Author: Jack Drees

Academy Awards Adds Popularity Contest?! *AN UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH*

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! If you are new here to Scene Before, you might not be aware that I’ve done a few posts related to the Academy Awards. Honestly, the Academy Awards might just be the biggest night of the year for movies. You know, that one night where lots of people turn the channel to ABC and see what movie they never heard of gets Best Picture? As far as my history of documenting somewhat related content, I’ve done my personal predictions and hopes for the 89th and 90th ceremonies, I’ve done recaps, and there’s even a movie review for “Moonlight” which I did after the Academy Awards that was making fun of the “La La Land” and “Moonlight” incident during the Best Picture reveal.

Today however marks something AMAZING. It’s a true feat in movie history. It’s where the Academy Awards and summer come together! The Academy Awards, which has telecasts that air during the winter, just as spring is suddenly approaching, honoring mostly movies that come out during the fall, usually has little to no association with summer movies. And no, we are not going to be talking about summer movies or movies that come out close to the summer season that have potential of being nominated or winning an Academy Award this year, but if you want my thoughts on those, I do think “Hereditary” could have a chance so far at taking “Best Actress.” “Incredibles 2” so far has probably the best shot at winning “Best Animated Feature.” “Eighth Grade” could have some potential at maybe “Best Original Screenplay,” but I can’t say for sure since I haven’t seen it yet. And “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” could possibly win “Best Documentary Feature.” The Oscars is more than half-a-year away, so is all of what I said bound to happen? Probably not, but who knows?

With those thoughts out of the way, let’s get into the main topic of discussion. The Academy Awards to me is the night where the best movies of the year, not to mention their producers and their crew, duke it out to see who is that year’s king of movies. These results however are not objective, because there are more award shows for movies than just the Oscars and chances are you’ll have different nominations, different winners, etc. Although seeing the best movie, and even if it is not my favorite movie take its award for an outstanding achievement is very pleasing. This year, seeing Roger Deakins win “Best Cinematography” for my #2 movie of 2017, “Blade Runner 2049,” was one of the greatest award handouts I’ve seen on the show. In that very moment, I turned into a little girl with a new Barbie doll collection she got for her birthday. It just makes me all giddy to see someone getting recognized for their talent. The idea of the Academy Awards honoring the BEST movies? Well, what else can I say except… it might have just been destroyed.

According to an article I’ve read from The Hollywood Reporter, a recent message was sent from the Academy to its members. It stated three changes that are supposed to take effect.

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ARTICLE: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/academy-plans-three-hour-oscars-telecast-adds-popular-film-category-1133138

#1: Three hour telecast

When I go see a movie and it is three hours long, I personally don’t care. I’m one of those people who can say that if a movie is three hours, fine. If it is two hours, fine. Heck, I’ll sit down for four if I need to. I don’t care as long as it is a quality product. However, one of the bigger complaints that some people have about the Oscars that is similar to some movies is that it is a bit too long. In 2002, the Academy Awards which aired that year just so happened to go on for over four hours. With an attempt to make a three hour runtime, that could make a people feel a bit more sane. It was also mentioned that certain categories would be presented during commercial breaks and presented later after being edited for broadcast. I can’t say entirely how I feel about certain categories not getting equal recognition as others, but my final verdict on this might as well come once I see this idea come to fruition.

#2: Earlier airdate for 92nd Oscars

Now keep in mind, this has nothing to do with the next Academy Awards, it instead has to do with the one after it. The next one is going to be the 91st edition. The Oscars usually tends to air its shows around the end of February. Although this year was a special exception because of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Not only would the two events have aired too close to each other, but it would mean heavy competition between networks ABC and NBC. Funny enough, the most recent Academy Awards have been the least-watched yet of all the shows which have currently been presented. But then again, this year’s Olympic games was also the least-watched on record so whaddya know? As for the date which we will be seeing the 92nd Oscars, that’s going to be February 9th, 2020, the second Sunday of that month, one week after the Super Bowl. Honestly, I don’t think that’s going to make much of a positive difference in terms of viewership, in fact, I honestly think viewership will be worsened because of this. I’m not gonna pretend that the Academy Awards is directed towards the same exact audience as the Super Bowl, but having these two big events within a week from each other could potentially affect the ratings of maybe both programs. I don’t know, I’m just speculating.

#3: New award for popular film

Last but not least, we have our main topic for this post and this is something that pisses me off to no end. The Oscars, as mentioned, to me, honors the best in film. They’ve apparently just decided, “f*ck that.” Because their new category that they’re coming out with is honoring “popular film.” This doesn’t honor showmanship. This doesn’t honor talent. It just takes a show that is completely about showing the best of the best and turns it into a popularity contest!

I mean, my f*cking gosh! This is unbelievable! Can you imagine this existing the previous decade? Imagine what would happen if there happened to be a category like this for the Oscars honoring 2008’s year in film? You’d have a couple recognizable titles like “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E,” both of which have impressed critics and audiences alike. Then… You have “Twilight.” That movie received no Academy Award nominations that year, so looking back, if it had the popularity nomination, that would have meant it had a nomination, but not a nomination related to skill or talent! Phenomenons, fads, and trends may be cool and well received by followers, but that doesn’t make them technically a standout in a certain craftsman-esque perspective, it only makes something popular.

Why is the Academy doing this? If I had to guess, it’s probably just to bring in more viewers. After the least-watched telecast of their show, some snobs smoking cigars in a room covered in white paint probably had a chat. They needed to figure out how to make the Oscars popular again. Then one guy says that they need to interject popularception if you will! If you honor things because of their popularity and how many people have checked something out, that’s only going to make the Oscars, well, popular! It ruins everything that the Oscars was built off of! In fact, this is probably one of the biggest participation trophies I’ve seen from this show. The Golden Globes, even though I’ve watched them for a few years, I’m not gonna deny how they handle their categories like participation awards, because they do separate awards for separate genres. At least those kinds of awards still honor talent! What’s next? “Best Actor with names ending in “obert Downey Jr.?”

Now there is no word on whether or not this is to be implemented for the 91st Oscars or if this category is going to be introduced during the 92nd Oscars. No matter what these people plan to do, I just hope it’s introduced during NO OSCARS. Speaking of things we have no word on, the letter goes on suggesting that more details about this are to come as time goes on. But based on what I can assume about this, I can only imagine what this suggests is that this award will be judged on a couple of merits. For one thing, the box office return has to be enormous. The other thing is that a lot of people have to be currently talking about a certain film, watching it, or have discussed lots related to a film in the past depending on when said film released.

If this is to take effect during the 91st Academy Awards, here are my predictions for the nominees, and these predictions are bound to change by the time the Academy Awards comes around. Right now it’s August and the show is months away. Not to mention, not all of the movies on this list are even released to the public yet, so who knows how those movies will turn out? Nevertheless, here are the nominees.

  • Black Panther
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Incredibles 2
  • Mission: Impossible: Fallout
  • Mary Poppins Returns

I’ve seen four of the five movies on this list. I actually happened to give all of them positive reviews. “Incredibles 2” to me happened to be a worthy sequel to one of my one of my favorite films of all time. “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” turned out to not only be one of the year’s best films, but one of the best films I’ve seen in the action genre. “Avengers: Infinity War” delivered everything a comic book movie needed to deliver and even just a little bit more. I like all of these films. The other one on this list I saw was “Black Panther” which I liked, but I think it might be the most overrated movie of the year. And despite that, I do see it having potential of having a worthy Oscar nomination. The visual effects for the most part are very well done, Chadwick Boseman gave a decent performance, and some of the cinematography done by Rachel Morrison (Mudbound, Dope) is definitely worth praising. If “Black Panther” were to win an award like “Best Cinematography,” I’d definitely give my own applause and respect to the movie and those who worked on it. “Black Panther” winning an award such as “Best Popular Picture,” just makes it look like it belongs in a kiddie table.

Let’s imagine us going back to 2017, and seeing what movies would have ended up in a category called “Best Popular Film.” These would probably be the nominees.

  • Wonder Woman
  • Logan
  • Baby Driver
  • Coco
  • Dunkirk

And you know what? If “Wonder Woman” won, then great, it gets an award. If “Dunkirk” won, awesome, it gets an award. But it’s almost like a pity award! This wouldn’t be true for most of these movies, so I’m gonna use “Wonder Woman” for this example. “Wonder Woman” was a fantastic movie. But it wasn’t nominated for any Oscars. So the Academy voters go ahead, as they view this popular category, and think of not the movies they saw that year, but the KNOWN movies they saw that year. And guess what? “Wonder Woman” gets all the winning votes? That means it will forever been known as that “one popular film.” It’s almost shameful if you ask me. In fact, one of those movies I mentioned, “Coco,” received a nomination in another kiddie table category, “Best Animated Feature,” but we’re not gonna sidetrack ourselves into that.

Also, part of me wonders if the Academy was actually the group of people behind this move, or it happened to be the channel which the Oscars airs, ABC. Why? ABC is owned by Disney. And while I must some of my favorite films were actually made by Disney, they’re not the studio I think of when it comes to “Academy-worthy” content. Is Disney/ABC doing this in order to give their films more attention? Think about it. For years I’ve been noticing, Disney has many films that come out and make bunches of money. Why do you think I make fun of them all the time? That’s LITERALLY what Disney is about right now! If you think “Solo” didn’t prove that already, wait until you see what happens when they come out with “Porgs: A Star Wars Story.” It’ll be animated, it’ll be rated G, and John Williams will be executing his softest score yet! Tell me that they aren’t about making money when my mother paid over $20, might have been $22, for a room service cheeseburger at Disney World! Disney, is THE company I think of when it comes to making movies with bigger budgets, almost like they don’t even know what an independent style film is. And big budget films are very popular with most audiences. Films like “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War.” Both of those movies have already come out this year, made over a billion dollars worldwide, and are owned by Disney. Mickey Mouse could be coming in out of nowhere, strangling the golden head of the Oscar trophy, and won’t let go of it until he gets exactly what he wants. What does Mickey want? Mickey wants “Black Panther” to be recognized! Well, OK, recognized for what? Cinematography? Acting? Directing? Editing? No! POPULARITY! Disney, I know I make fun of you all the time, but in reality, YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS. I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but if ABC or Disney is doing this, it almost makes the Fox and Disney merger look like fun! Granted, it hasn’t officially happened, but no more bidding is allowed, so good to luck to sanity!

RIP: Good “Deadpool” movies
RIP: Good “Kingsman” movies
RIP: Any content that is good and crosses the line

This literally wrecks the Oscars. You think that the political talk is the worst thing about the Oscars? No! Sometimes it’s actually quite funny! I don’t care who is being made fun of as long as the joke is executed well. Heck, you can make fun of my favorite politician of all time, and maybe you’ll get a laugh out of me because this is an attempt at humor. This popular awards thing? It just sucks. And months from now, it’ll suck for about three hours long and hard! There’s no reason for this award to exist, it’s almost a sin to have the award even be a thing. It ruins movies, it ruins the Oscars, it ruins the idea of being “gifted.” It’s like Oprah all of a sudden showed up and ended giving everybody a trophy! And you know what? I may sound like a crybaby over this fiasco, but I’m certainly not the only one who is upset over this. Participation trophies may work for younger athletes, as much as I may question them being handed out. But this is the big leagues. These aren’t students. If this rule is still in place for a bit of time after my post is released, I need a wish granted.

If this rule is still in place after the voting process begins for the next Academy Awards, I should be able, …I should be able… to pick the host for maybe not the 91st Academy Awards, because that host will probably have already been picked, but I should pick the host for the 92nd Academy Awards! As of now, I’m going to go with either Conan O’Brien, Seth MacFarlane, Patrick Stewart, Alex Trebek, Howie Mandel, Dwayne Johnson, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or Mark Hamill!

