The Films of Spike Lee: An Introduction

I have been a Spike Lee fan since the 1990s – along with Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, the Coens and Oliver Stone, Lee was one of the first filmmakers I went through to watch all of their films. While it’s true he has had an uneven filmography over the years, he is also a filmmaker unafraid of style or controversy, and never seems to be phoning it in.

 

According to IMDB, Lee has over 80 directing credits – features, shorts, docs, TV episodes and just about anything else you can think of. To keep it simple before the release of BlackKklansman I’m going to watch just his previous 21 dramatic theatrical features as part of this series. This isn’t to say that his doc work is somehow lesser – When the Levee’s Broke would be in my top five Lee films easily, and 4 Little Girls would be close as, or even that some of his concert films are weak either – Passing Strange is wonderful. It’s just to try and keep the watch list here manageable – how would decide which docs to see and which to skip, etc.?

 

Below is the ranking of Lee’s films as I now see them. As always happens when I embark on these re-watches, I’m almost certain this will be different after seeing these 21 films again. I cannot wait.

 

21. Girl 6 (1996)

Lee has always had trouble when writing female characters – which perhaps explains why one of the only films to focus almost exclusively on them is the weakest film he ever made. The film feels like it’s trying to call out the exploitation of black women, while also exploiting black women. This is the hardest film of Lee’s to find – probably because it has so few defenders. I’m very curious to revisit.

 

20. Oldboy (2013)

Lee remade Park Chan-wook’s unforgettable masterpiece about a man who was kidnapped and held captive for years never being told why, and then released with (little explanation – and then has to piece it altogether. The filmmaking is actually quite good here – but the film never hits the heights of the original, the shocks aren’t (shocking when you know they’re coming, and seem more farfetched this time. Lee just didn’t seem right for this material.

 

19. Red Hook Summer (2012)

Lee returned to Brooklyn to make this odd film about a young boy from the South coming to stay in Brooklyn – and the deeply flawed preacher (brilliantly played by Clarke Peters) at the local church. The whole thing is a mess – the ending doesn’t work at all. But (with many of Lee’s messes, it’s always interesting no matter how farfetched it gets.

 

18. Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014)

Lee’s very odd remake of the very odd Blaxploitation adjacent film Ganja & Hess, about black vampires. Lee turns it into a commentary on class within the black community. The oddly mannered performances will put many (most?) off – but is key to its effect. It’s a strange one to be sure – but one I think is interesting.

 

17. She Hate Me (2004)

Lee’s film fully and completely embraces every cliché about the sexual prowess of black men – and takes it to ridiculous extremes in this satire. Some felt Lee was being genuine here – with Anthony Mackie (a black stud who gets paid $10,000 a pop to impregnate lesbians – and brings them all to screaming orgasm. But Lee is smarter than that – and I think it was a deliberate attempt to make it all look silly. Most hate this film, but I found it to be immensely entertaining and engaging when I saw it years ago – and look forward to seeing it again.

 

16. Miracle at St. Anna (2008)

Lee used the clout he got after the hit of Inside Man to make this WWII epic, set in Italy, in which an all-black unit saves the locals. The film is an utter and complete mess, but an entertaining and provocative one, so it is never boring, and deserved better than it got.

 

15. She’s Gotta Have It (1986)

I’ve always had issues with Lee’s debut film – the female protagonist isn’t (interesting (the three men trying to woo her, the depiction of the lesbian neighbor is pretty homophobic, and the climatic rape doesn’t sit right (last year’s Netflix shows fixed those problems). Still, the importance of this film cannot be overstated – it showed a completely different kind of film could be made by African American directors, and at its best, it’s very entertaining. It’s one of Lee’s most important, but not best, films.

 

14. Mo’ Better Blues (1990)

Mo’ Better Blues is the rarest of things for Lee – a largely forgettable film. I haven’t seen the film in years – and while that’s true of several Lee films, I really don’t remember much about it, other than it’s a fine performance by Denzel – his first for Lee – and some great music and filmmaking. I look forward to finding out if it’s better than I remembered.

 

13. Get on the Bus (1996)

Lee made this film quickly, set entirely on a bus travelling from L.A. to Washington and back again to the Million Man March. The film doesn’t shy away from the politics of its organizer – Louis Farrakhan – but argues that it wasn’t really about him. This is the kind of low key, low budget film Lee hasn’t made much of – but I wish he had.

