Carrie Fisher took the virginity of Indiana Jones. At least, that's how she told it while she was alive. Specifically, that's what she told me. In her own words: "I wrote it with George [Lucas.] We wrote Indiana Jones losing his virginity to Mata Hari. It went very well."
I had been asking about her work on the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, so this answer came a bit out of left field. However, it's a little-known fact that Fisher worked as a writer on many George Lucas projects, doing an uncredited polish on the scripts for the prequels and even coming up with adventures for Indiana Jones to go on in his TV series, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles."
So, how did Indiana Jones actually lose his virginity, and what part did Fisher play?
Read more: The 18 Best Action Movie Actors Ranked
Bigger Than Life
"She was a bigger-than-life character and...
I had been asking about her work on the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy, so this answer came a bit out of left field. However, it's a little-known fact that Fisher worked as a writer on many George Lucas projects, doing an uncredited polish on the scripts for the prequels and even coming up with adventures for Indiana Jones to go on in his TV series, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles."
So, how did Indiana Jones actually lose his virginity, and what part did Fisher play?
Read more: The 18 Best Action Movie Actors Ranked
Bigger Than Life
"She was a bigger-than-life character and...
- 2/13/2024
- by Bryan Young
- Slash Film
Back in the early '90s, television audiences were treated to "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" — which have now been retitled "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones." These adventures explored the earliest adventures of everyone's favorite archeologist, long before he chose that as his profession.
The series is split with two actors playing Indy. The youngest, Corey Carrier, gets to examine Indiana Jones in his school days, whisked around the world by his parents with a tutor in tow. Those episodes put him in contact with everyone from Theodore Roosevelt to Pablo Picasso and were nothing short of charming. Sean Patrick Flanery took the role of Indiana Jones during his late teens and early 20s, a sliver of the part that was originated by River Phoenix in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
Originally, each episode was bookended with an intro and outro from a one-eyed, 80-year-old Indiana Jones played by George Hall.
The series is split with two actors playing Indy. The youngest, Corey Carrier, gets to examine Indiana Jones in his school days, whisked around the world by his parents with a tutor in tow. Those episodes put him in contact with everyone from Theodore Roosevelt to Pablo Picasso and were nothing short of charming. Sean Patrick Flanery took the role of Indiana Jones during his late teens and early 20s, a sliver of the part that was originated by River Phoenix in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
Originally, each episode was bookended with an intro and outro from a one-eyed, 80-year-old Indiana Jones played by George Hall.
- 6/1/2023
- by Bryan Young
- Slash Film
Fourteen years after the release of “Taken,” there’s a certain understanding of Action-Neeson movies that audiences have come to accept: Never ask questions about his Irish accent, even when he’s playing characters who shouldn’t have one; understand that, whatever the situation, Neeson and his “very particular set of skills” will prove indomitable; and never, ever think too hard about the real-world implications of these shoot-’em-up fantasies, lest the whole house of cards collapse.
“Memory,” the latest Action-Neeson release, is a terrible movie, and the fact that it’s trying to tweak the Action-Neeson formula isn’t even in the top 20 reasons of why it’s so awful. But if the paradigm of this subgenre is going to be changed in any way, it’s going to have to happen in a film far, far more competent than this one.
Director Martin Campbell — who made 2006’s “Casino Royale,...
“Memory,” the latest Action-Neeson release, is a terrible movie, and the fact that it’s trying to tweak the Action-Neeson formula isn’t even in the top 20 reasons of why it’s so awful. But if the paradigm of this subgenre is going to be changed in any way, it’s going to have to happen in a film far, far more competent than this one.
Director Martin Campbell — who made 2006’s “Casino Royale,...
- 4/27/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Memory Trailer — Martin Campbell‘s Memory (2022) movie trailer has been released by Open Road Films. The Memory trailer stars Liam Neeson, Guy Pearce, Monica Bellucci, Ray Stevenson, Stella Stocker, and Antonio Jaramillo.. Crew Dario Scardapane wrote the screenplay for Memory. Photek created the music for the film. David Tattersall crafted the cinematography for the film. Plot [...]
Continue reading: Memory (2022) Movie Trailer: Liam Neeson is Losing His Memory in Martin Campbell’s Action Film...
Continue reading: Memory (2022) Movie Trailer: Liam Neeson is Losing His Memory in Martin Campbell’s Action Film...
- 3/18/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
With winter storms still sweeping through the land, it might be nice to stay in and watch some movies on your streamer of choice. While Netflix is increasingly interested in its own original films, they are still committed to bringing you plenty of classic catalogue titles, including a whole bunch in February. It was hard to pick our favorites, but we tried anyway.
Below are the best new movies on Netflix in February 2022.
The Addams Family Paramount Pictures
There’s been so much “Addams Family”-related stuff since the two original theatrical films in the 1990s that it’s easy to forget just how good they both were. The first film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and co-written by Burton collaborators Larry Wilson and Caroline Thompson (and later re-written by Paul Rudnick), doesn’t have quite the same edge as the sequel but it did establish the world beautifully. This is...
Below are the best new movies on Netflix in February 2022.
The Addams Family Paramount Pictures
There’s been so much “Addams Family”-related stuff since the two original theatrical films in the 1990s that it’s easy to forget just how good they both were. The first film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and co-written by Burton collaborators Larry Wilson and Caroline Thompson (and later re-written by Paul Rudnick), doesn’t have quite the same edge as the sequel but it did establish the world beautifully. This is...
- 2/6/2022
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
There’s a notable difference between the types of projects that Amazon and Netflix have been putting out, theatrically speaking. On the one hand, Amazon has been gunning for awards and embracing a theatrical release with things like the Oscar winner Manchester by the Sea. There’s also their burgeoning relationship with an auteur like Woody Allen. It’s a whole concerted effort under their Amazon Studios wing. On the other hand, Netflix has gone for casting a wider net, while only occasionally putting their higher profile films out in theaters, like Beasts of No Nation or this year’s Okja. They only once in a while look at things with an awards type view. So far, they’ve either come up short with would be players like War Machine, or seen things like Beasts of No Nation snubbed. This week, Death Note hits as the latest major Netflix release.
- 8/22/2017
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Ahead of the world premiere screening of Outcast’s first episode, Daily Dead had the chance to catch up with creator Robert Kirkman, executive producer Chris Black, pilot episode director Adam Wingard, and series star Patrick Fugit to discuss what fans can expect from the new show that is based on Kirkman’s popular comic and debuts on Cinemax this June.
