The worst complaints I have about Law Abiding citizen are not the ridiculous plot or the tired, overdone evil genius character. The worst part of this project is that it has made alot of money and will encourage more crap to shoot out of Hollywood’s crap machine. Director Gary Gray has put out other weak action efforts like The Negotiator and The Italian Job remake where he wasted so much great talent that he should have been arrested for impersonating a filmmaker. Gerard Butler brings his considerable presence to the project and Foxx is solid enough.
Gerard Butler is Clyde Shelton, an ingenius inventor whose idyllic family-filled life is shattered when a couple of criminal misfits force their way into his home apparently for the main intention of killing everyone there and maybe grabbing a bit of jewellry. When they are caught, prosecutor nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx, makes a plea bargain that allows the worst of the two criminals to be released in a mere ten years. It appears that Mr Shelton is a resourceful and patient man. He uses those then years to plan elaborate revenge on everyone he sees as being involved in this miscarriage of justice.
This film has found a following of non-discriminating viewers who will doubtlessly defend its glaring flaws with the “it’s only a movie” defense. It is only a movie. It is a bad movie that plays like Death Wish crossed with Saw. It’s unoriginal, over the top result is suitable viewing for fanas of the genre, but likely to be somewhere between nap-worthy and reactionary junk for others.
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, Kali Hawk, Tasha Smith, Carlos Ponce, Peter Serafinowicz, Jean Reno
Really, the best thing I can say about Vince Vaughns newest comedy is that he has given us worse films. I just cant think of any right now, but Im sure he has. Minor actor Peter Billingsley is behind the camera here and underutilizes his magnificent location possibilities and never finds the right pacing for this film. Lets not be too hard on him though, because the script (credited to three writers – usually not a good sign) is about two or three re-writes short of a hit. There are too many characters, too few jokes and the result is a plodding work that never gets the viewer to care about the outcome.
The mighty Invincible Vaughn is playing Vince as usual, though his name is Dave this time out and he is the hub of a circle married friends that includes Jason, who is played by Jason Bateman. Can everyone follow that. Jason has come to the conclusion that his sputtering marriage can only be salvaged by a week at a beautiful couples retreat. The catch is he can only afford such an extravagance if he can get the whole group to go and secure a better rate. There is some contrived blah, blah, blah (thats ok, most films, esp comedies do this in the beginning, but it is pretty obvious here and not very funny. Once there the group is subjected to an anal retentive concierage (or whatever he is supposed to be), an overly amorous yoga instructor and a control-obsessed, mysterious relationship genius played by Jean Reno. The couples discover exactly what you think they will discover after alot of lukewarm sexual jokes and hot bikini usage.
Not much to offer here, beyond the obvious. Vaughn fans and particularly easy to please comedy fans will find this one worth renting. I found it to be worth nothing unless one is planning to finish their film studies thesis with a treatise on the most forgetable work of the worlds most mediocre film stars.
Starring: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Eve, Kristen Wigg, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Landon Pigg, Daniel Stern,
Drew Barrymore’s feature directorial debut is a success! Well, sort of. Working with novel author Shauna Cross’ screenplay, Barrymore does manage to keep the energy level up an does a fantastic job of casting a talented cast of actors who both look and play the roles they are in. The story is unique (at least unique within the cookie cutter confines of Hollywood) and interesting. Ellen Page is as great to watch as ever and Jimmy Fallon steps in from time to time with some comic relief. Where Whip It loses its roll a little is with a story that dulls its edge too much and with the roller skating scenes that could have been punched up with bit more action.
Ellen Page is Bliss Cavender, a high school girl competing in beauty pageants to please her frustrated mother played by Marcia Gay Harden. Bliss needs something of her own, however, and finds it, with her friend’s Pash’s (Alia Shawkat) I-dare-you encouragement in the resurging world of roller derby, but her challenges are many. Can she evade her mother (and league rules) to play? Can she fit in with the raucous crew of boisterous women and, most of all, can she hold her own on the track where bigger, meaner opponents with names like Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis) are playing rough and hard? Let the credits roll. They are dotted with fun outtakes.
