Movie Review Hannibal Rising

Hannibal Rising (2007)

Directed by Peter Webber

Written by Thomas Harris

Starring Gaspard Ulliel, Rhys Ifans, Dominic West, Gong Li, Kevin McKidd

Release Date February 9th, 2007 

Published February 9th, 2007

Writer Thomas Harris is wildly popular and tremendously overrated. Though Harris is the creator of the iconic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, the character only gained its legend through the skilled performance of Sir Anhony Hopkins in 1989's Silence Of The Lambs. Harris has a taste for the macabre and knows how to set a gory scene but as demonstrated in Hannibal Rising, his true talent lies in cannibalizing his past success.

Hannibal Lecter (Gaspard Ulliel) lost his parents to world war 2; but lost his little sister Mischa to murder. Her killers were thieves and opportunists who also looted Hannibal's home after his parents death. Led by a vicious, cold blooded man named Vladis Grutas (Rhys Ifans), this brutish lout did unspeakable things to survive the war but what they did to Mischa is too horrifying to recount.

Vowing revenge on his sister's killers, Hannibal fought his way out of captivity in a russian orphanage and made his way to France where his uncle has passed away but left behind the last shred of family Hannibal has left. His aunt is a beautiful asian woman, Lady Murasaki (Li Gong) who immediately takes to the troubled young teen. 

Hannibal is quick to fall for his aunt and when she is insulted by a butcher at an outdoor bazaar, Hannibal takes a swift and horrifying vengeance. Thus begins the life of one of the most bloody and terrifying killers in history. As luck would have it, the men who killed Hannibal's sister happen to have come to France. What luck.

Directed by Peter Webber, who made the sumptuous period romance Girl With A Pearl Earring, Hannibal Rising is gorgeously crafted. The sets, lighting and period details are spot on. The problems lie in Thomas Harris' script, a truncated version of a book that was truncated in its own right. The story lacks depth, it lacks character detail. The entire story trades on the legend we know from Silence of the Lambs and our fascination with the Hannibal Lecter character created by Anthony Hopkins.

Young French actor Gaspard Ulliel struggles mightily in the role of young Hannibal Lecter. Because Hannibal Rising exists to cannibalize the legend of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, Ullel is forced to suffer the comparison and he fails miserably. Ulliel is a slight, pale, almost ghostly presence who shows none of the charismatic menace necessary to bring the great Hannibal Lecter to life.

You can't blame the young Frenchman, he was in an untenable situation. No actor could have taken this role and made it work as it's written. This take on the life of Hannibal Lecter that attempts to take one of the screen's most terrifying villains and turn him into some comic book avenger hero, is a complete misfire. Part of the excitement and kink of Dr. Lecter was not knowing why he did what he did. That Lecter might kill a man for offending his taste is horrifying and exciting at once.

Rationalizing Hannibal and applying pseudo-psychology to his actions removes the kink that gave that edge to Hopkins' Lecter. Now, the easy response to that complaint is that this is not Hopkins' Lecter. My response to that is that if you make a Lecter movie it becomes about Hopkins' Lecter, especially when your story has little else to build around.

Hannibal Rising does a disservice to the legend of one of the screen's greatest villains. An almost whiny ringing of hands over the history of Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal Rising trades on the character's history at the expense of his legend. To fault Hollywood for grabbing at cash is a waste of time but when the artists start grabbing at the big money the way writer Thomas Harris has, that is when the art truly begins to suffer.

Movie Review: Catch and Release

Catch and Release (2007) 

Directed by Susannah Grant 

Written by Susannah Grant 

Starring Jennifer Garner, Kevin Smith, Timothy Olyphant, Sam Jaeger, Fiona Shaw, Juliette Lewis 

Release Date January 26th, 2007

Published January 25th, 2007 

Jennifer Garner is a stunner. Those lips; perfectly bee stung. That body honed from spy play on TV's Alias. And that perfectly indefinable quality that stars have, the effortless ability to be ephemeral. She's got all the assets necessary for stardom and she needs every trick in the bag to make the light breezy romance of Catch and Release work.

A romantic comedy that desperately wants to be more than it is, a female Cameron Crowe movie, an examination of life, death and grief, a sexy romp. The thin characters and thinner premise can only manage a surface level affability that, with a lesser actress in the lead would fail miserably.

Gray (Garner) has lost the love of her life. Her fiance Grady decided to go skiing days before their wedding and died in an accident on the slopes. At his funeral she is trapped with his family and their mutual friends and desperately wants to escape. Hiding in a bathroom she is mortified to accidentally witness Grady's best friend Fritz (Timothy Olyphant) hooking up with the caterer. Gray never liked Fritz before and this does little to improve things.

Unfortunately for Gray; Fritz is staying at the same place she is. Unable to move into the home she was to share with her fiancee, Gray moves in with their closest friends Sam (Kevin Smith) and Dennis (Sam Jaeger). Over the course of the week after Grady's death these four characters each deal with grief in their own unique ways and are tested by revelations about Grady's life that no one, except maybe Fritz might have expected.

The story of Catch and Release wants to be smarter and deeper than it is. Director Susannah Grant, a screenwriter (Charlotte's Web, In Her Shoes) by trade, directing her first feature, at times evokes a lighter version of the warm, nostalgic prose style of Cameron Crowe. What she lacks is Crowe's wit and ear for great dialogue.

The subject of Catch and Release is grief and how different people deal with it. But this is a romantic comedy so, much more time is devoted to developing roadblocks to romance than to delving deeper into the psyches of these characters where director Susannah Grant really seems to want to go. Why else would the movie devote so much time to each characters own quirky way of dealing with their friends death.

Romantic comedy formula tells you that when a male and female character loathe one another; they will eventually fall in love. This leaves the writer-director the challenge of finding ways to put up roadblocks to the couples eventual happiness. In Catch and Release, writer-director Susannah Grant has few new tricks up her sleeve.

There is nothing new here. Grant follows the romance formula. Her only hope was that her stars would be likable enough for us to feel comfortable inside the formula. And we are comfortable. Jennifer Garner is warm and sensitive and easy to fall for. Timothy Olyphant is roguish and charming and we root for him to redeem himself after his wretched introduction.

Then there is the movie's secret weapon, writer-director Kevin Smith. The man behind Silent Bob isn't much of an actor, as he readily admits, but trading off his famously self effacing personality, Smith's self deprecation and vocal mannerisms are terrifically funny. Whenever the film seems to lag a little Smith energizes things with a good joke. It's a bit of a cheat, Smith's Sam threatens to become more of a comic device than a character, but Smith is so much fun that you are unlikely to notice.

Catch and Release teeters on the verge of complete collapse. However, thanks to the megawatt smile of star Jennifer Garner and her unending likability, Catch and Release is a passably entertaining romantic comedy worth your time on DVD or cable in a few months.

Movie Review: Blood and Chocolate

Blood and Chocolate (2007) 

Directed by Katja Von Garnier 

Written by Ehren Kruger, Christopher B. Landon 

Starring Agnes Bruckner, Hugh Dancy, Olivier Martinez

Release Date January 26th, 2007

Published April 15th, 2007

Agnes Bruckner is a big favorite in the geek community. Her horror movie resume including the cullty, Lucky McKee movie The Woods and the 2005 bomb Venom, have helped her garner her own minor cult. With the wide release of the werewolf flick Blood and Chocolate Bruckner has her highest profile role to date. If only it were a better movie.

Unfortunately for Ms. Bruckner, Blood and Chocolate is more notable for it's goofy title than for it's PG-13 scares.

Vivian (Bruckner) is destined to be the leader of her clan, whether she wants to be or not. As a big anniversary approaches, Vivian is awaiting word of her fate from Gabriel (Olivier Martinez), the current leader of her clan, as to whether she will become his wife. Vivian is a lugaroo, better known as werewolf and according to prophecy she will lead them back to a prosperous existence out of the shadows.

Vivian could care less about prophecy. She has no taste for the hunt and absolutely no interest in be married to Gabriel. Nevertheless, Vivian seems resigned to her fate until she meets Aiden (Hugh Dancy), a writer who arrived in Bucharest to write a graphic novel about the legends of the lugaroo. He believes that the lugaroo are extinct but were at one time a noble race that lived at peace with non-werewolves.

He has no clue that Vivian is a lugaroo and she has no intention of telling him but when his stories get back to Vivian's clan they fear she has told him their secrets. When the clan decides they must kill Aiden to protect their secrets; Vivian must decide between her budding new romance and the legacy of her family and what is perceived as her destiny.

Director Katja Von Garnier is a talented artist whose American debut, the HBO TV movie Iron Jawed Angels, was an accomplished, in depth portrait of the birth of American feminism. A werewolf movie is indeed a bit of a departure but there is a slight feminist undertone to Blood and Chocolate, it's only a touch the girl power, pop feminism of the Spice Girls variety, but it's there.