Here are the highlights from our roundtable interview during the 2016 SXSW Film Festival, and look for more on Outcast—including our impressions from the first episode—closer to the show’s debut this summer.
When Outcast was being created as a comic book series, how did you make the leap from working on it as a comic to deciding you wanted to adapt it into a show?
Robert Kirkman: It was a fairly unique situation. Sharon Tal Yguado, who runs Fox International and heads up the international side of The Walking Dead,...
Here are the highlights from our roundtable interview during the 2016 SXSW Film Festival, and look for more on Outcast—including our impressions from the first episode—closer to the show’s debut this summer.
When Outcast was being created as a comic book series, how did you make the leap from working on it as a comic to deciding you wanted to adapt it into a show?
Robert Kirkman: It was a fairly unique situation. Sharon Tal Yguado, who runs Fox International and heads up the international side of The Walking Dead,...
- 3/15/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Lucasfilm
When Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit cinemas, the initial reaction was one of disappointment (if not quite the mass hatred which that evolved into), although not without a few clear positives. The story got thrashed for its reliance on pseudo-politics, the acting was found more wooden than an Ewok city and everybody finally agreed with Harrison Ford that George Lucas might not be the best wordsmith. But one thing everyone could find time to praise was the visuals.
The world Lucas created for Star Wars is phenomenal, an oft-described used future that serves as a fantasy realm of knights and rogues, and is so expertly realised that even cynics (be they prequel haters or those who “don’t get” the saga in general), can’t deny that the galaxy far, far away looks great.
That’d be all for nothing, though, if it was for the cinematography,...
When Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit cinemas, the initial reaction was one of disappointment (if not quite the mass hatred which that evolved into), although not without a few clear positives. The story got thrashed for its reliance on pseudo-politics, the acting was found more wooden than an Ewok city and everybody finally agreed with Harrison Ford that George Lucas might not be the best wordsmith. But one thing everyone could find time to praise was the visuals.
The world Lucas created for Star Wars is phenomenal, an oft-described used future that serves as a fantasy realm of knights and rogues, and is so expertly realised that even cynics (be they prequel haters or those who “don’t get” the saga in general), can’t deny that the galaxy far, far away looks great.
That’d be all for nothing, though, if it was for the cinematography,...
- 10/9/2015
- by Alex Leadbeater
- Obsessed with Film
Britt Robertson and Scott Eastwood star in the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation to make it to film. Here's our The Longest Ride review.
There are variables in the chemistry of a Nicholas Sparks film, but the basic formula has seldom changed through films like The Notebook, Dear John and The Lucky One. Even the posters for these movies often look indistinguishable from one another, except for the two actors pictured. The Longest Ride is the tenth Sparks adaptation to hit the big screen and though it sticks to what you'll know if you've seen more than one of the others, it's not necessarily a formula that's in need of fixing.
Stop us if this sounds like we've done a find and replace on some other plot summary, but this time we follow Sophia, (Britt Robertson) who's about to start a prestigious internship at a gallery in New York, just as...
There are variables in the chemistry of a Nicholas Sparks film, but the basic formula has seldom changed through films like The Notebook, Dear John and The Lucky One. Even the posters for these movies often look indistinguishable from one another, except for the two actors pictured. The Longest Ride is the tenth Sparks adaptation to hit the big screen and though it sticks to what you'll know if you've seen more than one of the others, it's not necessarily a formula that's in need of fixing.
Stop us if this sounds like we've done a find and replace on some other plot summary, but this time we follow Sophia, (Britt Robertson) who's about to start a prestigious internship at a gallery in New York, just as...
- 6/22/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Though there may not have been any big Star Wars news to come out of Disney's D23 Expo earlier this month, there's some small good news for cinephiles and film nerds out there. TheForce.net (via The Playlist) has word that an announcement was made at an industry event in Los Angeles that director J.J. Abrams will be shooting Star Wars: Episode VII on 35mm film, specifically, Kodak film stock 5219 for the literal film nerds out there. In addition, it was revealed that Dan Mindel, who worked with Abrams on Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness and Mission: Impossible III, will be the director of photography. Read on! That's a big change from George Lucas shooting all three of the prequels digitally with David Tattersall as cinematographer. Honestly, I think this will be a nice aesthetic change for Star Wars that will harken back to the roots of the original films.
- 8/22/2013
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Principal photography begins Saturday (July 21, 2012) on Robert Luketic.s (21) currently-titled Paranoia, Reliance Entertainment and Im Global announced today. In addition Demarest Films, a financing and production company which was launched in April by Lambert Media Group.s Michael Lambert and Sam Englebardt and William D. Johnson have joined the $40 million picture as co-financier and co-producer, while Beijing.s E Stars Entertainment will co-finance. Paranoia will be distributed in the U.S. by Relativity Media.
This high-tech corporate espionage thriller is directed by Robert Luketic (21) and stars Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Oscar®-nominee Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Oscar®-nominee Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class), Amber Heard (The Rum Diary), Embeth Davidtz (The Amazing Spider-Man), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), Josh Holloway (Lost) and Oscar®-winner Richard Dreyfuss (Red).
Paranoia is being produced by Alexandra Milchan of Emjag Productions, William D. Johnson of Demarest Films and Deepak Nayar of Kintop Reliance,...
This high-tech corporate espionage thriller is directed by Robert Luketic (21) and stars Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games), Oscar®-nominee Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Oscar®-nominee Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class), Amber Heard (The Rum Diary), Embeth Davidtz (The Amazing Spider-Man), Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck), Josh Holloway (Lost) and Oscar®-winner Richard Dreyfuss (Red).
Paranoia is being produced by Alexandra Milchan of Emjag Productions, William D. Johnson of Demarest Films and Deepak Nayar of Kintop Reliance,...
- 7/20/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In theaters on February 10th, 2012, watch the new trailer for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island directed by Brad Peyton (Cats & Dogs: The Revenge Of Kitty Galore).
Josh Hutcherson reprises his role as young adventurer Sean Anderson in this exciting follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D, the first live-action film ever to be shot in digital 3D. Dwayne Johnson stars as Sean’s stepfather, Hank Parsons; Michael Caine as Sean’s grandfather, Alexander Anderson; Vanessa Hudgens and Luis Guzman as a father-daughter tour guide team; and Kristin Davis as Sean’s mom, Liz Anderson.
