Tag Archives: Esai Morales

Movie Review ~ Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

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The Facts:

Synopsis: Ethan Hunt and the IMF team must track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands. Confronted by a mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing can matter more than the mission — not even the lives of those he cares about most.
Stars: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: 163 minutes
TMMM Score: (9/10)
Review: Oh boy, have we come a long way in the last 27 years! Gearing up to see the seventh installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, I took the opportunity to rewatch the previous films that led us to Dead Reckoning during some rare downtime. It almost seems quaint now to watch the original 1996 outing, directed by Brian De Palma, when all that was being sought was one-half of a coded list of names. At the time, the stakes felt incredibly high, and it’s to the lasting longevity of everyone involved that the film maintains its suspense nearly three decades on. In the same breath, I’ll tell you that I almost can’t believe how bad the first sequel is and that I’ve warmed to M:I3 over time. Ghost Protocol remains a high water mark that Rouge Nation can’t quite build upon, but which Fallout takes a giant leap in quality over.

The entire rewatch felt beneficial going into Part One, which is by far the biggest and boldest Mission: Impossible film to date. It shows you how the series has morphed into something more than a simple adaptation of a well-liked television show (that was given a chintzy remake in the ‘80s) into a full-bodied blockbuster that consistently aims to push the boundaries of cinema, delivering maximum entertainment for its fans. At the center of it all is its star, Tom Cruise, who demonstrates time and time again (and not just in these films) that he understands the language of film and how to translate that into the kind of spectacle that only a big screen can provide. If you’re going to pay for it, he will give you what you want.

And Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is handing out nail-biting, popcorn-chomping thrills like you wouldn’t believe.

I’m guessing you aren’t waiting for me to tell you to see this film, but in case you need convincing, I can confirm that Cruise and returning director/collaborator Christopher McQuarrie (Jack Reacher) have kicked off a two-parter with fantastic style. Opening with a series of sequences (including one onboard a claustrophobic Russian submarine) that might set your head spinning, you only begin to see how McQuarrie and co-screenwriter Erik Jendresen have laid out a devious bit of groundwork as the film is rounding the corner into its third act. Until then, you’re at the mercy of screenwriters with a complex game plan in mind that lead you through a labyrinth filled with danger around every corner.

Once Ethan Hunt (Cruise, The Mummy) is tasked by former IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny, Ready or Not) to track down former ally Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson, Dune) and take back a pivotal item that is instrumental in a burgeoning war waged by an experimental AI system run amok, it isn’t long before Hunt makes the mission personal. Unable to betray Ilsa or completely disregard the AI threat, he instead pursues the lead with his team, including Benji (Simon Pegg, The World’s End) and Luther (Ving Rhames, Piranha 3DD), eventually hoping to beat Gabriel (Esai Morales, The Wall of Mexico), a cruel rival from his past, in holding the key to destroying the advanced technology.

Per usual, a host of roadblocks are put in the way of our hero, and this time it’s not just our government erecting them. In addition to Gabriel’s slinky henchwoman Paris (Pom Klementieff, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 3), the smarmy Director of National Intelligence (Cary Elwes, Black Christmas), and returning black-market arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman), Hunt must contend with slippery ace pickpocket Grace (Hayley Atwell, Blinded by the Light) who is in over her head but consistently gives her would-be protector the slip. Grace winds up being just the handful Hunt wasn’t expecting but needs the most, someone to remind him of his humanity while keeping him on his toes. Grace is rarely aware of her critical danger, even as the threat level is raised to vicious new heights.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has been designed to move characters that may have gotten slightly comfortable into riskier territory, and taking that chance from a filmmaking perspective has paid off. It’s drawn better performances from nearly all the returning cast members (Rhames is especially winning this time) while showcasing newcomers like Atwell and Klementieff exceptionally well. Atwell is front and center with Cruise for the best car chase sequence I’ve seen in a film in years. Not only is their race through Rome in a yellow Fiat pursued by Klementieff in a military-grade vehicle frenetically filmed but it’s also imbued with riotous humor, which plays to the strengths of all involved.

If this entry has a weakness (and yes, this isn’t a perfect ten because of it), it’s for a few reasons. There are still a few wrinkles to iron out from a performance standpoint. Kirby’s character, introduced in the previous chapter, held promise for a power player with mysterious alliances (much like the mother of her character played by Vanessa Redgrave in the first film), but this go-around, I found the allegiance far too defined and reduced to being one-note and rote. The jury is still out on Morales as the heavy. An interesting choice for a high-profile film, but the actor lacks a certain air of complete menace.

The film’s low point is an unfortunate scene set at a raging party (supposedly organized by the AI!) which finds all the major players convening for a semi-sit-down discussion of what will happen next. That’s when McQuarrie and Jendresen get a little too embroiled in making a statement about our reliance on technology and the ramping up of AI-led efforts in automation and securities. A film that had been in constant motion suddenly comes to a halt, and for a few minutes, there’s nowhere to run; all we can do is sit idly by and wait for things to pick up again.

