MOVIE MOVIE INFO

Eat Pray Love: movie review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:24:00 +0000

In 'Eat Pray Love,' Julia Roberts plays a newly divorced 30-something in search of herself, based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir.

Julia Roberts is shown in a scene from the new movie 'Eat, Pray, Love.'

Somewhere on its journey to the big screen, “Eat Pray Love” – the film adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia” – lost not only its marquee-unfriendly subtitle, but even its two commas. It will compensate by inducing a much larger number of comas among its viewers.

For those who missed the book, Gilbert – a successful author increasingly dissatisfied with her life – got a divorce and embarked on a yearlong trip to Italy, India, and Bali in search of enlightenment or balance or some other balm to soothe her unease. She reportedly funded the trip with a hefty advance for the book, thus guaranteeing that she had better learn something knowing and wise, since “Writer scours world for meaning of life... Comes up empty-handed” is not a publisher’s dream pitch for display space at Barnes & Noble.

Julia Roberts stands in for Gilbert here, and her movie star persona overwhelms the character. We never for a minute forget who she is. Liz’s big lesson in the “Eat” segment – Liz must have trouble multitasking because there’s one titular activity per country – is to relax and experience pleasure, mainly in the form of Italian food. She encourages her friend Sofi (Tuva Novotny) to stop worrying about maintaining a rigidly low weight and join her in indulgence.

We are treated to a montage – filled with forced jauntiness – of the two women trying to squeeze into a succession of growing pants sizes. Except it’s still Roberts: Even if she did (as reported) gain a whole 10 pounds for the film, her cheekbones could still slice ripe tomatoes. “Letting go” means sliding from the top 1 percent of the population on the slenderness scale to the top 2 percent. (By the way, cinematographer Bob Richardson makes the pasta look so luscious that low-carbers will have to cover their eyes more than the most squeamish viewer at a Saw film.)

Even after the scene switches to India, we’re not allowed to forget Liz’s newfound appetite: A running gag has fellow ashrammer “Richard from Texas” (the always excellent Richard Jenkins) always calling her “Groceries” because of the way she can wolf it down.

But, in the Gilbert blueprint, India is supposed to be prayerful, not prandial. So Liz learns to meditate. This involves emptying her mind, which – judging from the banalities in the voice-over – shouldn’t require much heavy lifting, if you catch my drift. (She also takes what must be the shortest vow of silence ever.) It is hard to imagine anything less cinematic than trancing out; to portray it accurately would provide too tempting an invitation to the audience. While I can imagine taking pleasure in gazing at Roberts’s navel, there are few things less rewarding than gazing at Roberts gazing at Roberts’s navel.

Moving from bellybutton to Bali, the film finally allows Liz a carnal/romantic consummation, in the form of Felipe (Javier Bardem), a soulful Brazilian expat. They have their ups and downs, but end up literally sailing off into the sunset. No, that’s unfair: The boat has a motor.

What with the title and pedigree, no one would expect “Eat Pray Love” to be filled with thrilling action. But the word “movie” does imply movement, and almost nothing ever happens throughout the protracted two hours and 20 minutes that director/co-writer Ryan Murphy takes to chronicle Liz’s travels. Nor are the “meaningful lessons” worth the wait. During the India scenes, Liz accuses Richard from Texas of spouting a bunch of bumper-sticker slogans ... as though her revelations are any better. Grade: C (Rated PG-13 on appeal for brief strong language, some sexual references, and male rear nudity.)

Lost Boys: The Thirst Screening and Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:42:00 +0000

The Frog Brothers reunite for The Thirst

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find...You get what you need!" That old lyrical bone of truth resides within the genetic make-up of Lost Boys: The Thirst, the third installment of what has now become an ongoing series of direct-to-DVD adventures featuring the illustrious and hard-to-kill Frog Brothers. David, Star, Michael, and even, sadly, Sam Emerson have all fallen to the wayside of pop recognizability. Within the cannon, these fan-favorite characters have perished and are no longer with us. In continuing this much ballyhooed story from the late 80s, it only makes sense that we'd follow these two young vampire hunters who have gone onto become legends in their own time.

Lost Boys: The Thirst should never be looked at as a sequel. It's a spin-off worthy of its own TV show, which Corey Feldman claims is in the works. If they can deliver this exacting, explosive caliber every single week for ten, twelve, or even twenty-two episodes straight, The CW has a hit on its hands. And it would be the perfect antidote to that channel's own The Vampire Diaries. This current mindset that Vampires are righteous, lovable little creatures who should be worshipped and lusted after is damaging to the public psyche. If anything, Lost Boys: The Thirst attempts to spin the tide on that crass way of thinking, and it once again turns our beloved Vampire Hunters into the true heroes they deserve to be.

Will that notion be welcomed by the young teenage girls and boys who have so heartedly bought into the notion that Twilight is not just a book, but a way of life? It's hard to tell, but the cross-over potential is mind blowing if you think about it. Who wouldn't want Edgar and Allan showing up for an episode of Supernatural (show runner Sera Gamble says that is very much a possibility, as both are Warner Bros.' properties). For now, Edgar and Allan will have to be content with fighting Jacob and Edward doppelgangers in this story that curbs from the life and times of Stephanie Meyer with gleeful abandoned.

Is it The Lost Boys sequel we've always hoped for?

No.

Is it the Frog Brothers movie we've been crying for ever since the not-so-great Lost Boys: The Tribe hit DVD shelves two years ago?

Yes. And then some.

Edgar Frog confronts the makers of a reality program in search of vampires

With everything being canonized, and franchised, remade, rebooted, and retooled, we're hard pressed in this day and age to find any sequel or continuation of a previous storyline to have the same resonance and weight as the original. A right proper sequel to the original The Lost Boys could have only come in 1989 or 1990. It wouldn't have been as interesting, or as electrifying, or as beloved as that first film. But looking back at the noted cinematic history of that particular time, it might have been as enjoyable as Young Guns II. Which stands as a worthwhile endevor in its own right. Anything after this contained era in time would have been spilt, spoiled milk. Instead of charging forth with a Lost Boys 2, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman decided to make Dream a Little Dream. Which has gone on to become a weird cult oddity on its own. Despite the fact that its intentions are unclear, people love it almost as much as they love The Lost Boys. Almost, but not quite. Still, that adoration is apparent for two reasons. Feldman and Haim.

Their chemistry was electrifying and legendary.

We'll never get another teen duo like these two young actors. After they went through their self-destructive journeys and their bouts with has been status, the two actors started to reemerge as a pair of nostalgia worthy icons that fans actually wanted to see back on screen together. They pushed for a Lost Boys sequel for a long time while other members of the cast and crew strayed far away from that notion. Warner Bros. decided that this was a good title for their Warner Premier catalogue, a division that would become known for taking beloved properties and turning them into a home market franchise.

The problem with that first sequel, Lost Boys: The Tribe, is that they wanted a fresh set of faces. Young actors who might entice a new audience to check out an old, antiquated property from the bygone era of the 80s. What producers failed to recognize, and what Haim and Feldman really tried to push home, was the fact that today's audience knew and loved the original just as much as their parents did. It's a timeless title that still gets a lot of play on video, TV, and at revival houses. They didn't need a new cast, new characters, or a new storyline. They just needed Sam and the Frog Brothers. There's your cash cow.

Sam reunites with the Frog Brothers in a flashback

Warner Premier begrudgingly allowed Corey Feldman a cameo in that first sequel. Not surprisingly, his scenes were the only ones that really worked. They truly resonated with test audiences, as Feldman truly gave of himself and commited to this iconic character. So they brought him back for more face time, and opened up a day's worth of shooting to Corey Haim, who can only be seen during the end credits as a Vampire. Jamison Newlander, who played the quieter Frog Brother Allan, was delegated to the deleted scenes on the special features area of the DVD. Fans appropriately flipped this weak attempt at brevity the all-mighty finger. It was soon forgotten. But not forgiven.

They truly fucked it up.

The only positive aspect mentioned in mostly all the reviews for Lost Boys: The Tribe was the fact that Corey Feldman, as Edgar Frog, really brought a sense of urgency and excitement to a horribly produced B movie that couldn't quite lift itself off the ground. No one cared about the "kids in peril" aspect. It was a rehash of the first film's storyline. A rip-off. No one cared about the head vampire this time around, despite the fact that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland's own brother, Angus Sutherland.

The lone Frog Brother was the only thing worth watching the movie for. And we, as fans, made enough noise about this fact that Warner Premier actually listened to the complaints. They went back to Feldman and hired him as a producer for the third film. From there, they also hired writers Evan Charnov and Hans Rodionoff , the team behind the well-received The Lost Boys comic book series, and visionary artist Dario Piana as a director. They were given carte blanche to start all over again from scratch. They then hooked Jamison Newlander to return in full co-starring status as Allan Frog. Then together, they set out to create something that would honor the original and please fans that thought the second installment sucked more than just blood.

The result? A rip-roaring good time that delivers on the action, the nostalgia, and the premise of these two Vampire Hunting brothers that was so solidly set up some twenty-three years ago. If this had appeared on Fox as a telefilm in the years following the original's release, it would be worshipped and watched on a loop today. It's sort of like when the Ewoks got their own two-part film series after Return of the Jedi had its theatrical run. This is a "true" a spin-off. And that's exactly what it should be. It's the Frog Brothers, all the time the entire time. We can't get a true sequel no matter how much we may have wanted one. This is the next best thing, and on its own merits, its quite awesome in every way, shape, and form. If Warner Premier were to play it smart, they should continue on with this series by changing the title of the fourth film to The Frog Brothers: The Wolf Moon.

Or whatever may come next.

Edgar is given an offer he can't refuse

At its heart, this particular outing is really about the loss of Sam, and what it means to Edgar and Allan's relationship. What their brotherhood, and their friendship means to one another. The Lost Boys mentioned in the title were the vampires. Their hunters were secondary characters. Now we are getting them in their own iodized plot. Corey Feldman nails it home once again as the gun-loving, beef eating, macho-everyman who worships Rambo, crosses, and a good garlic spread on his late night toast snack. He's a bit depressed and, as we saw in the second film, living alone in a hovel of a trailer. He smokes the occasional pinch of dope, living up to the expectations his hippie parents set forth. He drives a bad ass truck. And he occasionally drifts in and out of the local comic book shop.

