Watch Online Self/less (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis:

A dying New York real-estate tycoon undergoes a top-secret procedure to transfer his consciousness into the body of a healthy young man, but he discovers that his new life isn't what he expected after learning about the mysterious origins of his new body and an organization that is prepared to kill for its cause. Ryan Reynolds toplines this sci-fi thriller directed by Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall, and penned by screenwriting duo David and Alex Pastor (Carriers).

Review:

They say that money can't buy happiness in life, but for one New York City tycoon, it might be able to buy life itself. That's the premise of director Tarsem Singh's new film Self/less, a muddled mashup of genres that makes the disastrous assumption that the audience will be too brain/less to notice its many preposterous plot points.

(Sir) Ben Kingsley plays Damian Hale, an impossibly wealthy NYC businessman who has devoted his life to making bank instead of raising his daughter Claire (Michelle Dockery), now estranged from him and the director of a nonprofit. Damian is dying from a quickly spreading cancer, the end rapidly closing in with every blood-spattering cough. When someone slips him a mysterious business card claiming to offer a solution to his terminal dilemma, he takes the bait and is soon touring a secret lab in New Orleans with a crazy-smart (emphasis on crazy) scientist named Albright (Matthew Goode). Albright explains that he has developed a way to implant a person's consciousness into a "host" body, thus allowing the dying person a chance to live on with a new identity and face. But this procedure is not for everyone; only the world's brightest minds, he says, are worthy of the process called "shedding." When Damian asks how the host bodies are created, Albright states that they are genetically grown in a lab, not unlike some plants. One can't help but picture a Frankenstein-like Chia Pet that, in addition to a full head of hair, also grows a perfectly functioning brain, complete skeletal system, and all of the muscles and organs necessary to be considered human. Okie dokie.

Despite possessing one of those aforementioned "brightest minds in the world," Hale agrees to the procedure with nary a speck of incredulity regarding the outlandish method of producing a host body. His cancer soon becomes more aggressive, and when the final credits of his life story are about to start rolling, the shedding commences. All it takes is about 15 seconds or so in an MRI-like machine, and Damian is now comfortably ensconced in his cool but rather unsteady new vessel (enter Ryan Reynolds as the host body). As Albright gives him the stats on his new life, one can't help but wonder why the guy would pay all that money just to look like a 35-year-old about to enter middle age instead of someone much younger. And that's just one of the many frustrating questions that the film never sufficiently answers.

While enjoying his new existence as a wealthy New Orleans retiree who plays basketball all day and trolls for chicks at the clubs every night, Damian is also plagued by strange hallucinations (seemingly of another person's life), which can only be controlled by taking a daily pill. His discovery of the real cause of these hallucinations regrettably transforms this film from a potentially intriguing sci-fi thriller into a rock-'em-sock-'em action flick, complete with car chases, shoot-outs, and more than one death by blowtorch.

The overriding problem with Self/less is the lazy storytelling by Singh and screenwriting brothers Alex and David Pastor, who forgo character development and narrative credibility in the arrogant assumption that multiple fistfights and insane car crashes will be enough to satiate the audience. We never really find out why Damian is so jazzed about continuing life on earth, considering that he made a miserable and lonely mess of his first one despite oodles of cash to comfort him. Kingsley's screen time is so woefully brief (he's basically making a cameo appearance) that he isn't given the chance to flesh out Damian beyond giving him a thick New York accent and inserting barely noticeable pauses into his speech. Not that it even matters, since Reynolds doesn't bother to adopt Kingsley's mannerisms or in any way attempt to remind viewers that, underneath those ripped muscles, full head of hair, and Canadian-tinged intonation, there lies a brilliant, cynical seventysomething New Yawker.

While the action scenes are fun to watch, one can't help but feel that Self/less is like sitting through two completely different movies at the same time -- and the better of the two abruptly ends with the shot of Kingsley's body being covered by a sheet following the shedding. Unfortunately, the only thing left for viewers after that is, well ... less.

