Jun 17, 2011
(NR) John Travolta’s labor of love finally comes to the big screen in what is being hailed the most controversial movie of the summer. To me it’s plain sci-fi thriller in the year 3000 when a race called the Psychlos turns the Earth into a mining colony. Now, the handfuls of surviving humans are either used as slaves, stripping the mineral resources from the planet for use by the Psychlo race, or hiding out in remote mountain villages, primitive and cut off from the rest of humanity. One of the most powerful figures on this new Earth is Psychlo Chief of Security Terl (JOHN TRAVOLTA), a brilliant and monstrous alien who believes he was destined to conquer galaxies. It’s up to rebel hero, Johnny Goodboy Tyler (Barry Pepper), who looks like a male Bo Derek in “10, to lead the planet from the giant alien species. The movie also stars Forest Whitaker as Ker. The controversy comes from Travolta being a Scientologist, making a movie based on the 1982 novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the religion’s late founder. I think it’s a stretch of a role for Travolta whose last stretch of a role in “Pulp Fiction” launched him into the biggest comeback of all time. A sequel is already planned for this movie that is said to be the next Star Wars-ish hit. Interesting sidenote:
Jun 17, 2011
Christian Bale stars in this prequel as Bruce Wayne, a young boy and then a grown man, torn between anger and fear. Long story short, he falls into the clutches of Ducard (Liam Neeson) who teaches Bruce to master his emotions via a ninja/underground vigilante movement. Soon after Batman returns to his beloved butler (Michael Caine) and his Gotham City, run by good cop (Gary Oldman) and Assistant District Attorney (Katie Holmes). With the help of Wayne Enterprises scientist (Morgan Freeman) Batman devises a plan to battle evil in Gotham, minus the help of Robin (his caped sidekick) because Robin didn’t exist in this way-back-when story. While Bale delivers an engrossing and believable performance, what starts out interesting, turns into almost a different movie with a new director halfway through. Suddenly as the movie progressed, I began to digress, asking myself exactly what was Batman fighting for, as images crash upon the screen and into my face, with little content or continuity. Somewhat reminiscent of the botched jobs Joel Schumacher did with the franchise; never the less this one has more hope and a twisted appeal for a sequel (even ending with the suggestion of the “Joker” yet to come).
Jun 17, 2011
rated R– Sharon Stone returns fourteen years later (better late than never) and looking better than ever (plastic surgery will do that, so hey, don’t knock it), as Catherine Tramell, a character first created by Joe Eszterhas that rocketed Stone to instant stardom. The difference is that this time, she’s crass right up front, leaving little adjustment time for the audience to warm to her, as she plunges her car into London’s Thames River, while a random lover gropes her at 110 miles per hour. Enter the law – Detective Washburn (David Thewlis) and her Scotland Yard-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey), who steps into the shoes of the original Michael Douglas’s flawed and tortured character, falling victim to Tramell’s seductions. “She kills because she’s addicted to risk,” seems to be the premise that weaves in and out of a painfully bad movie. That’s because while Stone’s character is composed and manipulative, she also feels forced and rehearsed, as though she’s reciting lines for the thrill of just doing this role all over again – because, let’s face it, her career has failed since, and this is the only character she can work with. Stone’s original performance delivered an innocence that left us jaded. Somehow that combination made her believably likable, as the woman who “gets off on murders,” rather than getting off on sex, because “people die in my novels and I have to think of new and interesting ways to kill them.” “Basic Instinct 2” lacks the vulnerability that the first one possessed, thus stirring my own basic instincts to tell me that I should have left the theatre fifteen minutes into the movie.One crown
Jun 17, 2011
(rated R, 95 mins.) A thriller with some heavy hitter headliners including John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Taye Diggs, Giovanni Ribisi, Harry Connick Jr. and Andy Garcia, that doesn’t quite come together. When a legendary commander (Jackson) and several of his men turn up missing, the last thing the government wants is a rogue DEA agent (Travolta) investigating the disappearance. As the investigation unfolds, the agent is place in direct conflict with the Army’s official investigating officer (Connie Nielsen) and nothing is as it seems (nor is the storyline as good as one would hope). Instead it turns out to be just another thriller with cheap turns, as the more twisted it becomes, the more the audience’s interest dissolves. Jackson spends much of his time trapped in a shouting match role (think a bad version of Lou Gossett Jr. in “Officer And A Gentleman”), Travolta seems like he knows it all, and Nielsen amounts to nothing but a very pretty face. Perhaps the movie took a shot at being the next “A Few Good Men” and failed. Written and directed by John McTiernan, the same guy who brought us other great thrillers like “Die Hard”. So, what happened here?
Jun 17, 2011
Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti) is about to meet his third wife at his second wedding (yes, that’s not a typo.) His first love is long gone (not in a good way) and his second wife, Minnie Driver is somebody he can’t escape fast enough. Unlike his past women – whining and difficult – this THIRD wife/love of his life has a voice that is breathtaking with looks that are porcelain elegant. Her name is Miriam (Rosamund Pike) and Barney goes as far as to abandon his wedding –The Graduate style – to go after her. The question is what does she see in him? Barney is the lovable Giamatti, not a real looker, a possible murderer, and a true curmudgeon – the very definition of why self-help books are written. He even has that familiar angst-ridden behavior that we remember him by for his most famous portrayal in Sideways. The fact that she’s reading Saul Bellow’s “Herzog” when he sees her, might give us some insight as to why the two might connect. But years later when he makes a wrong move, and things don’t turn out as Barney always expects them too, he sinks into his own alter ego, in a way dictating his own fate, or, Barney’s version. Unlike the intellectual energy of Mordecai Richler’s 1997 satire, director Richard J. Lewis low-keys this into a steady but slow drama better left of the page. Barney’s father is played by the hugely talented Dustin Hoffman, a lonely, boisterous and opinionated Police officer who manages to control himself at social events, while Scott Speedman does a spot-on job as Barney’s free-spirited best friend. Two and a half tiaras
