GOO Reviews

Mission: Impossible — Fallout images courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Of all of the Mission: Impossible movies that I liked (which is all but the second one), I have to admit that the last one, 2015’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation by director Christopher McQuarrie, is the one I probably like the least. For all of its strengths, Rogue Nation, unlike most of its Mission: Impossible predecessors, just didn’t have that one scene or concept that blew me away to the point that it made a real difference in the way I look at modern action movies. It just didn’t have an equivalent to Tom Cruise narrowly avoiding detection in the vault at CIA headquarters or Tom Cruise narrowly avoiding an explosive death at the hands of an enemy drone strike or Tom Cruise narrowly avoiding falling to his death while sprinting down the tallest man-made structure in the world. To be fair, it also didn’t have some of the least engaging, worst-looking action scenes in series history, and to be even more fair, of all of the Mission: Impossibles, Rogue Nation is also probably the most solid and consistent purely as an action movie, which is something I’ve grown to feel about it in the years since I’ve seen it rather than something I felt about it after first seeing it. And now we’re here with Mission: Impossible — Fallout, the first Mission movie to continue with a director, Christopher McQuarrie again, and the closest thing we’ve seen so far in the series to a direct sequel. Continue reading →

Spectre

14 Saturday Nov 2015

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If you take a life, do you know what you’ll give?

Spectre images courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures.

When we first set out on building GOO Reviews, Skyfall was the first new review we wrote after the first batch of ten template reviews we’d initially mocked up to work out the kinks of our reviewing process. It’s been a long time since that cold November night back in 2012 when we first saw Skyfall, and now, even though it’s been three years of learning and growing as movie reviewers for us, I still can’t get over how good the opening to my Skyfall review was. The rest of my review sucked though, and right now my thoughts about that long-ago review mirror my feelings about Spectre, the latest Bond movie.

At the moment, it’s hard not to be a little down on the whole Bond franchise with ongoing speculation around a new Bond and talk of how badly current star Daniel Craig wants out. Continue reading →

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation

08 Saturday Aug 2015

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Action, Mission: Impossible, Spy, Tom Cruise

You’re getting old, Ethan Hunt

Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

It feels like it’s been a while since Tom Cruise has done anything all that weird, and by now, even the most ardent KSW-questioning, couch-preservationing, short-person-hating, parents-should-spend-time-with-their-kids-believing critics should be able to admit that he’s made some pretty solid movies lately. And what more can we ask for than that? I don’t go to a Tom Cruise movie to watch him defend Scientology or explain why his last marriage didn’t work, that’s not why I go to movies and those subjects aren’t all that interesting even outside of movies. I go to movies to watch something entertaining and hopefully engaging, and in that way Tom Cruise continues to be the perfect action movie star.

The perfect 53-year-old action movie star. Continue reading →

Kingsman: The Secret Service

21 Saturday Feb 2015

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Action, Brit, Comedy, comics, Spy

Their Upper Lips Are Stiffer than Yours

Kingsman images courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Everybody wants to believe they’re something special. That there’s more to them, another level, that they’re just one opportunity away. And you know what? People — all people — are special. But let’s not mistake special for good. People are special, like Kristen Stewart is special, like Toyota Corollas are special. People are special like Fresca is special, but that doesn’t mean they’re useful or desirable. And besides, the world isn’t really looking for special. The world is looking for valuable. The world is looking for relevant. The world isn’t looking for more of your CO2 emissions.

There’s a specificity in the application of who and what is special that’s both heartening and just as often chilling in Kingsman: The Secret Service, even if it’s a specificity that the film never really takes time to consider.

Skyfall

24 Saturday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

Skyfall images courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures

After I wake up, I take a moment to think about the day ahead. If it’s early enough, I’ll make myself a nice [Skyfall] breakfast. I take a shower, get [Skyfall] dressed, and head out to spend the rest of my [Skyfall] day. I work on [Skyfall] articles, [Skyfall] essays, and [Skyfall] presentations. When I get home, I catch up on the [Skyfall] news of the day, make myself a quick [Skyfall] dinner, watch some [Skyfall] TV, and do my usual [Skyfall] workout. When it’s time for bed, I set my [Skyfall] alarm, do some light [Skyfall] reading, and mentally prepare myself for the next [Skyfall] day. Sometimes sleep comes [Skyfall] quickly, and sometimes it’s induced by [Skyfall] drugs. And as I sleep, I dream Skyfall dreams.

Skyfall is one of those movies that terrifies me. It occupies my mind, disrupts my waking life, and pervades my slumbered thoughts. It’s one of those movies that not only distracts me, but makes me nervous the longer I go after its release date without having seen it. Y’know that feeling, like everyone’s made some wonderous discovery and you’re the only one left out?

Quantum of Solace

23 Friday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

Quantum of Solace images courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures

“Oh crap,” I thought to myself as the realization set in. After completing a review of Casino Royale (CR) in the lead up to Skyfall, it dawned on me that I would also have to do a Quantum of Solace review. Well, here it goes.

Ask any Bond fan, any real Bond fan. It doesn’t matter if you like Daniel Craig by a little or a lot; Quantum of Solace (QoS) was not good. That’s an opinion that’s sort of warranted, but also a little perplexing, because, frankly, there are a lot of crap Bonds (or “junk Bonds” as my screenwriting instructor likes to call them, though I haven’t gotten him to commit as to which ones he’s referring). Certainly to me and to a lot of newer Bond fans, CR was a revelation. If you read my CR review, you know that Daniel Craig’s Bond was not only my first real exposure to the franchise, but that CR is almost wholly responsible for my being a fan. And despite my natural inclination towards psychological sedation and withdrawal (and the mixed advance reviews), I remember actually being excited to see QoS.

And then I saw it.

Casino Royale

23 Friday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

Casino Royale images courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures

Casino Royale is the first Bond movie I ever saw.

There. I said it.

Though, to be more accurate, it’s the first Bond movie I ever saw all the way through. Sure. I’d seen bits and pieces of various Bond movies at various times, pieced together which ones were usually Moneypenny and which ones were usually M. Eventually I figured out why a picture of Sean Connery signed by Roger Moore was such a funny joke. But I never cared about any of it.

Casino Royale is the first Bond movie I ever saw all the way through that I actually cared about. It inspired me to go ahead and watch all the preceding Bond movies. In order. All 20. All in less than a week. All the way through.

And to be honest, I still didn’t really care about any of them.