“Rocketeer” director Joe Johnston’s “Captain America” (**** OUT OF ****) amounts to a timeless David versus Goliath tale set in the Marvel Comics’ universe where good always trumps evil. Unlike “Thor” and “Green Lantern,” “Captain America” ranks as a thoroughly spectacular but larger-than-life extravaganza with a genuinely charismatic hero struggling against a marvelously malignant villain. Chris Evans’ engaging performance as the ‘First Avenger’ is something else, too! If you recall, Evans had the time of his life several years ago playing egotistical Johnny Storm, aka ‘the Human Torch,’ in the two “Fantastic Four” flicks. Make no mistake; Evans is nothing like he was in those two super heroic sagas. Indeed, “Captain America” boasts some amazing special effects, but its best special effect is the sincerity that Evans brings to the role of Steve Rogers. Whether he plays Rogers as either a scrawny, 98-pound zero or a brawny, fleet-footed hero, Evans imparts heart to this $140-million thriller. During the first half of “Captain America,” Johnston gradually builds the momentum to let us grow accustomed to Evans as a scrappy little fellow who suffers the wrath of bullies. This pathetic weakling refuses to let anybody keep him down, and it’s fun because Evans makes it look so authentic despite the obvious CGI effects. Hugo Weaving registers as the ideal villain who holds the upper hand throughout most of the supercharged shenanigans. Tommy Lee Jones and Hayley Atwell co-star respectively as Captain America’s superior and his love interest.
“Captain America” opens in the present before it reverts to the past. Typically, movies with contemporary openings and endings sacrifice any sense of suspense. After all, you know if the characters thrive in the present that they must not have suffered in the past. Basically, this constitutes nothing more than a narrative cinematic convention. The chief difference here is that we’re only given a glimpse of Captain America’s legendary star-spangled shield instead of the eponymous protagonist himself. Anyway, the film unfolds in the frozen wasteland of the Arctic Circle as a Russian oil expedition stumbles onto something buried in the ice. They contact the Americans who slice into the ice with a laser, find a commodious craft of unknown origin, and uncover a circular red, white, and blue shield with a star. The scene shifts to March 1942 as despicable Nazi officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving of “The Matrix”) and his men storm into Tønsberg, Norway, and confiscate an enigmatic tesseract. Essentially, this is a magical cube boasting incalculable power. Supposedly, the tesseract was a fabulous jeweled artifact that belonged to the legendary Norse god Odin. Once anybody lays their eyes on it, they are no longer the same.
Meanwhile, in New York City, the U.S. military brands Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) unfit for duty owing to a myriad of health problems. The resilient Rogers tries to enlist again when his buddy James Buchanan ‘Bucky’ Barnes (Sebastian Stan of “Black Swan”) takes him to a showcase of futuristic technologies. Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci of “Easy A”) eavesdrops on Rogers' conversation with Barnes about his desperate need to get into combat. Suitably impressed by Rogers’ attitude, Erskine allows him to enlist. Moreover, Erskine recruits Rogers as part of a "super-soldier" experiment under the aegis of Colonel Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones of “Coal Miner's Daughter”) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell of “The Duchess”). Phillips displays considerable skepticism about Erskine's contention that Rogers qualifies as the ideal candidate for the procedure. One day during a training exercise, Phillips lobs a grenade among the recruits. Everybody but Rogers scrambles for cover, while he smothers the grenade with his frail body. Predictably, the grenade is a dummy, but Rogers’ act of self-sacrificing bravery convinces the colonel that he is the appropriate choice.
No sooner has Rogers emerged from the procedure as an entirely new man with a buffed up body than a Nazi saboteur steps in and kills Erskine. As it turns out, Erskine keep no notes except those in his head. After Erskine dies, Rogers experiences his new-found strength and captures the saboteur. The saboteur lives long enough to warn Rogers that he has to face more of his kind before he crunches on a cyanide capsule and croaks. Roger wins fame and acclaim across the country, but he suffers a setback because he is the first and only of his kind. Colonel Phillips reassigns him and Roger ends up at War Bond rallies where he acts like a cheerleader surrounded by dancing girls. Eventually, when our hero learns that his best friend has been caught, he disobeys orders and leads an inspirational rescue behind enemy lines. Now that Rogers has proven himself, he must face the Red Skull. The Red Skull is Nazi officer Johann Schmidt and he is so ambitious that he not only wants to crush America but also Adolf Hitler. Talk about a villain to end all villains!
Anybody who has read the reprints of the World War 2 era “Captain America” comic book should be thrilled with the way that “The Chronicles of Narnia” scenarists Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have handled the original material by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Of course, Johnston and his scribes have ratcheted up the hardware for the big transformation scene that turns Steve Rodgers into Captain America. In the original comic, instead of being injected with several drugs and sprawling in a large contraption, Rogers was given a vial of chemicals that he drank before he turned into the eponymous hero. Altogether, “Captain America” is a predictable but entertaining comic book movie with sensational special effects and a sympathetic hero. If you are a Marvel Comic fan, you should stick around after the lengthy end credits for a glimpse of the forthcoming “Avengers” film due for release in May 2012.
CINEMATIC REVELATIONS allows me the luxury of writing, editing and archiving my film and television reviews. Some reviews appeared initially in "The Commercial Dispatch" and "The Planet Weekly" and then later in the comment archives at the Internet Movie Database. IMDB.COM, however, imposes a limit on both the number of words and the number of times that an author may revise their comments. I hope that anybody who peruses these expanded reviews will find them useful.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "COCAINE FIENDS" (1935)
Compared to “Reefer Madness,” “Cocaine Fiends” (** out of ****) treats its subject matter with more gravity. Mind you, this constitutes a left-handed compliment for “Primrose Path” director William A. O’Connor. Interestingly, the original theatrical title was “The Pace That Kills.” Moreover, this sound-era version is a remake of the 1928 silent original that O’Connor co-helmed with Norton S. Parker. Considering its subject matter, this black & white film never depicts the addicts using narcotics. Once scene occurs in an Asian opium den, and the addict urges an Asian woman to accelerate the process. Prostitution is suggested rather than shown as is the abuse of cocaine. Despite its occasional lapses in coherence, “Cocaine Fiends” is considerably more realistic about its subject matter, and the punishment that the junkies and the dope peddlers receive is not prescribed by judges or courtroom prosecutors.
“Cocaine Fiends” opens with a pretentious prologue. Not only does this prologue serve to establish the tragedy that lurks in this sad crime saga, but it also doubles as a call to action for people to thwart this illicit pastime. “Among the many evils against which our society struggles, one of the most vicious is the traffic in dope. In every community where the menace develops all the force which society can mobilize, including social agencies, doctors, law enforcement officials and government band together to stamp it out. Without such activity, the dope evil would run rampant. Yet it has long been recognized that one other powerful forces is necessary before the struggle can be completely successful. That force is an aroused and educated public awareness. It is the hope of aiding in developing such awareness that this picture has been produced. What happens to Jane Bradford may happen to anyone. There will always be “Jane Bradfords” until you Mr. Citizen, cooperate with the forces now fighting the dope evil to forever stamp it out of our land. The Management.”
In the first scene, Nick the Pusher (Noel Madison of "Missing Girls") and his partner are planning to expand their operation into new territory. Not only does Nick deliver the dope, but he also makes the collections. The local authorities are pursuing them at the outset. Nick gives them the slip and takes refuge at a roadside diner. He poses as “a collector for an oil company.” He assures the restaurant attendant, Jane Bradford (Lois January of “Border Caballero”), that racketeers have been chasing him. Meanwhile, the authorities pull over Nick’s associate and search his car without finding any contraband. Afterward, the cops drive over to the diner. Jane hides Nick in the back while the cops drink beer and discuss the case. Initially, Jane suspects these racketeers may not be criminals, but Nick convinces her otherwise.
