Tonight's marathon is an exciting, thrilling, romantic and often hilarious one which centers around the theme of a troubled married couple fighting to maintain their relationship while experiencing a life or death situation. All of the relationships presented in this marathon are complicated ones with the couples either being bored of their marriage, frustrated that the other one is out fighting crime and not being there for his family, a secret agent trying to balance out two lifestyles including his family life, dishonesty between two couples who turn out to be on opposite sides of each other and are faced with having to fight the other to fulfill their duties, and a boring married couple who steal other peoples identity leading them to become targeted by the mob. Honesty is a flaw in nearly all of these relationships and through their struggles and adventures together as a couple, they emerge from their obstacles as stronger lovers than ever before. For tonight's exciting and fun marathon, we have the following movies lined up:
The Legend Of Zorro 2005, Date Night 2010, Mr and Mrs Smith 2005, Mission Impossible 3 2006, and True Lies 1994
What a way to kill a Friday night. This one comes with all the shades of popcorn entertainment while tackling some good old fashioned relationship and family drama. There's a little something for everyone in this marathon and the action gets even more intense with each passing film. It also helps that the films all carry appealing movie stars behind them in the title leads with the genres leaning heavily towards spy and espionage. While one may argue that The Legend Of Zorro feels out of place in this marathon due to it not being a spy film, the marathon argues that it shares a family dynamic that's very similar to what is presented in the film True Lies. Both movies essentially deal with a man whose dedicated to his job profession with a thirst for action and adventure, yet he has trouble trying to maintain his personal life with his wife and kids. Both films show the constant struggle both men experience as they slowly watch the other person in the relationship drift away, and fight to get them back while battling outside forces that threaten large scales of citizens. Legend Of Zorro works as a great book ending to True Lies because the stories parallel each other nicely and have richly satisfying endings.
The first movie of the evening is the 2005 sequel to 1997's critically acclaimed blockbuster The Mask of Zorro titled The Legend Of Zorro. Starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones, the story picks up from where Mask Of Zorro ended except the time frame is 10 years after the events of the first film. The audience is told that the new Zorro Alejandro has assumed the identity of the masked vigilante for a decade and has been married to Don Diego's long lost daughter Elena for the same amount of time. While they were intensely passionate for each other in the first movie and projecting endless amounts of love for each other, the sequel shows their marriage to be a deeply troubled one. Elena is frustrated that Alejandro isn't there enough for her and their child whose not a young boy compared to the final scene of Mask Of Zorro showing him as a newborn child. When Elena realizes that Alejandro broke his promise to quit being Zorro once California became a state, she throws him out of the house and files for divorce. Alejandro soon discovers that the new man that Elena 's dating has ulterior plans of his own for the future of California's pending statehood and must fight to not only protect his people but to win back the heart of the woman he fell hard for in the first movie. Legend Of Zorro never reaches the heights of The Mask Of Zorro in terms of quality, but it serves as a fairly strong extension of an impressive concept of a new Zorro tasking up the mantle when the old one passes on. This one is more family oriented than the first movie but it works here given the constant struggle Alejandro experiences in regards to trying to get his family back. If The Mask Of Zorro was The Mummy, then Legend Of Zorro is The Mummy Returns meaning it has more of the family dynamic with a faster and more accelerated pace whereas the first focused on the action, adventure, and romance. Bottom line, Legend Of Zorro is an underrated sequel that deserved more praise than the critical bashing and poor box office reception it received upon it's release in 2005.
The second movie of the marathon is 2010's romantic comedy titled Date Night starring Steve Carrell and Tina Fey. Feeling more like a parallel to True Lies than Legend Of Zorro, the story takes place in New York City with a boring married couple accepting the reservations of two missing people at a restaurant which turns their ordinary date night into the fight of their lives as a case of mistaken identity delivers them a night of thrills and a sense of danger. Through their experiences of running and hiding from the henchmen who chase them, the two share many hilarious moments together but also get the spark put back into their relationship through the action, making them realize what made their marriage so special in the first place. Date Night was a box office hit upon it's release, and sells the idea that if a married couple is experiencing boredom then the proper solution is to have them go on an adventure for one night to make them remember why they fell in love. A moment of pure sentimentality is when Steve Carrell's character tells Tina Fey that he would do their entire relationship over again if he was given the choice. Mark Wahlberg, Common, Mila Kunis, and James Franco all make hilarious surprise cameos in this movie.
