Real Movie Review-Movie Reviews, Movie Quotes, Movie Trivia

Director: Doug Liman

Starring: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Michael Rooker,

Bourne Identity director, Doug Liman has not lost his touch for fast-paced, cool, action film-making and the proof is in this exciting adaptation of Steven Gould’s novel. Hayden Christensen has finally got a hit that doesn‘t involve slipping over to the dark side. The imaginative story is far-fetched, but as far as the action genre goes, its not too ridiculous, though the characters could have had more personality and development. My main issue with this film, however, is that we are being dragged, with a ring clamped on our noses, through a disturbing, commercially-driven sequel set-up. This, of course, leads to an ending that resolves nothing and left me feeling a little ripped off.

Hayden Christensen plays David Rice, who, as a teenager, finds himself able to teleport. Soon, he is using this somewhat unusual skill to live a luxurious, jet-set lifestyle (without the jet), that gives us some nice world tour shots, but into his sparkling lagoon of decadent tranquility, ripples soon appear in the guise of a stern, white-haired authority figure, Roland (Samuel L. Jackson). David’s worriless consequence-free existence is shattered, since, as Roland says, “There are always consequences”.

Jumpers is an entertaining action effort that will please the adrenaline junkies, and shouldn’t put off discerning fans more than one would expect from a movie based on teleportation. The whole thing reminded me of a lighter version of Interview With A Vampire, with its secret world of those with special powers and their enemies. Just be ready for its ending that sounds like a cash register that hasn’t yet finished ringing, and probably won’t until the cash from another two movies is in the bank.

Director: Matt Reeves

Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, T. J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Mike Vogel, Odette Yustman

Writer Drew Goddard, and director Matt Reeves, both of whom have mostly little screen resumes, have come up with what will certainly be the first water-cooler-talk movie of 2008. This ambitious, small budget, (by Tinsel town standards, anyway) film got rung up for around 30 million. These days 30 large (ok, really large) will barely get you an A-list star, and these guys made an entire monster movie with it! Hats off and some applause for them on that! But, what about the end result? Is this movie any good? Well, yes, it is pretty good as well. This is film-making in the true reality TV style. The entire movie is seen through the eyes of a video camera being carried by the characters and takes place in a 24 hour period. It starts slow, but when it picks up speed, it doesn’t slow down. The small cast all have TV backgrounds, except for Mike Vogel, and all were unknowns to me. They do a good job with a script that mostly calls for running and saying ‘Oh my God’ a lot. The characters are not well-developed and that is an area that could have been improved, but I don’t think Reeves wanted to slow down, once he got moving. The story is simple and incomplete, since we only know what the characters see and they don’t know what’s going on, either. The results are effective, and create a mood that is unlike virtually any film I have ever seen.

Rob (Michael Stahl-David) is enjoying his last day in New York with his friend, Beth (Odette Yustman) before heading off to work in Japan. Things move rapidly to an evening surprise party for him, put on by his brother, Jason (Mike Vogel), who is told by his gf Lily to video tape the festivities so Rob has something to take with him. Jason promptly passes the task off to their friend, Hud (T. J. Miller). The story spends longer at this party than needed and still doesn’t let us get to know the characters well enough, but things pick up when their building is rocked by something that feels like an earth tremor. The group takes to the streets where they are soon bombarded with the detached head of the Statue of Liberty. Hmm, that seems unusual. Soon, the small group is fleeing Manhattan (like everyone else, except for incoming military forces), only to try to return when Rob gets a call from Beth, who has been trapped in her apartment.