Nick suggests Jane come to the city where she can earn more money. Jane explains that her mother and she are paying to put her brother through school. When Jane complains about all the excitement, Nick offers her “the grandest headache medicine in the world” which relieves all of Jane’s pain. Eventually, Jane follows Nick to the city but consents to board with his so-called friends until they wed. Little does poor Jane know that she is being kept in custody. Later, Jane learns from the woman that runs the house where Nick left her that she has been snorting “cocaine.” This revelation occurs less than 10 minutes into the action. Thereafter, Jane changes her name to Lil’ and begins a new chapter in her life.
Jane’s handsome brother Eddie (Dean Benton of “Life Returns”) goes to the city about fourteen months after his sister disappears. When he isn’t searching for Jane, Eddie works as a car hop at the Twin Barrels, a drive-in restaurant, where he meets Fanny. One of his favorite customers is Dorothy Farley (Lois Lindsay of “Gold Diggers in Paris”) who loves to ogle him. Meanwhile, Fanny (Sheila Bromley of “Desert Phantom”) buys some cocaine from Nick and introduces Eddie to it when he complains about fatigue. Later, the boss fires Eddie and Fanny because of their immoral behavior. Eddie suffers from cocaine withdrawal, and Fanny provides him with money for the drug. Initially, Eddie has no idea that he is a hop-head, until their land-lady makes the observation that he looks like "a hop-head." Dorothy shows interest in Nick, but her boyfriend Dan (Charles Delaney of "The Brass Legend"), warns her that Nick belongs to the mob. The biggest surprise in "Cocaine Fiends" is that Dorothy's boyfriend is an undercover cop. Eventually, Nick takes Dorothy hostage. Dorothy offers Jane a $1000 to help her escape. After she watches Eddie die from the narcotic abuse, Jane guns down the treacherous Nick.
“Cocaine Fiends” isn’t as hilarious as “Reefer Madness.” In the most atmospheric scene, O’Connor stages a suicide. Unfortunately, this is a depressing little drugsploitation film. The chief reason for its notoriety today is the use of cocaine as its subject matter. The interesting thing here is that the law never intervenes. Characters administer justice without the intervention of the courts. The evil gangsters die at the hands of the very people that they turned into junkies.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF ''ZOOKEEPER" (2011)
Incongruity is the basis for the best comedy. Consider any clown. A clown has big ears, an enormous nose, voluminous pants, and elongated feet. Clowns exaggerate their physical appearance for laughs. Not only may the star in a comedy be a clown with outlandish features, like either Buster Keaton or Charles Chaplin, but the narrative in a comedy may also provide an element of incongruity. For example, the fish-out-of-water comedy contains characters struggling to fit into the puzzle of an unknown environment. They may be working at a new job. They may have to deal with unfamiliar people. These new friends may use another language and cherish strange customs with which our hero lacks familiarity. Consequently, the hero ends up behaving like a buffoon because he is out-of-place.
"Waterboy" director Frank Coraci's new featherweight comic misfire "Zookeeper" (** out of ****) relies on incongruity for its few funniest moments. More often than not, the slapstick takes a backseat to a saga which swirls bromance with romance. When he isn't bonding with a depressed male gorilla, Kevin James cavorts with two attractive heart-breakers: Rosario Dawson and Lesley Bibb. One gal is right for him, but the other is dead wrong. The trouble is that our hero wouldn't recognize the right woman even if he were looking her in the face so he becomes infatuated with the wrong one. Imagine what would happen if you combined "Night at the Museum" with "Dr. Doolittle" and you'll have a good idea what to expect from "Zookeeper." The big surprise—the only surprise--is that the animals break their vow of silence and speak their piece when our hero thinks about quitting his zoo job. Several major stars, including Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Jon Favreau, Nick Nolte, and Faizon Love, furnish the voices for these real-life animals.
Unfortunately, these animals generate little charisma, and they aren't very interesting as characters. They constitute stereotypes on parade with nothing to distinguish them aside from the celebrity's voice-over. Nevertheless, they do provide a support group for our loser hero so he can discover his one true love. Remember incongruity? A comedy with animals advising a human how to conduct a romantic relationship encapsulates incongruity. Some of those comedic incongruities and our hero's idiocy may make you question the film's PG rating. Otherwise, "Zookeeper" qualifies as an affable but anemic Kevin James comedy about one of his typical nice-guy protagonists who finds himself romantically challenged at the game of love. Neither the former "King of Queens" TV star nor his female co-stars conjure up any chemistry. As one of the producers, James makes moments for his own brand of dumb physical slapstick shenanigans. No, "Zookeeper" isn't nearly as hilarious as "Paul Blart, Mall Cop." You can count the laughs on one hand and have fingers left over, unless you are between ages five and eight.
Our sympathetic hero works at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo. The animals adore him. He adores the animals. Trouble is that our big lug of a hero has become infatuated with a gorgeous gal who works as a fashion model. Stephanie (Leslie Bibb of "Law Abiding Citizen") likes Griffin Constantine Keyes (Kevin James of "Grown-Ups"), but the shallow supermodel doesn't love the big lug. The apple of our hero's eye is seeking status conferral for the sake of status conferral. "Zookeeper" opens promisingly as Griffin and Stephanie are riding together on one horse along a deserted stretch of beach. When they spot a bottle in the sand, they dismount to check it out. Stephanie removes the note which turns out to be Griffin's proposal, and he presents her with a ring. Stephanie turns Griffin down because he is a lowly zookeeper. As the two are riding away, a Mariachi band appears and serenades them. Moments later, fireworks erupt and scintillate the sky. Griffin feels like an idiot, and Stephanie is just plain embarrassed.
Five years elapse, and Griffin's brother is about to tie the knot with his own marriage when Stephanie appears and shows an interest in Griffin. When Griffin considers quitting his job at the zoo to sell cars for his brother, the animals speak out and coach him in the art of seduction. The loquacious capuchin monkey voiced by Adam Sandler suggests that our hero throw his poop at his favorite girl. The lion voiced by Sylvester Stallone recommends that he cut his girl out of the herd. stresses the importance of urinating as a part of the courtship. You can see where this is going. Eventually, the animals suggest that he take a date of his own to intrigue Stephanie. Who could be more ideal as a date than his co-worker, Kate (Rosario Dawson of "Kids"), goes out with him and it doesn't take long for our hero to realize that he has been chasing the wrong lady. Moreover, despite the hike in pay, Griffin realizes that he cannot change himself, especially what he likes doing at the zoo.
The filmmakers do an adequate job of making the animals look as realistic as possible even when they are conversing with each other. Of course, nobody but Griffin knows that this menagerie can squawk and squabble. The animal that comes closest to making an impression is a brooding gorilla (voiced by Nick Nolte) named Bernie who has been unjustly framed for attacking another zookeeper. Shane (Donnie Wahlberg of "Saw 2") made up the incident with malice aforethought. As a result, Bernie has been ostracized to a pit and doesn't enjoy the view that he had in his previous enclosure. Eventually, Griffin takes Shane to task for this perfidy. What should have been the best scene occurs when Griffin takes Bernie to T.G.I. Friday's Restaurant. He convinces Bernie to act like they have attended a costume party. Nothing really hilarious happens. Later, James's best moment comes when he upstages Stephanie and her abrasive boyfriend (Joe Rogan of "The Fear Factor") at the wedding with an airborne dance number with Rosario Dawson that suddenly takes a turn for the worst.
Altogether, "Zookeeper" is no keeper.
"Waterboy" director Frank Coraci's new featherweight comic misfire "Zookeeper" (** out of ****) relies on incongruity for its few funniest moments. More often than not, the slapstick takes a backseat to a saga which swirls bromance with romance. When he isn't bonding with a depressed male gorilla, Kevin James cavorts with two attractive heart-breakers: Rosario Dawson and Lesley Bibb. One gal is right for him, but the other is dead wrong. The trouble is that our hero wouldn't recognize the right woman even if he were looking her in the face so he becomes infatuated with the wrong one. Imagine what would happen if you combined "Night at the Museum" with "Dr. Doolittle" and you'll have a good idea what to expect from "Zookeeper." The big surprise—the only surprise--is that the animals break their vow of silence and speak their piece when our hero thinks about quitting his zoo job. Several major stars, including Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher, Jon Favreau, Nick Nolte, and Faizon Love, furnish the voices for these real-life animals.