Like most pop entertainment of the PG-13 variety, Blood and Chocolate is better at referring to depth than it is at exhibiting it. Whether it is passing glance at feminism or an averted gaze at literary classics  like Romeo and Juliet, Blood and Chocolate is puddle deep with lake ambitions.

Agnes Bruckner definitely has star quality but she needs to find better roles. She was terrific in the indie drama Blue Car but has since drifted to teen horror films, The Woods, Venom, that are serving to type cast her as a horror film hottie. While she can continue to get steady work in this genre for years, based on the small cult that has embraced her, she has the talent to work beyond mindless pop entertainment like Blood and Chocolate and should move on soon.

The other star of Blood and Chocolate is not Hugh Dancy or Olivier Martinez, two nice looking but innocuous actors, it's the city of Bucharest Romania. Though the name is not exactly pretty, the city is exceptionally filmable. With it's gothic architecture and ancient churches Bucharest has an eery beauty that is both inviting and menacing.

It helps that it's also one of the cheapest places in the world to film a movie, thus why dozens of Hollywood features have fled to Romania in recent years.

So what about this odd title, Blood and Chocolate? Well, Bruckner's Vivian works in a chocolate shop. Sadly, the title has no relation to the classic Elvis Costello tune of the same title. And that is where the title significance ends. All part of the odd soft headed hodgepodge that is Blood and Chocolate yet another mindless, PG-13  pop horror confection.

Movie Review The Hitcher

The Hitcher (2007) 

Directed by Dave Meyers 

Written by Eric Bernt, Eric Red, Jake Wade Wall 

Starring Sean Bean, Sophia Bush, Zachary Knighton, Neal McDonough, 

Release Date January 19th, 2007 

Published January 19th, 2007 

Just referring to a film as a remake causes the eyes to  roll up. Especially horror remakes. The remake of 1986's The Hitcher I'm sure made many an eye roll as mine did. Seeing the name of Michael Bay as producer gives little reassurance. Bay was responsible for both of the awful Texas Chainsaw Massacre reimaginings as well as the forgettable Amityville Horror remake in 2005. By some miracle however, this remake of The Hitcher works. Director Dave Meyers delivers a tightly focused edge of your seat, horror thriller that features a star making performance from Sophia Bush.

On a trip to spring break Grace (Sophia Bush) and her boyfriend Jim (Jim Knighton) pass a man on a rainy stretch of New Mexico highway. He was standing almost in the middle of the road and was nearly hit but did not move. They chose to leave him there but unfortunately, the hitcher, John Ryder (Sean Bean) caught up with them at a gas station down the road.

Feeling guilty, Jim offers John Ryder a ride to a hotel just down the road. Thus begins a tale of terror that the young couple could never have imagined. Ryder is a psychopath who has killed up and down the highways of America. Grace and Jim are lucky to escape him the first time. However, like a classic horror movie villain, John Ryder is not easy to get rid of.

The Hitcher is a remake of a 1986 horror flick that starred then teen sensation C. Thomas Howell as a good samaritan and Rutger Hauer as his menacing passenger. Hauer's hitcher seemed untouchable as one of the genre's great villains. In the remake, the role falls to character actor and Lord of the Rings star Sean Bean. As John Ryder Bean definitely embodies menacing determination but he's no match for Hauer's Walken-esque killer.

Sophia Bush and John Knighton; on the other hand; more than surpass Howell's whiny teenager. Whily and brave, their Grace and Jim are surprisingly smart, self aware, characters who make rash but correct decisions. One of the reasons this remake works so well is because Bush and Knighton are allowed intelligence. The decisions they make are decisions anyone would make given such outlandish conditions.

What director Dave Meyers, a music video veteran making his feature debut, does so very well in The Hitcher is establish his own logic and stick to it. The situations in The Hitcher are not unlike most horror movies, the difference is that The Hitcher establishes its own level of reality and remains existing within the rules of that reality. That allows us in the audience to suspend disbelief and get into the nervy, exciting tension of this story.

If I have an issue with The Hitcher it is with the slim, almost non-existent motivation of the title character. John Ryder is simply a killer who would have killed Grace and Jim whether they stopped the first time they saw him or after they finally did decide to help him. His motivation is simple bloodlust which I found unsatisfying. The Hitcher seems like it could make this killer more complicated and interesting. As it is, he is menacing but thin.

Sophia Bush is best known for the teen drama One Tree Hill on the CW network; but she is soon to be a very big star. The sexy star of The Hitcher is said to be the lead candidate to take over the coveted role of Wonder Woman when that film series starts up. Based on her tough minded work in The Hitcher, they could not make a better choice. Bush is sexy and vulnerable with a strong backbone and determination. Her work near the end of The Hitcher evokes a touch of Jamie Lee Curtis and a dash of Sigourney Weaver.

The Hitcher gets extra points for featuring actor Neal McDonough in a supporting role. McDonough is one of the more underappreciated character actors in the business. He broke out in the short lived series Boomtown on NBC and from there has been stellar in small roles in Flags of Our Fathers and Minority Report. As a tough as nails sheriff in The Hitcher, McDonough is the perfect measure of small town hard ass and pragmatism. He doesn't believe the horror being unleashed but he is one of the few with the toughness to deal with it.

Director Dave Meyers got his start in music videos but unlike most video directors who make the move to features, Meyers is not tied to that video style of quick edits, bright colors and shaky cameras. Meyers' direction of The Hitcher is smart and stylish in the classic thriller fashion. Using tight close ups, Meyers closes the frame around his actors and creates tension with his camera.

Best of all, he makes sparing use of the typical horror movie jump scene, that scene where things pop up out of nowhere as the music spikes. It's the cheapest kind of scare and Meyers is smart to avoid it, for the most part.

Director Dave Meyers shows terrific chops in turning a horror retread into a surprisingly suspenseful horror experience. The Hitcher should have been just another January programmer; but because of Meyers and the tough sexy performance of rising star Sophia Bush, The Hitcher is a stunner of edge of your seat excitement. Not a perfect horror film; but damn sure an entertaining one.

Movie Review Primeval

Primeval (2007) 

Directed by Michael Katleman

Written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris 

Starring Dominic Purcell, Orlando Jones, Brooke Langton, Jurgen Prochnow 

Release Date January 12th, 2006 

Published January 14th, 2006 

The all consuming maw of the movie release biz requires constant new releases to fill the void. Thus, movies that once would have gone directly to the video stores are making their way to theaters. That is no doubt how a movie as dopey and star free as Primeval managed a wide theatrical release. This goofball giant gator flick has the budget, cast, and effects of a direct to DVD feature and yet took up residence on more than one thousand screens recently.

In the wilds of Africa there is a killer more deadly than even the government versus revolutionary violence that dominates much of the continent. This killer has taken thousands of lives and eluded capture and death with great ease. The killer is an ancient creature, a giant alligator that strikes with the quickness of a cat and the killing power of the shark from Jaws.

In New York one of the world's leading investigative reporters Tim Manfrey (Dominic Purcell) has been assigned to investigate the giant gator in Africa. With his cameraman Steven (Orlando Jones) and a tagalong reporter, Aviva (Brooke Langton) whose specialty is animal stories, Tim will accompany a scientist, Matthew Collins (Gideon Emery) who claims that he can capture the giant gator without harming it.

Leading the expedition into the wild is a grizzled international travel guide named Jacob Krieg (Jurgen Prochnow). Krieg claims that he has seen the giant gator and that it killed his wife. Needless to say, Jacob is a proponent of pouring buckets of bullets and dynamite on the giant gator until its pieces are roasting over an open fire.

You can skip ahead in this plot without much effort. Predicting that we will have a showdown between the animal loving scientist and the great white hunter or that the animal loving scientist will be a whiny wuss about it, is not much of a stretch of your mental muscles. In fact, nothing in Primeval is likely to challenge the intellect, something I'm sure producers would tout.

Primeval is an odd project choice for director Michael Katleman. A TV veteran, Mr Cattleman's best work has been on shows like Gilmore Girls, Everwood and Dawson's Creek. Not exactly the resume of a guy working on a giant alligator movie. That resume may explain why the action of Primeval is awkward to the point of laughable and the special effects are pitched at the level between Ed Wood and classic Star Trek.

Orlando Jones continues to be movie poison. How he continues to find work in feature films after a career that includes roles in The Replacements, Double Take, Say It Isn't So, and The Time Machine, is one of the great mysteries of Hollywood. I'm sure Jones has some kind of talent but when it comes to feature films he seems to seek out the absolute worst material and manages to somehow make it worse. His role in Primeval borders on racist caricature.