Cloverfield is packed with tension and has an original style that has really only been seen in the Blair Witch Project previously. Imagine Blair Witch turned into a monster movie with a lot more cash to spend, a far better script, and you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect here. If you have any emotional issues in seeing New York in an authentic state of panic, or have tendencies toward motion sickness, then this may not be the best choice for you, but, besides that, I recommend it if for no other reason, than being a movie that really is different. That is a rare sight, indeed…

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam, Jackson Bond, Jeffrey Wright

German director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, takes a stab at this, the third film version of the Jack Finney’s novel, Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Kidman’s performance is stiff, as usual, but still good, though some of the supporting cast is not quite up to her standards. The story is fine, but tired, both my earlier Body Snatcher films and, even more so by all the movies since, that have had the same kind of mass impersonation concept.

Nicole Kidman is Carol, a single mother of a young son (Jackson Bond), dealing with an ex husband, and a new boyfriend (Daniel Craig) when, following some kind of space shuttle mishap, people begin to act strangely. Just in case, one or two of my readers don’t know this story, I won’t say anymore, since those of you who do know the story don’t need me to tell you anyway.

Fans of the original(s) will find this Kidman version to be a slightly different, but respectful, addition to the Body Snatcher family. The overall result is a bland science fiction thriller that really lacks punch.

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: Cliff Curtis, Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rose Byrne, Benedict Wong, Chris Evans, Troy Garity, Mark Strong

Danny Boyle, the director of 28 Days Later, and producer of 28 Weeks Later returns to the director’s chair for this small scale, story-driven science fiction thriller. The effects are modest, but well done and the performances are quite good. The story starts out as quite engaging, though a little far-fetched, but comes apart at the end to reduce what had been a pretty solid sci-fi effort to a mediocre attempt.

The setting is a space ship, the Icarus II, in the not-so-distant future. A crew of 8 is on their way to the sun, which is dying. Humans have come with a plan to plant a giant bomb on the surface on the sun. The theory is that this giant explosion will re-ignite the dying star and, thus save all of humankind. How come Hollywood’s scientific plans always include a bomb? Anyway, that doesn’t matter. This crew is piloting their ship, the second to attempt at this risky plan to get as close to the sun’s surface as possible, before sending the bomb. This sounds like Armageddon, but it is nothing like it. The small crew, as you might expect, soon find themselves faced with difficult decisions and, since they are out of radio contact with Earth, they have to come up with their own answers.

The Sci-fi crowd will welcome this movie with open arms since it beats re-runs of Deep Space Nine and how many times can you watch Revenge of The Sith? This isn’t a bad movie and will be enjoyed by the genre fans and others will likely find it decent, well-acted entertainment. The ending gets really far-fetched (well, impossible, I think, actually) and hard to follow, but I enjoyed the movie anyway, though I probably won’t be adding it to my home video collection.

Iceman (1984) **1/2

Director: Fred Schwepisi

Starring: Timothy Hutton, John Lone, Lindsay Crouse, Josef Sommer, David Strathairn

I’m told that this dated drama has somehow managed to gain a small cult following over the last quarter century, but I am at a loss to explain why. The acting is very good, particularly John Lone in the title role, and the characters are cardboard cut-outs, but not poor ones, though I think the Iceman would have been better without such a similar cultural mindset to our own. The story is the weak link in this missing link story. It starts out far-fetched, which for an older sci-fi feature, I am willing to accept, but, while this script gives us a decent second act, the third act gets increasingly hard to buy. The ending is a love-it-or-hate-it point of debate among viewers. I have to sit myself down with the latter group.

Timothy Hutton is Shepard, an anthropologist studying the Inuit from an elaborate scientific base in the arctic, when a perfectly preserved 40,000 year old Neanderthal is discovered nearby and brought in. This is already a huge discovery, but it gets just a little bigger when they find that they are able to revive him! Ok, ok I know that’s a stretch, but it is a sci-fi movie so what the hell. The science here is pretty shaky, but John Lone is not, playing the world’s oldest man as he tries to adapt to the crazy world around him. Look for an early Danny Glover role and some really head-scratching plot shifts.

Starts out far-fetched and gets further-fetched. The science was shaky when the movie was made and twenty-five years later its a food processor on high. Get past that and you might find enjoy it on TV. Then, you can tell me what you thought of that ending.

