Movie Review: ****Mission: Impossible (1996)

 This is the first in a series of movies starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt.  In this first Mission:Impossible the team is compromised and everything goes terribly in the first scene as it appears the entire team is killed.  Jim (Jon Voight) is the director of the team.  Turns out the operation was a ruse and it was in fact an operation to chase out a mole, and Ethan is accused of being the mole.  He must solve this one on his own.  He is able to recruit Luther (Ving Rhames) and Krieger (Jean Reno).  Also one of the team, Claire (Emmanuelle Béart) who was presumed killed but was not, shows up.  There are now trust issues.  The mole is also still in place.  There are many tense and exciting moments in this movie.  And in the end the high-speed train tunnel from England to France comes into play.  Vanessa Redgrave plays Max, the woman who buys secret spy information.  

Mission:Impossible movies do not have a great moral or theme but they do entertain.  

Tom Selleck Movie Review: ***^ Runaway (1984)

 This is a very good movie about what can happen if technology goes awry; and worse if a villain is manipulating the technology.  Tom Selleck stars as Ramsay, a technology police officer, capturing runaway robots.  Cynthia Rhodes as Thompson, his partner.  The villain, Luther is portrayed by Gene Simmons of KISS.  Kristie Alley has a smaller part as Jackie, Luther's girl friend.  The technology is very scary: bullets that are programmed to your heat signature and will follow you around corners, spider like robots that squirt acid on you and tiny chips which can make any robot a killer.  And Luther is truly an evil demon.  He seems to take pride in what he has created, and the plot of the movie is he is trying to get microfilm with plans for further bad technology.  He has killed the creators of the microchips and plans and is looking for a big haul.  He even involves Ramsay's son in his evil. 

In Theaters: ****^Thunderbolts (2025)

I know Thunderbolts has not done as well at the box office as most Marvel movies, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The only part I didn't like was one of the characters being eliminated before the movie really even gets started.  But the others doe very well, each having particular strengths.  They have all been working for Valentina (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) who is under investigation and wants them to kill each other.  Only one is killed, Antonia Dreykov (Olga Kurylenko).  However the others are all in peril as they are trapped, and the room will soon be incinerated.  Yelena (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Ava Star (Hannah John-Kamen) are all surprised to meet somebody new, Bob (Lewis Pullman).  They are eventually joined by two persons who were not trapped, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) who is now a congressman and investigating Valentina and Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) who is Yelena's father.

This movie deals a lot with personal regrets and the void.  Turns our Bob who seems to have woken up not knowing where he is, is in fact Sentry, a super super hero who has been developed by a research project of Valentina.  However the project was destroyed to hide evidence in light of the investigation.  

It is while Sentry is unconscious when things get really bad.  This releases a Sentry deep in depression which he calls the void.  everyone is sucked into the void and turns to shadow.  Each of the team members must face their worse memories.  

Lots of fun and lots of action.  Towards the end they are introduces as the New Avengers.

Tom Selleck Movie Review: ****Jesse Stone: Stone Cold (2005)

 This is the first Jesse Stone movie based on the book with the same name.  This is about a couple of serial killers coming to Paradise, who somewhat randomly pick their targets, but by the end of the movie are wanted to kill people that would cause pain for Chief Stone.  His current girlfriend or he calls her a pal with whom he has sex is one of the victims.  The killers are a husband and wife who seem to get a thrill out of killing.  Adams is a very good shot and each of the victims receives two bullets to the heart.  When they go after Stone he is prepared with a bullet proof vest.

There is also a teen date rape story.  The popular athlete and his friends commit a rape and tell the lady she wwill regret it if she tells.

• 

  Tom Selleck

  Jesse Stone. The chief
• 

  Jane Adams

  Brianna Lincoln. Serial killer
• 

  Reg Rogers

  Andrew Lincoln. Husband who helps plan the murders. They get thrills

• out of watching home movies of the killings

• 

  Viola Davis

  Molly Crane. A deputy who takes the lead of investigating the rape
• 

  Alexis Dziena

  Candace Pennington. The rape victim
• 

  Kohl Sudduth

  Luther 'Suitcase' Simpson. Another deputy
• 

  Polly Shannon

  Abby Taylor. The Pal who is murdered

Tom Selleck TV Movie Review: ***^Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007)

Stone's (Tom Selleck) therapist (William Devane) notices that Stone drinks less when he is working a case.  Since things are slow, he suggests Stone work on a cold case.  So he decides to do so, working a case from a bank robbery a few years before in which a teller was taken hostage, and murdered.  One of the officers, Rose (Kathy Baker) was there when the body was first discovered, and remembers vomiting.  Stone digs up the same place, but digs deeper and finds some clothes.  