 

12. Crooklyn (1994)

Lee’s version of his childhood, put on screen, shows a different vision of the so-called “ghetto” – where his family is seen (loving, and the streets mainly safe. It’s probably a little too sentimental and nostalgic at times – but a welcome corrective to the films of the 1990s that painted those streets (a violent cesspool.

 

11. Chi-Raq (2015)

Lee takes on violence in Chicago by way of an old Greek myth of women going on a sex strike. The lead performance by Teyonah Parris is great, and the film is a wild, crazy mixture of comedy, crime, preaching and music that only Lee could make. Many hated it. They were wrong.  

 

10. School Daze (1988)

As often happens after a successful indie debut, Lee was given more money, and expanded his canvas for his follow-up. School Daze remains a fascinating film about life at a historically black college – full of life and energy, musical numbers, and complicated conversations about color and relationships. A provocative, entertaining, fascinating film.

 

9. Summer of Sam (1999)

10 years after Do the Right Thing, Lee made another film about a hot summer – this one in the late 1970s, where David Berkowitz was terrorizing New York, and no one felt safe. The cast is almost entirely white, and the film is about how this paranoia of people being different infects every neighborhood. One of Lee’s most underrated films.

 

8. Jungle Fever (1991)

Lee courted controversy in 1991, making a film about inter-racial relationships that many seemed to think he was against them. He wasn’t – he was against them if they were based on stereotypes, which the central relationship was (but the other relationship, between John Turturro and Tyra Ferrell did not). The other real problem is that the central relationship never really works – everything else is top notch.

 

7. Inside Man (2006)

A surprise hit for Lee back in 2006, this genre film – a bank heist in which Clive Owen robs a bank, and Denzel plays a (maybe corrupt) hostage negotiator to try and get him out, and Jodie Foster plays a wealthy fixer. This is a genre film, and works brilliantly (one, but Lee smuggles in a lot of commentary on the issues he has addressed into it, and it ends up being one of his most entertaining – and best – films.

 

6. Clockers (1995)

Lee has mainly stayed away from making films about gangs and drugs – but when he did one with Clockers, he made one of the best the genre has seen. The film is a complex examination of the economics of drugs, the racism of police, and the difficulty of avoiding the violence all around you. It is a murder mystery of sorts, but (Lee always does when he does a genre film, he complicates things more than normal.

 

5. He Got Game (1998)

The story of a star high school basketball player, whose father now in jail for murdering his wife (Denzel, again), is let out to try and convince his son to go to the local school. The film is full of love of basketball – while still acknowledging how it has become a business that uses young black men (little more than a commodity to be used up and thrown away. This is Lee at his most clear eyed, and so quietly tragic.

 

4. Bamboozled (2000)

Lee’s film got a lot of attention in 2000, but no one really went to see it. I understand why so many hated it or couldn’t watch it – using black face was a deliberate provocation on Lee’s part, and some cannot see beyond that. But Lee’s film is a racially charged version of network – throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick in terms of black entertainment, and how while a lot can be blamed on white people, it all cannot be. I don’t agree with everything in the film – who does – but it remains one of the most memorable provocations of Lee’s – or anyone’s – career.

 

3. 25^th Hour (2002)

One long night before Edward Norton’s drug dealer reports to prison to do a 7 year stretch he may not survive. Lee turned this film into one of (if not the best) examination of New York in the aftermath of 9/11. A long sad, decline of a film about lives wasted or unlived. A masterpiece, whose reputation has grown and grown in the past 16 years – and deserves to grow even more.

 

2. Malcolm X (1992)

Malcolm X may just be the best biopic ever made (I’m probably forgetting something, but off the top of my head, this is it). Denzel gives the best performance of his career – one of the very best we’ve ever seen – in a complex look at the life of the controversial Civil Rights leader that doesn’t shy away from the controversy, or try and portray him (a saint. A long, complex, brilliantly well-made film. A true masterwork.

 

1. Do the Right Thing (1989)

Lee’s masterpiece, and the best film ever made about race in America. Over one long, hot summer day in Brooklyn, the racial tensions that have long simmered underneath the surface explode, and everyone has to deal with the new reality at the end. Sadly, the film hasn’t aged a day in nearly 30 years. An absolute masterpiece – one of the best American films ever made.