Allan is now living a sheltered life underground as a vampire desperately curbing his urge to bite people. In a great opening scene that is pulled from the comic book series (one that should make any fan ecstatic), we learn how Allan was turned. It's a glorious bit of action that calls back the climactic end battle sequence of that first film. And Sam? Well, Sam is dead. Edgar will often remember scenes from the first movie, and we see all three actors living together on screen. There is a touching tribute to Haim that finds Edgar visiting Sam's grave. It was shot before Corey passed away, but it resonates with unintended emotion, giving this particular film just the right amount of pathos. The old footage doesn't exploit the situation that lingers just outside of the frame. Instead it honors the previous work these two young actors accomplished together.

Edgar is depressed throughout the first act. He is selling off his belongs at a quickened pace. Though, he can't bear to part with his Batman #14. This is when author Gwen Lieber shows up with an offer he simply can't refuse. She is the best selling workhorse behind a series of romance novels that glorify vampirism. Disgusted, Edgar wants nothing to do with her. Yet, her intentions are good. She knows that there is a new drug on the market that is actually vampire's blood (the dusty old wine bottle has been replaced by a cocaine vile), and a small coven is slowly using this "stimulant" to turn the teen population of America into an army of the living dead.

The rest of the film is one crucified and decimated vamp after the next, as the writers figured out how to engage Edgar in battle every step of the way. They give him quite a few great moments that make this an exhilarating ride. Here is a vampire war movie mixed with a good old fashion western. It never slows down for a moment, which is quite contrary to the pacing of that second film. Gwen uses her best seller status and fortune to buy Frog whatever he needs. She also pays him an excellent wage to go forth and infiltrate the Vampire's underground bunker. But this comes with a price that he is not willing to pay himself.

The Frog Brother retirement party is finally over!

Lieber's intentions are riddled with mistrust and greed. She not only wants to film Frog's exploits for a reality program, she always wants to retain the rights to this story and use it for her next book. Edgar is on the verge of saying, "Fuck you!" But he, as we know, believes in truth, justice, and the American way. Along for the ride is a camera crew and the host of a new show centering on American myths and legends. This could have been annoying, but when all but one of his crew is laid to waist early on by a bevy of monsters, we're introduced to a great new character that will surely be around for the next installment.

This third chapter is able to give us new characters we actually care about, something that second film completely failed to do. Gwen is established as a future love interest for Edgar, and we buy it. We like it. The head vampire is kind of a dud, but his Tank Girl-idolizing sidekick is pretty great. And a good foil for Edgar. Allan is absent from huge chunks of the first two acts, but he is given the Nanook moment, and the last half of the film is completely given over to The Frog Brothers as they lay waist to this emerging Vampire militia. Somehow, someway, these guys found a way to make a very fun, very entertaining film that is better than most of the big screen films hitting our Cineplex this summer. For those not lucky enough to catch it at Comic-Con 2010, the film will hit stores on October 12th, loaded with special features.

If you didn't like the second one, that is understandable. Don't let it stand in your way of seeking out this small gem of an action horror movie. If we'd never heard of The Frog Brothers, we'd be calling this a cult classic. It fully brings the Vampire Hunter back to the forefront of a genre that has been dampened by Vamps striving to be the hero. And all the innocent little girls that currently have them under that spell might disengage a bit.

At the screening, Corey Feldman told us that they are in the planning stages for three more Frog Brothers movies. Corey Haim was supposed to come back for part 4. It was already in the works. Now, they are going to bring back Laddie, Star's little brother from the first film. He will once again be played by original actor Chance Michael Corbitt. And the end of 3 alludes to the fact that we may be seeing werewolves this next time around (hence the title Wolf Moon). And as mentioned, we may even see a weekly series that will find the Frog Brothers facing all kinds of various monsters and super natural elements.

No matter how you slice it, Lost Boys: The Thirst is, if nothing else, the Frog Brothers stand alone film that we've been waiting to see. Any film that ends with Edgar and Allan locked in a tight hand grip screaming, "We are awesome monster bashers!" Is pretty great in my book. Seeing Lost Boys: The Thirst was one of the most exciting things to happen at Comic-Con 2010. Buy the DVD, if only to ensure that we get more Frog Brothers adventures. We need this fix at least two times a month.

Flipped Reviewed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 01:14:00 +0000

Rob Reiner has been a great director. From the 1980s through the first couple years of the 1990s the man put out classic after classic, be it incredible comedies like The Is Spinal Tap, truly terrifying horror like Misery, unforgettable fantasy like The Princess Bride, or hard-hitting drama like A Few Good Men. Then came North, a film that was considered by many to be the worst film of 1994. In the 16 years since, Reiner has failed to make anything that’s earned the same level of critical acclaim as his early work. His newest film, Flipped, is the one to end the streak.

Adapted from the book by Wendelin Van Draanen, the film follows a young boy and a young girl as they grow up together in the late 50s and early 60s. Switching back and forth between their points of view, young Juli Baker (Madeline Carroll) has been in love with her neighbor, Bryce Loski (Callan McAuliffe), from the second she laid eyes on him in second grade. She loves everything about him, from his piercing brown eyes to the smell of his hair. As young boys are wont to do, however, Bryce rejects Juli completely, never embracing her love and actively trying to get rid of her. But as they enter the eighth grade, everything begins to change. Bryce begins to see Juli in a way that he’s never seen her before – but his change of heart may have come too late.

What stands out most about Flipped is its relationship with one of Reiner’s best films: Stand By Me. Almost a sequel in spirit, the movie implants a deep feeling of nostalgia, even for those who never lived in the era. Though the book on which the film is based is set in a more contemporary setting, moving the events to 1963 allowed Reiner to feed off of his own experience growing up, and that familiarity fuels the movie and gives it authenticity. The story itself is timeless and relatable to anyone, but the decision to make it a period piece brings it to another level.

The way Flipped is presented, first telling a story through the eyes and thoughts of Bryce and then again through the eyes and thoughts of Juli, could have easily been a disaster in less capable hands, but, surprisingly, the audience never feels bored by the repetition. Nearly every event in the film is told at least twice but, because you are so invested in the characters, you actually begin to eagerly anticipate what the other side of the story will be. There are scenes in which Bryce senses Juli’s emotions, but you’ll want to take that look behind the curtain and understand why she feels the way she does.

Occasionally souring the affair are more saccharine moments. While the movie doesn’t jam a fistful of sugar down your throat every chance it gets, it certainly doesn’t try to avoid doing so. The relationship between Bryce and his grandfather, played by John Mahoney, feels as though it was ripped right off the streets of Mayberry, but, fortunately, Bryce’s father, played by Anthony Edwards, is enough of an asshole to bring it all back down to reality.

Flipped is intermittently an overly sappy, overly simple period young love story, but it’s the film’s heart, reality, and creative storytelling that saves it. The cast is strong and the irregular structure works perfectly. Welcome back, Mr. Reiner.

Furry Vengeance 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:19:00 +0000

INFO:

Director: Roger Kumble

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Dick Van Dyke, Ken Jeong, Samantha Bee

This is the first review by my 11 year old son, Daniel.

This film is a film that everyone would like. Workers led by a man try to tear down the forest. The animals do not like this so they get revenge (well try).

The way the film is laid out and produced is amazing. I like the way the animals are the main characters and all the little contraptions they have made to keep the workers out.

The funniest bit is were skunks move in to Brandon Fraser’s car and gas him. My 3-year-old sister called Hannah loved this part and acts it out every day in front of me. The saddest part is were Brandon realises what he has done and stop the workers destroy the forest.

In the beginning the animals attack a man and he falls with his car off a cliff. The director should have showed if he had survived or been killed in the accident.

This is a must see movie that children will enjoy.

    Cast

    Brendan Fraser ... Dan Sanders
    Ricky Garcia ... Frank
    Eugene Cordero ... Cheese
    Patrice O'Neal ... Gus
    Jim Norton ... Hank
    Brooke Shields ... Tammy Sanders
    Matt Prokop ... Tyler Sanders
    Billy Bush ... Drill Sergeant
    Ken Jeong ... Neal Lyman
    Angela Kinsey ... Felder
    Samantha Bee ... Principal Baker
    Alice Drummond ... Mrs. Martin
    Toby Huss ... Wilson
    Skyler Samuels ... Amber
    Gerry Bednob ... Mr. Gupta

Screenshot:

Clash of the Titans Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:58:00 +0000

INFO:

Starring: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemyng, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, and Mads Mikkelson
Written By: Travis Beacham, Phil Hay, and Matt Manfredi
Directed By: Louis Leterrier

IAS ALERT: For all its cheesiness, the original Clash of the Titans holds a special place in my heart (1981 was a really good summer to be nine). I don't believe my borderline loathing of this film has anything to do with those rose-colored memories, but it bears mentioning. One could also cite the blatant disregard for Greek mythology in the epic failure of the new Clash of the Titans, but that's disingenuous too. Popcorn films are allowed to play fast and loose with their material in the name of good clean fun. Clash of the Titans, however, proves unwilling to live by the rules of its own plot, which it breaks and rebreaks so many times that its narrative becomes an utter hash.

Moreover, its slavish reliance on admittedly strong F/X destroys any sense of dramatic pacing. We just get an orgy of Greek monsters plucked from the first film and shoveled at us without rhyme or reason. The actors remain either bored or wooden (you can actually see Liam Neeson spending his paycheck in his head), and the rudderless storyline crashes against more rocks than Odysseus himself. Fault director Louis Leterrier, who hides his lack of storytelling acumen behind copious effects like so many studio hacks before him.

The basics remain the same as in the original. Perseus (Sam Worthington), bastard son of Zeus, quests to find the head of the Medusa--the only thing capable of destroying the monstrous Kraken. The vengeful gods are preparing to set the beast loose on the city of Argos, razing it to the ground unless the people put their princess Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) up for sacrifice.