These serets him on a new investigation.  The mother identified the body, but then had a stroke a few days later.  Dental records or finger prints were not used in the identification.  Stone visits the family, and discovers the mother had a stroke and is non verbal.  The sister reports she was in California when it happened and returned home to care for her mother.  

Bit by bit, Stone pieces together the evidence.  The only hitch is that the mob at the bank, where they were wondering money, wants there money back and begin to go after Stone in an effort to get it; a mobster whose brother was previously killed by police has a vendetta for Stone.  Stone discovers what happened, the bank robber was shot in the escape, and was actually the teller's sister.  When she dies of her wounds, the teller switches clothes and the teller is presumed dead not the sister.  However Stone sees no benefit to pursuing this.  The money has gone for care of the mother and if the sister is arrested, no one would be available to care for the mother.  

One last attempt by the brother of the mobster end poorly for him.

TV Movie Review: Jesse Stone: Benefit of a Doubt (2012)

 Tom Selleck continues as Jesse Stone.  In this movie Jesse Stone starts as a temporary recluse, however when his police chief replacement and police officer from Paradise get blown up, he is hired back as the police chief.  He works with a Captain of state police, Captain Healy (Stephen McHattie) but mostly he investigates alone as the other officers have quit, or were killed.  His receptionist has also quit as the police force has been in turmoil.  The prime suspect, a known criminal Gino Fish (William Sadler) turns out not to be, but the break through comes when Stone realizes Fish has a boss.  It is just a bit before he figures ut who that boss is.  

However Stone is too slow, and he, Hasty (Saul Rubinek) is just ahead of him in getting away.  However the rear guard, who was to kill Stone ed up in a big gun battle, with Stone coming out on top.

The psychiatrist, Dr. Dix (William Devane) plays a sounding board for Stone.  The actor was also in Magnum P.I.

I really don't find much by way of moral theme in the Jesse Stone movies; but I like the characters and the action.

Animated Movie Review: ***Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

As Miles Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) enters the spider-verse searching to defeat Spot (Jason Schwartzman) who is a creation from the spider-verse collapsing and goes from place to place through holes or spots he makes in the universe, he is joined by Spider-Man Gwen (Hailee Steinfield).  However Spider-Man Miguel (Oscar Isaac) is upset as they have disrupted the spider-verse.  He also informs him all captains in whatever universe must die to keep the balance.  Miles' father has just been made captain.  Miles is determined to go home to protect his father, and 100s of other Spider-Men are determined to stop him.  This movie creates lots of chaos with confused universes.  Miles wasn't meant to be a Spider-Man as his spider came form a different universe.  In the mist of all the confusion from the different universes, each with its own pattern and colors, the show ends with a "to be continued."

Not my favorite Spider-Man and sometimes it is overwhelming to the senses.

Australian Movie Review: ***^Red Dog (2011)

 A dog story and a love story are always the best kind of story.  The dog in a way chose the love interest.  The dog has chosen the bus driver, John (Josh Lucas) for his master.  The dog then allows Nancy (Rachael Taylor) to sit in the front seat. beside him.  This starts a relationship which eventually leads to an engagement.  This movie is set in the outback and a mine by the ocean.  The mine has attracted and assorted range of characters.  They all seem affected by the dog, one did not suicide, one took him to the vet regularly to try and ask the vet for a date, others just like the way he listens.  Everything is good until the master, hits a kangaroo on his motor bike which causes him to crash and he dies.  The dod is then without a master, so he begins to roam the outback looking for his master, until he finally ives up and returns home to die.  The town builds a statue to honor him.  This is based on a true story.

It is a fun movie, with a tragedy, but the town and Nancy seem to recover from the tragic death.

Movie Review: ****Three Men and a Baby (1987)

 This movie is a brilliant in which three bachelors are put to the task, over night of fathering a baby.  Tom Selleck plays the architect, Peter Mitchell, Ted Danson the actor, Jack Holden and Steve Guttenberg the cartoonist, Michael Kellam.  The baby was left on the door of their high rise condo.  At the same time, Mitchell's sponsor in commercial informed him a package would arrive at his house the next day.  There is confusion between the baby and the package, which happens to be heroine.  When the drug runners come to pick it up the give them the baby with a can of formula.  When they find the package of drugs they realize their mistake and run to rescue the baby, which leads to police intervention.  They are then suspected of being drug runners.