Mission Impossible Series - Ranking

I had an absolute blast re-watching the previous five films in the Mission Impossible series leading up to Fallout – all of which made it easier to see which really was the best. I am more convinced than ever now that this is the best action series going – and really, one of the best we have ever seen.

 

6. Mission: Impossible III (2006) – Yes, Philip Seymour Hoffman is the best ever villain this series has ever had – and it has less overt problems than Mission Impossible II – but I’ll take flawed but going for it over less flawed, but less inventive.

 

5. Mission: Impossible II (2000) – This film goes for it, and yes, it’s all over the map, and wildly over the top, and the villain is bland – but Thandie Newton is terrific, and the action sequences in the back half are as good as they possibly could be. I don’t care if I’m the only one in the world who doesn’t rank this as the weakest entry, I’m still right.

 

4. Mission: Impossible (1996) – It’s really kind of insane that a major studio gave Brian DePalma the reigns for a blockbuster like this in 1996 – and basically allowed him to make a film that at the very least is visually very much a Brian DePalma film. It’s probably too confusing, and the love interest doesn’t work, but I loved it way more than I remembered loving it when I watched again. Not only is the Langley robbery sequence Riffifi level genius, the reveal of what really happened is Hitchcock worthy. Still, nowhere near DePalma’s best – but this is great just the same.

 

3. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) – This probably has my favorite set piece of any of the films – the Vienna opera house attempted assassination, and I absolute adore Rebecca Ferguson more than any other love interest, apart from Thandie Newton. I think it ranks below Ghost Protocol simply because it isn’t quite as jaw dropping – or have quite as much fun. But it’s so close, who cares?

 

2. Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) – The visual imagination on display from Brad Bird here really makes the film spectacular. This is as close to live action animation as you can get, but also has elements of silent cinema as well. And the whole thing is just so damn much fun. Truly one of the great action movies ever – and even if this series continues to be great.

 

1.Mission Impossible – Fallout (2018)

After re-watching all five previous films in the series leading up to Fallout, I wonder if the series could really top itself – or if perhaps I would be a little sick of this series. It was, and I wasn’t – as Mission Impossible Fallout really is the best of the series – the most viscerally exciting from beginning to end, with the best performances, and the film that makes you care about these characters – at least as much you need to for a film like this. One of the great action films ever made.

Mission Impossible Series: Mission Impossible Fallout (2018)

Mission: Impossible – Fallout **** ½ / *****

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie.

Written by: Christopher McQuarrie based on the television series created by Bruce Geller.

Starring: Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Henry Cavill (August Walker), Rebecca Ferguson (Ilsa Faust), Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn), Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell), Vanessa Kirby (White Widow), Michelle Monaghan (Julia Meade-Hunt), Angela Bassett (Erica Sloan), Alec Baldwin (Alan Hunley), Wes Bentley (Patrick), Sean Harris (Solomon Lane).

 

I have stopped being surprised by just how good the Mission Impossible movies are. Preparing for this, the sixth installment in the 22-year-old series, I went back and watched the other five films – and there isn’t a bad one in the bunch. Every time you think you have the series figured out, it throws another curveball at you. With Fallout, that curveball may just be that for the first time, they have essentially made a direct sequel to the last film – and it brings back other plot elements from the previous films as well. That doesn’t mean you have to know a whole lot about those other films to get this one – you can walk in cold if you want, and you will still be knocked out by the action in the film. That is really what this series has always been about, and Fallout delivers some of the best action sequences of the series. It also has a plot that movies a mile a minute, and some genuinely good performances. This movie runs nearly two and half hours, but doesn’t feel long at all. This is the new high point in what was already the best action series going.

 

The plot is simple enough to describe – a group known as The Apostles want to get their hands on nuclear weapons, because their theory is that peace will only come from pain – the greatest the pain, the greater the peace. Their leader is Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the villain from the last film that Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt and his team captured instead of killed. Since then, he has been shunted from one government to the next for interrogation purposes. Hunt and his team had a chance to secure the nuclear material the Apostles need early in the film – but Hunt chose to save his teammates rather than the material, which has now fallen into the wrong hands – so now they need to get it back. Hunt is joined by Benji and Luther (Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames) who have been around for a while now, and Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson) who joined last film. They are also saddled with August Walker (Henry Cavill), a CIA agent they don’t really want. As Sloan (Angela Bassett), the head of the CIA says early in the film, Hunt is a scalpel, Walker is a hammer.