Thankfully, there’s always an action sequence waiting in the wings, and you’ve likely seen Cruise’s epic motorcycle cliff jump, the preparation for and execution of has been heavily hyped in the promotion leading up to the film’s release. The good news is that even knowing it’s coming doesn’t spoil the effect of seeing it in the finished film (see the movie on the largest screen possible, please!). While the stunt is awe-inspiring (you could hear a pin drop in our audience), there are so many impressive moments throughout the film that the sum total is a monumental achievement for Cruise and the entire team. The finale alone is enough for theaters to consider selling seats in “pacing aisles” so nervous moviegoers can get up and walk around.

It will be a long year waiting for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two but more opportunity to watch Part One a few more times, marveling at the work that went into this first-class entertainment. As he did last summer with Top Gun: Maverick, I predict Cruise will fill theaters again with another supersonic adventure. And it’s only the beginning.

Movie Review ~ Master Gardener

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The Facts:

Synopsis: Narvel Roth is the meticulous horticulturist of Gracewood Gardens, a beautiful estate owned by wealthy dowager Mrs. Haverhill. When she orders Roth to take on her troubled great-niece Maya as his apprentice, his life is thrown into chaos, and dark secrets from his past emerge.
Stars: Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, Quintessa Swindell, Esai Morales, Victoria Hill, Eduardo Losan, Rick Cosnett, Amy Le, Erika Ashley, Jared Bankens, Cade Burk, DJames Jones, Matt Mercurio
Director: Paul Schrader
Rated: R
Running Length: 107 minutes
TMMM Score: (2/10)
Review: In his sixth decade working in motion pictures, writer/director Paul Schrader has seen his ups and downs in the movie business. From the early high of a one-two punch in 1976 of Taxi Driver and Obsession to the struggles in the early ‘90s to regain his voice, Schrader regained some traction in 2017, landing his only Oscar nomination with First Reformed. He followed that in 2021 with the well-received The Card Counter and has completed the triumvirate of stony-faced men giving major side eye in the posters with Master Gardener. 

To say that Schrader’s latest finds him in the weeds is both a cheap pun and a thorny bouquet way of stating that this drama fertilized with thriller elements is a withered mess. Dry and brittle, it features the director pandering to his worst, most self-indulgent instincts and bringing down a good cast with him. It’s the type of film where a supposedly respectable, eloquent woman utters the phrase ‘tit cancer’ in the same breath she waxes poetic about an old black lab she’s named ‘Porch Dog’ because, you know, he sits on the porch. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, however…

The opening of Master Gardener suggests that Schrader is back to his First Reformed ways of internalizing the emotional arc of a troubled soul and inviting the audience to watch how repressed feelings seep out in small doses over two hours. Sadly, that blasted ‘tit cancer’/ ‘Porch Dog’ scene happens (lines only Schrader would dare to write), and the illusion is broken almost as soon as it has begun. By that time, we’ve established Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased) as Narvel Roth, an enigmatic horticulturist employed on the estate of Norma, a mannered woman (Sigourney Weaver, The Good House) who has invited Roth into her gardens and, as we find out awkwardly, her bed.

Roth lives on the massive acreage, all the better to stay close to the plants, and keeps detailed journals about the precise interaction between flora and fauna – some that will parallel the twisty entanglements to come. Norma asks Narvel to take on her orphaned grand-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell, Black Adam) as a new apprentice, teaching the inexperienced teen how to make the garden grow. It isn’t long before the teacher becomes more than a little interested in the student, first taking on the role of protector from an abusive boyfriend, then an interventionist, and ultimately (cringe!) her savior.

The relationship between Narvel and Maya (as played by Edgerton and Swindell) is painfully chemistry-free, so when the script thrusts them together as lovers (not precisely a spoiler because you can see it coming a mile away) and tells you they have found a weird sort of affection you can’t fully accept it. Narvel is clearly the two decades older the actor Edgerton is over Swindell, and throw in some issues Narvel has with his absent teen daughter, and you have something gross to sort out on your own time. That’s the only fast-moving plot point in Schrader’s meandering film, which takes longer to get through than a stroll through an actual botanical garden.

Huge plot problems aside, the acting is disappointing too. Edgerton was on a roll with parts that allowed the Australian actor to push past the typical Hollywood leading action star mold and expand into something different. You can see where the appeal was to work with Schrader on a character with Narvel’s complexities (I’m deliberately leaving out a significant character detail that informs much of his actions). Still, it doesn’t fully come through in the execution. As a wealthy shrew who uses her money to control others, Weaver fares better because she’s adept at circumnavigating parts for women who tend to dismiss them outright. However, even she can’t acquit Norma from some very odd dialogue that sometimes makes her sound like she’s in 1920s Maryland and others as if she’s slumming it in 1997 Hoboken. 

Schrader gets fed up with the Hollywood machine every few years, throws his hands up, and goes silent. Perhaps it’s time to take a breather again and sort out some of the problematic elements of Master Gardener that take it so awry. The icky romance (for real, so gross), the non-starter thriller aspects, and the dull flashback drama told in pieces that never come together to form a complete picture. It’s nothing shocking considering that Schrader has gone back to this older man/younger woman concept now dozens of times. Still, it is staggering that the director keeps writing the same film over and over again but can’t ever validate it as a worthwhile idea. This comes across as a first draft that no story editor got to before filming began. Skip it and go plant a tree instead.

