Film Junk Podcast Episode #349: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

0:00 – Intro
10:10 – Review: The Dark Knight Rises Prologue
23:10 – Review: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
1:02:50 – Trailer Trash: Men in Black 3, The Dictator, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Rock of Ages, The Expendables 2
1:23:45 – Other Stuff We Watched: Hugo, The King of Comedy, Cape Fear, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Chillerama, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, 24/7: Flyers/Rangers, Trash Humpers, The Room, The Arbor, Snowtown, The Future, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Page One: Inside the New York Times, Life in a Day, The Zookeeper, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Melancholia, Mission: Impossible, A Carol Christmas, Blizzard, Noel, A Christmas Carol, Parenthood
2:32:50 – Junk Mail: Unrealistic Movies, Performances That Are Difficult to Understand, Metallica, Reed’s Favourite Martial Arts Film, Demolition Man and Pizza Hut, Watching Bad Quality Bootlegs
2:52:40 – This Week’s DVD Releases
2:53:55 – Outro
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Comments (31)
NICE! A big ol’ fat show after 2 back-to-back specials??!! Aces!
Posted by Fatbologna on December 20th, 2011I wanted to use the Comments section to elaborate a bit on my choice of favourite martial arts film since I didn’t want to go into it on the show as the show was running long. To whoever asked the question, thanks!
I said two films, but “Hero” would probably be my favourite because the ending of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” disappointed me. I liked the philosophical message of “Hero” in that sometimes the individual must be sacrificed for the greater good. Some Western critics disliked this message, but it’s a message I don’t ever recall seeing in a film. I also liked the self-sacrifice for love that occurs in the film. The action is well-filmed, and the cinematography is impeccable, even though some find the colour schemes too blatant. It was the first film I saw that used the hundreds of arrows coming at the camera shot. I could go on, but I’ll conclude by saying that I love the actors in the film.
As for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the action set pieces are truly exhilarating. I didn’t find Ziyi Zhang attractive at the beginning of the film, but by the end, I was in love with her character.
I love the musical scores of both films. These two films are masterpieces that finally elevated the martial arts genre beyond schlock.
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 20th, 2011Oh, when I said “the individual must be sacrificed for the greater good,” I should add that the message’s uniqueness is enhanced by the hero changing his mind and believing what he thought to be bad is not really bad after all at the end of the film. The combination is something I have never seen before.
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 20th, 2011@Reed – Hero has a 95% fresh rating with only 10 critics out of 191 disliking it on Rotten Tomatoes. I’d have to say Western critics liked it pretty well, no?
Anyway, glad to hear you on the podcast again! You bring a humor to the podcast that really can’t be replicated without you.
Hope to hear more soon! Maybe a Cantankerous?
Posted by milath on December 20th, 2011How about “A Cantankerous Christmas” Reed?
Posted by RC on December 20th, 2011Thx for welcoming me back, milath. Yes, Western critics have high praise for the film as well, but I have read some negativity towards the Communist message of the film.
As for Cantankerous, it’s defunct, I say! I did have fun on Film Junk’s Bonus Xmas Podcast, RC. (Shameless plug.) In fact, it felt like I was taking it over at times, so you can think of it as “A Cantankerous Christmas.”
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 20th, 2011You guy’s are in the what’s hot in the Australian iTunes.
Posted by Ren on December 20th, 2011I started Doing filmjunk a couple of years ago mainly out of curiosity. Soon the weakly dose was not enough for me so I dived into the more heavy stuff (Cantankerus etc.) It was until I had no more money or cookies that I realized I was addicted..
Posted by kyri on December 20th, 2011So addicted that I can’t even spell anymore.
Posted by kyri on December 20th, 2011by the way. Sean.
..Apple played a joke on you.
You’re hot in Cleveland. AHAHAHAHAAHAHAH! LIKE THE SHOW!
Posted by Jason Martynowski on December 20th, 2011@kyri Pretty soon you’ll be in a back alley somewhere, blowing dudes for badly dubbed LPs of Jay and Sean on Brock student radio.
It’s a bad scene, man.
Posted by milath on December 20th, 2011Jay, the low volume issues in Niagara theatres is brutal. I walked out of The Wallace & Gromit movie a few minutes in and got a refund because I couldn’t hear a damn thing. I spoke to the manager and he said that due to complaints they turned down the speaker volume to 7 out of 10. What bullshit.
Posted by Nuno on December 20th, 2011Figures. It seems like it’s even worse for matinee screenings. LAME.
