Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol was action packed and the special features were fantastic (although a few were too far fetched to believe).  I love the Tom Cruise- Mission Impossible series; however, I guess it's true what they say, the first is always the best.  The first and second Mission Impossible movies by Tom Cruise were my favorites.  I admit the fourth installment was better than the third.  I was disappointed that MI 4 didn't have Ving Rhames as a main character.  The new "techie" guy, Simon Pegg, wasn't as good as Ving, mostly because his character was more humorous than serious.  It's MI...you want the characters to be serious!  Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton were a nice addition.  Tom Cruise looked great and pulled off the action scenes well.  The story line about nuclear weapons that could destroy the world was definitely a story line used in too many movie plots.  Overall, the action was great but the story line was flat-lined.  I give the move three out of four stars.

New Year's Eve

Ever since the movie Crash there has been attempts to interweave several story lines and characters into one over arching story.  Some movies succeed and others fail.  New Year's Eve was a move that attempted to do this but didn't quite succeed.  The individual story lines were simplistic and predictable.  There were a few surprises at the end but otherwise the movie was average.  I wonder what the salary cap was for so many stars to be in a movie with such a bland story line?  The overall message of starting a New Year with love and forgiveness was a nice touch.  I give the movie two out of four stars or one thumb up.