Unfortunately, these animals generate little charisma, and they aren't very interesting as characters. They constitute stereotypes on parade with nothing to distinguish them aside from the celebrity's voice-over. Nevertheless, they do provide a support group for our loser hero so he can discover his one true love. Remember incongruity? A comedy with animals advising a human how to conduct a romantic relationship encapsulates incongruity. Some of those comedic incongruities and our hero's idiocy may make you question the film's PG rating. Otherwise, "Zookeeper" qualifies as an affable but anemic Kevin James comedy about one of his typical nice-guy protagonists who finds himself romantically challenged at the game of love. Neither the former "King of Queens" TV star nor his female co-stars conjure up any chemistry. As one of the producers, James makes moments for his own brand of dumb physical slapstick shenanigans. No, "Zookeeper" isn't nearly as hilarious as "Paul Blart, Mall Cop." You can count the laughs on one hand and have fingers left over, unless you are between ages five and eight.
Our sympathetic hero works at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo. The animals adore him. He adores the animals. Trouble is that our big lug of a hero has become infatuated with a gorgeous gal who works as a fashion model. Stephanie (Leslie Bibb of "Law Abiding Citizen") likes Griffin Constantine Keyes (Kevin James of "Grown-Ups"), but the shallow supermodel doesn't love the big lug. The apple of our hero's eye is seeking status conferral for the sake of status conferral. "Zookeeper" opens promisingly as Griffin and Stephanie are riding together on one horse along a deserted stretch of beach. When they spot a bottle in the sand, they dismount to check it out. Stephanie removes the note which turns out to be Griffin's proposal, and he presents her with a ring. Stephanie turns Griffin down because he is a lowly zookeeper. As the two are riding away, a Mariachi band appears and serenades them. Moments later, fireworks erupt and scintillate the sky. Griffin feels like an idiot, and Stephanie is just plain embarrassed.
Five years elapse, and Griffin's brother is about to tie the knot with his own marriage when Stephanie appears and shows an interest in Griffin. When Griffin considers quitting his job at the zoo to sell cars for his brother, the animals speak out and coach him in the art of seduction. The loquacious capuchin monkey voiced by Adam Sandler suggests that our hero throw his poop at his favorite girl. The lion voiced by Sylvester Stallone recommends that he cut his girl out of the herd. stresses the importance of urinating as a part of the courtship. You can see where this is going. Eventually, the animals suggest that he take a date of his own to intrigue Stephanie. Who could be more ideal as a date than his co-worker, Kate (Rosario Dawson of "Kids"), goes out with him and it doesn't take long for our hero to realize that he has been chasing the wrong lady. Moreover, despite the hike in pay, Griffin realizes that he cannot change himself, especially what he likes doing at the zoo.
The filmmakers do an adequate job of making the animals look as realistic as possible even when they are conversing with each other. Of course, nobody but Griffin knows that this menagerie can squawk and squabble. The animal that comes closest to making an impression is a brooding gorilla (voiced by Nick Nolte) named Bernie who has been unjustly framed for attacking another zookeeper. Shane (Donnie Wahlberg of "Saw 2") made up the incident with malice aforethought. As a result, Bernie has been ostracized to a pit and doesn't enjoy the view that he had in his previous enclosure. Eventually, Griffin takes Shane to task for this perfidy. What should have been the best scene occurs when Griffin takes Bernie to T.G.I. Friday's Restaurant. He convinces Bernie to act like they have attended a costume party. Nothing really hilarious happens. Later, James's best moment comes when he upstages Stephanie and her abrasive boyfriend (Joe Rogan of "The Fear Factor") at the wedding with an airborne dance number with Rosario Dawson that suddenly takes a turn for the worst.
Altogether, "Zookeeper" is no keeper.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN" (1957)
Size obsessed science fiction filmmakers during the 1950s. They measured everything by bulk. Aliens, animals, humans, and robots either increased or decreased in mass. Actually, the first sci-fi film to explore the possibilities of people reduced in stature was Todd Browning’s “The Devil Doll” (1936) about a vengeful scientist who used humans that he had reduced in size to do his dirty work. Gordon Douglas' "Them!" (1954)qualified as the first major movie about small things being enlarged by radiation. “Them!” concerned huge irradiated ants. Inevitably, just as Hollywood had shrunk humans, they would also endeavor to enlarge them. Indeed, director Bert I. Gordon tried out this concept in 1957 with “The Cyclops” about a mutated 25-foot tall human in South America, anticipating Gordon’s own 1958 outing “War of the Colossal Beast.” When you compare the release dates of “The Amazing Colossal Man” (** OUT OF ****) with “The Incredible Shrinking Man,” it looks as if American International Pictures must have rushed former into release to exploit the latter film about a diminutive dude. The problem with director Gordon’s film is that it never generates either the suspense and/or tension that Jack Arnold’s seminal sci-fi classic mustered. Once our hero looms to 60 feet in height in “The Amazing Colossal Man,” nothing can challenge him in the same way that a house cat or a spider did the protagonist of “The Incredible Shrinking Man.”
“The Amazing Colossal Man” opens with a convoy of military vehicles—crossing the screen from left to right—traveling along an asphalt road through the desert as a narrator establishes the setting. “The time is two forty-five A.M., two hours and fifteen minutes before time zero. At time zero, a new type of atomic explosion--a plutonium bomb--will be detonated at Desert Rock, Nevada. These soldiers are to experience the plutonium explosion under simulated combat conditions.” The next sight that we see is several soldiers crouched in a trench in combat gear with helmets and special goggles as the bomb site officer at a distant command post (William Hughes of “Geronimo”) keeps the troops posted about the impending detonation. “Attention! Attention! All personnel. The time is zero minus thirty seconds. The plutonium explosion will take place at time zero. I repeat, the plutonium explosion will take place at time zero.” Dramatically, the officer commences the countdown. When he finishes it, the technician at the command center—a staff sergeant—clicks the mechanism to trigger the detonation. However, nothing happens. The command post officer cautions the troops: “Do not leave your positions. I repeat, do not leave your positions. The plutonium bomb has been triggered and will explode at any moment. The chain reaction did not complete its cycle as calculated. Keep your dark glasses on and stay where you are.” One of the troops asks Colonel Manning (Glenn Langan of “The Snake Pit”) what will happen. He warns them that the bomb could explode at any minute, but he allows them to smoke cigarettes to calm their nerves. About this time, they hear the sound of an engine and Manning spots a light civilian propeller-driven aircraft descend through the clouds. The command post orders the unseen pilot to alter his course, but the plane crashes. The plutonium bomb has still not detonated so a heroic Colonel Manning sheds his helmet and goggles and charges out into the open towards the plane to rescue the pilot. The command post orders him to stop. The plutonium bomb detonates and it catches Manning in a torrential blast that shreds the clothes off his body. Later, the Army doctors have little hope for him since third degree burns cover most of his body.
Manning’s fiancee, Carol Forrest (Cathy Downs of “My Darling Clementine”), visits him at the hospital. Later, the Army spirits Manning away to a secret military facility and forbids to give Carol any information. Obstinately, Carol refuses to be kept away from Manning. The doctors relent and allow Carol to spend time with him. During this interval, Gordon gives us a glimpse of their life together before he participated in the Desert Rock maneuver. Miraculously, despite the third degree burns, Manning survives the ordeal, and a new layer of skin grows to replaces the charred dermis. One tragic side effect is that the Army colonel grows eight to ten feet a day and eventually has to be housed in a circus tent. He has to drink out of a barrel and he eats an entire turkey. Dr. Paul Linstrom (William Hudson of “Mister Roberts”) and Major Eric Coulter, MD (Larry Thor of “Machine Gun Kelly”) both struggle without success to find a cure for his condition. Nevertheless, Manning continues to grow until he towers 60 feet tall. Carol spends time with Manning, but he grows even more depressed about his acute condition and sees no hope for a bright future.
