MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (Rated PG-13)

Over the past two decades, the now middle-aged Tom Cruise has performed in the most mind-blowing stunts in the “Mission: Impossible” films, and the sixth installment of the franchise in “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” proves he’s only getting better.

By now, the storyline is familiar for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, team leader of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) with his cohorts Benji (Simon Pegg), the source of comic relief, and the sturdy Luther (Ving Rhames), as they take on the most difficult and sensitive assignments.

Though a standalone film, “Fallout” picks up with the villain, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), not only seeking revenge for what Ethan did to him in “Rogue Nation” but still working in cahoots with a terrorist group.

“Fallout” is all about a convoluted espionage mission that is full of misdirection, double-crosses, and shocking revelations. Nevertheless, it is easier to follow in the movie rather than writing about it at the risk of giving away too many surprises.

Going back to the series’ television roots, “Fallout,” though it relies heavily on Ethan’s uncommon feats, finds the IMF as a true team with Benji and Luther in pivotal roles, while former CIA director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin) helps push back on bureaucratic intransigence.

The central mission is to retrieve three metal spheres of plutonium that mad scientist Nils Debruuk (Kristoffer Joner) wants put to use to wipe out three holy sites, including the Vatican, as the start to a new world order.

A clever set-piece involves the IMF team staging a clever impersonation of a recognizable personality to obtain vital information. This puts them on the trail of going after Solomon Lane during a daring heist of a police transport on the streets of Paris.

Life is made more difficult for Ethan and his team when new CIA director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) proves hostile to the IMF’s tactics and assigns ruthless CIA agent Walker (Henry Cavill) to join the mission to locate the terror group known as the Apostles.

Rebecca Ferguson’s MI6 agent Ilsa Faust is back with her own agenda, and Ethan’s former wife shows up in the Himalayan mountains on a medical mission in the crosshairs of a terror plot.

Much physical action is demanded of Ethan, and it is all very exciting and suspenseful. He sprints across rooftops in London, races a motorcycle against traffic in Paris, dangles by a rope from a helicopter and then pilots the craft through dangerous ravines in Kashmir.

“Fallout” is plausibly the most exciting of all “Mission: Impossible” films, and the best action picture of summer. 



BRITBOX: NEW STREAMING BRITISH TV OUTLET

To state the obvious, television viewing is now far removed from the old days of three major networks before the proliferation of cable channels and now streaming services.

Netflix and Hulu have their turf in streaming programs, and now the relative newcomer BritBox, a streaming service formed by the British channels BBC and ITV, has enough of a presence to warrant inclusion into the Television Critics Association press tours.

BritBox is for the devoted Anglophiles who just can’t get enough of British TV in classic programming such as “Doctor Who” and “Fawlty Towers,” along with Agatha Christie variations.

During the summer press tour, Soumya Sriraman, president of BritBox, announced that its service has “found its center of gravity” by being “uniquely poised to blend the immediacy of broadcast with the swagger of a digital streamer, a broad streamer if you will.”

That swagger served to bring John Cleese to his first BBC sitcom since “Fawlty Towers” in a role tailor-made for his natural inclination to delivering amusing and sarcastic comments.

“Hold the Sunset” showcases Cleese’s comedic talent in the role of Phil, a tender soul in love with his old flame, Edith (Alison Steadman), who happens to live across the road from him.

While she’s been a widow for a few years, her children live locally and drop by regularly. She enjoys daily visits from Phil, who persists in his desire for marriage until she one day agrees.

Meanwhile, complications arise when her 50-year-old son Roger (Jason Watkins) shows up on her doorstep with a large suitcase. He’s left his wife and kids, and a good job, in an attempt to find his lost happiness.

A period piece set 10 years after World War II, “The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco” tells the story of two women who served as code-breakers during the war who are drawn to the Pacific Coast by a string of murders that share grisly similarities with a British cold-case.

With Jean (Julie Graham) and Millie (Rachel Stirling) grappling with post-war domesticity and unfulfilling jobs, “Bletchley Circle” thrusts them into the midst of thrilling social change and the ability to discover their own potential at solving murders and other high-stakes crimes.

“BritBox” will provide access to a wide assortment of British TV as limitless as a Las Vegas buffet. As an example, you can get as much David Suchet as Hercule Poirot that anyone could want.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Join artist Christalene Loren and learn advanced techniques in paper maché this Saturday, Aug. 18, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Middletown Art Center.

The class will focus on mask making.

Participants are invited to engage with masks for Día de Muertos, Halloween or as totems, spirit guides or inner hero.

Learn this affordable and doable technique of sculpting as part of the Restore project for just $5.

Adults and teens 12 up of all artistic backgrounds are welcome to join. All materials are supplied but this is also a good opportunity to reuse your paper grocery bags.

“Now more than ever after the recent fires, we encourage all Lake County residents to engage in art making of all kinds, to express themselves and release stress and trauma,” said artist and Director Lisa Kaplan. “Being creative is healing, enriching and fun!”

The Restore project was made possible with support from the California Arts Council, a state agency, with additional support from local organizations, businesses, and individuals. Learn more about Restore scheduling and preregister for all classes at www.middletownartcenter.org/restore.

The next Restore class will be Sculpting with Felt with Alana Clearlake on Sept. 8.

September through May will feature Restore classes most Saturdays (or Sunday from time to time.

The project will culminate with the reopening of the EcoArts Sculpture Walk at Trailside Park, and a new Rabbit Hill Art Trail.

