“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”
(Action/Thriller: 2 hours, 49 minutes) 

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg and Esai Morales

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Rated: PG-13 (Sequences of strong violence and action, bloody images and language)

Movie Review:

Since 1996’s “Mission: Impossible” (director Brian De Palma), Tom Cruise has been dazzling audiences with stunts and espionage ruses to thwart bad guys. He pulls off plenty of missions, almost impossible again in “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” He and fellow moviemakers provide some of the best entertainment one will see during this blockbuster season. However, the action is ultimately much better than the story.

For Ethan Hunt (Cruise), everything has come to this moment. He and his team are tasked with saving the planet one more time. Hunt and his Impossible Missions Force (IMF) team of crackerjack intelligence operatives must stop a rogue artificial intelligence program called The Entity.

After a nice build-up to this story arc with “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” director Christopher McQuarrie and co-writers Bruce Geller and Erik Jendresen deliver on the action in their long screenplay that never bores but lacks narrative development. They concentrate on action scenes primarily, some go on for far too long, unnecessarily elongating “The Final Reckoning.”

The story plays a backseat to action. The story is very similar to 1984’s “Terminator’s” Skynet, a powerful artificial intelligence program that plans to implement Judgment Day, a strategy to launch nuclear weapons to destroy humanity. This AI program in “The Final Reckoning” is called The Entity, and it plans to launch multiple countries’ nuclear weapons to destroy humans. The remedy to stop The Entity is similar to one applied to foil a computer program in the form of Professor James Moriarty on Star Trek: The Next Generation’s episode “Ship in a Bottle.”

Surely, the writers of “The Final Reckoning” could have derived something better after the prequel “Dead Reckoning” set up an amazing story. The producers of the action/spy movie want the audience to focus on the stunts displayed, some of the most dangerous performed by Tom Cruise. The narrative is secondary, although this is a plot-driven movie.

That aside, “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” is entertaining from the first scene. This action franchise has been one of moviedom’s best. “Mission: Impossible” films are entertaining with exorbitant amounts of action scenes that thrill with anxiety-laced moments, such as Cruise hanging off the side of a plane. One knows the good guys will win, so the dangers the IMF team faces are nil compared to achieving their objective.

Although this “The Final Reckoning” appears the last mission for Hunt’s IMF team, Cruise and fellow movie makers have created a profitable set of characters. Audiences will continue returning to cinemas if this IMF group returns. 

Grade: B (Finality is good when it’s this entertaining.)

 

“Lilo & Stitch”
(Adventure/Science-Fiction: 1 hour, 48 minutes) 

Starring: Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong and Chris Sanders

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Rated: PG (Action, peril, violence and thematic elements)

Movie Review:

“Lilo & Stitch” is a live-action remake of the 2002 cartoon by directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois. A short and blue-furred extraterrestrial that can do human-like actions and has the intelligence of an older child is thought to be a dog. This works better in the animated movie, where the family bonding is more endearing. This remake still entertains enough that it works enough to satisfy audiences of multiple ages.

Lilo (Kealoha), a lonely Hawaiian girl, and her older sister Nani (Agudong) lost their parents. Nani now has custody of Lilo, a rambunctious child constantly in trouble. Lilo‘s behavior changes when she adopts Stitch (Sanders), a fugitive extraterrestrial known as experimental species 626. Even more, two aliens, Jumba (Zach Galifianakis) and Pleakley (Billy Magnussen), under the guise of being humans via holograms, arrive on Earth. Their task is to recover Stitch, whom they deem a threat to humanity.

This movie is an adventure although it happens in mostly familiar spots: home, Nani’s workplace and the beach. Lilo and Stitch have a good time in their city, causing chaos along the way. Lilo has behavioral problems, but a mischievous Stitch makes the girl look angelic. Ergo, the lesson being taught here is Lilo’s progression towards becoming a responsible person as Stitch learns the meaning of family.

While Stitch and Lilo’s behavior is atrocious, they and Nani become a close-knit family again. This is where “Lilo & Stitch” becomes most appealing and works as a family adventure/sci-fi feature.

Grade: B- (This duo still has charm.)

 

“Friendship”
(Dark Comedy: 1 hour, 40 minutes) 

Starring: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd and Kate Mara   

Director: Andrew DeYoung

Rated: R (Strong language, drug content, sexual content and violence)

Movie Review:

“Friendship” is Andrew DeYoung’s feature-length directorial debut film. It is a dark comedy, a weird arthouse film that thrives on Tim Robinson’s performance. It is for moviegoers who appreciate alternative cinematic experiences.

The movie takes about 25 minutes to move beyond the oddities of its main character, Craig Waterman, an exceptional turn by Robinson. Waterman is a suburban husband, father and advertising executive. When he meets his new neighbor, a charismatic Austin Carmichael (Rudd), a television news weatherman, Waterman immediately likes Carmichael. Waterman is desperate for friendship, so he quickly accepts Carmichael’s invitation to hang out with him and several friends. Waterman’s strange behavior quickly alienates him from the group. Waterman’s life spirals downward from there.

Andrew DeYoung wrote this screenplay. It is a psychological movie. The comedy is lightweight. Instead, the movie is a character-based plot.

Tim Robinson works as an oddball Waterman. The man is socially inept. He makes group interactions cringeworthy that even his son refuses to spend lengthy periods with him. Robinson makes this role delectable and watchable, even when matters become too out there and some story elements are left unresolved.     

Grade: B- (Friendships are always welcome.)

 

“The Last Rodeo”
(Sports Drama: 1 hour, 58 minutes) 

Starring: Neal McDonough, Mykelti Williamson and Sarah Jones

Director: Jon Avnet

Rated: PG (Thematic elements, language and violence.)

Movie Review:

“The Last Rodeo” is a noble effort. It creates an inviting story with plausible, genuine people. However, it contains a common sports drama execution.

Star of television and movies, Neal McDonough is known for roles, typically the villain, in teleplay series involving superheroes. Here, he plays Joe Wainwright, a retired rodeo rider. Wainwright left the sport after injuring his neck. After his grandson Cody (Graham Harvey) needs an expensive medical operation to save his life, Joe decides it is time to dust off his boots and get back in the saddle. He recruits his long-time friend and rodeo partner, Charlie Williams (Williamson), to assist his comeback.

While these people feel like they could be our next-door neighbor, they exist in a superficial story. Their narrative is one of convenience, where everything falls into place and at just the needed time. Additionally, common sports tropes are plentiful, such as a comeback training montage of McDonough’s Wainwright. Thus, “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991) remains Jon Avnet’s best cinematic feature as director. 

Grade: C (Blandly rides for 5 out of 8 seconds before being bucked.)