Some forty-five minutes into the action, Manning decides to leave the army base and vanishes into the desert. How does a 60 foot gent avoid detection from the military in the desert? Before long the Army receives reports about slaughtered cattle and two guys in a car with a bottle of liquor encounter Manning at night on the highway. “I’ll never drink again,” the passenger (Hank Patterson of “Green Acres”) assures his companion. Colonel Halleck (James Seay of “Vera Cruz”) warns Linstrom and Coulter that he is prepared to take action against Manning if Manning becomes dangerous. When they finally locate Manning, Manning has wandered into Las Vegas wearing only a sarong. He uproots a palm tree and hurls it at the Las Vegas police after they take rifle shots at it. Manning tromps off to Hoover Dam. Before he gets there, Linstrom and Coulter fly in a huge syringe in a helicopter and administer an injection of a drug which they had succeeded in reducing the size of circus animals. The injection fails and and Manning grabs Carol like King Kong did Fay Wray and walks off with her. Only after he sets Carol down does the military cut loose with a barrage of fire, and Manning topples into the spillway waters and vanishes into the Colorado River.
The only genuinely violent moment occurs near the end when the enraged Manning skewers Coulter with the giant needle and kills him. The scene when he thumbs through the Holy Bible is about as heavy as this fish-out-of-water yarn gets. The ultimate irony that set the first half apart is the idea that Manning sacrificed him in an act of good citizenship to help the pilot who crashed. Gordon, who doubled as the special effects coordinator, does a credible job of developing the unfortunate plight that Manning suffers. While he is under the supervision of the military, Manning emerges as a sympathetic character, but later “The Amazing Colossal Man” turns into a shallow side show freak, as the film apes "King Kong." Gordon's inferior sequel "War of the Colossal Beast" (1958) recycles "Mr. Cyclops. The Disney movie "Honey I Blew Up the Kid" (1992) and "Monsters vs Aliens" (2009) pay tribute to "The Amazing Colossal Man." Gordon revisited the theme of giant humans in "Village of the Giants" (1965).
“The Amazing Colossal Man” opens with a convoy of military vehicles—crossing the screen from left to right—traveling along an asphalt road through the desert as a narrator establishes the setting. “The time is two forty-five A.M., two hours and fifteen minutes before time zero. At time zero, a new type of atomic explosion--a plutonium bomb--will be detonated at Desert Rock, Nevada. These soldiers are to experience the plutonium explosion under simulated combat conditions.” The next sight that we see is several soldiers crouched in a trench in combat gear with helmets and special goggles as the bomb site officer at a distant command post (William Hughes of “Geronimo”) keeps the troops posted about the impending detonation. “Attention! Attention! All personnel. The time is zero minus thirty seconds. The plutonium explosion will take place at time zero. I repeat, the plutonium explosion will take place at time zero.” Dramatically, the officer commences the countdown. When he finishes it, the technician at the command center—a staff sergeant—clicks the mechanism to trigger the detonation. However, nothing happens. The command post officer cautions the troops: “Do not leave your positions. I repeat, do not leave your positions. The plutonium bomb has been triggered and will explode at any moment. The chain reaction did not complete its cycle as calculated. Keep your dark glasses on and stay where you are.” One of the troops asks Colonel Manning (Glenn Langan of “The Snake Pit”) what will happen. He warns them that the bomb could explode at any minute, but he allows them to smoke cigarettes to calm their nerves. About this time, they hear the sound of an engine and Manning spots a light civilian propeller-driven aircraft descend through the clouds. The command post orders the unseen pilot to alter his course, but the plane crashes. The plutonium bomb has still not detonated so a heroic Colonel Manning sheds his helmet and goggles and charges out into the open towards the plane to rescue the pilot. The command post orders him to stop. The plutonium bomb detonates and it catches Manning in a torrential blast that shreds the clothes off his body. Later, the Army doctors have little hope for him since third degree burns cover most of his body.
Manning’s fiancee, Carol Forrest (Cathy Downs of “My Darling Clementine”), visits him at the hospital. Later, the Army spirits Manning away to a secret military facility and forbids to give Carol any information. Obstinately, Carol refuses to be kept away from Manning. The doctors relent and allow Carol to spend time with him. During this interval, Gordon gives us a glimpse of their life together before he participated in the Desert Rock maneuver. Miraculously, despite the third degree burns, Manning survives the ordeal, and a new layer of skin grows to replaces the charred dermis. One tragic side effect is that the Army colonel grows eight to ten feet a day and eventually has to be housed in a circus tent. He has to drink out of a barrel and he eats an entire turkey. Dr. Paul Linstrom (William Hudson of “Mister Roberts”) and Major Eric Coulter, MD (Larry Thor of “Machine Gun Kelly”) both struggle without success to find a cure for his condition. Nevertheless, Manning continues to grow until he towers 60 feet tall. Carol spends time with Manning, but he grows even more depressed about his acute condition and sees no hope for a bright future.
Some forty-five minutes into the action, Manning decides to leave the army base and vanishes into the desert. How does a 60 foot gent avoid detection from the military in the desert? Before long the Army receives reports about slaughtered cattle and two guys in a car with a bottle of liquor encounter Manning at night on the highway. “I’ll never drink again,” the passenger (Hank Patterson of “Green Acres”) assures his companion. Colonel Halleck (James Seay of “Vera Cruz”) warns Linstrom and Coulter that he is prepared to take action against Manning if Manning becomes dangerous. When they finally locate Manning, Manning has wandered into Las Vegas wearing only a sarong. He uproots a palm tree and hurls it at the Las Vegas police after they take rifle shots at it. Manning tromps off to Hoover Dam. Before he gets there, Linstrom and Coulter fly in a huge syringe in a helicopter and administer an injection of a drug which they had succeeded in reducing the size of circus animals. The injection fails and and Manning grabs Carol like King Kong did Fay Wray and walks off with her. Only after he sets Carol down does the military cut loose with a barrage of fire, and Manning topples into the spillway waters and vanishes into the Colorado River.
The only genuinely violent moment occurs near the end when the enraged Manning skewers Coulter with the giant needle and kills him. The scene when he thumbs through the Holy Bible is about as heavy as this fish-out-of-water yarn gets. The ultimate irony that set the first half apart is the idea that Manning sacrificed him in an act of good citizenship to help the pilot who crashed. Gordon, who doubled as the special effects coordinator, does a credible job of developing the unfortunate plight that Manning suffers. While he is under the supervision of the military, Manning emerges as a sympathetic character, but later “The Amazing Colossal Man” turns into a shallow side show freak, as the film apes "King Kong." Gordon's inferior sequel "War of the Colossal Beast" (1958) recycles "Mr. Cyclops. The Disney movie "Honey I Blew Up the Kid" (1992) and "Monsters vs Aliens" (2009) pay tribute to "The Amazing Colossal Man." Gordon revisited the theme of giant humans in "Village of the Giants" (1965).
