Movie Review: Extreme Ops

Extreme Ops (2002) 

Directed by Christian Duguay 

Written by Michael Zaidan 

Starring Devon Sawa, Bridget Wilson-Sampras, Rupert Graves, Rufus Sewell

Release Date November 27th, 2002 

Published November 27th, 2002 

I am not a big fan of extreme sports. Any sport that wasn't begun before 1960 is not a sport. But I must admit that when it's done well it can be exciting to watch, but still not a sport. The new movie Extreme Ops is about a group of extreme sports enthusiasts who accidentally stumble upon a group of Serbian terrorists.

That would never happen in football.

While on location shooting a commercial for a digital video camera, a group of extreme sportsters head to Austria to film the most dangerous stunt they could think of, skiing and snowboarding ahead of a hard-charging avalanche. Included in this ragtag bunch is the director Ian (Rufus Sewell) his partner and money man Jeffrey (Rupert Graves), the cameraman Will (Devon Sawa), a punk skateboarder named Kittie (Jana Pallaskie) another punk skateboarder named Silo (Joe Absolem) and Chloe (Bridget Wilson Sampras, smoking hot) a gold medal winning downhill skier. 

Ian does not want Chloe to be a part of the shoot but Jeffrey has hired her as the star of the commercial. The stunt is far more difficult than the downhill skiing Chloe is used and at first she can't keep up. If only that were the biggest problem. Instead they accidentally stumbled upon the mountain hideout of a Serbian terrorist who was believed to be dead. So obviously since the crew has seen him and Will actually gets a picture of him, they must be killed before they can reveal his location.

Yes the story is as ridiculous as it sounds but director Christian Duguay knows it's ridiculous and doesn't waste to much time setting up the terrorist plot, preferring to focus on the awesome skiing and snowboarding stunts. The difference between the extreme sports antics in Extreme Ops and those of other big dumb action movies like XXX is that Ops knows how ridiculous they are and embraces them. The charismatic cast perform the stunts with a wink to the audience that let's us in on the joke of the story and allows to relax and have fun with it.

Devon Sawa is one of my favorite young actors and his natural charisma is all over his character here. Sawa plays Will as a guy you would love to hang out with, get drunk or stoned and go do something incredibly dangerous and stupid with. And Bridget Wilson-Sampras who in the past has been accused of being too pretty for the plain characters she is supposed to be playing, here plays a character who is supposed to be hot. She's an actress in a TV commercial and an athlete. Newcomer Jana Pallaskie is stuck in the thankless Clea Duvall role. The “beautiful on the inside grumpy Goth chick” that has become a cliché. Pallaskie does what she can with the role and manages to come off as likable and funny.

Extreme Ops is a B movie that knows it's a B movie. Director Christian Duguay never has any pretense of trying to create art or memorable film. He is making a movie that is a series of stunts and excellent camerawork and both are spectacular. There are moments where things are obviously too dangerous and the filmmakers were forced to use bad CGI effects, but, for the most part, these are awesome stuntmen and women pulling off real stunts.

Real cool stunts.

Movie Review: The Tourist

The Tourist (2010)

Directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck 

Written by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck 

Starring Johnny Depp, Angelia Jolie, Paul Bettany, Timothy Dalton, Rufus Sewell 

Release December 10th, 2010 

Published December 9th, 2010 

The novelty of placing pop culture icons Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp in the same movie is nearly too much of a burden to bear for the slight, off-beat, spy comedy "The Tourist." Director Florian Von Donnersmark, in his English language directorial debut, takes on the Herculean task of capturing these two supernova stars in the same shot and not having the camera overload from all of the star power.

"The Tourist" stars Johnny Depp as Frank a mild mannered Wisconsin school teacher who finds himself whipped into a world of intrigue, adventure and danger when he is approached by an unbelievably beautiful woman on a train ride from Paris to Venice. Her name is Elise and her extraordinary calm while picking up this odd stranger on a train is quite unsettling.

Upon arriving in Venice Elise absconds with Frank's bags thus forcing him to join her at her high dollar hotel, not that he really needed to be kidnapped. Frank will be Elise's date for the evening while she awaits the arrival of her loutish, criminal lover who, unknown to Frank, urged her to find a tourist who looks a little like him and frame that tourist while he and Elise make their escape.

The only thing that Elise could not count on is falling for the doofusy math teacher. Meanwhile, as Elise is pretending to seduce Frank, and accidentally falling for him, the duo is being tailed by Interpol agents lead by Inspector Acheson (Paul Bettany) and by an evil Russian gangster (Steven Berkoff) who believes Elise knows where his stolen money is.

The plot of "The Tourist" is meant to combine a touch of Alfred Hitchcock with a dash of Cary Grant at his most fleet footed and charming and while it conjures some of those memories, "The Tourist" is far more interested in the modern, tabloid-esque notion of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie making goo goo eyes at each other.

During production of "The Tourist" Johnny Depp insisted on never being alone with Angelina Jolie where paparazzi could get a picture and create a story. In the movie itself, director Von Donnersmarck goes for a similar paparazzi voyeurism in scenes where the camera just observes Depp and Jolie smoldering at one another.

