Tag Archives: Michael Giacchino

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Song of the Day #6,165: ‘Kremlin with Anticipation’ – Michael Giacchino

My final Mission: Impossible ranked list will cover one of the series’ most celebrated aspects: the STUNTS.

These are generally distinct from the set pieces, though sometimes a set piece can contain a stunt. What matters here is that Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, the world’s biggest movie star, performs a death-defying act that would normally only be attempted by an anonymous stunt man.

Cruise doing his own stunts is not a gimmick or an ego trip. It makes the action in these films visceral, because no cutaways or camera trickery are required to distract us from on-set sleight of hand. And, most important, it allows Cruise to act while doing these wild things, bringing a sense of drama and humor to the scenes that would be absent if we couldn’t see the performer’s face.

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Song of the Day #6,164: ‘Schifrin And Variations’ – Michael Giacchino

Of course every Mission: Impossible movie has a bad guy, and some have been more memorable than others.

Today, I will rank the seven films in the M:I franchise based on their VILLAINS.

#7. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – Kurt Hendricks

Michael Nyqvist is only two years older than Tom Cruise, but he looks like he could be his father. And that makes it thoroughly unbelievable when his nuclear strategist character has an extended fistfight with Ethan, or beats him in a footrace. Apart from the visual mismatch, Hendricks is just a boring villain with no sense of menace apart from his access to nuclear codes.

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Song of the Day #4,486: ‘The Glory Days’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#2. The Incredibles (2004)
(down one spot from previous ranking)

Even after a decade of Marvel releases, Brad Bird’s The Incredibles remains the greatest superhero movie ever made.

This tale of a family of “supers” forced to live underground by a government that doesn’t appreciate them is just as thrilling and inventive 16 years after its release as it was the day it came out. And the marital and family dynamics that set it apart from typical action fare are just as resonant.

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Song of the Day #4,484: ‘Married Life’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#4. Up (2009)
(up five spots from previous ranking)

My revisit of Up was one of the most rewarding surprises of this exercise. I hadn’t seen the film since its 2009 release, and my memory was that the film didn’t live up to its famously powerful opening.

And yes, that opening sequence is astounding. After Carl and Ellie meet as children, a wordless montage traces their entire lives together, through good times and bad, until death ultimately does them part. One of the top five Pixar sequences ever, no question, and possibly number one.

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Song of the Day #4,483: ‘Ratatouille Main Theme’ – Michael Giacchino

Continuing my countdown of every Pixar movie…

#5. Ratatouille (2007)
(down two spots from previous ranking)

Brad Bird’s Ratatouille is a triumph of both concept and execution.

The premise — a rat with a gift for cooking — is both comically simple and curiously profound. Imagine if your very existence was uniquely horrifying in the very setting you felt most at home.

The visuals of this movie are breathtaking, with Bird taking full advantage of his Paris setting, and Michael Giacchino’s score is among my very favorites in a Pixar movie.

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