You get what I’m sayin’ Academy? I OFFICIALLY DECLARE THIS, MY UNACCEPTANCE SPEECH! You either listen to my demands, or we’re gonna be talking about an upcoming Academy Awards show whose host will be chosen by someone who can’t legally consume alcohol in their own country yet! Caphice?! Thanks for reading this post! This upcoming weekend we’ve got a few new releases in theaters. Some include “The Meg,” “Slender Man,” and “BlacKkKlansman.” Out of all these, I’m probably most likely to check out “The Meg,” however there is another movie that has been out for almost a month that I’m still dying to check out, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet, and that movie is “Eighth Grade.” Stay tuned for whatever review I happen to post soon, and also stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what do you think about the popular Oscar category? Or, what are your thoughts on the other changes that have been announced? Let me know, and you will get a trophy for participating in the comment section! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017): What the Punk?

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Before we get into this movie review, I need to ask something to all of my viewers, specifically those at least eighteen years of age. How is adulting? I will tell you right now, I have been an adult for only nine months, and I honestly don’t feel much of a difference than I did before that turning point. Then again, I spent most of my adulthood in high school, which is where I spent most of my teen years. Although I must say, while I do find certain things about being an adult rather fun and nifty, there are those days where I realize adulting is not all that enjoyable. To be honest, I don’t even think I am gonna end up wanting kids in the years to come. However, it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with having them. If you want to judge me, go ahead, I judge movies all the time, so I can take whatever you’ve got. This even includes a couple by the name of Paul and Genevieve. These two can judge me as they realize how difficult their journey to conception has truly been. And while I do certainly recognize that raising a child is not the easiest thing in the world. Paul and Genevieve’s actions for years almost contend to be up there in the same levels of difficulty. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a YouTube series where Paul and Genevieve “keep effin’ trying” to have a baby they have always been trying to make. New adventures pop up on the show’s specifically dedicated YouTube channel each and every Monday. These adventures dive into the latest in Paul and Genevieve’s quest to parenthood, focusing on topics like appointments, curse breaking, cycles, sex, “trying everything,” and objectively painful needles. IT’S A FACT! NEEDLES SUCK! Apparently it is a societal norm that you pay professionals to inject points that make you hate your life! IT’S THE TRUTH! Anyway, the latest episode, much like the one before it, is a bit on the rather calm side of things. Join Paul and Genevieve as they give a tour of the baby’s nursery! If you want to see other videos or be caught up on the latest content, be sure to visit the “WTIVF?” YouTube channel, subscribe, and hit the notification bell. If you want to find out where else you can find “WTIVF?” on the internet, click the links below which will take you to the show’s personal website and social media pages. Also, be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

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“How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” otherwise known as something I kinda need to learn, is directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole, Shortbus) and stars Elle Fanning (Maleficent, The Neon Demon), Alex Sharp (Better Start Running, To the Bone), Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge!, The Hours), Ruth Locke (Saving Mr. Banks, Jane Eyre), and Matt Lucas (Alice in Wonderland, Bridesmaids). This film is about an alien who separates from a group she’s with as she is touring the galaxy. She just so happens to be in the London-suburb of Croydon where she meets young inhabitants.

When it comes to “How to Talk to Girls at Parties,” the marketing for it overall just comes off as somewhat quirky. The vibe of this movie when watching the trailers is a little hard to exactly recall because I have a feeling I watched a trailer a long time ago but I could be dead wrong. But if I were to watch a trailer to this, there’s a good chance I would have had some sort of fascination towards what this movie was trying to be. But as I got into the movie, it was starting out and the vibe happened to be what I expected, with a little more punk rock in the mix. What I didn’t expect from this movie though, is that this is one of those movies that turned out to be an overall surprise. From the very beginning, I was intrigued, but then start to notice a change in the footage. For some reason, the shutter speed slows down. I’ve seen this on a student film, that probably occurred by accident, but this film is not being directed by a student! Heck, the cinematographer has credits in the “cinematographer” category on IMDb going back to 1992! That’s two and a half decades before this movie released to the public! That’s not even the only time that happens during this film.

In fact, when it happens later during the film, I actually think it’s forgivable. And you know what? I take that back, I don’t think it’s forgivable. Because something like this probably would be a creative choice. Granted, that creative choice personally came off as ridiculous in the beginning, but as I saw more of it, I grew to admire it. And I saw that because from my point of view, the slower shutter speed seems to fit the later footage more than it does for the earlier footage. This is one of those movies that seems to start out lame then blows out this giant explosion of holy crap on a Ritz crackerjack! I probably should have seen my instant admiration for this movie coming especially considering it’s an A24 movie, but given some statistics that I’ve been made aware of prior to watching this damn thing, it almost felt like I was supposed to sit down and just take this movie and just try to survive. I mean, this has a 5.9/10 on IMDb! Not the best of signs if you ask me.

I will say though, when it comes to technical aspects, that’s probably one of the bigger problems of this movie. For the most part, I can’t complain about the lighting, the cinematography, or the editing. But there was one major occurrance in the movie’s footage aside from the shutter speed that kind of threw me off. There’s one scene that’s rather significant for the movie’s events, so I won’t get into spoilers. But the thing is about this scene, as much as I can approve of it moving the story along, and providing the correct feeling I’m supposed to have out of a scene like this, it just felt rather clunky in terms of cinematography. This is a sequence where you can tell that this was done handheld, and it almost feels like this was shot on a GoPro or something. According to IMDb, this movie was shot on an Arri Amira. As far as I’m aware, there’s no word of it being shot on a GoPro, even though that’s how the footage comes off to me. You can say to me a thousand times that the scene was shot with an Arri Amira, but at the end of the day, it feels like a GoPro. It felt like “Hardcore Henry” if it weren’t entirely in first-person.

Let’s talk about the characters of Enn (Alex Sharp) and Zan (Elle Fanning). First off, both names are pretty dope if you ask me! Enn is essentially the movie’s main character and he happens to build a bond with Zan. He also happens to be really into punk rock, and since this takes place around London during the 1970s, you certainly get to see lots of that in the movie! When it comes to the other character in the picture, Zan, she just so happens to be an alien. As I watched this movie, realizing what was happening and what was to come, I thought to myself, “Ohhhh no.” Why? Because I saw a movie last year by the name of “The Space Between Us” and simply put, it was one of the worst sci-fi films ever put on the big screen. One big reason for that was the unfathomably terrible relationship between the main character (Martian) and his love interest (Earthling). The chemistry was so horrible that not even the fact that the guy playing the Martian happened to be my personal choice to play the MCU’s Spider-Man (Asa Butterfield) saved the movie! Luckily, this film is smart. It has great writing, quirkiness, and lots of charm. When it came to the relationship, I totally bought into it. As the movie progressed, I grew to perhaps admire the couple even more. By the end of the movie I was deeply rooting for both characters given their situation! TAKE NOTES, “THE SPACE BETWEEN US!” THIS IS HOW A MOVIE IS DONE!

Speaking of the aliens, I think this is another thing that the movie surprisingly nailed. Because my first impression of them, once I saw one of the aliens, was that they looked very cheap or cliche. At times I wondered if I happened to be watching “Flash Gordon.” But then I saw more of them, what they did with each other, and even what they did with some of the humans they encountered, I grew attached to them as time went on. Not to mention, they also have some behavior that I think us humans would find peculiar, which does add to that alien feel. There’s a scene that Zan is talking to someone, I won’t say who, but they’re having a conversation and Zan is saying to this person that she had pancakes, she’s currently sitting on a toilet, and “excreting” them.

In fact, going back to the couple, I think the thing that really makes them likable, and this is kind of something that “The Space Between Us” should have been aware of, is that they weren’t robots or uncharismatic. If the aliens were robotic, I guess this could have worked in its own little way, but if we want to like characters from our own world, there’s a good chance that we’d want a character that either has personality, isn’t an asshole (unless you’re someone like Deadpool), and isn’t mopey. The couple, not only together, but as individuals, just so happen to come off as somewhat quirky. And I like quirky. You might as well have a quirky couple in a quirky movie.

In the end, I don’t really have much else to say about “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” because I went into the movie not having much information related to it on my mind. I feel like if you were to see this movie, you shouldn’t have too many details revealed about it in order to provide yourself with the best possible viewing experience. Also, I’ve gotta bring up the tagline for the movie, “Talk to the girl. Save the world.” NOW THAT’S A TAGLINE. I’m gonna give “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” an 8/10. Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to look forward to more reviews very soon, and also be sure to check out some of my older reviews such as my thoughts on “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” which by the way, if you have not seen that movie, I seriously have to ask what you’re doing with your life. Make sure to follow me here on Scene Before, like this post, and stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “How to Talk to Girls at Parties?” What did you think about it? Or, if you have a fantasy of falling in love with an alien, what would the alien look like? Let me know, even if it is extreme, I’d love to hear what you have to say! Also, one more thing, if you watch this movie, stay tuned for the credits because they have a line of text saying “NO ALIENS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS FILM.” Just… Genius. Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/mission-impossible-fallout-2018-tom-cruise-is-a-madman/

The Last Movie Star (2017): The Secret Life of Waltzing Confusion

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“The Last Movie Star” is directed by Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City, Look) and stars Burt Reynolds (The Cannonball Run, Boogie Nights), Ariel Winter (Modern Family, Mr. Peabody & Sherman), Clark Duke (Kick-Ass, The Croods), Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood, The Circle), and Chevy Chase (National Lampoon’s Vacation, Caddyshack). This film is about a famous actor by the name of Vic Edwards as he is invited to a film festival in Nashville. According to the invitation, Edwards is said to receive a lifetime achievement award. Famed celebrities such as Clint Eastwood and Robert De Niro have also been invited and received this very award. Little does Vic know that his trip is about to go to hell real fast.

Going into “The Last Movie Star,” I can’t really say I knew all too much about it. The main reason why I watched this movie in the first place is because I have an Amazon Prime subscription, and this movie was free. And I was somewhat looking forward to it. After all, it was distributed by A24, one of the best studios out there today. Not to mention, there were some neat names attached. Burt Reynolds and Chevy Chase are highly revered actors. And even though “Modern Family” might be the most overrated TV show I’ve ever watched, I do like Ariel Winter and I think she has a ton of talent that she can show off to viewers. This movie had me with the actors attached, and the first few minutes, while not perfect, happened to be enough to keep me interested. Then I came across the movie’s first straight-in-my-face flaw, which occurred during the scene where it was so obvious that the movie was trying to make a parody of Southwest Airlines. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the thing that’s wrong is there’s this clerk that is probably the most overexaggerative person on the entire planet. It almost reminds me of one of those workers that is just trying to act all hyper just because they’re working at Disney World. Or if you guys have ever seen the atrocity of a comedy “How to Be a Latin Lover,” there’s one character played by Kristen Bell who is this cashier, it reminded me of that. It just came off as a bit too cartoony and it was like I just exited reality for a second there. And that’s just the kickoff of a downward spiral to Crashandburnville. Because the movie’s two main characters, at least from my personal perspective are DICKS.

