MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (Rated PG-13)

As a purist, I held the view that the “Mission: Impossible” film series was an unworthy subversion of the excellent original TV series starring Peter Graves.

It just seemed that Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt was no match, either in style or intellect, to Graves’ Jim Phelps, the urbane leader of the Impossible Missions Force.

The first “Mission: Impossible” film was heresy insofar as Jim Phelps was rendered one of the bad guys. The abrupt departure from the TV series took the film in a foolhardy direction.

Now along comes the fourth installment in the film series, “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” the best of the entire lot. Moreover, it’s such a top notch action thriller that I no longer have misgivings.

For one thing, Tom Cruise has never looked better in the role of the IMF undercover agent. Not only has he matured into the part, he’s very convincing as an unflappable tough guy adept at handling the physical and mental strains of the job.

As for the action, the adrenaline rush begins with Ethan’s daring breakout from a Russian prison, assisted by IMF team member Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), the computer wizard who simultaneously manages to unlock prison doors while blasting a classic Dean Martin song on the loudspeakers.

Once on the outside, Ethan, with the help of his colleagues, is dispatched to infiltrate the Kremlin’s hidden vault so as to locate the identity of a villain with a plan to steal Russian nuclear codes.

Unfortunately, the mission goes haywire when the Kremlin is blown up and the IMF team is falsely blamed for masterminding the explosion. Even worse, the IMF secretary is killed during an assault by Russian forces, further compromising the mission.

As a result, Ethan’s team is forced to go underground, as the U.S. government invokes the “ghost protocol” that cuts the IMF loose with no official portfolio or financial resources.

To clear their names, the IMF team, including the beautiful but deadly Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and the mysterious “analyst” William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), initiates a globe-trotting adventure to chase a shadowy target named Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist).

Forced to become rogue agents, the IMF team heads off to Dubai on the trail of Hendricks as the terrorist seeks nuclear warheads he can launch merely for the purpose of a blowing up the planet for senseless pleasure.

Though loaded with great action scenes, the best one in “Ghost Protocol” requires Ethan to climb the glass window exterior of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.

This act requires him, like Spider-Man, to scale the high-rise more than 100 floors above the ground with nothing more elaborate than a pair of adhesive gloves, one of which malfunctions at an inopportune time. Meanwhile, the audience suffers a severe case of vertigo.

Actually, “Ghost Protocol” is filled with breathtaking moments of great danger. Brandt, levitated by a magnetic device, hangs precariously over a giant turbine as he breaks into a building’s computer command center.

A climactic battle between Ethan and Hendricks takes place in a high-tech parking garage in Mumbai, where the two fighters leap from one moving platform to another in a dazzling acrobatic display of vicious hand-to-hand combat.

Complicating the mission is the fact that a Russian agent (Vladimir Mashkov), mistakenly believing the IMF team is responsible for the Kremlin bombing, is trying desperately to kill Ethan and his gang.

One of the fascinating tidbits about this film is that director Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”) is known for his work in animation. Here, he demonstrates tremendous skill and flair for staging very impressive action scenes.

Another revelation is that Tom Cruise is really at the top of his game. He’s never been more imposing than he is now as the consummate action figure possessed of athletic poise and mature elegance.

“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” is truly one of the best action pictures of the year, and even better still if you catch it in IMAX.

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

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

In many of those Japanese paintings with Mt. Fuji in the background, we find tiny figures moving along under the immensity of the landscape.

Here’s an American version of a scene like that, by Stanley Plumly of Maryland, one of our country’s most accomplished poets.

Off A Side Road Near Staunton

Some nothing afternoon, no one anywhere,

an early autumn stillness in the air,

the kind of empty day you fill by taking in

the full size of the valley and its layers leading

slowly to the Blue Ridge, the quality of country,

if you stand here long enough, you could stay

for, step into, the way a landscape, even on a wall,

pulls you in, one field at a time, pasture and fall

meadow, high above the harvest, perfect

to the tree line, then spirit clouds and intermittent

sunlit smoky rain riding the tops of the mountains,

though you could walk until it’s dark and not reach those rains—

you could walk the rest of the day into the picture

and not know why, at any given moment, you’re there.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Reprinted from Old Heart, by Stanley Plumly. Copyright ©2007 by Stanley Plumly. Used by permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Hawley will play her rendition of Ludwig von Beethoven's “Hammer Klavier Sonata Opus 106" at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17.

This is a very long work so only a few movements will be featured with short narratives by Hawley.

The performance also can be listened to online at www.kpfz.org.

This New Year's Eve at Redwood City's Club Fox, you'll be able to catch a sneak preview of Satisfaction Five-O, A Celebration of 50 Years of The World's Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Band and dance the year out with the "Mick Jagger" of the tour and his San Francisco based band, The Unauthorized Rolling Stones.

Satisfaction Five-O features contributions from genuine members of the 60's Classic Rock scene and a band assembled from the premier tribute artists in the business.

Rudy Colombini of The Unauthorized Rolling Stones is portraying Mick Jagger, as Satisfaction Five-O tours showrooms in 2012.

Setting the stage for the climactic concert is a gallery of seminal images from famed Rolling Stone Magazine photographer Robert Altman, a multimedia show of previously unpublished photos of the Stones and other Classic Rock Icons by Bay Area photographer Chris Brorsen, and a set honoring the Delta Blues that inspired the Jagger-Richards team by guitarist Michael Ray Wilhelm of Charlatans and Flamin' Groovies fame, who lives in Lake County.

Both Altman and Wilhelm will be at the Fox for this event to promote the national tour.