The new journey begins when Sean receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist – a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather joins the quest.
Josh Hutcherson reprises his role as young adventurer Sean Anderson in this exciting follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D, the first live-action film ever to be shot in digital 3D. Dwayne Johnson stars as Sean’s stepfather, Hank Parsons; Michael Caine as Sean’s grandfather, Alexander Anderson; Vanessa Hudgens and Luis Guzman as a father-daughter tour guide team; and Kristin Davis as Sean’s mom, Liz Anderson.
The new journey begins when Sean receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist – a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather joins the quest.
- 11/10/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Adding a little iconic spark to New York Comic-Con this week, Star Wars vet Mark Hamill has signed on as creative consultant to the superhero comic series New-Gen and will attend the convention to talk up a graphic novel compilation and plans for a feature film adaptation of the Marvel Comics-distributed title. Hamill will be at Comic-Con along with New-Gen creators J.D. Matonti, Chris Matonti and Julia Coppola to release the six-issue graphic novel, New-Gen: Volume One. Launched in 2008, New-Gen is the saga of twin brothers with extraordinary abilities seeking to discover their true origins in a nano-powered futuristic world. The graphic novel features an intro by Hamill. The comic’s backers, Apng Enterprises, have signed Mace Neufeld to produce the film, X-Men: First Class’s Kim H. Winther to be co-producer, David Tattersall to be Dp, Jeffrey A. Okun (The Day The Earth Stood Still) to be visual...
- 10/13/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
AMC seems to realize how much horror fans really love "The Walking Dead" and continues pumping out supplemental materials to help fill the long months between the end of Season 1 and the start of Season 2 in October. On tap for today is another Q&A - this time with editor Hunter Via.
"The Walking Dead" editor discusses his work on the Pilot episode, which took home the 2011 Ace Eddie award for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television, and explains how to make exploding zombie heads emotional.
Q: Congratulations on winning the Ace Eddie award.
A: Thank you! I get an award for going to work to play with zombies, so...
Q: What in your mind makes the Pilot an award-winner?
A: I think there's a confidence in the filmmaking that assumes our audience is going to be intelligent. This episode -- as well as the overall series in general...
"The Walking Dead" editor discusses his work on the Pilot episode, which took home the 2011 Ace Eddie award for Best Edited One-Hour Series for Commercial Television, and explains how to make exploding zombie heads emotional.
Q: Congratulations on winning the Ace Eddie award.
A: Thank you! I get an award for going to work to play with zombies, so...
Q: What in your mind makes the Pilot an award-winner?
A: I think there's a confidence in the filmmaking that assumes our audience is going to be intelligent. This episode -- as well as the overall series in general...
- 4/5/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Vampire Weekend, Janelle Monáe and more have provided the soundtrack for the first six months of the year, in Bigger Than the Sound.
By James Montgomery
Bigger Than The Sound's Best Albums of 2010 (So Far)
Photo: MTV News
The first half of 2010 is in the books, and if you're a fan of oil spills, Tea Parties and vuvuzelas, well, congratulations on having the best six months of your entire life.
For the rest of us, January through June has been a bit of a bummer. If you're like me, you've found refuge from the bad news in good music, and thankfully, there's been a whole lot of that so far this year too.
If you've been asleep at the switch (or hiding out in your bunker), I don't blame you. But there's really no excuse for missing out on soul-charging, life-changing music — even if some of it really is pretty sad.
By James Montgomery
Bigger Than The Sound's Best Albums of 2010 (So Far)
Photo: MTV News
The first half of 2010 is in the books, and if you're a fan of oil spills, Tea Parties and vuvuzelas, well, congratulations on having the best six months of your entire life.
For the rest of us, January through June has been a bit of a bummer. If you're like me, you've found refuge from the bad news in good music, and thankfully, there's been a whole lot of that so far this year too.
If you've been asleep at the switch (or hiding out in your bunker), I don't blame you. But there's really no excuse for missing out on soul-charging, life-changing music — even if some of it really is pretty sad.
- 6/30/2010
- MTV Music News
Vampire Weekend, Janelle Monáe and more have provided the soundtrack for the first six months of the year, in Bigger Than the Sound.
By James Montgomery
Bigger Than The Sound's Best Albums of 2010 (So Far)
Photo: MTV News
The first half of 2010 is in the books, and if you're a fan of oil spills, Tea Parties and vuvuzelas, well, congratulations on having the best six months of your entire life.
For the rest of us, January through June has been a bit of a bummer. If you're like me, you've found refuge from the bad news in good music, and thankfully, there's been a whole lot of that so far this year too.
If you've been asleep at the switch (or hiding out in your bunker), I don't blame you. But there's really no excuse for missing out on soul-charging, life-changing music — even if some of it really is pretty sad.
By James Montgomery
Bigger Than The Sound's Best Albums of 2010 (So Far)
Photo: MTV News
The first half of 2010 is in the books, and if you're a fan of oil spills, Tea Parties and vuvuzelas, well, congratulations on having the best six months of your entire life.
For the rest of us, January through June has been a bit of a bummer. If you're like me, you've found refuge from the bad news in good music, and thankfully, there's been a whole lot of that so far this year too.
If you've been asleep at the switch (or hiding out in your bunker), I don't blame you. But there's really no excuse for missing out on soul-charging, life-changing music — even if some of it really is pretty sad.
- 6/29/2010
- MTV Music News
AMC Television has released a batch of eight first look photos showing us "The Walkers", from Frank Darabont's small screen adaptation of The Walking Dead. Check out the full photo after the jump, along with a short video interview featurette with Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd. Here is the full photo. The photo was taken by David Tattersall, Director of Photography. Click to enlarge: [gallery order="Desc" columns="2" orderby="ID"] Writer, director and executive producer Frank Darabont and executive producer Gale Anne Hurd. In this exclusive video, Darabont and Hurd discuss the series; Darabont talks about his inspiration for doing a show about zombies, the nature of the story and his goal to "do for zombies what Mad Men has done for advertising." Official release: Production begins today in Atlanta for AMC's adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic The Walking Dead. The six-episode first season -- written, produced and directed by three-time Academy Award-nominee...
