We’re back! Sort of…
Dave and his daughter Mary have revived the Fansplainers banner for a new mini-series – they’re going to go through all the Mission: Impossible films in anticipation of the release of Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning on May 23.
This week they begin at the beginning with the first Mission: Impossible movie, released in 1996 – directed by the quirky Brian De Palma, written by old hand Robert Towne and produced by Tom Cruise with his new production partner Paula Wagner.
Briefly starring Emilio Estevez, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė. It also features Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Ving Rhames, Jean Reno, and a fun turn from Vanessa Redgrave.
Thanks for listening!
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Christoph Waltz won his first Oscar for Inglourious Basterds (2009), well deserved, and his second Oscar for Django Unchained (2012), also well deserved. No makeup Oscar. Just a good old fashioned you-like-me-you-really-like-me Oscar.
Thank you, Thomas! (Slyly disguised as “Comment-splainer”!) I’m glad Waltz won for his work in Inglourious Basterds. It is truly inspired acting in a good film. I’m not much of a fan of Django Unchained – except for the dinner party scene at Candyland – but looking through the other nominees that year, his win isn’t an outrageous tragedy.
Thanks for rebooting the Fansplainers franchise! The tagline for your mini-series should be: “We’ll get to that later.” Yes, it did take a while to get to the discussion of the movie itself, but I appreciated you delving into the development phase of the project and reminding us of the backgrounds of the creative team. Back then, making a big-budget movie adaptation of an iconic, but oft-parodied TV show might’ve seemed like risky business.
You have to hand it to Tom Cruise. Over the course of his career, he has taken a lot of chances, both artistically and physically. As Mary mentioned, he is really good at playing those jerky, entitled characters whose world view is shaken by some personal or professional upheaval. In that, he’s like a stand-in for America, or any nation for that matter who could benefit from some self-reflection.
Thanks, Louise. I’m looking forward to the series myself as I haven’t watched many of these films for quite a while.
Yes, let’s please get over the “Tom Cruise can’t act” thing that took the snarky world by storm in the ’90s. In film after film he proves his acting abilities and not just as a jerk. His eyes can really emote and he’s at his best in moments of quiet intensity. In my opinion, he only falters when he is asked to play a scene too big. I don’t much care for his louder scenes in the first Mission: Impossible and I think he gets a better handle on the character as the series progresses. (Spoiler warning: I”m at M: I III now.)