Jurgen Prochnow is not exactly the kind of movie poison that Orlando Jones is, though his casting has a similar effect of signaling bad material. The difference is that Prochnow has become such a bad actor that he brings a certain level of camp to his roles. Check him out in the video game movie House of the Dead where he pitches his performance perfectly to director Uwe Boll's level of talent. Prochnow could be Boll's muse.

It's the new movie business paradigm, feed the beast. The beast is the week to week call for new products to populate the hundreds of thousands of movie screens in multiplexes across the country. This new paradigm guarantees that movies like Primeval that you would have wandered past in video stores just five years ago will now pop up on the big screen, feeding the unending crave for new products.

Movie Review: Alpha Dog

Alpha Dog (2007) 

Directed by Nick Cassavetes

Written by Nick Cassavetes 

Starring Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, Ben Foster, Bruce Willis

Release Date January 15th, 2006 

Published January 15th, 2006

The true story of small time pot dealer Jesse James Hollywood should never have become a movie. Hollywood was just another punk teenager in the San Fernando Valley selling weed and acting like a gangster. He would have gotten popped by the cops eventually and spent a couple of years in jail and never been heard from at all.

One fatal decision, one stupid moment, and Jesse James Hollywood went from poser to being the youngest person ever placed on the FBI's most wanted list. How Jesse gained such infamy is the backstory of the movie Alpha Dog from writer-director Nick Cassavetes. Compelling yet pointless, Alpha Dog wants to be a Shakespearean tragedy but acts more like an out of control episode of MTV's Laguna Beach.

Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) was a low level drug dealer in the San Fernando Valley who lived for money, sex and the adulation of his small band of friends and hangers on. Johnny's father Sonny (Bruce Willis) was a successful criminal with rumored ties to the mob. Johnny used his father's connections to make himself a mini empire.

On the periphery of Johnny's little kingdom is Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) a tweaked out ex-con with a serious drug problem. Jake owed Johnny 1200 bucks and when he can't come up with the cash a violent encounter leads to a deadly rivalry that escalates eventually to murder. Jake's little brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) gets dragged into the fight when Johnny and his pals Frankie (Justin Timberlake) and TKO (Fernando Vargas) grab him off the street as a hostage.

At first the kidnapping is a bit of a goof. Just a group of teenagers playing gangsters and imitating what they have seen in the movies. As things start to get more and more out of control an air of inevitability settles in and a story that should have ended with Zack heading home and telling his mom and dad he ran away for a few days, ends with murder.

Alpha Dog is a true story. A 20 year old drug dealer named Jesse James James Hollywood is the real life Johnny Truelove. He was a drug dealer and after the death of the younger brother of his rival, he became the youngest person ever on the FBI's most wanted list. What director Nick Cassavetes movie tells us is that we should never have heard of Jesse James Hollywood.

Had Jesse and his pals just let their hostage go, everyone would have walked away unharmed. Sure Jesse and his boys would have ended up in prison eventually but not for this senseless murder.

Writer-director Nick Cassavetes has said that this film is not really about the crime committed as it is about the parents who allowed it to happen. The film is dotted with moments where those who should know better, from Johnny's criminal dad, played by Bruce Willis, to Frankie's pot dealer dad, parents had many opportunities to realize what was going on, but were either too selfish or too clueless to stop it.

One of the sadder moments of Alpha Dog occurs between Dominique Swain as Susan and her mother Tiffany played by Alex Kingston. Susan is the only one of the teens to realize the danger that Zach was in and when she attempted to stop it by speaking to her mother, the blow off she gets is the film's ultimate example of parental neglect.

There are a number of good scenes in Alpha Dog. The one I just mentioned between Swain and Kingston is powerful as are scenes featuring Ben Foster as the crazed Jake Mazursky. Foster is frightening as a tweaked out druggie who is likely more dangerous than anyone else in the story and yet he is more together in the end than Johnny and his crew.

One of the most surprising things about Alpha Dog is the strong performance of pop star Justin Timberlake. With his effortless charm and natural good looks, Timberlake has that “it” quality that defines a star. His Frankie is sympathetic and gregarious and watching Frankie, who takes up more screen time than you expect, makes the film's conclusion seem so devastatingly avoidable.

Anton Yelchin is heartbreaking as Zach Mazursky the kidnapped kid. One of those kids who just aimed to please, Zach never made trouble, even after getting beaten up and tied up and gagged in a strangers bathroom. Zach remained affable and friendly with his captors as they threatened his life. Eventually, his winning innocence won over a few of his captors who made him one of the group, got him high, and helped him meet girls. His acceptance guarantees he never would have talked to the cops about his captors, yet another heartbreaking detail of this horrible story.

The performances in Alpha Dog are, for the most part, quite good. However, the one performance that was needed to really make the film work is missing. Emile Hirsch as Johnny never emerges as the focal point of the picture. Johnny is the driving force of the awful events that take place and yet, too often, he disappears.

Alpha Dog is a sad, awful, terrifying story of what happens when parents don't pay enough attention to their kids. Had one adult injected himself in this story with some authority, that 15 year old kid would still be alive. Unfortunately, the teenagers in the story of Alpha Dog were allowed to run wild in the streets and that kid is dead because of it.

Nick Cassavetes tells this story with urgency and purpose. Parents pay attention to your kids. If you don't stupid, stupid things happen and innocence dies.

Movie Review: Codename The Cleaner

Codename The Cleaner (2006) 

Directed by Les Mayfield 

Written by George Gallo 

Starring Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu 

Release Date January 5th, 2006 

Published January 5th, 2006

I like Cedric The Entertainer, as a stand up comic. As part of the Original Kings of Comedy and on his own HBO comedy special, Cedric has shown a real talent for ribald racial humor and sly family comedy, along with indulging his love of music and humorous dance productions. His film work however, has never been able to capture the same affable personality.

As a matter of fact, Cedric’s film career has simply sucked. From Johnson Family Vacation to Man of the House to his latest starring effort Codename: The Cleaner, Cedric The Entertainer has flailed and flopped about in search of a good joke and most often comes up empty.

Codename: The Cleaner actually has what could be a clever premise in more skilled hands. Combining a dash of Chris Nolan's Memento with a touch of The Bourne Identity inside a comedy plot, the idea is there, but the execution is pitiful.

Jake Rogers (Cedric The Entertainer) woke up on the wrong side of the wrong bed this morning. Unable to remember his own name, Jake has even bigger problems than amnesia. There is a dead FBI agent in the bed with him and a suitcase full of hundred dollar bills at the foot of the bed. Did Jake kill this guy? If so why? If not, who did?

In the lobby Jake meets Diane (Nicolette Sheridan) who claims to be his wife. She knows all about his desperate situation and spirits him away to a mansion that he has no memory of living in. Jake has some kind of computer chip hidden somewhere that might help him clear his memory and figure out what all is happening and Diane desperately wants it. When her seduction skills fail to jog Jake's memory she plans to torture him, but before she can Jake escapes.

Following what little clues he has about himself, a video game company ID card and a taste for pancakes, Jake finds himself at a diner across from the videogame company where he is greeted by yet another beautiful woman, Gina (Lucy Liu), who also claims to be his significant other. She informs Jake that he is no more than a simple janitor, but Jake can't shake the idea that he is somehow a high powered secret agent.

Directed by Les Mayfield (Blue Streak,American Outlaws), Codename: The Cleaner plays like a script Martin Lawrence passed on several years ago. Cedric The Entertainer mugs and moons all he can to try inject some life into this film, one made for a big comic personality like his, but unfortunately, the goofy plot and Mayfield's inept direction keep interrupting Cedric's flow.

The comedy of Codename: The Cleaner works in small doses of Cedric being Cedric. In investigating his mysterious situation, Jake finds himself dressed in Dutch boy blues and clog dancing for a wildly entertained crowd. This is Cedric The Entertainer in his comfort zone, acting goofy; independent of the ridiculous plot. The scene is entirely unnecessary and superfluous but it's also one of the rare funny moments in otherwise laughless exercise.

I've liked Lucy Liu since her weird/sexy role on TV's Ally McBeal. It's a shame that her film career has been so wildly hit and miss. Her starring roles here and in the action flick Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever show that she should definitely avoid titles with colons in the middle, but also that maybe being a lead actress is not her strong suit. Supporting roles in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and this year's terrific but sadly underseen, Lucky Number Slevin, have been a far better showcase for her skill, her range and her beauty.

There is no denying that Cedric The Entertainer is a funny guy and that even in something as idiotic as Codename: The Cleaner he can find laughs. But no matter how funny Cedric is; Codename: The Cleaner was doomed the moment director Les Mayfield took the helm. Mayfield's resume reads like something only a mother, or Shawn Levy, could love. Blue Streak, American Outlaws, The Man, Ugh! Les Mayfield is to bad comedy what Uwe Boll is to the poorly made video game based horror film.