That much is clear. Delve any deeper into the particulars, however, and the proceedings quickly collapse into a big wet pile of stupid. For starters, men hate the gods: defying their will at every turn and declaring themselves exempt from divine rule. It's part of the screenwriters' ill-conceived notion to depict Perseus as the child of two worlds; his quest an effort to declare his allegiance for humanity and overthrow the gods' rule once and for all. Zeus (Neeson) is understandably irate at all of this and responds… by sending Perseus a magic sword to help him out.

Then there's Zeus's brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes), who volunteers to go down and smite the mortals on Zeus's behalf. Why the king of the gods can't do his own smiting is something of a mystery, especially since he nails King Acrisius (Jason Flemyng) with a ginormous lightning bolt early in the proceedings. But no matter. Hades heads to Earth to lay the smackdown on mortaldom… then says he'll spare them if they sacrifice Andromeda. Given free rein to commit wholesale genocide, he settles for a single hot chick, a move which will doubtless get him tossed out of the Evil Mastermind's Guild on general principles. It's all part of some scheme to seize control of the universe from Zeus, which involves stopping Perseus for reasons never made entirely clear.

Leterrier shows no interest in untangling these thorny knots, content to leave the audience sputtering in bewilderment while the monster mash kicks into high gear. Even then, Clash of the Titans might had prevailed if said monster mash displayed any sense of grace or timing. But the fight scenes are edited into pointless sound and noise, defined only by the particular CG beastie which Perseus and his pals are fighting at any given time. The Pegasus shows up to aid him at one point--black instead of white to emphasize how much more bad-ass this version is than the original--but Leterrier has no sense of how to properly set up such a concept. The horse just gets thrown into the mix haphazardly until it becomes indistinguishable from the other sights onscreen.

So too do Perseus's companions appear to us in a random hodge-podge. As if realizing that Andromeda doesn't register enough screen time to make a proper love interest, the script provides Perseus with a guide, Io (Gemma Arterton), who delivers ungainly chunks of exposition and differentiates which monster is which as they come barreling at us. The slapped-on 3D imagery don't help matters, darkening the film's palette and rendering the action even less comprehensible. If there's any justice, it will crash and burn in 3D and put a quick kibbutz on this burgeoning gimmick to which Hollywood suddenly seems addicted.

The effects themselves are solidly rendered, and Fiennes does well as the ostensible villain, reminding us how much he's going to rock the house as Voldemort this fall. But that's cold comfort for a film as clumsily delivered as this one, crushing the modest charms of its predecessor beneath soulless computer-rendered bulk. The creators of the first Clash had a keen understanding of how Greek mythology worked, with its capricious gods that you could outwit but never openly defy. This new Clash lacks the wit or insight to recreate such a notion, or even deliver half-decent action. The myths it presumes to reinvent serve only as empty grist for its effects houses, mangled by storytelling incompetence past the point of recognition. The gods should be thankful for that, at least: they don't need to take responsibility for the mess created in their name.

‘Aisha’ New Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 18:25:00 +0000

Bollywood’s most awaiting movie ‘Aisha’ hits the silver screen today. Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Arunoday Singh and Cyrus Sahukar are the main star casts in the film. Rajshree Ojha is the director of this film and Anil Kapoor is the producer.

‘Aisha’ movie is based on the Jane Austen’s 1815 novel ‘Emma’, which tells the story of a diva and a socialite Aisha, the role has played by Sonam Kapoor.

‘Aisha’ is a romantic comedy film where Aisha is a girl leading her life by shopping and playing. Aisha is a good girl but she takes every ones problems as her problem and Arjun is the male lead who has feels that Aisha should mind her own business. Pinky, Shefail, Randhir and Hunk Dhru are aisha’s friends in the movie.

Tags: Aisha movie review, latest bollywood movies, sonam kapoorm aisha sonam kapoor

Legion Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:46:00 +0000

Angels are the new demons. In truth, straight to video followers have known this since The Prophecy swooped down in 1995. There’s nothing in Scott Stewart’s directorial debut to match the black comedy swagger of that stylish low budgeter, and Paul Bettany’s heavenly rebel pales in comparison to the gloriously laidback malevolence of Christopher Walken’s anti-angel. That said, Legion isn’t without a little light controversy and some interesting ideas.

The film’s Christian-baiting premise is a simple one. God has grown weary of mankind’s selfish warring, so he sends a legion of angels to cull his creations. However, the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany), the bearded one’s favourite but most rebellious charge, spies a new Messiah on the way and a new hope for humanity. Too late, says God. A bit miffed, Michael does what any self-respecting fallen angel would do: he cuts off his wings and goes looking for Jesus 2. Meanwhile, expecting mum Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) wiles away the time working in a rundown diner in the middle of the desert, where she smokes lots of fags and reluctantly lives with her inarticulate boyfriend, Jeep (Lucas Black). With the fate of the world hanging in the balance and the angels about to lay siege on the diner, can Michael keep these white trash heroes alive long enough to bring about the third coming?

Paradise Falls Diner: Subtle this movie is not

You have to take your hat off to any film that provokes the ire of Christian groups before it’s even released. One critic went as far as to claim “It is as if the only goal of executives at Sony Pictures is to slap God in the face with its new movie and anger Christians everywhere. It sure has worked” If God has any sense then he’ll know not to worry about the blasphemous content of Legion; as Michael retorts to one non-believer questioning the existence of God, “Well, that’s just fine, Bob. He doesn’t believe in you either.” I’m siding with God on this one, Bob. The furore definitely died down when the film hit cinemas – there’s nothing like deflecting religious criticism by making a bad film. What could have been a genuinely interesting match-up between Christian and atheist commentators became a mere footnote.

Angels possess 'The weakest' members of society to do their evil bidding: these include old ladies, kids, ice cream men and metallers, for shame!

There are numerous problems to list, but the film’s biggest failing is its total and abject failure to bring interesting characters to the table; they’re an identikit bunch of ciphers taken from hundreds of sci-fi action movies since the eighties, and Terminator in particular. Imagine if Sarah Connor broke down in that Mexican service station, substitute cyborgs for angels, and you’re getting there. Whenever the film shifts the attention from the action (of which there is little) to the characters (of which there are too many), the film sags heavily.

Only the extras truly understand the horror of Legion

The formula works like this: character seems like a dick, they reveal their reasons, commits an act of self-sacrifice and dies. This would be fair enough if any of them were worth caring about, but their back stories never ring true – Tyrese Gibson’s custody-battling hip-hop wannabe is embarrassingly thin. Only old hands Charles S. Dutton as the diner’s hook-handed grill man, and world weary owner Dennis Quaid, rise above the limited confines of the underwritten script. Protagonists Charlie and Jeep fare the worst. The Mary and Joseph of the piece are a couple of white trash losers with little to say or do, except smoke fags and look surprised until plot point two.

If the filmmakers seriously believe that Legion’s subtext of parental responsibility and coming-of-age inheritance holds up then they should be crucified. To name a character after an off-road vehicle is just cruel; it’s bad enough that Jeep didn’t sow the seed, so why compound his misery further? Wisely, we’re never introduced to God, the biggest daddy of them all, but we do get a look at Gabriel. So often the reluctant and rebellious son in films like The Prophecy and Dogma, here he’s a bit of a daddy’s boy, following God’s ruling to the letter of the law. Perhaps the best thing about Gabriel is that he fights like Batfink.

Michael and Gabriel: the movie gently hints at a romantic past between the muscular angels - have they got the genitals to make it anything other than platonic, though?

Speaking of action, for a siege movie, Legion is rather light on violence. Whenever a dust-up occurs, it’s invariably night time and the lights aren’t working. Blame budgetary restraints if you will, but I suspect that the absence of creative action is as much down to a paucity of directorial vision and originality in the script as it is a lack of reddies. The film isn’t without moments of flair and fun, though: an explosion leaves a satisfyingly crucifix-shaped hole in the wall; a grotesque swarm of flies infiltrates a moving vehicle full of people; a possessed old lady calls someone a ‘C***’, bites a neck and then climbs the walls. There are enough moments to keep the attention, but these are almost superfluous to the plot. If someone had spent more time investing the film with these touches throughout, cut down on the number of characters, and given us a bit more action then we could’ve had a decent movie on our hands.

Reminds me of my gran - hell of a woman

Legion’s director Scott Stewart and star Paul Bettany are soon to release their next collaboration, Priest, based on a Korean manhwa comic. Let’s hope that the pair have learned some lessons from this experience.

Movie Review: The Karate Kid (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:29:00 +0000

A remake of The Karate Kid was always going to cause a stir amongst those who remember the original fondly. Remakes don’t go down too well purely on principal, (“They’re ruining my childhood!”) but with The Karate Kid in particularly this is a film beloved by those who grew up in the ‘80s, more cherished out of nostalgia than for how good the movie actually is.

Truthfully the original Karate Kid isn’t a masterpiece and it could be argued a remake was past due. But at the same time a remake had the potential to be a phoned-in, contrived and silly exercise in cash-grabbing. Luckily that’s not the case as this is one of the better remakes to come out of Hollywood, full of genuine heart and with genuinely well choreographed fight sequences.

The story follows Dre Parker (Jaden Smith), a 12-year-old boy from Detroit who is forced to move with his mother to China because of her job. Not long after landing in a country that feels totally alien to him (including the fact he doesn’t speak the language), he begins to get bullied by a local boy who also happens to be one of his classmates (just his luck).

So Dre decides to try and fight back by learning martial arts. After failing to stand up to his tormentor, he receives a helping-hand from Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), the maintenance man of their building. Mr. Han begins to put him through a rigorous training regime to learn Kung Fu in order to win a martial arts tournament.

The plot isn’t the most imaginative in the world but it provides a container for pretty much everything that this type of film should have. It’s by-the-numbers stuff all the way through, from the personal conflicts of Dre trying to get used to his new home to the things he has to overcome in order to prove his worth and honour (no prizes for guessing what the climax of the movie entails)

But even as it strikes all the chords you’d expect (clichéd is a word I wouldn’t shy away from using), it does so with great aplomb. Crucially the relationship between Dre and Mr. Han is believable and realistic, stretching from tough teacher/student to caring friends and the film manages to achieve this whilst rarely (if ever) feeling forced or contrived.