I mean, seriously! How am I supposed to root for either of these characters in any sort of situation? Granted, as the movie progresses, they feel less dicky, but as I keep dredging through, I just don’t feel anything for them because of how moronic they came off earlier in the film. There is a point where the main character of Vic (right) breaks a camera that is specifically being used for the film festival! There’s also a point where Vic is calling everyone who attended the film festival losers! It reminded me of that SNL sketch that William Shatner did. There was this one sketch called “Trekkies.” A bunch of nerds are together at a convention, and they are near a booth where a guy is announcing what will be going on at the con. One big announcement is the introduction of William Shatner. He speaks, telling everyone to get a life, that all of the convention’s attendees made his work a waste of time. Granted, having seen that sketch, I understand the context and what it was trying to mock. I thought it was rather funny. But “The Last Movie Star” is not a comedy. If you watch this movie, you can probably make the argument that they were trying to either go for the “don’t meet your heroes” thing or they were trying to point out how much this guy has had to put up with during the trip thus far. Sure, for a guy of his stance, he did have to put up with a lot. It doesn’t really make his actions forgivable however. His actions made me care less for what was to come during the movie. And you know what? Saying that is somewhat sad because this could have been a really interesting film about realizing who you are even at an old age. If this were another character, I probably would have felt a tad more emotion that had been earned. And sure, I did feel emotion in some parts, but it didn’t feel as earned as it could have been. I say this because a part of my mind was asking if this dips*it really deserved all that he got.

As for the person alongside Vic in the picture above, Lil McDougal, she basically is driving and assisting Vic for the entire movie. But my first impression of her really ticked me off. How is someone THAT angry? I was able to kind of buy into the chemistry between her and Vic, but in all seriousness, when you take these two characters and put them together, you can’t help but think of them as two assholes selfishly traveling the Earth.

And I do mean SELFISHLY. The main story of the movie wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Vic the Dick not wanting to go back to the film festival. Granted, it was kind of a wreck, but you don’t have to be a big baby about it. At least try to impress those who made the effort to come. If you didn’t want to go, you shouldn’t have flown to Nashville in the first place. I will say, both actors did a fine job in both of their roles, but it doesn’t change the fact that both of their characters just plain suck!

I will say that the performances and cinematography do make up for this wreck. And there are I guess some rather “heartfelt” moments. Sort of. Maybe. I dunno. I was not fond of this movie. There’s not really much to say except that this movie was probably trying to be an interesting story about a guy remembering his past. That could have been really cool, but it was just bogged down by a couple of selfish and unlikable characters. I don’t really know what else to say except that one of my biggest problems aside from the characters is one moment that occurs as Lil is taking a bath. She has this TV in front of her which has smart features. Apparently one of them is an icon for Instagram, the very popular social media service where selfies on the beach are sometimes more important than a march for a good cause. I own a smart TV, and to be specific, I actually have a Sony Android TV in my room. In what universe can one actually use Instagram on their TV?! I will say, I do have a Samsung Blu-ray player that has a search engine, so you can search up Instagram on that thing. But this TV literally has a direct app! WHAT THE F*CK?! I’m not going to go into detail to avoid spoilers, but as I reflect on that moment, I continue to ask myself if I just witnessed the biggest plot convenience of the year. And I can probably guarantee you to the tenth degree that I just did. Whoope-f*ckin’-doo!

In the end “The Last Movie Star” just goes to show that not all good can come from A24. Granted, they’re a great studio. They released one of my favorite comedies of all time, “The Disaster Artist.” They’ve also released another one of my favorite films of the decade, “Room.” But this is a bit of a disappointment compared to some of A24’s other material. Although I did watch this film for free so I guess the movie does have its pros and cons. What I can say though is that this is one of those films that is DIFFICULT to rate. On one hand, the film managed to get a number of things right. But the characters really tarnished this bitch. So ultimately, this rating could change, but for now, I’m going to give “The Last Movie Star” a 5/10. I gotta say though, if part of this movie was trying to say “don’t meet your heroes,” it was a somewhat interesting take on it I guess, but I guess the unlikable parts about the main character got drilled in my head to the point that I just didn’t find this guy all that interesting. In fact, I’ll say, I met my heroes. And I feel proud to call them my heroes. They mean the world to me. I’m just proud to say that they were nothing like this guy. They were respectful, calm, and rather humble. Vic just embodies that celebrity you DON’T want to encounter. Similar to how I want to go back in time and not encounter this movie. Thanks for reading this review! For those of you who have been keeping up with my blog, you may know that I just finished reviewing all of the Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” movies. For those of you who haven’t gotten a chance to read any of them, links are provided down below to check them out! Be sure to follow me here on Scene Before and like this post! Stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “The Last Movie Star?” What did you think about it? Or, who is a celebrity you met who turned out to be a total asshole? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/mission-impossible-1996-this-movie-review-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/mission-impossible-ii-2000-impossible-to-enjoy/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/mission-impossible-iii-2006-the-young-and-the-fearless-spoilers/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-2011-your-movie-review-should-you-choose-to-accept-it/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/mission-impossible-rogue-nation-2015-a-revisit-to-my-first-mission-impossible-movie/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/mission-impossible-fallout-2018-tom-cruise-is-a-madman/

Atom Tickets Holds Break Up With MoviePass Contest

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! If you are a movie buff or just like going to the movies or wanted a way to make your moviegoing experience cheaper, one thing you may have done over the past number of months is get yourself a MoviePass card. Now this is something I personally have never done. But I will say it did sound like a good deal. NOTE: Did. The concept is that you can watch one movie in the theater for free each day. Keep in mind, this concept came in 2017, six years after this company was founded and had a more limited structure when it came to going to the movies with this thing. Nevertheless, the concept was to watch a movie a day for $9.95 a month. So it’s basically the same thing as Hulu or Netflix, only you’re subscribed to the opportunity to go to the movies once a day. If you ask me, it’s not a bad deal. But over the months, MoviePass had changes made to their policies. Certain theaters wouldn’t accept MoviePass, you couldn’t see certain movies such as this year’s “Red Sparrow” with MoviePass, the company quietly at one point removed the opportunity to see one movie a day and brought it down to three movies a month. Not only was it three movies a month, but they also made it mandatory to also get iHeartRadio. The unlimited plan was however reinstated, but only doom was to come. There was a point where MoviePass basically burned through money harder and faster than my brain did during the SAT, they introduced surge pricing, you couldn’t see popular films or films in prime time slots without paying extra. Then in July, it only got worse.

MoviePass is owned by Helios and Matheson Analytics, and they filed to raise $1.2 billion in order to keep MoviePass alive. That was just the beginning of the month, specifically July 2nd, because on the 26th of that very month, MoviePass’s stock was at such a low point that the firm was forced to borrow $5 million just to keep business going. Not only that, but they also did a 250 to 1 reverse stock split earlier that same week! So their very low stock artificially went up, but just a week later, it plummeted like that LEGO project your kid has been working so hard on all because the kid’s “stupid sister” thought it would be fun to tear the project apart. The stock at this point sits at less than ten cents! Wait, no no no, that’s too much. It’s sitting at less than nine cents! That’s not truthful enough either? Well, I do have another truth to tell you! The stock for MoviePass just so happens to be sitting at less than eight cents!

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That thing you see above, THAT is an authentic look at MoviePass’s stock right now! Did I also mention there was a point where MoviePass ran out of money so the service ended up crashing? Did I also mention that you can’t now go see big release movies in their first couple of weeks? Sorry, “The Meg,” a shark might have just chomped on you! That shark by the way, was “MoviePass!” I’m honestly gonna be shocked if MoviePass makes it until the end of the year. If they have some miraculous maneuver I don’t know about, I’d love to hear about it. There’s more to say about this and how MoviePass chooses to deal with this sort of thing, but we’re not gonna get into that, instead, let’s talk about another company that has grown in terms of popularity when it comes to going to the movies, Atom Tickets.

Atom Tickets is a service that sells tickets to screenings at movie theaters. So basically, they do the same thing as Fandango or Movietickets.com. I never used Atom’s service, mainly because I actually have a Fandango VIP account, so I’m just utilizing that whenever I can. Although Atom is doing something that I will give them every inch of credit for, and that is this new sweepstakes which is the main topic of this very post. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I give you… “Atom’s Breakup Sweepstakes!”

There are a number of things to be said about this. Is this going a little overboard about a company dying? Maybe. But there is no denying that this sweepstakes is just plain genius and kind of badass! It almost makes me forgive Atom Tickets for making that over the top and stupid commercial with Anna Faris. I could provide a link to it, but for the sake of the world’s sanity, I’m not going to.

How the contest works is that you have to be a legal resident of the United States, although if you’re in Rhode Island, Puerto Rico, or other US territories, you’re unfortunately not eligible. You must enter by August 31st at 11:59PM PST, either on Twitter or through a handwritten note with some information related to your name, date of birth, etc. If you choose to enter on Twitter, you must use the hashtags #MOVIEPAST and #ATOMSWEEPS. The winner will receive one free movie ticket a day, and the ticket’s value is at $12 per movie. The approximate retail value of this prize overall comes out to $4,380. What you essentially do is take a picture of you cutting or carving up your MoviePass card for others to see! That. IS GENIUS. This almost reminds me of something that Sprint did earlier this decade, where they have you bring in your wireless bill to a Sprint store and they cut your rate plan in half. I specifically recall commercials of people with chainsaws literally slicing paper.

This sounds like a fantastic deal, because I was actually thinking at one point of signing up for one of MoviePass’s competitors, AMC’s A-List, which I have talked about on here. But I have yet to do that, and I ultimately don’t know when I will. Granted, this summer alone, I’ve gone to see nine movies in the theater thus far. Six of them were at AMC locations. In fact, one time I could have actually used AMC’s A-List deal, because their thing is to provide a maximum of three movies a week, and I did go see three movies in one week at an AMC. But considering that one of my favorite theaters is not owned by AMC, I didn’t want to risk losing any sort of opportunity of going to or supporting that theater. In fact, that theater doesn’t even accept MoviePass so that kind of says something. Although they do accept another MoviePass competitor, Sinemia, but that’s somewhat irrelevant.

Now, I must not forget one thing. There’s something I didn’t mention that is very important. The most important thing you need for this contest, is of course, a MoviePass card. And since I never got a MoviePass subscription, I therefore don’t possess a MoviePass card. But some of you reading this might actually have one, in which case, go nuts, do whatever you want with it. But I’m almost thinking of doing something in particular since I don’t have one. I’m thinking of buying MoviePass.

At this point, it’s possible that maybe I could buy the entire company, but since I’m not stupid, I’m not going to do that. What I’m thinking of doing is getting a MoviePass card, that way I can receive it in the mail, open up whatever container it comes in, grab my scissors, and cut it up just so I can enter the contest! I mentioned earlier that MoviePass costs $9.95 per month. That’s for the “movie a day” plan if that’s even a thing anymore. But they also have a cheaper plan worth $7.95 per month, which came about from the recently mentioned “three movies a month” thing MoviePass did at one point! Since MoviePass in terms of value is probably worthless at this point, I might as well go with the worthless price and pay the $7.95 deal! Although then again, it also says I can cancel at anytime, so whaddya know?

One thing to also consider is that this contest already started on July 31st, and it ends on August 31st at 11:59 PM on the Pacific coast. One thing I asked myself was this: How long does it take for a MoviePass card to arrive? According to their website, it should arrive around 7 to 10 business days after you order. So I’ve got plenty of time! Right now it’s August 5th! August 31st is 26 days away! Sorry MoviePass, but your business days are also might help Atom’s business days!

