Film Review: "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol"

When you hit the fourth film in a feature franchise, there are a number of ways you can go. You can establish a strong footing for the rest of your series ("Harry Potter"), you can abandon everything that made the previous trilogy great ("Star Wars", "Indiana Jones", "Pirates of the Caribbean", the list goes on), or you can do what "Mission: Impossible" did, and just go out and make the best film you possibly can. This a series that had nothing to do in the first two installments, so no real purpose, and then they tried something interesting with the third and deepened the characters, gave it a jolt of humor, and several needed splashes of style. They did well to hold onto that.

So do I see this as the fourth film in the franchise? No. I actually consider it the second in the series that Abrams kicked off in 2006. Now it has become the jumping off point for Brad Bird's first time as a live action director. I think I had some trepidation when the first trailer came around, but we should have never expected an emotional hard-hitter. That's not what this series is, but it does have an emotional undercurrent that works as a steady heartbeat to hold everything together. What Brad Bird has established in his past of animated films is a lively energy and constantly upheld excitement. That translates perfectly for this piece.

Film Review: "Super 8" (**1/2)

Looking back on the triad of decades from the 1970s to the 1990s, many people do call to mind Steven Spielberg amongst the more defining directors. He's made a great many high impact films such as E.T., Jaws, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but he's had a bit of a dry spell recently. Films like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and War of the Worlds have given him something of a negative  reputation lately. So much can go right with a film like Super 8, and it does its best to be its own thing. While it doesn't hurt to have such a great director as inspiration, the films is a homage to the wrong sort of Spielberg.

The film opens on a sign listing days gone by since the last accident at a mill, and before the fact, I knew they were going to set it back to one. So no, the film gets no points for subtlety on this one. It then cuts to the wake for young Joe Lamb's mother, and we get the idea through dialogue that she did not go out well. It's at this point, with Joe sitting alone on the swing outside, I got the idea that Abrams was crafting a sibling to Matt Reeves' film adaptation Let Me In. In fact, I was beginning to expect the film to be something more than I expected.

Then the stray plot strand invades the film, and it is of course the main thing that has drawn audiences in to see this film. The main group of kids, working to make their own zombie film, shoot at a train station one evening just in time for a truck to derail an oncoming train. This particular sequence is where the film reaches its experiential high, because even if they don't build up the event quite as much as they should, the train wreck is a beauty to behold. It's an immediate onslaught of fire and terror, and while we know that the train has to stop blowing up at some point, we really wish it wouldn't.

Theatrical Trailer: Cars 2

Three trailers in, and there's still no real sign of hope for Pixar's next film, Cars 2. I've really said all I can say about this film already, and not much has changed. This isn't anything new, nor is there much chance of it being emotionally effective. Still, I hold out hope because it features the voice of Michael Caine and the music of Michael Giacchino. Prospects are bleak.

Auditory Expansion: Best Musical Scores of 2010

Sorry for the confusion, but I still have to see True Grit and Black Swan before posting the cinematography list, so this will do until then. 2010 wasn't quite as successful as it should have been in terms of films, but it undeniably was a fantastic year for music. This was confirmed from the beginning with Howard Shore's dark score for Edge of Darkness. The film failed on several counts, but the music wasn't one of them. John Powell, whose scores have been consistently exciting and entertaining, churned out him best work to date attached to How to Train Your Dragon. Danny Elfman had a bad year, first with the complete failure of The Wolfman, but I liked his score for the ill-formed Alice in Wonderland.

James Newton Howard had even worse luck, working on rather pedestrian scores for Salt, Love and Other Drugs, and The Tourist. The best work he made this year was, regrettably, his score for The Last Airbender, which sucks because the score was so fantastic, but the film so abysmal. If the film turned out to be good, James Newton Howard would be nominated for an Oscar this year. A few secretive gems include Nigel Godrich's score for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Daft Punk's electrifying work on TRON: Legacy. True Grit and Black Swan got sadly sidelined from the Oscar race for Original Score the other day, but they're more than worthy of note. Biggest failure in this category this year was John Debney whose massive failures with Iron Man 2 and Predators just brought those films down. The most successful composer was surely Alexandre Desplat, but more about him later on.

3. Let Me In by Michael Giacchino

There are very few horror films that have an effective emotional core attached to them, which is probably the main reason that Michael Giacchino was brought in to work on this score. There's also his previous experience of working with director Matt Reeves, but when news broke out that he was doing the score, it was a lot easier to put my faith in this film. I'll agree that it took some time for the score to synchronize with film, but I blame that a bit on the editing. The score itself is hauntingly beautiful, with tracks like Sins of the Father and Polling for Owen building intrigue and suspense. It's sometimes joyful and happy with tracks like A New Day On an Old Lake. Then we plunge right back into the spine-tingling horror roots, and the best example of that is the best track of the score, Dread on Arrival. End Credits beautifully caps off everything with a tragic melody that hints at the truth of the rest of Owen's life. The score is a powerful extension of the film, and that's what the definition of any effective score should be.