Friday, July 15, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN":
Freshman director Jason Eisener’s contemporary vigilante thriller “Hobo With a Shotgun” (**** out of ****) epitomizes the essence of grindhouse movies from the 1970s and the 1980s. Grindhouse movies are typically low-brow, low-budget, politically-incorrect R-rated, epics that exploit shocking, often sensational subject matter for either high drama or comedy. Moreover, these films feature gratuitous amounts of blood, gore, profanity, sex, nudity, violence as well as sub-standard special effects. The most infamous grindhouse/exploitation movies appeared in the 1930s, including “The Road to Ruin” (1934), “Reefer Madness” (1936), “Marihuana” (1936), “Cocaine Fiends” (1935), “Child Bride” (1938), “Gambling with Souls” (1936) and “Sex Madness” (1938). A s you can imagine, the tawdry material that these movies tangled with didn't constitute polite supper table conversation. Mind you, back during the Great Depression, these movies were classified as sleazy. They are tame by today’s standards. Primarily, these movies were produced as warnings to parents and juveniles about sticking to the straight and narrow. The most controversial examples of grindhouse cinema illuminated screens during the 1970s and 1980s. These movies acquired the designation as ‘grindhouse’ because they were shown in antiquated, dilapidated theaters on the fringe. For example in Columbus, Mississippi, during the 1970s, Malco operated the Princess Theater as a grindhouse. I know because I've seen my share there. Minor Hollywood studios and foreign producers churned out these films by the hundreds. European sword & sandal sagas, Continental crime thrillers, historical hell-raisers, Spaghetti westerns, Hong Kong chop-socky epics, German & Italian cannibal adventures, American International biker flicks & teenage horror chillers, Blaxploitation movies were popular, especially with drive-in movie audiences. Many are finally being released on DVD and Blu-ray. Generally, these movies ran no longer than 90 minutes but some achieved fame, notably “Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “Night of the Living Dead” (1968), “Satan's Sadists” (1969), “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974), and “Cannibal Holocaust” (1980). If you thrive on trash cinema of the 1970s and the 1980s, then “Hobo With a Shotgun” is right up your alley. Alley is being used in a highly metaphorical sense. Rutger Hauer and Gregory Smith co-star in this overblown orgy of blood, gore, and profanity. Naked babes appear in a one scene. Indeed, nudity is largely subdued in this 86-minute, Technicolor release. Nevertheless, squeamish souls should shun this sadistic, shoot’em up that celebrates a homeless man as a hero.
An anonymous hobo (an unshaven Rutger Hauer of “Blade Runner”) arrives in Hope Town. Actually, vandals have crossed out Hope and replaced it with Scum. Beneath the town sign appears the slogan “Where the railway ends and life begins.” Those same vandals have replaced the word “life” with "Hell.” The hobo hasn'tbeen in town long before he encounters the local crime boss, The Drake (Brian Downey of the sci-fi TV show “Lexx”), and watches Drake dispense justice. “Mercy ain’t my style,” the Drake screams, decked out in an ice-cream white suit and tie with an automatic pistol wedged in his waistband. Drake and his two juvenile delinquent sons, Slick (Gregory Smith of “Small Soldiers”) and Ivan (Tom Cruise lookalike Nick Bateman), show up with pistols drawn. They surround their Uncle Logan (Robb Wells of “Trailer Park Boys, The Movie”) who pleads desperately for mercy as a crowd gathers on the scene. He begs the Hobo to cut the rope on his wrists. Drake makes Logan an example of his power to strike fear into the hearts of citizens. Logan wears a man-hole cover wrapped around his neck so he looks like his head is on a platter. Slick and Ivan deposit Logan in a man-hole, and Drake loops a barbed wire noose around his neck. Slick puts his truck in reverse and off comes Logan’s head. Afterward, Drake sticks it on the hood as a head ornament. Of course, the special effects are marginal. The blood is blatantly bogus! Meanwhile, no sooner has Logan’s head been torn from his neck than a bikini-clad babe in a white mink coat dances in the geyser of blood that erupts. If you can stomach this kind of ghoulish violence, you will love what Eisner and scenarists John Davies and Rob Cotterill have concocted.
Basically, “Hobo With a Shotgun” combines vintage town tamer westerns, such as “Fistful of Dollars,” with vigilante epics, like the Charles Bronson “Death Wish” franchise. All the poor Hobo wants is buy a $49.99 lawn mower so he can cut grass and earn money. Ironically, not a single blade of grass is in-sight in this urban sprawl. He collects aluminum cans and other assorted garbage in a grocery shopping cart, but he doesn’t get very far along in reaching his goal. Predictably, few folks ante up dimes, and the degenerate ruffians who run around leather jackets with Mohawk hair-cuts spit on him. Eventually, the public-spirited citizen hibernating within the Hobo emerges when Slick treats a defenseless hooker, Abby (newcomer Molly Dunsworth), with utter contempt and tries to assault her. Wielding his walking stick along with a sock filled with coins, the Hobo clobbers Slick and hauls him off to jail. Surprisingly, after a sympathetic police chief (Jeremy Ackerman of “K-19: The Widowmaker”) applauds the Hobo’s efforts, he turns on him and lets Slick carve the word SCUM into the Hobo’s chest. Once they finish with him, Slick and the Police Chief pitch the Hobo into the trash.
You cannot keep a good man down long. The Hobo staggers out of the trash, and Abby takes pity on him and lets him spend the night in her apartment. She gives him a sweatshirt with a bear on it and the Hobo turns into a bear of a vigilante. During a pawn shop hold-up, three hoods grab a mother and her baby in a carriage and threaten to kill them if the owner doesn’t empty his cash register. The Hobo happens to be in the pawn shop admiring the $49.99 lawn mower when this takes place. Abruptly, Hobo seizes a pump-action shotgun and splatters the three robbers with blasts to the belly. Things get so bad that Drake that tells Slick that he must establish fear in the hearts of the town. Consequently, Slick finds himself a flame-thrower and torches a school bus filled with kids. During a televised news report of his sadistic shenanigans, Slick and Ivan invade the studio and sling a skate boot so that its' blade embeds itself in the newscaster’s chest. Later, the Drake dispatches the police to exterminate all homeless people with extreme prejudice.
According to the Dread Central website, Canadian filmmaker Jason Eisner made a bogus trailer of “Hobo With a Shotgun” and entered it in director Robert Rodriguez's South by Southwest “Grindhouse” trailers competition back in 2007. The trailer won first place, and Eisner set about making the film. The Internet Movie Database has reported that this $3-million movie has made slightly more than a half-million dollars during its brief May release and has since gone onto DVD and Blu-ray. Indeed, Eisner upholds the standards of “Fistful of Dollars” and the “Death Wish” movies in terms of blood, gore and more. The Hobo cleans up the town and inspires citizens to gun down their corrupt police and reclaim the streets from them. Nevertheless, Eisner doesn’t drag out the inevitable in this formulaic actioneer. The villains are utterly despicable and deserve the worst that they receive. Eisner leaves little to the imagination, and some of the action is so ramped up that you want to laugh rather than cringe. Despite its entirely depraved subject matter, “Hobo With a Shotgun” delivers more enthusiasm and action than most big-screen fare. Eisner and his scenarist never the largely straightforward action bog down in a surfeit of exposition. They have pared down the plot to its extreme essentials and served it up like a shotgun blast to the belly.
An anonymous hobo (an unshaven Rutger Hauer of “Blade Runner”) arrives in Hope Town. Actually, vandals have crossed out Hope and replaced it with Scum. Beneath the town sign appears the slogan “Where the railway ends and life begins.” Those same vandals have replaced the word “life” with "Hell.” The hobo hasn'tbeen in town long before he encounters the local crime boss, The Drake (Brian Downey of the sci-fi TV show “Lexx”), and watches Drake dispense justice. “Mercy ain’t my style,” the Drake screams, decked out in an ice-cream white suit and tie with an automatic pistol wedged in his waistband. Drake and his two juvenile delinquent sons, Slick (Gregory Smith of “Small Soldiers”) and Ivan (Tom Cruise lookalike Nick Bateman), show up with pistols drawn. They surround their Uncle Logan (Robb Wells of “Trailer Park Boys, The Movie”) who pleads desperately for mercy as a crowd gathers on the scene. He begs the Hobo to cut the rope on his wrists. Drake makes Logan an example of his power to strike fear into the hearts of citizens. Logan wears a man-hole cover wrapped around his neck so he looks like his head is on a platter. Slick and Ivan deposit Logan in a man-hole, and Drake loops a barbed wire noose around his neck. Slick puts his truck in reverse and off comes Logan’s head. Afterward, Drake sticks it on the hood as a head ornament. Of course, the special effects are marginal. The blood is blatantly bogus! Meanwhile, no sooner has Logan’s head been torn from his neck than a bikini-clad babe in a white mink coat dances in the geyser of blood that erupts. If you can stomach this kind of ghoulish violence, you will love what Eisner and scenarists John Davies and Rob Cotterill have concocted.
