Seth Harris

Movie Review – Mission: Impossible 2

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Written by Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Robert Towne
Directed by John Woo

Is bland & formulaic better than something bizarre & bad? I’m unsure which is the right choice, but I know that Mission: Impossible 2 (of MI 2) is very much the latter. Yet, it’s not the sort of bad that makes watching the film unenjoyable. Unlike some of the later MI pictures, I was glued to the screen for the entirety of this movie. This is mainly due to the sheer 2000s-ness of this one. John Woo is at peak Woo-ocity as well, including his iconic drama doves, one of which almost gives away Ethan Hunt’s position in a crucial scene. To understand MI2 is to remember that this franchise wasn’t quite sure what it would be. I have to hand it to the MI series that, for the longest time, it refrained from dedicating itself to one director or one style, and each picture really did feel like that filmmaker’s take on the concept.

Movie Review – Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible (1996)
Written by David Koepp, Robert Towne, and Steven Zallizan
Directed by Brian De Palma

There is a formula. At the time of this writing, I have watched five of the six currently released Mission Impossible films, and there is most definitely a list of things that have become expected for nearly every installment. That said, each film (up to Rogue Nation) has its own director and a distinct style, which sets it apart from much of the copy/paste nature of its contemporaries, like Marvel movies, where the directors are made to suppress their style to be, well, bland, I suppose. I don’t think the MI films are a boon to cinema, but they do feel like something completely different from what we are served today.

PopCult Podcast – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret/The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

It’s all about the girls in book adaptations this week’s episode. One is a beloved coming of age novel that has been the subject of much censorship since it was published over 50 years ago. The other is a remix of a classic horror novel set in America and about the scourge of death in poor communities.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Supersworn Part One

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Supersworn Pre-Alpha
Designed & Written by Ben Adams
You can check out this game and many other hacks of Ironsworn here.

Stepping away from my regular routine with these solo tabletop RPGs, I will be playing with a very preliminary but still well-developed fan hack of Ironsworn: Starforged that is superhero themed. I previously reviewed and played with Ironsworn and Starforged; however, superhero tropes are in my wheelhouse more than fantasy ones, so I expect this to go even smoother than those. Supersworn takes these systems and makes some tweaks so a player can be a superhero in a world similar to those of DC, Marvel, or even a universe with a wildly different take on capes.

My Favorite Films with a Fireworks Scene

Blow Out (1981)
Written & Directed by Brian De Palma

It’s fireworks season in America now, as millions of people celebrate their “independence” by igniting explosives and permanently wounding themselves because they don’t know how to handle fireworks. In the spirit of that, I am sharing my favorite films with fireworks scenes related to the plot. I have provided the actual fireworks scene when available for each film, but I provide a trailer if that particular moment wasn’t clipped on YouTube.

Comic Book Review – Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby

Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen by Jack Kirby (2019)
Reprints Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen #133-139, 141-148
Written by Jack Kirby
Art by Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, Mike Royer, Al Plastino, and Murphy Anderson

You should have dignity in whatever work you do. Jack “The King” Kirby had that self-respect, and in 1970, when he was presented with a less than favorable new contract by Marvel, the already legendary artist said, “No thanks.” Kirby had been a loyal company man despite being shit on constantly by the likes of Stan Lee. He was held back creatively in favor of more “marketable” ideas and art. So, with limited options, Kirby went to DC Comics and, over almost two years, negotiated a deal he could live with. Part of this deal was the development of a line of titles under the banner of “The Fourth World.” This new cosmic saga would be composed of three ongoing books: New Gods, The Forever People, and Mister Miracle, with the Jimmy Olsen ongoing thrown in as well.

July 2023 Posting Schedule

Film Series

July 3rd thru 14th – The Mission Impossible Series

Mission Impossible, Mission Impossible 2, Mission Impossible III, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Mission Impossible: Fallout

July 17th thru 31st – Angry Cinema

Weekend (1967), Watermelon Man, Hi, Mom!, Walker, Lady Vengeance, Observe and Report, and Norte: The End of History

May/June 2023 Digest

Features
[Patron Pick] – The Daytrippers
[Patron Pick] – Kicking & Screaming
[Patron Pick] – Oz the Great and Powerful
[Patron Pick] – Holes
Book Update – May/June
My Favorite TV Season Finales
My Favorite TV Series That Remind Me Of I Think You Should Leave

Movie Review – Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
Written by George Lucas, Jeff Nathanson, and David Koepp
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Once upon a time, there was a man named Indiana Jones. He had many adventures in his day. Then one day, he stopped. That would have been a perfect place to end things. Indy rides off into the sunset with his friends as the end credits of The Last Crusade roll across the screen. For nineteen years, it was the end. In the background, treatments, and drafts of scripts were hammered out as the creatives and executives hemmed and hawed over how much more money they could squeeze out of this one. I was okay with no Indiana Jones movies in the 1990s and most of the 2000s. We didn’t need any more stories anymore because we could always revisit the ones we had. But more was required by the money machine. So we got Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a medley of scenes from many scripts that are made worse by the development of computer-generated imagery. Poor Indy was forced to put the hat back on and dance for the audience again.

Book Update – May/June 2023

Runaway: Stories by Alice Munro

May & June have been my two favorite reading months this year. It’s one of those rare times when I didn’t read anything I disliked. As you’ll see in one review, my expectations for a new book didn’t pay off, but I still didn’t think the book wasn’t worth reading. May started with my first read ever of the fantastic Canadian author Alice Munro. Very much in the vein of your classic literary short stories, Munro offers up stories that spotlight crucial moments in everyday people’s lives, women exclusively. Spanning the decades, these stories all deal with choices these women made at some point, often affected by circumstances that shaped them going forward.