Archive
BLADES OF GLORY – Theodore Shapiro
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Sports comedies are nearly as common as sports dramas at the movie theatres, and “Blades of Glory” was a film that did very little to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack. Despite a few entertaining moments, the film feels like one of the more forgettable entries in the career of Will Ferrell… and one of the many recent forgettable entries in the career of Jon Heder (who keeps trying and failing to capitalize on his “Napoleon Dynamite” fame). Anyway, the film centers around a pair of banned male figure skaters who bend the rules by deciding to skate together as a pair. This leads to all sorts of rather dumb gay jokes, and a long, slow progression to the climax of all sports movies, “The Big Game/Event/Championship/Thing”. Read more…
THE LOOKOUT – James Newton Howard
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I’m always pleased when a talented new director hits the Hollywood scene, and I’d like to welcome Scott Frank to the club of “people whose movies I will pay to see even if I don’t have to.” Frank has been writing quality screenplays for years, his credits include “Get Shorty”, “Dead Again”, “Out of Sight”, and “Minority Report”. He has moved into the next phase of his career with “The Lookout”, trying his hand at directing for the first time. He demonstrates considerable skills in this area, creating a very compelling cinematic atmosphere. The film is of the crime genre, something Frank is quite familiar with, and at first it may seems as if we’re about to view a re-hash of a dozen other crime movies, among them such titles as “Out of Sight” and “Memento”. Before long, we realize that we are actually seeing an original creation, not a mere rehash of Frank’s other movies, or anyone else’s for that matter. Read more…
MEET THE ROBINSONS – Danny Elfman
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Walt Disney’s 46th feature length animation, and their major animated effort for 2007, Meet the Robinsons surprisingly fell under the radar, and was a comparative box office failure. It tells the story of a young orphan inventor named Lewis, who embarks on a series of extravagant, time-traveling adventures with various members of the futuristic Robinson family as he attempts to find his real family. The film was directed by Steve Anderson and featured the voice talents of the likes of Angela Bassett and Tom Selleck, as well as an original score by Danny Elfman. The film sees Elfman in what one could call “madcap mode”, in much the same way as he was on scores such as Flubber and Mars Attacks. Read more…
SHOOTER – Mark Mancina
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A tense thriller from director Antoine Fuqua, Shooter stars Mark Wahlberg as former Special Ops sniper Bob Swagger, who is called out of his self-imposed retirement by his former boss (Danny Glover), who tells him they have learned of a plot to assassinate the President of the United States. With a mission to track down the suspects before they can carry out their plan, Swagger heads to Washington DC; however, before long, Swagger finds himself wrongfully accused of plotting to kill the President himself. On the run, and unsure of who to trust, Swagger must flush out the real suspects in order to clear his name. By all accounts it’s a return to form for the director of Training Day and Tears of the Sun, following the critical mess of King Arthur, and features a strong lead performance by Wahlberg alongside notable support from the likes of Glover, Elisa Koteas, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Rade Serbedzija and Ned Beatty. Read more…
TMNT (TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES) – Klaus Badelt
Original Review by Clark Douglas
I was rather irritated when I first heard that the title of the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie would be “TMNT”. “Sheesh,” I thought, “haven’t we had enough of finding a shorter way to say everything in America? Why do we have to frickin’ abbreviate everything? Besides, what sounds cooler than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? It’s just fun to say!” However, after seeing the film, it seems the movie has an appropriate title. These turtles are many things, but they most certainly aren’t teenagers. “Tired” would fit the bill a bit more accurately. Read more…
REIGN OVER ME – Rolfe Kent
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The serious side of Adam Sandler gets a rare outing in director Mike Binder’s film Reign Over Me. Sandler plays Charlie Fineman, a dentist whose entire family – wife, kids, dog – was wiped out in the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York. Since then, Charlie has shut himself off completely from the outside world, unable to cope with the trauma of his life; that is, until he meets up with old college roommate and former fellow dentist Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), who is having personal and professional problems of his own. Recognizing Charlie’s grief, Alan attempts to rekindle their friendship and bring Charlie out of his depression – hoping that, in doing so, it will bring him out of his own. Read more…
PRIDE – Aaron Zigman
Original Review by Clark Douglas
This movie is quite an accomplishment, one that obviously took a lot of time and energy to create. It manages the startling feat of combining numerous related genres and inserting well-worn clichés from every single one of them into a jam-packed viewing experience. Too bad the crew couldn’t have put their efforts toward coming up with something fresh. If you’ve never seen an inspirational film involving teachers, coaches, sports, racism, or teenagers, you will be blown away by “Pride”. If this is not the case, I can’t promise such amazing things.
