Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Looper! Looper is a 2012 American science fiction action thriller film written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt. In the film, time travel is invented by the year 2074 (although it is immediately outlawed) and is used by criminal organizations to send those they want killed into the past where they are killed by “loopers”, assassins paid with silver bars strapped to their targets. Joe, a looper, encounters himself when his older self is sent back in time to be killed. Looper was selected as the opening film of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in Australia on September 27, 2012, and in the US and the UK on September 28, 2012 by TriStar Pictures and FilmDistrict in the US, and Entertainment One in the UK.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down The Matrix! The Matrix is a 1999 American science fiction action film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called “the Matrix”, created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies’ heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer “Neo” learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the “dream world”. The Matrix is known for popularizing a visual effect known as “bullet time“, (an optical effect that had its origins in the filmKill and Kill Again) in which the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within ashot to progress in slow-motion while the camera’s viewpoint appears to move through the scene at normal speed. The film is an example of the cyberpunk science fiction genre.^[5] It contains numerous references to philosophical and religious ideas, and prominently pays homage to works such as Plato‘s Allegory of the Cave,^[6] Jean Baudrillard‘sSimulacra and Simulation^[7] and Lewis Carroll‘s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.^[8] The Wachowskis’ approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation^[9] and martial arts films, and the film’s use of fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema was influential upon subsequent Hollywood action film productions.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Aliens with guest Ryan Brookhart! Aliens is a 1986 American science-fiction action horror film written and directed by James Cameron, produced by his then-wife Gale Anne Hurd, and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen,William Hope, and Bill Paxton. It is the sequel to the 1979 film Alien and the second installment in the Alien franchise. The film follows Weaver’s character Ellen Ripley as she returns to the planet where her crew encountered the hostileAlien creature, this time accompanied by a unit of space marines. Gordon Carroll, David Giler and Walter Hill of Brandywine Productions, who produced the first film and the later sequels, were executive producers of Aliens. They were interested in a follow-up to Alien as soon as its 1979 release, but the new management at 20th Century Fox postponed those plans until 1983. That year Brandywine picked Cameron to write after reading his script for The Terminator; when that film became a hit in 1984, Fox greenlit Aliens with Cameron as director and a budget of approximately $18 million. The script was written with a war film tone influenced by the Vietnam War to contrast the horror motifs of the original Alien. It was filmed in England at Pinewood Studios and at a decommissioned power plant in Acton, London. Aliens grossed $180 million worldwide. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actressnomination for Sigourney Weaver, winning both Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. It won eight Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actress for Weaver and Best Direction and Best Writing for Cameron. Aliens is considered one of the best films in its genre.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down The Bourne Identity with guest Roxy Striar! The Bourne Identity is a 2002 American-German action spy thriller film adaptation of Robert Ludlum‘s novel of the same name. It stars Matt Damon as Jason Bourne, a man suffering from extreme memory loss and attempting to discover his true identity amidst a clandestine conspiracy within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The film also features Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Julia Stiles, Brian Cox and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. This, the first in the Bourne film series, is followed by The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and The Bourne Legacy (2012). The film was directed by Doug Liman and adapted for the screen by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron. Although Robert Ludlum died in 2001, he is credited as the film’s producer alongside Frank Marshall. Universal Pictures released the film to theatres in the United States on June 14, 2002, and it received a positive critical and public reaction.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Con Air with guest host Yael Tygiel! Con Air is a 1997 American action film directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of The Rock. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, and John Malkovich. The film borrows its title from the nickname of the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System. While scanning a newspaper article, Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg first learned of the special program, then visited its Oklahoma City base “to get an eyewitness perspective of the incredible operation, which quickly formed the genesis for Con Air.”

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Mission Impossible 4 with guest host Stef Z! Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is a 2011 American action spy thriller film. It is the fourth installment in theMission: Impossible series, and director Brad Bird‘s first live-action film. It stars Tom Cruise, who reprises his role of IMFAgent Ethan Hunt, with Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, and Paula Patton as his supporting team. Ghost Protocol was written by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, and produced by Cruise, J. J. Abrams (the third film‘s director) and Bryan Burk. It saw the return of the first film‘s editor, Paul Hirsch, and is also the first Mission: Impossible film to be partially filmed using IMAX cameras. The film was released in North America by Paramount Pictures on December 16, 2011. The film was preceded by Mission: Impossible III (2006) and followed by Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015). Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol became the highest-grossing Mission: Impossible film, and the highest-grossing film starring Tom Cruise.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Independence Day with guest host Cathy Kelley! Taken is a 2008 English-language French action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel, written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Holly Valance, Katie Cassidy, Xander Berkeley, Olivier Rabourdin, Gérard Watkins, and Famke Janssen. It is the first installment in the Takenfilm series. Neeson plays a former CIA operative named Bryan Mills who sets about tracking down his daughter after she is kidnapped by human traffickers for sexual slavery while traveling in France. Numerous media outlets have cited the film as a turning point in Neeson’s career that redefined and transformed him to an action film star. The film was met with mixed critical response, but was a financial success, earning over $226 million at the box office. The film is widely credited with establishing Neeson as a credible action star.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Terminator 2 getting ready for the Terminator Genisys premiere! Theme song by NikoMakaris.com Terminator 2: Judgment Day (also referred to as simply Terminator 2 or T2) is a 1991 American science fiction actionfilm co-written, produced and directed by James Cameron. