Daily Archives: August 8, 2018

Face Off has come to an end

TV

I’ve adored this show since it’s debut in 2011. After 13 seasons, one of my favorite shows is now finished.

I love the creativity, the artistry, and the professionalism that Face Off gave it’s viewers. Everyone they get for each season is so talented and my love for movie magic got to be treated every week. There’s no nasty garbage on this show too. Everyone is cool, there is no fighting and whenever they are able to, the contestents jump at the chance to help another fellow artist. This season was another stand out, bringing back artists who didn’t make it all the way through their season. A try at redemption on this pressure cooker of a contest, the final three artists were all very strong. I think the judges picked the right winner, so that feels like a satisfying way to go out too.

I hope Face Off is just on an extended hiatus (a lot of programming was made in 7 years) amd comes back in time. There’s nothing else like this on TV and I think aside from being entertaining, this show has been inspiring the next generation of practical special effects artists.

More, please!

Mission: Impossible-Fallout

Movies

The Mission: Impossible movies have been pretty reliable for entertainment. Especially with the release of Ghost Protocol, the franchise has found it’s groove and brought some real unique and exciting action set pieces. Fallout continues that trend.

Writer/Director Christopher McQuarrie returns for his second term helming the ship and this guy knows how to make movie magic. Solomon Lane continues to be a bother, his followers forming a new organization under new leadership. They’ve got their sights set on causing mass destruction to create a new world order and it’s up to Ethan Hunt and his IMF team to once again save the world.

Right out of the gate, the plot gets pretty convoluted. There’s a lot of double-crossing going on and it gets hard to keep track of it all. New characters get quick introductions and it’s not clear who they are, where they come from, and who they work for. Being a spy series that’s expected to a degree but it feels like a lot is glossed over and the viewer is expected just know the characters name and be willing to be whisked away to the next scene(I’m thinking of The White Widow in particular). I’m sure some confusion can be cleared up with more viewings and revisiting earlier films for a refresher (Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane was introduced in Rogue Nation). Another point of confusion for me is name confusion. Solomon Lane and John Lark have similar last names and they are often referred to only by their last names. Sometimes I wasn’t sure what name the actor said and would get confused about who they were talking about. It’s also found it weird that once again, the IMF team are cut off from their resources and government help. “We gotta do this alone!” is turning into a well-worn crutch for this series.

While those are some bothersome problems, it doesn’t ruin an otherwise fantastic ride. McQuarrie knows how to frame a scene and shoot action. This movie is oftentimes gorgeous and the action set pieces are mostly all Raise the Bar of the Entire Industry level. This is one of the few movies I’ve seen in a while that demands you go to the cinema to get the most out of it.

Every inch of the frame is utilised. They must have used some crazy new wide angle lenses because the picture looks so expansive. Gorgeous framing with eye-popping cinematography. London and Paris wrap themselves around the viewer and asks you to take a bite.

This wide-angle look is continuous throughout the movie. If you’re watching the team come up with a plan, walking through a location or on a crazy chase through a city or mountain range, you have a view of it all. Action scenes aren’t crammed in tight and cut at warp speed. You can see where everyone is and what they are doing. The positioning is clear and you can follow the madness, often feeling like you’re there.

I watched this in a Dolby Cinema room and I think that’s a big part of why this movie popped so much for me. Monsterous screen, gorgeous picture quality, and a stupidly expensive sound system. Like I mentioned, McQuarrie shoots most of this action wide so when he sticks the camera on the side of a vehicle, or inside of it, it felt like I was right there. This is especially effective in the helicopter scene where you bounce back and forth with a character shooting out of the sides. You can see a ton of landscaping flying by and it totally sells how high up you are and how small the inside of the helicopter is. Watching the actual Tom Cruise clinging to the bottom of the helicopter is memorizing and pushes a sense of realism a lot of action movies these days don’t do. Speaking of realism, the sound work on Fallout is also incredible. The report from handguns was a real stand out and kicks and punches sound so brutal.

The ads show crazy glimpses of a bathroom fight and it totally lived up to the hype. I think the last fight scene that really knocked people out is the hallway fight from the first season of Daredevil on Netflix (something that production as tried to duplicate and never achieved again, so far). It is nuts and needs to be seen. It legit looks like they are beating the stuffing out of each other. Henry Cavill looks like a monster brawler. I didn’t think they’d top that fight and then I’m served up with an absolute slobber knocker of a fight in a cabin that was riveting from start to finish. I think the helicopter chase scene will go down in history as one of the best action sequences ever filmed.

I found a lot to like here and it makes me continue to look forward to more. I think another change of pace, the likes of what Rogue Nation did, is now needed to keep this series on top. Clean up the plot and avoid those M:I cliches. On the action front, I don’t know how they can top this, but hey, that’s not my job. If it was, I’d hire every action choreographer and stunt person from this movie to do it.