Depp and Jolie's beauty as a couple is the true appeal of "The Tourist," so much so that the plot becomes an impediment as it too our ogling of the stars. Yes, there is plenty of daring do and mixed up identities, even a chase scene that is unlike most other chase scenes (it involves a pair of boats tied together and a slow speed ride through the stunning canals of Venice) but none of it registers beyond the pull of these two stars.

What stands out in "The Tourist" are scenes like those set on the train ride as Depp and Jolie feel each other out with lustful glances and hushed conversation. Later, Depp and Jolie send sparks flying as they gaze at one another over dinner in a gorgeous café with candlelight and the moon glimmering off the canal in the background. Cinematographer John Seale's imagery here will make you want to live in this scene.

The adventure stuff, the spy stuff is treated with a light heart and good humor in "The Tourist" but it's beside the point. "The Tourist" is about two unbelievably attractive people being unbelievably attractive together against Parisian and Venetian backgrounds that can almost compete with the actors in radiance. This may not have been the overall intent of the makers of "The Tourist" but it works and I can recommend "The Tourist" because I can recommend ogling these megastars.

Movie Review The Illusionist

The Illusionist (2006) 

Directed by Neil Burger 

Written by Neil Burger 

Starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell, Eddie Marsan

Release Date August 18th, 2006 

Published August 17th, 2006 

Bob Yari is the controversial producer of the Oscar winning Crash. I say Yari is controversial because a fallout with his partners on that film prevented Yari from taking the stage to accept the best picture Oscar. The fallout, naturally, was over the cuts of money each of the profit participants were to receive. His partners claim he was cutting himself a bigger portion than the rest. The details of this controversy are left up in the air at this point.

We do know Yari made a tidy sum from Crash, enough to start his own production and distribution company. The production company is typical Hollywood, everyone and their brother has a production company. It's the distribution that is eye-catching. Only major studios usually have the means to get a picture on enough screens for profitability. Bob Yari is himself a major. Yari has somehow managed to finance and distribute the new romantic period piece, The Illusionist; a mature, well acted movie that is making waves in a stronger than expected platform release. If the film can maintain a strong box office, Yari may even try his hand at launching an Oscar campaign.

In turn of the century Austria a magician named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is astonishing sold out crowds. So amazing are his various tricks and illusions that even royalty must come to see his show. When Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewelll) and his future Queen, Sophie (Jessica Biel), attend a show, Eisenheim chooses Sophie to assist him with a trick. Seeing her face, Eisenheim realizes that Sophie is his long lost childhood sweetheart.

When Sophie finally recognizes Eisenheim they begin a dangerous rekindling of their relationship. Sneaking off to Eisenheim's cottage for forbidden trysts the couple eventually is discovered by Leopold who assigns his chief of police, Uhl (Paul Giamatti), to follow Sophie and if she goes to Eisenheim, the magician is to be killed.

The story of The Illusionist, adapted by writer-director Neil Burger, from a short story by Steven Millhauser, works at a snail's pace and yet manages to enchant thanks to the brilliant topline performance by Edward Norton. Ever the method actor; Norton learned magic from the famed English magician James Freedman as a way to avoid CGI as much as possible. His stage schtick is spot on and his minor conjuring's are as entertaining as any great modern magician.

Of course when conjuring spirits on stage a little CG help is unavoidable. Thankfully, the effects of The Illusionist are minimal and the magic looks as if it were the conjuring's of a true stage magician. The CGI is good and most importantly, it's effective enough to not distract from the main point of the film which are the exchanges of dialogue between the dueling geniuses Norton and Paul Giamatti. The Illusionist is an actors showcase and Norton and Giamatti take full advantage of the freedom offered by director Neil Burger.

Neil Berger, in his second feature film, shows a great deal of skill, and a deft touch in handling his actors. As I mentioned earlier, the film unfolds very slowly and requires the cast to do a great deal of talking. For this task Berger smartly assembled a terrific cast who could handle these talky characters. What Burger does best is direct without ever letting you know it. It's a skill far too many directors fail to master.

What a treat it is to watch great actors working with great material. That is what you get with The Illusionist, a movie that respects its audience, dazzles the eyes and the mind, and allows us the opportunity to watch great actors at work. Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti are a magnificent tandem. The verbal tete a tete, the actorly flourishes, are a joy to watch and clearly, from the exuberance of the actors, a joy to perform.

The romance of The Illusionist between Norton and Jessica Biel is strong if not fiery passionate. The actors do smolder for one another but they don't quite set the screen on fire. The backstory of forbidden teenage love and two terrific teen actors, Aaron Johnson as young Eisenheim and Eleanor Tomlinson as young Sophie, does much of the work of establishing the drama of this romance.

The Illusionist is the kind of fabulous adult minded dramas that many don't believe Hollywood can make anymore. Smart, literate, sexy, romantic, and populated with fantastic actors in meaty roles, The Illusionist is that rare breed of high minded drama that combines high intelligence with mainstream popular storytelling and a stellar cast.

The Illusionist is a must see picture.