Spy Game (2001)

It is 1991 and an ambulance arrived at a Chinese prison.  There was concern of a cholera outbreak.  Among the medical personal is Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt).  He was 'accidentally' electrocuted while trying to plug in a medical instrument.  Declared dead, he was left on a gurney in an isolated area while technicians attempt to restore power, and the rest of the med team continued with vaccinations.  Tom awoke soon after and hunted through the cells until he found a particular prisoner.  Time was short.  The extraction was almost complete when the alarms sounded, and the prison was locked down.  The extraction failed and Tom was captured.

Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) awoke when his phone rang.  Harry Duncan (David Hemmings) called to report Tom's capture.  Nathan was a CIA operative and today was to be his last day.  He had hardly arrived than he was asked about his files on Tom Bishop.  Nathan had recruited, trained, and ran Tom Bishop as an agent for nearly a decade.  As such, he was called into a meeting with CIA bigwigs to provide background on Tom.  Nathan's explanations morph into flashbacks.  Tom was recruited in Vietnam in 1975, trained in Germany in the late 70s, and broke with Nathan during an operation in Lebanon in 1985.  During training, Nathan tells Tom never to risk himself for an asset; send flowers (to the funeral) instead.  Save money for retirement and never touch it.  Much of the advice in the training telegraphs exactly how the movie will end.

All the action of the movie is from the flashbacks.  In the present, Nathan plays a game of deception and delay.  He had already deduced that the agency would let the Chinese execute Tom and that it was up to him to prevent that outcome.  That all these CIA bigwigs are led around by this retiring operative is sometimes amusing but mostly unbelievable.  Then again, Nathan is acting against many of the rules he had outlined and, to all appearances, faithfully followed throughout his career.

Though the story is good and the performances are excellent, the movie is just so-so.  As noted, all the action is in flashback and thus has no stakes; we know the characters are alive in the current day.  In the current day, Tom is helpless and Nathan must finesse a rescue with limited access and resources.  Nathan's career is already over.  What is he risking?  One supposes he would be prosecuted and tossed in jail but that is never outlined so it isn't clear for the audience.  One of the least exciting spy movies I have seen.

Megamind (2010)

As the story opens, Megamind (Will Ferrell) plummets toward the ground and his imminent death.  As he falls, he ponders his life.  Like Superman, he was sent to Earth as a baby during the destruction of his planet.  He was not the only one.  Metro Man was simultaneously sent to earth during the destruction of a different planet.  While Metro Man was raised by wealthy adoptive parents, Megamind was raised in the local prison. As kids, Megamind and Metro Man attended the same school for a time and became rivals.  Once he was an adult, Megamind embraced a career as a supervillain!  Of course, he had no powers beyond being a genius.  Despite his genius, Metro Man defeated him again and again, sending him back to prison for the next clash.

In his latest scheme, he has once again kidnapped Roxanne Richi (Tina Fey), a standard tactic that always lures Metro Man to certain doom. Well, ideally it would be his doom, but usually not.  Metro Man is not the only opponent for Megamind.  There is also Tighten (Jonah Hill), a hero that Megamind created with his genius. Oh, that may not have been wise.

It is easy to see the similarities of Metro Man to Superman, Roxanne to Lois Lane, and Megamind to Lex Luthor.  Metro Man is more of a showman than Superman, eagerly pumping up his fans in a display of his powers at the grand opening of his museum.  Likewise, Megamind stalks the streets of Metro City with a soundtrack playing, often dancing to the tune.

Ferrell is often hit or miss with his characters.  Megamind is a definite hit.  He is great in the role, which is several roles thanks to his disguise watch.  That Megamind has a character arc that few supervillains are ever given was quite entertaining.

Great popcorn fun.  Highly recommended.

Ad Astra (2019)

Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is working on a communication tower that reaches to space when a power surge hits.  He falls from the tower and plummets earthward.  For a long time.  He's unconscious for part of the fall.  He wakes up in time to pull his chute.  Soon after the incident, he is called to a meeting where he learns that his father, Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) - who has been missing for over 20 years when the Lima Project was assumed to have failed - may still be alive in orbit around Neptune.  As the power surges that are causing trouble on Earth originate from Neptune, Roy is the perfect person to establish contact with his father.  Roy soon catches a rocket to the moon and thence to Mars.  After several laser transmissions to the Lima Project station, there is a response.  Roy is not privy to the response.  Determined to reconnect with his father, Roy stows away on the ship that is dispatched.  Will he be able to stop his father or is he too emotionally involved?