Movie Review ~ The Wall of Mexico

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A wealthy Mexican-American family decides to build a wall around their ranch to stop townspeople from stealing their well water, which is rumored to have unusual properties.

Stars: Esai Morales, Mariel Hemingway, Jackson Rathbone, Alex Meneses, Carmela Zumbado, Marisol Sacramento, Xander Berkeley, Moises Arias

Director: Zachary Cotler & Magdalena Zyzak

Rated: NR

Running Length: 110 minutes

TMMM Score: (7/10)

Review: I’ve mentioned it here before but I think it’s worth repeating here: at film festivals, it pays to have good time management skills.  That’s really the only way you’re going to maximize your full potential of seeing as much as you can in the often short time frame that is allotted for screenings.  Apart from choosing your films carefully, you need to make sure you’re also selecting the right films at the correct time of day so your energy is matched with what you’re seeing.  It doesn’t always work as well as it should when you factor in availability and sheer unavoidable bouts of fatigue but when everything lines up you’re in for a gold star viewing experience.

At the 2019 Twin Cities Film Fest, I was having trouble making my schedule work and finding that I had a gap of time that went unaccounted for.  Then I realized that if I moved a few things around, I could start earlier in the day and add another film to my list, which is how The Wall of Mexico began as a simple gap filler but wound up being one of the more interesting and intriguing films I saw. Remember, this was back in October 2019 when all we had to worry about, pre-COVID, fiery protests, and the upcoming election were the harsh regulations being imposed against immigrations into the US.  So a movie with a title like The Wall of Mexico was bound to pique some interest at the outset and the good news is that writer/co-director Zachary Cotler rewards those who take the leap into the mysterious lives of the Arista family with a mostly unpredictable parable.

In an unnamed town running along the California border to Mexico, the Mexican-American Arista family lives an enviable life of privilege.  As the head of the family, Henry (Esai Morales) has provided well for his two daughters Tania (Marisol Sacramento) and Ximena (Carmela Zumbado, Need for Speed) who spend days lounging by the pool soaking up the sun and nights with a select group who party until they pass out.  Into this tranquil existence comes Tom (Jackson Rathbone, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2), hired to work as a groundskeeper under the tutelage of Michael (Xander Berkeley, Candyman), the Aristas long-standing employee.  It isn’t long before Tom falls under the spell of the beautiful Tania and his crush on her doesn’t seem to surprise anyone, even when it strays into possibly dangerous territory.

If that were the crux of the story, Colter and his co-director Magdalena Zyzak might have had a fine if standard, film exploring the class differences between Tom and Tania but there’s something more on the agenda.  On the Arista property is a well, which seems to hold some sort of secret for the family in addition to serving as a frenzied curiosity for the townspeople that want to know what’s being kept hidden from them.  When the water level in the well begins to lower dramatically and it becomes evident someone is stealing the limited supply, Tom is assigned to help Michael build a wall around the Arista estate during the day and watch over the tank as an overnight watchman to catch the culprit.  As you can imagine, formally being walled out of something creates an even bigger uproar from the rabidly curious and increasingly irate townfolk, leading to a showdown with the town officials (led by Mariel Hemmingway in a brief cameo) and an eventual standoff.

With a run time of nearly two hours, Colter and Zyzak can’t quite sustain the energy or keep up the interest they’ve laid out for the entirety of the film but for a while there The Wall of Mexico gets a nice buzz going as you try to figure out, along with Tom, what’s truly going on.  Is the Arista well some sort of fountain of youth, aiding the Arista clan in their success, longevity, and glamorous looks? Or is it simply water and a valuable resource they choose to keep for themselves, which they have every right to do.  The questions are interesting and the answers feel resolved long before the movie wraps up

It’s good, then, that the cast is so worth watching and brings something more to the script than what was on the page, and that goes for everyone on screen from top to bottom.  Usually, the characters that enter a world foreign to them can be the dullest ones in the bunch but Rathbone finds some good moments throughout that feel special, giving the audience someone they can feel some kind of small relation to.  There’s also a bit of a kinship to Morales as the father just doing right for his family and protecting what he’s worked hard to cultivate.  A hard-working character actor for years, Berkeley is solid as always.  Playing the two wild daughters that take great joy in manipulating the men they love and loathe in their lives, Zumbado and Sacramento are of particular note because they seem to hold the greatest air of mystery for the longest amount of time.

While it’s not the politically timed piece it appears to be at first, there are so many underlying currents flowing through The Wall of Mexico and its left to the viewer to draw their own parallels between the events in the news and what transpires on the Arista estate.  Colter has crafted a neat little parable that reflects on our culture and today’s entitled society, it’s often right on the money and I’d imagine it’s a more uncomfortable watch now than it was when I first saw it nearly a year ago.