Johnny English Reborn 2011 6 out of 10

I'll start off by saying that I think Rowan Atkinson is a comic genius.   Mr. Bean,  Black Adder,   and The Thin Blue Line are all classic British TV comedies.   His store clerk in Love Actually is absolutely the best scene in a great movie.    That being said the Johnny English films to date have just been okay.   

The character of Johnny English is basically a spy version of Inspector Clouseau.   He is like the English version of Maxwell Smart.   While I think Rowan Atkinson does a good job as the over confident yet blumbling character -- the film is just lacking something that could make it a better film.  It has to be somewhere in the writing and tone of the films.  Everyone around Johnny English is in a serious spy film where his buffonish character stands out in contrast.   The Get Smart  movie was similiar to a certain degree --but somehow pulled it off better.   

The movie has some funny moments and was enjoyable at times --but isn't memorable.   The Austin Powers films stand out to me as the best in the spy spoof genre.  The tone of the those movies is consistent and most of the characters are just as absurb as Powers himself  (Especially Dr. Evil).   I think maybe the Johnny English films could have benefited from having the character in a world more suited for him.  The serious spy film universe that the character bumbles around in just doesn't provide the consistent laughs that the Austion Powers world achieves.

A third Johnny English film is currently in the works for release this year.

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Kingsman The Secret Service 2014 7+ out of 10

Kingsman The Secret Service   2014   7+ out of 10

Kingsman The Secret Service has one of the most crazy violent scenes I've ever seen in a movie that takes place in a church.  The violence is in a silly over the top style that reminded me of an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon and therefore didn't seem as violent as it really was.   The film about a super secret spy organization and is based on a comic book called The Secret Service. It definitely had the look and feel of a comic book with its wild action sequences that felt like panels ripped straight out of a comic book.  

Colin Firth the Bad ass:

 Colin Firth gets to play a bad ass for once and comes off like a total James Bond especially in an action scene early in the film.  This fight scene is a big departure from the classic not so manly fight he had with Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones Diary.  Colin Firth is one of my favorite (non Python) British actors and it was refreshing to see him in this kind of role.    

The movie Itself:

I was surprised by the level of over the top violence in the film. The movie reminded me a lot of Shoot Em Up with Clive Owen in it's visual style .   I was expecting a spy movie that felt more like the X-Men First Class movie which its creators were involved in--but instead it felt more like a mix between Snatch and the original 1960's Casino Royale to me.  The story basically follows the recruitment of a young troublemaker to be a replacement for a fallen spy into the secret organization.  I felt the film got bogged down in this training phase a little as the main character competes with other recruits for the only spot in the organization.   I would have rather seen more of actual spy missions and this was probably the main reason I didn't rank the film higher.   The action was fun if you except the over the top cartoonish violence. Samuel L Jackson plays the main villain of the film and  Jack Davenport (Captain Norrington from Pirates) also stars in a brief role as an agent at the start of the film. 

I'd say if you liked Shoot Em Up you will probably like this as well.

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Doll Squad 1973 3 out of 10

The Doll Squad 1973  3 out of 10

The Description

According to the description which made me hit record on the DVR the movie was  about bikini clad assassins taking on a saboteur.  This low budget attempt at a spy movie features a group of women that are a part of  an elite unit that is enlisted to take out a sinister ex agent that is trying to threaten the world.  

The Movie

The movie itself is quite dull,  despite the sound track that tries to make you think that  something interesting is happening at all time.  Someone walking up a staircase isn't exciting just because there is a hip non-stop drum beat in the background.  Almost every single scene has this fake James Bond  music attempting to fool the viewer into thinking something exciting is going on when nothing exciting is.  The movie even has a terrible sounding Bond wannabe song in the end credits that was almost laughable.    

