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Killshot

July 24, 2009 by

killshotSynopsis: Beautiful Carmen Colson (Diane Lane) and her ironworker husband Wayne (Thomas Jane) are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an “incident”. Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man (Mickey Rourke) and a psychopathic young upstart killer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit. (IMDB)

Review in short: ‘Killshot’ is consistently interesting and also consistently messy. It has a top-notch cast and a respected director (John Madden, Shakespeare in Love) at the helm, but the troubled production doesn’t allow for a clear vision. The film doesn’t know whether to follow the protagonists or the villains. The performances are decent, although Gordon-Levitt veers a bit over the top. By its finish, the movie is merely okay, better than expected, but not as good as it could be–it feels exactly like a made-for-cable thriller.

[Rating:2.5/5]

Filed Under: Action, Drama Tagged With: , , ,

The Iron Giant

July 18, 2009 by

Before Brad Bird was launched into superstardom (directorially speaking, that is) following the release of The Incredibles, he was a creative talent floating around Hollywood with a penchant for animation and slightly quirky stories.  He was a writer and animator for The Simpsons, a consultant for the oddball animated comedy The Critic, and was even involved in a few projects with Steven Spielberg.  With the release of The Iron Giant, his animation-meets-CGI opus from 1999, he was given a chance to show the world what he and his rich imagination could do given enough time to develop a full-length storyline.  The results were good, but met with a few flaws that keep this film from being among the truly classic works of animation.

At its core, The Iron Giant is a story about a boy and his friend.  This boy, named Hogarth, like the protagonists of so many of these kinds of films, is misunderstood by adults, has few companions at school, and spends too much time lost in his own imagination.  He’s a bit Calvinlike, in some respects, though not as mean-spirited towards authority.  At any rate, it’s no surprise that when an unearthly visitor crash-lands near the boy’s small hometown in Maine, that Hogarth forms an immediate bond with him.  Hogarth and the Iron Giant (voiced rather tenderly by the venerable Vin Diesel) spend much of the film simply existing together:  playing, relaxing, having adventures, and keeping their secret friendship away from adults and authority figures.  Much of the film is a paint-by-numbers exercise in retreading past stories, though:  Hogarth’s mom is too busy to pay attention to her son.  One man, a government investigator, knows something is going on with Hogarth and is determined to find out.  One adult does believe Hogarth and helps him out.  Soon enough the secret is out and the authorities do find out.  Everyone freaks, people panic, the Army gets involved, and…well, you get the point.

The Brad Bird quirkiness comes from the sheer nature of the story: a kid befriends a 100-foot tall metal behemoth.  It’s a bit different from typical Disney fare, you might say.  But I had a hard time buying the friendship and the isolation from all adults.  Early on in the film the giant causes a train to crash, and this should have been a pivotal turning point in the story.  But for the most part people just continue in their daily lives afterwards while Hogarth and his pet giant continue to frolic about in the woods unnoticed, and no one in town (save for the savvy investigator) bothering to ask any questions.  I can give animated films a lot of leeway and wiggle room, but I just wasn’t able to let go of some of these types of plot issues.

Like Titan A.E., I get the feeling that this film started out as a fantastic idea, but something got lost in the translation to celluloid.  It’s entertaining but not engrossing.  Interesting but not engaging.  And the emotional core never really came through to me (Hogarth actually says “I love you” to the giant late in the film–a cringe-worthy moment that felt entirely forced and was entirely unbelievable, and seemed like the filmmakers knew they had failed to create a true emotional connection between the two characters and at that point decided to just go for broke.)  I suppose if I was younger the movie would have been better, but seeing it for the first time as a guy who’s almost thirty, it just wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.

Filed Under: Animation Tagged With: , ,

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

July 15, 2009 by

azkabanHarry Potter has a chance to simultaneously lighten up and get serious in ‘The Prisoner of Azkaban,’ widely considered (to my disagreement) the best installment of the franchise thus far. A new director and a fresh tone do liven things up a little bit as our lead hero enters his teenage years with rebellion and frustration intact.