A limited number of tickets are available to the public for the New Years Eve Sneak Preview, which offers a most unique alternative to the abundance of other year-end events.

“A Celebration of 50 Years of the Rolling Stones” takes place Saturday, Dec. 31, at 2209 Broadway St. in Redwood City, telephone 650-FOX-7770. Ages 21 and over only. Doors open at 8 a.m., with the show beginning at 9 p.m.

Tickets cost $39.50, which includes appetizers and champagne at midnight.

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (Rated PG-13)

Anyone who thinks director Guy Ritchie would not stamp the legend of Sherlock Holmes with his own contemporary cool factor hasn’t paid attention to his career.

The legendary detective, famous for logical reasoning and the use of forensic science to solve crimes, not to mention the artful use of disguises, is an unlikely source for a modern action hero.

Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” as well as his 2009 version, has redefined Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic character for a new generation.

To the purists who believe the British sleuth is best represented by Basil Rathbone, there’s a big surprise in store for the rough-and-tumble style that Robert Downey Jr. brings to the role.

The titular character created by Downey defies convention. Gone are the emblematic deerstalker hat, curved pipe and posh British decorum.

Still possessing a brilliant, logical mind, the new Holmes is a streetwise, bare-knuckled brawler, whose physical prowess is equal to his superlative mind and preternatural powers of perception.

Guy Ritchie remakes Sherlock Holmes into the ultimate 19th century action hero, whose physical dexterity and keen interest in all types of weaponry make him a more contemporary figure.

At the very beginning of the story, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” staggers and lurches in a wobbly array of almost incomprehensible action scenes. It may all be a bit confusing at first.

Fortunately, the story settles down into a globe-trotting adventure that has Holmes absconding with his best pal and reluctant partner, Dr. Watson (Jude Law), just as the good doctor has married the lovely Mary (Kelly Reilly).

Set in 1891, the action quickly shifts out of London when Holmes and Watson, investigating terrorist plots that target political figures, get pulled into a rescue mission for Gypsy fortune teller Simza (Noomi Rapace).

Soon enough the trio is racing through France, and then Germany, in search of Simza’s missing brother who is apparently caught up in revolutionary schemes.

The ever-smart Holmes, of course, figures that his arch enemy Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) is cleverly manipulating and orchestrating a dastardly plot to assassinate various European diplomats.

The nefarious Moriarty plan is to spark all-out conflict between France and Germany so that he may profit from having cornered the munitions market.

To this end, Moriarty schemes his evil plan to occur at a summit that is scheduled to take place high in the Swiss alps at a hideaway that looks like something from a James Bond film.

Given his cinematic history, Guy Ritchie puts a real premium on the breakneck pace of explosive action, and “Sherlock Holmes” delivers the action goods in spades.

Most impressive of all is Ritchie’s slow-motion technique for many action sequences, where the unhurried pace is used brilliantly to allow Holmes to visualize in great detail his next moves on the action chessboard.

Of course, there’s more to the action scenes than just the deliberate, measured pace of the slow-motion sequences. Once visualized, Holmes’ perceptions are rendered expertly into real time speed with forceful impact.

Though it may not seem this way, there’s more to this “Sherlock Holmes” than just high octane action. One of the best scenes is a chess game between Holmes and Moriarty realized as a cerebral cat-and-mouse exercise.

In a film filled with delightful characters, one of the best may be Stephen Fry’s Mycroft Holmes, the famous sleuth’s older brother who provides some comic relief.

“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” loaded with explosive action, is an exciting adventure. But best of all is the great chemistry between Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law; their collaborative effort really pays off.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

I find it hard to pass up a DVD release of old buried treasure from the glory days of television. “I’m Dickens...He’s Fenster” falls into this category.

This brilliant but short-lived 1962 ABC TV situation comedy starred John Astin (“The Addams Family”) and Marty Ingels (“The Dick Van Dyke Show”).

The show was created by Leonard Stern, the writer and/or producer for such great comedies as “Sgt. Bilko,” “Get Smart” and “The Honeymooners.”

“I’m Dickens...He’s Fenster” followed the comic exploits of two construction workers and bosom buddies (Astin and Ingels).

Though the TV show was a favorite of critics, it ran for only one season of 32 episodes. It suffered the fate of a premature cancellation.

Because it never had enough episodes to qualify to run in syndication, “I’m Dickens … He’s Fenster” has been a lost treasure up until now.

The Volume One release offers the first 16 episodes, along with bonus material such as commentaries from the original stars.

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

Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate from 2004 to 2006. Photo by UNL Publications and Photography.

The persons we are when we are young are probably buried somewhere within us when we’ve grown old.

Denise Low, who was the Kansas poet laureate, takes a look at a younger version of herself in this telling poem.

Two Gates

I look through glass and see a young woman

of twenty, washing dishes, and the window

turns into a painting. She is myself thirty years ago.

She holds the same blue bowls and brass teapot

I still own. I see her outline against lamplight;

she knows only her side of the pane. The porch

where I stand is empty. Sunlight fades. I hear

water run in the sink as she lowers her head,

blind to the future. She does not imagine I exist.

I step forward for a better look and she dissolves

into lumber and paint. A gate I passed through

to the next life loses shape. Once more I stand

squared into the present, among maple trees

and scissor-tailed birds, in a garden, almost

a mother to that faint, distant woman.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2010 by Denise Low, from her most recent book of poetry, Ghost Stories of the New West, Woodley Memorial Press, 2010. Poem reprinted by permission of Denise Low and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.