Part of me can’t believe I’m saying this, but IF MoviePass goes under, I might talk about them on here once again. In all seriousness, they had a GREAT idea, but it was poorly executed business-wise. Part of me somewhat regrets not getting them, but at the same time, I also feel proud of myself because of some of the things they’ve done. MoviePass probably has very little time left as a company, so if they’re going to go under, I don’t know when such a thing will exactly happen. It might be in the next couple of days, weeks, maybe even a month from now. But if I were you, if you think MoviePass is not worth having anymore, I wouldn’t PASS up this Atom Tickets opportunity. Thanks for reading this post! If you want the official rules and guidelines regarding this sweepstakes, I’ll provide a link down below for you to read, and in all seriousness, whether or not you like MoviePass, you have to admit, this contest is just absolutely brilliant. Moving away from MoviePass and Atom Tickets, I would like to remind everyone reading this Scene Before post that this site has its own Facebook Page! There’s a link for it below, please click on it, like it, follow it, do whatever you do. Also be sure to follow me here on Scene Before through a WordPress account or an email that way you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, are you going to be entering this Atom Tickets contest? Or, if you had MoviePass, tell me what you like or don’t like about it. Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

ATOM TICKETS SWEEPSTAKES: https://www.atomtickets.com/promotions/moviepass-breakup-sweepsteaks

SCENE BEFORE FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/REALSceneBefore/

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Getting Limited IMAX Release *Tickets Now On Sale!*

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! Before we dive into this post, let me just ask you all something. What is your favorite form of social media? If you ask me, my two favorites have to be YouTube, the site that won’t stop playing the same freaking GEICO or Google ad before watching EVERY VIDEO YOU CLICK ON, and Twitter, the elementary school playground where Donald Trump pushes his enemies down the slide, Wendy’s is being the class clown, and former Economic Secretary to the Treasury of the UK, Ed Balls, is trying to play “Guardians of the Galaxy” with his friends all the while doing a terrible Groot impression.

A couple things to say. First, YES, that is a real tweet. It’s exactly as Ed Ballsy as it looks. And second, it’s I AM Ed Balls! Actually, wait a minute, he’s playing the character, it should I am Groot. Never mind. Speaking of social media, some of the most popular things people happen to find as they flock around their favorite sites is pictures or videos of babies. Why else do you think “Charlie Bit My Finger” is one of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time? If that’s the case, I’m a little dumbfounded that some channels having to do with babies are getting left in the dust, for example, one created by a couple known as Paul and Genevieve. This channel, while it doesn’t exactly focus on kids doing peculiar, cute, or funny things on camera, it does focus on the preparation for becoming parents, and by that I mean, literally trying as hard as possible to get pregnant. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF?” is a series on YouTube where the recently mentioned couple attempt as hard as possible to have a baby. Each and every Monday, a new adventure is uploaded to the interwebs, and usually the adventure is not a pleasant one. In fact, most of these adventures continue to remind the couple about the struggles of their journey as they deal with incessant crying, pain, needles, thinking they’re under a dark spell, needles, appointments, needles, “trying everything,” and more needles! You can find the latest “WTIVF?” content on a YouTube channel specifically dedicated to the series. Their latest video is a bit of change of pace from the norm. Most of the events have been shot prior to this channel’s inception, however this is the first full-length video audiences get to see around present time. If you like unicorns, this episode is probably more preferable than some others in the series. Be sure to subscribe to the “What the IVF?” YouTube channel, ring the notification bell, check out the show’s other homes on the interwebs, all links are down below including a personal website for the show itself. Also, be sure to tell Paul and Genevieve that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

If you have been following me here on Scene Before lately, you might know that I have done a recent post titled “Going To See 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): A Tale of Two 70s.” In that post, I talk about the two times I saw “2001” in a theatrical setting. Both times were in 70mm equipped cinemas in the state of Massachusetts. That post took a long time to make, but overall I’m pretty proud of it. If you want to read it, click the link below and check it out. But if you’re more focused on this post, please stay here, because I’ve got some words I need to spit out. I’ve already seen “2001” twice this year in theaters, both of my experiences were nothing short of fabulous. And you know what? I think it might be time to go see it again. Unfortunately, there are no 70mm runs near my house at the moment, nor are there any other engagements that I’m personally aware of. But there is something big coming.

This year, “The Incredibles,” my all time favorite animated movie FINALLY got a sequel released to the public, and incredible it was indeed! My experience of seeing that movie was also pretty darn incredible as well. Before the release of “Incredibles 2,” one of my deepest desires was to see its prior installment in the IMAX format. I thought throughout most of my life that this was an experience that I would always dream of, but it was never going to become a reality. But for one night, it did. As part of a double feature which included both “Incredibles” installments, my dream of seeing “The Incredibles” in the IMAX format came true. By the way, this was shown before the official technical release of “Incredibles 2.” To specify, it was shown ONE DAY PRIOR TO THE OPENING THURSDAY NIGHT SCREENINGS! However, this month, something just as incredible will be hitting IMAX, and that is “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Having seen “2001: A Space Odyssey” a bunch of times now, a part of me couldn’t be happier. I haven’t watched the movie from start to finish until this year, but when I did sit down to watch this movie, it made me realize what I had been missing. It’s a movie that came out in the 1960s, and yet it looks better than a bunch of movies coming out today. The space shots are majestic and full of glory. People back then would agree with me in saying those shots look amazing, and I think they look so beautiful that I had to see this movie in theaters not once, but twice! There are other reasons too, but nevertheless.

But in all seriousness, a movie like this in IMAX? I’m in for sure! Aside from the huge scale glory that can apply to “2001,” I think that “2001” is a perfect choice for a movie to bring into the IMAX format simply because it’s that good of a movie. And I’m not saying that only because I think it’s one of my all time favorite movies, which it is, but to say I’m alone on that sort of statement would be completely false. As you know, two of IMAX’s main focal points are to crank out their exclusive content such as those documentaries which are traditionally exclusive to museum settings, and to immerse audiences into new content from other studios. However bringing older movies to be presented in the IMAX format has become a somewhat increasing trend over the years. This has been done with “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Harry Potter,” “Forrest Gump,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Top Gun.” I honestly don’t mind this trend. As much as I try to promote originality, it’s fun to see what it would be like to witness a movie that was in theaters at one point on the big screen once again, maybe share that experience with younger generations, and since it involves IMAX, that experience could actually be enhanced.

One thing that I’ve noticed however when it comes to a number of these presentations is that some of them don’t exactly utilize the ultimate technology of IMAX by showing the movie in IMAX’s 70mm projection. In fact, with a movie like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” which was shot using 70mm equipment, not to mention shown in theaters during its theatrical run using 70mm projectors, the whole idea of presenting this in IMAX 70mm film just sounds perfect! And that is EXACTLY what is going to happen!

I will say though, I am probably unlikely to catch one of these 70mm screenings. I live about an hour away from Providence, RI, which has an IMAX 70mm projector, but based on evidence I’ve witnessed since tickets have recently gone on sale, I can’t really say that Providence is actually showing this movie. They even have digital projectors, but the movie isn’t even being shown on that. In fact, if you’re reading this right now, there’s a good chance that YOU might not even get the chance to see the movie in IMAX 70mm. Here’s a list of the theaters showing “2001: A Space Odyssey” in IMAX 70mm.

AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 (New York, NY)

AMC Metreon 16 (San Francisco, CA)

AMC at Citywalk Hollywood (Universal City, CA)

Ontario Place Cinesphere IMAX (Toronto, ON, Canada)

Indiana State Museum (Indianapolis, IN) (Starting September 7th)

Although, something feels strange about all this. This is starting towards the end of August (for the most part), there is another movie that is supposed to be showing in IMAX 70mm that seems to be in just about all of these locations. Don’t believe me? Here’s an article from Variety, published last month.

‘The Dark Knight’ Set for 10th Anniversary Imax Re-Release (EXCLUSIVE)

If you are too lazy to read articles, there’s not much wrong with that, I understand, but the article basically states that around the same time, IMAX is doing a one-week engagement for “The Dark Knight” because it just turned 10 years old. And I will say, that is actually a grand idea. For one thing, it not only dazzled audiences for how much of a quality movie it turned out to be. But it also happened to be the first major Hollywood film shot using IMAX cameras. Turns out, both “The Dark Knight” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” will be playing on the same day as each other at different showtimes. And having heard this sort of news, I actually think that’s almost mind-blowing because when I usually go to an IMAX it usually has one film playing a day unless there’s some special event going on like an opening Thursday night. So we have two big movies playing simultaneously in IMAX, we have both of them on 70mm film, and they have around two and a half hours of footage! That’s a LOT of film! A little bit of digression here, but the funny thing about this is that “The Dark Knight” is actually directed by Christopher Nolan and now this presentation of “2001” is actually being kind of overseen by Christopher Nolan. Gosh he’s my favorite director of all f*ckin’ time.

And if you can’t catch this movie on IMAX 70mm film, there’s still other opportunities to catch this movie in the IMAX format. According to sources including the Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, and others, this movie is said to be shown in more than 350 IMAX theaters. IMAX has over 1,000 theaters in existence, so I can only wonder which ones will be selling the golden tickets. Although another thing to consider is that all of these theaters that are playing the movie in IMAX 70mm are located somewhere in North America. Is it possible that this is only exclusive to North America? I think that might be the case. In fact, don’t trust me completely, because I don’t have evidence to completely back this up, but I think I remember reading about this somewhere, I don’t know where, but wherever I read this had a statement saying that this was exclusive to North America. I don’t know, maybe I’m imagining things, but I don’t work for Warner Brothers, I don’t work for the movie industry, so I’ll admit upfront, I might not be the first guy you’d want to trust on every single detail you hear.

Another thing I will say though is that “2001: A Space Odyssey” is one of those masterpieces that you have to catch before you die. There’s a reason why it has a spot in the IMDb top 250! And let me tell you something about this movie. Last June, I caught the movie twice in a 70mm theatrical setting, as mentioned earlier. A week after I saw “2001” in the theater for the second time that month, I was going on a trip to Walt Disney World, because my family and I decided to give more money to the people we already gave money to for their work on “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Incredibles 2,” “Black Panther,” and unfortunately, “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” On the way back from the trip, I was searching through JetBlue’s options for free movies. One movie on the free list was “2001,” so I started watching it. And I realized it was missing something I usually get when I watch the movie, not only at the theater, but even when I watch the Blu-ray.

It was the overture that occurs before the MGM logo… In fact, if I remember correctly, I don’t even think the MGM logo appeared either.

Sure, that is a weird compliant… But having watched this movie several times, that is probably something that I will continue to associate with my experiences. And this made me realize something. “2001” IS NOT A PLANE MOVIE. Would I watch “2001” anywhere I go? I probably would. I consider it to be one of my favorite movies of all time. But if you ask me, if you should watch the movie on a plane, that is probably not my goto choice. If you want the full power of “2001,” either watch it in an area where you can get some peace and quiet on a decent TV screen or projection wall, or in a theater. I don’t know if we as living creatures will ever get an opportunity to watch “2001” in IMAX ever again. Maybe I will, maybe when it turns 75 or 100 years old, but in all seriousness, being given the chance to witness this masterful work of art in a place having to do with one of my all time biggest influences towards wanting to pursue a career in the film industry is a chance I don’t want slipping past my radar.

Thanks for reading this post! If you have read this and are rather interested in that post I just mentioned, “Going To See 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): A Tale of Two 70s,” I’ll have you know that the link to it is down below, so if you want to check it out, go right ahead! As for new reviews, the future is somewhat uncertain, but there are few things I’m seeking out right now including “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” “The Darkest Minds,” and one of my most anticipated movies of the year, A24’s “Eighth Grade.” Maybe I’ll sprinkle in a countdown somewhere since I haven’t done one in awhile, but seriously, only time will tell what will be happening here. Stay tuned for more great content, be sure to follow me and like this post! I want to know, are you planning to see “2001: A Space Odyssey” in IMAX? If so, which theater are you setting your eyes on for this? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Going To See 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): A Tale of Two 70s: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/07/17/going-to-see-2001-a-space-odyssey-1968-a-tale-of-two-70s-spoilers/

Mission: Impossible: Fallout (2018): Tom Cruise Is A Madman!