 

From there, it’s one great action set piece after another – and one double cross after another. I will fully admit that when I found out that McQuarrie was doing the fifth installment, I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to maintain the high level of action the series had always had – and he proved me wrong with Rogue Nation. With Fallout, he proves he is one of the best directors of action working in the world right now. The sheer volume of action sequences in Mission Impossible Fallout is amazing. The fact that they are so varied and different from each other is even more so. There are hand-to-hand combat scenes, a car/motorbike chase, shootouts, perhaps the best sequence of Tom Cruise running ever captured on film (and THAT is saying something), and of course the helicopter climax. The action direction here is clear and clean. This series has never relied on shaky cameras or rapid fire editing to goose the tension, nor has it relied on too much obvious CGI. The only special effects this series has ever needed is Tom Cruise. I half expect that he’s going to kill himself one day working on these films, because he really seems to be throwing himself into these roles. While I really do wish he would take on more roles than just action movies – he isn’t the best actor in the world, but his performances in films like Eyes Wide Shut and Magnolia are as good as they get – but I’m still grateful he goes for it each and every time in these films. In a way, he’s the only one who could pull these roles off – so perhaps it’s good he concentrates on them.

 

The supporting cast is also great. Sean Harris was a decent bad guy in Rogue Nation – he’s far better this time around, as he’s got more to work with. Ferguson has become my favorite leading lady in this series so far – she matches Cruise’s intensity, and works well with him. Best of all is probably Henry Cavill, who is perfectly cast as a hammer.

 

Mission Impossible Fallout joins the ranks of the best action films of the 21^st Century so far – alongside films like Mad Max Fury Road, and both Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation. As pure entertainment, these films are tough to beat. This is one of the best films of the year – action or otherwise.

Movie Review: Teen Titans Go! to the Movie

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies **** / *****

Directed by: Aaron Horvath and Peter Rida Michail.

Written by: Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic based on characters created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani and Arnold Drake & Bob Brown and Marv Wolfman & George Pérez and Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster and William Moulton Marston and Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic.

 Starring: Nicolas Cage (Superman), Kristen Bell (Jade Wilson), Will Arnett (Slade), Tara Strong (Raven), Khary Payton (Cyborg), Halsey (Wonder Woman), Greg Cipes (Beast Boy), Greg Davies (Balloon Man), Hynden Walch (Starfire), Scott Menville (Robin), Jimmy Kimmel (Batman), Dana Snyder (Atom), Lil Yachty (Green Lantern).

 

I am forever grateful to my seven year old daughter for falling in love with the goofy TV series Teen Titans Go a while back, and plowing through countless episodes on Netflix. The series, still going strong after 200+ episodes, are short, 11 minute blasts of superhero irreverence about a team of teenage superheroes who very rarely do anything remotely heroic. Their longest standing battle in the show is against Santa Claus. The show is an ingenious mix of the type of humor any seven year old would love – there are A LOT of fart/poop jokes in it, and the type of humor that I kind of love – as often following up those fart jokes are old movie references, etc. The fact that it also contains easily the best, most interesting version of Robin, best known as Batman’s sidekick (and, on this show, bitter about that fact) is an added bonus. I have very little interest in the new show – Titans – a live action show about this same team, which has decided to go the tiresome “dark and gritty” reboot route (Robin drops a F-bomb in the trailer) because that’s just about the least original thing they could have done. Besides, with Teen Titans Go – this team has been perfected.

 

Now, taking what works as a television series – especially ones where the episodes are so short – and expanding it into a movie is a trick that ultimately undoes most of the talented people who try it. Not so with Teen Titans Go to the Movie – which is easily the funniest superhero movie of the year (I am tempted to say ever, as it clearly outdoes both Deadpool movies AND The Lego Batman Movie, but I’m sure I’m forgetting something) – and if this year hadn’t contained Black Panther, it would be the best superhero movie of the year as well. It’s a fast paced, 90 minute comedy with approximately 6 jokes a minute, which land at a surprisingly good ratio that is also smart about why we love superhero movies, while admitting that for the most part, they’re all also incredibly stupid. In addition, it only serves to heighten my love for its version of the Boy Wonder. My god is this movie fun.