2. Toy Story 3 by Randy Newman

I haven't the slightest clue why Randy Newman's work on the latest and last installment in the Toy Story saga is being so minimalized by people when it comes to the Original Score category. The man has always put together wonderful and heartfelt tunes, and I know the songs are what he's best known for. However, he really pushed the envelope this time around, and brought as much closure and excitement as a soundtrack can give you. The opening number of Cowboy brings you into the fold with an extraordinary sense of wonder. Then it brings you a little further down to earth before grounding you. It builds up as the film goes on, gets really exciting when To The Dump hits, and then climaxes with the breathtaking and tear-jerking The Claw. It ends on a beautifully soft note with So Long, and it eases you into the inevitably end of this franchise. It's sweet, emotional, and weaves in some core themes from past installments. A worthy closing.

1. Inception by Hans Zimmer

Definitely the most expansive and revolutionary soundtrack of the year came in the form of Hans Zimmer's score for Inception. Rather than go the easy route and create something that merely fit the film, Zimmer decided to do something new, which caused a bit of worry when the word "electronic" was used to describe his work. Fret not, because using the advanced medium does not detract from Zimmer's natural talent to register excitement and emotion. The first track that leaked out was a portion of The Dream Is Collapsing, which soon became the main theme for the film. It's not an easy theme to start humming, and it exists on so many different levels and layers, just like the dream world of the film. That sort of theme continues, and it's hard to find a legitimate climax of this soundtrack, because it sustains the excitement through. It's a success on every level, from the amazing action tracks like Mombasa, to the deep and emotional chord that Time creates. Every scene in the film is amplified by the work, and the experience becomes something else entirely than what it was before.

Teaser Trailer: Cars 2

Michael Giacchino is writing the score for a spy movie... sort of. I'm not going to lie. This film has the potentially to permanently break the Pixar winning streak, and it's most likely going to happen. I shouldn't doubt the greatest animated studio in the world, but Cars 2 rather looks like they're taking a break from meaningful and thought provoking films, and opting instead to just make a film for fun. I wish I could completely get behind this, but I simply can't yet. However, I must admit that I did chuckle at Mater's reply to Finn McMissile. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Film Review: Let Me In

If anybody still has intentions of seeing Matt Reeves' Let Me In, a word of caution. If you're expecting something close to the original Let the Right One In, you may leave this film disappointed. If you're going in expecting a typical vampire film, you're even more mistaken. Let Me In is simply a different interpretation of the original story, and the best example of that is in the final scene at the pool. The original film took a low-key and artful approach to the scene, with one shot that remains classic. The new film delivers the true horror of the situation, even if the cinematography isn't quite as spectacular.

The film is about a 12 year old boy named Owen who is violently bullied at school. He doesn't have a lot of friends, if any, and he spends a lot of his time spying on the neighbors. Honestly, who wouldn't? So when a young girl named Abby moves in next door, he forms something of a bond with her. However, nothing is really as it seems, and her guardian leaves at odd hours of the night to kill people. As the relationship between Owen and Abby grows, the relationship between Abby and her "father" disintegrates. As the murders pile up, it becomes clear pretty quickly that there's a more violent force at play.

Let Me In is actually really close to following two parallel time-lines. The "father", played brilliantly by Richard Jenkins, is something of an omen weighing down upon the film. The way he ends up is grim to say the least. Out of fear of spoiling parts of the story, I won't go any further. Needless to say, this is still a brilliant story, no matter how it's told. Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) does a nice job directing this film, and some of the cinematography here is spectacular. As said before, the original film's greatest shot comes at the end, but the 2010 version's comes about midway through the film, and you'll know it when you see it.

The two leads actors in this film may be the best thing about it, and that's high praise for child actors. Kodi Smit-McPhee carries most of the film as Owen, and he really brings across the emotional anguish of his predicament. Chloe Moretz continues to be the best new thing in violent cinema, giving a performance that comes close to rivaling her turn as Hit Girl in Kick-Ass. Michael Giacchino has a constant presence in the film through his score, though I must achingly admit that it's not up to the same standard as some of his other films. Given another month, he could've given us something a little more spectacular, but I still have few complaints about his work, as it wasn't bad. Let Me In isn't nearly as groundbreaking as Let the Right One In, if were going to compare the two, but we shouldn't. It's an individual effort that succeeds pretty well on its own terms, and occasionally does even better.

B

For Your Acknowledgement: I Need Giacchino, To Live!

I know that I've already offered enough of a taste of Let Me In to sell you that it's more than just another American remake. Still, this clip is in some ways more important than the last, as it not only features one of the quieter moments this film is likely to live off of, but also has our first taste of the score by Michael Giacchino. So far, I'm absolutely in love with the melodies that Giacchino has put to use here, and I can't wait to hear his score for the film in its entirety.

Comic Con 2010: "Let Me In" Poster Debuts

From horror to horror, the second poster for Let Me In, the adaptation of the book Let the Right One In, has debuted at Comic Con. I'm liking this poster a hell of a lot more than the first one, as the first one was just words in the snow. If that's supposed to impact me in any way, then the marketing department isn't doing their job right. I wouldn't be surprised if a domestic trailer for the film came within the next day or so, but this poster could keep me content for a while. The look of this poster, the fact that Chloe Moretz is in the lead, and the idea that Michael Giacchino will be scoring the film have me contented for now.