Now I always seem to get emails when I inject large issues into innocuous movies, especially when I talk about the treatment of women in films. However, Codename: The Cleaner is yet another film that treats its female cast members with contempt. There is no doubt that both Lucy Liu and Nicolette Sheridan are beautiful women who turn heads whether in business attire or bikinis, but was it necessary for them to wrestle nearly nude in bubbles? Not that I didn't enjoy the visual, but the gratuity of this dream sequence is beyond anything any right thinking director could justify.

As attractive as the visual is, I felt ashamed for Lucy Liu for taking part in such a degrading and unnecessary scene. As for Sheridan, her towel drop with Terrell Owens on Monday Night Football and her regular gig in the nighttime soap Desperate Housewives makes such a scene rather par for the course for her career which also includes a number of softcore straight to video flicks. That fact doesn’t change how sexist and pointless this scene was. 

Codename: The Cleaner is not offensively bad but it's far from anything I could recommend even to the most ardent fan of Cedric The Entertainer. Director Les Mayfield continues an embarrassing string of unfunny films that is likely to continue regardless of this film's box office failure. Like an old school studio hack, Mayfield makes the kind of cheap, high concept garbage that studios seem to like dumping into January, February and other non-blockbuster months.

As long as there are stand up comics in need of a quick paycheck and studios in need of dim-witted filler material; the Les Mayfield's of the world will always find work.

Movie Review: Children of Men

Children of Men (2006) 

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Written by Alfonso Cuaron

Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam

Release Date December 25th, 2006

Published December 24th, 2006

Alfonso Cuaron has said that his latest film, the futuristic thriller Children Of Men, is an allegory to our times. A warning of problems to come if we continue on our current path. The film alludes to ideas about immigration policy, war in the middle east, terrorism and death with dignity. These ideas are introduced but none are given great weight. It's as if just mentioning these hot button issues is enough to bring importance to a movie that is otherwise a chase thriller with an interesting premise.

The fact is,Children Of Men is not about its story or characters. Children Of Men is about director Alfonso Cuaron and his ability as a director. Using long, unbroken takes and some dazzling cinematography, Cuaron impresses with style and technique but does so at the expense of his story.

In 2027 woman haven't given birth in nearly 20 years. The world's youngest person, an 18 year old, has been killed and chaos reigns throughout the world. England is the last hold out of civil order, though the chaos is banging at the door. Immigrants from around the world have attempted to immigrate causing the government to round up foreigners and place them in camps. Those who fight are killed, those who don't are sent back to the chaos and famine of their home countries.

In the midst of the tumultuous times a former activist named Theo (Clive Owen) is slowly drinking himself to death. Having lost his own baby son more than a decade and a half ago, as well as his wife, Theo has given up. His ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) has not. Now the leader of an insurgency, Julian has come to the aid of an immigrant teenager, Kee (Claire Hope Ashitay) who holds the future of humanity.

Kee is; by some miracle, pregnant and Julian knows she can't protect her. Turning to Theo for help, she leaves it to him to take Kee to a utopian group of scientists and thinkers called the human project where it's hoped her pregnancy can reveal the key to saving humanity.

That is what I could make of the plot of Children of Men, a movie that is more style than substance. Director Alfonso Cuaron claims the film is an allegory to modern times however, his metaphors are shallow and underserved. This alarmist tale of government oppression and societal crumbling has a dark vision of the future that is supposed to be a warning of things to come and a comment on how things currently are but it fails to be convincing in either metaphoric conceit.

Children of Men is not an allegory, it is rather a movie about how the action is filmed and not why the action is taking place. Working with super long takes, Cuaron uses his camera in unbroken scenes that traverse big action movie chases and war scenes without a single edit. It's an impressive technical achievement. It's also an extraordinarily showy exercise. Like a dog begging for attention, the filmmaking tricks of Children of Men sit up, beg and roll over.

The worst thing about Children of Men is how cheap and manipulative the plot is. Of course, all movies are manipulative. However, the best movies allow you to suspend disbelief and forget you are being manipulated. Children of Men uses a cheap screenwriting trick, the child in danger plot, to manipulate audiences into feeling tension that the adult characters and the plot they are trapped in cannot.

I will grant you that much of the technological trickery employed by Alfonso Cuaron is so good that you can forgive much of the very shallow plot. The extended, unedited takes are compelling visuals that you can't help but marvel at. Also, I was surprised how visually impressive the film is without Cuaron's usual flourishes of color. In his Great Expectations, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Harry Potter, Cuaron's visuals overflowed with color. Children of Men goes in the opposite direction, desaturating the screen leaving a gray, light green hue that is as effective as his use of bright colors in previous films.

The color palette matches the mood of the film. Gloomy and oppressive and while that doesn't sound appealing, in execution and as part of this story, the color palette is visually engaging.

Another appealing element of Children of Men is the star performance of Clive Owen. No actor embodies weariness the way Owen does. Look at his roles in I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Closer and Sin City, no actor looks more tired or beaten up by the world as Owen. His gloom ridden role in Children of Men was made just for him.

The character of Theo has lost everything when we meet him. He can barely muster the energy to not give a damn. Watching him come back to life as he helps Kee escape is appealing for the way Owen plays it, even if the rest of the movie is not interested in character development. Owen and the rest of the cast of Children of Men were on their own trying to bring their characters some life while Alfonso Cuaron focused on unique ways to shoot them.

Children of Men is a technical marvel. Alfonso Cuaron and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki dazzle us with camera work, lighting, settings and chases and the films centerpiece, long unbroken takes. Dazzled we are but the technical brilliance can't disguise a shallow thriller plot clothed in faux importance. Saying your movie is important in metaphor is one thing, actually being important is another.

Movie Review: Black Christmas

Black Christmas (2006) 

Directed by Glenn Morgan 

Written by Glenn Morgan

Staring Katie Cassidy, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Hudson, Lacey Chabert

Release Date December 25th, 2006

Published December 25th, 2006

In 1974 Black Christmas shocked audiences with a Christmas based, blood soaked massacre. The film was only notable for its Christmas horror setting and was soon forgotten. 32 years later a pair of shock masters, Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who know a good marketing hook when they see one, acquired the remake rights and rushed out new version of Black Christmas just in time for the holiday season.

Crafted by one of the minds behind the Final Destination series, Glen Morgan, Black Christmas is, once again, only notable for its release date. Though soaked in bloody, horror film tradition, Black Christmas is simply yet another rehash of horror movie cliches.

Michelle Trachtenberg, of Buffy The Vampire Slayer fame, heads a cast of pretty faces as a sorority sister who finds her self stuck on campus for Christmas. Along with her sisters played by Katie Cassidy, Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Final Destination 3), Lacey Chabert (Party of Five) and their house mother Mrs. Mac (Andrea Martin, star of the original Black Christmas), she is exchanging gifts and trading stories when a strange phone call sets off a series of horrifying deaths.

It seems that the girls sorority house was once the home of a serial killer who killed and ate his mother on Christmas day; some 20 years earlier. Now, having escaped from a mental institution, Billy (Robert Mann) has come home and is ready to make the sisters his new family. Billy isn't alone, the daughter he had by his own mother is also home to get in on the carnage.

It's a creepy idea but in execution, Black Christmas is little more than a collection of horror movie cliches. Nubile flesh is modestly displayed. Girls run upstairs when they should run outside. Cops are incapacitated and the killers make their murders more elaborate and gruesome when a simpler approach might save some time and work more effectively.

I was surprised to find this collection of cliches was directed by Glen Morgan who with his producing partner James Wong worked on the X-Files TV show and created the clever, if over done, Final Destination series. Morgan's direction of Destination 1 & 3 was, at the very least witty, if not all that frightening. Going for classic slasher movie scares in Black Christmas, Morgan loses the wit in favor of more blood. He should have stuck with his wits.

The cast of Black Christmas reads like the rejected casting for the WB teen drama One Tree Hill. Michelle Trachtenberg, former Harriet The Spy and Buffy The Vampire Slayer alum, Lacey Chabert, the forgotten member of the Party of Five cast, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, star of Final Destination 3 and....nothing else, and Oliver Hudson who knows his way around a teen drama, he guest starred on Dawson's Creek as a wrong side of the tracks bad boy.

This Clearasil approved cast is pleasant to look at but their acting leaves much to be desired. Not that Black Christmas calls for much acting beyond run, scream and die painfully. Though the film does carry an R-rating, the fresh faced cast is not called upon for the kind of nudity that might give a slight erotic charge to all of the carnage. There are glimpses of a naked back in the shower, but only hints of the kind of exposure we are used to in the slasher genre.

Black Christmas pales in comparison to the creepy 1974 original, though that film isn't all that great either. Too weak kneed for a typical exploitation film, but too bloody for the dull PG-13 lot that has been stinking up the horror genre, Black Christmas inhabits an unhappy middle-ground between enjoyable crap and just plain crap. Any less interesting and Wes Craven would have slapped his name on it as producer.