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, can simply be referred to as “out with the old, in with the new.” After reviewing five “Mission: Impossible” movies starring Tom Cruise, it is time to focus on a new chapter while it is still in theaters. With the same amount of Jackassery as ever, you will find some things that if you read the other Scene Before “Mission: Impossible” reviews, or even the Scene Before reviews that aren’t related to “Mission: Impossible,” they’d be like a trip down memory lane. Whether you choose to read this sitting down, standing up, or if you’re Tom Cruise, running around the world, be sure to observe every detail of the review very carefully. As always, should you or any of your Force be caught or killed, the Movie Reviewing Moron will disavow any of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

“Mission: Impossible: Fallout” is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the director of the previous “Mission: Impossible” film, “Rogue Nation,” and stars Tom Cruise (American Made, Risky Business), Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Bringing Out the Dead), Simon Pegg (Star Trek, Shaun of the Dead), Rebecca Ferguson (Life, The Girl on the Train), Sean Harris (The Borgias, Harry Brown), Angela Bassett (Olympus Has Fallen, American Horror Story), Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Patriots Day), and Alec Baldwin (The Boss Baby, The Departed). This film is the sixth installment in the “Mission: Impossible” movie franchise that has been going on since 1996. While the plot of this film may have a familiar feel to it when compared to other installments in the franchise, there is no denying that it totally works. Now that the IMF is stable again, the same can’t be said for the world. The villain from “Rogue Nation,” Solomon Lane, has some remaining members of his terrorist organization, The Syndicate. These remaining members have now formed a new group by the name of The Apostles. Now it is up to Ethan Hunt and his allies to stop havoc from happening after The Apostles gain possession of plutonium. And no, they are not using it to power a DeLorean in order to travel through time, the reason is much more deadly.

Let me just start off this review as a flashback to those who read my stuff regularly and a newsflash to all of the newcomers or some of you viewers who don’t check out my content as much as some other people. Before the release of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” I made an effort to get through each one of the Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” installments. This would also help me in creating my review series for all of these movies before “Fallout” was even able to be witnessed by the public. One thing I noticed is that the franchise always seems to step up their game (personally) from one installment to the next. I thought the first movie was great, the second one, stupid, the third one, alright, the fourth one, pretty good, the fifth one, f*cking fantastic. I started to wonder, how would the sixth one be? I had tremendous faith based on how much I appreciated the trailers, the positive buzz, Christopher McQuarrie being in the director’s chair again, all that sort of jazz. I was beginning to wonder to myself, given how much I enjoyed “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation,” the fifth movie in the franchise, which just so happened to be my absolute favorite, how could this be topped? Is there any possible chance that they could top the awesome opening sequence with the A400 plane? Is there any possible chance they could top all of the crazy s*it that happened in the opera house? Is there any possible chance that they could top the scene where Tom has to deal with a security system underwater? Is there any possible chance that “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” could top “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation?”

Well, it did.

Actually, ya know what? I take that previous statement back. “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” DID NOT top “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation,” it DESTROYED it. I’ve seen a lot of movies over the past few years, many of which I’ve actually reviewed here on Scene Before, and I still find it amazing that after all of the movies I’ve seen, my jaw still drops to this day at new content. This movie literally has everything an action movie should have. Some may say the story is cliche or familiar. And while I’m not gonna say that’s an unfair or invalid criticism, I’d personally say that this familiar story was very well done. In fact, I’d say the “Mission: Impossible” movies are doing what the “Transformers” movies should be doing, because both movies seem to have plots or elements of the story that repeat from movie to movie, but the thing about “Mission: Impossible” is that it is either a little less obvious, or I care more about the characters, or perhaps both. This movie has scenes that feel raw. There is reliance on actual stunts as opposed to a green screen. You have your adrenaline rushes, you have exposition that isn’t really that boring, great characters, not too many jump cuts or quick cuts, and moments you just don’t want to end.

There have been many great action movies throughout the 2010s. Some of these include “John Wick,” “Atomic Blonde,” “Skyfall,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “Deadpool,” “Baby Driver.” Comparing “Fallout” to all of the other movies I listed, this movie beats every single one of them. A couple movies on this list, they have an action sequence that I deeply remember. In “John Wick” you have the nightclub scene where Wick basically kills everyone to some kick-ass music. You also have “Atomic Blonde” where there is this beautifully shot one-take sequence where the main character of Lorraine is basically taking everyone down on a stairwell. It was magic. A good action movie can contain a memorable sequence. But an amazing action movie can contain a bunch of sequences worth talking about. In “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” you get an awesome bathroom fight where Tom Cruise smashes a guy into a mirror. You get a killer chase in the streets where there’s cars, motorcycles, and it’s just epic. You get a great duel on a mountain near a cliff. You get what might possibly be the best chase scene of the decade, the one where there’s a duel between two helicopters. That scene is LIFE.

Seriously, that helicopter scene alone is worth the price of admission! You thought Tom Cruise hanging on the side of a plane in “Rogue Nation” was thrilling? The thrill levels only rise from there! Tom Cruise learned how to fly a helicopter for this movie! I’m not even going to get too much into the helicopter scene, because I want to savor the flavor for those who have not been exposed to the true work of art I like to call “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” Although I will say once the scene started, not to mention progressed, I was on the edge of my seat with my jaw dropping. Once the scene ended, I wanted more! It was THAT GOOD. Another advantage I had with the helicopter scene is that it was one of the sequences which gave me a bigger image in IMAX theaters. I went to a local AMC which had an IMAX screen, which in reality, is not the IMAX that I would usually go for, but it’s still a very fun experience. Not to mention, since I’m a Stubs member, it was $5 ticket Tuesday so I got a pretty good deal. Once the scene began, the aspect ratio would go from scope format to covering the entire IMAX screen through a scrolling process. It was just epic! Now, without getting into spoiler territory, one thing that I didn’t complain about but I imagine some people seeing this in IMAX would probably complain about is that there is a scene that actually cuts in between moments of the helicopter chase, and the scene is in the scope aspect ratio, so there’s brief moments where you go from the bigger IMAX exclusive aspect ratio to the scope aspect ratio and back to IMAX once again. If this were “Transformers: The Last Knight,” I’d be complaining a whole lot, because all of the aspect ratio changes in that son of a bitch, just happens to be worse than finding lots of hair on a guestroom bed.

Guys, I think it’s especially clear at this point that Tom Cruise might just be one of the greatest action stars of all time! The guy is in his mid-fifties, he still looks and acts like he’s a lot younger than that, and he just commits to his craft. While I can definitely praise Cruise for his portrayal as Ethan Hunt, making it believable, charming, and an overall delight, most of my praise for Cruise has to do with his stunts. One of the reasons why I consider the “Mission: Impossible” franchise to be some of the better action movies is that this is not done on green screen sets. I actually remember hearing that Tom Cruise broke his ankle, which by the way, there’s a moment where the ankle break is caught in the movie. Not only that, but Cruise, as mentioned, learned how to fly a helicopter. He even trained awhile to do a HALO (high altitude low open) jump. This makes Cruise the first ever person to do a HALO jump on camera. There have been HALO jumps in movies before, there was one earlier this decade in “Godzilla,” but this is basically the first REAL HALO jump. It doesn’t rely as much on stock footage, CGI, green screen, none of those cheap tricks. The tricks here are f*cking expensive! These tricks are expensive enough to make this film have a $178 million budget!

Each movie in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise always seems to have at least one notable newcomer in the mix when it comes to the cast. This time, the most notable newcomer is Henry Cavill. He plays a character named August Walker. I liked a lot of things about this character. Seeing him in action was pretty cool, the chemistry he has with Ethan, not to mention Erica Sloan was definitely charming, and I also kind of dig his mustache.

Wait a minute… Should I say that? Henry Cavill had the same mustache in “Justice League” and I didn’t like that. I don’t want to look like a hypocrite!

Another personal standout character for me is also a standout from the last “Mission: Impossible” as well and that is the character of Benji played by Simon Pegg. To me, Benji just seems like a guy who would make a lovely assistant in life. If you need something done, just get Benji to help and you’re good! If you need moral support, Benji will be your cheerleader! If you need a question answered, Benji will do his best to get the best possible answer to you as soon as he can. There’s something about Benji that just makes me want to hang out with him, maybe grab some lunch. I dunno, Benji just seems like a pretty cool dude even though he may sound like a geek. Then again, I’m a geek so yeah…

One returning character is Alan Hunley, played by Alec Baldwin. At the end of “Rogue Nation” it is revealed that Hunley becomes the secretary of IMF. Here, you actually get to see Hunley in said position. Having seen this movie, I think Baldwin is definitely a good pick for this character. That previous thought probably sounds like something I would say in a review for “Rogue Nation,” but in all seriousness, given his transition from “Rogue Nation” to “Fallout,” Hunley is probably in a very believable position and Alec Baldwin continues to play his character very well. My one disappointment however, and this has nothing really much to do with the movie itself, it doesn’t affect my final verdict at all, but it is a thing that I want to bring up. There is a scene in the movie where CNN, the cable news channel, has a heavy presence. Alec Baldwin happens to play Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.” There’s not even one point in the script that just MAYBE could have utilized a fake news joke? I do think that there are times in my life where I’d go ahead and say that I’ve had it with politics and hearing about it, but I’d probably admire the use of that sort of joke if it were to have been uttered in the movie.

And of course, we have one of my favorite cast members/characters of the film, Ving Rhames returns once again as Luther. Rhames just knows how to be charming and maintain a presence that doesn’t feel over the top. One of my favorite scenes with his character actually occurs in the start of the movie, when the plot is just beginning to unfold. Without getting into specific details, there’s this one moment where Tom Cruise is just getting pumped with rage and he basically has to take it out on someone. Rhames is trying to avoid this from happening and attempts to calm Cruise down, it’s really engaging.