Basically, “Hobo With a Shotgun” combines vintage town tamer westerns, such as “Fistful of Dollars,” with vigilante epics, like the Charles Bronson “Death Wish” franchise. All the poor Hobo wants is buy a $49.99 lawn mower so he can cut grass and earn money. Ironically, not a single blade of grass is in-sight in this urban sprawl. He collects aluminum cans and other assorted garbage in a grocery shopping cart, but he doesn’t get very far along in reaching his goal. Predictably, few folks ante up dimes, and the degenerate ruffians who run around leather jackets with Mohawk hair-cuts spit on him. Eventually, the public-spirited citizen hibernating within the Hobo emerges when Slick treats a defenseless hooker, Abby (newcomer Molly Dunsworth), with utter contempt and tries to assault her. Wielding his walking stick along with a sock filled with coins, the Hobo clobbers Slick and hauls him off to jail. Surprisingly, after a sympathetic police chief (Jeremy Ackerman of “K-19: The Widowmaker”) applauds the Hobo’s efforts, he turns on him and lets Slick carve the word SCUM into the Hobo’s chest. Once they finish with him, Slick and the Police Chief pitch the Hobo into the trash.
You cannot keep a good man down long. The Hobo staggers out of the trash, and Abby takes pity on him and lets him spend the night in her apartment. She gives him a sweatshirt with a bear on it and the Hobo turns into a bear of a vigilante. During a pawn shop hold-up, three hoods grab a mother and her baby in a carriage and threaten to kill them if the owner doesn’t empty his cash register. The Hobo happens to be in the pawn shop admiring the $49.99 lawn mower when this takes place. Abruptly, Hobo seizes a pump-action shotgun and splatters the three robbers with blasts to the belly. Things get so bad that Drake that tells Slick that he must establish fear in the hearts of the town. Consequently, Slick finds himself a flame-thrower and torches a school bus filled with kids. During a televised news report of his sadistic shenanigans, Slick and Ivan invade the studio and sling a skate boot so that its' blade embeds itself in the newscaster’s chest. Later, the Drake dispatches the police to exterminate all homeless people with extreme prejudice.
According to the Dread Central website, Canadian filmmaker Jason Eisner made a bogus trailer of “Hobo With a Shotgun” and entered it in director Robert Rodriguez's South by Southwest “Grindhouse” trailers competition back in 2007. The trailer won first place, and Eisner set about making the film. The Internet Movie Database has reported that this $3-million movie has made slightly more than a half-million dollars during its brief May release and has since gone onto DVD and Blu-ray. Indeed, Eisner upholds the standards of “Fistful of Dollars” and the “Death Wish” movies in terms of blood, gore and more. The Hobo cleans up the town and inspires citizens to gun down their corrupt police and reclaim the streets from them. Nevertheless, Eisner doesn’t drag out the inevitable in this formulaic actioneer. The villains are utterly despicable and deserve the worst that they receive. Eisner leaves little to the imagination, and some of the action is so ramped up that you want to laugh rather than cringe. Despite its entirely depraved subject matter, “Hobo With a Shotgun” delivers more enthusiasm and action than most big-screen fare. Eisner and his scenarist never the largely straightforward action bog down in a surfeit of exposition. They have pared down the plot to its extreme essentials and served it up like a shotgun blast to the belly.
Friday, July 8, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "BIG JAKE" (1971)
Scenarists Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink penned the formulaic screenplay about the kidnapping of a wealthy but aging cattleman’s grandson. The Finks were responsible for Don Siegel’s controversial police thriller “Dirty Harry” with Clint Eastwood and later “Cahill U.S. Marshal.” Unfortunately, despite some serviceable dialogue, “Big Jake” amounts to a sloppy, unsavory western with no sense of closure. The villains are a dastardly bunch, but they never truly challenge the heroes. The set-piece in an abandoned collection of buildings generates nothing in the way of suspense and tension. Further, “Big Jake” lacks the characteristic scene where Wayne one-ups an opponent. The closest thing to this scene is a shower scene, but it doesn’t cut the muster compared to scenes like in “McLintock!,” “Chism,” “The Train Robbers,” and “The Undefeated.” Some scenes that are clearly horseplay are embarrassingly bad, such as the automatic pistol scene at the river. Not only should O’Hara have returned for a final scene, but some sympathy should have been made to the hero’s dog and his Native American friend. As “Big Jake,” John Wayne spends most of his time riding around Mexico trying to keep himself and his two half-witted sons alive. One of his sons recoils at the thought of killing an animal to provide meal for supper and gets angry when he learns that he has killed somebody over a chest filled with paper clippings. Although this is largely a traditional Wayne western, “Big Jake” pits the weapons and transportation of an old-fashioned western (horses, revolvers, and shotguns) against the new-fangled western where people ride in cars or on motorcycles and wield automatic weapons. Predictably, ‘Big’ Jake wins the day with his old-fashioned approach. Sherman does a solid job of establishing the setting of this sagebrusher and the time period with a lengthy prologue.
John Fain (Richard Boone of “The Alamo”) leads a gang of murderous cutthroat outlaws who raid the McCandles ranch. This opening shoot-out qualifies as the bloodiest gunfight in a Wayne western. When bullets hit bodies, huge smears of red paint appear. Remember, the Duke objected to those exploding blood squibs in Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” and felt that it was obscene. Wayne’s second oldest son Patrick co-stars with him and Wayne’s youngest son Ethan Wayne plays the abducted child. A gallery of seasoned western character actors fleshes out this rugged western with Bruce Cabot, John Doucette, John Agar, Roy Jenson, Jim Davis, Hank Worden, and Harry Carey, Jr.
“Big Jake” unfolds with a historical prologue that contains narration accompanied by a slide show of ancient photographs. “1909, The Edwardian golden days. Genteel civilization had come to England, the continent, and the eastern United States. New York rivaled London and Paris as one of the great metropolises of the world. Albert Einstein had expounded his theory of relativity back in 1905 and science had brought us the wonders of the modern world. Culture and refinement had arrived on the east coast of America. Caruso was singing Pagliacci in the Met. Arturo Toscanini was conducting. The Barrymores were performing and the Ziegfeld Girl was the rage. 1909 in the western part of the 46 United States was not so refined. The surviving Indian warriors were now being rounded up by the U.S. Army. In Washington, William Howard Taft, 300 pounds of pure Republican, was president and life was comfortable. In other parts of the country men were fighting each other and the elements. In New York department stores, a lady could buy maxis and boots and live in style. Out west, they didn’t think about style, just living. Eastern empire builders had secured their fortunes, the Morgans, Vanderbilts, and Carnegies. There were empires in the west, too, such as the great McCandles Ranch. But these huge ranches were held together only by having enough men and guns.
Notre Dame teams were playing football with end Knute Rockne catching the forward pass. In the Arizona Territory, another team, the Arizona Rangers, were busy just trying to keep the peace. Anna Pavlova, the prima ballerina of the Russian Ballet was dancing “Swan Lake.” The dance-hall girl in the Klondike gold rush saloons was somewhat different. By 1909, still photographs had come to life. Motion pictures had been born with The Great Train Robbery. While that make-believe was on the movie screens, nine men crossed the Rio Bravo into Texas. The turbulent years between the Civil War and the turn of the century brought out the best in some people, but in others it brought out the worst. Example: O’ Brien, a half-breed Apache, born of a Chiricahua mother and Irish father. A professional gunfighter, one of the last of his kind. Pop Dawson, rode with the James boys in Kansas and Missouri. Said to have murdered more than a dozen men, one for as little as seven dollars. Trooper, name unknown. A back-shooter. Considered a coward. Reputed to have been a cavalry soldier sometime in the past, but not to the personal knowledge of his confederates. William Fain, youngest of the Fain brothers, favors a shotgun, a Greener, for its bloody killing effect at short range. James William Duffy. At age 14, killed his first man, who was an admirer of his prostitute mother. Dead shot with a rifle. William Devries, young Billy, not quite 21. This raid was thought to have been his first outlaw act. Walt Devries, his older brother by twenty years. He looks more like a farmer than a professional killer. John Goodfellow maybe the worst of them. An indiscriminate killer. Women, children, no consequence at all. Prefers to work close. Favors a razor-edged machete.”