The fight sequences are where the real strengths of The Karate Kid lie. The film’s age rating stops things from getting into “battered-and-bloody” territory but the fighting still manages to feel realistic – you can really feel every punch and kick that gets thrown.

Jaden Smith as Dre is solid although in the instances of him being defiant towards his mother (back-chatting and the like) or getting sentimental with a girl he likes in his class, his delivery of the dialogue is rather stilted. Still, Smith clearly has some of that acting talent and charisma of his father and I can see him going a long way in Hollywood.

While no masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, The Karate Kid does what it needs to do rather well. It combines some kick-ass fight scenes with genuine heart and emotion, and even a healthy dose of true-to-life humour. Certainly one of the biggest pleasant surprises of 2010, The Karate Kid sits comfortably as one of those rare remakes that’s better than the original.

One last thing: can anyone explain to me why it’s called The Karate Kid when it focuses on Kung Fu?

Repo Men 2010 Movie Review - Repossession of Body Parts Read more at Suite101: Repo Men 2010 Movie Review - Repossession of Body Parts http://scififantasyfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/repo-men-2010-movie-review---repossession-of-body-parts#ixzz0vPl3ANAi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 02:28:00 +0000

Repo Men 2010 Movie Review - Universal Pictures

It is one thing to repossess a car or a house, but what about artificial organs? The 2010 movie, Repo Men, explores such situations in bloody detail.

If someone misses a car payment, the bank takes it back. If someone misses a house payment, the bank takes it back.

These words are spoken by Remy, the main character from Universal Pictures, Repo Men, portrayed by Jude Law. It's an interesting premise; what happens if someone misses a payment on a body part? Should the owner have the right to take it back?

Though it is doubtful it will ever be legal to slice open a human and reclaim an artificial organ, it does make for an interesting plot. The majority of these people die as a result of such unorthodox surgery, not to mention how gross these scenes are. The director was certainly going for realism, but it is unlikely that emotionally healthy men could be such repo men.

A Family Man Repossesses Organs

Remy is a married man with a young son. His life seems normal enough until the viewer sees his obvious enjoyment of his job. After one disgusting flashback, where he and his partner, portrayed by Forest Whitaker, have butchered a family at Christmas. They are both covered in blood, holding bloody organs, as they look at each other and burst out laughing. What can possibly be funny about such a gruesome situation, made worse by the Christmas lights and tree seen through the window behind them?

Remy's wife is aware of what he does and as has asked him to transfer to Sales. This doesn't exactly make her a sympathetic character, since she is accepting of the company he works for. Sales or Repossession, this company is awful. They sell over priced artificial organs to people who obviously cannot afford them, thereby leading to the inevitable repossessions. What makes the wife even more unsympathetic is that she throws him out once he has his new heart and then finds he cannot do the repossessions anymore. Unfortunately, he cannot do Sales either without telling the customers the gruesome end result when they are unable to pay.

Repo Man Becomes a Wanted Man

The main premise of the movie is what happens when a Repo Man is forced to accept an artificial heart and then falls behind in his payments? His best friend and partner must reclaim the heart, but can he? It's one thing to cut open the chest of a stranger, but is that possible when that person is a friend? There is an unusual twist to the movie. If there is anyone who has not seen Repo Men and/or has not read any of the write ups about it, spoilers are ahead.

The last half hour of the movie is actually Remy's dream. Since Remy is knocked out several times, it isn't easy to tell when that dream starts. That in itself makes the movie unpredictable. Jake, Remy's partner, decides he cannot kill his friend after nearly losing him in a fight. He then pays off his heart and puts him in the Dream Net for the rest of his life.

Read on

Some complaints of the movie have been the dream itself. Why wouldn't Remy have placed himself on an island from the beginning, instead of having to struggle? That wouldn't have made sense though. In order for him to believe the dream is real, it had to pick up where reality ended. Remy had to take out the company, so he and his new girlfriend, Beth, could live in peace. Though everything works out well for all the main characters in the end, the only depressing thing is realizing that none of it actually happened.

Happy Ending Isn't What it Seems

Remy will live the rest of his life in a dream coma, but it is unclear what will happen to Beth. She is also past due on her artificial organs. Will Jake kill her getting them back? The owner of the company, portrayed by Liev Schreiber, is evil personified, but he continues on with his devious plans. Will he ever get his just desserts?

These unanswered questions leave an unpleasant taste behind, almost as unpleasant as the unnecessary gore throughout the movie. After all that is said and done, Repo Men is still an enjoyable science fiction action flick and is definitely worth a rental. It is doubtful though that anyone will want to see it a second time, so don't waste money buying the DVD.

Movie review: Dark House

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:10:00 +0000

The scariest thing about Dark House, the winner of this year's Fangoria's Frightfest film competition, is that it's the winner of this year's Frightfest film competition. How unutterably bad must the competing films have been? The thought is indeed a chilling one.

The plot of Dark House is a combination of the traditional haunted house story and the psycho killer-themed thriller, with high-tech holographic scare tactics thrown in for in-your-face effect. Director/scripter Darin Scott (whose prior directing experience consists of the 1998 crime drama Caught Up) offers not a lot new here, relying on the kind of ho-hum slasher gore we've grown so accustomed to in low budget genre cinema.

There are a couple of bright points in this run-of-the-mill creepshow darkness, the most notable of which is the hysterically insane performance turned in by Diane Salinger as Miss Darrode, evil mistress of the foster home where all the mad mayhem takes place -- both real-time and in spooky purgatorial re-creation. Horror legend Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) also shines as commercial haunted house impresario Mr. Walston, coming off when we first meet him like John Lithgow playing as Christian McKay playing Orson Welles.

Meghan Ory takes the starring role as Claire, who we first encounter as a youngster with more guts than common sense. She stumbles into the Darrode House after the grisly killings of all its young boarders, who are strewn about the household like so many bloodied rag dolls; instead of running from the slaughter like a normal kid, young Claire (played by Courtney Robinson) takes a slow and contemplative tour of the abattoir, ending up in the kitchen where Miss Darrode -- presumably stricken with remorse -- is in the process of grinding away her hands in the InSinkErator.

Flash forward 14 years, by which time Claire has gained enough normalcy to be traumatized by the Darrode House events. (Oh, sure, NOW she's scared of the place.) Her whack-a-doodle psychologist suggest she re-enter the house (now deserted, natch) as a form of confrontational therapy. Or something.

The perfect opportunity presents itself when Walston pays a visit to Claire's acting class, looking for some rubes (I mean, talent) to serve as hosts and hostesses at his newest spook house attraction: Darrode House! Wow, what a coincidence, and Claire quickly convinces her fellow thespians to take him up on the offer.

The rest is all arterial-spray sweetness and computers-gone-haywire light, as the evil spirits in the house take over the high-tech effects programming and make mincemeat of the participants, one by bloody one.

If I didn't know any better (which of course I don't), I'd swear filmmaker Scott had it in for Microsoft. When the system admin's network is taken over by supernatural forces, a particularly insistent sequence of trouble screens begins flashing across his monitor: messages like "DANGER: virus alert," "WARNING: Your computer has become unstable," and "CRITICAL FAILURE! The system has been infected!" are enough to strike fear into the heart of even the most unflappable of geeky observers.

And that, frankly, is the scariest scene in this otherwise pretty uninspired stab at horror.

Movie Review: One Upon A Time in Mumbaai (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:31:00 +0000

more images

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai: Amongst Bollywood’s best underworld sagas

Rating: 3.5 out of 5*

Starring: Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Prachi Desai and Randeep Hooda

Director: Milan Luthria

You seldom get period dramas in Bollywood which are not about historical characters. This year that way has been very lucky that way. Couple of months ago we had Badmaash Company and now we have Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai. Of course both are completely different from each other, the first being set in the fast 90s and the latter being set in colourful 70s. And director Milan Luthria makes enough efforts to make OUATIM look very authentic and worth a watch for its settings.

Settings apart the film has its pluses with some superb performances and great dialogues. However the problem with the film is the not so new storyline and the very slow screenplay. Though the characters are well established and well rounded the writer takes the entire first half to do that without much movement in the story. And then as you expect fireworks in the second half it fizzles out too fast.

OUATIM is the story of two gangsters. While one was ethical the other was reckless. It has inspirations of the characters of infamous smuggler Haji Mastan and now infamous don Dawood Ibrahim. The film is about Sultan (Ajay Devgn) who labored through his childhood and became a smuggler as he grew up completely ruling the sea routes. He however always preferred keeping the city clean and never smuggles which was against his conscience. Shoaib (Emraan Hashmi) is inspired by Sultan’s life as a child and wants to it as big. He is a son of a police officer but has no inclination towards the law. As he grows up he makes his way to Sultan’s gang and proves himself good enough to go up the ladder fast. However his reckless ambitions soon outgrew Sultan and he decided to take over the city on his own.

The story is built on the line – ‘behind the myth is the city’s greatest betrayal story’. The screenplay does not give much importance to the betrayal. The slow pace of the first half could be a put off. Also funnily Sultan and his girlfriend Rehana never seem to age as they continue to look the same even as Shoaib grows from a child to rustic young crook.

The film has its pluses. Luthria has taken care of everything – right from trains to cars to sunglasses to shoes to buildings! Everything takes us back to the 70s. Luthria handles the dramatic moments well and great use has been made of dialoguebaazi. All actors have come up with some memorable performances. Ajay Devgn’s overpowering presence is matched by Emraan’s charm. Kangna Ranaut and Prachi Desai do their bits well though they don’t bear many consequences on the story itself. Randeep Hooda is effective as the police office.

Overall, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai’ is an entertainer. It does not need any effort to be understood of liked. It is the mere magic of characters created that makes this film worth watching.

EW Movie Review: "Countdown To Zero"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:05:00 +0000

To view our videos, you need to

Enable JavaScript. Learn how. install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

I’m not sure if this counts as a "rush out and see it" recommendation, but the scary, gripping new documentary "Countdown To Zero" makes old terrors radioactively new again. Lucy Walker, the director of this look at the still "clear and present danger" of nuclear weapons, has her finger on the ultimate hot-button topic, and she doesn’t let go. The film features spine-tingling descriptions of the moments we risked toppling into a nuclear conflagration.