 

The basic setup for the movie is that poor, insecure Robin is upset that every superhero has had a movie made about them, except for him and his team. When they attend the new Batman film they see previews for movies about Alfred, the Batmobile and the Bat Utility Belt, but still no Robin. He and the rest of the Teen Titans – Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire and Raven – determine the best way to get a movie is to get themselves an arch-enemy. So, they set their sights on Slade (voiced by Will Arnett) and try to make him their nemesis. If they can defeat him, they will get the glory – and more important, the movie made about them.

 

If we’re being honest though, the main thrust of the plot is just an excuse – a way to string together a bunch of hilarious, interconnected jokes about superheroes. The film knows its superhero movies inside and out – it knows that Deadpool was after something similar, but with more R-rated content, and comments directly on that (I’ll say this – the jokes in this movie are more sophisticated and smart than anything in either Deadpool movie – even though I liked both – probably in part because this film cannot depend on explicit violence or a bunch of f bombs).

 

Because the movie mostly a joke delivery system, I won’t spoil any of them (okay, maybe one – the best sequence in the film is a play on Back to the Future, where the Teen Titans eliminate all the other superheroes tragic backstories – with horrible results). What I will say is that smart superhero fans will love the film – and even those who has grown more than a little tired of the genre. It works best though the way I saw it – sitting next to a seven year old. That way you can appreciate all the ways this movie nails its humor.

Movie Review: Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts *** / *****

Directed by: Mouly Surya.

Written by: Rama Adi and Garin Nugroho and Mouly Surya.

Starring: Marsha Timothy (Marlina), Egy Fedly (Markus), Dea Panendra (Novi), Yoga Pratama (Franz), Haydar Salishz (Niko).

 

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts is a feminist revenge Western from Indonesia, which combines elements from Tarantino and Jarmusch and Leone into a strange little film. Much of the film is a journey where not a lot happens – on the dusty backroads in Indonesia. The gender wars are playing out here in a very different environment than the one we are normally see play out. It is a strange film, well-made throughout, but it is perhaps a little too slight for even its 93 minute runtime.

 

The film opens with Markus (Egy Fedly), an older man with flowing hair, arriving at the report house owned by Marlina (Marsha Timothy) – a recently widowed young woman. Markus makes no attempt to disguise his reasons for coming – his gang of six more men will be arriving shortly, and they will take everything from here – all of her livestock – and leave her with nothing. “If we have time, we’ll sleep with you” he tells her – a matter of fact of telling her she is going to be gang raped. Sure enough, the other men do arrive – two of the men do leave with all her livestock, and Markus orders Marlina to feed the rest of his men – which she does with chicken soup that she has poisoned, so they keel over dead. Markus is in the bedroom though, and Marlina cannot get him to eat the soup – at least not until after he has raped her – a decision that leads to him being decapitated.

 

That is act one – The Robbery. What follows is three other acts – The Journey, The Confession and The Birth. The second act is no real mystery – Marlina, travelling with Markus’ head, sets off to get to town to report the robbery and the rape to the police. She meets up with Novi (Dea Panendra) – a woman who is currently nine months pregnant – who is also on the road, looking for her husband – who thinks that because she has gone past her due date, that it is a sign of infidelity (he’s also convinced it will be a breach birth, which to him, would be incontrovertible truth that she has cheated on him). Marlina is fighting her justice in her way – and Novi is fighting a different sort of gender war. Both will essentially realize they are on their own throughout the course of the film. Not only did Marlina have to fend off her attackers as best she could, the cops don’t seem too interested in helping even when she does report it.

 

The film is directed by Mouly Surya, making her third feature (the other two are ones I missed). She is assured behind the camera, making a film that takes elements from other directors, and turning them into something different. Much of the film feels like a Jarmusch study of isolation and solitude. The score is something out of Leone however, the flashes of violence bring to mind Tarantino, the elements of travelling with a head brings to mind Sam Peckinpah’s Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. And yet, despite all of the references and influences, this film is uniquely itself – and not just because it is a female director, taking the mostly masculine influences, and turning them into something more feminine.