Movie Review The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd (2006)

Directed by Robert DeNiro 

Written by Eric Roth

Starring Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Michael Gambon, Joe Pesci, Eddie Redmayne 

Release Date December 22nd, 2006

Published December 21st, 2006

Playing a super spy has been great for Matt Damon's career. As secret agent Jason Bourne, Damon has found world wide stardom and massive blockbuster returns. Now for his latest super spy role, Damon goes an entirely different direction. As Edward Wilson the protagonist of The Good Shepherd, Damon helps track the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency and the rise of real life spycraft.

With no karate moves, or even a gun, Damon crafts yet another exceptionally watchable spy character; though not one likely to be sequelize.

Edward Wilson's (Matt Damon) initiation into the spy game was heartbreaking. Wilson was approached by an FBI agent (Alec Baldwin) and informed that his favorite professor (Michael Gambon) was a Nazi sympathizer. Using his trusted position in the professors inner circle, Wilson attended a party with the professor and a Nazi intelligence officer during which Wilson steals the evidence necessary to hang his mentor.

Of course were you to believe any of what you see in the spy game, you are not really much of a spy. Robert De Niro's unique, sometimes breathtaking, always absorbing spy drama The Good Shepherd is filled with twists and turns that will leave lesser audience members dazed and confused. With a complicated time shifting narrative, and a close to the vest, poker faced performance from Matt Damon, The Good Shepherd can, at times, seem impenetrable. Audiences willing to invest in the film's complications will be rewarded with one of the better spy pictures they've seen in a long while.

Charting the founding of the CIA with the fictional story of a man who became that institution's backbone, The Good Shepherd indulges in some spy cliches but justifies those cliches by acting as if this film invented them. Check the multi-layered double talk that Damon engages in throughout. If you are paying attention you might be able to decipher what the characters are saying. If however, your attention span doesn't allow for languid pacing and complicated scripting, you might want to sit this one out.

The Good Shepherd draws you in slowly and rewards you with a movie watching experience that is absorbing and almost hypnotic. Damon's performance is aloof but daringly so. His Edward Wilson is consistently duplicitous and frighteningly quiet and calculating. At the same time, the secretive nature of the character is seductive. He puzzles you with his elusiveness so that in the rare moment that we catch an emotion flash across his face; it nearly takes your breath away.

Robert DeNiro's direction of The Good Shepherd is precise without ever becoming mechanical. His warm, dark visual style works at  odds with a coldly efficient story. The Good Shepherd is classic, old school filmmaking, reminiscent of the kind of complex storytelling prevalent in the 60's and early 70's when movies weren't dominated by the need to satisfy younger demographics. This is a smart, adult minded movie that works at its own pace. If it drags in the middle; it's as much a function of the modern attention span as it is DeNiro's expensive form of storytelling.

The Good Shepherd is an absorbing, though slightly overlong, spy tale that features yet another career-making performance by Matt Damon. Robert DeNiro's direction is understated and underestimated. All of those years working with Scorsese have paid off in DeNiro's great eye and scene setting ability. And, thankfully, the story is as strong as the acting and direction.

The Good Shepherd needs a bit of a trim around the middle, but overall, this is an easy film to recommend. A smart, adult minded thriller with a classical sense of how to tell a story.

Movie Review Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa (2006) 

Directed by Sylvester Stallone

Written by Sylvester Stallone

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, Milo Ventimiglia 

Release Date December 20th, 2006

Published December 20th, 2006

When I first heard Sylvester Stallone was reviving the Rocky series I rolled my eyes and dismissed the idea as a desperate attempt by an aging star to save his flagging career. That, indeed, was the case. Stallone's career has been flagging for years with one disappointing film leading to another to eventually Stallone being unable to open his movies in theaters.

I wasn't the only dismissive skeptic. MGM, the company that holds the rights to the Rocky character, had no interest in another Rocky. It wasn't until Stallone raised the production capitol on his own that MGM agreed to release the film and now that film has been made and to the shock and amazement of many Rocky Balboa is more than just a star's desperate attempt to reclaim the spotlight.

Pretending that the last installment of the Rocky movies, one that found a brain damaged Rocky brawling in the streets with a younger, dumber fighter (played by real life boxer Tommy Morrison), this Rocky picks up the story with the champ running a successful restaurant in his old neighborhood in Philly. A Lot has changed but most devastatingly, Rocky's beloved wife Adrian has passed away.

Spending countless days visiting Adrian's grave and his nights commiserating with his pal Pauly (Burt Young), Rocky somehow gets it in his head that he's got something left in the tank for another fight. His decision to fight again happens to coincide with an ESPN video game stunt that pitted a virtual Rocky in his prime against the current world champion Mason 'The Line' Dixon (Antonio Tarver). Virtual Rocky wins the fight and this sparks interest in seeing Rocky get back in the ring.

Much of Rocky Balboa plays like Rocky's greatest hits. The training scenes have their usual grit and grunts. Bill Conti's score is soaring and inspirational and yes, Rocky is back on the steps running all the way to the top. This sounds like a negative criticism but I must say, as greatest hits go, these are pretty good ones. Think of it like this, you wouldn't turn up your nose at your favorite rock bands greatest hits, so why turn your nose up at Rocky's.

Sylvester Stallone stars in, wrote the screenplay, produced and directed Rocky Balboa and this one man movie company does quite an impressive job. Shooting on handheld digital, Stallone takes Rocky back to his low budget days and it's terrific how the handheld digital is so visually reminiscent of the original film. The big budget slickness of Rocky's 3,4 and 5 were part and parcel of the disgusting excess that took the once beloved character and made him a joke.

Of course,Rocky Balboa culminates with a big time boxing match and as in Rocky 1 and 2 this one doesn't disappoint. The fight between Rocky and real life boxing champ Antonio Tarver never resembles anything remotely like a real boxing match, but as a Rocky version of boxing; it's as rousing and invigorating as the two bouts with Apollo Creed that provided the crescendo of the first two Rocky movies.

The death of Talia Shire's Adrian provides the film with a powerful emotional punch. Adrian is arguably as iconic a character as Rocky, though Talia Shire was never properly honored for her work. This film is a beautiful love letter to Rocky's anchor, the one character who managed to maintain her dignity through the ever more ludicrous sequelizations of Rocky.

Is Rocky Balboa a cynical, last gasp at stardom by an aging action hero desperate for the spotlight? Yeah, maybe a little. But, surprisingly, Rocky Balboa is also a well told story that takes advantage of our nostalgia for a beloved character to tell a pretty engaging and dramatic story. Most of all the film is a reminder of why we fell in love with this character and it leaves us with the memory of Rocky that was taken from us by the goofiness of the other sequels. For that reason alone Rocky Balboa is worth the price of a ticket.

Movie Review Letters from Iwo Jima

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Written by Iris Yamashita 

Starring Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya 

Release Date December 20th, 2006

Published December 18th, 2006

Clint Eastwood's bold decision to take on both sides of the battle of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most devastating battles of World War 2, has paid off with not one but two extraordinary films. Flags of Our Fathers covered the American side of the war from the battle on the field to the battle at home. Now Letters From Iwo Jima has arrived with the story from the Japanese perspective. If Iwo Jima is slightly more successful than Flags it's because it is more battle focused with a cleaner narrative line. Together they mark a cinematic achievement that only a true master could have created.

With the Americans closing in on the Japanese homeland a tiny sliver of land is all that keeps the Japanese from being overrun. The tiny isle of Iwo Jima is a strategic spot in the pacific where the American forces hope to launch a full scale invasion of Japan. If the Japanese army can somehow hold Iwo Jima that may not win the war but they could stave off the invasion.

Leading the defense of Iwo Jima is the great General Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe). Having been trained by the Americans, General Kuribayashi is ideally suited to counter the American invasion. Rather, he would be ideal under better circumstances. On Iwo Jima, the general will find himself desperately outnumbered with no air support and reserve troops withheld to protect the next island in the chain.

On the opposite side of the command structure is a draftee named Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya) who was a humble baker and now finds himself facing death on Iwo Jima. Saigo is a terrible soldier. It's not that he doesn't love his country, just that he was never bred to be a soldier.

The General and the grunt tell the story of Iwo Jima in letters they mail back to the homeland. The letters of the real life General Kuribayashi were the basis of Iris Yamashita's book Letters From Iwo Jima. With an assist from Oscar winning screenwriter Paul Haggis, Yamashita adapted the letters into the story of this legendary battle in all of its terrifying, doomed glory.

