MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION: Roguish Charm

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Drew Pearce
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Sean Harris
Runtime: 131 mins.
2015

Mission: Impossible is a minor miracle of a modern action franchise. Much like the Bond films, M:I has maintained a commitment to old fashioned stuntwork. Even more impressive is Tom Cruise's manic insistence that he perform these insane stunts himself. The fifty-three year old megastar has weathered the sands of time and the fickle whims of the viewing public by maintaining a pressing desire that you and I should enjoy his movies, no matter what. It's easy for an actor to become withered and cynical after years of being churned through the Hollywood system, but Cruise has a vitality only matched by a younger Tom Cruise.

The unquenchable enthusiasm of perennial producer and lead actor Tom Cruise is certainly one of the primary forces that has transformed Mission: Impossible from a series of convoluted spy capers that exist only for the setpieces into a series of engaging spy capers that exist only for the setpieces. That doesn't sound like as much of a compliment as I intend it to be.

The Cool Girl: Women in Film 2014

I want you to watch something for me.

You've seen some of these movies before. You're all familiar with this plot beat. The woman, almost always a love interest, has been captured by the villain, and the hero has to brawl or bargain to save her. There's nothing inherently sexist about the situation, just as the use of such a plot device doesn't automatically make a movie sexist. But that's beside the point. This supercut puts a lot of unpleasant Hollywood trends in stark relief.

For starters, notice how in most of these clips the woman doesn't even speak. She's a prop. The only important dynamic in the scene is that between the (generally) male hero and the (generally) male villain. Their relationship is the important one, the real one, the dramatically resonant one. The men have all the dialogue, all the power, all the agency, all the charisma, all the audience's rooting interests--everything. Meanwhile, the women just have weakness and manufactured tears. They are little more than poker chips in these scenes, an observation driven home when the heroes start offering money to trade for her: "I'll give up the gold," "I gave you the money," "I'll open the safe." Then, as if it wasn't apparent enough, we have the litany of scenes that make the utter unimportance of the woman explicit: "This is between you and me," "She's not important," "She doesn't belong here."

If she's really so unimportant to the central conflict, why is she even in the movie? The answer is even sorrier than the question: She exists in these films as nothing more than a pawn, a plot device, and an eventual reward for the man to take home and mount on his mantle. Figuratively speaking.

TOP FIFTEEN 2014

Around this time last year, I was looking back at 2013 with abject despondency. I had seen so few movies, and the ones I had experienced were hardly worthy to fill a top ten list. What was I going to round it out with, Man of Steel? The thought repulses me.

Now 2015 has rolled around and I find myself in the polar opposite predicament. Instead of waiting until December of the following year to scrounge up enough films for a worthy top ten, it is February and I already have too many! Despite having only seen twenty-eight movies, I couldn't deny myself the indulgence--this year's list will be a top fifteen.

Even that was difficult to pare down! There are films in my Honorable Mentions that I will rave about for years to come. There are even films featured in my Untoward Awards that I quite liked (Sorry The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1). All told, 2014 may have been a bad year for culture in general, but it was an excellent year for film. I feel confident stating as much even having missed the following potential gems (in order from most to least interesting for me):

Under the Skin, Boyhood, Force Majeure, Locke, Only Lovers Left Alive, A Most Violent Year, The Guest, Jodorowsky's Dune, Neighbors, Rosewater, The Rover, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, Foxcatcher

There's too much to talk about. This is gonna be long. So let's get started.