The Acting

The acting is  pretty bad which you can get a sense of in the trailer  (Not SO Bad it is Good unfortunately).    The action in the movie is silly and cheeseball.   The action scenes feel like something out of a badly choreographed episode of the A-Team.  This movie may have inspired the TV series Charlie's Angels (a much better product)   and Quentin Tarantino was influenced  by it when coming up with the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad in Kill Bill. (the film didn't seem like anything inspiration worthy to me).  

The villain has a plan to take over the world by releasing rats with the plague strategically throughout the world , luckily the Doll Squad wearing outfits out of a Bruce Lee Kung Fu movie assault his compound and save the world before his fiendish plot can take place..

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Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 2011 6 out of 10

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol   2011   6 out of 10

This is the fourth adventure for Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.  

Ghost Protocol was a good solid action movie, but I wasn't as impressed as everyone else was apparently.  The story focuses on Ethan Hunt and a team of agents that basically trying to stop a rouge nuclear launch while under the radar since they are blamed for an explosion at the Kremlin.  The action sequences (despite Cruise's awkward running style)  were good.   Jeremy Reener did a good job as the reluctant ex field agent that ends up a part of the action. The movie just lacked for me some of the cool elements that  I had really enjoyed  in Mission Impossible 3.    Mission Impossible 3 which I had watched earlier this year got me interested in a franchise that I had bailed on after the dismal Mission Impossible 2 which I.  Ghost Protocol was good... just not to the level of James Bond or even Tom Cruise's own  (over the top and silly)  Knight and Day from 2010.      It wasn't even as good to me as some of the really good episodes of the Spy -comedy TV series Chuck.  It treaded too familiar ground in many scenes like ----let's have the hot women seduce and steal the codes from the rich bad guy....which quite frankly was done better on Chuck and recently with a twist on  Agents of Shield.   

The story just didn't capture me as much as Mission Impossible 3 which had a much better villain.   The missile scene at the end seemed ridiculous,  anyone who has seen War Games would know that a missile launch like that would have an immediate response so I just couldn't buy into.  For every interesting  sequence like the car parking structure battle at the end of the film that worked really well---there was an uninteresing one like the chase through the sandstorm just didn't work.  I'd say it is worth checking out if you like spy movies, but I definitely wouldn't rate it as highly as most people do.  I'd say it ranks 3rd amonst the 4  Mission Impossible films.

 

Here is what I thought of Mission Impossible 3

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Red 2010 8+ out of 10

Red   2010    8+ out of 10

I had passed over seeing this flick because when it original came out.   The trailer just didn't capture my attention as a must see movie.     It just looked like a bunch of older actors doing a retired spy movie and the concept didn't seem that thrilling.    I decided to record it on my DVR since its sequel just came out in theaters and to my surprise the movie was actually really good.  The film stars Bruce Willis as an ex spy that has retired and ends up getting sucked back into the business when he shows up on a hit list.  After a near death experience at his home he goes on a journey to find out why this is happening.   This leads to him meeting up with a girl in the payroll department that he has been talking to over the phone getting her involved in the adventure and meeting up with a bunch of old spy buddies.  The supporting cast is full of oscar worthy actors that include John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren all of which do a great job.   The film is based on a graphic novel so has a little bit of an over the top comic feel to it, which is common in a lot of recent spy movies.   The plot moves along at a good pace with witty dialogue between the characters which makes for a satisfying action film.  There was a really cool segment towards the end of the film where they pull off a kidnapping that felt like a scene from one of the Oceans Eleven movies.     It was a lot better than I had expected it to be

Knight and Day 2010 7 out of 10

Knight and Day 2010  7 out of 10

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz star in this action/spy/comedy.  Cruise basically plays  a  comic book version of his Ethan Hunt Mission Impossible character and Diaz stars as the random girl that gets caught up in his adventures.  The film was fun despite being like a cartoon version of a spy film.  It is more a comedy than a true action film although there is quite a bit of action in the film.   It starts out with a silly bit of action on an airplane where every passenger other than Cameron's character is an agent trying to kill Cruise's character.   He takes each one of them out while Cameron is in the restroom completely unaware of the Austin Powers like melee happening aboard the plane.    The action was  so over the top to the point of complete unbelievability (especially with some of the bad CGI), but yet it was still a fun film as long as you don't take it seriously.   The drawback of being so over the top silly is that you definitely never feel that the characters are ever really in danger like say in a Bond film where characters can die.  If you can embrace the silly cartoonish nature of the film then the bad CGI running of the bulls on a motorcycle actually becomes an enjoyable scene.  If you are looking for Mission Impossible 3 you may be disappointed, but if you just want a fun silly action comedy than check it out.