The look of the film has the same washed out, dreary, grays of Flags of Our Fathers. The bleakness of battle is conveyed by the lack of color, aside from the red of blood which, while it isn't enhanced by effects, is the only color that really stands out. Working with cinematographer Tom Stern, who did the same job on Flags of Our Fathers, Clint Eastwood tells the story of Iwo Jima as much with his visuals as with his compelling human drama.

Ken Watanabe was a natural to play the honorable General Kuribayashi. His face is a map of dignity, grace and stern steadfast dedication, qualities that the real life General, no doubt, would have had. His voice overs in the letters begin with a resigned courage and patriotism and slowly evolve with the courage intact but an increasing amount of sadness and disappointment. These are all extraordinarily subtle touches and Watanabe makes them all count.

Setting the story entirely on the battlefield gives Letters From Iwo Jima a tighter focus than Flags Of Our Fathers which limped a little when telling the story of soldiers at home after the battle. The few brief sojourns off the battlefield, flashbacks to the General's time in America, are brief and serve the purpose of deepening this already fascinating character.

Taken together Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima are the kind of bold cinematic achievement that only a great master could conceive. Clint Eastwood was already a legend, now he is truly an auteur. Even those audiences that are opposed to war movies will be moved by the compelling and very human drama of both sides of the battle of Iwo Jima.

Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima are movies that demand to be seen.

Movie Review The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) 

Directed by Gabriel Muccino 

Written by Steven Conrad

Starring Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Dan Castellaneta, Jaden Smith

Release Date December 15th, 2006

Published December 14th, 2006

Will Smith is the biggest box office star in the world. His golden touch has extended from big time action movies (Bad Boys, I Robot) to light hearted comedy (Hitch). Now he looks to extend that golden touch to the genre of the golden statue, the oscar bait drama. However, do not mistake The Pursuit of Happyness, Smith's take on the inspiring life story of Christopher Gardener, as merely an attempt at Oscar glory.

The Pursuit of Happyness stands on its own as a solid crowd pleasing drama that just happens to feature a career best performance by the biggest box office star in the world. That the role happens to be in just the kind of film the academy loves to honor is a bonus.

Christopher Gardener was convinced that sinking his family's savings into a sales venture involving medical supplies would be a great idea. It wasn't, the medical community was resistant and Chris struggled to make enough sales to put food on the table. Meanwhile, his put-upon wife (Thandie Newton) worked double shifts and became more and more distant until finally she gave up and left.

Chris took their five year old son Chris Jr (Jaden Smith) and set about making a better life for himself. That better life meant accepting a difficult, if not impossible, job at Dean Witter investment services. The position was in the training program and it paid nothing and didn't even guarantee a job when the training was over.

This meant that Chris and his son would have to go without a regular home. Sleeping in fleapit motels, homeless shelters and on subway trains, Chris stayed up most nights studying and spent his days on the phone hustling while his son languished in a low rent korean daycare.

The story of Christopher Gardener was featured on 20/20 and was written up in newspapers across the country as the homeless man who became a multi-millionaire. It's an inspiring story but as played by Will Smith and directed by Gabriele Mucchino, in his American film debut, The Pursuit of Happyness avoids becoming yet another feel good, inspirational story, and develops real, heart rending drama.

Mucchino and writer Steve Conrad take the risk of making The Pursuit of Happyness a rather dark slog through economic insecurity. The bad things that happen to Christopher Gardener happen repeatedly, to the point where he becomes a jobian figure of woe. The fears that I'm sure many of us share about the possibility of losing everything, of falling so far behind that you can't get out, are what makes Christopher's story so compelling  and hard to watch.

Anyone of us could be where Chris Gardener was. A bad investment here, a lost job there, a large unmanageable medical crisis and we could find ourselves hustling for a place to stay and a warm meal. The Pursuit of Happyness has an edge of relatable fear to it that makes Chris's situation so much more dramatic and at times hard to watch.

The film, in fact, threatens to collapse under the weight of Christopher's oppressive situation. This is where the casting of Will Smith becomes so integral to making this film. Only an actor with Smith's charisma and strength of character, and massive cache of audience goodwill; could keep The Pursuit of Happyness from becoming so oppressively sad that even the happy ending couldn't raise the specter of gloom. We  like and enjoy Will Smith so much as a personality, as a persona that the ever present gloom of Christopher Gardener's struggle never settles.

Will Smith's performance in The Pursuit of Happyness is the most nuanced and complex of his career since his fondly remembered debut as a gay hustler in Six Degrees of Seperation. As Christopher Gardener, Smith uses his starpower to establish our sympathies with him and then opens the role up to scrutiny, to sadness and to some harrowing self examination. It's a profoundly touching performance that never gives in to treacle or simple sentimentality.

Working opposite Will Smith, in an impressive screen debut, is Jaden Smith, Will's son with wife Jada Pinkett Smith. Young Jaden, at only five years old, is already showing some of his dad's wit and natural charm. His is a naturalistic performance that is never cloying or typically kid cute. It likely helped Jaden to be working comfortably with his dad, but there is clearly a lot of natural talent in this kid.

The biggest flaw in The Pursuit of Happyness is the poor use of the very talented actress Thandie Newton. In a thankless role, Newton is shrewish and unreasonable and it's a real shame because her character offers a number of interesting dramatic possibilities. There is a chance to quickly examine how romantic love is often sublimated by practical concerns. Clearly, theses two people loved each other once, sadly real life intruded on that romantic fantasy and drove them apart.

That is an idea for another movie. It's just a shame that with an actress as talented as Thandie Newton that director Garbriel Mucchino and writer Steve Conrad couldn't write a better, more complex role. As it is, Linda Gardener is treated as a one note villain character in a movie that really doesn't need a villain.

The Pursuit of Happyness could have devolved into a simplistic, inspiring and uplifting story of a man pulling himself up by his bootstraps. Thankfully, because of the caring, nuanced performance of Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness is so much more than that. This is a movie that directly confronts the economic insecurity so many people have felt at one time or another. It's a movie about a father and a son, a movie about grit and determination and a story about an extraordinary man who overcame exceptional sorrow.

Movie Review: Eragon

Eragon (2006) 

Directed by Stefan Wangmeir

Written by Peter Buchman 

Starring Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle

Release Date December 15th, 2006

Published December 15th, 2006

What if you took the Lord of the Rings and removed the visual wonder? Then added the Star Wars mythos without any of the genuine spirit. Why if you did that you would get Eragon a dopey sci-fi fantasy that for good measure throws in the wussiest dragons in movie history on top of it's ludicrous LOTR-Star Wars pretensions.

In some ridiculously under-produced middle ages land; dragons are a dying breed. Only the tyrant king (John Malkovich) has one. However, the king also has a dragon egg which has been stolen by the rebel queen Arya (Sienna Guillory). Though she is quickly captured by the king's top henchmam Durza (Robert Carlyle), she manages to stash the dragon's egg with a farm boy who happens to be the egg's natural master.

Eragon is the farm boy's name and it turns out that it was his destiny to be a dragon rider. With the help of a drifter, and former dragon rider, named Brom (Jeremy Irons), Eragon learns what being a dragon rider is all about. With his dragon Saphira (voice of Rachel Weisz), Eragon must learn to become a magician and a warrior and lead a resistance army against the tyrant king.

It's a story so simple it could have been written by a teenager. In fact, it was written by a teenager. 16 year old Christopher Paolini wrote the novel on which Eragon was based and has written a series of books based on this character. Having never read the books I can't tell you how well they compare to the movie. I can say that I am impressed that 16 year old would have such a great imagination, the movie version could have used a little imagination.

Directed by Stefan Fangmeier, in his debut feature, Eragon is a goofball sci fi fantasy that tells a dopey, Lord of the Rings inspired adventure with half the imagination and little of the visual wonder. The film has pretensions of Star Wars as Brom acts as Eragon's version of Obi Wan Kenobi, including a nobel death, while Garrett Hedlund shows up as wimpy Han Solo clone Murtagh.

Robert Carlyle is an extraordinarily effete version of Darth Maul from Episode 1 and Malkovich chews the scenery as both Darth Vader and Chancellor Palpatine.

Of course Eragon is a bad facsimile of both LOTR and Star Wars but; the film it most resembles is the brutal Dungeons and Dragons movie from 2000. That film at the very least featured dragons with some backbone. The dragon in Eragon is a sensitive girl who can't breath fire for most of the film. I love Rachel Weisz but having her voice a dragon just confirms that this is the wussiest dragon since the original Shrek when the red dragon romanced a donkey.

Eragon is an example of why parody us nearly impossible in this day and age. How can parody something as ludicrous as Eragon. On the surface the film seems ripe for caricature. However, the film is such a travesty in and of itself that parody seems redundant. Check the performance of Robert Carlyle who with his pudgy face and long locks and middle ages dress, looks like the ugliest girl at the prom. His goofy accent and lisp don't help matters much either.