The story sends the young magic trio back to school under the alarming news that Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), a savage murderer– also an accomplice in the death of Harry’s parents–has escaped from Azkaban prison. Dementors (wraith like spirits with soul-sucking power) are dispatched to seek the prisoner out, that is if Potter doesn’t find him first and have his revenge, or possibly fall victim to the dementors himself.azkaban 2

Right out of the gate, I think ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ trumps its predecessors as far as all the technical aspects go. The action and special effects are first-rate. There are some great sequences to thrill to, especially a few CGI additons: a horse-bird hybrid called Buckbeak and a few menacing werewolves.  The plot is serviceable enough–I particularly enjoyed developments toward the film’s climax.  The story also introduces us to a new ‘Harry Potter,’ a blood-thirsty teenager not just sad about the loss of his parents and not so easily cornered by his tormenting aunt and uncle. This Harry fights back with disregard, and all three youngsters mature in that light.  Credit the lighter feel of the film to its new director, Alfonso Cuaron, who trims the running time by approximately twenty minutes, allows more humor to find its way into the material, and somehow manages to make this darker premise not so heavy.  I will say this is the most inventive film of the series, but I felt the plot contained less suspense than ‘The Chamber of Secrets’ and lost some of that ‘dreary and haunted’ vibe. And to Cauron’s credit, that’s because ‘Azkaban’ seems aimed at being more fun. I did enjoy it, but it wasn’t my favorite.

[Rating:3.5/5]

-MJV & the Movies.

Filed Under: Action, Family Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

July 15, 2009 by

chamberThe ‘Potter’ series gets a boost with “The Chamber of Secrets,” Chris Columbus’ second outing at Hogwarts. This time out Harry, Hermione and Ron must discover what’s causing the paralyzing of students at school, a beast or monster perhaps, buried within the mysterious  ‘chamber of secrets,’ and they must act fast as the victims are piling up, or the school will soon be closed.chamber 2

This is a much darker, meatier film than we got the first time around. The story takes interesting turns, and the suspense actually keeps the audience on edge, huge Potter fanatics or not.’The Sorcerer’s Stone’ really strayed from any straight-forward plot mechanics and simply took us into its world and introduced the characters and purpose of magic. ‘Chamber of Secrets’ allows its characters to go further and work within the confines of an interesting story that actually holds some striking interest. And while I griped that the special effects were a bit lacking the first time around, this film steps it up considerably. The Quidditch sequences are much more fluid, the flying car sequences are a treat, and watch out for the dark forest with giant man-eating arachnids– good stuff!chamber 3

I can complain about minor CGI characters or the film’s running time over and over, but it wouldn’t be worth my while. These movies are stuck at 2 1/2 hours roughly, and at least this one makes use of the time. With a production design like this, pitch perfect actors growing into their roles, and a solid story, ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ is definitely a worthy installment and an improvement over ‘Part One.’

[Rating:4/5]

-MJV & the Movies

Filed Under: Action, Family, Mystery Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Bruno

July 13, 2009 by

bruno-b_2Yes, I endured ‘Bruno’, Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest character creation to hit cinemas. Admittedly, ‘Borat’ from 2006 had some brains to it, and while the movie had its handful of shocking moments, they didn’t completely overwhelm Cohen’s sometimes brilliant moments. The man is very talented, it’s just too bad he delves too far for laughs and will do anything to ignite controversy– the kind Sean Penn and George Clooney would kill for. ‘Bruno’ is a sad package. Cohen only goes for surface gags playing a homosexual fashion show host headed for America to become a major celebrity.