They are able to trick the drug runners, and inform the police all at the same time.  The use a high-rise Mitchell has helped design and supervise the construction and trap the criminals in the elevator with the power off.  They get to the point where they are enjoying parenting; but then the baby's mother shows up and wants her back.  This film has a novel solution.  This movie is fun and won an award for comedy. Tom Selleck portrays a different type of character.  It is directed by Leonard Nimoy.

Movie Review: ***^Shadow Riders (1982)

 A Louis L'amour after the Civil Ward movie.  Mac (Tom Selleck) fought for the North and his brother Dal (Sam Elliott) for the South.  When they get home they discover a band of "Rebs" has stolen their sisters and headed to Mexico as they are not yet prepared to give up the war.  They make a deal, trading the cattle the stole, and the women and men for slaves to a businessman from Mexico who promises to give them guns to continue their war.

Of course Mac and Dal decide to go after and find them on the beach.  They meet a brother, Jesse (Jeff Osterhage) who was also taken prisoner but manages to escape.  The women and a couple Confederates have already sailed to Mexico.  They also come upon Kate (Katharine Ross) who was also taken, but left behind for fear she would be trouble.  She was the fiancé of Dal before the war.  They also recruit Uncle Jack Black (Ben Johnson) who is a bit of a criminal.  They have to break him out of jail.  But he knows Mexico from his criminal days.  

This movie is great fun with three brothers working together to save their family.  It has dynamite and gun play, and dressing up like a num to effect the rescue.  

Clint Eastwood Movie Review: Unforgiven

 This is an "R" rated movie.  I don't usually watch movies rated "R" but made an exception as this movie won best picture andv and Clint Eastwood won for best director.  Gene Hackman won for best supporting actor.  Eastwood was nominated for best actor.

Two customers at a brothel become upset and cut a whore on the face, scarring her badly.  When the sheriff intervenes he fines the two horses to recompense the proprietor of the brothel.  Nothing for the young woman.  

So the women of the brothel raise some money, and hire some bounty hunters with $1000 award.  So Bill Munny (Eastwood) comes out of retirement at the request of a new bounty hunter, The Schofield Kid (Jaimz Wolvett).  He reluctantly agrees to do so as he is failing as a widowed farmer raising two children.  He in turn recruits his old friend,  Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman).  

Together they ride for Big Whiskey, Wyoming.  Munny takes sick and has a fever and is half conscious of things.  When they get there Munny goes to the bar while the two others head to the whore house.  Sheriff Dagget (Gene Hackman) confronts Munny.  He has heard about the hiring of bounty men by the prostitutes and wants to discourage this.  He beats up Munny.  They hear this upstairs and the two escape out the window.  The catch up with Munny and get him to a barn on the outskirts of town where they, with the help of the prostitutes nurse him back to health.  So next they extract revenge on the men who abused the prostitutes.  However Logan quits on the enterprise and heads back to Kansas where they are from.  Things do not go well for him as he is captured by some of the sheriff's men.  He is beaten severely in an attempt to get him to tell the location of Munny.  When Munny hears of this he goes to town in a sour mood to confront the sheriff.  Things turn out poorly for the sheriff and his minions.

I think the theme of this movie is that sometimes your past catches up with you.  Richard Harris plays a cameo role as English Bob who is also a bounty hunter.  However the sheriff caught him, took his gun, and whipped him before sending him out of town.

TV Movie Review: Ike: Countdown to D-day (2004)

 Made for TV movie

This is a very good study of General Eisenhower and the lead up to D-day.  Tom Selleck, as usual does a very good job portraying Ike.  They can control many things, even creating a fake army in an effort to fool the Germans.  However they cannot control the weather, which is very threatening.  If it doesn't cooperate they have to wait another month for the tide to be right, and their decoy army may be exposed.  A good look at the politics of war.  I really liked the way that problems with Patton (Gerald McRaney) were handled.  He had spoken out about Russia, an ally, and was censored as a result.  The interaction between he and Ike was classic.  He was assigned to the pseudo army but only later would get back into the fighting.  

Tom Selleck Movie Review: *****Quigley Down Under (1990)

 This is a movie I often come back to when I want to be entertained.  It is very well done.  It stars Tom Selleck as Matthew Quiqley, who has been hired from the West to help Elliott Marston (Alan Rickman) kill the aborigines from a long distance.  It also stars Laura San Giacomo as Crazy Cora, who has been sent to Australia by her husband after her baby dies.  