- 6/2/2010
- by Peter Sciretta
- Slash Film
By Todd Gilchrist
On Saturday, April 17, Frank Darabont appeared at the Landmark Magnolia Theatre in Dallas, TX, to host a screening of The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont was honored the previous evening at the Dallas Film Society Honors, where he received the Star Award for his ongoing contributions to cinema, and brought in his personal print of Shawshank to screen for fans and Dallas Film Festival attendees. Prior to a q&a following the screening, Hollywood News caught up with Darabont in the lobby of the Magnolia, where he offered a few hints at some of the guest stars he wants to appear on his zombie-themed TV series The Walking Dead, including Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg.
Unfortunately, we were unable to record Darabont’s exact words regarding Pegg and his other would-be guest stars. But the writer-director said that he thinks Pegg is an incredibly under-rated dramatic actor,...
On Saturday, April 17, Frank Darabont appeared at the Landmark Magnolia Theatre in Dallas, TX, to host a screening of The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont was honored the previous evening at the Dallas Film Society Honors, where he received the Star Award for his ongoing contributions to cinema, and brought in his personal print of Shawshank to screen for fans and Dallas Film Festival attendees. Prior to a q&a following the screening, Hollywood News caught up with Darabont in the lobby of the Magnolia, where he offered a few hints at some of the guest stars he wants to appear on his zombie-themed TV series The Walking Dead, including Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg.
Unfortunately, we were unable to record Darabont’s exact words regarding Pegg and his other would-be guest stars. But the writer-director said that he thinks Pegg is an incredibly under-rated dramatic actor,...
- 4/19/2010
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Hollywoodnews.com
Release Date: Dec. 12
Director: Scott Derrickson
Writer: David Scarpa, screenplay by Edmund H. North
Cinematographer: David Tattersall
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese
Studio/Run Time: 20th Century Fox, 103 mins.
Remake of sci-fi touchstone works on its own terms
Knives sharpened, mood somber, the loyal followers of 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still have long viewed this day as their own personal apocalypse. For today, we get the remake—the soulless Hollywood desecration of that essential, eerily cerebral sci-fi touchstone, a dreaded event for any fan.
Director: Scott Derrickson
Writer: David Scarpa, screenplay by Edmund H. North
Cinematographer: David Tattersall
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, Jaden Smith, John Cleese
Studio/Run Time: 20th Century Fox, 103 mins.
Remake of sci-fi touchstone works on its own terms
Knives sharpened, mood somber, the loyal followers of 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still have long viewed this day as their own personal apocalypse. For today, we get the remake—the soulless Hollywood desecration of that essential, eerily cerebral sci-fi touchstone, a dreaded event for any fan.
- 12/12/2008
- Pastemagazine.com
This review was written for the festival screening of "The Hunting Party".As he did with his previous feature, "The Matador", writer-director Richard Shepard assembles all the elements for a dark suspense comedy only to lose his way in a surfeit of plot mechanics and unlikely behavior. There's a potentially funny political story in "The Hunting Party" about war criminals that the United Nations, NATO and the U.S. all say they want to find but really don't. Unfortunately, Shepard's approach takes the movie into Jason Bourne territory and away from the black comedy he seemingly wants to make, making the film fall between the cracks in terms of boxoffice appeal.
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard make an excellent pair of conflict journalists who get off on the adrenaline rush of war zones. And Jesse Eisenberg of "The Squid and the Whale" comes along as a very young stooge/sidekick. The secondary characters, a few based on real-life hard cases in Bosnia and Serbia, are nothing if not colorful. Meanwhile, the production takes terrific advantage of the war-torn city of Sarajevo and the middle-of-nowhere look of the treacherous mountains nearby, where a war criminal can easily hide. So the movie's surfaces are wickedly alive, giving MGM and the Weinstein Co. plenty to market.
Gere and Howard play the aptly named Hunt and Duck, a TV news reporter and cameraman, respectively, who have dashed through the world's worst war zones, from Somalia to El Salvador. Hunt is forever on the hunt for hot action footage, while cameraman Duck must duck all the bullets and explosions coming at him as a consequence. Then, in Bosnia, in a village brutally ravaged by ethnic cleansing, Hunt suffers an on-camera meltdown during a live feed on network television.
Five years later, Duck, on a quickie assignment to Sarajevo with anchor Franklin Harris (James Brolin), meets up with Hunt, reduced to peddling stories to whomever will buy. Hunt dangles a major exclusive in front of Duck: He knows where a Bosnian Serb war criminal known as the Fox is hiding. Eventually, Duck bites, so along with rookie reporter Benjamin (Eisenberg), the son of a network exec, the three go on a Fox hunt.
And here is where the story goes astray. On a mountain road in a stolen vehicle, Hunt makes it clear that he aims not to interview the Fox but to capture him. With suspense music worthy of the next James Bond film to encourage them, the trio assume the guise of CIA agents and eventually start to believe in that identity. But unlike a Bond or Bourne movie, which slams from A to B to C to D, this hunting party goes from A to B and back to A again. Wild goose chases and dead ends introduce a host of rustic villains but serve only to alert the Fox to their presence. And would these war vets be foolish enough to talk loudly in restaurants about their plans so that all may hear?
Shepard insists that the quest is personal for Hunt. The Fox's men murdered his pregnant girlfriend in that village, and he means to "wipe that smile off his face." Which is OK if that's the story you want to tell, but there goes any comedy. The movie is now a revenge melodrama filled with lame comedic moments that work against the suspense. Shepard actually does a good job of pumping up these suspense sequences, yet the repeated 11th hour rescues stretch credibility beyond the breaking point.
There is credibility, though, in Gere's burned-out case, who looks haggard even after a good night's sleep and maintains a simmering frenzy that borders on true insanity. Howard, on the other hand, looks too well rested, having traded war zones for a cushy job in New York. Back in Bosnia, he comes alive again. Eisenberg gets a few laughs as a scared Harvard grad over his head in the real world, but the film goes to that well once too often.
Production values are terrific, especially David Tattersall's cinematography and Jan Roelfs' production design. They conspire to make Bosnia still look like a very scary place.
