Anime Juke Box - Grace - Jin Roh

Composer Hajime Mizoguchi serves up an interesting score for the film Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade. For the most part it is a low key score, using a mix of orchestral and electronic elements. There are some interesting action cues and for the more touching scenes Mizoguchi serves up the right emotions. But the cue that makes the score is the end credits track called "Grace" or "Grace - Jin-Roh - Omega".

In this cue Mizoguchi takes his main theme, adds female vocals by Gabriela Robin (aka Yoko Kanno). Kanno also performs the piano in this track. It's a lovely piece, one of my favorites featuring Kanno's singing.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)

Introduction:

You can’t keep a good franchise down, or even a mediocre franchise down. But I kid Mission: Impossible. For the most part, the series has remained entertaining and perfect summer weekend viewing. But it’s one of those series that I don’t hear people clamoring for. One will come out; people will see it, enjoy it and then move on to the next action flick. It’s rare to hear someone say, “I can’t wait for the next Mission: Impossible. But that doesn’t keep Tom Cruise from going back to the well.

Summary:

After Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is sprung from a Russian prison, he finds himself involved in a new impossible mission. Agent Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and newly minted field agent Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) need his help to break into the Kremlin and steal some classified information. Of course things don’t go as planned and before you can say, “Didn’t this happen in the last three movies”, Hunt and his team are accused of a terrorist action and disavowed.

It’s all a plot by the diabolical Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist). This brilliant war strategist believes that nuclear war will bring about the next stage of world peace and human evolution. Now Hunt and his team are joined by the capable analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) to stop the mad man, and do it off the grid. But Brandt is hiding a secret and Hendricks is one step ahead. Can Hunt and his team survive all the chases, escapes, explosions, dust storms, building climbing and malfunctioning gadgets to save the world?

Good Points:

• Excellent direction by Brad Bird keeps the flick moving at a good pace
• Plenty of humor injected into the film, keeping everything fun
• Enjoyable musical score by Michael Giacchino

Bad Points:

• Michael Nyqvist is underused in a flat role
• Some of the scenes break the laws of physics a bit too freely
• Tom Cruise is… Tom Cruise

Overall:

This movie was a bit of an improvement over the last. The pacing was perfect, the humor was a great addition and action scenes were intense and fun. However the main villain isn’t given much of a chance to shine here. Cruise is pretty much in his comfort zone , and that will not work for some viewers. But this outing was a fun evening’s viewing.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 3

Script: 3

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Score Sample - Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol - Michael Giacchino

The Mission: Impossible series has had an interesting musical history. For the first film, Danny Elfman created a modern action score infused with Lalo Schifrin's memorable main theme and a theme known as "The Plot". Hans Zimmer followed this up with a rowdy score that was filled with electric guitars. But with the third film, Michael Giacchino was brought on board, and created a fun action score with good balance of modern and 1960s swagger. 

For the forth film, Giacchino was back and this time was inspired by the locales in the film. He still uses the main theme and "The Plot" theme in interesting ways. But he adds plenty of musical flavor for the scenes in Moscow, Dubai and Mombai. The last locale treats us with a Bollywood style for the main theme. Give a listen to "Mood India" and see if can detect Schifrin's famous theme.

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Introduction:

There was a time when Hollywood really wanted to get the magic of director John Woo to work for them. But Face/Off and Broken Arrow  just didn’t cut it with audiences. So they threw him the sequel to a successful franchise, gave him a hefty budget and a bankable star. Would this be Woo’s biggest hit?

Summary:

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is trying to enjoy a nice vacation climbing up cliffs when he’s told of a new Impossible Mission by his superior Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins in a cameo). Ethan needs to find out why former agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) is after something called Chimera. To get to Ambrose, Ethan must find an ex-girlfriend Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton) and convince her to rekindle their relationship.

