ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

The third MI movie has a terrific plot with a really slimy villain and a great plan for capturing him. We got to see the high-tech manner in which the masks are created. This was the first time I saw 3D printing, and I didn't learn what it actually was until several years later.

I liked the scene in which Ethan has to program the voice chip by having the villain (Philip Seymour Hoffman) pronouncing specific words. That scene convinces us that such an advanced device actually exists.

The top-notch action includes a helicopter chase through a maze of wind turbines, a rooftop break-in on an Asian skyscraper, and a daring rescue of the bad guy from the authorities on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

The weakest aspect of the story is the way the entire plot revolves around the struggle to gain possession of something called the "Rabbit's Foot", a small object we never actually see.

We go through the entire movie not knowing what it is, and the story ends with Ethan being told that if he chooses to return to IMF instead of resigning, he'll be told what the "Rabbit's Foot" is.

I think it was a mistake to hang the entire plot on a mysterious object that the good guys and bad guys fight over — and then end the film without ever explaining it.

Maybe they thought we were supposed to be intrigued by the mystery, but it didn't have that effect on me. I just felt like they'd cheated.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Looking for a movie to watch tonight?

Maybe this will give you some ideas.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[Bud Brewster]

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A great movie with some wonderful trivia items on IMDB!
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As the production could do nothing about inquisitive crowds watching them while they were filming in Rome, they actually set up a phony second unit a little further away, hired several girls in bikinis and several older women dressed as nuns and pretended to be filming takes for the film, while the main unit got on with their business largely undisturbed.

Note from me: What a great idea this was! Hollywood — you gotta love 'em!

After the success of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Simon Pegg was asked whether he was going to be pursuing a career in Hollywood, to which he laughed and replied "It's not like I'm going to be in Mission: Impossible III".

Note from me: Can't you just hear Simon saying this? I can!

Special Effects Technician Steven Scott Wheatley sued Paramount Pictures, and Tom Cruise's production company for gross negligence, after the pyrotechnics in a stunt in which he was involved, went wrong, and he was engulfed in a ball of flame. Wheatley suffered third-degree burns over sixty percent of his body.

Note from me: Ummm . . . ouch!

Tom Cruise did the vast majority of his own stunts in this film. Most of them were done without major injury. However, he cracked a couple of ribs once when he turned his upper torso too quickly.

Note from me: For all those folks who have an unreasonable dislike for Tom Cruise . . . what the hell, dudes!

J.J. Abrams' directorial debut on a feature film.

Note from me: He done real good, didn't he? Oh yeah!

Ethan Hunt makes references to Lake Wanaka. Lake Wanaka is a lake in the South Island of New Zealand, which Tom Cruise visited while in New Zealand filming The Last Samurai (2003). He liked the place so much that he included it in this film.

Note from me: The Last Sumurai is one Tom Cruise move I haven't seen. Maybe I should give it a try.

J.J. Abrams approached original series star Martin Landau to make a cameo, but Landau declined, saying he was finished with the franchise.

Note from me: Ah shucks, that would have been nice!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)