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Watch Online Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) - MovieTimeUs

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Synopsis:

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his teammates reunite for this pulse-pounding sequel, in which they attempt to take down a secret international organization known as the Syndicate--highly skilled ex-IMF agents who are intent on bringing down their former outfit. Christopher McQuarrie directs this new entry in the Mission Impossible franchise, with Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, and Simon Pegg co-staring.

Review:

One mission that seems almost impossible for Hollywood to achieve these days is to continually reenergize a popular film franchise, making each entry as good (if not better) than the last. But that's exactly what Tom Cruise and company have done with this tentpole, which is now 19 years old. The Mission: Impossible series has employed a different director for each movie thus far, and every one has put his own stamp on the material -- a major reason why the franchise still feels fresh after nearly two decades. Brian De Palma got the series off to a strong start back in 1996, but John Woo stumbled badly four years later with a pretentious, over-the-top follow-up. Thankfully, J.J. Abrams put everything back on track with 2006's intense Mission: Impossible III, and Brad Bird raised the bar even higher with the sensational Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol in 2011. Now, it's Christopher McQuarrie's turn to sit in the director's chair, and the frequent Cruise collaborator -- he co-wrote Valkyrie and Edge of Tomorrow, and wrote and directed Jack Reacher -- delivers a slick, involving thrill ride that can proudly takes its place alongside the best installments in this series.

Rogue Nation gets off to a high-flying start with a scene in which Cruise's Ethan Hunt dangles precariously from an Airbus A400M cargo plane in an effort to get aboard and thwart the delivery of some poisonous gas; the sequence has already become famous due to the fact that it's really Cruise hanging on to the side of the plane midflight. From there, the movie races from one action set piece to the next -- with the best being an elaborate assassination attempt at the Vienna Opera House -- as Hunt tracks Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the leader of a terrorist organization known as the Syndicate that's made up of various rogue spies and is responsible for several global catastrophes. Unfortunately, Hunt's search is greatly hindered when CIA chief Alan Hunley (an excellent Alec Baldwin) insists that the Syndicate doesn't exist and shuts down the Impossible Mission Force. He then seeks to bring Hunt in and hold him accountable for IMF's recent rash of reckless behavior, including an incident from Ghost Protocol in which they nearly destroyed the Kremlin. This leaves Hunt as a man without a country, on a mission without authorization or support. And to make matters worse, he keeps encountering Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), an intriguing beauty connected to the Syndicate who might be a double or even triple agent. Is she trying to help Hunt, or is she just using him to get what she wants? One of the film's greatest strengths is the way it keeps her intentions murky throughout the proceedings.

Another strength is the return of Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, and Ving Rhames as Hunt's IMF allies. Pegg once again provides just the right amount of comic relief, and Renner is solid as Hunt's right-hand man, who is torn between his allegiance to Ethan and his commitment to his new employers at the CIA. Rhames, great as always, is unfortunately underused here, but he does manage to steal every scene he's in.

But the film belongs to Tom Cruise. Even at 53, he proves he is still one of the silver screen's greatest stars, and Ethan Hunt might just turn out to be his signature role. Cruise has always been considered a modest actor with a limited range (even though he's been nominated for three acting Oscars), but it's difficult to fault him for continually drawing on his strengths as an action star and pumping out fun, if mostly lightweight, popcorn fare. He's got charisma to burn, and no one can deny his utter commitment to a role: No other actor of his stature performs dangerous stunt work like he does (to name just one other example, he swung around outside Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, in Ghost Protocol). And while the cargo-plane sequence is getting all of the attention, Cruise's motorcycle derring-do in Rogue Nation is equally amazing, providing the movie with one of the most exciting chase scenes in recent memory.

Praise must also go to McQuarrie, best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for The Usual Suspects. He helped revise the script for Ghost Protocol, but was denied an official writing credit; with Rogue Nation, he makes the most of the opportunity to call the shots as the film's writer/director. And while the movie hews closely to the blueprint of glossy espionage flicks, it does so with the utmost professionalism and craft. Give McQuarrie and Cruise credit for not merely propping up what could have become a tired franchise, but injecting it with a newfound sense of energy and enthusiasm. Mission: Impossible is one Hollywood tentpole that shows no signs of aging.

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