Not just the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis is covered. The film looks at lesser-known incidents in 1977 and even 1995, when a wayward American missile resulted in the Russian nuclear football being opened and placed, for the first time, in front of Boris Yeltsin. The former Russian president had five minutes to decide whether to respond with a full-on counterattack. Fortunately, the film informs us, Yeltsin wasn’t drunk.

Then, of course, there’s the nightmare of our era -- rogue nuclear terrorism. "Countdown To Zero" vividly illustrates how easy it is to buy enriched uranium on the black market. By the time that Walker sets up a hypothetical "what would a bomb blast do to New York" sequence, the movie comes close to turning into nuclear-anxiety porn.

I would condemn it on that score, if it weren’t for the fact that "Countdown To Zero" is scrupulously full of nuts-and-bolts evidence. It can’t be accused of creating fear in a vacuum.

"Countdown To Zero" doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, but the movie is so sharp in its excavation of up-to-the-minute nuclear terrors that it’s the rare piece of political filmmaking that could unite the left and the right. It makes getting rid of nuclear weapons seem less a “cause,” than an imperative.

"Countdown To Zero" is in theaters now.

NY1 Movie Review: "Dinner For Schmucks"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:37:00 +0000

To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how. install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.

Steve Carell and Paul Rudd star in a new comedy that is based on a 1998 French movie, called "Dinner For Schmucks."

Tim, played by Rudd, is a rising executive who, in order to get ahead at his firm, has to participate in his bosses' cruel game. He literally runs into Barry, played by Carell, who is klutzy, clueless and quite possibly the king of the morons.

Barry, as stupid as he is, happens to be a very good-natured guy whose intentions and heart are in the right place. He wants to be a great friend to Tim, but unwittingly winds up messing up Tim's entire life. That includes, among other things, destroying Tim's relationship with his beautiful girlfriend and wrecking his nice apartment.

It's sort of a one-joke premise that's stretched to almost two hours and it feels much longer.

There are sporadic laughs along the way, but too often, "Meet The Parents" director Jay Roach, loads the film with too many slapstick sequences that grow tiring.

What does work is that both Rudd and Carell are such fine comedic actors that they elevate the level of the mediocre script. The opening and closing sequences are funny, and Zach Galifianakis, who's in the movie briefly, is quite amusing and steals almost all the scenes he's in.

The actual dinner, which is near the end of the film, is decently done, but even that is a bit over the top. If the director reeled that sequence in a bit and also cut down its length, it would have played better.

There's a certain sweetness to this movie and that's fine, but that might not be the best thing for generating laughs. The original French version, called "The Dinner Game," had a mean-spirited dynamic between the two main characters that made the whole thing funnier.

As for the American version, "Dinner For Schmucks" is the kind of movie that would play perfectly late at night on TV, when nothing else is on and you're looking for some mindless comedy that's free to watch.

Movie Review: Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:22:00 +0000

Yeah, that’s Shirley “Goldfinger” Bassey singing over the Bond-ish opening credits of Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Kids won’t get it, but parents may chortle at the James Bond pun of the film’s title, of hearing Dame Shirley belt out her version of “Let’s Get This Party Started” to open the sequel to 2001’s spy dogs vs. super-villain cats comedy.

But that’s pretty much the high point of this tedious time-killer of a kiddie comedy. The original was ahead of the curve in terms of muttering mutt movies. But this chatty 3D spy spoof is as hard-pressed for laughs as Marmaduke, once you get past the novelty of “Hey, the dogs and cats are TALKING.”

An evil hairless cat, Kitty Galore (nicely snarled by Bette Midler) has plans to take down all of dogdom with a high-pitched broadcast that will drive every dog on Earth nuts. “The planet becomes my scratching post,” she screeches, and the dogs believe her.

The canine spies, especially field agent Butch (Nick Nolte) are hot on her trail, pursuing a stool pigeon (Katt Williams) who may have some answers. They need some help from a new recruit, a chronic screw-up of a police dog, Diggs (James Marsden). They may even need the help of…grrrrrrrrrr…a CAT (Christina Applegate), one of the few non-evil ones.

Dogs and cats in jet packs and bat wings, riding motorcycles with fake humans on the handlebars, the odd gimmicky use of the 3D, Kitty Galore’s inept magician owner — are all potential laughs than never quite land. A better gag? The chase leads everybody to the house of a “cat lady,” filled with stoned kitties, “hopped up on catnip.” Well, this is set in San Francisco

Parents with a memory of Nick Nolte’s career may get a kick out of his chasing his old Down and Out in Beverly Hills co-star, Midler, or his 48 Hrs. riff – “I’m too old for this poop!” Adults who know their Bond movies will laugh at the voice of “Tab Lazenby,” head of the cat spy corps (a former Bond).

But talky scenes and sequences spread out before us like spilt bags of kitty litter, with digital animals engaging in generic digital derring do. Putting an America’s Funniest Home Videos-style montage of real cat and dog antics over the closing credits only highlights how plastic the whole affair feels.

The new Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner 3D cartoon paired with this movie scores almost as many giggles in three minutes as Kitty Galore and her henchmen do in 82 minutes.

See for Yourself
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Cast: The voices of Bette Midler, James Marsden, Nick Nolte, Christina Applegate, Roger Moore.
Director: Brad Peyton
Running time: 1 hour, 22 minutes
Industry rating: PG for animal action and humor.

Movie Review: Rambo III (Blu-ray)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Reviewed by: Nathan Swank
Director: Peter MacDonald
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Sasson Gabai
Movie: 6/10
Blu-Ray: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Remember when times were simpler and the U.S. was an ally to Afghanistan while fighting the Russians? Oh how times have changed. This is the premise of the third installment simply titled RAMBO III and “Dedicated to the gallant people of Afghanistan” as displayed before the end credits.

We meet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) first with a shot of him tying on a bandana over his same semi curly locks flexing his shoulder and back muscles. Then when he is summoned the music crescendos as he looks over his shoulder toward the audience. A nice dramatic intro to a beloved character to get the crowd cheering. After winning a highly intense stick-fighting match to make extra money, we see that Rambo is living in Thailand helping out a Buddhist monastery. After turning down helping his former Vietnam superior, Colonel Samuel Trautman (Richard Crenna), lead the Afghanistan rebels to fight off the Russian invasion, he learns the mission failed and Trautman has been kidnapped. This information prompts Rambo to join the Afghan forces and rescue Trautman from being tortured by Russian Colonel Zaysen (Marc de Jonge).

Rambo is back to his usual stunts, being pretty much indestructible. He fights and blows people up in a variety of ways and has stealth like moves being undetectable and unseen while in plain sight breaking into the enemy’s camp. I’m personally glad he goes to so much trouble to save the guy who seems to continually put him in bad situations just so Colonel Trautman can say, “He’ll find you” when referring to Rambo for the third time in clever new ways, like this exchange:

Colonel Zaysen (Russian): “Who do you think this man is, God?”

Colonel Trautman (American): “God would have mercy. He won’t.”

It’s always a bit funny to me how these battles or wars between nations become so personal between Rambo and the leading commanding officer from the opposing country. In this case, Colonel Zaysen makes sure he personally is the one flying the helicopter doing the strikes and who is out to get Rambo rather than ordering his soldiers to do so. I’m not sure this is the right man to be in charge. As it stands, Rambo and the Russian Colonel’s final confrontation is an epic chicken battle between a helicopter (Zaysen) and a tank (Rambo). I never understood why the helicopters kept fighting at ground level, hovering just a few feet above. May the dumber man lose.

What is it with the horrendous overly sappy music at the end of these Rambo films? “He Ain’t Heavy…He’s My Brother” by Bob Russell & Bobby Scott and performed by Bell Medley is the culprit of the third film. I have to mention it because it sticks with you on just how awful it is. The target audience and fans of the Rambo films need a little more push or energy for their film. Thankfully the original score throughout the picture never changes here or in any of the movies. Despite all it’s familiar flaws, RAMBO III just barely delivers for another good time.

BLU-RAY REVIEW

Video: (Widescreen 2.35:1) Very nice picture with beautiful visuals of the Afghanistan and Thailand countries.

Audio: (DTS-HD Master Audio) The sound was great for the explosive action movie.

Audio Commentary with director Peter MacDonald: A mediocre flat commentary with uninteresting information. The director’s speaking pattern has an uninspiring tone, which makes it a hard listen.

Out of the Blu Trivia: If you choose, you can watch pop-up information and tidbits about the film during your viewing.

Afghanistan Land In Crisis (29:48): Like the previous films, this is the best featurette. The filmmakers including Sylvester Stallone discuss how the entire scenario has been switched how it was released right when we became friend with Russia so the film took a lot of heat. They talk a little about our current War on Terror in Afghanistan and how the Afghans were a big fan of Rambo and the U.S.

Tags: Peter MacDonald, Richard Crenna, Sasson Gabai, sylvester stallone

Thor Trailer – Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:06:00 +0000

Thor Movie Trailer -The epic adventure “Thor” spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. Thor Movie was filmed in these areas: Manhattan Beach, California, USA,Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA,Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Directed By: Kenneth Branagh.”Thor”, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment.

Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth. No official Movie Trailer has been released – You can watch this Fan Made Trailer of Thor – Here : Photo by Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures / Reviews

Ramona and Beezus

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 17:24:00 +0000

Family comedy. Directed by Elizabeth Allen. Starring Selena Gomez, Joey King and John Corbett. (G. 104 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

Alan Markfield / Twentieth Century Fox

Selena Gomez (left) and Joey King are sisters Beezus and Ramona in the film based on Beverly Cleary's books.

