CINEMATRIX - by LuckyWill

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CINEMATRIX - October 2008

HOLLYWOOD'S MID-LIFE CRISIS – Rocky, McClane, Indy, who’s next?

October 15th 2008 06:40

Not as young as they used to be

Its mid-life crisis time in Hollywood as some of the greatest actors return to reignite the old flames that once made them famous and let everyone know they still know how to kick ass. Sylvester Stallone, at age 60, gave ‘Rocky Balboa’ one more round in 2006 and two years later saw ‘Rambo’ don the camo gear once again as he did back in 1988 for ‘Rambo III’. In 2003, a 58 year old Arnie also turned back the clock in one of his final films before a self imposed exile to politics; rounding out the terminator trilogy as the lovable cybernetic assassin almost 20 years after first famously proclaiming he’d be back. Last year John McClane, aka Bruce Willis, was out to ‘Die Hard’ for the 4th time since his character’s conception back in 1988. Understandably it was a much older, wiser hero than we were used to this time, even cutting back the trademark swearing for the cinematic release.

The list goes on with Harrison Ford cracking the whip once again as the 66 year old treasure hunter returning for a fourth Indy instalment. Even the ‘Ghostbusters’ are making progress towards a return after spending 20 years delaying the inevitable. Dan Aykroyd has been pushing the idea for a third film for years, as have the fans, but some of the old crew, Bill Murray in particular, were reluctant to get on board. But now everyone is looking keen to get things moving again. The writers from ‘The Office’ have begun work on the script and it’s rumoured that the old boys will be adding some new talent to their team of proton powered spiritual exterminators so we could even see a 4, 5 and 6.

So with all these comebacks going on, who else should seek to recapture their youth?

Jim Carey is one of my favourite actors and while I think he does a great job with the serious roles, i.e., ‘The Truman Show’, ‘The Majestic’ and ‘The Number 23’ (fantastic film), he is really in his element playing some kind of bouncy, nutty, lunatic, i.e. ‘The Mask’, ‘Liar Liar’, ‘Ace Ventura’. For anyone who has seen an event that Carey has participated in, he is usually the one who randomly breaks into song or dances with strangers to ensure all eyes are on him. Jim Carey unleashed can be extremely funny. However there are now three films in which he has starred, that have gone on without him to produce a sequel of lesser quality. ‘The Mask’ did very well upon its release and was nominated (and received) a host of awards; the sequel, ‘Son of the Mask’, foolishly went on without Carey and fell harder than the careers of those involved. Jim Carey also played Bruce Nolan in ‘Bruce Almighty’, a film in which he is given the power of God after criticising his creator’s work ethic. His then co-star, Steve Carrel, took over in the sequel ‘Evan Almighty’ which was still good, but not in the same style as the first.

Now they are making ‘Ace Ventura 3’, reviving one of the films in which Carey was at his irreverent best as the Pet Detective with no regard for anyone but himself and his animals. The style of humour was slapstick at times but Carey stole every scene that he was part of with topical impersonations, witty insults and behaviour verging on the insane for most of the film. He was so good that he actually made a sequel, reprising a role for the first and only time in his entire career. Unfortunately ‘Ace Ventura 3’ is actually called ‘Ace Ventura Jnr’ and no, Jim Carey will not be in it. So it appears this franchise is heading down the same path as ‘Son of the Mask’; a film that revolves around Jim Carey, continuing without him. Why else would you see it?

If anyone should be making a comeback to revive past roles it should be Jim Carey. Forget about ‘Son of the Mask’ and, most likely, ‘Ace Ventura Jnr’. Take a page from the makers of the recent ‘Incredible Hulk’ film and just pretend the other one didn’t happen. It would be great to see the Pet Detective or the masked hooligan reek havoc on the world once again but only the best will do. Either bring back the star or don’t even bother.

If Michael J Fox were not suffering from his unfortunate condition I would have expected his character, Marty McFly, to continue hopping Back to the Future as we saw him do almost 2 decades ago. A similar time frame has passed since Bruce Campbell (Ash) did battle against the ‘Army of Darkness’ in the Evil Dead Saga in 1992. Number four of that franchise is set to be on its way as early as 2009, as Campbell once again battles the undead, with boom stick in one hand and chainsaw in the other. Mel Gibson killed off any hopes of a ‘Mad Max’ or ‘Lethal Weapon’ revival despite scripts and producers being ready for action. ‘Mad Max 4: Fury Road’ will still go ahead but it seems they will just follow in the terminator foot steps and let someone else take it from here as the star.

