Tom Clancy in the Movies

 ****^ The Hunt for Red October 1990. Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan and Sean Connery as Russian submarine commander

***^ Patriot Games 1992.  Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan, saves British Royal, rated R for language and violence.

****^ Clear and Present Danger   1994. Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan

**** The Sum of all Fears 2002.  Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan

**** Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 2014, Chris Pine as Jack Ryan

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan starring John Krasinski (2018-2023)

Jack Ryan Ghost War (2026) with John Krasinski 

DC Movie Review: Wonder Woman 1984

 This is a very enjoyable music, but sometimes it is a bit too much.  Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) works in the Smithsonian, where coworker Barbara (Kristin Wiig) has received delivery of a special stone.  She wishes to be like Wonder Woman and begins to get her powers.  However Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) has been stufying rocks, and steals it when he sees it.  It grants wishes.  Wonder woman had wished that her love would come back, and Lord wishes to actually be the stone.  Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) does come back, her boyfriend from forty years before.  Lord needs more and more people to ask him for wishes, as this increases his power.  He finally goes big time, but Wonder Woman knows something has to change or the whole world will be destroyed. 

Lots of neat action.  A great fight between Barbara and Wonder Woman.  But nothing works as long as people as asking for wishes.  Lord has to remember his son and who he is or the world is lost.  

Movie Review: ****^Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

 Since Covid it seems the quality of movies has gone down.  Fortunately this movie is on exception.  It has fun characters and a good story.  It even has a fat dragon.  Edgin (Chris Pine) our thief/planner and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) the muscle have been betrayed by by a former team member, Forge (Hugh Grant) who has been influenced by a red wizard, Sofina (Daisy Head) who helped Forge become a ruler, and  wealthy.  The red wizard's goal is to take over the population with a half dead curse and create an army to rule.  Forge has fostered Edgin's daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman), and has manipulated her with lies.  Edgin seeks a talisman which will bring his dead wife back to life.  He engages the help of a wizard, Simon (Justice Smith) who lacks confidence and consequently is not a very good wizard. and a druid, Doric (Sophia Lillis).  She is able to transform from creature to creature.  The talisman is in Forge's safe.  This is protected with many spells.  The only way in is with a helmet which cancels all spells.  Xenk (Regé-Jean Page) who is a Harper (sworn to peace) and reminds Edgin he is a Harper as well.  

The conclusion of this movie is very fun.  It ends much differently than you would expect.  Suffice it to say that Edgin gets his daughter back, but they are still poor.  

In Theaters ***^ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

In Theaters ***^ Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

This is an animated feature.  We are given not only Peter Parker (Chris Pine), Spider Man (who actually dies at the beginning of the movie) but several versions of Spider-Man, including Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) who is newly bitten by a radioactive spider and is learning how to be Spider-Man; Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) who is an older version, and comes from a different verse; Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) who is Gwen Stacey but Spider-Woman in her verse; Peni Parker (Kimiko Glen) a Japanese version with a robot; Spider Man Noir (Nicholas Cage); and a porky the pig version (John Mulaney).  These spidermen team up to defeat King Pin (Liev Schrieber), whose manipulations of inter-dimensional technology to bring his family back, may rip apart the universe.  Another twist is that Miles Morales' uncle (Mahershala Ali) works for the King Pin.  There is some great fun and action here, and also confrontation of your fears. 

Movie Review: ***^Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

This is a movie based on the Tom Clancy characters, but seems out of order in terms of the time line and the story.  Other than that, this is a very good story.  Jack Ryan versus a plot to start on economic catastrophe in America with a terrorist attack and then a dumping of U.S. dollars.  Keira Knightly is Jack's fiancé if she says yes.  She wants to see what he is up to and follows Jack on his trip, and becomes and impromptu agent.  Crazy stuff.  This of course doesn't go well when she is taken hostage.  Lots of action to the end here.  Very entertaining.
Does anyone have an explanation for the out-of-sequence nature of this movie.  Is this Jack Jr., or just taking liberty.

Movie Review: ****^Wonder Woman (2017)

This is one of the best movies I have seen in some time.  It is a DC Comic inspired movie.  Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is after the god of War.  She had no knowledge of the war until an American Pilot(Chris Pine) crashed near their island, and he rescues him.  Their island is one of women who spend their time practicing to make war, while being sheltered from the rest of the world.  The pilot, Steve, is actually a spy, with important information and has to get back to London.  His information is about the development of a deadly toxin.  Wonder Woman has a sword which she feels is a god killer.  This is in the middle of WWI, and war is all around her.  There is one man, Sir Patrick (David Thewlis) suing for peace, while plans are made by the Germans to make a new strain of chemical poison, which will kill thousands.  In this way instead of being pressured for peace, they will be able to win the war.
The spy presents his information, and is ordered to not pursue his lead because of the impending armistice.  He develops his own team to gala at German high command, where he hopes to stop the delivery of the weapon.  The team includes Charlie (Ewen Bremner) a sharp shooting Scot whose PTSD has gotten in the way of his shooting, Chief (Eugene Brave Rock) and Sameer (Said Taghmaoui).  This is a pretty formidable teem.  Wonder Woman mistakes a German general over development of the weapon as the god of war.  She figures that killing him, will stop the conflict.  She is wrong.  However the British minister suing for peace Sir Patrick, reveals himself as the god of war.   He whispers things to people, like the formula for the deadly gas, to people, but he says people act on their own.   A tremendous battle takes place between the two gods, turns our  Wonder Woman is the daughter of Zeus.  Although the sword failed, Wonder Woman is in fact the god killer.  While the two gods battle, Steve and his team are set to the destroy the gas weapon.  They blow up the stocks, except for that loading on a dirigible and set to hit London.  Steve takes over the plane, and flies high enough so the  gas will not harm anyone.  He then detonates explosives, and perishes with the gas.
Wonder Woman seeing his sacrifice, although sad because she loves Steve, now has new strength to battle the god of war.
Gadot makes this film go.  She is a strong female character with looks as well.  The final pose is classic.  (This movie is after the Batman Vs Superman, but Wonder Woman is recalling her story after receiving a picture from Bruce Wayne.