Images

View Larger Images

Video

Almost everything poor little Ramona Quimby does leads to unmitigated disaster, whether she's washing a guy's Jeep or rolling a hard-boiled egg against her head. The Jeep receives an accidental paint job and winds up looking like a Jackson Pollock; the egg, not actually boiled, conditions her hair on picture day.
In both cases, she takes the blame and feels humiliated. And in both cases - this is key - it is Not. Her. Fault. She's only a third-grader. She deserves better treatment, fairer justice, than she gets in "Ramona and Beezus," if for no other reason than she's the best thing in it: a rambunctious, bright-eyed mighty mouse with a kaleidoscopic wardrobe and an imagination to match.
Movies about girls are already few and far between; movies about girls who follow their own quirky drumbeats are even scarcer. In the title role, Joey King is pitch-perfect prepubescent charisma, being that rare child actor who comes across as an honest-to-God kid despite being a showbiz veteran since the age of 4. Not rooting for Ramona isn't an option and never was, not since Beverly Cleary first wrote about the denizens of Portland's Klickitat Street - Henry Huggins, Beezus Quimby and her annoying little sister - in the early 1950s.
Adapted for the screen by Laurie Craig and Nick Pustay, this new film ramps up the Ramona humiliation at the expense of the books' light touch. The plot has less to do with 1955's "Beezus and Ramona" than 1977's "Ramona and Her Father," in which our heroine struggles to aid her newly jobless dad (John Corbett). Generally, the 21st century setting is unobtrusive and in tandem with Cleary's novels - which took place in whatever time period she happened to occupy while writing them.
Because this is the time of Disney pop stars, Selena Gomez plays big sis Beezus. Her central role, which she fulfills with gusto, is to express twitchy sibling irritation while simultaneously pining for Henry (fellow Disneyite Hutch Dano). More mature brooding occurs between Ginnifer Goodwin as Aunt Bea and Josh Duhamel as Hobart, the guy with the Jeep, whose share of the script proceeds with alarming rom-com efficiency.
In a nod to the original books, Ramona's dad is a frustrated artist whose elastic and fidgety sketching resembles Alan Tiegreen's classic illustrations. Another cute touch is the use of toyland fantasy sequences - mixing live-action Ramona with animated cutouts and dollhouse figures - to capture a wee girl's outsize imagination. Both the fanciful bits and the Jeep-defacing are brought to us by Elizabeth Allen, a chronicler of mild modish girliness who also directed the teen-mermaid romance "Aquamarine."
With "Ramona and Beezus," she's delivered another innocuous film about another unusual girl, but this time, she's a mistreated imp with an irresistible grin.

Movie Review: "The Girl Who Played with Fire"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:06:00 +0000

Maybe youve heard of the Millennium Trilogy currently sweeping the globe. Or the fatal circumstances in which Swedish author Stieg Larssons three brilliantly detailed crime novels reached mainstream praise without him living to reap the benefits. Either way, as Larssons novels hang atop the New York Times Best Sellers List, the Swedish films are making a name for themselves, too.

Noomi Rapace stars as Lisbeth

The producers who acquired the rights to the novels did the smart thing and shot each film at the same time, using the same two leads. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," the first in the series, was released domestically in March to much critical acclaim and an impressive box office pull. Now comes "The Girl Who Played With Fire," the second, and dare I say, more engrossing installment in the evolving series.

At the close of "Dragon Tattoo" our hero, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), had solved a decades-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of a young girl and served his brief prison sentence for libel, but not without the help of a punked-out genius hacker Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace). We last saw Lisbeth walking into the sunset, hidden under a plush blonde wig, with thousands of stolen dollars secured in her bank account. Thankfully, for us, "Played With Fire" takes little time getting to the point.

After hiding out in the Caribbean for several months, Lisbeth is compelled to return home and take care of some business. Within days, much to her surprise, she is the lead suspect in three murders, all linked to a human trafficking ring. Blomkvist, longing for his would-be lover since her departure, immediately throws himself into the case, helping to clear Lisbeths name since the police apparently cannot.

Forgive me for ceasing discussion on plot details, but the fun of these films is discovering them for yourself. Even if youre one of the millions of people who have read the books, the films will give you a fresh perspective. By the movies end, the story will have gone through enough twists and turns and spasms to make Christopher Nolan raise his eyebrows with envy.

As was evident in the first film, Nyqvist is marvelous in his ability to explain very complex topics within a matter of seconds. We actually believe Blomkvist could pull off everything he manages to, simply because Nyqvist convinces us he can.

But, lets be honest, the real star of the show is the petite 110-pound, bisexual little baddie. As the conflicted, damaged Lisbeth, Rapace goes places that could redefine what method acting is. Shes vicious, lean and, perhaps most importantly, smart as all hell. In a role that requires her to say very little, Rapace presents her character with more depth and conviction than most working actors today. Watch how, in the films most thrilling moment, Lisbeth not only takes on two huge biker boys, but she manages to steal one of their choppers before riding off into the sunset, all with the slightest of smirks on her face. Classic controlled acting.

As is often the case with sequels, people want to know if this one is better than the first. For my money, yes, it is. "Dragon Tattoo," was excellent in the Hitchcockian method of presenting a single problem and blowing it wide open. But "Played With Fire," as directed by Daniel Alfredson, taking over for Niels Arden Oplev, is slightly more detailed and technically controlled. The film deserves comparisons to the works of Polanski and Michael Haneke.

"Dragon Tattoo," which is out on DVD, could have survived as its own film; the story could have been considered complete after the credits rolled. But "Played With Fire" leaves a little more open, which, if youre a fan, gives even more reason to anticipate the Oct. 15 release of "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest."

And if that isnt enough for you, David Fincher is currently developing an American version of "Dragon Tattoo," reportedly starring Daniel Craig and Carey Mulligan. Will those capable-enough hands be as good as the original? You be the judge.

MOVIE REVIEW: 'Breathless' remains masterful in restored print

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:43:00 +0000

Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film "Breathless," which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Photo courtesy of Rialto Pictures/StudioCanal

If the world's most accomplished cinematic minds were forced to choose "the only film that matters," under threat of no Junior Mints for life, would "Breathless" end up the consensus choice? Certainly it would get some votes.

And while placing any title under the fluid category of "best film ever" is a no-win game, "Breathless" certainly mattered, when it was released in 1960, and now in its first restored-print edition on the occasion of its 50th birthday.

"Breathless" was the debut from director Jean-Luc Godard, who with Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol formed the upper brain trust of the French New Wave, the band of cinema maestros who forever changed the medium with their brash style and disregard for established rules.

Jean-Paul Belmondo plays the small-time hood and Jean Seberg his breezy but crafty love interest in the film set against the backdrop of a barely functional plot. Godard was much more concerned with moments and images than dot-to-dot storytelling, or as he put it loudly in his response to pre-release criticism: "Why do I need a story? I don't make films, I make cinema."

After initial confusion and hubbub, "Breathless" settled in as an acknowledged masterpiece of the most independent sort, all about adoration of style, and influential until ---- well, its influence hasn't stopped and isn't likely to do so soon. "Breathless" opens Friday for one week only at the Ken Cinema in San Diego.

"Breathless"
**** (out of four)
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Studio: Rialto Pictures
Not rated
Running time: 90 minutes

Movie review: 'Life During Wartime'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:03:00 +0000

The creator of “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and “Happiness,” two of the most rigorously cruel films in recent memory, changes his tune in his latest film.

“Life During Wartime” is a sequel, Solondz style. The writer/director isn’t content with simply continuing the sad saga of the sisters from “Happiness.”

No, he changes up the entire cast, using the familiar story strains to explore the bounds of forgiveness.

And for anyone who endured the pitch black “Happiness,” there’s plenty that needs to be absolved.

Joy (Shirley Henderson) remains the saddest sack of the three “Happiness” sisters. She’s finally settled down, but her husband (Michael K. Williams) is a recovering pervert outed during the film’s opening sequence.

Sister Trish (Allison Janney) is dating again, finding love in the arms of a heavy-set divorcee (Michael Lerner). Only Helen (Ally Sheedy) appears content, her television writing career blossoming into a mantle stocked with Emmy awards.

Trish’s ex-husband Bill (Ciaran Hinds) is free after a jail term for sexually abusing a young boy – “Happiness’” most disturbing story arc. Can he reconnect with his family, or will his monstrous crimes keep in emotionally imprisoned?

For a while, “Wartime” feels like any other conventional sequel, an unnecessary continuation of characters and themes that banks on our affection for the original.

But the new film
takes shape as Trish’s son, Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder), starts exploring what it means to have a pedophile for a father. It’s a touching exploration of family ties and the ability to see the good in people – even criminals.

“Wartime” doesn’t excuse the father’s sins, nor does it whitewash them. It dares to ask the audience something more complicated. Should we root for Timmy, and everyone around him, to find peace with his father?

Lerner is a standout here, an older man bludgeoned by a past love but willing to open his heart to another damaged soul. But performances across the board are stellar.

Solondz can still shock us, witness Trish describing to her son how she felt when her new beau touched her.

Yuck.

And it’s painful to hear the sisters tear each other apart with their passive-aggressive conversations.

“Wartime’s” attempts at the supernatural pay small but potent dividends. Paul Reubens plays the ghost of Joy’s suitor we met in the opening scene in “Happiness,” a character originally played by Jon Lovitz.

Solondz awkwardly uses war, terrorism and even Judaism to chip away at his main theme, poking an prodding the characters until deeper truths emerge.

Solondz could have gone the M. Night Shyamalan route, turning his signature tics into an anchor weighing down his work.

“Life During Wartime” reveals an artist in transition, and even those alienated by his previous efforts will be curious to see where he goes next.

Movie Review: Despicable Me

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:51:00 +0000

INFO:

What Despicable Me lacks in humor it makes up with heart. Universal’s first computer animated feature doesn’t have the ingenuity of Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 or the slapstick pizzazz of Sony’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but it’s just as loveable. It may take a while to get going, but it gets better with each passing scene. By the end, it has won our hearts.

Despite the movie’s prolific ad campaign, I didn’t know what to expect from it. Its story turns surprised me, and even though I could anticipate its final destination, I didn’t know how it was going to get there. This aspect proved refreshing.

Other novel qualities include the character designs, which are mostly caricatures with extreme features. This is especially true for the movie’s hero (or should I say villain?), Gru (voiced by Steve Carell). With his skinny legs, wide frame, bald head and pointy nose, he could pass as the brother of Dr. Evil from Austin Powers.