Whip it is a good film about women stepping out and doing things by themselves and for themselves. It’s flavour and feel are rather like “A League of Their Own”, but lacks the polish of the latter. It is still an enjoyable film. It’s a fun, upbeat film with a charismatic cast and an interesting subject.
Starring: Jessica Romero, Danny Glover, Kate Del Castillo, Emily Rios
I rolled into TO for the last weekend of the 2009 TIFF (Toronto Int’l Film Festival) and went on a whirlwind movie spree, seeing nine movies in two days. Some, like My Son, My Son What Ye Done, were god awful, pretentious art-house junk and others, like Jennifer’s Body, were pretty good, but head and shoulders above the other eight was Down For life. This gritty inner city drama, which is apparently a true story inspired by a New Times article, crackles with realism and the performers don’t seem to be acting at all, but simply living. The action scenes are jarring and seem a lot closer to Youtube than Hollywood, thanks to the skilled direction of little-known director, Alan Jacobs.
Jessica Romero, was cast right off the streets of East Central to play the lead role of Rascal, the streetwise leader of a small women’s wing of a Latino gang. The whole story takes place in a single chaotic day in her violence-filled life. Conflict both inside and outside the gang as well as in the home, on top of a looming deadline for entry to a summer writing program that might be an escape hatch to a better life. The crisp story moves along quickly and eventually takes us a scene so sudden and shocking that viewers seemed to jump back in their seats as one.
Down For Life is a current and raw film made in the vein of such inner city classics as Boyz n The Hood. It is an independent film and may be hard to find, but as the best film of 2009, thus far, it is well worth the effort.
Michael Moore is back and using his well-known bombastic style to lambaste the capitalist system in general, and the Wall Street robber barons in particular. Moore’s main gripe this time out is the Washington 700 mil corporate bailout package. He talks about who got it, how they got it, what they did with it, and he has a few impressive points to make about it, though the film would have been better if it had focused a little more narrowly on that area instead of trying to pass judgement on the whole Capitalist system, which is better tackled in a 200 page thesis than a two hour movie..
Using his usual but always entertaining formula, Moore mixes humour with poignant stories of little people being crushed by the economic crisis, along with stories of the faceless grey system villains. Moore stays away from tackling many of these executives by name, perhaps because none of them talked to him or threatened endless legal action if he used any ambush interview footage. These leads to a drawback in this Moore effort. Perhaps as a victim of his own success, the only faces for these villains are those of hapless security guards and low level managers. The big guys know better than to even let him in the door and thus achieve everlasting celluloid infamy. At any rate, all of his leads to a slightly triumphant finish, again in accordance with his Moore formula style.
Not as funny as some of his past projects and a little light on the content, as well, but the Moore formula and style is in clear evidence. Fans will welcome his return and forgive any shortcomings, and those who are not fans, well, I don’t imagine that they will shell out their dough to see and hear the rants of a fat commie pinko anyway.
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody
I saw Jennifer’s Body in its third and final screening at the Toronto film festival and found it to be a pleasant surprise. This is a
comedy/horror in the vein of an American Werewolf in London, and this genre has more than its share of video store dust collectors. Two names give this one a shot of avoiding this fate.
One is Diablo Cody’s sparkling writing which though sometimes over the top, is interesting, amusing and at least makes us old geezers over 25, feel like we are in on the hippest new teen slang. Whether we are or not, how would I know? I haven’t spoken to a teen since the last time I got a 2am Big Mac at a drive through.
The other advantage Jennifer’s Body has is, well, Jennifer’s body. Hiring Transformers star, Megan Fox, has gotten this film a lot of attention and even more so when word got out on what a sexy role the sultry beauty would be playing. She looks good (pronounced in this case as goooooooood) and puts in a pretty solid performance besides. This girl may still have a future when she stops spouting off yawning filler dialog next to stupid alien warbots that somehow felt that they should earn some extra endorsement coin to cover travel costs by turning into the latest model year of cars sold on a planet 800 zillion years from where they’re from. Sorry. Guess I sprinted off onto a raving tangent for a second there.
