Ok, I went and watched this today.

The main character that died was just kind of dumb on all fronts, logic and character wise.  I wasn't that invested in this character and it was pretty well forshadowed so it didn't bother me as much.

Good point on the story.  One of the weak points was the first 15-20 mins.  You know how most MI movies, they hit you in the face with some great opening sequence that gets you amped up for the rest of the thing?  This one nearly put me to sleep.  Honestly, maybe they should have started it off w/the airport sequence.  That was great and one of my favs of the entire film.  They finally got to the point of the story near the end, and I was wondering maybe they should have explained this earlier.

The main problem with this as you noted is the length of this thing.  You could easily trim off at least half and hour and lose nothing .  There are also waaay too many characters in this film.  Some of them are not neccesary at all.   Oh on the length, a good example here.  Did that car chase scene have to be that long?  It took them forever to get to "point B" of that thing and I swear it annoyed me.

Yeah, I noticed the age thing too, especially on Ving Rhames, Cruise, and Simon Pegg.  Funny you should mention Ghost Protocol.   I watched that in prep for this and that one flows waaay better than this one.  It has multiple storylines too but they do a way better job of just connecting them to the characters.  Since I mentioned it, Luther and Ethan still have a connection and it shows on screen in terms of understanding.  Just the one scene, where Luther is sort of psychoanalyzing him worked for me and made me glad that the character had a pretty big role in this film.

I thought the train sequence was ok in totality.  Honestly, this is another example of the damn thing going on too long and just not knowing where to end it.  They should have ended it at a certain point (to me), instead MORE STUFF happens and it just drags on past the expiration date.   That's my biggest gripe.  Damn thing needed an editor.  That scene at the bar where you have a bunch of characters talking/expositon was one of my least favorites.

I will say this about the new character.  I kind of like how they made Ethan play catch up and always be one chasing and one step behind.

Part II should be better because there are only 2-3 things that they should be focused on.  Oh, I'll add this I think the director missed out on what makes these films fun, chase scenes, evasion, improvisation, how to get yourself out of shitty situations.  They were there in this film but they were all scattered around and you had to get through all the other stuff.

Oh on the theater experience.  I never buy anything anymore, it's a grift.  To me it's basically a place where I go and lounge around (w/reclining seats) and watch a movie.  It's just so fucking sterile....and expensive.  I showed up late and still had to wait an extra 10 mins for the thing to finally start.

I always think Madonna's biggest hit is Like a Virgin or Material Girl.  It's not Like a Prayer to me.   And yeah, like Lofton said, the controversy from the video in 88 or 89 almost sunk her.

When trolling goes wrong, GNRevo style!

In all seriousness, that is one oddly fascinating bridge with all the signatures, graffiti, and whatnot.  There's just a uniqueness about it.  And it's always happy to me to read when you go somewhere and it takes it back to the 80s/90s and a happier part of childhood, family etc.

The Roy Scheider character in Marathon Man is probably one of the more underated badass 70s characters.

Watched a few movies set in High schools (don't ask me why):

Dazed and Confused .  Finally got through this one.  It nails the 1970s details to the point where I sometimes had to remind myself that it was released/made in 1993.   Curiously, the only two stars that had staying power were Ben Affleck (not usually a fan but he is fine in his role here) and Matthew McConaghy.  Speaking of which,  Wooderson comes off as highly creepy as he's in his 20's and still trying to pick up high school chicks.  Anyway, this is a coming of age story as a lot of plot is seen through Mitch Kramer's viewpoint.   The film also has a "whatever goes in one night" vibe.   I wonder how different it would be if the ending was a bit more ambivalent or dark though.

3 O Clock High.   This is basically a western set in a high school in the 80s.  And I had no problem with it.  It's kind of funny how the mai character tries to find ways to get out of the fight and fail.  I found the part where he ended up seducing the English teacher pretty hilarious but that might not play as well today.

Election.  ok I think I saw this at some point on one of the networks in the 2000s.  It seemed like it ran endlessly.  Anyway, this thing is black comedy at it's best.  Everyone knows or has known a "Tracy Flick" like person, the only question I have to ask is is that person really happy?  It seemed the other characters at the end were far happier than she was.

The Innocent  A heist film that isn't a heist film.  It's really a French melodrama about love and family and...acting.  And you know what?  I got sucked into it and didn't give a damn about the heist film.  The other stuff was more interesting (Dead Presidents is also like this).

The Crimson Rivers.  I've seen this thing a few times AND read the novel it's based on.  And the movie never explains the main plot that well and I'm still a little confused at the ending.  It's not a bad ending though. But yeah, I found myself gravitating toward the secondary plotline involving Vincent Cassel.   also this got turned into a TV series that I haven't seen.

I wish Oppenheimer was shorter.  It's 3 hours + previews which takes up 10 mins at least.  My bladder can't handle all that .

The template has been set for the industry.  It's sequels (MI, Indy 5, Fast Whatever), pop culture stuff (Barbie, Mario etc) , retconned remakes (Ghostbusters, Oceans 11 etc) and if you're lucky to be a name director (or an "it" director) there's a chance that your movie will be shown at the cinema.  I don't see it changing.  Even if they do less superhero movies, it'll just be replaced with some other mindless genre junk.