And, like Dr. Evil, Gru is one of the world’s leading villains, or at least that’s what he thinks and what he tells his staff of little yellow creatures called minions, who have their own unique language and aid Gru in stealing some of the world’s most prized possessions - although the Las Vegas versions of the Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower can hardly be considered prized possessions. That’s why Gru is shocked when another villain steals a whole pyramid from Gaza!Because Gru won’t settle for second best or risk the Bank of Evil cutting him off, he sets his heart on shrinking and stealing the moon. All he needs is the shrink ray currently being held by his rival, Vector (Jason Segel), who lets the said pyramid sit idly in his front lawn. To obtain the ray, Gru adopts three girl orphans - Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) - because they sell cookies and provide Gru a way in to Vector’s impregnable lair. Much to his surprise (but not ours), the girls affect Gru in ways that give him a new outlook on life. Instead of villainy, he comes to realize fatherhood might be a better profession.

The movie’s best scenes show Gru adjusting to parenthood. I liked his smug, confident look as he served the girls lunch in dog bowls; or when he took them to an amusement park and won them stuffed animals; and when he read them a bedtime story. These scenes overshadow the more blatant visual gags like Gru trying to break into Vector’s house or the minions dressing up in hat and wigs to go shopping, all of which played like Saturday morning cartoons. Kids will surely enjoy it, but I wish the screenplay had gone a less traditional route and not made Gru’s obsession with the moon the primary focus of the humor. The villain vs. villain angle is amusing, but Gru’s interaction with the girls is much more interesting and has much bigger payoffs.

Many animated features star high-profile actors simply because they’re popular, but the voice casting of Despicable Me is more inspired. Steve Carell does a surprisingly strong (and funny) foreign accent, and because Gru’s eyes and facial features match Carell’s, it was easier to accept him embodying the character. Carell did more than lend a voice; he provided Gru a certain behavior, and it was a pleasure to watch.

Despicable Me won’t go down in any history books, but it’s sweet and jolly, proving computer animated films can be successful without talking animals or inanimate objects coming to life. It works more on a human level, and had it really played up the familial aspect of the screenplay instead of the routine cartoon stuff, it might have been more memorable. Still, it’s a cute and heartfelt, and like some of the best computer animated features, it can be enjoyed by both kids and adults.

Kisses Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:43:00 +0000

Kisses can hold a powerful meaning behind them, based on the context in which they are given. The 2008 Irish drama ‘Kisses,’ written and directed by Lance Daly, is getting ready to jump the Atlantic Ocean to America, and seems to want to prove that people’s intentions transcend culture. Kelly O’Neill and Shane Curry, two inner-city Dublin teens with no acting experience between them, play the two main characters in the movie, adding to the air of innocence and good intentions.

After premiering at the Galway Film Festival in 2008, and later being picked as an official selection at the Locarno, Toronto International, Telluride, Miami and Seattle International Film Festivals, ‘Kisses’ seemed destined from the start to be a popular movie with fans around the world. Even though coming in at a mere 75 minutes, much shorter than most American movies, the advertisements for ‘Kisses’ focuses on how teens can cope with family matters in a short period of time.

‘Kisses’ follows Kylie (played by O’Neill) and her next-door neighbor, Dylan, (portrayed by Curry), who live in the poorer outskirts of Dublin. Neither has friends in the outside world or within their families, as Kylie doesn’t get along with her four siblings, and Dylan is abused by his father after his older brother runs away.

After Dylan gets in trouble with his father yet again and Kylie saves him, the two decide to runaway themselves. They try to find his brother on the streets of Dublin. While Kylie has no intention of returning home, they come to discover how dangerous the big city is without their families there to protect them.

While Daly strives to prove that children from all walks of life all over the world don’t always get along with their families and sometimes want to run away from home, ‘Kisses’ falls short of portraying teen angst. While both Kylie and Dylan both genuinely seem to dislike their families, their night in Dublin seems more like a first date for two friends who were always afraid to admit their feelings than a real attempt to break free from their home lives.

Dylan also doesn’t seem to know what he wants. While he wants to escape the wrath of his father’s abuse, he seems too eager to change his mind about going back home after he and Kylie get off to a rough start trying to find his brother. Kylie seems to want to stay away from home more so than Dylan. The reason why is questionable, as her home life wasn’t as heavily discussed as Dylan’s, and therefore doesn’t seem as bad.

Despite these fallbacks, Daly redeemed himself by casting newcomer O’Neill as Kylie, who seemed to understand what it meant to live with a down-on-their-luck large family that can’t catch a break. In order to cast the misfit lead actress, Daly told the View Oxford that he went to numerous schools in Dublin and picked out the worst behaved students to audition. Dylan added that he picked O’Neill not only because she was smart, but she also had an “immediate intuitive understanding of what acting really is.” Her instinctive understanding of teen angst resulted in a nomination for Best Actress in a Lead Role in a Film at the 2009 Irish Film and Television Awards.

‘Kisses’ also succeeded in the fact that O’Neill and Curry, two eleven-year-olds, were able to take on the responsibility of being the main characters, as their characters’ families have little screen time. Being so early in their careers and not having the guidance of more experienced actors to show them their craft, and still being able to create instant chemistry on-screen together, proved that both correctly chose their careers.

The black-and-white to color transition used throughout the movie was also an effective way to show what the young characters were feeling. When both Kylie and Dylan were with their respective families, Daly used a muted black-and-white color scheme, representing the teens’ desolate feelings. They both felt isolated from their families, as well as other teens, as the only attention they received was negative.

But when Kylie and Dylan came together and started their journey into Dublin, Daly discreetly started adding color. Daly was able to subtly show that the two only felt alive when they were with each other.

With a scheduled release date of July 16 in New York, with other select cities to follow, anyone interested in seeing the sights of Dublin will enjoy ‘Kisses.’ Parents may be hesitant to allow their pre-teens to watch the movie, as there is a brief scene of nudity, some coarse language, themes of family violence and abuse and Dylan and Kylie being given a beer by a Bob Dylan impersonator. However, the overall theme that all teens, to some degree, want to be with their family, no matter what happened between them.

Movie Review: Lamhaa

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:12:00 +0000

The Story:

Lamhaa is a Bollywood thriller written and directed by Rahul Dholakia. Set in Kashmir, the film stars Sanjay Dutt as intelligence officer Vikram and his love interest Aziza played by Bipasha Basu, as well as Anupam Kher and Kunal Kapoor in supporting roles. Lamhaa is an epic portrayal of the corruption and political issues that have plagued Kashmir for years. Kashmir, which was once regarded as a paradise-like place, is now a war ground for corruption and lies. It becomes apparent that a suspicious company is generating millions of dollars that is benefiting the likes of politicians and leaders in the Indian and Pakistani social systems.

When the Military Intelligence hears of a plot that is likely to plunge Kashmir into a deeper state of disruption, intelligence officer Vikram is sent to investigate. The day Vikram lands in the Valley where he is set to start working, a top separatist leader named Haji survives a bomb attack. As Vikram begins to piece the puzzle together, he starts to believe the two events are linked.

Vikram gets help from Haji's co-worker Aziza and together the two embark upon a journey to find the truth. Along the way, as is often the case, they encounter corruption and violence. The intensity of their passion for the truth creates a bond between Aziza and Vikram who fall in love along the path of their mission for justice.

The Cast:

Sanjay Dutt as Vikram
Bipasha Basu as Aziza
Kunal Kapoor as Aatif
Shernaz Patel as Parveena
Anupam Kher as Haji

The Crew:

Producer: Bunty Walia, Jaspreet Singh Walia
Director: Rahul Dholakia
Lyricist: Sayeed Qadri, Amitabh Varma
Music Director: Mithoon
Art: Wasiq Khan
Screenplay: Rahul Dholakia

What Worked:

Anupam Kher is quite an experienced actor and he was truly a shining star in his role in Lamhaa. Bipasha Basu took on a whole new look and role in Lamhaa and her attempt was commendable.

What Didn't:

The story of Kashmir and the discussion and portrayal of the corruption has been seen and told time and time again. Lamhaa does not bring anything entirely new to the subject. Most characters are poorly written making their roles very ineffective. The story is weak and the scenes do not always flow well with each other. The movie moves a little too quickly leaving the audience confused throughout most of the film. Another disappointment is the cinematography. Kashmir is often referred to as the most beautiful place on earth and we do not see this in Lamhaa.

The Soundtrack:

The music for Lamhaa was relevant to the film. With meaningful lyrics, amazing vocalists, and even some modern vibes, Lamhaa's soundtrack is impressive.

Slated or Rated:

Unfortunately, Lamhaa did no deliver in theaters. A film such as Lamhaa which is supposed to bring forth an emotional reaction whether sympathy, hatred, disgust, we walked away bored. The actors and actresses seemed weak but this is attributed to the half baked screenplay. We wouldn't suggest that you head to the theaters for this flick

John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Kangana Ranaut and Sophie Choudry all came out for the special screening of their new action thriller Lamhaa at PVR cinemas in Juhu, Mumbai Thursday night and of course our photogs were there to catch a glimpse of the stars!

John and Bips, who sports a Rocky S anarkali

Lamhaa is a Bollywood thriller written and directed by Rahul Dholakia. Set in Kashmir, the film stars Sanjay Dutt as intelligence officer Vikram and his love interest Aziza, played by Bipashu Basu. Lamhaa is an epic portrayal of the corruption and political issues that have plagued Kashmir for years.

Kashmir, which was once regarded as a paradise-like place, is now a war ground for corruption and lies. It becomes apparent that a suspicious company is generating millions of dollars that is benefiting the likes of politicians and leaders in the Indian and Pakistani social systems.

As Vikram begins to piece the puzzle together, he starts to believe the two events are linked. Vikram gets help from Haji's co-worker Aziza and together the two embark upon a journey to find the truth. Along the way, as is often the case, they encounter corruption and violence. The intensity of their passion for the truth creates a bond between Aziza and Vikram who fall in love along the path of their mission for justice.

