FRIDAY 07 AUGUST, 2015

Minority Report (2002)

riginally conceived as a sequel to the (similarly Philip K Dick-inspired) Total Recall, Minority Report endured years of developmental twists and turns - including the loss of Oa supporting cast that originally would have included Meryl Streep, Matt Damon, and Cate Blanchett - before finally landing in theaters in 2002. Typical for a Dick story, Report raises some interesting questions about the ethical implications of untrammeled technology, and its dystopian view - not to mention the dense, thorny plot - represented something of an evolu- tion for a director and star whose early work is synonymous with the sunny Technicolor vistas of the big-budget ‘80s.

long-after-the-fact sequel to a classic movie, only loosely based on the source material, helmed by a director who admitted to taking the project in order to secure financing for the movie he really wanted to make? The The Color of Money (1986) AColor of Money shouldn’t have worked, but it did - in fact, it netted a handful of Oscar nominations (and gave Paul Newman a long-overdue Best Actor trophy).

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2014)

lenty of action movies have been compared to video games, and usually, it isn’t a compli- ourth installments rarely represent critical high points for film franchises - and given that ment. ’s offers a nifty exception to the rule, taking your Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol came five years after the third movie in the series, Pstandard tale of a nebbishy Army major () dropped into catastrophic combat Fand it was helmed by a guy mostly known for directing cartoons, the odds weren’t exactly against an unbeatable alien invasion and injecting the old genre tropes with a potent dose of, stacked in its favor. But lo and behold, Ghost Protocol ended up being not only a hit with critics well, playability, by adding a narrative wrinkle that leaves Cruise’s William Cage endowed with as well as audiences, it racked up the highest critical rating in the entire franchise to go with its the ability to keep “restarting” after death - just like Bill “Mad Dog” Rizer and Lance “Scorpion” whopping $693 million worldwide gross. “This film exists purely to dazzle and thrill,” observed Bean after you pressed up up down down left right left right B A. Liman, working from a screen- NPR’s Ian Buckwalter, “and by that measure, it delivers expertly, never lagging despite a play inspired by Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel All You Need Is Kill, anchors this nifty gimmick with lengthy 133-minute running time.” -(www.rottentomatoes.com) a battery of killer set pieces - and the whole thing benefits immeasurably from the work of Cruise and , who invest what could have been stock characters with genuine humanity.