The third movie of the marathon is the 2005 box office hit titled Mr And Mrs Smith starring Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Vince Vaughn. The story centers around a bored married couple like Date Night except the twist here is that they both are spies on opposite sides who are assigned to eliminate the other person. When they discover the truth behind each other's identity, they begin plotting the other persons demise while beginning to learn more about the other person than they ever realized during their previous years of marriage. Mr and Mrs Smith works because of the strength of it's two leads who propelled the film to box office and pop culture sensation upon it's release. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt make strong leads who convincingly sell the idea that they are in shock to learn about the other persons identity and that their marriage has been nothing but dishonesty and lies. Their attempts to assassinate the other person are often hilarious to witness, with their love scenes becoming deeply passionate due to their remarkable chemistry. It also makes it a relevant relationship considering the two are not married together in real life thanks to this film. The writing behind the film isn't as good as True Lies but it contains just as many explosions and levels of excitement.
The fourth movie of the marathon is the much underappreciated yet thrilling third entry in the Mission Impossible series titled Mission Impossible lll. Starring Tom Cruise, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Monaghan, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, the story centers around Cruise's character Ethan Hunt finally settling down and marrying his fiancé whose a hospital nurse named Julia. However, his short term happiness ends when the new villain he's tracking, a sadistic arms dealer, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman threatens the life of his wife in order to get Ethan to tell him the location of a power nuclear device called The Rabbits foot. When Ethan and Julia are both captured by Hoffman, they must fight together to get out of their predicament and learn to be more truthful towards each other. Mission Impossible lll is easily the best of the first three Mission Impossible films because it delivers on everything ranging from it's impressive action and set pieces to it's fast pacing and strong performances from both Cruise and Hoffman. JJ Abrams first major Hollywood directed film has a strong punch to it in regards to being a thrilling popcorn flick, and shows Ethan Hunt as being more human and vulnerable compared to the first two movies. It even has a bridge action sequence that completely parallels the one in True Lies.
The fifth and final movie of the marathon is James Cameron's 1994 blockbuster titled True Lies starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, and Eliza Dushku. Generally considered one of Arnold Schwarzeneggar's and Jamie Lee Curtis best films as well as one of the greatest action movies ever made, True Lies centers around a Schwarzeneggar's character Harrry Tasker living two separate lives. The first life is him appearing to be a boring computer salesman to his wife Helen Tasker, and the other is him being an international spy whose the best at what he does with his sidekick Gib played by Tom Arnold working at his side. Harry's marriage appears to be boring on the outside and takes a comedic turn when Harry discovers that Helen has been flirting with a man named Simon who tells her that he's a spy himself. Harry soon discovers that the man in question is really just a sleazy used car salesman whose trying to seduce his wife without her knowing. Harry attempts to bring his wife into his crazy world of spy ring but his plans are complicated when an international terrorist he's chasing kidnaps both him and his wife, making them fight for their lives as well as preventing the terrorists threats to nuke the United States. Although generally considered one of James Cameron's worst movies and is pointed out as being a backwards move in a career that's defined by technological breakthroughs in filmmaking such as Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2 Judgment Day, Titanic, and Avatar, True Lies continues to be regarded as one of the finest action movies of the 1990's as well as a film that placed Arnold and Jamie Lee Curtis at the peak of their careers with both receiving acclaim for their performances in the film. One can make the argument that if it wasn't for True Lies than perhaps Date Night, Mission Impossible lll, and Mr And Mrs Smith wouldn't exist as they borrow many elements from Cameron's work.
So what is the message behind this marathon when you put all of the films together as one. The message is that sometimes when couples face the hardest of times and are placed in life and death situations, they can remember what's important and what they love about each other. True Couples will never stop fighting to be together, and honesty is essential towards having a healthy marriage. If you have a thirst for adventure or live the life of a secret spy then you probably should share that with your significant other as they may understand and want to share that world with you. Date Night says that if your marriage is feeling boring at times, then you should try to be daring and do something out of the ordinary to spice things up as long as it doesn't put you in a life or death situation. Legend Of Zorro makes it clear that fighting isn't the best answer but it's what gets results. Mr And Mrs Smith says that honesty is what keeps marriages together and to not lie about each others secrets. No job should ever come between the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with. True Lies and Legend Of Zorro say that if a man truly loves and cares about his family, then he will never stop fighting for them. Sometimes...all you need is love.
Our characters for this evening:
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