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PROMETHEUS – Marc Streitenfeld
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Prometheus sees the eagerly-awaited and highly anticipated return to the Alien franchise of director Ridley Scott, whose groundbreaking science fiction films in the late 1970s and early 80s help shaped the genre as we know it today. While not a direct prequel to his 1979 masterpiece, the film does take place before the events of that classic film, and within the same general universe. However, whereas the original Alien was essentially a haunted house movie in space, Prometheus asks bigger questions about the meaning – and origins – of life itself. Noomi Rapace and and Logan Marshall-Green star as a pair of scientists who, via some ancient cave paintings, discover a “star map” which they think will lead them across the universe to where life on Earth began. Years later, the pair arrive on a distant planet with a cadre of associates funded by the Weyland corporation: icy administrator Charlize Theron, ship’s captain Idris Elba, geologist Rafe Spall, biologist Sean Harris, plus a sentient android named David, played with clinical conviction by Michael Fassbender. However, upon their arrival and initial forays onto the planet, the team find much more than they anticipated, and a great deal of danger. Read more…
BODY OF LIES – Marc Streitenfeld
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Director Ridley Scott’s feature film for 2008 is Body of Lies, a high-tech espionage thriller based on the best selling novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Leonard Di Caprio stars as Roger Ferris, a covert CIA operative working in Jordan searching for terrorists who have been bombing civilian targets. When Ferris uncovers information on the Islamist mastermind Al-Saleem (Alon Aboutboul), he devises a plan to infiltrate Al-Saleem’s terrorist network with the help of his boss back in the USA, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe). However, Ferris’s plan brings him into close contact with the Chief of Jordanian Intelligence, Hani Salaam (Mark Strong). Despite their enormous cultural and moral differences, the two are forced to work together, but neither fully trusts the other. With a screenplay by Oscar-winner William Monaghan, Body of Lies has all the pedigree to be a box office success; for the score, Scott again turned to his current composer du jour, Marc Streitenfeld. Read more…
AMERICAN GANGSTER – Marc Streitenfeld
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2007, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster is an intense look at the life of 1970s New York drug dealer Frank Lucas, and the determined New Jersey detective who finally brought him to justice. Headlining the cast are heavyweight actors Denzel Washington, who gives Frank Lucas a unnerving sense of gentlemanly charisma crossed with ruthless violence, and Russell Crowe, whose performance as detective Richie Roberts is simultaneously vulnerable and obsessive, almost mirror-imaging Washington’s polite and refined criminal. With a supporting cast that also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding Jr., Josh Brolin, Ted Levine, Armand Assante and Carla Gugino, and with the critics hailing it as one of the potential main players as the 2007 Oscars, it is perhaps surprising to see such a high profile film being scored by a relative unknown: Marc Streitenfeld. Read more…
A GOOD YEAR – Marc Streitenfeld
Original Review by Clark Douglas
If a lead character in a mainstream movie declares “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!” at the beginning (and his name isn’t Vince Lombardi), is there any doubt that he will change his mind by the film’s end? No, and I don’t suppose that’s a huge problem. “A Good Year” is a predictable message film, and in this case, I’m okay with that. However, I’m not okay with the fact that the film doesn’t even buy into it’s own message.
The theoretical character from the beginning of my review is indeed the leading character of the film. His name is Max (Russell Crowe), and he is a stock market go-getter with a large staff and a mean streak. He is a perfect “in need of redemption” candidate for the film’s purposes… greedy, selfish, uncaring, with a surprisingly gentle piece of his past buried away under piles of money. When Max learns of the death of the man who raised him, his Uncle Henry (played by Albert Finney in flashbacks), his reaction is basically a shrug. Well, until he learns that he’s inherited Henry’s estate (which includes a wine vineyard), which could bring in a pretty penny. Read more…
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