The movie is slow paced.  Though there are several action scenes, the silence of space gives them an antiseptic feel.  A page was taken from The Expanse.  Roy is the coolest of customers, always calm and in control.  He saves the day repeatedly in high stress situations.  However, his emotionlessness gives him a detached quality.  His wife left him because he was never around, even when he was around.  Clearly, his absent father - who set out for Neptune when Roy was a teenager - has dramatically impacted him and also led him to follow his father's career path.  If not for Roy's narration, his character would have seemed distant indeed.

More of an interesting movie than an entertaining one.  Yes, the stakes are high and the journey is epic, but it plays like a meditation session that has the occasional break for exercise.

Just okay.

Bullet Train (2022)

Ladybug (Brad Pitt) walks through Tokyo while talking to his handler on his cell phone.  He is only recently back on the job and rambles about his therapist, Barry, while he makes his way to the train station.  Today's job is to be a simple snatch & grab.  He is to get a briefcase and get off the train.  Easy peasy.  Of course, it doesn't go quite so smoothly.  Though he gets his hand on the case, he is intercepted by a vengeful Mexican assassin as he tried to exit the train.  Also on the train are The Prince (Joey King), Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) & Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Kimura (Andrew Koji), and the Hornet (Zazie Beetz).  Most of them are also after the briefcase and will kill to get it.  Though Ladybug is the main character, the plot follows each of the others and often provides a flashback of what brought them to the bullet train.  The macgoffin of the movie - the briefcase - belongs to the White Death (Michael Shannon), a murderous Russian who killed his way into being a Yakuza boss.

Here is an action-packed romp, a film full of interesting characters, entertaining fights, and some witty repartee.  Oddly, there is a lot of time spent on luck, fate, destiny, and such.  Ladybug views himself as having the worst luck - which certainly seems to be the case here.  The White Death sees what fate has dealt him and set about killing the various troubles in his path.  The Elder (Hiroyuki Sanada) sees fate turning in his favor after many years of waiting.  Prince operates as if she were playing a game in which she needs to anticipate moves and get the various players to the right spot at the right time.  Where Brad Pitt had an extended cameo in The Lost City, both Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum appear here.  Even Ryan Reynolds had a cameo!  Though mostly an action flick, there is plenty of humor.

Great popcorn fun and recommended!

The Lost City (2022)

The story opens with Dr. Angela Lovemore (Sandra Bullock) and Dash McMahon (Channing Tatum) bound next to each other on a stone floor where they are surrounded by vipers while the nameless villain (Steven Lange) monologues that he will soon have the fabled Crown of Fire while they will be dead.

Delete.  Delete.  Delete.

Romance author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is entirely unhappy with the climax of her latest book and instead leaves it unresolved.  Her publisher, Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), is not thrilled, but the deadline has arrived.  Her book, The Lost City of D, is published and a book tour follows.  Encouraged to wear a sequined purple jumpsuit (which serves as her totally inappropriate atire for the majority of the film), Loretta appears onstage with cover art model Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum).  The women in the crowd are more interested in asking 'Dash' questions than Loretta.  After an argument with Alan, Loretta storms off, only to be abducted by the oddly named billionaire, Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe).  Fairfax has located the Lost City of D and, having read her book, discovered that Loretta has practical knowledge of the hieroglyphic language.  Indeed, her deceased husband was an archeologist and she used his research as a basis for her book series.  Fairfax needs Loretta to decipher some clues he has discovered at the ruins of D.

Meanwhile, Alan and Beth are desperate to recover Loretta.  Alan proposes contacting his yoga instructor.  Beth is baffled.  He explains that his trainer had been a Navy SEAL and CIA operative.  Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) agrees to rescue Loretta, but will need her phone.  Alan agrees to deliver Loretta's phone.  Of course, Alan expects to be part of the rescue, repeatedly ignoring Jack's demands that he stay out of the way.  His tagalong routine is played for laughs.