THE HUNTING PARTY
MGM
The Weinstein Co. presentsa QED International/Intermedia production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Richard Shepard
Based on an article by: Scott Anderson
Producers: Mark Johnson, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Bill Block
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Jan Roelfs
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Beatrix Pasztor
Editor: Carole Kravetz-Aykanian
Cast:
Simon Hunt: Richard Gere
Duck: Terrence Howard
Benjamin: Jesse Eisenberg
Franklin Harris: James Brolin
Fox: Ljubomir Kerekes
Magda: Kristina Krepela
Mirjana: Diane Kruger
Duck's Girlfriend: Joy Bryant
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard make an excellent pair of conflict journalists who get off on the adrenaline rush of war zones. And Jesse Eisenberg of "The Squid and the Whale" comes along as a very young stooge/sidekick. The secondary characters, a few based on real-life hard cases in Bosnia and Serbia, are nothing if not colorful. Meanwhile, the production takes terrific advantage of the war-torn city of Sarajevo and the middle-of-nowhere look of the treacherous mountains nearby, where a war criminal can easily hide. So the movie's surfaces are wickedly alive, giving MGM and the Weinstein Co. plenty to market.
Gere and Howard play the aptly named Hunt and Duck, a TV news reporter and cameraman, respectively, who have dashed through the world's worst war zones, from Somalia to El Salvador. Hunt is forever on the hunt for hot action footage, while cameraman Duck must duck all the bullets and explosions coming at him as a consequence. Then, in Bosnia, in a village brutally ravaged by ethnic cleansing, Hunt suffers an on-camera meltdown during a live feed on network television.
Five years later, Duck, on a quickie assignment to Sarajevo with anchor Franklin Harris (James Brolin), meets up with Hunt, reduced to peddling stories to whomever will buy. Hunt dangles a major exclusive in front of Duck: He knows where a Bosnian Serb war criminal known as the Fox is hiding. Eventually, Duck bites, so along with rookie reporter Benjamin (Eisenberg), the son of a network exec, the three go on a Fox hunt.
And here is where the story goes astray. On a mountain road in a stolen vehicle, Hunt makes it clear that he aims not to interview the Fox but to capture him. With suspense music worthy of the next James Bond film to encourage them, the trio assume the guise of CIA agents and eventually start to believe in that identity. But unlike a Bond or Bourne movie, which slams from A to B to C to D, this hunting party goes from A to B and back to A again. Wild goose chases and dead ends introduce a host of rustic villains but serve only to alert the Fox to their presence. And would these war vets be foolish enough to talk loudly in restaurants about their plans so that all may hear?
Shepard insists that the quest is personal for Hunt. The Fox's men murdered his pregnant girlfriend in that village, and he means to "wipe that smile off his face." Which is OK if that's the story you want to tell, but there goes any comedy. The movie is now a revenge melodrama filled with lame comedic moments that work against the suspense. Shepard actually does a good job of pumping up these suspense sequences, yet the repeated 11th hour rescues stretch credibility beyond the breaking point.
There is credibility, though, in Gere's burned-out case, who looks haggard even after a good night's sleep and maintains a simmering frenzy that borders on true insanity. Howard, on the other hand, looks too well rested, having traded war zones for a cushy job in New York. Back in Bosnia, he comes alive again. Eisenberg gets a few laughs as a scared Harvard grad over his head in the real world, but the film goes to that well once too often.
Production values are terrific, especially David Tattersall's cinematography and Jan Roelfs' production design. They conspire to make Bosnia still look like a very scary place.
THE HUNTING PARTY
MGM
The Weinstein Co. presentsa QED International/Intermedia production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Richard Shepard
Based on an article by: Scott Anderson
Producers: Mark Johnson, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Bill Block
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Jan Roelfs
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Beatrix Pasztor
Editor: Carole Kravetz-Aykanian
Cast:
Simon Hunt: Richard Gere
Duck: Terrence Howard
Benjamin: Jesse Eisenberg
Franklin Harris: James Brolin
Fox: Ljubomir Kerekes
Magda: Kristina Krepela
Mirjana: Diane Kruger
Duck's Girlfriend: Joy Bryant
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
As he did with his previous feature, The Matador, writer-director Richard Shepard assembles all the elements for a dark suspense comedy only to lose his way in a surfeit of plot mechanics and unlikely behavior. There's a potentially funny political story in The Hunting Party about war criminals that the United Nations, NATO and the U.S. all say they want to find but really don't. Unfortunately, Shepard's approach takes the movie into Jason Bourne territory and away from the black comedy he seemingly wants to make, making the film fall between the cracks in terms of boxoffice appeal.
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard make an excellent pair of conflict journalists who get off on the adrenaline rush of war zones. And Jesse Eisenberg of The Squid and the Whale comes along as a very young stooge/sidekick. The secondary characters, a few based on real-life hard cases in Bosnia and Serbia, are nothing if not colorful. Meanwhile, the production takes terrific advantage of the war-torn city of Sarajevo and the middle-of-nowhere look of the treacherous mountains nearby, where a war criminal can easily hide. So the movie's surfaces are wickedly alive, giving MGM and the Weinstein Co. plenty to market.
Gere and Howard play the aptly named Hunt and Duck, a TV news reporter and cameraman, respectively, who have dashed through the world's worst war zones, from Somalia to El Salvador. Hunt is forever on the hunt for hot action footage, while cameraman Duck must duck all the bullets and explosions coming at him as a consequence. Then, in Bosnia, in a village brutally ravaged by ethnic cleansing, Hunt suffers an on-camera meltdown during a live feed on network television.
Five years later, Duck, on a quickie assignment to Sarajevo with anchor Franklin Harris (James Brolin), meets up with Hunt, reduced to peddling stories to whomever will buy. Hunt dangles a major exclusive in front of Duck: He knows where a Bosnian Serb war criminal known as the Fox is hiding. Eventually, Duck bites, so along with rookie reporter Benjamin (Eisenberg), the son of a network exec, the three go on a Fox hunt.
And here is where the story goes astray. On a mountain road in a stolen vehicle, Hunt makes it clear that he aims not to interview the Fox but to capture him. With suspense music worthy of the next James Bond film to encourage them, the trio assume the guise of CIA agents and eventually start to believe in that identity. But unlike a Bond or Bourne movie, which slams from A to B to C to D, this hunting party goes from A to B and back to A again. Wild goose chases and dead ends introduce a host of rustic villains but serve only to alert the Fox to their presence. And would these war vets be foolish enough to talk loudly in restaurants about their plans so that all may hear?
Shepard insists that the quest is personal for Hunt. The Fox's men murdered his pregnant girlfriend in that village, and he means to "wipe that smile off his face." Which is OK if that's the story you want to tell, but there goes any comedy. The movie is now a revenge melodrama filled with lame comedic moments that work against the suspense. Shepard actually does a good job of pumping up these suspense sequences, yet the repeated 11th hour rescues stretch credibility beyond the breaking point.