Of course it’s all a ruse, because she falls for Ethan almost immediately. Unfortunately, Chimera turns out to be a incredibly dangerous synthetic virus that can only be stopped by a serum called Bellerophon. Yeah someone read their Greek mythology.  Now its up to Ethan to stop Ambrose before this super disease is used as a weapon. Oh yeah and Ving Rhames and John Polson are also part of this Mission: Impossible.

Good Points:

• Has some dazzling over the top visuals
• The final half is nearly nonstop action
• Fun and popcorny

Bad Points:

• Over the top visuals can lead to laughter
• Turns Ethan in James Bond and drops the team effort
• What is with all the masks?

Overall:

Easily the weakest in the franchise, but it’s a nice silly action movie. Has some great visuals on display, and the use of slow motion in the actions scenes is handled well. But then there’s the other side of the coin, where Woo’s operatic sensibilities just make you laugh out loud (I’m looking at you motorcycle chase). Also the reduction of the team effort to a one-man show makes this feel like a Mission:Impossible wannabe. It’s fun, but not as rewatchable as the other films.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 3

Acting: 3

Script: 3

Music: 3

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 3

Total:  3

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.

Nostalgia Nugget: Mythic Movies of Ray Harryhausen

I tried to remember a time when I didn’t know about the movies of Ray Harryhausen. It was pretty tough. From a very young age, I enjoyed the stop motion creatures in his thrilling fantasy adventures. I honestly don’t know if I saw Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger on videocassette first or if it was a trip to the theater to see Clash of the Titans. All I know is that whatever the first film was, I was hooked forever after that.

It was a slow discovery of these films in my childhood. I remember seeing those two films very early on. Then followed by The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad a few years later. It wasn’t until junior high that I actually saw Jason and the Argonauts. I know I saw Mysterious Island somewhere in there too. Probably around the time I discovered Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Most recently was the discovery of Harryhausen’s earlier work on films like Earth vs. Flying Saucers and 20 Million Miles to Earth. A few years ago TCM was showing some of his films and I caught those two movies. I was amazed how good the effects looked considering that I only knew of his work from the later fantasy flicks.

And you’re saying, that’s nice and all, but I’ve seen those flicks too.

I bet you have. The thing is, I have to credit Harryhausen’s work for getting me interested in writing. Yeah, you read that right.

He isn’t solely responsible. I have a lot of influences on my writing, and if you want to go back to the real impact, it was probably Star Wars that started my love for genre fiction. But Clash of the Titans in particular made such an impression on me, that I had to know more.

I’m not sure what lead me to find out that the story in Clash of the Titans was based on Greek mythology, but once I knew that – it was all over. I remember picking up books on the ancient heroes, monsters and gods from the library as often as I could. The adventures within blew my tiny mind away. And I continued my journey.

I started reading other mythology; Norse, African, Japanese and Native American stand out most vividly to me from that time. I found the stories endlessly creative and fascinating. As amazing as Clash of the Titans was, I ended up disappointed they didn’t follow the myth a bit closer.

The interest in mythology lead to an interest in storytelling. That lead right into an interest in writing fiction.

During my last revisit of some of these old movies, I began to wonder, what connected so strongly to me when I was a kid.  I really have to hand it to Harryhausen’s work. The creatures he created in those fantasy films really seemed to move, live and breathe on their own. Their strange movements added an additional feeling of the uncanny to them. That might be why I find Golden Voyage of Sinbad to be the most effective of the films. The creatures in that movie seem to exist in a dream world, where Sinbad and his crew must face these other worldly creatures. Many of them are creations by the sorcerer prince Koura (played with perfect menace by Tom Baker). Because they were created by magic, their unnatural movements aren’t distracting, but feel bizarrely realistic. As a child, watching these films, I felt as if I was immersed in a complete world (very similar to how I felt when watching Star Wars). That quality has always stood out in well made genre films.