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick and Edward Furlong. It is the second installment of the Terminator franchise and the sequel to the 1984 film The Terminator. Terminator 2 follows Sarah Connor (Hamilton) and her ten-year-old son John (Furlong) as they are pursued by a new, more advanced Terminator, the liquid metal, shapeshifting T-1000 (Patrick), sent back in time to kill John Connor and prevent him from becoming the leader of the human resistance. A second, less advanced Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is also sent back in time to protect John. After a troubled pre-production characterized by legal disputes, Mario Kassar of Carolco Pictures emerged with the franchise’s property rights in early 1990. This paved the way for the completion of the screenplay by a Cameron-led production team, and the October 1990 start of a shortened 186-day filming schedule. The production of Terminator 2required an unprecedented budget of more than $94 million, much of which was spent on filming and special effects. The film was released on July 3, 1991, in time for the U.S. Fourth of July weekend. The film’s visual effects saw breakthroughs in computer-generated imagery, including the first use of natural human motionfor a computer-generated character and the first partially computer-generated main character.^[4] Terminator 2 was a box office and critical success and influenced popular culture, especially the use of visual effects in films.^[5] It received many accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.^[6] The highest-grossing film of 1991, Terminator 2 has since been ranked by several publications such as theAmerican Film Institute as one of the greatest action films, science fiction films and sequels of all time.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Jurassic World with Roxy Striar. Jurassic World is a 2015 American science fiction adventure film directed by Colin Trevorrow. It is the fourth installment in the Jurassic Park film series. The screenplay was co-written by Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly, and Trevorrow. The film stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, B.D. Wong, andIrrfan Khan. Wong is the only actor from any of the previous films to appear in Jurassic World. In the film, a fully functional dinosaur theme park located on Isla Nublar (the location of the first Jurassic Park film) is plunged into chaos as a genetically modified dinosaur-hybrid named Indominus rex breaks loose and runs rampant across the island. A fourth film was initially intended to begin production in 2004 for a summer 2005 release, but endured over a decade of “development hell” as scheduled release dates were pushed back several times while the script went through revisions.Steven Spielberg, director of the first two Jurassic Park films, acted as executive producer, as he had for the third film.Thomas Tull also acted as executive producer;^[6] his production company, Legendary Pictures, funded approximately 20 percent of the film’s budget.^[7] The film was produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, and was released on June 10, 2015 in European countries, June 11 in Australia, India and Malaysia, and June 12 in North America, by Universal Pictures. Jurassic World broke several records during its opening weekend, including the biggest opening weekend in North America, and the highest-grossing opening worldwide, surpassing The Avengers and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, respectively, as well as becoming the first film to gross $500 million worldwide in its opening weekend.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai break down Mission Impossible III. Mission: Impossible III (marketed as M:i:III, M:I-3, or Mission: Impossible 3) is a 2006 American action spy film co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams, his first film as a director, starring Tom Cruise, who also served as a producer, in the role of IMF agent Ethan Hunt. The film was first released on April 26, 2006, at the Tribeca Film Festival, and widely released in the United States on May 5, 2006. The film was a box office success, and it received mostly positive critical reviews.^[2] The film is the third installment of the Mission: Impossible film series and was preceded by Mission: Impossible II (2000) and followed by Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015). Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has retired from field work for the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) and trains new recruits. Ethan is sent back into action to track down the elusive arms dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman,Andrew Ghai and guest host Stef Zeh break down Mad Max: Fury Road! Mad Max: Fury Road is a 2015 Australian post-apocalyptic action film directed, produced, and co-written by George Miller, and the fourth film of Miller’s Mad Max franchise. The first film of the franchise in 30 years, Fury Road stars Tom Hardy as “Mad” Max Rockatansky, who replaces Mel Gibson in the title role, along with Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult and Hugh Keays-Byrne. The film is set in a future desert wasteland where gasoline and water are scarce commodities. When cult leader Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne) sends Imperator Furiosa (Theron) off in an armored tanker truck to collect gasoline, he sees her drive significantly off route. Joe sends his entire army in pursuit of her, which leads to a lengthy road battle, which sees one of Joe’s captives, Max (Hardy), joining forces with Furiosa. The film had its world premiere on 7 May 2015 at the TCL Chinese Theatre. It began wide theatrical release on 14 May 2015, including an out-of-competition screening at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. Critics have praised the film for its acting, screenplay, action sequences, stunts, and direction.

Action Movie Anatomy hosts Ben Bateman,Andrew Ghai and guest host Roxy Striar break down Live.Die.Repeat. (Edge Of Tomorrow)! Edge of Tomorrow (also marketed with the tagline Live. Die. Repeat.)[nb 1] is a 2014 American science fiction action film starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Doug Liman directed the film based on a screenplay adapted from the 2004 Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The film takes place in a future where Earth is invaded by an alien race. Major William Cage (Cruise), a public relations officer inexperienced in combat, is forced by his superiors to join a landing operation against the aliens. Though Cage is killed in combat, he finds himself in a time loop that sends him back to the day preceding the battle every time he dies. Cage teams up with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt) to improve his fighting skills through the repeated days, seeking a way to defeat the extraterrestrial invaders. In late 2009, 3 Arts Productions purchased the rights to the novel and sold a spec script to the American studio Warner Bros. Pictures. The studio produced the film with the involvement of 3 Arts, the novel’s publisher Viz Media, and Australian production company Village Roadshow. Filming began in late 2012, taking place in England at Leavesden Studios outside London, and other locations such as Trafalgar Square and Saunton Sands. Nine companies handled the visual effects. The film was released in theaters on the weekend of May 30, 2014, in 28 territories, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Spain, India, and Indonesia. On the weekend of June 6, 2014, it was released in 36 additional territories, including North America (United States and Canada), Australia, China, and Russia. The film grossed over $369 million in theaters worldwide and received largely positive reviews from critics.