From the get-go, Cohen hits the audience over the head with heavy doses of unbelievable sexual imagery (usually covered with blurs) only meant to elicit an “Are you serious?!” response. Most audience members were covering their faces. That trend continues throughout most of this, and only sporadically do we get some of the genuine eye-opening moments the film is seemingly intended for. The film’s greatest strength comes in a scene showcasing the negligence of these psychotic parents with child-actors. During that moment, the laughs stopped and Cohen actually hit a good point. And he does a few other times, but most of the gags don’t make much sense. A few times he points out the hypocrisy of certain clueless celebrities (Paula Abdul among them). But overall, the movie is far too disturbing and outright offensive to most.  Cohen wants to paint a picture of America’s self-indulgence, intolerance, hypocrisy, and make every famous person look stupid. And he does create that, but by using and thriving off the very stereotypes he tries to lampoon. I’ll admit there are a few good jokes, and he hits a few good notes, but the shock factor is far too extreme, offensive and depraved. I left disturbed. Good thing ‘Bruno’, despite becoming the weekend’s number one movie, won’t have the popularity or staying power of ‘Borat’. I can’t believe this thing walked away with an ‘R’ rating, after apparently being edited down some — now that’s a scary thought.

[Rating:2/5]

Filed Under: Comedy Tagged With: ,

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

July 12, 2009 by

harrypotter1With the latest installment of easily the most financially viable film series of all time hitting theaters this week, I sought out the previous entries and decided to take a look back at them. I remember missing “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in theaters. The books were sparked with early controversy for kid readers, were wildly popular, and I’ve never found my way into one to this day. In the holiday season of 2001, this was undoubtedly the most hyped movie in theaters, and was neck-and-neck with the other geek-fandom opus that was the first ‘Lord of the Rings’ installment. At the year’s end, even after ‘Rings’ walked away with 13 Oscar nominations and major critical praise, ‘Harry Potter 1’ wore the crown of the year’s biggest blockbuster, squeaking past the hobbits with only $3 million more. There’s no point in arguing that the ‘Rings’ trilogy is a better line of films, but Harry Potter has gone on to its sixth entry, with the final two productions in development.  Each flick has averaged around $260 million domestically and nearly $1 billion globally– again, that is per film!  What will Warner Bros. do without this dominating franchise? And better yet, will these films stand the test of time?

It is with this curiosity that I decided to go back to the most successful film of the series, the only one to pass $300 million domestically, the one that kick-started the whole phenomenon. Director Chris Columbus, frequent John Hughes collaborator, has seen his share of success in the industry, with the first two blockbuster ‘Home Alone’ films and ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ to his credit — the man knows family films with mass appeal. Granted, his films never have a personal touch or much beyond the syrupy consumer pulp culminating most movies, but he does make enjoyable flicks nonetheless.

‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ is no exception. This is a good, wholesome, enjoyable movie with magic in it, but without a magical touch. I often love origin stories, and so I tend to become engulfed in how things begin, and become less intrigued when a series plays out after all this discovery. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) discovers he’s a wizard of  famously murdered parents and finds his way to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where dark conspiracies run amok. He meets two pals, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ronald Weasley (Rupert Grint). The trio embarks on a Scooby-Doo investigation to unveil the secret of a dark wizard named Voldemort, whom Potter seems to have an interesting connection to, and his plot to steal the secret Sorcerer’s stone, which would grant him unearthly power.
HaPo

The plot serves and a very drawn out film at over 2 1/2 hours, but of course that’s due to the lengthy book from J.K. Rowling which I haven’t read.   I suppose that doesn’t build my credit in reviewing the film here. As such, the movie should stand on its own terms anyway. And it does.  Columbus’ film can be a bit hokey and a bit too long, but the characters are undoubtedly fascinating. The three young actors work wonders and really do add something magical to some slow pacing and shoddy special effects that don’t hold up quite as well today. I’m mostly focusing on the Quidditch game where the youngsters are flying around on broomsticks playing ‘fetch’ with a fancier title. These effects aren’t too bad, I don’t mean to point fingers at an eight-year-old film, but they are noticeable by today’s standards. The casting overcomes any of these obstacles in the way of the production and light direction.  Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson shine and add a sense of reality to their characters, an amazing feat for being so young.  The film also boasts notable supporting actors including the late Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledor, Alan Rickman in  scene-stealing over-the-top brilliance as the dark Professor Snape, and the always-intelligible Maggie Smith.
‘The Sorcerer’s Stone’ remains a solid introduction to a fascinating franchise. The film’s action sequences have energy, the characters have believability, the magic in it is fun for kids and adults, and in my book it’s not selling witchcraft and sorcery to kids any more than ‘The Wizard of Oz’ or ‘The Lord of the Rings’ series would be.  I think any of the early controversial ties go unjust. This is simply a fun mystery movie that is a little choppy, but sets the stage for these characters rather well.