Posted by Jay C. on December 20th, 2011Jason Martynowski: Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.
Posted by Kasper on December 20th, 2011Snowtown was amazing and deeply disturbing. Probably in my top 5. Australia’s been knocking it out of the park with crime films the past few years!
Posted by fatbologna on December 20th, 2011Reed
How about a spin off podcast then? “Cantankerous Contrarian”
Posted by RC on December 20th, 2011@RC Nice title, but people already have a problem spelling “cantankerous” and now they would probably mess up “contrarian.”
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 20th, 2011@Reed
Gerry Reed: The Country-Singing Contrarian
Posted by RC on December 20th, 2011Would that just make him a Countrarian?
Posted by PlanBFromOuterSpace on December 20th, 2011@#19 Niice!
Posted by RC on December 20th, 2011Regarding Stallone writing the Expendables:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sylvester-stallone-sued-expendables-screenplay-253302
Posted by rjdelight on December 21st, 2011@20 Thanks!
Also, “Parenthood” is a pretty great show. It takes characters similar to those from the film and expands on themes and plot points that were introduced in the film that work well for an episodic hour-long dramedy. Three seasons in, and they’re still drawing on stuff from the movie that I’d almost forgotten about. Lauren Graham is also quite a bit MILFier than Diane Wiest, and Erika Christensen (playing the family’s overachiever) is a bit more pleasant to look at than Rick Moranis. Craig T. Nelson, as always, is pretty solid.
Posted by PlanBFromOuterSpace on December 21st, 2011I have to agree with Frank in general. If you take a delicious burger and put some raisins on it, that will take away from the experience… even though the burger is still delicious it has been sullied. If you are going to add extra “seasoning” to an action movie in the form of humor you need to be mindful of the comedic value. A movie is worse with a bad joke than with no joke at all. Having said that, the humor in MI4 wasn’t really that bad.
You should also give MI3 a rewatch. It does not have the memorable set pieces like 4, but the action and suspense was still solid and a huge improvement over part 2.
Posted by Hero Supreme on December 21st, 2011I’ve never seen the movie “Parenthood.” I didn’t know the series had anything in common with it. Thx for commenting about it, PlanBFromOuterSpace.
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 21st, 2011You’re welcome! If you’ve seen one but not the other, you can definitely tell who’s supposed to be who when you give the other a look. Like I said, the character types are similar to to those in the movie, but it’s not just a straight re-telling, and it isn’t just a continuation of the movie either. The supporting cast on the show is pretty awesome, and if Frank wants to give it a spin, the first 2 seasons (as well as the movie) are streaming on Netflix right now, at least here in the States. Sadly, the original short-lived series from 20+ years ago (starring Ed Begley Jr. and Ken Ober) is nowhere to be found….
Posted by PlanBFromOuterSpace on December 21st, 2011Oh yeah, Leonardo DiCaprio, David Arquette, and Thora Birch were all in the original series too.
Posted by PlanBFromOuterSpace on December 21st, 2011Did anyone really believe Reed when he said he wasn’t the one who Farted?
Posted by kyri on December 22nd, 2011..Do you know that Tommy Wiseau has his own show?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llq3xVLK1E8&feature=related
(on YouTube)
Posted by kyri on December 22nd, 2011My email was about considering unrealistic movies. When I mentioned the bullet holes in the window…I was referencing how the company knew to put bullet holes in his car before this started. It was too much of a stretch. The biggest one is him jumping off the roof at the end…how did they know he would jump off that exact spot. Thanks for screwing up the response Reed…and calling me Jeremy Renner!!
Posted by Jeremy from St. Louis on December 22nd, 2011@kyri: Either Jay or Greg shifted in his chair causing a chair leg to rub against the floor to produce the sound resembling the passing of human gas.
@Jeremy from St. Louis: Sorry, I haven’t seen The Game in a long time, and I don’t know what you’re referencing. I was afraid we were overlooking your example, so I was hoping one of the other guys would have known what you were talking about and possibly confirm your belief that it was unrealistic. I find too often that we give listener questions short-shrift.
Posted by Reed Farrington on December 22nd, 2011Folks
Snowtown was a something of a let down. As a slow burn kinda thing it was okay, but us Aussie folk were really hoping for more. The movie centres on a character who wasn’t the ringleader as it were…needed more focus on Bunting. Why? When? Good movie, but not top 10. No aussie nepotism here.
B
Posted by bugsyoz on December 28th, 2011Leave a Reply