The Greatest Entertainer. Period.

This article contains SPOILERS. Please be warned. 

In this new age of watching content, there really is a challenge for production companies and studios to bring patrons to the theaters. Enter. TOM CRUISE. The mission, should you choose to accept is THE FINAL RECKONING. 

I saw a video of Tom Cruise thanking audiences for watching the movie. He said that the entire cast and crew of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING worked really hard to give audiences a one of a kind movie experience. It was made to be seen on the big screen and he’s absolutely right. The 8th installment of the franchise gave scenes and sequences that haven’t been shown in previous iterations. Guaranteed, these scenes will take your breath away. 

Please indulge me as I reminisce. I remember being 10 years old in the summer of 1996. My parents took me and my brother to Orlando to see Disneyworld. On US television, the commercial or tv spot that I’ll never forget was for the movie “Mission: Impossible.” Who can forget that scene where Ethan Hunt is tied to a rope and falls and is saved just before he hits the floor? Who can forget him avoiding an explosion and landing on a moving train? What do the kids say these days? “ABSOLUTE CINEMA.”

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Now I have to be honest. The franchise kicked in for me when “M:I:III” came out. It even got better with GHOST PROTOCOL. I mean that scene with the Burj Khalifa seriously made my balls go up my throat. Truly, entertaining AF! The best one of the series for me was ROGUE NATION. A more grounded take on the franchise that introduced “The Syndicate” which was the “Anti-IMF” that gave Ethan Hunt and his team a run for their money. The follow up - FALLOUT was all out action from start to finish. I mean it had very little breaks and it was such an entertaining sequel to Rogue Nation. 

We then come to the 7th installment - DEAD RECKONING. I will lay it down, I am not the biggest fan of this entry to the franchise because they killed off the best addition to the franchise, Ilsa Faust. Such a disappointment that they let her go! OK, I don’t want to dwell on sad things. Dead Reckoning gave us new villains - the AI called “The Entity” and the slime ball Gabriel out to destroy the world. The stakes were higher but it wasn’t as grounded as the last couple of movies. The 7th installment ended on a cliffhanger with the villains still at large and the whole world still at risk of extinction.

So here we are. Out now in cinemas is MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING. The culmination of 3 decades worth of impossible missions. Ethan Hunt and his team composed of Benji Dunn  (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) are back to take down The Entity and the evil Gabriel (Esai Morales). Rounding up the team for this final installment are Grace (Hayley Atwell), the mysterious Paris (Pom Klementieff), and Davis (Greg Tarzan) who were all part of Dead Reckoning. Their mission takes them all over the world from London, to the freezing depths of the North Pacific Ocean, to South Africa. Returning cast members are Henry Czerny as the annoying Agent Kittridge, Shea Whigham as Briggs, and Angela Basset playing the former CIA Director and now US President Erika Sloane. The new cast members are pretty interesting. Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) as General Sydney, Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)as Rear Admiral Neely, and Tramell Tillman (Severance) steals the scenes he’s in as Commander Bledsoe. 

Over the years, we’ve seen death defying stunts that Tom Cruise does himself. Climbing the Burj Khalifa, going underwater beyond human limits, hanging on a net from a flying helicopter and climbing up to it, and jumping off a cliff on a motorcycle. What else can Tom Cruise do to take our breaths away? The most exciting parts of The Final Reckoning comes during the visit to the Sevastopol submarine wreckage and of course the final boss fight with Gabriel during the biplane aerial sequence! With the Academy Awards introducing a new category next year, Tom Cruise may win one for the best stunt performance! 

Did I like The Final Reckoning? I did. Did I love it? Not as much. I’m sorry! It’s my fault. My expectations were way too high. With this being billed as the final installment, I was hoping that they’d go all out with multiple characters from the past returning like Jeremy Renner’s Brandt, Paula Patton’s Carter, and even Maggie Q’s Zhen. But alas, members from the previous teams were MIA. Maybe I was also hoping Ilsa was still alive? Maybe I was the sad with the fact that they killed off another character that I loved? Yes. My expectations were set too high. Another factor, upon further analysis, The Final Reckoning wanted to tie things all the way up to 1996. It wanted to connect certain details in the previous movies. It was a bit overwhelming trying to recall certain details while watching. I think that they really didn’t have to do world building. These connections came out of nowhere. It was already one of the best movie franchises and I think they were trying to fix what was not broken. If you are a casual Mission: Impossible fan, you may want to watch recaps online. 