Jennifer’s Body is the story of a couple of teenage friends. The applicably named everygirl is Needy (played by Amanda Seyfried), who finds herself torn between her sweet boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons) and her hot, school ruling best friend, Jennifer Check sizzled up by the aforementioned Ms. Fox. The two friends head off to a local bar where Jennifer is hot to hook up with a visiting band. They both have a night of their lives, but not in a good way. All young women at this age are undergoing a lot of changes, but not usually as extreme as Jennifer who might also be some kind of bloodthirsty, short-skirted monster. Its up to Needy to figure out what’s going on.
With equal parts comedy, horror, gore and a little suspense mixed in, this film tries to do a lot, but never tries to take itself seriously, which in the end saves it from sinking into the crap pile. Some decent performers firing out Cody’s Juno-style dialog make this one worth catching.
Liam Neeson is one of those actors that makes you say, “oh yeah, I forgot about him. I really like him, I wish he did more movies”. He seems to pop up every decade or so and never delivers a turd, Taken is no exception.
Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills. Ex CIA agent who took an early retirement package so that he could spend more time with his Daughter Kimmy, played by Maggie Grace and make up for the fact that he was away on missions for most of her childhood. His ex wife, played by Famke Janssen has remarried and spends most of her time making it very difficult for Bryan to make amends. Kimmy decides that she wants to spend the summer in europe with her best friend who seems to be a less than great influence. Both His ex-wife and his daughter succeed in making Bryan feel guilty about not wanting Kimmy to go so against his gut feeling that 17 year old girls should not be travelling to foreign countries on their own, he agrees to let he go. Almost immediately, both girls are abducted and Bryan must jump back into secret agent mode to try to save his daughter.
Taken is a classic suspense, action, thriller in the spirit of Frantic with Harrison Ford or Death Wish. It is not very often you get to see a well done, thriller that combines the ingredients of suspense and action anymore. Most action movies are just that, all action, very little suspense or story. Most recent thrillers are either based on absurd plot lines or have such weak performances that you walk out feeling, as Teddy KGB would say, UNSATISFIED. The other characteristic of current action movies and thrillers is their apparent need to sugar coat the endings, taking any edge the film might have had and griding it off. Taken avoids these trappings of the modern action thriller genre and offers 2 hours of car chases and mystery solving that leaves you thinking…Liam Neeson, I like him, I wish he would do more movies.
Starring: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell,
Edward Zwick, the creative force behind emotional action hits like Blood Diamond and Glory, scores again with this true, WWII story of human compassion and survival. The story is engaging, but lacks the impact that such a spectacular story should have. The direction is skilled, if a little uninspired, and the acting is solid, though Daniel Craig seems too detached in the lead role of the strong soft-spoken leader of a rag tag group of Jews trying to survive in Nazi-occupied Belaruss.
Daniel Craig, Live Schreiber and Jamie Bell play three Jewish brothers who take to the woods to hide from Nazis and their collaborators, after their country falls to the German war machine. Surviving indefinitely in the woods would seem a tricky enough business, but it gets a lot more difficult as more and more Jews join them in a bid for escape from the Jewish ghetto. Keeping their location secret from the enemy, while managing to provide food and supplies would be challenging enough, even without the group infighting that emerges.
Defiance, which plays kind of like Schindler’s List crossed with Red Dawn, has a fascinating story to tell, and tells it well, but it is both surprising, and a little disappointing, that Zwick didn’t manage to create the powerful impact common to this genre, especially since he has conjured up such emotion in many of his previous projects. This is still a very good film, however, that will hold particular interest for history buffs.