 

Yet, I do have to say that the story, as much as there is one, is too slight to fully support a feature. After the robbery that opens the film, there is a lot of walking, a lot of the same thing happening again and again, in slight variations. This very well may be the point – that no matter where Marlina turns, she’s confronted with yet another idiot man standing in her way. It does hurt the flow though.

 

Still, the skill on display makes me very interested to see what Surya does here. You sometimes see foreign films, and wonder if they are made for Western audiences, more than homegrown ones. This feels like that more than a little – and while I liked much of what I saw, I think there is something more here to be explored and exploited. I liked Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts – but I hope to love whatever Surya does next.

Movie Review: Love, Simon

Love, Simon *** / *****

Directed by: Greg Berlanti.

Written by: Elizabeth Berger & Isaac Aptaker based on the novel by Becky Albertalli.

Starring: Nick Robinson (Simon), Jennifer Garner (Emily), Josh Duhamel (Jack), Katherine Langford (Leah), Alexandra Shipp (Abby), Logan Miller (Martin), Keiynan Lonsdale (Bram), Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Nick), Talitha Eliana Bateman (Nora), Tony Hale (Mr. Worth), Natasha Rothwell (Ms. Albright), Miles Heizer (Cal), Joey Pollari (Lyle), Clark Moore (Ethan), Drew Starkey (Garrett), Mackenzie Lintz (Taylor), Cassady McClincy (Jackie).

 

It’s hard to hate a film like Love, Simon – which is so big hearted and warm, full of characters who you can immediately like and recognize to the point that even the “bad guys” in the films aren’t really that bad – just hurt and lashing out in ways they don’t entirely think through until it’s too late. But it’s also hard to love a film like Love, Simon, because the film is so bland in many ways, and lacking in any real conflict – even the ones it does have seem more manufactured than real. It is an important film in one way – it finally gives gay kids the kind of romantic comedy that we straight kids have had for decades. Yes, it lacks any real sense of sexuality – but that’s kind of true of these types of comedies in general. Yes, it’s overly white – but, again, that’s kind of par for the course. The danger would be if Love, Simon was seen as an endpoint for this type of mainstream film, rather than a starting point. Hollywood has finally made this film – now it’s time to make something better.

 

In the film, Nick Robinson stars as Simon – a high school senior, who knows that he is gay, but isn’t out to anyone. He doesn’t really worry that he will be rejected – his parents (Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel) are open and supportive, his little sister is as well. He has every reason to think that his three best friends – Leah (Katherine Langford), Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) and Abby (Alexandra Shipp) would accept him immediately. He wouldn’t even be the first openly gay kid in his school – there is another one, more “stereotypically” gay who is out, and other than a couple of assholes, everyone accepts them. But Simon doesn’t want things to change – not yet – so for now, he’s staying in the closet.

 

Things start to change when there is an anonymous post of what appears to be the school’s gossip website, where anyone can post their secrets without revealing their name. This is another student – calling himself Blue – who admits he is gay – and leaves an email address. Simon starts emailing Blue – who responds back. The two start to bond – and then something more develops. Neither knows how the other person is – but they’re still falling in love.

 

Of course, the movie has to have some conflict – some obstacles to overcome, and Love, Simon has some. Another student, Martin (Logan Miller) finds out that Simon is gay when he finds his emails on a school computer – and uses this knowledge to blackmail Simon into helping him woo Abby, who he has a crush on. Simon knows that Abby and Nick like each other, so he invents some stories to keep them apart. Simon is also more than a little clueless about Leah’s true feelings, which will result in heartbreak. Of course, all this explodes over Christmas break into a giant mess.

 

Love, Simon is a sweet film more than anything. It’s kind of adorable how it uses the same basic plot outline of any number of teenage movies, but does so in the service of a story about a gay kid struggling with when to come out. The movie is very purposefully not trying to reinvent the wheel here – but make pretty much the exact same film that we’ve seen hundreds of times, but with a different protagonist at its center.

 

The cast knows this, and goes along for the ride. Robinson has an open and natural screen presence, and kind of just goes along for the ride. As his parents, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel are playing fantasy versions of parents – the type that any gay kid would love – because he doesn’t have to worry about all the horrible things that happen in real life – where kids are still thrown out of their house for being gay. Most of the other high schoolers are more than a little forgettable – even Katherine Langford, who was very memorable in season 1 of 13 Reasons Why (I didn’t watch season 2) doesn’t have much of a role to play here. The exception is Shipp as Abby – who is a charmer, and even if it’s lazy writing that pretty much every boy in the film is in love with her, you can of believe it here.