Genre # 1 – “Overcoming Racial Hurdles”: Our story’s primary character is Jim Ellis (Terence Howard), a real-life figure. Ellis attempts to get a job at a noteworthy Philadelphia high school, and is told by evil racist Tom Arnold that the students there couldn’t possibly learn from “a man of your sort.” Read more…
THE LAST MIMZY – Howard Shore
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Some have said that “The Last Mimzy” is the most hopeful and optimistic movie to come along in some time, and they are quite right. “Optimistic” is an appropriate word, perhaps “deluded” is another. The movie strains so hard to create a world of beautiful fantasy that it very nearly snaps. This bothered me quite a bit, as many portions of “The Last Mimzy” feel like a deceptive set-up to a freaky horror movie, but no, everything goes smashingly from start to finish. Then again, the movie wasn’t made for me, and it’s a bit difficult to gauge how children will respond to it. I suspect a lot of them will like it well enough, probably because it doesn’t treat them like mentally challenged schizophrenics. Read more…
JOURNEY FROM THE FALL – Christopher Wong
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Mikael Carlsson’s groundbreaking record label Movie Score Media has been responsible for releasing some hidden musical gems over the last couple of years, but Christopher Wong’s score for the Oriental drama Journey From the Fall is one of the best. The film, which was directed by Ham Tran, tells the story of a Vietnamese family who, thirteen years after the end of the American involvement in the conflict there, still cope with the repercussions of the war on their every day lives. Eventually the family uproots from their spiritual home and moves to America, only to find that life in the new world is no less difficult. Read more…
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY – George Fenton
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The winner of the Palme D’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a film from left-wing director Ken Loach, about the Republican movement in early 20th century Ireland, prior to the separation of the country under British and Irish rule, which eventually led to the long-lasting bloody conflict known as ‘The Troubles’ between Catholics and Protestants. Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney star as brothers Damien and Teddy, whose lives are torn apart by the increasing sectarian violence, and the political struggles which taint their formerly peaceful lives. Read more…
PREMONITION – Klaus Badelt
Original Review by Clark Douglas
Let’s just be upfront about things. “Premonition”, the latest Sandra Bullock vehicle, is a pretty ridiculous time-bending film, as almost every time-bending film is. Let’s face it, very few movies have been able to pull off a “time warp” theory convincingly… but some of them work in spite of it. I have been unusually kind to these movies in recent days. I gave Bullock’s previous time-bending romance “The Lake House” a kind review, and also tossed some generous comments in the direction of Tony Scott’s “Déjà Vu”. However, I will not show such mercy to “Premonition”, and as with all of those other films, my opinion has very little to do with the time warp element. Read more…
NOMAD – Carlo Siliotto
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
When Italian composer Carlo Siliotto was nominated for a Golden Globe for his score for Nomad, the film music world let out a collective “huh?” The film had not yet played in cinemas in the United States; a large majority had not even HEARD of the film, let alone seen it or heard its score; and Carlo Siliotto is not a composer many people would list as being a regular awards contender. The utterly amazing thing, though, is that the Hollywood Foreign Press got it absolutely right. Nomad is stunningly good score, full of rich themes and ethnic mystery, which undoubtedly would have gone on to greater acclaim had its accompanying movie not been so comparatively obscure. Read more…
LA VIE EN ROSE – Christopher Gunning
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The legendary singer Edith Piaf, who died in 1963, remains a national icon of French musical culture to this day, whose razor-blade voice was unmistakable, and whose massive stage presence belied her diminutive stature. Director Olivier Dahan’s biography of Piaf, La Môme (released internationally as “La Vie en Rose”, after one of her most famous songs), stars Marion Cotillard in an extraordinary performance as the Little Sparrow, and features supporting turns from such respected Gallic actors as Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner and Gérard Depardieu. Read more…
DEAD SILENCE – Charlie Clouser
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The popularity of the Saw and Hostel franchises, and the subsequent arrival of the so-called ‘torture porn’ sub-genre, has spawned a number of imitations, one of which is this film: Dead Silence. Directed by James Wan and starring Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg and Bob Gunton, the film is a mean-spirited horror flick about a man who, having endured his wife’s ghastly and unexplained death, returns to his home town, to try to find the connection between a series of grisly murders and the old ghost tale of Mary Shaw and her vengeful ventriloquists dummies. Read more…
THE ULTIMATE GIFT – Mark McKenzie
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Based on the best-selling book by Jim Stovall, The Ultimate Gift is the story of man being forced to find out what life if all about. When his impossibly rich grandfather Red Stevens (James Garner) dies, selfish layabout Jason Stevens (Drew Fuller) thinks he’s in for the financial windfall of his life; however, Red ha other ideas. Before he can receive his inheritance, Jason must successfully complete twelve tasks – “gifts” – which Red devised in order for his ungrateful, distant grandson to experience the reality of life, each challenging Jason in an improbable way.
Directed by Michael O. Saibel and with a quirky but impressive supporting cast that includes Abigail Breslin, Brian Dennehy and Lee Meriweather, The Ultimate Gift is one of those film music rarities: a feature film score from the massively talented Mark McKenzie. Read more…
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