Snark, Critic and Pop!

There isn’t much debate that the big budget musical Rock of Ages was a bomb.  And, it didn’t make a lot of money at the box office either.  It turns out folks aren’t as crazy about seeing a 50 year old Tom Cruise — best known for not singing throughout Mission:Impossible — trying to cover various rock standards while shirtless.  The theatrical version very few people intentionally saw — I heard that Katie Holmes was required to take the kids as part of a divorce settlement. 

But it comes out on DVD Tuesday, and the studio fixed the problem: An extended addition!  Instead of two hours of terrible musical movie, now you can see two and a half frickin’ hours!  Huzzah! (continue reading…)

This is not just another Tom Cruise movie trailer, it marks the exact moment when the phrase “Really?” becomes officially uncool:

Re-posting one of Tom’s old reviews from the old Film Is Pwn days:

I skipped Mission Impossible 3 in theaters. I skipped it at the rental store. I skipped over buying it on several occasions. I had been told it was good, but I assumed it was all lies.

I had reason to think it was lies; I had, after all, seen Mission Impossible 2. I finally caved and sat down to watch it about a week ago. About five minutes in I started to think that perhaps M:I-2 had just been a bad memory, perhaps it never happened, because this sure felt like an extension of the first and very enjoyable Mission: Impossible. The question really is … what happened?

For a good film one usually starts with a good script or screenplay. A director may make adjustments along the way to fit with their vision, but a good screenplay is critical. For Mission: Impossible 2 however this just didn’t happen. Robert Towne, the writer credited with the screenplay, comments that a majority of the script was centered around action sequences requested by John Woo, long time fun-bad movie maker. Fortunately, John Woo didn’t make Mission: Impossible 3, JJ Abrams of the TV show Lost did. (continue reading…)

I saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, a.k.a. Don’t Call It Mission Impossible 4, over the course of Christmas weekend.  Bottom line: loved it.  It’s everything you’d want in a Summer movie — fun action, excitement, crazy stunts, lots of laughs — but in time for the holidays!

The Mission Impossible franchise has benefited and suffered from bringing in different directors and subsequently different directions for the first three films.  (continue reading…)

I know a lot of folks out there cannot STAND Tom Cruise and/or anything he does, and not without reason. But if I disavowed everyone, let alone every actor/singer/writer, who said and/or did really stupid things, I wouldn’t be partaking of very much pop culture, would I? While I avoided Cruise’s embarassing Cameron Diaz disaster, Knight & Day, I can’t wait for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. J.J. Abrams’ MI:3 was awesome, and this one (with a story by Abrams & Cruise, directed by Pixar vet Brad Bird) looks like it could be a winner as well.

If Cruise’s inanity and periodic insanity are off-putting, the ensemble has plenty of geek/nerd inducing faces: Simon Pegg, Josh “Sawyer” Halloway, Ving Rhames, Léa Seydoux, Paula Patton, and the great Tom Wilkinson. Check out the trailer and see for yourself: (continue reading…)

It is “confirmed” that Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) is in negotiations to star alongside Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible IV.  I’m Tom Cruise indifferent — I think he’s an entertaining actor and I do not care too much about stars’ personal lives (at least until they reach Mel Gibson levels of offensiveness).  But I know a good many people who can’t overlook Cruise’s “antics.”   One such person is SnarkCriticPop’s official news source “Deep Tweet”, who also happens to be a HUGE Jeremy Renner fan.  So, the question is this, “Deep Tweet”, and our loyal cadre of commenters in general: Will you watch M:I IV with Cruise and Renner?

Unless the film is directed by Uwe Boll or just looks appalling, personally I’m in.  But I really enjoyed the first and third in the Mission: Impossible franchise.  # 2 was enjoyable as a dumb, John Woo action film as well.  # 1 was a solid spy thriller from director Brian De Palma.  Mission: Impossible III was criminally overlooked, really a very good film from director J.J. Abrams and featuring a great turn as a villain from Phillip Seymour Hoffman.  Well worth checking out # 3 if you’d avoided it previously I say.  (continue reading…)