In the end, there are so many things I can continuously talk about that’s related to “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” until the day I die. From the action to the twists and turns to the cinematography, there’s so much to love about this movie. But one thing that needs to be addressed is that this is pretty much the opposite of what someone like myself would expect out of a movie franchise. Usually you start off good and your future is full of inferiority. While I wouldn’t call each movie a complete step up from the one before it, most of the movies in the franchise are worthy of that label, and “Fallout,” when compared to “Rogue Nation,” to my surprise, is no exception. The first thing I said once I finished watching the movie was a slow but steady “Holy crap.” There was multiple parts where I whispered to myself “Oh my gosh.” There were several moments where my jaw dropped. Every single frame had my attention and I was totally entertained, not to mention appreciative of the genius filmmaking efforts. Towards the end of the movie, I couldn’t breathe. It was one of the best feelings I had in my life, and when I was breathing, that felt equally fulfilling. When it comes to 2018 movies, I can declare that “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” has something in common with “Ready Player One,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?.” Why? That’s because I’m gonna give “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” a 10/10! This might just be my best movie of the year so far. I can’t say for sure, because a part of me is still trying to process what exactly I just saw, but I really couldn’t help but love every minute of my kick-ass experience. One last thing I will mention, Tom Cruise has an EPIC running scene in this movie. Look forward to it! Thanks for reading this review! I’d just like to take a moment to remind my viewers that I’m going to be utilizing a Facebook page specifically dedicated to Scene Before. If you want to like it or follow it, click the link below that way you can take yourself to the page and do your thing. Also, if you guys currently have “Mission: Impossible” fever, feel free to check out my reviews for the other “Mission: Impossible” movies. Be sure to check all of that out and stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, did you see “Mission: Impossible: Fallout?” What did you think about it? Or, which “Mission: Impossible” movie is your favorite of the bunch? Another question I’ll ask, what is your favorite action movie of the 2010s? I currently don’t have an answer for that as this is still certainly a contender and I am not sure where it should be ranked. But if it is not my favorite, my number one choice would something like “Inception.” Nevertheless, leave your comments below, check out my Facebook page, and be sure to follow me here on Scene Before to stay up to date on my latest reviews, countdowns, thoughts, and more! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

SCENE BEFORE FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/REALSceneBefore/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/mission-impossible-1996-this-movie-review-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/mission-impossible-ii-2000-impossible-to-enjoy/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/mission-impossible-iii-2006-the-young-and-the-fearless-spoilers/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-2011-your-movie-review-should-you-choose-to-accept-it/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/mission-impossible-rogue-nation-2015-a-revisit-to-my-first-mission-impossible-movie/

Skyscraper: Die Hard Without Christmas (2018) *PLUS RANT ON OBNOXIOUS MOVIEGOERS*

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Before we aim high and go into my “Skyscraper” review, let me just say that this film revolves around a family. This family’s relationship seems to play out in a significant amount of runtime for this film. Speaking of family, a new family is bound to form in California. A couple by the name of Paul and Genevieve at one point thought they’d never see the day the dream of starting a family would ever come true. Not because they didn’t try starting a family due to a lack of motivation or something, but because they endlessly tried and had no success. This is all explained… in “What the IVF?!”

“What the IVF” is a YouTube series starring the recently mentioned couple. These two explain their journey to conception. Every Monday, a new story is told, and usually the story that’s told is never one that’s all that happy. When it comes to the story of the couple’s journey to conception, many unfortunate realities occur throughout. Experience the ride alongside Paul and Genevieve as they face the misfortunes of math, exams, anger, sex, crying, pain, needles, and pain from needles! You can find the latest episodes of “WTIVF?” on the show’s personally dedicated YouTube channel, but if you want to watch one right now, check out the latest episode that goes over the past events of the couple’s IVF journey. I’ve watched it, and trust me guys, it’s a good one, check it out. Speaking of checking things out, be sure to take a gander at the “What the IVF?” YouTube channel, subscribe, ring the bell, click whatever button will make Paul and Genevieve happy! Aside from YouTube, you can also find stuff related to the series on other forms of media, be sure to check all of that out and follow those pages. Also don’t forget to check out the website to “WTIVF?” which is included in the links below. And be sure to tell them that Jack Drees sent ya over!

WTIVF? WEBSITE: http://www.whattheivf.com/

WTIVF? YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCILXSidkzWgwrQ5Oa1py78w/featured?disable_polymer=1

WTIVF? TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WTivF

WTIVF? INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/wtivf/

WTIVF? FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/What-The-IVF-288868031634125/

“Skyscraper” is directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Central Intelligence, Easy A) and stars Dwayne Johnson (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Fast Five), Neve Campbell (House of Cards, Scream), Chin Han (Ghost in the Shell, The Dark Knight), Roland Møller (The Commuter, Atomic Blonde), Noah Taylor (Vanilla Sky, Shine), Byron Han (Altered Carbon, The Big Short), Pablo Schreiber (13 Hours, American Gods), and Hannah Quinlavin (Moon River, The Shanghai Job). This film mostly takes place in or around what this movie’s universe considers the tallest building in the world. Unfortunately, this building eventually gets to a point where it’s on fire, and now it is up to a man by the name of Will Sawyer, a caring father, who also used to be a US military member and FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, to save his own family, and survive against certain individuals, not to mention, time.

My first exposure to something related to “Skyscraper” came around the time of the Super Bowl. To be more specific, I read a tweet from The Rock calling the film original. Just from that alone, I was intrigued. We’re getting as many sequels, adaptations, and reboots as we are getting news reports of someone we know or happen to like being called out for something terrible. Once I heard about this film’s “originality,” I was intrigued. But then the advertising started, and everybody started comparing it to “Die Hard.”

F*CK.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen “Die Hard” and I enjoyed it. It’s been forever since my experience watching it, but I found pleasure in what was on screen nevertheless.  However, if you’re advertising yourself as an original film, although in this case, an actor from the film is doing the advertising, and a good number of people see this as a “Die Hard” wannabe, that’s not good.

And you know what? One of my biggest problems with the film that doesn’t necessarily have to do with whatever is in the final product is the marketing. Now that people are calling “Skyscraper” 2018’s “Die Hard,” apparently there was a poster inspired by “Die Hard” made for it! Not only that, but there was also a “Towering Inferno” inspired poster. What does this movie want to be? And you know what? This might be an even more important statement: What does The Rock want this movie to be? Months ago, he was saying that this is an original production, and now he’s talking about other films that were basically inspirations for “Skyscraper,” which kind of therefore makes “Skyscraper” feel less original than maybe it once was. I will say though when it comes to tone, as I watched the movie, the tone was rather clear, it was trying to be an edge of your seat popcorn action thriller. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. And in some ways, “Skyscraper” succeeded at doing such a thing, but I wouldn’t say it was enough. Sure, it’s summertime, so big, explosive, expensive movies are to be expected, but overall the story at times is somewhat cliche and the script is predictable. There are some moments I didn’t expect, but if you don’t dive into specific detail, you might as well say the script is predictable.

In fact, some of you might be asking how predictable the script to “Skycraper” actually was. It was SO predictable, that a few audience members had a number of moments where they would say something out loud, and in a split second, that thing would happen. First off, if you’re going to the movies, PLEASE DON’T TALK! IT’S RUDE! I PAID GOOD MONEY FOR THIS! Seriously, these audience members to my left, they just couldn’t stop making noise! Granted, I talk during the movies, but only on occasion, and when I do it, I whisper. These hooligans showed up about thirty to forty minutes after the scheduled showtime, which in terms of seeing the movie, is about fifteen or so minutes through the runtime. I knew something was going to happen when I heard loud laughing from the back of the theater. Then they came into my row, and all of them were sitting to my left. DID “A QUIET PLACE” TEACH ANYTHING TO PEOPLE?! DON’T! TALK! DURING THE MOVIE! Gosh, I hate my life.

In all seriousness, the characters in “Skyscraper” weren’t really all that interesting. Sure, there’s The Rock’s character, but then again, he’s The Rock, everybody likes The Rock. I bought into his relationship with his wife, not to mention his kids. I also bought into him as a guy with a prosthetic leg. Although at the same time, I feel like a lot of people, regardless of whether or not they actually have a prosthetic leg can play this character. Maybe they can’t do it as well as The Rock, but there are times that I can probably imagine another actor in The Rock’s shoes. If you ask me, I still think The Rock is actually a fine choice for this character, but my thought still stands.

I recently mentioned that the script is a bit lackluster for this film, and when it comes to specification on that sort of thing, some of it has to do with poor characterization. If you ask me, I think when it comes to the protagonists, I don’t have too many complaints, especially when you compare that to the antagonistic side. The script spent a lot of time focusing on the main family and treating the tall building as if it was its own character. Seriously! It’s possible that the skyscraper in “Skyscraper” has more character development than the Transformers in the “Transformers” movies! As I watched this film and noticed the antagonistic side of things, I thought I was watching a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because of how cliche or underwhelming or underdeveloped their villains happen to be. I wouldn’t say I thought the main villain was bad at what he was trying to do, but I just probably won’t remember him.

You know how I mentioned the mixed messages I got from the film’s marketing? This film at times did feel like “Die Hard” to me. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never seen “The Towering Inferno” so I can’t say much about it. But there is another film I saw that I didn’t even realize would click into my mind at a certain point. Specifically, “Enter the Dragon.” If you’ve seen “Enter the Dragon,” chances are you’d know that there’s this climactic fight that takes place in this hall of mirrors. There’s a fight in “Skyscraper” that doesn’t seem to be exactly like that, but it’s very similar to it. Much like “Enter the Dragon,” this scene is competently shot and edited. There’s not a moment where I look in a mirror and notice a camera or a cameraman, then again most of this movie is on a green screen so I doubt they had actual mirrors on set. I’ve seen a number of reviews for this movie, and one comment that stuck out to me is that this movie borrows something particular from a lot of other titles, and usually that other title would do that particular thing better than “Skyscraper.” When it comes to this mirror scene, I can’t agree more. Not only was this sort of thing done better in “Enter the Dragon,” I’d say it was done better in “John Wick: Chapter 2!”

I also feel like a big problem in this movie may be because of the guy helming it. “Skyscraper” is written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, and most of his work is in the comedy genre. Granted, there is comedy in “Skyscraper.” There wasn’t much, and not all of it landed for me, but it was there. This is not his first action film however, it’s not even his first film with The Rock either. One of the better movies I’ve watched during 2016 happened to be “Central Intelligence,” an action-comedy starring Kevin Hart and The Rock. I haven’t watched it since seeing it in the theater, but I had a really fun time with it and I certainly wouldn’t mind watching it again. This movie however, not so much. I wouldn’t say “Skyscraper” needed more comedy, if anything that would have killed the movie unless they were going for an R rating. It just needed a different director and better writing.

Another problem I had with “Skyscraper” is that while it was technically written and directed by the same person without cooperation from others, it almost feels like a film that a bunch of stereotypical cigar-smoking studio executives would come up with. I was exposed to a podcast recently where two guys were talking about this movie, and I actually know of these guys from YouTube too, shoutout to Chris Stuckmann and John Flickinger! They thought of “Skyscraper” as a pitch movie. It’s almost like the pitcher gave a list of movies that this can be compared to, and all of those elements can be easily implemented into the final product. And when some people think of The Rock, the phrase “big money” might possibly pop in their heads. After all, he’s a big name in current Hollywood based on the number of projects he takes on, including “Fast & Furious.” I don’t know, this just feels more like a corporate product than a movie. I saw that coming upon seeing more and more advertising, but I just can’t help but point that sort of thing out.

In the end, I wouldn’t say “Skyscraper” stands tall. Sure, the movie may be doing well overseas, but that doesn’t mean I’m seeing something of quality here. The Rock is very charming, I bought into the chemistry between him and his family members, and I do think the building had an interesting design to it. Although when it comes to overall positivity I can give, there’s very little I can give towards this sometimes badly paced, cliche, and predictable thing that some may call a film. But one thing’s for sure, this is not gonna spark any “Christmas movie or not a Christmas movie” debates. I’m going to give “Skyscraper” a 4/10. Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to stay tuned for upcoming content, including my “Mission: Impossible: Fallout” review, and I do have some other films in mind when it comes to future reviews. These films include “Eighth Grade,” “Sorry to Bother You,” or if I have an excuse to do an older film review series like I did with “Mission: Impossible,” I’ll be sure to get that going sometime as well. Stay tuned for more reviews and other great content! I want to know, did you see “Skyscraper?” What did you think about it? Or, what is your favorite movie starring The Rock? Mine is “Fast Five,” let me know yours down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015): A Revisit To My First Mission: Impossible Movie

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, has been leading up to this point. The movie reviewing community’s biggest Jackass is about to review the last available “Mission: Impossible” movie before the release of the franchise’s upcoming film, “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” Your mission is to read through the review. You will eventually discover that this movie is directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who also directed another film starring this film’s lead actor, Tom Cruise, “Jack Reacher.” McQuarrie, believe it or not, will also be directing “Mission: Impossible: Fallout,” making him the first director to do two “Mission: Impossible” movies. As always, should you or any of your Force be caught or killed, the Movie Reviewing Moron will disavow any of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

“Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation” is directed by Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher, Way of the Gun) and stars Tom Cruise (Edge of Tomorrow, Oblivion), Jeremy Renner (The Avengers, The Bourne Legacy), Simon Pegg (Star Trek, Shaun of the Dead), Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen, Hercules), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Lilo & Stitch), Sean Harris (The Borgias, Prometheus), and Alec Baldwin (The Departed, 30 Rock). This film is about IMF agent Ethan Hunt as he’s back for another round of action, as he cooperates alongside his team to take down an organization known as the Syndicate, an international rogue organization.