Let’s go back down to earth and away from nitpicking purgatory if you will. Was I seated at the edge of my seat? Hell yes. Did the movie make my heart race and make me tense? 100%. Was I entertained? It’s a fact! It’s still a satisfying end to the franchise don’t get me wrong! I just wanted it to more satisfying if you get my drift,. I was also happy to have seen this in IMAX! The way it’s supposed to be seen! 

Will I still recommend you see it in IMAX? YES. YES. A MILLION TIMES YES. No one entertains me in the movies like TOM CRUISE. Throw whatever movie at me with Tom Cruise in it and I will consume it immediately. Undoubtedly THE greatest entertainer of our generation! Thank you Tom Cruise and thank you to director Christopher McQuarrie! This tag team is arguably one of the greatest! 

Now your mission that you should accept is to go to the cinemas and see THE FINAL RECKONING! Go out and be entertained together in a big room full of strangers and share in the thrill, excitement, and the emotions! 

THUNDERBOLTS* Review

This entry contains NO SPOILERS. So read ahead with ease!

The summer blockbuster season has arrived and I’ve said this to a number of friends. In the post-Endgame era, reactions have been “ok” and “it’s alright.” Maybe it was just Spider-Man: No Way Home that compelled me to go to the cinemas for multiple viewings. (Multiple meaning 5 or more in Jiggy standards) Let’s be honest, the bar was just set way too high by Avengers Endgame and many of us have been spoiled by Marvel Studios with the superior storytelling in an interconnected universe. 

Today is April 30 and THUNDERBOLTS* from Marvel Studios debuts in Philippine cinemas. I was fortunate to have seen the movie at the Philippine premiere last night and with no BS, this movie has surpassed my expectations and I will definitely see this at least 5 times in the cinemas. That’s the minimum. 

I like to give “Baseball lingo” for MCU entries. I think it's better to describe the Marvel movies in that sense versus a scale of 1-10. So please indulge me. Imagine that Avengers Endgame is like Game 7 of the World Series. The final game of the season. It’s the bottom of the ninth. Home team is down 3 runs with 3 men on base and 2 outs. It’s a full count and the player on deck hits a grand slam to win it all! A walk-off! It can't get any better than that right?  (Wink wink Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars) So what is my baseball take on Thunderbolts*? The 36th entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a walk-off grand slam to secure a spot in the wild card playoffs. Think of it as a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs for years and this delivered a much needed boost to a city of loyal fans who have been supportive throughout the years. 

I’ll be honest, this was the movie I was looking forward to the most in 2025 and boy oh boy did it deliver beyond my expectations!

The success of the movie comes from the ensemble cast. From Actor A down to Actor Z, everyone delivers. Florence Pugh who plays former Red Room assassin Yelena Belova (the new and current Black Widow) is definitely deserving of headlining the cast. I would argue hat she is the best actor in the MCU. She can wrench your heart, make you laugh, and make you feel a lot of things! I first encountered Florence Pugh in the WWE movie / true story Fighting with my family and that movie made me cry! I knew from that point on that Florence Pugh was an A-LIST star! She triumphs at every scene and delivers one of the most human and heartfelt performances for a Marvel Character. Lewis Pullman who plays Bob / Robert Reynolds shines in every scene he is in. What a great addition to the MCU! As a comic book fan / Marvel Zombie / True Believer, I’m very happy how Bob was portrayed! Check out and read THE SENTRY by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee on Marvel Unlimited if you can! Sebastian Stan returns as James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes. Now a US Congressman, he is also the de facto leader of the team. Bucky is the only character in the MCU to have appeared in all 5 Phases mind you. Yes, he is still very cool! My surprise favorite of the movie was Wyatt Russell who plays John Walker aka The US Agent / “The dime store Captain America.” The MCU needed a lovable a-hole and I’m happy that he was given an important role in this movie. Rounding up the Thunderbolts are David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Olga Kurylenko who return to the MCU as Red Guardian, Ghost, and Taskmaster respectively. Geraldine Viswanathan (who I loved in TBS' Miracle Workers) joins the MCU as Mel, the assistant to the character of multiple Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine / Val. Talk about an amazing ensemble cast right? You will love, hate, and adore Valentina because how can you not like Julia Louis-Dreyfus!? She’s the best! I’m so happy she has more screen time! 

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said at the press conference that his favorite part about these movies are the incredible actors who have never met before on screen meeting for the first time and interacting in ways they’ve never interacted before. He's right! I truly believe that these interactions what make the Marvel movies so entertaining to watch and rewatch all over again. 