Restore offers opportunities for both personal and collaborative artworks.

Be a part of the growing arts and culture scene in South Lake County by becoming a MAC member, by participating in Restore, or by coming to any of the many arts and cultural events or classes at MAC.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org or like Middletown Art Center on Facebook @ARTMiddletown to stay up to date with what’s happening at MAC.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1948 adventure drama, “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” starring Humphrey Bogart, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 1 and 6 p.m.

Entry to the film is by donation.

John Huston directs this superior morality play shot entirely on location in Mexico.

It’s one of the best movie treatments of the corrosiveness of greed, with Bogart in perfect pitch playing a decent guy whose character slowly crumbles before the god of gold.

Huston won Oscars for both Director and Screenplay while his father, Walter Huston, won a Best Supporting Actor award for the same film.

The movie is sponsored by Frank and Michaelee Murphy. Not rated. Run time is two hours and six minutes.

The Soper Reese Theatre is located at 275 S. Main St., Lakeport, 707-263-0577, www.soperreesetheatre.com.

They say that timing is everything and that could not be more true than in today’s world of social media and a 24-hour news cycle.

For the CBS television network, that means the dark cloud hovering over CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves comes at an interesting time.

What will be the fallout of serious public allegations of sexual misconduct, yet again against another high-profile entertainment figure, is yet to be known. But the shadow of controversy hangs in the air.

To the credit of CBS, the network moved ahead with an executive session with Kelly Kahl, president of CBS Entertainment, during the summer press tour which offered the nation’s TV critics a chance to ask pointed questions.

I’d say the press queries came off rather tame, as compared to the cage match often seen between CNN’s Jim Acosta and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders during a usual press briefing.

When asked if Moonves would apologize to the women in the New Yorker article, Kahl’s response hit the fallback position of saying “I can’t speak to that. As we’ve said, there’s an investigation underway. There’s nothing I can add to that.”

Whether Moonves is running the ship next month or next year, CBS will defer to the legalities of ongoing probes and move ahead on promoting its Fall schedule, which is balanced between comedies and drama.

The edge may go to the network’s love of police procedurals and the impressive fact that it lured prolific producer Dick Wolf (“Law & Order” franchise) away from NBC for the new series “FBI,” focused on New York agents in the field.

That Wolf landed his new show on the Eye network after deep ties to a rival network prompted many questions, and the producer deftly punted to saying his honest answer was that there “was no more beachfront real estate at NBC.”

What’s more interesting about the “FBI” is that Wolf revealed that he idolized his uncle who was a FBI agent in the ‘50s and ‘60s, finding him to be a great role model along with other agents he had met during that time.

Aside from Sela Ward, who appears not to be in the first episode, the cast of the “FBI” fits a diversity model of different ethnic backgrounds that reflects the metropolis where it is based.

The cast may not be household names. The leading role is with Missy Peregrym, as Special Agent Maggie Bell, who may be best-known for her role as Officer Andy McNally in the ABC series “Rookie Blue.”

The special FBI agent at the nerve center of the office during tense situations is the familiar face of Jeremy Sisto as Agent Jubal Valentine. He acts as the master motivator as everyone works under intense pressure.

A more laid-back approach to a crime drama is the remake of “Magnum P.I.” where Thomas Magnum, a former Navy SEAL who becomes a private investigator, is still a diehard Detroit Tigers fan living at a luxurious Hawaiian estate.

Jay Hernandez, the new Magnum may not look like Tom Selleck, but he operates in similar fashion in dealing with the estate’s majordomo Higgins, who now happens to be a female disavowed MI6 agent (Perdita Weeks) keeping Magnum in line with the help of her two Dobermans.

The last of the new dramas takes a new tack on a religious theme. Tapping into social media, “God Friended Me” turns the life of an outspoken atheist upside down when he receives a friend request from God.

Miles (Brandon Micheal Hall), at odds with his preacher father (Joe Morton) about the rejection of faith, hosts a podcast where he’s free to speak his mind, but changes happen after being poked by the mysterious request to get involved outside his comfort zone.

Signs point him in the direction of helping Cara (Violett Beane), an online journalist suffering from writer’s block. Together, they find themselves investigating God’s friend suggestions and inadvertently helping others in need.

The new dramas are balanced by a similar number of comedies, though one of them is another reboot of a vintage series. Unlike new major characters on “Magnum P.I.,” the revival of “Murphy Brown” brings back many of the original stars.

Once again, Candice Bergen is in the titular role of a newscaster in a fictional show that, in the words of producer Diane English, has “always been a political show with something to say,” now focusing on a platform through the prism of the press.

Faith Ford returns as lifestyle reporter Corky Sherwood, Joe Regalbuto remains investigate journalist Frank Fontana, and Grant Shaud is the former wunderkind news producer Miles Silverberg.

The other two comedies appear to be rather generic. “The Neighborhood” stars Cedric the Entertainer not exactly putting out the welcome wagon when a friendly Midwest family moves next door.

Meanwhile, “Happy Together,” as the title implies might be a stretch for a happily married couple (Damon Wayans, Jr. and Amber Stevens West) when the husband’s music superstar client (Felix Mallard) seeks refuge from paparazzi by moving into their home.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – Bluegrass at the Ely Committee has announced, regrettably, the cancellation of the bluegrass event that was to be held on Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Ely Stage Stop.

The challenges of the recent fires and poor air quality have impacted many in this community and the organization.

Organizers said they look forward to planning the event for next year.