Back before this movie came out, I remember seeing the trailer for this film. I knew what “Mission: Impossible” was, but at the time I technically haven’t been exposed to any of its material. Having seen the trailer and hearing that this film is getting a special countdown in IMAX, I felt it was necessary to go ahead and check out this film in the IMAX format while it was still in theaters, which I did.

For all who happen to be judging me, SHUT UP! That is a PERFECTLY JUSTIFIABLE REASON! I didn’t go to use my phone! I didn’t go to fall asleep! I didn’t go to chit chat with those around me! I went for the experience! Speaking of the experience, I had a really fun time, therefore making me really excited to watch this movie again on Blu-ray, especially considering it has been nearly three years since my first watch. And guys, let me just tell you, out of all the “Mission: Impossible” movies I’ve seen thus far, this is definitely my absolute favorite in the franchise!

Over the past number of days, I’ve been thinking to myself, “Mission: Impossible” is just like “Fast & Furious,” the movies just get better as they go on. The main difference however between “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious” however is that when it comes to overall quality, it feels like that is something that more associated with the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. Both movies have similar feels that will give adrenaline rushes, but “Mission: Impossible” feels a lot like a movie made for smarter audiences. I’m not saying those who go see “Fast & Furious” are stupid, I enjoy those movies, and one of my personal friends from Texas has a huge fascination towards the franchise. But what I am saying is that when it comes to “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious,” two franchises that if you look at them, have many similarities, I’d say that “Mission: Impossible” comes off as more than just popcorn entertainment. “Fast & Furious” feels ludicrous, maybe that’s because it’s lighthearted and while perhaps there is stuff at stake, you as an audience member might be more focused on chewing on your popcorn. As I watch “Mission: Impossible” however, I’m absolutely curious to know more about it. Maybe because Tom Cruise has built this reputation of being the biggest daredevil action star of his generation, but when I watch these films, they don’t feel like products meant to feed to the throats of the masses (except “Mission: Impossible II”), these feel like movies. I seriously want to know about these characters because I truly deeply care about them, for example, Ethan Hunt! How could I not care about him at this point?

Ethan Hunt is great once again in this movie, I totally bought Tom Cruise as him, and I think I cared about his character here just about as much as I did in the first one. When it comes to his character, I wouldn’t necessarily say that my appreciation towards Cruise not specifically to just Hunt himself, but I rooted for him. The way his mission is set up in this movie is brilliant, awesome, and kind of sets the stage for what’s to come. Without going into detail, the terrorist organization Hunt is supposed up against, the Syndicate, just became a whole lot more threatening in just a short matter of exposition. However, they’re not the only thing standing in Hunt’s way. Again, without going into detail, Hunt is pursued by the CIA in this movie.

Speaking of Tom Cruise and Ethan Hunt, let’s talk about one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve watched in any movie. This scene might be more disturbing than most horror movies! Remember how in the first “Mission: Impossible” Ethan had to go down into this restricted area on a wire? It might be the most famous scene in all of the “Mission: Impossible” movies. As much as I love this scene, I think I have a much softer spot for another scene in “Rogue Nation.” There’s a scene that is conceptually similar to the famous wire scene in the first movie that appears in this one. But the thing about this scene, is that while Hunt is supposed to go into a restricted area for the sake of completing a mission. And as if this task weren’t already heavy enough, it involves constantly being in an area that’s UNDERWATER. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat during this scene! I am just amazed that five movies in, I STILL manage to feel like this is the original production and I’m watching this franchise for the very first time. Then again, maybe not, because I’ve seen Ethan Hunt grow as a character, therefore I care about him a lot more than I would than if I saw him for the first time (depending on the scenario).

I will say that there are definitely action movies out there that rely on entertaining audiences simply on great action, and maybe leaving story as an afterthought. I wouldn’t say that when it comes to “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation.” The story in this movie is pretty solid, I cared about the characters and where this movie happened to be going. But the action scenes in this movie are nothing short of top notch.

You know how I said that the exposition for the Syndicate really set the tone for what’s to come? Well, I was referring to a moment after the opening credits in a record shop. There is one scene that takes place before the opening credits involving a plane, and my gosh, it is one of the best openings to a movie I’ve ever seen. Everything from the cinematography, the music, the writing, it kind of gives you tension as an audience member, I just ate it up! Afterwards, the movie does its opening credits, and while I will give “Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol” some credit for being the most creative opening of the “Mission: Impossible” movies, I thought this opening might have been better. It’s a lot like the first movie’s opening, but the music is slightly different. While I did praise the first movie’s opening because it had a TV show feel, I may sound like a hypocrite here, but I really don’t care, this one deserves my praise for its movie feel. With five installments that are technically movies and not TV shows, I personally think that’s a fair sentiment to have.

Speaking of scenes with vehicles, let’s take about that scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle! It’s awesome! It’s quite an amazing ride! Seeing Cruise blaze through the streets in this bad boy is nothing short of a treat, and it’s definitely better than that climax in “Mission: Impossible II.”

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One last scene I’m gonna talk about is the action sequence inside the Vienna State Opera. Before this whole scene begins, there is one line uttered by Ethan to Simon Pegg’s character of Benji that I will probably use so many times for the rest of my life.

“You want drama? Go to the opera.”

And drama there was indeed! This is one of the slower-paced scenes in the movie, but it completely worked. The intensity got higher and higher by the second, it was almost as if I didn’t know what was going to happen even though I watched this movie once, and it just reminds me why I think opera might be an underrated art form. In fact, this scene probably wouldn’t have worked if there was a different form of music. If this were a pop concert or jazz band or something, there would be a lot less intensity. The scene might still work and be effective, but it wouldn’t have that oomph that it got here.

In the end, “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation” is DEFINITELY the best the franchise has had to offer in all of its movies. Tom Cruise shines as Ethan Hunt, supporting cast members like Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, Rebecca Ferguson, and Simon Pegg all do a great job as well. The direction and screenplay was probably what I’d want out of a summer blockbuster such as this, and speaking of that, Christopher McQuarrie, a screenwriter and the director behind this film, has his name on the credits of the next film, “Fallout,” which is set to come out not long after this post’s publication, once again in the director’s chair and as a screenwriter. Given the job he has done on this movie, it makes me extremely faithful in this upcoming installment. I’m going to give “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation” a 9/10. Thanks for reading this review! Be sure to stay tuned for my review of “Mission: Impossible: Fallout.” This completes my series of older Tom Cruise “Mission: Impossible” movie reviews, most of the movies have been good, one although has been a near-death experience. And I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get my “Fallout” review up and ready to go, but I’m making sure I can do it as soon as possible. As for other series’ of older movies I can review, I wanted to do a Jason Statham series since “The Meg” comes out August 10th, but I wanted to do one movie per week, and I’m not quite sure I actually have the time for that, so that’s cancelled. If I do come up with another series of older movie reviews, I’ll make an announcement in a future post, until then, stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, what are your thoughts on “Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation?” Or, have you gotten a chance to see “Mission: Impossible: Fallout?” Tell me your thoughts on that! Also, if you want to check out my other “Mission: Impossible” reviews, links to those will be provided below! Check em out, follow me, enjoy your day, all that jazz! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/mission-impossible-1996-this-movie-review-will-self-destruct-in-five-seconds/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II REVIEW: https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/04/29/mission-impossible-ii-2000-impossible-to-enjoy/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/mission-impossible-iii-2006-the-young-and-the-fearless-spoilers/

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL REVIEW https://scenebefore.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-2011-your-movie-review-should-you-choose-to-accept-it/

CON ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m Going to TerrifiCon 2018!

Posted on by Jack Drees

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Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! We are currently in the second half of 2018! And I’ve already stated to y’all that I’m going to Rhode Island Comic Con and New York Comic Con this year! Well guess what? That ain’t enough to please this guy! I’m the king of the nerds, what can I say? This August, I’ll be making my second trip to a convention down in Connecticut. Based on what I’ve been hearing, it’s not gonna be quite the same as it was last year. It might as well be said that this year’s upcoming TerrifiCon is more terrific than ever!

Having gone to this event only once, I gotta say it’s a fun time. In fact, it came with a couple perks that I’ve missed at other cons I’ve encountered. For one thing, it doesn’t have many crowds, which kind of shocks me because when I went last year, the space used for the con wasn’t really that big. It worked, but it wasn’t big. Another perk for me, and perhaps my mother, is that all my time spent at this con is actually free. Why? This is taking place at the Mohegan Sun casino, and she is a member of some sort of club there. The membership aided in her getting free tickets. Last year, she was actually able to get tickets for two out of the three days. This year however, she actually managed to get three free days. Thanks, mom! Judging by my recent comment, I’m going to be at the con from Friday August 17th, to Sunday August 19th.

TerrifiCon is going to be taking place in an all new venue this year! As a matter of fact, when I was leaving Mohegan Sun last year to go home, there was actually construction being done on the new center. The venue goes by the name of Earth Expo & Convention Center, and it’ll still be attached to the Mohegan Sun property, but it’s an addition to the all new Earth Tower. I haven’t gotten much of a look at the place, but I have seen progress on its assembly.

Guests at this year’s TerrifiCon range from media guests, cosplay guests, artists, and writers. Some standouts include Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Ingrid Goes West), Lou Feringno (King of Queens, The Incredible Hulk), Sam Jones (Flash Gordon, Ted), and Henry Winkler (Happy Days, Arrested Development).

However that’s not all the guests that stand out, because a there’s a couple a guests that I’d imagine would be getting a lot of attention, but they won’t because they canceled.

One of the biggest guests on the list, in fact what I think may be THE biggest guest on the list for this year’s TerrifiCon is Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead, The Wolf of Wall Street). His name was leaked on the guest list somewhere towards the second half of spring. Although recently, the unfortunate happened. Days ago, a representative for Jon Bernthal said this:

“I cannot even begin to express how sorry I am to inform you that Jon Bernthal will have to cancel his appearance at your show in August to do his filming schedule. It seems he will have wrapped “Punisher” and gone into production for his next film the week before. He really wanted to make it especially since it would’ve been perfect since it was so close, but after just receiving this new schedule, it’s not going to be possible.”

Speaking of canceled appearances, we have another from KISS member Vinnie Vincent. As the website suggests, this guest canceled due to a scheduling conflict. Similarly, Shannon Farnon, known for her work on the Hanna-Barbera “Wonder Woman,” couldn’t make it due to a scheduling conflict of her own.

Funny enough, since we’re talking about things that have been unfortunately canceled, let’s talk about “Comic Book Men.” I never really watched “Comic Book Men,” but there’s gonna be a trio of guests from the AMC TV show of that name. These guests include Mike Zapcic, Bryan Johnson, and Ming Chen. The thing I love about these guests is not necessarily their show, their personalities, the fact that they’re even at the con, none of that. It’s not that I don’t like them, but that’s not what I’m referring to here. What I truly appreciate about the announcement for these guests is how the writer is trying to project himself. It’s like he’s talking straight to the target audience given his statement, calling the trio from “Comic Book Men” “former stars of the wrongly cancelled AMC-TV show.” For the record, this convention is being presented by Mitch Hallock and Big Fedora Marketing. So this must be either Mitch Hallock himself or some guy we don’t even know behind Big Fedora Marketing who wrote this sort of thing. Funny enough, on Jon Bernthal’s cancellation notice, it says “We were looking forward to seeing him as well – I already bought a 1st appearance of the Punisher for him to sign. But its not happening this year.