Sophie Choudry

Kangana Ranaut

The buzz is that Kareena Kapoor's sister, Karisma Kapoor, was first considered for the role but she chose not to do the movie as she was uncomfortable filming in Kashmir. So brave Bips took over and loved the project straight away! The movie hits theaters today, are you planning on seeing it? Drop us a line.

SALT Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:21:00 +0000

Below Line: A spy thriller more than worth its salt.

She never quite says: "The name is Salt. Evelyn Salt." But Angelina Jolie, for all intents and purposes, is James Bond in her new film "Salt," and it's really no surprise that Jolie, the only female action star in Hollywood, more than measures up to Daniel Craig.

Donning several guises while on the run in Columbia's spy thriller, she even -- with the help of considerable facial latex, mind you -- turns up as a guy in one scene. She makes a pretty ugly one, but it makes an amusing gag, a kind of acknowledgment that kick-ass action heroes now come in both genders. In Jolie's case, it's more convincing than ever because in those Lara Croft movies, she looked like an animated creature that popped out of a video game.

While preposterous at every turn, "Salt" is a better Bond movie than most recent Bond movies, as its makers keep the stunts real and severely limit CGI gimmickry. This is a slick, light summer entertainment that should throw considerable coin into Sony's coffers while re-establishing (if it needs re-establishing) Jolie's bona fides as an action star. The film certainly didn't need the assist, but recent news events have erased any objection from critics, tied to laws of plausibility, over the film's key concept that Russian sleeper spies still exist in the U.S. long after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Another talking point here is the similarity between this film, reportedly first developed for Tom Cruise, and the action-spy thriller he chose to do, the lamentable "Knight and Day." There are astonishing similarities: An American spy believed to be a rogue agent gets chased by the CIA, with the protagonist escaping by, among other tricks, leaping from one fast-moving vehicle to another on a major thoroughfare. These similarities only point up how smart "Salt" is in crafting its escapist fare.

Director Phillip Noyce and stunt guru Simon Crane, working from a clever though shallow screenplay by Kurt Wimmer, make sure the stunts in "Salt" look like a dangerous and demanding day at the office. In "Knight and Day," the movie's absurd physicality is played as effortless clowning replete with repartee that is supposed to remind you of 007 but in fact is embarrassingly flat and banal.

There's no joking around here. Jolie's Evelyn Salt is made of sterner stuff, the kind that can survive a North Korean prison without giving up the name of her employer, the CIA. Back in D.C. and married to a nice though naive German arachnologist (August Diehl) -- yes, he studies spiders and, yes, there is a payoff to that -- she is assigned to CIA desk duties when a supposed Russian defector (Daniel Olbrychski) walks in one day.

Nobody is particularly buying his act, especially Salt's superior, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), but she accedes to his plea to interrogate the man briefly before she heads home to an anniversary dinner. The Russian talks nonsense about sleeper cells and a plot to assassinate the Russian president on American soil. Then he happens to drop the name of the Russian sleeper spy: Evelyn Salt.

This apparently is enough to turn the Agency's counterintelligence officer, Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), into her instant foe. Nothing that happens after this deserves any serious scrutiny, but it's fun to watch Jolie's Salt seemingly transforms into the Russian sleeper agent she is reputed to be -- escaping from a virtual lockdown, dodging cars and bullets, making her way to New York and through subway tunnels to confront the Russian president, then take on, seemingly, every Russian and CIA op in her way.

All those "seemingly" qualifiers are meant to indicate that no studio is going to cast Jolie as a villain or even an anti-hero. What do you think this is, the '70s? But there's just enough doubt for the ad copy to read: Who is Salt?

You can't say the movie keeps you guessing about this for long since most attentive viewers will figure out the true villain(s) well before the climax. But the chase is the whole point.

Here Noyce and his team excel. Propelled by James Newton Howard's nerve-teasing music and enhanced by Robert Elswit's clear-eyed, smartly positioned cameras, "Salt" moves ever forward -- pushing, pushing, pushing its heroine to greater feats every minute. It doesn't stop for martinis, either shaken or stirred, or any other detours. The movie is lean and muscular, looking for action even in situations where a little sleight of hand might have done the trick.

You do wish that maybe it did slow down to consider the human factor. Salt is married; let's dig into that. A marriage between an agent and a civilian is never explored. In making the husband a problem that needs solving, here -- not to give anything away -- the movie stumbles badly. At the end of the day, "who is Salt" is less a tagline than a criticism. Eventually, you know what Salt is. But who she is isn't satisfactorily resolved.

In story terms, that is. In Hollywood terms, there's never any doubt: Salt is Angelina Jolie.

Opens: Friday, July 23 (Columbia)
Production: Columbia Pictures presents in association with Relativity Media a di Bonaventura Pictures production
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, Andre Braugher, August Diehl
Director: Philip Noyce
Screenwriter: Kurt Wimmer
Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Sunil Perkash
Executive producers: Ric Kidney, Mark Vahradian, Ryan Kavanaugh
Director of photography: Robert Elswit
Production designer: Scott Chambliss
Music: James Newton Howard
Costume designer: Sarah Edwards
Editors: Stuart Baird, John Gilroy
Rated PG-13, 100 minutes

Mulan 2010 – Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:26:00 +0000

I was recently on a flight to Hong Kong and in the airline’s collection of Chinese movies, ‘Mulan’ was available. I was curious, obviously because I have known and loved the Disney version for years. It was nominated for a 2010 Best Film award in Hong Kong, and after watching it I can see why. It was an extraordinary film. While I have always loved the Disney’s Mulan, and as I got older, came to appreciate the accuracy with which they tried to convey the original poem, something about it has always bothered me. I did not know what exactly though, until I had watched this adaption of Mulan.

There is something in the Chinese culture in its portrayal of romance that cannot be adapted – and certainly not by an American company, with its need for a happy ending and a final message of ‘good will conquer evil, the guy gets the girl and everyone is a hero’. That does not happen in the Chinese adaption, although the story still comes from the same source material. It is set during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, wherein the tribe of Rouran has declared war on the nation of Wei. Mulan disguises herself as a man and joins the fight for Wei, in place of her elderly and sick father. The key difference in this adaption though is in how and when she is discovered. At the time she first enlists, her friend from her home village, Tiger, realises who she is right away, but swears to keep her secret. Fellow soldier Wentai discovers her secret not much later, one night when she is bathing and she fights with him in an attempt to keep her from discovering her. In the resulting tussle he can of course feel that she is not a man, and so discretely sets out to discover who this woman is.

It’s not long before Wentai’s suspicions are confirmed. Mulan is set to be severely punished for an unrelated crime, but an unexpected enemy attack sees Wentai rescuing her from certain death at the hands of the attackers. Though she is told to flee, she does not, and actually kills the Commander of the attacking army, altering the battle moral for the enemy and effectively enabling their victory. Her superiors and Wentai are so impressed with her bravery and fighting skills that they promote her, along with Wentai. This continues throughout the next few years, with Mulan and Wentai consistently winning their battles with strength and strategy. Wentai notices however, that Mulan is weakened by her soft heart; her love and compassion for her fellow soldiers impairs her judgement in times of battle. So when Wentai is injured in battle, he takes the opportunity to fake his death, effectively cutting Mulan from her greatest friend in the army. After the resulting depression Mulan falls into, in an attempt to ‘cure’ her, Tiger declares rather abruptly that she must become a better General to protect the remaining soldiers.

It works, and Mulan becomes one of the most renown and feared Generals of the Emperors Army. Wentai continues to watch from the sidelines, pretending to be a regular soldier. At the same time, Rouran’s leadership has passed to the son, who is a ruthless Commander, having killed his father to obtain this leadership. By this point however, everyone else is desperate for a peaceful outcome. In the final battle, Mulan suggests a strategy that will ensure certain victory for the Wei army, defeating the 200,000 strong Rouran army with just 20,000 men of her own. It relies on a supporting General however, who is a coward and betrays her. The army holds out for as long as they can, but in the end they are starving, sick and already dying. So Mulan proposes a martyrs death to her soldiers, which they proudly support. This is when Wentai reveals himself to be a Prince of Wei and exchanges his life for that of the battalion. The trade is accepted by the Rouran leader and they leave with Wentai as their prisoner.

Mulan, now aware that he is still alive, goes to rescue him, alone. She finds and manages to come to an agreement with the Princess of Rouran. They both want peace, and so the Princess will marry Wentai to bring about that peace between the two nations. Even though Mulan is in love with Wentai, she encourages this as a way to stop the fighting. Then she can go back to nursing her father in her village. Their plan works, and when she is brought before the Emperor, he does not punish her for concealing her gender. At the same time, it is announced that Wentai will marry the Princess of Rouran and to form an alliance with the two nations. It is clear that Wentai does not wish to marry her, even though it will bring peace, but he agrees to after some persuasion from Mulan.

This ending is what really struck me, above all else. At the very end, the Prince comes to visit Mulan in her village, and asks that she elope with him. However, she tells him that he must do his duty and return to his betrothed. After all the fighting they had done, this would bring the peace that had craved for so long, therefore they would have to bear the sacrifice. To me, this signifies the Chinese moral of the day – sacrifice yourself if it will mean the prosperity of others. Even though it is very clear they both love each other deeply, Wentai sadly leaves the village to return to the palace. There is no intimacy between the two; no romance is obscenely displayed across the screen. Instead, there are small moments, lingering stares and the promise between the two of them to protect her identity. When she is gravely wounded and suffering a high fever, Wentai risks his own health to cut into his wrist and allow his blood to keep her hydrated. He gives himself over to the enemy to save not just all of his troops, but her life in particular. This transcends beyond romance into something more, something more subtle yet at the same time dynamic. The two actors do an outstanding job of conveying the relationship and companionship of the two Generals. This can also be said for the rest of the cast, all of the soldiers in Mulan’s battalion have distinct personalities, and you become attached to each of these very well developed and loveable characters.

While it may be said that in today’s world, the romantic in all of us craves for the onscreen lovers to have their happy ending, I am still very pleased with this not-quite-happy-ending. It is more realistic, in my opinion. For this reason, I give Mulan a Cool Plus. I guarantee that you will find something you like about this movie, whether it is the main characters or supporting cast, the cinematography or the plot itself.