Spy vs. Spy "Allied"

Allied (2016)

Rated R

Starring Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard,

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

The Story:

Max Vatan (Pitt), a Canadian spy parachutes into Casablanca to meet the lovely French resistance ally Marianne Beausejour (Cotillard). Their mission: to assassinate a German ambassador. While their cover as a married couple was very convincing, Max decided that he wanted it to be real. So after enduring months of vetting and background checks, Marianne finally comes to England, the two are wed, and happiness abounds. Until suspicions arise that Marianne may not be all that she seems.

Cue the ominous music!

In 2005, Brad Pitt makes a movie about being a spy, and having a wife who is also a spy.

He later divorces Jennifer Aniston and marries Angelina Jolie.

In 2016, Brad Pitt makes a movie about being a spy, and having a wife who is a spy.

He later divorces Angelina Jolie...

Clearly, Brad Pitt needs to stay away from this type of role, as he's obviously being typecast!!

:)

That said, this one is not the rip-roaring adrenaline thrill-ride that Mr. & Mrs. Smith was.

It's an action/thriller/drama that keeps you engaged in the is she/isn't she and what happens next as every bit of the story unfolds.

Zemeckis keeps the audience dazzled with action set pieces as well as dramatic tension-filled character moments.

It's not perfect, but it's a pretty solid viewing.

I won't say much more than that, because it's a spy film, you need surprises!

 Final Grade: B-

"Back In Time" Could Have Been So Much Better...

Back In Time (2015)

Documentary

Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale

Directed by Jason Aron

The Story:

Everyone by now has seen Back to the Future, or at least I would hope. This documentary, released just in time to coincide with "Future Day" from Part 2 brings a lot of behind the scenes interviews with the cast, crew and the fans of Back to the Future.

It rehashes some things you might already know.

It will bring out some things you probably did not.

And overall, as a Kickstarter backed movie, it's a really good effort to try and tackle one of the best films of the 80s, of all time, you qualify it, and Back to the Future fits.

A movie so good, the script is used as reference for screenwriting courses in college.

Where I sort of lost interest with the film is when they concentrated on the fans of the films and spend time looking at conventions and recreations of the movie.

Meh.

While nice, I would have preferred more meat about maybe the entire trilogy, and save the fans for a bonus feature.

Thankfully, the film is streaming on Netflix as of this writing, so that saved me $25 bucks ordering blind from Amazon.

:)

Certainly worth a watch if you're a fan, and really, who doesn't love this movie?

Just know that the documentary loses a bit of focus, for me anyway, after the halfway point.

Final Grade: B

I'm Glad Somebody Loved It..."Romancing The Stone"

Romancing The Stone (1984)

Rated PG-13 for language

Starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

The Story:

Joan Wilder (Turner) is a world-renowned romance novelist.  Her adventures thrill and delight audiences around the globe, and if the book can make Wilder cry, she knows she's got a hit on her hands.  When a mysterious map arrives, and her sister is kidnapped, Joan is thrust into living one of her own novels as she goes to Colombia to try and get her sister back.  It's there she runs into Jack Colton (Douglas), who embodies everything in a man that she writes about.  The duo decide to pursue the treasure on the map in the hopes of leverage to get her sister back alive.  Will her real-life adventure play out like her novels?

Another 80s classic for many, watched for the first time by yours truly.

Yep, true story!

Everything I needed to know about this film, I saw back in the day in Eddy Grant's "Romancing The Stone" music video.  So I never bothered to watch it.

So 30 years later,  Netflix offers it up for streaming, so I gave it a shot.

Meh.

:)

Again, especially with many of these 80s "classics", I find myself underwhelmed normally when I see them.  Now, plug in another fantastic movie from 1984, like Beverly Hills Cop or Ghostbusters, that I've seen over and over through the years...

Different story.

So I'm always caught in the conundrum:
Are these films not as good because I didn't see them at the time so I have fond memories?

Conversely, are my favorites from this time period only that great BECAUSE of the fond memories I have with them?

Philosophical dilemmas like this would give Socrates and Plato pause.

Now, what did Romancing the Stone bring to the table?

Robert Zemeckis directing his first feature since 1980's underrated Used Cars.  From the documentaries I've watched over the years, this seemed to be his sink or swim feature, and it led to him getting Back to the Future, so that's a plus.

Speaking of Back to the Future, when the movie opens, there is a bit of music that plays, and I swear it's from Back to the Future!  No surprise then to find Alan Silvestri the composer for this film.  Looking at his credits, this was his first real feature film break, and apparently like Spielberg and John Williams, Zemeckis and Silvestri are a dynamic duo in their own right.

As for Kathleen Turner, it kept her star rising, but it brought Michael Douglas back to cinema's forefront.  He had been floundering in a few flops previously, but this one put him back on the map, and he would go on to make some noteworthy films during the next decade.

So I'll give them credit, everything in the film was okay...

I wonder what my grade would be had this not been my first viewing?

