Movie Muse

It had been 12 years since John McClane (Bruce Willis) last stopped a criminal mastermind’s mass terrorist plot and “Live Free or Die Hard” tries to make up for every single one of them. John drives three pedestrian cars, a police car, a mack truck and flies a helicopter; he survives at least three long-distance falls and outruns two or three explosions; he saves two lives (including someone close to him) and kills at least a dozen. Well, that last bit was at least expected. Read the rest of this entry »

There are countless ways to interpret a comic series for the big screen, not including story. “The Losers” could’ve been done as a straight-up action film about a team of black ops soldiers getting revenge on the man who left them for dead, but director Sylvain White opts to honor the source material with an equally slick production. Although it fattens the film up with action movie clichés, it gels with the tone of the script and the carefree romp that is “The Losers.” More importantly, it passes fun action movie rule number one: acknowledge your film is nothing more than a fun action movie. Read the rest of this entry »

To label “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” as Harry Potter with Greek mythology is to fault the zebra for having stripes because the tiger had them first. The hero’s journey story of a young protagonist realizing he or she has a destiny and entering a world previously unknown to him or her is as ancient as, well, Greek mythology. Was 20th Century Fox hoping that Percy would become the next Harry at the box office? Without question, but it should be judged on its own merits, no matter how similar the two are. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s possible that any sequel ten years in the making would be bound to fall flat. “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” might have been destined to do so from the beginning. The cult following if not worshipping of the original beckoned creator Troy Duffy to bring us the McManus brothers once again, even if the first film suggested future chapters were likely. In terms of story and script, “All Saints Day” neglects most of what made the first film engaging from start to finish. Instead, style dictates the direction of Duffy’s sequel and the objective to please die-hard fans, not as much those such as myself who really enjoyed the original’s infectious bravado and rhythm and were hoping the sequel would at least provide as much. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time to suit up, because the comic film genre has a new face bringing it back to life and it’s a shiny one. “Iron Man” delivers everything you want in a comic book adaptation. It’s also probably the best thing to happen to Marvel Studios since Spider-Man 2 – that’s nearly four years and a lot of money with disappointing delivery. A good start for the first film fully produced by the studio. Read the rest of this entry »

Any good film, book, essay or song has a grabber that catches your attention and hooks you through the rest of that work. “Speed” is a two-hour grabber. It is the consummate thrill-a- minute movie, the kind where all sins of bad acting and preposterous events are forgiven because the action and suspense are like a wild concoction of sugar and crack. This action movie will bring out the adrenaline junkie in just about anybody. Read the rest of this entry »

Admitably, there’s something innately satisfying about watching the hypothetical demise of the entire planet by means of natural disaster/earth crust displacement. There might even be something profound science fiction-wise lurking about in the concept of the Mayan apocalypse and the end of the world as we know it. For better or worse, “2012″ is a little more interested in humanity’s gross interest in its own near-extinction aka stuff crumbles. Read the rest of this entry »

“Crank” is a high-octane concept movie that busts out of the gate and never stops. Unlike most adrenaline-junkie action films, however, “Crank” justifies its juiced-up rip-roaring wackiness because the movie is actually about someone who needs to keep his adrenaline up in order to live. Not many other “action porn” movies can say they have such a luxury — or excuse. “Crank” does fly off the handle a bit under Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s surreal and frenzied direction, but it’s a pretty entertaining 90-minute joy ride. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s my theory on how Paramount and Hasbro teamed up to make “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” With the help of the film’s creative team, Hasbro designed an entire Toys R Us aisle’s worth of G.I. Joe action figures and accessories, everything from subs to jets to tunneling vehicles to Joes in accelerator suits as well as swords and guns and toy explosives. Then they put all those toys in a room lined with tinted glass and filled it with at least a dozen 8-year- olds with diagnosed ADHD and instructed them to have at it. On the other side of the glass were Michael B. Gordon, Stuart Beattie, Stephen Sommers, David Elliot and Paul Lovett, the film’s writers, who tried to roughly translate the kids’ make-believe story lines into a semblance of a plot. Read the rest of this entry »

Personal and human interests butt heads in “Three Kings,” a Gulf War action flick from David O. Russell. Following the Gulf War cease-fire four soldiers (Clooney, Wahlberg, Ice Cube and Jonze) plan to take gold stolen by Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Kuwait so they can live well for the rest of their lives. What seems like a simple operation turns life-threatening when the soldiers run into a group of Iraqi refugees in desperate need of their help. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems kind of pointless, in my opinion, to develop such an extensive mythos and history for a centuries old vampires vs. lycans (werewolves) premise when everyone’s just going to try and kill each other anyway. Underworld creators Len Wiseman and Danny McBride impressively flesh out their world and backstory, especially so in “Underworld: Evolution” — then they have all the characters’ rip each others flesh out. It’s fun for those looking for an imaginative gore-fest, but don’t expect to feel deeply invested in the unnecessarily complex story. Read the rest of this entry »