Since most of the ranch hands are away on a round-up, Fain and his trigger-happy marauders have little trouble when they start blasting away after some friendly conversation with the foreman. Without a qualm, they wound and/or kill ten men, women and children few qualms. They wound McCandles' eldest son Jeff (Bobby Vinton of “Surf Party”) and kidnap the youngest McCandles son, eight-year old (Ethan Wayne) and post a a ransom of $1 million. ‘Big’ Jake McCandles’ wife, Martha (Maureen O'Hara of “The Quiet Man”) summons her estranged husband through some messengers. They meet at a railway station, and she hands him the ransom note. Jake fishes out his spectacles to peruse it. Jake and Martha have been estranged for almost a decade, but they both love little Jake and ‘Big Jake’ vows to bring him back. Waiting for their father at the depot are his sons James McCandles (real-life son Patrick Wayne of “The Alamo”) and Michael (Christopher Mitchum of “Rio Lobo”) and their reception is soured by James’ sarcasm toward his father. James calls him “Daddy” in a snide voice and Jake pulls him off his horse and hurls him into a mud puddle. Jake informs James with any subtlety: "You can call Dad, you can call me Father, you can call me Jacob and you can call me Jake. You can call me a dirty old son-of-a-bitch, but if you EVER call me Daddy again, I'll finish this fight." Jake takes custody of a huge red strongbox with a million dollars in it and rides off with his old friend Sam Sharpnose (Bruce Cabot) while James and Michael follow Buck and the Texas Rangers.
A conventional and often predictable oater, “Big Jake” springs no real surprises. The revelation that the strong box that our heroes have been guarding contains nothing but paper clippings comes as no surprise. No sooner have Buck and the Texas Rangers entered Mexico than Fain’s men ambush them, kill three of them, and shoot up their cars. Meanwhile, it appears that Michael has been shot because he crashes his motorcycle and lays sprawled in the dust. Jake is more surprised than we are when his son gets up. Naturally, this calls for Wayne to punch his lights out. Jake leaves the Texas Rangers to fend for themselves while he rides out to the rendezvous with Fain. At about a hour into the plot, Jake and Fain meet in Jake’s camp. Fain instructs them to go to the nearby Mexican town of Escondero and await their orders. Later that evening, gunmen try to storm room number eight where our heroes are lying in wait for them. Jake, James, and Sam leave Michael alone in the room. Jake stages a distraction so Sam can slip back into the room, while James guns down to bullies in the saloon with his automatic pistol. Not long afterward, a suspicious Pop Dawson fetches Jake and company and they ride out to meet Fain and ransom the youngster. It is a classic stand-off again when Fain and Jake confront each other with Little Jake in plain sight. Michael has ascended to the top of water tower and uses his high-powered rifle to knock out a sniper in an adjacent belfry. What started as an interesting scene degenerates into a free-for-all shoot-out without a shred of suspense. The brute with a machete manages to slash poor old Sam to death and later kills the dog. Jake throws a lantern at Fain and lights him up before he perforates him with a bullet. No sooner has Little Jake been reunited with his family than the film freeze-frames them and comes to an end.
“Big Jake” is a mediocre Wayne effort with more blood than usual, but it is nothing memorable. Elmer Bernstein provides an okay orchestral score.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
FILM REVIEW OF "GREEN LANTERN" (2011)
My favorite cinematic adaptations of costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighters vary. The Christopher Reeve “Superman” (1978) tops my list followed by its sequel “Superman II” (1980), then “Iron Man” (2008), “Spider-man” (2002), “Batman Begins” (2005), “The Dark Knight” (2008), “X-Men” (2000), “X2” (2003), “Fantastic Four” (2005), and “X-Men: First Class” (2011). Interestingly, Marvel Comics has enjoyed greater success with their cinematic adaptations than their DC rivals. Since I grew up perusing DC Comics, I have a soft spot for DC heroes and their classic simplicity compared with more sophisticated but fascinating origins of the Marvel Comics mutants. Each of these films exhibits ambitious artistry and sets the gold standard for heroes, villains, and stories. Sure, the Michael Keaton “Batman” movies were entertaining, but “Batman” didn’t reach the gold standard until Christopher Nolan took over the helm from quirky Tim Burton and middle-of-the-road Joel Schumacher. Typically, a great costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick boasts the illusion of realism despite its outlandish, larger-than-life quality. The hero should be vulnerable without being weak. Meaning, he, she, or it should have an Achilles’ heel. Indeed, there should be a reasonable chance that they could die if all the planets and/or circumstances could align for such a contingency. Furthermore, the villains should not only threaten the hero and the heroine but also they should threaten people’s lives. Again, a reasonable chance should exist that the villains could destroy Earth, the universe, etc. Spectacular production values, suspenseful and surprising scripting, sympathetic heroes, menacing villains, and an impressive arena for them to display their powers contribute to making great costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighting films.
“GoldenEye” director Martin Campbell’s “Green Lantern” (*** out of ****) qualifies as a good costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick. No, it doesn’t surpass any of those aforementioned epics. Nonetheless, “Green Lantern” is worth-watching, at least once, even in 3-D. Twice wouldn’t be intolerable for the 2-D version. Thrice might be pushing it. Happily, this lavish, $200-million, FX-fueled, DC entry in the summer crime-fighter sweepstakes neither takes itself too seriously nor wears out its welcome at 114 minutes. This super hero spectacle about a guy-in-a-green suit who can hurl himself through air and space is entertaining but lightweight fare. Scenarists Greg Berlanti of “Dawson’s Creek,” Michael Green of “Smallville,” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Golden Phoenix” scribes Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg pour their considerable creativity into the plot. They keep the action and characters lively enough while delivering a solid origins story. Prepare yourself for a glut of exposition that bristles with more than enough details to keep you attentive. The sympathetic Ryan Reynolds hero shows strong potential, but neither Blake Lively nor he get a chance to generate much romantic sizzle in this PG-13 outing. The aliens and the other worlds make the grade in terms of visual splendor. Watching the scenes featuring aliens reminded me of the original “Star Wars.” Despite the presence of oddball aliens with radically different color scheme complexions, “Green Lantern” never slips into parody. Campbell maintains a fine balance between the dramatic and comedic elements when his writers and he aren’t immersing us with expository background information about Green Lantern mythology.
For the record, this DC Comics hero debuted July 1940 in “All-American Comics.” Long before the Earth was created, the immortal Guardians of the Universe supervised an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. These Guardians resemble those squat, bubble-headed football dolls because they are so diminutive, but they sit up high on lofty towers on the planet Oa. These Guardians have divided the galaxy into 3,600 sectors, with one Green Lantern per sector. The Green Lanterns are like Texas Rangers. Anyway, a Green Lantern wears an emerald green ring. This jaded jewelry provides them with powers limited only by their imagination. If there is one quality above all that a first-class Green Lantern must possess, he, she or it must lack fear. The first incarnation of the "Green Lantern" character lasted until 1949. In those days, before DC turn over the comic in a merger, the “Green Lantern” was railroad engineer Alan Scott. When DC rebooted “Green Lantern” in 1949, he became daredevil test-pilot Hal Jordan. Although the Alan Scott/Green Lantern character sounds more interesting, Campbell and his scribes have appropriated the Hal Jordan hero. Essentially, they have replicated Hal’s origins as the guy-in-green. Our hero receives his status and power as a Green Lantern when a dying alien, purple-faced Abin Sur of Sector 2814 (Temuera Morrison of “Vertical Limit”), crashes on Earth after battling Parallax. Abin Sur’s Green Lantern ring seeks out Hal. Apparently, this ring is drawn only to the individual that it deems worthy of wearing it. When “Green Lantern” opens, a former Guardian who has turned into a super villain called Parallax has escaped, fatally wounded Abin Sur, and sets out to ultimately destroy Earth and later the Guardians using fear as its chief weapon.