Thunderbolts* is arguably Marvel Studios’ “darkest” entry to date as it deals with mental health issues like loneliness and depression. It’s a topic that has not yet been explored in the MCU until now. I commend them for tackling it. We all have those days wherein we feel we are not enough. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all gloom and doom. It’s far from it. Marvel Studios perfectly balances the comedy, action, and the little tear jerkers that come out of nowhere. Sure, you can say that there WAS “superhero fatigue” in the last few years but here we are now. Marvel Studios sticks firmly to their core principles in storytelling showcasing HEROISM, HUMANITY, and HEART. It’s because of stories like these that we keep coming back to the movies. In life, we all deal with problems here and there. No one is exempt. At times, we need that spark to pick us up again to get back on track.

So this weekend, go out with your friends! Take your significant someone! Bring your family! Go watch Thunderbolts* which was made to be seen on the big screen! Please, with all due respect, do not be one of those lazy and stubborn people who will wait for it on streaming. You’ll miss half the fun! Seriously. See it in the way it was made! To be seated in a dark room full of strangers united under a wonderful fandom! 

I won’t spoil what the asterisk is for. Don’t spoil it for others too! 

Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* is now showing in Philippine Cinemas. 

See it in IMAX if possible! You won’t regret it! 

Geek Speaking Born Again?

Hey there! 

This is Jiggy Cruz, a Spider-Man fan at the core and a Marvel Zombie through and through. Before I begin, I just wanted to thank Disney Philippines for giving me early access to Daredevil: Born Again. It was the first time I got a screener! I also got to watch the online press conference via Zoom which was a cool experience. Too bad my question wasn't read by the host. Oh well! No harm done!

It's been a minute! Since I was given early screeners of Daredevil: Born Again, I thought that it was the perfect time to start blogging and geeking out again. If you're not familiar with screeners, I'll explain as best I can. Disney gave me a link wherein I had to sign an NDA with instructions that I had to watch alone with no one around that could see or hear what I was watching. I can't get on their bad side right?

So it has been a couple of years since the Daredevil series on Netflix ended and I'll be honest, I forgot a lot of details from that show. I do remember vividly that Matt Murdock played by Charlie Cox made his appearance in the MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home and reappeared in both the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and the six episode limited series ECHO which was branded as "Marvel Spotlight" as it is a stand alone within the MCU. Vincent D'Onofrio, on the other hand, played a key role in the Disney+ Series Hawkeye and a main role in ECHO. 

I guess the biggest question is if you need to watch all those series before watching Daredevil: Born Again? There's a lot of content! But more importantly, are these characters variants from the Netflix universe or have they been MCU-canon all along? 

Interestingly, during the press conference, Executive Producer Brad Winderbaum of Marvel Studios shared that there was a time midway through production where it got confusing. Did they want this Daredevil series to be a reboot or a continuation of the Netflix series? The producers and creators got together and decided that it would be a continuation. Does this series have to do anything with the classic Frank Miller "Born Again" storyline? No it does not. The title just pays homage and respect to the story that changed it all for Daredevil. Executive Producer Sana Amanat who used to be an editor for Marvel Comics is also part of the team so I do have faith in the show since there are executives who used to work in comics that are taking care of the characters and story. Sana was at the online press conference and I can share that she was on top of things. She knows the history of the character and the great story runs that are key. Brian Michael Bendis who wrote a ton of Daredevil and had an amazing run is also a consulting producer. Marvel Fans can chill on these facts. 

So here we are now. Without any spoilers, this series MEANS BUSINESS! Daredevil: Born Again in the first 5 minutes swings for the fences with the bases loaded. So think of it as seasons 1 through 3 are in the bases if you're not familiar with baseball terms. Is the ball headed out of the park? Into the stands? Or is an outfielder about to catch it? The honest answer is I don't know. I want to see the entire season before I give a verdict. 

What I can tell you is that I will be here to watch the show until it ends. Clearly I'm invested in all the characters from Daredevil and what others may not know is that after Spider-Man, my favorite Marvel character is Daredevil. Matt Murdock, arguably, may have the most f'd up life in the Marvel Universe. I kid you not and the Netflix series made sure of that. I am surprised by the fact that Disney approved of the violence and language. It does have a TV-MA rating to be fair. But the "F BOMBS" were very surprising for me. I don't think they were ever spoken in the Netflix series. I may be wrong! Parental Guidance is advised! 

Today is March 5, Wednesday. If you're a Catholic like Matt Murdock and myself, today holds significance as Ash Wednesday starts the Lenten Season. It's the perfect time to start streaming Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+. I love how Matt's faith is always tested in the stories and I think this show comes during a great time of reflection and repentance. 

The first 2 episodes of Daredevil: Born Again are now streaming on Disney+.

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