MOVIE REVIEW: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

 I had low expectations coming into the preview. The last one in the series - 2018's Fallout felt tiresome. I was wrong. I was completely mesmerized by this. Dead Reckoning Part One is pure escapism from start to finish and it's no mean feat to do that since it has a running time of 2 hours and 43 minutes and actually leaves you wanting more.

Cruise's Ethan Hunt and the rest of the IMF crew from the previous films Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) had to face their biggest adversary yet. Kudos to the film's director/writer Christopher McQuarrie and co-writers Erik Jendresen and Bruce Geller for making AI an integral part of the film. Just like real life, the arrival of artificial intelligence into our daily lives provides a scary afterthought. The IMF team makes all effort that a key object that can control AI doesn't fall into the wrong hands. 

All the ladies in the films Rebecca Feguson, Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Kirby were fully utilized. From the Bering Sea to the Austrian Alps, the locations chosen were all top notch and Cruise' stunts are indeed a labor of love from him. 

After last year's unexpected critical and commercial success of Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise is on a winning streak. I'm looking forward to Reckoning Part Two and hopefully make one more film that can finally win him a long overdue Academy Award. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Easter Sunday

 Filipino-American standup comedian Jo Koy is given his biggest break in Hollywood with Easter Sunday. He plays Joe Valencia, a variation of himself, a standup based in Los Angeles waiting for his agent Nick (played by the movie's director Jay Chandrasekhai (Super Troopers))'s call for a sitcom. He has a son Junior (Brandon Wardell) from a previous relationship and despise him for not having enough time for him.

Joe got a call from his mother (Lydia Gaston) and asked him to go to his hometown up north in Daly City aka Little Manila to celebrate Easter Sunday with his family. He brings along his son and drives up north. Hilarity ensues.

Jo Koy brings in the usual stereotype Pinoys from the stage to the screen. Among them are the fighting sisters (Joe's mom and her sister, his Tita (Auntie) Theresa played with good comic timing by Tia Carrere. A mischievous cousin Eugene (Eugene Cordero) and his sister nurse (Elena Juatco). Tony nominee Eva Noblezada is also in the film in a cute role. Tiffany Haddish is also in the film as Joe's past fling.

Kudos to him for showing in the film on how Hollywood treats ethnic groups. Easter Sunday doesn't make fun of the Filipino accent, it celebrates it. Jo Koy will probably push the boundaries on most conservative Filipinos about Roman Catholicism in the movie. On the record, I wasn't offended at all. 

As one who considers the San Francisco Bay Area as my home in the US, the movie is Jo Koy's love letter to it. Nothing but pure joy seeing the popular landmarks integrated in the film.

This is the first Hollywood  big studio film about Filipinos. On the record, Christmas is still the most beloved holiday for Filipinos but if Jo Koy's is Easters then it's all good.

MOVIE REVIEW: Minions: The Rise of Gru

Minions: The Rise of Gru is another entry in the Despicable Me films that has now become a cash cow for Universal Pictures. Like the Ice Age series from 20th Century Fox, you can't distinguish one film from another anymore. Fortunately, there are saving graces from this new entry.

First, it's a big improvement from the first Minions film. Steve Carell's Gru was left out in the first movie and it felt not right at all. The Minions and Gru have excellent chemistry and the lovable characters simply can't stand alone on their own. 

Second, the setting. The Rise of Gru brings us back in the 70s when Gru was embracing his bad side. He's a big fan of the Vicious 6, a group of villains. He hatches a plan to join them and this is where the fun part begins.

Third, the voice actors. Aside from Carell, Taraji P. Henson is a welcome treat in the film. She's perfection as the villainess Bell Bottom. It was awesome of Illumination Production to hire 80's icons Lucy Lawless, Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren to voice Bell Bottom's henchmen. Too bad, they were  underutilized in the film. 

Fourth, the music.

Overall, despite it's shortcomings, Minions: The Rise of Gru is an entertaining film with some funny moments. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Top Gun: Maverick

 36 years is worth the wait for the sequel of one of the most defining summer movies of the 80s. It made Tom Cruise a global household name. I couldn't believe that the sequel flawlessly connects itself from the original and ends up being one of the most entertaining films that I saw on the big screen after a long time.

In the past years, cinemas were filled with superhero comic book movies that eventually saturated and most of them had the same look and feel. Top Gun: Maverick brought us the years before Marvel in which people were actually entertained with storylines about regular people with extraordinary skills and talent. Maverick delivers the goods anchored by Tom Cruise's charismatic performance in one of his most iconic roles.