Movie Review: ****Star Trek Beyond (2016)

This is a movie for which you have to be prepared for lots of action.  It really keeps moving.  There is one little twist at the end that I don't want to give up, but the Enterprise faces an unstoppable enemy, bee like ships that all work together as one.  After destroying the Enterprise, they try to capture all the people, but the show never tells why or reveals how many actually die in the attack.  This is because the bee vessels were gathering everyone up and collecting them.  They all end up on the same planet, Spock, and Scottie and Dr. Bones all crashing into the planet, with the goal of rescuing their crew.  Scottie meets a local, at least local now as she has previously shipwrecked on the planet, her father was killed in an escape attempt, and she has been surviving in an Enterprise space ship which has been cloaked.  She is one pretty tough woman, but still scared to go back to the base.
Spock is determined not only to rescue the crew, but specifically Uhura, his girl friend.
This movie is a fast and exciting ride, which doesn't give up until the end.  I didn't take any fantastic theme from the movie, other than sometimes you can get lost in space.  This movie was mostly geared toward entertainment rather than philosophizing.
This movie starred: Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Commander Spock, Karl Urban as Dr. Bones, Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty and Idris Elba as our bad guy, Kroll.  He was some fantastic bad guy.  Scotty, or rather Simon Pegg helped write the script.

Movie Review: ****Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)

This is another Tom Clancy (obvious from the name) but it has Jack Ryan in the post 911 era.  Sheri says that Clancy wrote about Jack Ryan's son, and perhaps that is where this material comes from.  Jack (Chris Pine) is recruited as an analyst for the CIA by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner).  At the same time he has fallen in love with Dr. Muller (Keira Knightly).  Then we fast forward three years.  Jack thinks he will just be an employee on Wall Street, while actually working for the CIA.  He notices files hid from them by a Russian firm, and feels he is onto a plot.  He is asked to go to Russia by the CIA to meet with the president of the Russian Company with which they are doing business.  His journey to Russia gets off to a bad start.  His bodyguard (Nonso Anozie) tries to kill him, and Ryan has to kill him instead.  He has now gone active.  They have to get into the Russian director's computer.  He is planning a plot for a terrorist attack against the U.S. as well as a dollar dump, which likely will bring on a depression.  The Russians are mad at the U.S. over lack of support at the U.N.
This show has tension on two levels.  Can Jack, and his fiance who follows him to Moscow, survive, and can the CIA stop the Russian terrorist.  This movie keeps you tense in your seat.  I thought the theater was cold, but it was just my body reaction to the tension which lasts through most of the second half of the movie.
This is good Tom Clancy fun.

Movie Review: ****^ Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

This movie is very good, and brings Khan back to the Star Trek series.  Khan saved Star Trek (as an enterprise) at one point after the first movie did not do very well.  Khan brought some excitement to Star Trek, and it kept going from there.
This movie works because the enemy is within, and catches everyone off guard.  Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) is just as evil as the original Khan played by Ricardo Montalban.  However he is retaliating, which is what sets him off to become and enemy of The Federation.  From Wrath of Khan, the are a genetically engineered race, who were put into a frozen state.  Khan was found, and unfrozen.  The rest of the crew were put into torpedoes to be shot at the Klignons.  The battle follows the first Khan, loosely, with a few twists.  Perhaps the hype of Caleb was a bit overblown, but I can see why he said best ever.  This movie is very emotional, and yes Spock is emotional in his way.  It is also just as miraculous as the original series.  Chris Pine stars as Kirk, and Zachary Quinto as Spock.
Highly recommended.

Movie Review: ****Star Trek (2009)

This is Star Trek takes an aside, because some Romulon (Eric Bana) makes Black Holes which allow him to go back through time, which he does to take vengeance on The Federation.  In the future, Spock attempted to save the Romulon World, and failed.  Major changes to history are the death of Captain James T. Kirk's father on the day of his birth; and the destruction of the Vulcan world, along with Spock's mother.  Spock (Zachary Quinto) is able to save only about 10,000 of the billion or so souls of Vulcan.  The other plot change is that Kirk (Chris Pine) is a junior officer, who is kicked off the ship for his brash ways.  Spock, who was first officer becomes the Captain as previous Captain is taken captive by Nero, the crazy Romulon.  A plot twist is the elder Spock showing up and coaching Captain Kirk, his oldest and truest friend.  Present day Spock and Captain have not been friends, but they need to if they are going to save Earth from the crazy Romulon.

Movie Review: *****Unstoppable (2010)

*****Unstoppable   You would think that a train movie would be boring.  However this is a train with no driver, and runaway speed, headed for an urban area with toxic cargo and with a sharp curve with gas tanks, sure to explode in a crash.  It also has two heroes (Denzel Washington and Chris Pine) who defy orders, and chase the train down, putting their own lives in danger, but saving the day in the end.  Great ride.  Nothing to worry about for children in this movie.