Director: Brian Singer

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Tyler Mane, Ray Park, Rebecca Romijn, Bruce Davison

Growing up, I was a Spider-man guy. The X-Men were funny-looking and really of no interest to me. Who would have thought that I would have to become an adult to appreciate them? The comic book movie craze has given us great movies (Spider-man) and terrible movies (The Hulk). This is the former. The cast is a bit too large and makes it difficult to tell everyone’s story, so Singer wisely focuses on a few key characters. There are quality performances (particularly Stewart and McKellen) here, as well as an impressive script with an effective message about the dangers of being different in human society. The action scenes go on a little too long (but I usually think that), but are well done and interesting.

The film opens with a moving scene set in the German WWII concentration camp and slams us with the motivation of main bad guy, Magneto (Masterfully played by McKellen in a really silly looking helmet). The movie then moves to the present where there has been a surge in human evolution leading to the existence of ‘mutants’, who possess a limitless variety of supernatural powers. This is a fearful situation for more traditionally-abled humans and an ambitious politician (Davison) wants to obligate all mutants to be registered, along with the powers they possess. Both Magneto and Dr. Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), the founder and operator of a school for Mutant teenagers, oppose this discriminatory and dangerous move, but differ on how to address it. Xavier wants to negotiate and solve the issues through dialog, while Magneto favors a more direct form of expression. There is also a story about Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), a rebellious mutant with a scrappy disposition and a good heart, whose past is lost to him. He crosses paths with a scared Mutant girl, Rogue (Paquin). Rebecca Romijn is the assistant villain, Mystique. She gave me fantasies about furry, blue chicks that I never thought I would have, and is very cool in action, as well. Halle Berry has never looked better (and she always looks great) than as the white-haired, weather wonder, Storm. Famke Janssen is gorgeous, but rather boring as Jean Grey, which makes her a good match with her blander than bland boyfriend, Cyclops. Still, this is a very busy movie and there was not enough time to properly develop all of the many characters.

The angle taken on this story is intriguing and effective and is helped along by a few interesting characters and skilled experienced actors. The action is fast and plentiful. The result is one of the best super-hero movies ever made. Action fans and comic book buyers will like it for sure, but the connoisseurs of thinking-man action movies may find it surprisingly enjoyable, as well.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel,

Director: Lee Tamahori

Nicolas Cage is a pretty hit-or-miss actor for me. This was a miss and it wasn’t pretty. It is far fetched - unintentionally funny far-fetched and reaches the point of just being ridiculous. It reminded me of Face Off, which had the same buy-this-cause-we-say-so, kind of plot. If you were ok with the nonsensical story in that one, then this one may be acceptable for you, but you would also have to suffer through long action gaps in the first two thirds of the film. I hope you are seeing it for the story.
Cage is Cris Johnson, a funny-looking bad Vegas lounge act, who appears to be over-tanned and suffering from some kind of black hair dye disaster. Johnson has the ability to see into the future, but only for himself, and only two minutes ahead. These are the rules that the story works under and how this ability turns him into some kind of superhero is beyond me. It would work better if they added the line, “Oh, and also my brain is a super computer that can calculate all possible outcomes instantaneously (there can’t be that many can there?)! Aren’t I lucky?” So, anyway, Johnson is this superhero and Julianne Moore is FBI agent Callie Ferris, who figures that the only way she can stop generic terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb in the Greater LA area is to pull in Johnson to help her. Since this doesn’t seem like a real easy thing to pull off, maybe if they put all of their Johnson-seeking efforts into the investigation they would not need Mr. Johnson’s unique skill set. I could go on and on. The premise is questionable. The execution is laughable.
I thought the movie was bad, but like Face-Off, some will enjoy it. See it once. See it twice if you like. I don’t have to have fortune telling skills to tell you that I won’t see it again. As long as my TV has a channel changer and in-flight movies are optional, I won’t be seeing Julianne Moore’s attempt at pulling Mr. Johnson into her investigation again.