Naturally, Ferris Aircraft test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds of "Buried") is flabbergasted when the ring chooses him. As it turns out, Hal is the first human to be a Green Lantern, and his pointy-eared mentor Thaal Sinestro (Mark Strong of “Stardust”) lacks confidence in him. Moreover, Hal has little confidence in himself, but he proves himself an excellent if not unorthodox test pilot. During an early scene, Hal out-flies two unmanned aircraft by flying above their altitude. This recklessness nearly killed him, but he beat the two jets. In this respect, "Green Lantern" recalls a similar scene from "Iron Man." Meanwhile, milquetoast biology professor Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard of “Boys Don’t Cry”), is called in to conduct an autopsy on Abin Sur's remains. During the autopsy, Hammond is infected by some of the DNA that Parallax left in Sur’s corpse. Parallax is the villain in "Green Lantern." Suffice to say, Parallax was a Guardian of the Universe who was lured away from the green force of will-power to the yellow force of fear. Parallax killed Abin Sur, and the soul-sucking Parallax wants to wipe out the ancient Guardians and Earth. Consequently, Hector acquires both Parallax's telepathic as well as telekinetic powers, but it costs him his sanity. Eventually, Hal and Hector battle over childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively of “The Town”) who recognizes Hal even when he wears green. The confrontation at the Ferris Aircraft party when nerdy Hector tries to kill his smug father, U.S. Senator Robert Hammond (Tim Robbins), is both amusing and suspenseful.
The “Green Lantern” villains flaw the movie. Mind you, the villains do present a clear and present danger to Hal Jordan. Nevertheless, they appeared to have been hatched from the same galaxy that yielded Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks.” Indeed, the villains are either hideously deformed mutants or a monstrous supernatural extraterrestrial force that resembles a creature with the human skull and the vaporous body of a shape-shifting octopus. In other words, Parallax amounts to nothing more than CGI hokum. The skull-faced octopus might as well have been a Japanese monster puppet for all the evil that it conjures up. Having great villains makes the difference between a great costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick and a good costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick. “Green Lantern” comes up short on villainy. The villains emerge as either blow-hards or half-wits. As one of the villains, Sarsgaard is more fun to watch before his head swells up and he looks like a pigmy with skin disease. Nevertheless, the way that Hal defeats Parallax is not only foreshadowed but also fun. If you wait around patiently during the end credits, you can see who emerges as the next villain for Hal Jordan to fight in the inevitable "Green Lantern" sequel.
“GoldenEye” director Martin Campbell’s “Green Lantern” (*** out of ****) qualifies as a good costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick. No, it doesn’t surpass any of those aforementioned epics. Nonetheless, “Green Lantern” is worth-watching, at least once, even in 3-D. Twice wouldn’t be intolerable for the 2-D version. Thrice might be pushing it. Happily, this lavish, $200-million, FX-fueled, DC entry in the summer crime-fighter sweepstakes neither takes itself too seriously nor wears out its welcome at 114 minutes. This super hero spectacle about a guy-in-a-green suit who can hurl himself through air and space is entertaining but lightweight fare. Scenarists Greg Berlanti of “Dawson’s Creek,” Michael Green of “Smallville,” and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Golden Phoenix” scribes Marc Guggenheim and Michael Goldenberg pour their considerable creativity into the plot. They keep the action and characters lively enough while delivering a solid origins story. Prepare yourself for a glut of exposition that bristles with more than enough details to keep you attentive. The sympathetic Ryan Reynolds hero shows strong potential, but neither Blake Lively nor he get a chance to generate much romantic sizzle in this PG-13 outing. The aliens and the other worlds make the grade in terms of visual splendor. Watching the scenes featuring aliens reminded me of the original “Star Wars.” Despite the presence of oddball aliens with radically different color scheme complexions, “Green Lantern” never slips into parody. Campbell maintains a fine balance between the dramatic and comedic elements when his writers and he aren’t immersing us with expository background information about Green Lantern mythology.
For the record, this DC Comics hero debuted July 1940 in “All-American Comics.” Long before the Earth was created, the immortal Guardians of the Universe supervised an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps. These Guardians resemble those squat, bubble-headed football dolls because they are so diminutive, but they sit up high on lofty towers on the planet Oa. These Guardians have divided the galaxy into 3,600 sectors, with one Green Lantern per sector. The Green Lanterns are like Texas Rangers. Anyway, a Green Lantern wears an emerald green ring. This jaded jewelry provides them with powers limited only by their imagination. If there is one quality above all that a first-class Green Lantern must possess, he, she or it must lack fear. The first incarnation of the "Green Lantern" character lasted until 1949. In those days, before DC turn over the comic in a merger, the “Green Lantern” was railroad engineer Alan Scott. When DC rebooted “Green Lantern” in 1949, he became daredevil test-pilot Hal Jordan. Although the Alan Scott/Green Lantern character sounds more interesting, Campbell and his scribes have appropriated the Hal Jordan hero. Essentially, they have replicated Hal’s origins as the guy-in-green. Our hero receives his status and power as a Green Lantern when a dying alien, purple-faced Abin Sur of Sector 2814 (Temuera Morrison of “Vertical Limit”), crashes on Earth after battling Parallax. Abin Sur’s Green Lantern ring seeks out Hal. Apparently, this ring is drawn only to the individual that it deems worthy of wearing it. When “Green Lantern” opens, a former Guardian who has turned into a super villain called Parallax has escaped, fatally wounded Abin Sur, and sets out to ultimately destroy Earth and later the Guardians using fear as its chief weapon.
Naturally, Ferris Aircraft test pilot Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds of "Buried") is flabbergasted when the ring chooses him. As it turns out, Hal is the first human to be a Green Lantern, and his pointy-eared mentor Thaal Sinestro (Mark Strong of “Stardust”) lacks confidence in him. Moreover, Hal has little confidence in himself, but he proves himself an excellent if not unorthodox test pilot. During an early scene, Hal out-flies two unmanned aircraft by flying above their altitude. This recklessness nearly killed him, but he beat the two jets. In this respect, "Green Lantern" recalls a similar scene from "Iron Man." Meanwhile, milquetoast biology professor Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard of “Boys Don’t Cry”), is called in to conduct an autopsy on Abin Sur's remains. During the autopsy, Hammond is infected by some of the DNA that Parallax left in Sur’s corpse. Parallax is the villain in "Green Lantern." Suffice to say, Parallax was a Guardian of the Universe who was lured away from the green force of will-power to the yellow force of fear. Parallax killed Abin Sur, and the soul-sucking Parallax wants to wipe out the ancient Guardians and Earth. Consequently, Hector acquires both Parallax's telepathic as well as telekinetic powers, but it costs him his sanity. Eventually, Hal and Hector battle over childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively of “The Town”) who recognizes Hal even when he wears green. The confrontation at the Ferris Aircraft party when nerdy Hector tries to kill his smug father, U.S. Senator Robert Hammond (Tim Robbins), is both amusing and suspenseful.
The “Green Lantern” villains flaw the movie. Mind you, the villains do present a clear and present danger to Hal Jordan. Nevertheless, they appeared to have been hatched from the same galaxy that yielded Tim Burton’s “Mars Attacks.” Indeed, the villains are either hideously deformed mutants or a monstrous supernatural extraterrestrial force that resembles a creature with the human skull and the vaporous body of a shape-shifting octopus. In other words, Parallax amounts to nothing more than CGI hokum. The skull-faced octopus might as well have been a Japanese monster puppet for all the evil that it conjures up. Having great villains makes the difference between a great costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick and a good costume-clad, comic-book, crime-fighter flick. “Green Lantern” comes up short on villainy. The villains emerge as either blow-hards or half-wits. As one of the villains, Sarsgaard is more fun to watch before his head swells up and he looks like a pigmy with skin disease. Nevertheless, the way that Hal defeats Parallax is not only foreshadowed but also fun. If you wait around patiently during the end credits, you can see who emerges as the next villain for Hal Jordan to fight in the inevitable "Green Lantern" sequel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)