One Paragraph Review - Oblivion

In the future, humanity has fought a war with an alien race called the Scavs. Mankind won, but Earth has been devastated and the remnants of mankind have fled to Titan. All of Earth's oceans are being converted to energy and then the planet will be abandoned. At least, that's what Jack (Tom Cruise) a drone repair technician and his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) believe. Jack eventually learns that the truth of the war and its aftermath are very different. The film relies on a couple of twists to propel the narrative, so I'll end the synopsis here. Suffice to say, the "twists" are not surprising, but are not particularly silly either. They work, even if they are telegraphed. Which, is a good summation of the film itself. There is nothing surprising or unique about it, but nothing that makes me want to toss a shoe at the screen. The acting is good and the characters develop along predictable lines. The effects look good and I like the aesthetics. The action sequences have a distinct "seen it before" feel to them, but are well shot. Thankfully, there is no shaky cam. Is Oblivion a great movie? No, it is not. But, it is a pretty good story, told well and worth seeing.

A glamour shot of Jack's VTOL. The technology designs for the film are one of the reasons I recommend watching it.

Trailer For Edge Of Tomorrow Is Very Explodey

The new Tom Cruise sci-fi/action film Edge of Tomorrow looks good. Okay, the trailer looks good; who knows how the movie will turn out. I remember getting psyched after seeing the trailer for Avatar and I hated that movie. Still, I like the look and the main battle scene looks stunning. Check it out.

Movie Logic - Knight and Day (2010)

Cameron Diaz in a red dress from The Mask. Just posting this because a) hot and b) I can.

I was watching Knight and Day, the action movie/comedy vehicle for Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Early in the film, Diaz, a "normal person" who turns into a secret agent type, a la Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies, has been taken into custody by men claiming to be FBI agents. Tom Cruise, as a CIA operative who has gone "rogue" to protect a high-tech energy source from bad guys both inside and outside the Agency, rescues her in an extended car chase/fight scene. The entire sequence is pretty good. There are some funny moments and some nice stunts and effects.

The problem: we find out that the CIA agent heading up the team is a bad guy; he wants to sell the technology - or the young savant who designed it - to a European arms dealer. However, as the movie proceeds, you realize that he was probably the only guy who was part fo that team who was a villain. All of the other guys are, apparently, actual CIA (or, maybe, FBI) agents. So, Tom Cruise winds up injuring (and probably killing) numerous Federal employees, men who are just doing their job.

Not very heroic of him.

Check out the chase below...and say a prayer for all of those poor GS-12s...