The parallels to Romancing the Stone are obvious.  Lonely author finds herself on an adventure with a handsome man, just like in the books she writes.  However, Abigail is a laughable villain and Alan is a useless bumpkin.  The best action scenes of the movie occur during Brad Pitt's brief appearance.

Enjoyable to watch but far inferior to Romancing the Stone.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a B actor whose career is starting to fade.  His one time staring credit in a popular western TV series - Bounty Law - now gets him guest appearances as the bad guy du jour.  His long time stuntman, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), serves as his driver, handyman, and best friend.  It just so happens that Rick lives next door to Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate.

The movie reminded me of Hail Caesar!  The setting is the main character and all the actions just offer more details of a specific time.  Tarantino is celebrating late 60s Hollywood in this movie, offering a deep dive into the era through the main characters.  Behold the nostalgia.

Pitt and DiCaprio are excellent in their roles and, though most of the movie has little to nothing to do with the climax, it is always fun and engaging.  After watching this, I wanted to go rent the 14 Fists of McCluskey and check out a couple episodes of Bounty Law.

Definitely worth seeing though I'm not sure I'd say anything here is Oscar material.  Well, set design is pretty impressive.

Thumbs up.

Fury (2014)

The tank crew of the Fury are the sole remaining tank out of a platoon.  Upon returning back to the nearest base, they are assigned a new machine gunner/backup driver; the last one was killed during the previous action.  Norman Ellison (Logan Lerman) is a clerk who can type 60 words a minute but has no tank experience.  Sgt. Collier (Brad Pitt) is not happy to have such a raw recruit but has no other option.  Here is a story of Norman being thrown into the deep end of the pool to either sink or swim.

It is April of 1945 and the US Army is overrunning Germany but the casualties are very high.  Joining another 4 tanks, the Fury heads back into the action.  Along the way, they tackle gun emplacements, clear a town, face a Tiger tank, and defend a crossroads.  The action is intense and sometimes graphic.

 

The role of each tanker is detailed quite well.  Gordo (Michael Pena) is the driver, Swan (Shia LeBeouf) is the gunner, Travis (Jon Bernthal) is the loader, and Collier is the commander.  The workings of the Sherman and the teamwork involved in operating it is the best part of the movie.  Where Patton had tanks swarming around, this is a detailed look at one tank and its crew.  Very enjoyable.

 

The ending was disappointing.  The German column would have marched around the tank rather than throwing away a third of its force to repeatedly attack it.  Maybe the tank should have been named the Alamo instead.

Allied

The movie opens in 1942 with Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) parachuting into the Moroccan desert.  In Casablanca, he meets his contact, Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard).  The pair pose as a married couple and attend a Nazi reception where they assassinate the ambassador before making good their escape.  Back in England, they get married and have a daughter.  A year later, Max is informed that his wife is suspected of being a spy.

 

The movie has its moments but doesn't rise above average.  Shortly after Max and Marianne meet, she explains that she keeps the emotions real to maintain her cover.  She admits to really liking the Nazis with whom she works but, when it came to the mission, she kills one of them.  Later, when she gives birth to their daughter, she declares to Max that 'This is the real me' or something to that effect.  If you saw the trailer, this scene gives up the mystery.  Worse, there are no other suspects.  The movie doesn't offer an alternate explanation so that the audience can think perhaps she isn't a Nazi spy.  The movie mostly follows Max and his desperate efforts to prove the mother of his child is not spying for the Nazis.  Considering the lengths to which he went, it is a testament of the love for his wife.

 

There are some really strange features.  When Max is told that his wife is a suspected spy, he is told that if true, he must kill her to prove his innocence.  That is amazingly unfriendly.  Moreover, they include him in the plot to unmask her.  Why?  Bonds of love cannot be turned off like that and surely the intelligence agencies of the day knew that.  If they discovered her in the first place because she was leaking stuff she gleaned from Max, why not just feed Max something without his knowing participation?

 

Fun and engaging while the setting was Casablanca but dreary and unsatisfying back in London.  Worth seeing if you like Pitt or Cotillard but otherwise pass on this one.