 

In general, the film is sweet, warm and funny – and also kind of bland and forgettable. It does precisely the job it sets out to do. Now it’s time for someone to set the bar higher for this type of film. Love, Simon shows that it can work (which should have been obvious). Now, we just need someone more daring to do it better.

Mission Impossible Series: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)

Directed by: Brad Bird.

Written by: Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec based on the television series by Bruce Geller.

Starring: Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Jeremy Renner (William Brandt), Simon Pegg (Benjamin "Benji" Dunn), Paula Patton (Jane Carter), Michael Nyqvist (Kurt Hendricks), Anil Kapoor (Brij Nath), Léa Seydoux (Sabine Moreau), Vladimir Mashkov (Anatoly Sidorov), Samuli Edelmann (Marius Wistrom), Ivan Shvedoff (Leonid Lisenker), Josh Holloway (Trevor Hanaway), Pavel Kříž (Marek Stefanski), Miraj Grbić (Bogdan), Ilia Volok (The Fog), Tom Wilkinson (IMF Secretary), Ving Rhames (Luther Stickell).

 

I’m not quite sure I fully appreciated exactly what a massive accomplishment Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol was back in 2011 when it came out – even if I certainly did think at the time that it was far and away the best in the series. Part of that comes from the fact that they released the film during Oscar season – a welcome bit of counter programming to be sure, but it sometimes makes films like this released around that time seem inconsequential. Yet, seven years later, I have to admit that this film has lasted – and stuck with me – a lot more than most of those Oscar films have. It truly is one of the best action films of the 21^st Century – the easily the best Mission Impossible made up to that point.

 

For the fourth time in a row, the series changed directors from the last installment –and yet again, it works. Brad Bird was coming from animation – three triumphs in a row with The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille – and seemed to want to prove he could work wonders in live action as well. He proves it, and then some, in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

 

The film pretty immediately jettisons much of what JJ Abrams brought to the third film – which tried to ground the emotions of Hunt into the series, and does what this series does best – jump from insane action sequence to tense set piece to insane action sequence and back again, without pausing to waste times with things like emotion or character development. The film opens with Hunt in a Russian prison, but he is broken out with the help of Benji (Simon Pegg, returning for comic relief) and Carter (Paula Patton). The sequence is wonderfully entertaining – set to Dean Martin’s Ain’t That a Kick in the Head – with much of taking place on security cameras, the scene becomes chaotic, with dozens of people fighting, but Bird keeps everything clear. The plot gets a little more complicated from there – as the team has to break into the Kremlin – which, of course, doesn’t go according to plan. They pick up another team member – Brandt (Jeremy Renner) – and head to Dubai.

 

The Dubai sequence truly is spectacular, as it piles one great sequence on top of each other, and yet all of them are different, unique accomplishments. The defining image of the movie is, of course, Tom Cruise on the outside of the tallest building in the world - Burj Khalifa – which is thrilling in one way. From there, the team has to conduct two simultaneously meetings – one with the assassin (Lea Seydoux) with nuclear launch codes, and the other with the men who want to buy them. These are brilliantly intense thriller set pieces, full of tension and sleight of hand. From there, it has to go immediately into a chase sequence during a sandstorm. All three of these set pieces would be a highlight in most movies – but stacked on top of each other like they are makes them even better.

 

It also does, admittedly, make the climax look a little weak by comparison. I loved everything with Paula Patton and Indian billionaire, but as Bird tries to crosscut it with Renner’s big action sequence involving a giant fan and magnets, it just isn’t quite as thrilling as we’ve seen before. And like all of the Mission Impossible films save for III, the villain here is kind of generic, Eastern European madman.

 

Still, Ghost Protocol truly is a remarkable achievement for Brad Bird – and the series itself. It has the most memorable action sequences, which truly is all that is required of this series. I do think Abrams contribution to the series – to make it more grounded – helped a little bit, because it allowed it to go bigger and better than ever before with the fourth installment. A truly great action film – that brought this series to an entirely new level.