The grandfather of the mystery genre — and film’s most adapted character — is none other than the great detective Sherlock Holmes, so if one were to apply Holmes’ own deductive reasoning skills, a modern reinvention was a matter of time. English Director Guy Ritchie (“Snatch,” “RocknRolla”) applies his witty and gritty crime thriller style to the first mainstream 21st Century version of Holmes, one that will likely appeal to a younger crowd and those less familiar with previous incarnations of the iconic sleuth. Read the rest of this entry »

Like most ’90s sequels, “Lethal Weapon 3″ proves the third time’s a flop. The movie isn’t horrible. It’s watchable and provides the antics fans of the first two films have come to expect, but it offers no stimulation. It’s flat, uninspired and typical. Riggs and Murtaugh aren’t pushed in new ways or given any opportunity to grow as characters. Riggs (Gibson) is up to the same wisecrackery and Murtaugh (Glover) is still “too old for this ****.” Read the rest of this entry »

It’s easy to be deceived these days by the shear unruly star-power that is Will Smith, especially when he’s attached to a project dealing with superheroes, a genre that has been a cash machine. He’s talented no matter what he does, and in that regard, “Hancock” is enjoyable. While I personally felt his character was too much of an a**hole as the script so frequently and unoriginally puts it, that doesn’t mean Smith isn’t good at it. He’s just a great hero no matter the film. 

To quickly summarize, Smith plays “Hancock,” a lonely, drunken jerk with Superman powers and a public approval rating of zero. When he saves Ray’s (Jason Bateman) life, Ray offers his services as a P.R. consultant and the two work to change his image. Eventually, you get to Hancock’s back story and some strange but obvious twists take the film down a different path that to explain would be a major spoiler.

So from the perspective of a producer that has a decent script with a highly marketable concept written by some nobodies and with a director (Peter Berg) attached whose best action credit is 2007′s “The Kingdom,” I would definitely want to sign someone to play Hancock who is going to guarantee me top spot at the box office. Well, voila. Smith is such a proved commodity with an amazing streak of top first weekend box office spots that he could get any contract he wants and he should do that. 

After Smith, the marks for “Hancock” are pretty much middle of the road. The CGI and Berg’s directing style is too sloppy for what should be a clean-cut summer blockbuster. His refusal to use any camera stabilizing device works for a few scenes, but most of the time it’s just dizzying and the close-ups become obnoxious. The plot concept, which paints a picture of Hancock as a hero and then fills it in with the origin story later instead of the other way around, makes for an interesting affect, but instead of enlightening what we know about Hancock, it ends up taking the film in another direction entirely. While you might think this movie would leave you with themes about turning one’s life around and becoming the best you can be, that gets glossed over and you’re left themeless.

If you want summer fun at the movies that is about as clumsy, destructive and amusing as the title character is, you should check out “Hancock.”

“Predator” boasts a few unique claims, one being that it’s the only movie to feature two US governors. The “Jaws” and “Alien”-inspired monster attack film also gave birth to one of the most original creatures we’ve ever seen instead relying on aliens or dangerous animals. But most of all, it’s the ability of “Predator” to deliver entertainment on bare-bones plot structure.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in director John McTiernan’s breakthrough action thriller about a team of commandos on a hostage rescue mission in a Central American jungle who on their way back find themselves being hunted one-by-one by some extra-terrestrial hunter with stealth armor. 

The beauty of “Predator” is that’s all for the plot. No sub-plots, no character development, nothing — just gunfire and guts. Only occasionally does a mindless film like this one come along, recognize that its mindless, and just execute “entertaining” right down to its very definition.

The cast is completely talentless, but Schwarzenegger appears to have finely honed his ability to be an action star without distracting us with a thick accent. His recognizability at this point in his career is enough to like him in the film. Jesse Venture adds a bit of variety to the cast and makes for a nice fun fact many years later.

It would be one thing if there was no good reason for “Predator” to be devoid of everything but spine, but an alien with hunting gear and dreadlocks killing commandos for good sport needs nothing but some clever action sequences and effective suspense. Like “Alien,” we don’t see the Predator in full until way into the movie and that’s half the excitement necessary to enjoy it.

Other movies try and give us back story, romance and clever twists when they aren’t capable of delivering them well. “Predator” says “you want blood and aliens but not the same old presentation? You got it.” Good film-making has never been simpler.