Refused to get promoted because he loves what he's doing best: flying, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell has to face the reality of aging as he's assigned to train new pilots of Top Gun. They're set out on a dangerous mission to prevent global disaster in an unnamed country.

I won't spoil the rest but the film is highly unpredictable and edge of your seat action and suspense is well served.

Miles Teller, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Connelly and provide excellent support and their characters are excellently integrated into the film. Maverick's BFF Iceman (Val Kilmer once again) gives the film it's heart.

Too Gun: Maverick is best seen on the big screen. If you liked the first one, this is better!! 

MOVIE REVIEW: Onward

Just like in 2009's Up!, Disney/Pixar has made grief once again easy to digest in Onward. In the film which bears a resemblance to Disney's 2016 Oscar winning Zootopia, instead of animals the world's population is made up of mythical and magical creatures such as elves, centaurs, Manticores and fairies among others. The story of two teenage elf brothers: Barley (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Ian (voiced by Tom Holland) Lightfoot who lost their father at a young age and their relationship with their mother Laurel (voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her centaur cop boyfriend Colt Bronco (voiced by Mel Rodriguez). 

On his 16th birthday Ian receives a gift from his deceased Dad thru his Mom. It was a chance for them to be reunited with him but only for a day. They immediately seized the opportunity but when the spell felt short, they embark on a quest that would change their lives forever.

Onward is a growing up movie about two young elves, discovering themselves on their path to adulthood. It also is a love letter to the past which we should always remember to protect and uphold so that future generations can learn what shaped us now. The film is also a good way to teacher younger kids about mythical creatures that had enchanted generations over time. I actually learned what a Manticore (voiced by Octavia Spencer) is thanks to Onward. Both Holland and Pratt have excellent chemistry playing brothers. They deserve another live action movie that's not in any comic cinematic universe. 

MOVIE REVIEW: Yesterday

The collaboration of two of my favorite people in the film world: writer Richard Curtis, who penned some of the best comedies in our lifetime among them Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill and Danny Boyle, who continues to astound us with films as diverse as the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire to the trippy Trainspotting resulted in arguably  2019's best comedy Yesterday.

A struggling musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel in a breakout role) can't seem to have a big break in his musical career. Ironically, an accident resulting from a cosmic glitch made him an overnight sensation. He woke up in a world in which the Beatles didn't exist. Jack sang some songs to his friends and family and they were impressed by his "songwriting" skills. It even caught the attention of real life pop superstar Ed Sheeran playing himself and Jack Malik never had better.

Curtis' touches are evident in the film: wonderful yet quirky friends of the lead. As well as Boyle's sginature one man's struggle in the world scenario. Yesterday is such a feel-good film anchored by the well-loved songs of the Beatles and great performances from the cast. Yesterday is the 3rd straight entertaining film about British music starting from Bohemian Rhapsody to Rocketman.

MOVIE REVIEW: Toy Story 4

Just when we all thought that the Toy Story franchise would conclude in the 3rd movie released 9 years ago, Disney/Pixar released a 4th one. It doesn't have the grandeur of the last installment but just like the other 2 movies after the 1st film, you can see the growth of the characters, animation and the story. 

Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the toy gang are now with their owner Bonnie (voiced by Madeleine McGraw), a shy, timid girl who finds happiness with her toys. When she's about to start kindergarten, Woody tags along and in her first class project, the teachers asks the students to make a pencil holder. With his help, Bonnie was able to make one from a spork, pipe cleaner and some googly eyes Woody got from the trash bin. It had a life of his own when Bonnie wrote her name on the popsicle stick feet. She named it Forky (voiced by Tony Hale) and Woody had to watch it's every move since Forky considers himself as "trash" and always finds a way to go back into the garbage bin. 

Aside from Forky, there are other new characters introduced in the film that will endear to moviegoers. Most notable is the guy of the moment Keanu Reeves voicing Duke Kaboom, a Canadian daredevil motorcycle stuntman who yearns for his owner who neglected him. The sensational comic duo of Key and Peele: Keegan-Michael Key and Oscar winner Jordan Peele bring their toned-down humor as carnival prizes Ducky and Bunny respectively. 

Toy Story 4 is also a love story anchoring on Woody's accidental reunion with his  longtime love Bo Peep (Annie Potts), who used to be his former owner Andy's younger sister's old toy who was disposed off early in the film. 

The Toy Story franchise keeps getting better and better. The ending might feel like a conclusion but I wouldn't mind a 5th installment of it.