There is credibility, though, in Gere's burned-out case, who looks haggard even after a good night's sleep and maintains a simmering frenzy that borders on true insanity. Howard, on the other hand, looks too well rested, having traded war zones for a cushy job in New York. Back in Bosnia, he comes alive again. Eisenberg gets a few laughs as a scared Harvard grad over his head in the real world, but the film goes to that well once too often.
Production values are terrific, especially David Tattersall's cinematography and Jan Roelfs' production design. They conspire to make Bosnia still look like a very scary place.
THE HUNTING PARTY
MGM
The Weinstein Co. presentsa QED International/Intermedia production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Richard Shepard
Based on an article by: Scott Anderson
Producers: Mark Johnson, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Bill Block
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Jan Roelfs
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Beatrix Pasztor
Editor: Carole Kravetz-Aykanian
Cast:
Simon Hunt: Richard Gere
Duck: Terrence Howard
Benjamin: Jesse Eisenberg
Franklin Harris: James Brolin
Fox: Ljubomir Kerekes
Magda: Kristina Krepela
Mirjana: Diane Kruger
Duck's Girlfriend: Joy Bryant
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard make an excellent pair of conflict journalists who get off on the adrenaline rush of war zones. And Jesse Eisenberg of The Squid and the Whale comes along as a very young stooge/sidekick. The secondary characters, a few based on real-life hard cases in Bosnia and Serbia, are nothing if not colorful. Meanwhile, the production takes terrific advantage of the war-torn city of Sarajevo and the middle-of-nowhere look of the treacherous mountains nearby, where a war criminal can easily hide. So the movie's surfaces are wickedly alive, giving MGM and the Weinstein Co. plenty to market.
Gere and Howard play the aptly named Hunt and Duck, a TV news reporter and cameraman, respectively, who have dashed through the world's worst war zones, from Somalia to El Salvador. Hunt is forever on the hunt for hot action footage, while cameraman Duck must duck all the bullets and explosions coming at him as a consequence. Then, in Bosnia, in a village brutally ravaged by ethnic cleansing, Hunt suffers an on-camera meltdown during a live feed on network television.
Five years later, Duck, on a quickie assignment to Sarajevo with anchor Franklin Harris (James Brolin), meets up with Hunt, reduced to peddling stories to whomever will buy. Hunt dangles a major exclusive in front of Duck: He knows where a Bosnian Serb war criminal known as the Fox is hiding. Eventually, Duck bites, so along with rookie reporter Benjamin (Eisenberg), the son of a network exec, the three go on a Fox hunt.
And here is where the story goes astray. On a mountain road in a stolen vehicle, Hunt makes it clear that he aims not to interview the Fox but to capture him. With suspense music worthy of the next James Bond film to encourage them, the trio assume the guise of CIA agents and eventually start to believe in that identity. But unlike a Bond or Bourne movie, which slams from A to B to C to D, this hunting party goes from A to B and back to A again. Wild goose chases and dead ends introduce a host of rustic villains but serve only to alert the Fox to their presence. And would these war vets be foolish enough to talk loudly in restaurants about their plans so that all may hear?
Shepard insists that the quest is personal for Hunt. The Fox's men murdered his pregnant girlfriend in that village, and he means to "wipe that smile off his face." Which is OK if that's the story you want to tell, but there goes any comedy. The movie is now a revenge melodrama filled with lame comedic moments that work against the suspense. Shepard actually does a good job of pumping up these suspense sequences, yet the repeated 11th hour rescues stretch credibility beyond the breaking point.
There is credibility, though, in Gere's burned-out case, who looks haggard even after a good night's sleep and maintains a simmering frenzy that borders on true insanity. Howard, on the other hand, looks too well rested, having traded war zones for a cushy job in New York. Back in Bosnia, he comes alive again. Eisenberg gets a few laughs as a scared Harvard grad over his head in the real world, but the film goes to that well once too often.
Production values are terrific, especially David Tattersall's cinematography and Jan Roelfs' production design. They conspire to make Bosnia still look like a very scary place.
THE HUNTING PARTY
MGM
The Weinstein Co. presentsa QED International/Intermedia production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Richard Shepard
Based on an article by: Scott Anderson
Producers: Mark Johnson, Scott Kroopf
Executive producers: Adam Merims, Bill Block
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Jan Roelfs
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Beatrix Pasztor
Editor: Carole Kravetz-Aykanian
Cast:
Simon Hunt: Richard Gere
Duck: Terrence Howard
Benjamin: Jesse Eisenberg
Franklin Harris: James Brolin
Fox: Ljubomir Kerekes
Magda: Kristina Krepela
Mirjana: Diane Kruger
Duck's Girlfriend: Joy Bryant
Running time -- 104 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The final episode of George Lucas' cinematic epic Star Wars ends the six-movie series on such a high note that one feels like yelling out, "Rewind!" Yes, rewind through more than 13 hours of bravery, treachery, new worlds, odd creatures and human frailty. The first two episodes of Lucas' second trilogy -- The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002) -- caused more than a few fans of the original trilogy to wonder whether this prequel was worth it. The answer is a qualified yes. It did take a lot of weighty exposition, stiffly played scenes and less-than-magical creatures to get to "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." But what a ride Lucas and Company have in store!
Needless to say, international boxoffice will register in the hundreds of millions. The real question is how much money the entire series, now ready for packaging and repackaging for all sorts of formats and media, will eventually take in. Let's just say a lot.
What seems like the biggest drawback to Episode III turns out to be its strongest element. Even casual moviegoers know what is in store for the characters, who will wind up at the point where the original Star Wars -- now dubbed Episode IV -- A New Hope -- began the whole saga nearly 30 years ago. We know how Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker will turn to the dark side of the Force, how his twin children will be separated at birth and how his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the tiny Jedi Master Yoda will turn into his mortal enemies. Yet watching these fates unfold with such tragic inevitability, watching each piece fall into place, is genuinely thrilling. In fact, knowing that these strong characters cannot and will not escape their fate is what moves us.
The movie opens with a bang. Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), swashbuckling Knights in jet planes, swoop into a Sith space armada, batting off various attack forces with seasoned aplomb. In the main battleship, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and his coyote-faced, metal-skeletoned droid ally General Grievous -- one of many computerized characters -- hold the Republic's Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) prisoner.