Defiance – movie quotes:
“The only thing the Jewish people value more than peace is our right to exist”
The Wrestler is a product of the creative mind behind such dark dramas as The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream, and Darren Aronofsky still isn’t going to win any laugh fests with this bleak character drama about a broken down professional wrestler. Mickey Rourke, who showed such talent and promise twenty years ago, in such projects as Barfly and Angel Heart before falling into a decade or two of obscurity, powers this film with an Oscar worthy performance. He is helped out by a noteworthy effort by Marisa Tomei, and by the grim, but engrossing story. The direction is dark and overuses the hand held camera to achieve an authentic look. The end result is an excellent art house film that deserved more attention than it got.
The flagging career of Mickey Rourke may just be revived with his role as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, an aging, good-hearted performer in the hard knock wrestling world of heels (bad guys) and baby faces (good guys). Randy was once a big name, but any money he made is gone and only a glimmer of fame remains along with a lifetime of injuries and regret, as he tries to rebuild a relationship with his daughter and find a place in the world outside wrestling. Marisa Tomei joins him in this journey as an aging stripper and would-be girlfriend just trying to find her own way out of an even grimier world than his.
Imagine the movie Rocky, where Rocky doesn’t get a million to one shot to change his life, but instead the film follows him through his sombre, empty life at the beginning of the film. This is best way to describe The Wrestler. Still, for fans of powerful dramas, the great acting and genuine story of a man stripped bare is worth seeing.
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, Abney Her,
I guess once you become a Hollywood icon of the titan stature of Clint Eastwood, all kinds of opportunities open up. You no longer have to surround yourself with experienced well-known performers or established writers and you can make any move you feel like. That explains Gran Torino, an uneven drama that would surely have even Hollywood’s boldest producers running for cover with its wall to wall spread of racial slurs laced into a formula tale of an angry grizzled hero coming to grips with his racist views (well, he sorta comes to grips with them, anyway). Clint is mesmerizing in this cantankerous role, but is really getting a bit old for the punch em up stuff, and is way too old for showing his stuff in a bathtub scene. Okay, its not like they show the drill and its bits, but 80 yr old actors don’t need to be showing anything anymore. His supporting cast ranges from acceptable to regrettable, and the story needed more work, but the overall project is better than you may expect, albeit only a little better.
Steely-eyed Clint is a recently widowed Korean war vet named Walt Kowalski, whose dated and racist attitudes and uncontrollable razor tongue has estranged his family, but endeared his friends. Walt’s neighbourhood is acquiring a real multi-color flavour and he’s not happy about it, Goddamnit! He’s even less happy when the quiet Hmong teen next door, Thao, played by Bee Vang, who struggles with the poorly written role, tries to steal Walt’s treasured, mint condition, 1972 Gran Torino. I understand how he feels. I can only imagine what I would do if someone tried to mess with my mint 1981 Chevy Citation, but I digress. Anyways, Thao is actually under pressure to join a local Hmong gang, and when Clint inadvertently saves his neighbours from trouble during a slightly over-zealous lawn defence, he becomes something of a Hmong hero. They cheerfully dismiss his constant barrage of racially motivated foul insults for some reason and are soon having him over for dinner. Come on! Are you kidding me??? Abney Her has a juicy role as Thao’s older sister, Sue, whose no-nonsense and unflappable character is a joy to watch, but really the whole thing is as easy to swallow as a big chunk of beef gristle. You can guess where this going, and soon Clint is the family’s foul-mouthed guardian angel. Hmmm, but what these Hmong gang bangers? What can an irascible old war vet do about a few environmentally challenged youths expressing their frustration in an anti-social manner?
Gran Torino is an uneven mix of interesting and stereotypical characters mixed up in an unsuccessful attempt to update the Walking Tall story line of one man who’s had enough of local criminals. Once you throw all this into the tinsel town blender, you get a mediocre film that has an Archie Bunker character trying to be both Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson in the endless Death Wish series) and Mr. Miyagi. Clint is really a lot better at the tough guy role and was hard to buy as the warm fuzzy father figure. Clint fans may consider it money well-spent and, since I consider myself one, I did want to see this and I don’t regret it. I do regret that Clint didn’t use all his power and influence to make a slightly better movie. Oh, well maybe next time
