I know, I know. Tom Cruise is turning into Charles Manson but I do believe J.J. Abrams can pull off a great spy/action adventure. I really liked Alias in its first 2 1/2 seasons and Lost is the only real show I watch on TV anymore (okay, Scrubs too) so I really want to see how J.J. does with a huge budget. Harry Knowles has a review of it here

He seems a little too thrilled about the film (like he is having Cruise' love child) but I believe that the film is at least better than 1 or 2.

I had more faith in John Woo than I do in JJ Abrams, even though I'm an Alias fan. Tom will have to send Katie over for a complimentary hummer before I buy a ticket to this one.

Comingsoon.net has a lot of clips and featurettes.

Click here for the father of poor Shelob or whatever TomKat's child is named.



How in the world can you put John Woo in front of anyone!?! All the guy can do is release doves in slow motion. I mean what kind of a world is Woo living in where doves are constantly taking off before gun battles? Alias was great when J.J. was involved. The Pilot for Lost (directed by Abrams) was one of the best opening for a TV Show ever. Okay so he had some credit for writing Armageddon and wrote a horrible Superman script a few years back. That was dealing with material that was fantasy. This is more grounded in reality and he is pretty damn good at that.

Oh, you mean Cruise's character won't be using his magical superperfect completely undetectable face-replicating masks in this one?

Hey, how many action movies out there are 100% believable. I'm just saying this isn't about an asteroid coming to earth or a guy who flys around in a red cape. Every action/adventure will use a plot device that is somewhat out there. John Woo made Face/Off and at that time it was pretty unbelievable. I know now they are closer to those kinds of things so if they are closer to face transplants then why can't mask be more believable?

No worries, man, sorry to rain on your parade. Maybe it'll be good...who knows? These MI flicks just seem to be vanity projects -- opportunities for Cruise to act like Cruise. I once held out some hope that these might eventually prove to be the American answer to the Bond movies, but the Ethan Hunt character is such a faceless cypher that it's difficult for me to get excited about another chapter.

Oh it doesn't bother me. I don't like Cruise at all. I just hate to blame the scores of other people working on this movie because Tom Cruise is a gigantic asshole. I'm seeing it because I like mostly all that J.J. Abrams does (at least at first). He always seems to do really well with his 2 hour pilots so I figure he'll do very well with a 2 hour feature.

Just caught this a couple of days ago at the cinema for a press screening.

Fantastic movie, JJ is the Next Speilberg - thats almost certain. It doesn't stop right up until the credits roll.

Definatly worth catching once at the cinema, I also just download Michael Giacchino's score for the movie, which is about as perfect a score you'll ever hear.

Brilliant.

Ever notice how no one ever says that music is worth catching on the official CD release?

I'll probably see this tonight, despite my earlier comments. I've been watching some old Alias lately and remembering how much I liked it -- especially the first season, which is still far and away better than practically everything else on TV these days. What's funny is that with the 4th season, Alias became Mission: Impossible in everything but name.

Oh, I couldn't stand Alias from Season 4 on until a couple of weeks ago. I guess I'll watch the last few episodes but after Sloane became possible good guy, I couldn't stand it. The son of a bitch kills your fiance and tries to kill you and everyone you have ever known for years, and then all of a sudden you are okay to work with him? Please.

My comment had nothing to do with the quality of the show, which I agree has gone downhill. But the whole concept of "APO", with it being a secret black ops division that the government will disavow if anything goes wrong, is essentially Mission: Impossible.

Unfortunately the JJ Abrams who made M:I-3 is not the JJ of the first 2 seasons of ALIAS, but the JJ who made LOST and the last 3 seasons of ALIAS. Lots of flash and noise, no story whatsoever.