Mission Impossible 3 2006 8 out of 10

Mission Impossible 3    2006    8 out of 10

I had tuned out the Mission Impossible series after the disaster that was Mission Impossible 2.  MI2 was one of the worst big budget sequels I had seen at the time and I just really didn't want to see number 3 after my experience with number 2.    Well MI3 played the other night on TV and I decided to DVR it and give it a chance since its director J.J. Abrams will be at the helm of my beloved Star Wars franchise.  Having not liked the Star Trek reboot ...but having liked some of his other work I wanted to see what he did with Mission Impossible.    I'm glad to say that MI2 was actually pretty good.   Tom Cruise again stars as Ethan Hunt a spy that always seems to be dealing with double crosses (if I was this dude I wouldn't trust anyone).  Mission Impossible 3 delivers with some exciting action sequences and a good story, plus the bonus of having the strong acting of Phillip Seymour Hoffman who makes for a much better villain than the recent Bond flick (which I thought was just odd).   Mission Impossible 3 is a solid 8 out of 10.  I'll have to check out the well received MI4 now.  As far as my thoughts on Abrams......I think he is a capable director that has a good chance to do Star Wars right......but I'm still a little worried for the Star Wars franchise to be in his hands.

Skyfall 2012 7 out of 10

Skyfall 2012   7 out of 10

I used to see a lot more movies on the big screen.....Now with a family of four kids and a wife and 2 dogs most of what I see has to wait of Netflix. (which is fine because I have a big TV now).

Certain films need to be seen in the theaters......The Harry Potter Films,  Star Wars,  Lord of the Rings and of course James Bond.

So Skyfall was on my list of must see in the movie theater movies.

The opening action sequence of Skyfall  was about as good an opening sequence as a Bond film could have.  Many have labeled this Bond as being one of the best Bond's yet...and although it was good I wouldn't rank it near the top of a list of Bond Films.    Bond has been around for 50 years now and the series has some great films many of which I enjoyed more than this outing.  I'm sure a part of that opinion is the hype about it being one of the best going in.    Daniel Craig  in his third outing   is once again good as Bond and Judi Dench is strong as M.     Javier Bardem to me was just weird and uncomfortable to watch as the ex agent/gay super villain that seemed like a character out of 24 instead of a Bond film.

Skyfall centers around an ex MI6 agent that is out for revenge against M and Bond must do all that he can to protect her.  Like I mentioned it kicks off with a great action sequence that includes a motorcycle chase across roof tops and a fight on top of a train.  The action after that never quite matches the energy of the beginning of the film and the movie really slows down.  Many scenes seem recycled out of other films.   The Rancor pit scene  (featuring a man eating Komodo dragon)---the Silence of the Lambs scene where the villain escapes from his cell and then the whole stupid lets make a stand in this house scene setting Rambo traps and I found that the ending of the film kind of made the whole journey pointless...I thought it could have ended better.   All in all a good but not great Bond.

Shoot First 1956 6 out of 10

A  U.S. Army Lt. Colonel (played by Joel McCrea)   stumbles across some spies while  hunting in England.  He shoots a man with some buckshot thinking he is a poacher and ended up in the middle of a spy adventure.  The movie also stars the infamous Herbert Lom of Pink Panther eye twitching fame. The movie is a decent low key 1950's spy film.

It starts off kind of slow,but  eventually speeds up a bit near the end with a staircase gunfight after a clandestine meeting inside a wax museum.