Action goes nonstop for more than 20 minutes as the two Jedi Knights supply the jaunty, gravity-defying heroics, while the robot R2D2 (Kenny Baker) delivers brilliant comic action. This holds true throughout the new film as writer-director Lucas does a much better job of interweaving comedy with the dramatic and even tragic.
The seduction of the troubled Anakin to the dark side and the turn of the cool, cerebral Palpatine into the dictator of the Galactic Empire occur in an intelligent and persuasive way. The movie opens with the now traditional receding title crawl, which informs us that in the galactic warfare that has broken out, there are "heroes on both sides" and "evil is everywhere." Understandably, Anakin doesn't know whom to trust.
As it is, he leads a double life, having secretly married beauteous Sen. Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Her pregnancy will now force that secret into the open and cause him to lose his knighthood. Even more pressing, the rescued Palpatine brings Anakin into his confidence and plants doubts in his mind about the Jedi council. Sure enough, Council head Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) signals that he has lost his trust in Anakin.
Palpatine gets Anakin appointed to the council, but Anakin is not allowed to assume to title of master. Even more troubling, each side -- Palpatine and Obi-Wan -- comes to Anakin to ask him to spy on the other side. Soon dreams suggest to Anakin that Padme will die in childbirth. Palpatine hints to the distraught husband that only by exploring the Force more fully can he save his wife.
Poor dialogue and wooden acting still inflict the second trilogy. The tragic dimension of Anakin's dilemma can only barely withstand lines like this from Padme: "You're a good person. Don't do this." Many dialogue scenes, brief as they are, feel awkward and unnatural. Such scenes start cold -- we can almost sense the clapboard moving out of camera frame -- and end with long, lingering shots of actors' blank faces. Yet in face of the epic grandeur of the film's design and action, these are mere quibbles.
Now completely at home with digital filmmaking, Lucas can blaze a pioneering path as no one else. Shooting on soundstages in Australia and Britain with additional photography in China, Thailand, Switzerland, Italy and Tunisia, Lucas thrusts viewers into pitched battles in looming caverns and giant space ships or a lightsaber duel on a river of Molten Lava. Combining choreographic action aesthetics that are American, Chinese and other worldly, Lucas has redefined fantasy filmmaking with Star Wars, while teaching a generation of filmmakers to accept no limitations.
Cinematographer David Tattersall makes everything match beautifully, while editors Roger Barton and Ben Burtt (the latter also credited with the ingenious sound design) propel the story ever forward. John Williams, Lucas' music collaborator through all six films, is content to rumble melodically in the background with only brief emotional swells at key moments. Trisha Biggar's costumes and all the props and makeup are delicious fun, genuinely integral parts of the storytelling. And the CG creatures are more lifelike than ever. A particular standout is a giant lizard McGregor gets to ride.
Yes, by all means, rewind!
STAR WARS: EPISODE III -- REVENGE OF THE SITH
20th Century Fox
A Lucasfilm Ltd. production
Credits:
Writer-director: George Lucas
Producer: Rick McCallum
Executive producer: George Lucas
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Gavin Bocquet
Music: John Williams
Costumes: Trisha Biggar
Editors: Roger Barton, Ben Burtt
Cast:
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor
Padme: Natalie Portman
Anakin Skywalker: Hayden Christensen
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine: Ian McDiarmid
Mace Windu: Samuel L. Jackson
Sen. Organa: Jimmy Smits
Yoda (voice): Frank Oz
C-3PO: Anthony Daniels
R2D2: Kenny Baker
Count Dooku: Christopher Lee
Queen of Naboo: Keisha Castle-Hughes
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 140 minutes...
Needless to say, international boxoffice will register in the hundreds of millions. The real question is how much money the entire series, now ready for packaging and repackaging for all sorts of formats and media, will eventually take in. Let's just say a lot.
What seems like the biggest drawback to Episode III turns out to be its strongest element. Even casual moviegoers know what is in store for the characters, who will wind up at the point where the original Star Wars -- now dubbed Episode IV -- A New Hope -- began the whole saga nearly 30 years ago. We know how Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker will turn to the dark side of the Force, how his twin children will be separated at birth and how his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the tiny Jedi Master Yoda will turn into his mortal enemies. Yet watching these fates unfold with such tragic inevitability, watching each piece fall into place, is genuinely thrilling. In fact, knowing that these strong characters cannot and will not escape their fate is what moves us.
The movie opens with a bang. Anakin (Hayden Christensen) and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), swashbuckling Knights in jet planes, swoop into a Sith space armada, batting off various attack forces with seasoned aplomb. In the main battleship, Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and his coyote-faced, metal-skeletoned droid ally General Grievous -- one of many computerized characters -- hold the Republic's Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) prisoner.
Action goes nonstop for more than 20 minutes as the two Jedi Knights supply the jaunty, gravity-defying heroics, while the robot R2D2 (Kenny Baker) delivers brilliant comic action. This holds true throughout the new film as writer-director Lucas does a much better job of interweaving comedy with the dramatic and even tragic.
The seduction of the troubled Anakin to the dark side and the turn of the cool, cerebral Palpatine into the dictator of the Galactic Empire occur in an intelligent and persuasive way. The movie opens with the now traditional receding title crawl, which informs us that in the galactic warfare that has broken out, there are "heroes on both sides" and "evil is everywhere." Understandably, Anakin doesn't know whom to trust.
As it is, he leads a double life, having secretly married beauteous Sen. Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Her pregnancy will now force that secret into the open and cause him to lose his knighthood. Even more pressing, the rescued Palpatine brings Anakin into his confidence and plants doubts in his mind about the Jedi council. Sure enough, Council head Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) signals that he has lost his trust in Anakin.
Palpatine gets Anakin appointed to the council, but Anakin is not allowed to assume to title of master. Even more troubling, each side -- Palpatine and Obi-Wan -- comes to Anakin to ask him to spy on the other side. Soon dreams suggest to Anakin that Padme will die in childbirth. Palpatine hints to the distraught husband that only by exploring the Force more fully can he save his wife.
Poor dialogue and wooden acting still inflict the second trilogy. The tragic dimension of Anakin's dilemma can only barely withstand lines like this from Padme: "You're a good person. Don't do this." Many dialogue scenes, brief as they are, feel awkward and unnatural. Such scenes start cold -- we can almost sense the clapboard moving out of camera frame -- and end with long, lingering shots of actors' blank faces. Yet in face of the epic grandeur of the film's design and action, these are mere quibbles.