Final Grade: C+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I've gone 30 years between viewings, I think I can hold out that long again. ;)

Your Future is Whatever You Make It..."Back to the Future Part 3"

What kind of stupid name is that?

The Story:

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) heads back to 1885 to rescue Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) before he can be murdered by Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson).  Doc was content to live out his days in the Old West, but murder has him rethinking those plans.  However, when he meets the new school marm (Mary Steenburgen), the decision to leave becomes much harder.  Time's ticking though, and if they don't get out of there, it's likely that neither one will ever make it back to 1985 in one piece.

That's how you end a trilogy.

Following on the heels of Part 2, the third installment brings the warmth and fun back to the series that the 2nd part seemed to lack.

It's bright...it's fun...

And they open up the cool paradox aspect of traveling even farther back into the past than they had ever gone before.

The changes that they will make are subtle, unlike the alternate future Biff created in Part 2.

Then they end on a bittersweet high note with the destruction of the DeLorean... but the ability to time travel still intact.

Will there ever be a part 4?  Doubtful.  Nor should there be.

There should also never be any remake attempt for this franchise.

That's the kind of blasphemy we just don't need.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Own it. Love it.  Seen it many times... not as many as the original...more than the 2nd.  Go figure. :)

Gotta Get Back in Time... "Back to the Future"

To put it simply, one of the greatest movies ever made...

The Story:

The year is 1985.  Young Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is startled to learn that his friend and eccentric inventor, Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) has built a time machine out of a car!  When terrorists come to find Doc Brown, Marty flees in the vehicle and vanishes 30 years into the past... to 1955!  There he meets his parents before they ever met each other, and this random occurrence begins altering the space-time continuum.  Unless Marty finds and convinces Doc Brown in the past to help him get back... to the future.... Marty will cease to exist!!

Odds are, you've seen this film already, and it needs no introduction or anything else for that matter.

If you've been reading my reviews since I started this thing last year, you already know that Back to the Future is one of the 100 Greatest Films Ever Made...That I Own.  It's in the Top 10.

Yep, it's that good.

Pick any aspect of the film, and it is so above anything else, it's not even funny.

The acting?  You cannot do any better than the Michael J. Fox/Christopher Lloyd pairing.  So great is their chemistry, that Eric Stoltz was replaced as Marty because he just didn't bring the charm, fun, spark or chemistry that Fox brought to the role.  Lloyd was already an accomplished comedic actor, and this was his signature role for all time.

You can't utter the line "Great Scott!" without thinking of Doc Brown.  Come to think of it, it's because of Doc Brown that people still utter Great Scott!... nearly 30 years later!

Rounding out the cast as Marty's parents are Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson who both get to play old and young in the time travel caper.

It's hilarious, especially listening to his mom talk about how life was when she was a girl, then to go back with Marty and see that she's an absolute liar! : )

Finally, as I've mentioned before, a hero is often only as good as his villain.  Thomas F. Wilson is the unsung hero of this film by making Biff Tannen possibly the biggest jerk ever filmed in cinematic history.  No small feat, to be sure, and he owns the role.

Director Robert Zemeckis has made a lot of good movies in his career.  This is his best, by far.

The writing?  How about Zemeckis teaming with Bob Gale to craft a time traveling story that not just worked, but transcends generations.  I dare you to find anyone of any age who doesn't like this film.

I'm sure there is someone, but I bet you'll be hard-pressed to find them.

Final Grade: A+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I've watched it so often, I've lost count.  I have put the Blu Ray Trilogy upgrade on my wish list for this Christmas, as I fear that the DVD will eventually wear out.

We're In For a Bumpy Ride..."Flight"

Not based on a true story...


The Story:

Airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) is an alcoholic, and enjoys cocaine, and really, any other drug he can get his hands on.  Unfortunately, he likes to indulge this before work, after work, and heck, during work.  The really weird part, he seems to be completely functional at that level of impairment.  Amazingly enough, his plane malfunctions, and Whip does everything in his power to save the jet and the 102 onboard.  It crashes, 6 die, and then the trial and true test of his piloting and his character will be put to the test.


A story so unbelievable, you believe that it's real, but it's not.  Completely fictional, a rarity in Hollywood these days.

Denzel is on his game, as always, as a pilot who is really good at what he does, but he's not really that nice of a guy.

In his corner is the union rep for the pilots (Bruce Greenwood) who brings in a sharp lawyer (Don Cheadle) to save his friend, but even their attempts at working magic get hampered because of Whip's constant addiction, fed with great amusement by John Goodman.

It's a double-edged sword of a movie.  He's not a bad guy, he just did some foolish things.  However, he's done them so well, for so long, that's simply how his body works.

None of that had anything to do with causing the crash, and you wonder if he will get away with murder, or at least, manslaughter.

The ending is both wonderful, and terrible, at the same time.

I give all the credit in the world for that to Denzel, the story, and the superb direction by Robert Zemeckis.  It's nice to see him not doing that weird animation style for a change. : )


Final Grade: B

Would I Own It: Since it is a drama, it's unlikely, but I could watch it again in the future.