[Rating:4/5]

-MJV & the Movies

Filed Under: Action, Family, Mystery Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

July 8, 2009 by

I have long been a fan of documentaries, and even when I was a kid I remember my dad watching the famous Ken Burns multi-part exploration of The Civil War.  I could not, nor can not, accurately describe just why Burns’ film was so compelling, but somehow he was able to transfix my ten-year-old mind regardless of the sheer weight of the historical record being presented, never minding the lack of any original video footage, fancy special effects, or other trappings of modern Hollywood.  No, the tale that Burns recounted was one of real people, whose words came to life through their original letters and other writings, who participated in one of the darkest and bloodiest chapters in our nation’s history.  His slow, controlled pans and zooms over grainy black-and-white photographs, his depiction of rich green countrysides where so many had died so long ago, and his hearty respect for the subject matter left an indellible impression on me for many years to come.

Lewis and Clark showcases Ken Burns’ talents as a masterful documentarian, and intricately details one of the most grand adventures in history.  It continues the tradition he set forth years prior with The Civil War, and I am eager to see his other films about baseball and World War II.  What I found most remarkable about Lewis and Clark was how intricately Mr. Burns detailed so many aspects of their historic journey into the wild unknown, mostly through the use of narrated selections from their letters and journals.  The majesty of the great prairies, the intensity of the summer heat and bitter winter cold, the interactions with both friendly and adversarial Natives, the desperation the Corps faced as they stared at the Rockies with no forseeable way to cross before winter…it’s all captured in this film in a very real and personal way that is rare among documentaries.

Youth is often said to be wasted on the young, and one might add classroom history lessons to that maxim as well.  This is the kind of film that, had I been witness to it in my primary schooling days, would have soon found me asleep at my desk or staring out the window.  Unlike the Civil War, the Journey of the Corps of Discovery was much more tame, and the conflicts of man and nature would probably have not been as compelling to me as the brother-against-brother battles in the Civil War.  But the triumphs, despairs, and adulations of the Corps are more inspiring to me than they have ever been before–thanks to this masterwork from Ken Burns.  The added commentaries from noted historians such as Stephen Ambrose and William Least Heat-Moon, a descendant of the Nez Perce, the friendly tribe with whom Lewis and Clark traded after their journey across the Rockies, add another layer of richness to this documentary that I greatly appreciated.

While this film is not perfect (some parts do tend to drag on, and I would have liked more information on the rest of the Corps rather than just Lewis, Clark, and a handful of others), it is a wonderful showcase of two true American heroes and their journey of courage, hope, and discovery.

Filed Under: Documentary Tagged With: ,

12 Rounds

July 6, 2009 by

12rounds

 


“12 Rounds” is the type of action movie we don’t see much in cinemas these days. A musclebound cop hero races around impressive action set pieces to rescue his girlfriend from a notorious criminal mastermind. Pro-wrestler and hip-hop artist John Cena fills the shoes of protagonist Danny Fisher, the cop having a really bad day.  This movie, from the producers of ‘The Marine’ (the atrocious Cena vehicle from 2006), is a blatant rip-off of ‘Die Hard with a Vengeance’ and ‘Speed’ blended together. The acting is mostly terrible, with Cena being the the worst presence of all. How this dodged the straight-to-DVD bin is beyond me. On a surface level this is an easily watchable action movie that’s not the worst you’ll ever see, but it really hinges on Cena’s shoulders and the man doesn’t have the charisma or delivery to carry the project. If he had a shred of the charm that made Schwarzenegger, Stallone or even Dwayne Johnson work so well in flicks like this one — it might have succeeded. As is, everything is pure formula and all of the performances are lame.

[Rating:2/5]

Filed Under: Action Tagged With: , , , , ,
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