And yes, for those of you paying close attention, there is no apostrophe in what I assume was supposed to be “it’s.”

I could go on talking about all of the guests, but it’s a small list so I don’t feel it is absolutely necessary. One thing I do want to talk about is if you are going to the con, there is a chance that you could be making history. As an attempt to make a Guinness World Record for “Most contributions to a greeting card,” Terrificon is going to have a 5×24 ft card featuring art from Jerry Ordway. Some of you might be thinking that this is one of those world records that might be looked at for a second by someone simply before they move on to find something more “valuable” or “important,” and maybe you’re right. However, it does not mean there is no purpose to this world record attempt. After all, this greeting card, is also a birthday card. Who’s birthday is it? It’s not a bird, it’s not a plane, but I can definitely guarantee it is Superman. How old is Superman? This year, it is eighty years since his first ever appearance in a comic book!

Also, I gotta say, he ain’t lookin’ too bad for his age. He’s gotta lose that mustache tho, it’s kinda distracting. A little digital effects in post production will take care of it, don’t ya think?

If you are into cons with activities, I will say, that sort of thing caters to all kinds of guests who enter the convention center looking for something to do. Aside from your traditional walking around, shopping, meeting celebrities, artists, going to panels, cosplay contests, etc, the con also has an after party. The after party takes place on Saturday, August 18th at 7:30 PM to midnight. This event goes by the name All-Ages* Super Terrific Retro After Party, and don’t take the all-ages thing too literally. Yes, even if you were just born in the casino minutes ago, you might not have a problem getting in. However, if you’re younger than twenty-one, you must have a parent or guardian accompanying you. There will be live music, a DJ, a trivia contest, karaoke, and cosplay is certainly permitted! To enter and get all of this cool s*it, it just costs $10! If you’re not a party-person, that’s OK, no one ever forced you to be. Because you know, nerds are born to avoid any social interaction possible. And one way they do such a thing is go in their soundproof room, turn on some console or computer, and play video games.

Throughout TerrifiCon, there will be tons of opportunities to play some of your favorite video games such as “Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite,” “Rock Band 4,” “Super Smash Bros. for Wii U,” “Injustice 2,” and “Fortnite.” This is part of what’s being called CTGamer Arena, and seeing some of these titles, I am somewhat curious to check this out. The schedule suggests that they’re going to be doing Jackbox Games at 7PM on Friday. I would love to play Jackbox Games with a large group of people, just hear all of the laughs! I play Jackbox Games with my friends several times a year! COUNT! ME! IN! But one rule, if we’re playin’, we gotta do Fibbage at some point.

And if video games aren’t your jam, there is certainly nothing wrong with doing tabletop, and this con has got that! Granted, it’s a smaller schedule, but they’ve got it covered! If you want to play “Magic: The Gathering” or “Warhammer,” go get your game on in The Dragon’s Lair!

When it comes to TerrifiCon, they’ve always come off to me as one of the more family-friendly conventions I’ve seen. When I usually think of conventions, I don’t usually think of family, I just think of a place where out of shape, nerdy men like myself go around and spend money on whatever makes people like me happy. TerrifiCon feels like a con that would be welcoming to families, and when it comes to family related events, the convention has that covered! If you want family fun, find out about the “Aw Yeah Comics Fun Zone.” This area is in a giant ballroom featuring artists, writers, musicians, arts and crafts, face painting, robotics, demonstrations, and magic shows.

If you are traveling to this con and are looking for a place to stay, you can always book a hotel room on the Mohegan Sun property, that way you don’t have to make much of a trek towards the convention center considering it’s just steps from the elevators of both hotel towers. If that doesn’t satisfy you however, there are also hotels in the area that can get you staying close to the Mohegan Sun property. There is also another casino in the area, for those who aren’t familiar, by the name of Foxwoods, although Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are owned by different tribes, so if you’re looking to shuttle from one casino to another, tough luck kid. If you want a link for hotels in the area, click the link below!

MOHEGAN SUN & HOTELS: http://www.terrificon.com/mohegan-sun—hotels.html

I’ll be at TerrifiCon all three days of its run, I hope to see you there, and I’m willing to bet it’ll be a heck of a time. I’ll be sure to do a haul and review once I’m done, and with that being said, if you want to see that sort of thing, don’t forget to follow me on WordPress using your WordPress account or an email! Thanks for reading this post! While we are still talking about upcoming content, I should have you all know that tomorrow I’m going to see “Skyscraper,” I’ll have that review up as soon as possible, and I hope you can stay tuned for all of my future work here on Scene Before! I want to know, are you going to TerrifiCon? What days are you going? Have you been before? Tell me about your experience! Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!

Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again (2018): Having the Hour and Fifty-Four Minutes of My Life

Posted on by Jack Drees

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“Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” is directed by Ol Parker (Now Is Good, Imagine Me & You) and stars Lily James (Baby Driver, Cinderella), Amanda Seyfried (Ted 2, Mean Girls), Christine Baranski (The Good Wife, Chicago), Pierce Brosnan (GoldenEye, The Matador), Dominic Cooper (Preacher, Captain America: The First Avenger), Colin Firth (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Love, Actually), Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven, The Godfather: Part III), Stellan Skarsgård (Good Will Hunting, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote), Julie Waters (Brave, Paddington), with Cher (Moonstruck, Mask), and Meryl Streep (The Post, Sophie’s Choice). This movie is the sequel to 2008’s “Mamma Mia!: The Movie.” Five years after the events of the original film, Sophie learns about past events involving her mother, while the movie chooses to simultaneously focus on what the movie’s universe would call present events.

This “Mamma Mia!” installment might as well only be made because of how much money the first one actually made. Based on words I’ve heard just the other day, I’ve been totally shocked by the numbers of the first “Mamma Mia!,” finding out it has actually brought in a total of over $600 million at the worldwide box office. Funny enough, it was never #1 at the box office on ANY of the weekends of its run! Seriously! “Iron Man” came out the same year, it was #1 on both its opening weekend and its second weekend, and yet it still made less than “Mamma Mia” did during its entire run! Now that we have that we have this sequel, I must ask… Will the box office numbers be as high as this film, or is this one giant fluke? The answer, will have to wait because this movie, when it comes to its official public release, is only a short number of days old. Another question I found completely unanswerable is “How was the movie?”

Upon walking out of the theater, I couldn’t even answer how the movie truly was. I could confirm I didn’t like it, I thought it was somewhat flawed. But at the same time, it was kind of fun. This movie is not necessarily just another bad movie, it’s also the kind of bad that to me, didn’t really make me hate myself. But part of me wondered why. Sure, maybe certain musical segments were well choreographed, I guess there were some chuckleworthy moments here and there, and there was also times where I just admired the main locations of the film. In fact, part of why I actually enjoyed myself very much may have been due to watching the film in the IMAX format. If I went to see “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” in a regular theater with a normal screen, I would have probably enjoyed myself a bit less than I did in my circumstance of viewing this film. I had low expectations going into “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again,” and just because I enjoyed myself, doesn’t mean I thought the film was anywhere near absolute perfection. It just means I don’t want to bang my head on a wall for an hour.

The biggest problem I have with “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” is just that it’s kind of confusing. Granted, part of it be my fault as a viewer, because I’m willing to bet if I saw the first film, this sequel would be a lot more crystal clear. I won’t go into detail because the movie just came out and not everyone has seen it yet, but I just felt like there were maybe a huge amount of clutter in terms of characters, plot lines, etc. Granted, you can argue “Avengers: Infinity War” has that same issue, but the thing is, that movie plays out like a TV show. Everything has been leading up to it, if you’ve seen MCU movies released prior to that one, you’d probably have some sort of connection with the characters based on their journeys, and the way the screenplay and direction came together in that film made it feel like a thrill ride. “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” expands the story of the franchise, but it does that by including something that doesn’t really have much stakes attached to it. For a film like this, that might be a weird complaint, but I just didn’t really care for anyone in this film. Again, I didn’t watch the first installment, so I may be cheating with that statement. But I just found this film boring at times because it felt like it was a story that just had so much going on with occasional interruptions from musical numbers.

If you know me in person, chances are you’d know that I love thinker movies, I love movies that make you figure out what’s going on, movies that don’t give you all the answers right away, movies that rely on being complicated therefore making them come off as a fun puzzle. I love movies that don’t make you feel stupid! Although, one complaint I can’t believe I’m saying here is that I thought this movie was a bit more complicated than it had to be. Was it intentional? I doubt it. In fact, I feel like the only real intention of this sequel was to get money. This movie goes back and forth in time, only to make me wonder which character is which, and which part of my brain hurts the most. I think if the movie really wanted to tell its story from a perspective that goes over both the past and present, it should have really had some more work done during the edit. What should have been done is if you want to go over a past event, you should color grade or put a filter over the footage to make it look old-timey. I wouldn’t call something like this dumbing down, but I would consider it to be hint of help or aid for those who don’t even know what’s going on.

As far as the movie’s characters go, I’m not even gonna go into detail about a lot of them. To make a long story short, most of them are rather quirky, and have their own individual qualities that make them who they are. If you’re expecting to see Meryl Streep in this movie, you do get her, but as far as actually getting HER, don’t expect much. Because the movie mainly focuses on a younger version of her character (Lily James).

Having seen Lily James play this younger version of Donna, I can kind of buy into her interpretation of the character, and I’d say she did a fine job with the role for the most part. But in all seriousness, this does beg a question. The question I have to ask is… Is Lily James the next Meryl Streep? Granted, you don’t really need to be a powerhouse actor to be in a movie like this. It’s recommended, but that’s not the biggest thing that I’d say you need. In fact, in some cases, your ability to sing would probably have a higher importance. I do think Lily James is an alright actor. I haven’t seen her in much, but I’d say she’s an alright actor nevertheless. But here’s the thing, will the Academy see this movie and forever think of Lily James as that one actor to nominate every single year no matter what she does? I’m not sure how much longer Streep has in terms of her career, but if you consider how many times she’s been nominated for some award throughout her life, it only makes me wonder how many James is bound to get down the road.

But in all seriousness, I feel like the only things I can truly appreciate in “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” is that it exceeded my expectations, it was well choreographed at times, and it had some neat location choices. Other than that, it’s just a bunch of sequences shot on a camera placed together in a certain order for the sake of calling something a movie. It’s not good, and while I’m not in the target audience, I gotta be honest, I just didn’t think this was worth my time.

In the end, “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again,” spectacle-wise, doesn’t fail to impress, but on every other level, it’s not on par with what I’d call a proper movie. I mean, it has its audience, they might as well enjoy the film, good for them. This movie to me however, it was boring, although in reality, it ended in a much quicker rate than I thought it would. Maybe it’s because it almost felt like nothing happened. If it weren’t for a few pluses sprinkled in or seeing this movie in IMAX, I probably would have lost all sanity. With that being said, I’m going to give “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” a 4/10. Thanks for reading this review! This Wedneday I’m going to see “Skyscraper,” so expect a review for that pretty soon, and speaking of that, be sure to follow my blog so you can stay tuned for more great content! I want to know, have you seen “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” what are your thoughts on it? Or, which of the “Mamma Mia!” films do you like better? Let me know down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!