John Malkovich eats the scenery as if his performance was an homage to co-star Jeremy Irons while star Edward Speleers turns in a teary, bleary performance that only Hugh Jackman in The Fountain could truly appreciate. Some critics could fairly point out that both Elijah Wood in LOTR and Mark Hammill in the original Star Wars didn't exactly cut manly heroic figures; but Speleers in Eragon makes both of those actors look like John Wayne in comparison.

Eragon remakes Dungeons and Dragons without the geek cache. The dragons are wimpy, the acting brutal and over the top, and the special effects are worse than anything the legendary Z-movie director Uwe Boll has turned out. If only Eragon had had Uwe Boll behind the camera. That, at the very least, would raise the camp level. Kitsch is really the only thing that could rescue even a few moments of pleasure from this abysmal fantasy.

Movie Review: Blood Diamond

I believe a movie can make itself valuable simply by telling an important sory. The new action thriller Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly tells the story of diamonds mined in Africa by rebels and terrorists and sold to fund dictatorships, genocide and terrorism. This is a story that has been ignored to long and just telling it lends a certain gravitas to Blood Diamond.

That said, the film is still, for the most part, a packaged Hollywood product. An action thriller with plenty of bullets, blood and bombs going off. The action is high octane but because the story is so true and so sobering it's difficult to accept the giddy thrill that such slick Hollywood action often elicits. This leaves one with a mostly mixed impression of the well intended Blood Diamond.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Blood Diamond as Danny Archer; a diamond smuggler who acts as the go between for terrorists and warlords and the diamond syndicates in London and America who purchase the so called "Conflict Diamonds", diamonds often covered with the blood of innocent africans. As the movie notes, more than 15 percent of diamonds sold in world are conflict diamonds and the billions of dollars made off of the sale of these diamonds is funding terrorism and genocide throughout Africa.

Danny Archer does not take much time to reflect on his ethics. The opportunistic Danny is constantly searching for a score and when he happens on a farmer named Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) who escaped forced labor at a rebel diamond mine after he stashed a rare pink diamond, Danny seizes the opportunity. Offering to help reunite Solomon with his family, made refugees by a rebel attack, Solomon reluctantly agrees to lead Danny to the diamond.

Joining the search is an idealistic journalist named Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly) who is after Danny in search of proof of the link between conflict diamonds and the world's leading diamond dealer. Using her connections, Maddy gets Danny and Solomon back to the jungles where Solomon hid the diamond, in exchange Danny gives her the story she is looking for.

Ed Zwick, the director behind The Last Samurai and Courage Under Fire, directs Blood Diamond with a great care for the reality of this disturbing story. That means he had to be true to the horrific violence that surrounds the African diamond trade. Blood Diamond is brutally violent in depicting how rebel forces recruit their slave labor workforce. Women and children are murdered indiscriminately while able bodied men are either tortured or forced to work in the mines. Limbs are lopped off at will and children are recruited to become warriors with machine guns.

These images are disturbing and shocking and yet; as presented by  Ed Zwick they have a certain Hollywood slickness to them. There is a puncturing of the reality of these scenes because Zwick and cinematographer Eduardo Serra choose to shoot the film on traditional film stock. If ever a subject called for the gritty realistic look of handheld digital it's Blood Diamond. Shot as a traditional Hollywood picture the highly stylized and clean photography of Blood Diamond undercuts the brutal story being told.

The disconnect is jarring. At once you are watching a classic Hollywood action film with guns and explosions that usually illicit giddy thrills but here are tempered by a very serious sobering subject. Blood Diamond is an experience that is difficult to enjoy and indeed may not have meant to be enjoyable as a typical popcorn program picture. Yet the film looks; and the action feels like a typical Hollywood action epic.

Aside from the important subject, the reason to see Blood Diamond is the performance of Leonardo DiCaprio. Evincing a tough guy menace that is unexpected of him, even after his similar tough guy role in The Departed, Dicaprio delivers a powerful performance that is far more complex and unique than most action movie heroes.

Really; DiCaprio's Danny Archer is no hero, he is as much a villain as he is a brave man. When he decides to go for the diamond he is opportunistic and cold blooded and when called upon to be heroic, DiCaprio plays the conflicted nature of Danny Archer extraordinarily well.

Director Ed Zwick preached his way through The Last Samurai and Courage Under Fire and The Siege, hammering home ham fisted points about the complicated measures of patriotism with in your face earnestness. He can't resist doing a little more preaching in Blood Diamond, even when preaching about a seemingly unrelated topic like the war in Iraq.

In a minor and slightly humorous scene, Djimon Hounsou has a brief conversation with a lost villager who laments the violence of the diamond trade but hopes they never discover oil in Africa or else they will be in real trouble. A darkly funny exchange but an entirely unnecessary scene.

I am recommending Blood Diamond based on the important story it tells and the performance of Leonardo DiCaprio. His is a performance that is worth of the the buzz that has Leo vs Leo at the Oscars in March; with his performance in Blood Diamond versus his performance in The Departed. I don't see that happening but both performances are more than worthy of Academy consideration.

Blood Diamond is a flawed Hollywood action picture that garners unwarranted importance from its subject matter. That is a subject that desperately needs public attention does manage to redeem what is otherwise just another Hollywood action movie.

Movie Review Tenacious D The Pick of Destiny

Tenacious D The Pick of Destiny (2006) 

Directed by Liam Lynch 

Written by Liam Lynch 

Starring Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Ben Stiller, Paul F. Tompkins, Dave Grohl

Release Date November 22nd, 2006 

Published November 21st, 2006 

Jack Black has become a big star in recent years thanks to lead roles in School Of Rock, Shallow Hal and Nacho Libre. Before the lead acting roles came along however, Jack Black got his start performing at comedy club open mic nights with his partner Kyle Gass. Together Jack and Kyle were known as Tenacious D; a pair of metal head rockers with acoustic guitars imitating their favorite metal gods.

Tenacious D got a big break when they were given their own HBO TV show where sketches depicting their quest for fame and fortune as they perform their foul mouthed, hysterical, over the top metal tunes. Now Tenacious D is on the big screen and though the only difference between the TV show and the movie is a much larger budget, fans of Tenacious D will be more than satisfied with The Pick of Destiny.

Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny is essentially an origin story. Like great comic book heroes we are told the story of how Jack Black left behind his repressive father (Meatloaf), made his way to Los Angeles and met an exceptional street guitarist named Kyle Gass. At first; the arrogant Kyle is not interested in joining forces with J.B but eventually he does take him under his wing. And thus is born the greatest rock band in the world, Tenacious D.

As a power duo, rocking metal madness on acoustic guitars, JB and KG get their start performing at open mic shows in hopes of winning enough prize money to pay the rent. In order to become the greatest band in the world, and to solve a bout of writer's block, JB and KG make a pilgrimage to the Rock N Roll museum to obtain the Pick of Destiny. It is a guitar pick used by Eddie Van Halen, Angus Young and Pete Townsend.

Crafted from the broken tooth of Satan himself (Dave Grohl), the pick of destiny has the power to turn average rockers into legends.

That is a mere sketch of what passes as a plot in Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny. For the most part the movie, directed by Liam Lynch, is just an extended sketch that would be right at home on the HBO TV show. The film is made up of sketches, dream sequences and celebrity cameos. Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins and Amy Adams are just a few of the celebs who drop in. There is also John C. Reilly reprising his role as Sasquatch, the same role he played on the Tenacious D TV show. The film opens with a rollicking musical number that pits Meatloaf as Jack's overbearing father against Ronnie James Dio in a musical battle for JB's soul. Easy to figure who won that one.

I wish the film had a stronger narrative line. As a series of sketches and dream sequences, Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny is very funny. However, there are moments when the film meanders and gets lost waiting for the laugh. A tighter, more focused version of The Pick of Destiny could be the funniest movie of the year.

In an era when musicals are out of fashion, Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny is boldly a rock n roll musical. Jack and Kyle's unique brand of rock is a tribute to and satire of the heavy metal that both grew up loving. The songs in the movie include a duet by Meatloaf and Ronnie James Dio, a battle between the D and Satan (played by Dave Grohl), and my favorite song in the movie, Dude (I totally miss you).

The soundtrack alone is more than enough to recommend Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny but there is more. Check out the guest list which includes Ben Stiller as guitar shop employee, Tim Robbins as a homeless german rocker and John C. Reilly reprising his role as Sasquatch from Tenacious D's HBO comedy show.

As a long time fan of Tenacious D there was little chance that I would not love The Pick of Destiny. Still, I wasn't completely satisfied. The movie is just a little too much like an extended version of the TV show. It's a great TV show, but as a fan I was hoping for something more. I am recommending The Pick of Destiny for fans of Tenacious D. For those new to the D phenomenon, you should probably check out the TV show, now on DVD, before investing in The Pick of Destiny. 

