The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of spy movies lately, which is not necessarily a bad thing. This particular Guy Ritchie yarn is more of a comedy than an action movie, which is fine. Not that the spies here aren’t formidable or the action isn’t actiony. Superman and The Lone Ranger make for imposing agents, but the best moments are the ones that are going for laughs. Droll moments of physical shtick while the fuzes are lit. It’s unique, too, that it’s a re-boot, or re-hash, but it takes place in its original time period. So there’s a lot of 60’s clothes and 60’s tech. Will audiences like that? I’m not sure. (It reminded me a little bit of X-MEN: First Class.) Anyway, it’s a likeable and watchable movie. Ritchie cheats a bit by rewinding the timelines a little and showing you scenes from other characters viewpoints, so as to explain confusing plot-points. As long as you trust him, I suppose, he can do what he wants. The bottom line is, every summer movie should be AT LEAST this good.  

Straight Outta Compton

This music bio-pic starts out well, depicting how the members of NWA form and become hugely influential. The emphasis is more on the lives of the players rather than the music, which is fine because the drama is high, but I wish there was more music, too. Performances are all solid, especially from a relative unknown, Jason Mitchell, as Eazy-E, the drug-dealer turned record label owner who hates doing the paperwork. Important, also, seeing the reminders of the 1992 L.A riots, and how similar it was to current police protests in Missouri, etc. The way the police hassled people back then is infuriating. How much has changed?? It runs long and some of the arguments about contracts can get a little tedious. So, it doesn’t deviate that much from a typical music biopic, but during the too infrequent times when it is musical, the audience was rapping along.

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

This was awesome. It’s not like we haven’t seen a car chase through the Moroccan streets. And it’s not like we haven’t seen a fight in the rafters while the opera is going on, but there’s just something better about this. I think it’s the directing by Christopher McQuarrie. He’s not the most experienced director, but he seems to care a LOT about where the camera is to make sure we can follow the action and that nothing is disorienting. "Mad Max" and "Mission Impossible" have made an old school return to continuity; a huge relief when most action movies are so shaky and cutty that you can’t follow what’s going on. There’s also a counter spy, played by Rebecca Ferguson, who essentially steals the show right out from under Tom Cruise. She’s a badass and never a damsel in distress, and either Cruise lucked-out by having her, or he’s a genius for getting her. Either way, we all know that Tom is batshit crazy. It’s all you can think when he’s clinging to the side of a plane mid-flight. But he aims to please. And if movies are going to be $19, they better be worth the money. This was.