Did I forget anyone? Who do you think will be next to venture down memory lane?

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Posted By: LuckyWill - Category: Miscellaneous!

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Eagle Eye - Looking Sharp

October 8th 2008 13:39

Eagle Eye has received a lot of criticism about its poor storyline and implausible visual effects and if you scan the internet, you will no doubt see what I’m talking about. But if you go to see an action film, and the character is faced with the need to escape a large building, would you prefer to see a massive 10 storey crane crash through the building forcing him to jump to a seemingly inevitable death, defying all logic and reason to land heavily on the ground, injured but still able to carry on the chase? Or. Would you rather he throw a chair at the window and look out over the edge, only to reconsider the jump and instead sit back down to wait for his captors peacefully, spending the remainder of the film in a jail cell? When it comes to action films they need to be approached with a very open mind. Massive explosions are entertaining but nearly always hard to justify so if you try and over analyse, you’re only going to ruin it for yourself.

This is a film to be enjoyed if the ‘Open Mind’ policy is employed while viewing. Eagle Eye sees actor Shia LaBeouf and his adopted film-father, Steven Spielberg, reunite for their 3rd film in just two years. Since their meeting in 2007 for the production of Transformers, the two have been jointly involved in Indiana Jones 4, Eagle Eye and, next year, Transformers 2, all starring LaBeouf and presided over by Spielberg. This latest endeavour sees them returning to their native roots; LaBeouf is, once again, occupying the familiar role of the misguided teen, turned world class hero; Spielberg is telling his favourite tale about fugitives running from a corrupt government and the audience is provided with a non-stop action adventure that places completely unbelievable stunts into a satisfyingly acceptable environment. It’s like a combination of Enemy of the State meets Die Hard 4 meets I,Robot. Interestingly LaBeouf scored a supporting role in I,Robot as well, so his current performance should be merely revision.

The story centres around two main characters who are drawn together by a mysterious voice. Jerry Shaw (LaBeouf) is the black sheep of a respected family and lives a life of seclusion and ambiguity, which directly contrasts that of his highly decorated military twin brother. After his brother’s unexpected death, Jerry soon becomes entangled in a fabricated terrorist plot and must follow the voice of a mysterious woman if he is to clear his name and escape the powerful political agendas of a pursuing government agency while uncovering the truth about his sibling’s demise. His partner in crime is Rachel Holloman, played my Michelle Monaghan, a single mum who is also forced to obey the commands of Big Sister or risk losing her only child. Their controller tracks their actions via webcams, security cameras, mobile phones, and basically anything else with an electrical signal, and uses any means necessary to get to them.

It is really mind boggling to think about how they get out of some situations and some of the chases are quite ingenious. The easiest way to tell if you’ll like this movie is to watch another Spielberg production, Minority Report. In that film, there is a scene in which Tom Cruise is led through a shopping centre by a psychic who tells him when to stop, go, pick something up, and drop it again. At the time these seem like pointless tasks, however each simple direction has unseen consequences that allow him to blindly escape incredible circumstances. Steven Spielberg has basically fleshed this scene out to a full 2 hours and it works.

As expected, there is a great car chase in which Jerry and Michelle are trying to escape a fleet of police cars headed by their relentless pursuer, FBI agent Tom Morgan (Billy Bob Thornton). Directed by their pimped up GPS, they navigate blind corners, handbrake turns, and run red lights missing nearby traffic by inches as the female voice guides their escape. You just have to sit back and admire it; however there was one annoying thing that really detracted from the experience of this chase and that was the cheap camera shots used to film it. Instead of pulling back to give a full view of what’s going on in the chase, the director, D.J.Caruso, gives zoomed in shots of blurry mirrors, hubcaps and occasionally a full door. It’s an effect that allows him to stretch the footage of one stunt to look like four or five but ultimately it just ends up annoying the audience because you can’t really see anything.

There are a lot of twists in this film which, at times can be a little predictable, but the chase scenes are just great fun to watch and more than make up for it. In particular, Thornton chases the fugitives into a baggage terminal and they battle with him along the many conveyer belts that zigzag behind the scenes. While this goes on, their puppet master does her best to separate them from the FBI agent by controlling the directions of the conveyer belt and anything else nearby that operates on remote.

As you would expect all the actors do a fantastic job and really carry the film. There are explosions a plenty; twists you won’t see coming; and twists that you will. But as long as you don’t try and find fault with the film, it will try not to make them obvious to you and you should walk away with a smile.

Rating 3.5 mysterious phone calls/ 5

Will

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Posted By: LuckyWill - Category: Reviews

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