Director: Mark Steven Johnson

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, Donal Logue, Wes Bentley

Marvel Comics has been a gold mine of material for the movie biz in the last few years. The trouble is that some of what they are pulling out is gold, and some is…. well, let’s just say its not gold. This one is not gold, but it is a little better than I expected. The CGI is excellent, once the Ghost Rider finally makes an appearance, but this takes about an hour. The story is ok, but is saddled with pretty sad dialogue in spots.

Matt Long plays a young Johnny Blaze, part of a motorcycle trick riding act along with his father. Young Blaze inadvertently makes a deal with Mephistopheles and eventually (and I do mean eventually) he comes to collect, which really complicates the mature Blaze’s (Cage) attempts to patch up a relationship with his teenage love, Roxanne, played by Eva Mendes who is hotter than the flaming rider. At one point, she asks a waiter if she is good-looking, which is the dumbest question since the last person who asked “Hot enough for ya?” Anyway, once Cage finally becomes the rider instead of a famous motorcycle performer, his job is to put Mephistopheles’ rebellious son back into Hell, but he doesn’t want to go and there is nothing peskier than a spoiled Demi-God.

The first hour is an overdeveloped back-story and the second half is an overblown, story-poor action orgy. The movie is too long, and needed the action more evenly distributed, but action fans will probably forgive its slow start and embrace its prolonged action scenes. It doesn’t have the super ability to win over the minds of others, however.

Starring: Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer, James Caviezel, Adam Goldberg, Eldon Henson, Erika Alexander.

Director: Tony Scott

This is a trippy, complicated, but ultimately, pleasing action effort for thinking fans. A kick ass script, on-the-mark direction and another outstanding performance by Denzel lift this film above the level of most action movies. Don’t let a slow, clichéd opening fool you. This one picks up speed fast and veers off onto a movie road that is anything but cliché.

Denzel Washington is ATF agent Doug Carlin who sets out to solve a terrorist attack and in doing so comes across a group of egg headed techno geeks with the coolest technology that you have never heard of, being lead by FBI agent, Andrew Pryzwarra played by Val Kilmer. The technology opens up mind-bending possibilities that will have your mouth dropping open and your eyes glazing over. You might have started nodding off if the high-octane action didn’t quickly start coming at you fast and furious from every direction in space and time.

This is a very good action movie that will have you wondering and discussing after. It received a mixed reception upon release, but despite a slow opening, could have been better, and logic flaws with the ending, this is a very good action movie and if I could go back in time, I would still see it.

Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Claire Hope-Ashitay, Michael Caine, Charlie
Hunnam, Peter Mullan

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

This movie came out with a blast of hype; something about being the only movie that will be remembered in 50 yrs or something. A pretty bold claim and I don’t know anything about it carrying the film studies flag for future generations, but it is a good movie, with a kind of Blade Runner vision of a dark future for humanity.
In 2029, women have been struck by infertility. The youngest people are 18 years old and society is breaking down with political, scientific, religious and terrorist groups sprouting up and clashing with each other and an increasingly authoritarian government. In England this also includes a savage crackdown on illegal immigrants. This policy is carried out by a dept. called Homeland Security in the year’s most unsubtle analogy. In this environment, a pregnant illegal immigrant is a complicated issue that many groups want control of. Who should Earth’s last mother (Chiwetel Elijofor ) trust to get her and her unborn child to safety? She chooses a cynical ex-activist named Theo Faron (Clive Owen).
Usually films that attempt grand futuristic visions stumble over the size of their target, but this one manages to pull if off without gaping plot holes. It has a tense well-written story and very good performances throughout, even by the many actors with small roles. This is made possible by a script that creates no stock characters, but individuals. Even Owen’s character is virtually one of a kind; an action hero who doesn’t use violence. This is an intelligent action movie and well worth seeing, but it is far from simple. Follow along carefully to enjoy it.