Quigley demonstrates his prowess with his long range rifle, but after he gets there and hears what he is suppose to do he rejects the idea.  This bodes poorly for him as he is captured and beaten and then he and Cora are taken to the desert where it is assumed the desert will kill them.  However Quigley has just enough strength and wit to get them out of the situation.  However they are then in desert away from everything.  It is only with the rescue of the aborigines they live.  They then become defenders of the aborigine as Marston sends men to get rid of them.  This includes shooting, and driving them off a cliff.  Finally Quigley has had enough and heads to the Marston's ranch estate to put an end to this needless killing.  

Tom Selleck Movies and T.V.

 Tom Selleck is consistently good.  He has had several successful tv series, and many tv movies.

Blue Bloods (2010-2024) tv

Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise (2015) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt (2012) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost (2011) tv movie

Jesse Stone: No Remorse (2010) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Thin Ice (2009) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Sea Change (2007) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise (2006) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006) tv movie

Jesse Stone: Stone Cold (2005) tv movie

Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004) tv movie. Selleck portrays Dwight Eisenhower before D-day

Reversible Errors (2004) tv movie

Touch'em all McCall (2003) tv movie

Twelve Mile Road (2003) tv movie

Monte Walsh (2003) tv movie

***^Crossfire Trail (2001). Louis L'Amour

Running Mates (2000) tv movie

Last Stand at Saber River (1997) tv movie

Ruby Jean and Joe (1996) tv movie

Three Men and a Little Lady (1990)

****^Quigley Down Under (1990). Excellent western in Australia

Magnum P.I. (1980-1988)

****Three Men and a Baby (1987). A comedy as three men struggle with a baby girl

**** Runaway (1984)

****^ High Road to China (1983). Great movie with the moral Th ox is slow but the earth is patient

*** Shadow Riders (1982). Louis L'Amour

***^ Concrete Cowboys (1979)

The Sacketts (1979)

Movie Review: ***^Crossfire Trail (2001)

 This is a western movie with two men set for the same property and the same woman.  Rafe Covington is aboard ship coming into San Francisco when the captain beats his friend,  Charles Rodney, to death.  He promises his friend to look after his wife and his Wyoming ranch.  Two boat mates join him in the trip to Wyoming, Rock (David O'Hara) and J.T. (Christian Kane).  Upon arriving in Wyoming he meets an old friend of Rodney's who helped on the ranch, Joe (Wilford Brimley).  On the other side Bruce Barkow (Mark Harmon) has been wooing Mrs. Rodney (Virginia Madsen).  She is convinced her husband died a year ago rather than just a few weeks.

They take to the ranch and begin improving things and herding up the scattered herd.  However Barkow with the sheriff says they have three days to vacate.  Covington in the meantime has been wooing the widow, and trying to convince her of the story that her husband was shanghaied, by someone who wanted his property.  There is oil on the property.

Barkow hires a killer to take care of his problems--meaning the new ranchers.  He forces Mrs. Rodney to marry him even though she does not say "I do."  She also murders the bar tender, and his hired gun murders one of Covington's friends, J.T.  There is bound to be a big fight at the end.

I always like Tom Selleck, and Mark Harmon makes a very bad guy who is use to getting his way.  The Louis L'Amour movies are always entertaining.

Movie Review: ***Once I Was Engaged (2021)

 This movie is a sequel to "Once I Was a Beehive."  However while that story line focuses around the character Lane (Paris Warner) this movie centers around fellow camper Bree (Clare Niederpruem)  and her parents Curt (Bart Anderson) and Carrie Carrington (Lisa Valentine Clark).  Bree goes away to school at BYU Hawaii and is enjoying life.  She works in the aquarium with dolphins.  She has also put in her papers to serve a mission.  However her boyfriend Thys Chesterfield (Tanner Gillman) proposes to her during a performance at the Polynesian Center.  Of course she says yes, but does she really mean it.  Parents fly out from Utah to put in their opinion as she is to go on a mission etc. etc. according to mom.  This leads to a series of tough decisions.  Currently the Carringtons don't have the money to rent the country club, so the cultural hall will have to do.  However the Chesterfields are very rich.  And then the Chesterfields want to invite life long friends, which includes Thys' ex fiancé.  

This movie is fun, and it had different conflict then the Beehive movie.    Lane, the nonmember reminds Bree she has plans to serve a mission.  Beehive was a bit funner with the tensions between the girls, which is eventually resolved.

My nephew has a cameo part.  He plays the Target worker who hands out the Target guns to Bree and her mother with which they choose items for the gifts.  Dustin is a manager at a Target in Provo.

The movie is available on Living Scriptures and Prime.