt character. He has been around long enough that it is pretty much a guarantee. The same goes for Luther. Both characters are established and connect the moment they appear on screen. The other characters though need to be good, and every one succeeds in this movie. Simon Pegg's Benji is a great character. He was a surprise in Ghost Protocol, so the character needed to progress in this film and play a more important role. I really felt that he was the second lead in this film behind Cruise. Benji was great. He provided comic relief and helped connect the audience to the crazy world of Mission Impossible. While he is talented at his job, his character comes off as the regular man and is the most relatable character in the film. You care about this character and feel like you are along for the ride with him. The other character that needed to succeed and did was Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa. Each new movie introduces a new bad-ass female character and this one, in my opinion, is the best one yet. She is a complete ass kicker. She is mysterious, strong, powerful, captivating, and interesting. You think you know her, but you are never quite sure until the very end. She is a character that I hope they bring back from now on. Lets stop replacing the women each time and make her a regular. She was that good and awesome.

The final piece needed for a great action film is awesome action sequences and this film was full of them! You have the awesome airplane opening sequence. A cool fight in the torture dungeon. The fight above the opera stage that felt both beautiful and creepy with the overlaid opera music. It felt like a dance and was really cool. Then you have the insane water scene and then the nuts motorcycle chase through the streets of Casablanca and the surrounding countryside. The action was thrilling and fun. With every movie they keep upping the intensity and insanity of the stunts. I cannot fathom what they will do next, but I have great confidence that it will be spectacularly awesome! And we shouldn't have to wait too long, as Cruise wants to start filming the 6th movie next summer!

Overall, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation is an awesome summer action blockbuster. It was originally set to open in December, but the studio moved it up almost 6 months. This was supportive move as they thought it would be a huge summer hit. And they were right. This movie was really well made and kept you interested from beginning to end. It is one of the best Mission Impossible movies and may be the best. I give this film 4.5/5 stars! If you haven't seen it, GO! It's totally worth it. I can't wait to see what they do next!