Tag Archives: alec baldwin

Movies, My Favorite Scene

My Favorite Scene: Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) “Extracting Lane”

3 Comments
Mission: Impossible Fallout’s Best Scene

Mission Impossible: Fallout defied the two defining trends of 2018 at the films. It exceeded the wildest expectations anyone had for the sixth film in a 22-year-old series, and it managed to be the poster child for how franchises can be amazing in a year when franchise fatigue seemed to reach a new level of punishing. Not only is Fallout the best MI film, but it’s also arguably the best film of last year and the best action film since at least Mad Max: Fury Road. The film manages to weave a coherent and compelling plot around a series of action set pieces that play like a compelling audition tape for the creation of a Best Stunt Work Oscar category. No matter what kind of action scene is your personal favorite (skydive; gunfight; fist fight; crashes; explosions; and chases by foot, helicopter, motorcycle, and car) Fallout does them and does them as well as any film ever has.

Sean Harris in MIssion Impossible: Fallout
Sean Harris in MIssion Impossible: Fallout (2018)

Picking one of those set pieces to elevate over the others is a tough call. The HALO jump is astonishing. Cruise and Cavill’s restroom rumble is fantastic. My favorite sequence of the film though is the extraction of the film’s villain, Solomon Lane, from custody and the ensuing madness in Paris. Director Christopher McQuarrie, who also wrote the film, crafted a masterful action sequence in which an improvising Ethan Hunt has to figure out a way to break his nemesis out of a moving armored convoy while minimizing any collateral damage intended by his allies of the moment. The sequence, which also highlights the film’s gorgeous cinematography and score by Lorne Balfe, typifies what I think is Fallout’s best move: humanizing Ethan Hunt. There’s more characterization for Ethan in this film than in the previous five combined and, with a few exceptions, most of is done in the beats between actions. He’s tired in this film. Always so cocksure and calculated, Hunt spends a lot of Fallout looking out-of-breath and in overt exasperated disbelief at some of the things he still has to do to keep the world safe. Tom Cruise, at age 56, finally lets his character look his age, and I think he’s a more interesting protagonist for it. Fallout a bar for quality that’s going to be a near (brace for it) impossible standard for future installments of the franchise to follow. If there’s a flaw in the film, I can’t find it.


Mission Impossible Fallout Poster
movie trailers, Movies

Mission: Impossible – Fallout Trailer #3 (2018) “What’s Done is Done When We Say It’s Done”

2 Comments

 

The third full trailer for Mission: Impossible – Fallout has been released; or the first international one.  This trailer contains nearly all-new footage that last week’s, so it’s a departure from most international trailers, which tend to be remixes of the domestic.  The sixth film in the franchise, written and directed by returning Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie, finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team seemingly paying for a lifetime of tough choices.  Despite three full trailers, they’ve managed to give little away about the film’s plot, other than the return of Michelle Monaghan, who played Hunt’s wife in MI3 and MI4, seems to indicate this is going to get extremely personal for the IMF operative.  Other than that, all we know for sure is that Hunt’s team is going to run afoul of the CIA and that there will be extended scenes of Tom Cruise running and jumping off of various edifices.


In case you think it’s just you, it’s not.  Tom Cruise has made an entire career of running at top speed through films.  And, why yes, I HAVE included a comprehensive supercut of all his running scenes below.


The Mission: Impossible franchise launched in 1966 with the original CBS television series, which ran for seven seasons and 171 episodes. Mission: Impossible returned in 1988 with a rebooted series on ABC. It failed to find an audience, however, and was canceled after two seasons. It was nearly a decade later that the Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible feature film would turn the small screen spy series into a hugely-successful cinematic franchise.

Christopher McQuarrie, who previously helmed Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, is once again writing and directing the Paramount Pictures sequel, which opens in theaters on July 27, 2018.

Mission Impossible Fallout Poster

 

movie trailers, Movies

Mission: Impossible – Fallout Trailer #2 (2018) “Some Missions Are Not a Choice”

2 Comments

The second full trailer for Mission: Impossible – Fallout has been released.  The sixth film in the franchise, written and directed by returning Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie, finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team seemingly paying for a lifetime of tough choices.  Hopefully, given Cruise’s age and declining box office appeal, this will be the finale or at least a transition for the franchise, which-aside from the regrettable second installment, has been one of the longest-running, best franchises in all of movies.  Cruise has been playing Ethan Hunt now for 22 years…which should make all of us feel extremely old (including Cruise).


Mission: Impossible – Fallout finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong. Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby also join the cast.

The Mission: Impossible franchise launched in 1966 with the original CBS television series, which ran for seven seasons and 171 episodes. Mission: Impossible returned in 1988 with a rebooted series on ABC. It failed to find an audience, however, and was canceled after two seasons. It was nearly a decade later that the Tom Cruise-led Mission: Impossible feature film would turn the small screen spy series into a hugely-successful cinematic franchise.

Christopher McQuarrie, who previously helmed Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, is once again writing and directing the Paramount Pictures sequel, which opens in theaters on July 27, 2018.

Mission Impossible Fallout Poster

 

My Favorite Scene, TV

My Favorite Scene: 30 Rock Season 1 (2006) “Jack’s Tuxedo”

3 Comments

 


Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy is one of my favorite TV characters of all-time.  Baldwin’s megalomaniacal, prescient, manipulative, eccentric NBC executive was a hit from the pilot, but really had his first moment of pure “Jacktasticness” (trademark pending) in 30 Rock’s sixth episode.  Jack has his overworked showrunner Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) pulling extra duty during an especially busy time writing jokes for a conservative fundraiser at which he’ll be speaking.  This scene is the culmination of an episode of Donaghy messing with Lemon for his own amusement, plus it contains the greatest one-line explanation for why a character SHOULDN’T be wearing a tuxedo in entertainment history.  30 Rock went on to become one of the seminal sitcoms of the last 25 years, and in the sixth episode you can already see why.Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock

movie trailers, Movies

Mission: Impossible – Fallout Trailer #1 (2018) *The Hunt is On!*

6 Comments

The Super Bowl has become a movie trailer showcase over the last ten years, but most are 90 second teaser spots (a montage of which we’ll have tomorrow), but the first full trailer for Mission: Impossible – Fallout has been released.  The sixth film in the franchise, written and directed by returning Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie, finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and the IMF team seemingly paying for a lifetime of tough choices.  Hopefully, given Cruise’s age and declining box office appeal, this will be the finale or at least a transition for the franchise, which-aside from the regrettable second installment, has been one of the longest-running, best franchises in all of movies.  MI: Fallout opens July 27, 2018.


The best intentions often come back to haunt you. Mission: Impossible – Fallout finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong. Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby also join the dynamic cast.

Rebecca Ferguson and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Fallout