And so I salute Ray Harryhausen, a pioneer in stop motion animation. I know his work will live on and I’m sure will inspire countless other children to make movies, animate characters or attempt to write a heroic adventure of their own.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Introduction:

Mission: Impossible II didn’t go down too well with most folks. John Woo’s style seemed at odds with the franchise and was too different from the twisty thriller that Brian Depalma delivered. It appeared the franchise was stalled. But Tom Cruise wasn’t about to let that happen. They brought in popular television director J. J. Abrams and gave him his first shot at a big budget motion picture. Was it worth the gamble?

Summary:

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is settling into a nice quite life with his fiancé Julia (Michelle Monaghan). Sure he stays in touch with his old pals at the MI office and does some teaching of new recruits. But he wants to leave that life behind. Which means he’s going to get pulled right back into it.

One of his former students, Agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) has been caught during an investigation of a powerful arms dealer Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Lindsey has vital information and Ethan is pulled in for one last job, to save Lindsey and find out what info she has. For this impossible mission he’s going to need the help of his old pal Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames reprising his role from the original film) and two new agents Gormley (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Lei (Maggie Q). But there’s a catch, Davian seems to be one step ahead of them, and he’s not going to allow any of Ethan’s missions, impossible or otherwise, to succeed.

Good Points:

• Does a great job balancing thrills and action
• Captures the intensity of the first film with some intense sequences
• The story makes Ethan a bit more human 

Bad Points:

• Some annoying overuse of shaky camera style
• Seymour Hoffman seems a bit underused
• Tom Cruise is playing Tom Cruise… again

Overall:

Abrams did a fine job with his first full-length movie, and a big budget star vehicle at that. The story has a bit more of a personal edge to it, allowing us to get to know Ethan a bit better, but Cruise is still Cruise no matter what the script says. Some of the actions scenes get a bit confusing with the camera work, and some of the dialogue scenes have the shaky-cam syndrome. But the pacing is pretty solid and Michael Giacchino’s score is a great mix of modern cool with the classic themes from the television series. The film takes itself deadly serious, and a little humor could have helped. An enjoyable thrill ride for weekend viewing.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 3

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 3

Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.    

Mission: Impossible (1996)

Introduction:

Although people like to complain how Hollywood has no new ideas these days, the problem was actually alive and well back in the 1990s. That was the decade that brought us films based on Saturday Night Live characters and The Beverly Hillbillies movie. But there was some good that came out of it. Tom Cruise wanted an action vehicle to star in and he picked the old 60s espionage series Mission: Impossible. It started a film franchise, but does the first film hold up?

Summary:

It was just an ordinary impossible mission for Jim Phelps (Jon Voight instead of Peter Graves in the role) and his crew. Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is Phelps right hand man and leading the team in the field. But before you can say double-cross, everyone on the team is killed and Ethan is the prime suspect. With the rest of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force) hunting him down, Ethan turns to a set of disavowed agents to help clear his name.

The cat and mouse game begins, as Ethan goes underground recruiting his new team, while dealing with an arms dealer, breaking into the IMF headquarters and getting in and out of all kinds of scrapes. Can Ethan trust anyone on his ragtag crew, or is this one Mission: Impossible that he won’t survive? The impressive cast includes: Emmanuelle Beart, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vanessa Redgrave and Emiio Estevez.

Good Points:

• A twisty story just made to build suspense
• Solid casting helps the whole thing flow
• De Palmas visual style is a perfect fit

Bad Points:

• For some folks the story is a bit too twisty
• Those looking for action will be disappointed
• I didn’t need to see Jon Voight’s cheeks vibrating across my screen

Overall:

One of the many spy films of the 1990s, but one that holds up well to repeat watching. DePalma’s sure handed direction keeps the movie suspenseful and exciting. You can’t turn your brain off if you want to follow the plot, but it’s not nearly as complicated as some folks complained. Cruise makes the character of Hunt compelling and watchable. It’s easy to see why this launched a franchise.

Scores (out of 5)

Visuals: 4

Sound: 4

Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 4

Entertainment: 4

Total:  4

Curious about a full review, sent me an email and I’ll make additional thoughts to this review.