Movie Review Happy Feet

Happy Feet (2006) 

Directed by George Miller 

Written by George Miller

Starring Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugo Weaving 

Release Date November 17th, 2006 

Published November 18th, 2006

The trailers for Happy Feet have been in theaters for more than a year ahead of the release of the film. The trailers promise a big, brassy, pop musical with a cast of celebrity singers with impressive range. Now that the film has arrived the promise has not been delivered. Happy Feet has music but is no musical. Rather, Happy Feet is a sweet, well intention-ed, environmental parable about over-fishing in the world's oceans that will have little kids fidgeting in their seats and mom and dad struggling to stay awake.

Mumble (Elijah Wood) is the only penguin among thousands who doesn't have a heart song. He simply cannot sing, a terrible embarrassment to his mother (Nicole Kidman) and father (Hugh Jackman) who met through a beautifully sung medley. Mumble however, does have a unique talent, he can dance. Unfortunately his Happy Feet are not something the older penguins appreciate.

The penguins are in trouble. As we join the story; there are less and less fish in the ocean and the situation is getting desperate. Mumble has heard from a bird that aliens have been stealing most of the fish, leading some birds to even attack penguins, a fate that Mumble just barely escapes. On his first fishing trip, Mumble separates himself from the group to search for the aliens. He wants to reason with them and get them to share the fish.

Joining Mumble on his quest are a group of latin infused penguins lead by the hot blooded Ramon (Robin Williams). Also coming along is a penguin shaman named Lovelace (also voiced by Robin Williams). Together this ragtag band braves the coldest portions of Antarctica and the dangerous sea lions out to make them into lunch, to get to the alien encampment where Mumble's dancing skills might just make all the difference.

Directed by George Miller, who made the Oscar nominated kids flick Babe, Happy Feet is gorgeously animated but extraordinarily dull. The trailers promised music but aside from an opening mash-up of Prince's Kiss and Elvis's Heartbreak Hotel sung by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman and Brittany Murphy crooning a lovely rendition of Queen's Somebody To Love, the music is scant throughout Happy Feet.

The real thrust of the film is an environmental parable about how humans are overfishing the oceans and how it's affecting wildlife. That is a relevant environmental issue well suited to documentary filmmaking. Happy Feet is obviously not a documentary but an animated movie aimed at small children. Now, environmental responsibility is a lesson I wish more kids were taught but if Happy Feet is the vehicle; most kids won't remember the message.

The message is delivered in such a slow moving, serious minded fashion that the message is likely to go over the heads of the target audience of Happy Feet who are more likely to spend their time climbing on the theater seats or trying to keep mom and dad from dozing off. As forgettable as they are, the Ice Age pictures deliver an environmental lesson far more effectively and entertainingly than does Happy Feet.

The animation of Happy Feet is exceptional. It really is a work of art in some moments. If the story weren't so trudgingly dull, Happy Feet might have been a masterpiece. I loved George Miller's lovely watercolor landscapes and the animated dancing penguins is a real dazzler. If you love great animation, from a technical perspective, you might find something to love about Happy Feet.

The soundtrack to Happy Feet is also tremendous, if only there had been more of it. Prince contributes a brand new song, "Song Of The Heart", that plays over the closing credits. The soundtrack CD features Pink, covering Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good", The Beach Boys and the long forgotten but much loved Brand New Heavies. Songs sung, all too briefly, by the cast are also included on the CD.

If this were a music review it would be a rave.

Great animation, great music, and yet a sleeping pill of a film, Happy Feet is one of the more disappointing films of the year. The trailer promised a pop musical, the movie is a lesson in overfishing around Antarctica, even an environmentalist like myself found it difficult to keep my eyes from rolling. If you want to send an environmental message to little kids at least dress it up with some great pop tunes, Happy Feet tried that and abandoned it far too quickly in favor of dull preaching.

Movie Review: Casino Royale Starring Daniel Craig

Casino Royale (2006) 

Directed by Martin Campbell 

Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis 

Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Dame Judi Dench 

Release Date November 17rh, 2006 

Published November 16th, 2006 

I've never been a big James Bond fan. I have always perceived OO7 to be my fathers kind of hero not mine, I'm more Han Solo than Bond. So I didn't get all that worked up over the controversy that surrounded the selection of a new James Bond and the unceremonious ouster of Pierce Brosnan. The most recent Bond flicks had begun to devolve into kitschy exercises in gadgetry and snark.

The new James Bond is a little more my style. Grittier, more violent, darker in tone than any of the other Bond pictures, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, is an action packed, quickly paced thriller with more in common with Jason Bourne than James Bond.

In this version of Ian Fleming's legendary spy series, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is a rising star in British Intelligence. Having just attained his double-oh status, James is a prickly thorn in the side of his superior M (Dame Judi Dench). On a mission in Africa, Bond killed a government witness in full view of witnesses and a security camera and, though the death was justifiable in context, the tabloids want someone to blame.

Rather than feeding the junior spy to the media, M sends Bond on holiday; knowing full well that he is not finished with his current mission. Tracking a terror target to the Bahamas, James reveals his talent for hold'em poker and his charm with the ladies by showing up a terror suspect at cards and then seducing the man's wife.

Eventually this trail leads Bond to a high stakes poker game in Montenegro where the world's leader in funding terror groups, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson) is holding court. Le Chiffre is a highly competitive and seemingly unbeatable player. It is up to Bond and his government accountant Vesper Lind (Eva Green) to stop Le Chiffre from winning the money he needs to continue supporting terrorists.

That is a semblance of the plot of Casino Royale. The plot, of course, is superfluous to a movie so much more interested in looking cool. Director Martin Campbell and star Daniel Craig are the perfect combination of style and cool. With his cold blue eyes and chiseled physique, Craig is the most intimidating Bond in the franchise history. Director Martin Campbell makes great use of Craig's assets, placing him in more hand to hand combat than ever before and eliminating the series' stale reliance on gadgetry.

Danish actor Madds Mikkelson is a Bond villain not unlike Charles Gray's Blofeld, at least early in the film. Mikkelson's Le Chiffre is a hands off villain whose talent is moving money for far more dangerous villains. He's unlikely to get physically involved with Bond, especially one on one. As demonstration of his vulnerability, Le Chiffre cries blood when he's frustrated.

There is however, a torture scene where Le Chiffre shows a more sadistic side than any Bond villain has likely ever shown. I won't detail what happens in this scene, let's just say it involves that most sensitive part of the male anatomy. The torture scene along with some of the violent hand to hand combat left me wondering just how the MPAA gave Casino Royale a PG-13 rating. The hand to hand battles are brutal and bloody and the torture scene is nearly unbearable, not anything you want to take the kids to see or allow your young children to see on their own.

There is much that I enjoyed about Casino Royale; but, the film is not without noticeable flaws. At two hours and 20 minutes, Casino Royale desperately overstays its welcome. The movie ends atleast twice before finally resolving with a major sequel tease. Just as the film seems to be over for the first time, new villains are introduced out of the clear blue sky and with little to no connection to the main plot. That's irritating enough but when the film continues on with a second false ending, I nearly walked out in disgust.

There are a good 20 minutes, at least, that could be cut to make Casino Royale a leaner, more focused and far better film than it is.

The most exciting thing about Casino Royale is the absolutely extraordinary chase scene that opens the film immediately after the credits. As Bond and a fellow agent scope out an African bomb maker, Bond's partner accidentally tips off the bad guy and Bond is forced to give chase. The chase is one of the most mind blowing action sequences ever filmed as stuntman/actor Sebastein Foucan demonstrates a style of free running called Parkour that shows off his abilities as a human special effect. Foucan's leaps, jumps, dives and twists and his incredible speed make Jackie Chan look like Jackie Gleason.

I wanted more of Sebastien Foucan and would love to see him get together with Tom Tykwer for a Run Lola Run sequel. Foucan really steals the show in Casino Royale.

As always one of the most eye-catching things about a James Bond picture is the Bond babe and Eva Green, the sexpot star of Bertolucci's The Dreamers, really fits the bill. Though little is required of Green in terms of plot, character or action, she is terrific eye candy and that is the very least you can ask of a Bond babe. Yes, I know the term Bond babe is passe in this day and age, but what about Bond is not anachronistic in the age of the techno thriller.

An excellent debut for new Bond Daniel Craig, Casino Royale is a rollicking, old school action flick that could have ranked amongst the best action pictures of the decade with a little more work in the editing room. At nearly150 minutes Casino Royale is a chore to sit through, especially the irritating triple ending.  Still, Casino Royale contains just enough action and sex appeal to make for some terrific popcorn entertainment.

The film received a PG-13 rating but I do not recommend the film for kids under 18 years of age. The film is darkly violent with a callousness and brutality that belies the teen friendly rating. Parents use your discretion.