Now completely at home with digital filmmaking, Lucas can blaze a pioneering path as no one else. Shooting on soundstages in Australia and Britain with additional photography in China, Thailand, Switzerland, Italy and Tunisia, Lucas thrusts viewers into pitched battles in looming caverns and giant space ships or a lightsaber duel on a river of Molten Lava. Combining choreographic action aesthetics that are American, Chinese and other worldly, Lucas has redefined fantasy filmmaking with Star Wars, while teaching a generation of filmmakers to accept no limitations.
Cinematographer David Tattersall makes everything match beautifully, while editors Roger Barton and Ben Burtt (the latter also credited with the ingenious sound design) propel the story ever forward. John Williams, Lucas' music collaborator through all six films, is content to rumble melodically in the background with only brief emotional swells at key moments. Trisha Biggar's costumes and all the props and makeup are delicious fun, genuinely integral parts of the storytelling. And the CG creatures are more lifelike than ever. A particular standout is a giant lizard McGregor gets to ride.
Yes, by all means, rewind!
STAR WARS: EPISODE III -- REVENGE OF THE SITH
20th Century Fox
A Lucasfilm Ltd. production
Credits:
Writer-director: George Lucas
Producer: Rick McCallum
Executive producer: George Lucas
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Gavin Bocquet
Music: John Williams
Costumes: Trisha Biggar
Editors: Roger Barton, Ben Burtt
Cast:
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Ewan McGregor
Padme: Natalie Portman
Anakin Skywalker: Hayden Christensen
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine: Ian McDiarmid
Mace Windu: Samuel L. Jackson
Sen. Organa: Jimmy Smits
Yoda (voice): Frank Oz
C-3PO: Anthony Daniels
R2D2: Kenny Baker
Count Dooku: Christopher Lee
Queen of Naboo: Keisha Castle-Hughes
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 140 minutes...
- 6/16/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- The Matador gets a 151-proof tequila shot of sharp comedy from the droll byplay between Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear. Brosnan is the ironically named Julian Noble, a margarita-soaked hit man with degenerate tastes and disgusting habits, while Kinnear plays Danny Wright, a grown-up Boy Scout, who married his high-school sweetheart and lived happy ever after -- except it hasn't worked out that way.
Writer-director Richard Shepard's quirky black comedy never quite figures out where to do with these unlikely soul mates. Then a lame third act leaves one with the feeling of a great barroom joke, elaborately told, that lacks a solid punch line. At least the comedy is wonderfully off-kilter and the performances, including Hope Davis as Danny's faithful wife, Bean, contains buoyancy to give The Matador definite commercial potential.
After a lackluster feint in that direction with After the Sunset, Brosnan has hit upon the perfect anti-Bond role here. The ignoble Mr. Noble travels the world eliminating people for unseen corporate interests, whiling away the hours between jobs by fornicating with whores or underage girls and gulping down huge quantities of liquor. Meanwhile, Kinnear's Mr. Wright has seen his life go wrong in a devastating "losing streak" that began over three years before with the loss of his son and then the loss of a job.
Each man finds himself in Mexico City, pursuing career opportunities. For Julian, it's a big hit commissioned by his handler, Mr. Randy (Phillip Baker Hall). For Danny, it's a competitive pitch to a Mexican firm for an assignment that will pull his wife and him out of severe financial distress. The two wind up in the same starkly modern but soulless hotel bar.
The initial get-acquainted bar talk goes seriously wrong right from the start. But Danny's deal grows complicated, forcing him to stay on a few days, so Julian, suddenly lonely when he realizes it's his birthday, takes Danny under his wings for a trip to the bullfights and into his confidence when he reveals his occupation as a "facilitator of fatalities." He, of course, must prove this to Danny, and it is only a matter of time before he requests Danny's help as a co-facilitator.
The comedy may be character-driven, but the vehicle stalls frequently. The extremes between the two buddies cover up most deficiencies, but eventually audiences may wonder if Shepard has a point or a destination. It's a movie-long struggle to find a meaningful way for the lives of two disparate characters in a hotel to intersect as they did in, say, Lost in Translation.
Scenes grow dialogue-heavy and the thriller aspect to the tale never takes hold. One also becomes aware that despite the fact the movie jets away to Manila, Budapest and Vienna, it clearly never leaves Mexico City. (The U.S. sequences and designer Rob Pearson's sets for the Wrights' suburban Denver home, build at Churubusco Studios, are much more effective.)
Which is not to say that production values aren't excellent for a movie made for much less than a studio would spend. Pearson, cinematographer David Tattersall and composer Rolfe Kent give the film a definite sheen.
Ultimately, just in a nick of time, the movie does discover a destination, one that gives the comedy something of a moral lift despite the fact Danny does indeed briefly become a facilitator of a fatality. And, if nothing else, no one seeing The Matador will ever quite forget the indelible image of the former James Bond striding through the hotel lobby, clutching a beer and wearing only a black Speedo and boots.
THE MATADOR
Stratus Film Co. and DEB Productions present in association with Equity Pictures Medienfonds a Furst Films/Irish Dreamtime production
Credits:
Writer/director: Richard Shepard
Producers: Pierce Brosnan, Beau St. Clair, Sean Furst, Bryan Furst
Executive producers: Bob Yari, Mark Gordon
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Rob Pearson
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Catherine Thomas
Editor: Carol Kravetz-Akyanian.
Cast:
Julian Noble: Pierce Brosnan
Danny Wright: Greg Kinnear
Bean: Hope Davis
Mr. Randy: Phillip Baker Hall
Phil Garrison: Adam Scott
Lovell: Dylan Baker
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 96 minutes...
Writer-director Richard Shepard's quirky black comedy never quite figures out where to do with these unlikely soul mates. Then a lame third act leaves one with the feeling of a great barroom joke, elaborately told, that lacks a solid punch line. At least the comedy is wonderfully off-kilter and the performances, including Hope Davis as Danny's faithful wife, Bean, contains buoyancy to give The Matador definite commercial potential.
After a lackluster feint in that direction with After the Sunset, Brosnan has hit upon the perfect anti-Bond role here. The ignoble Mr. Noble travels the world eliminating people for unseen corporate interests, whiling away the hours between jobs by fornicating with whores or underage girls and gulping down huge quantities of liquor. Meanwhile, Kinnear's Mr. Wright has seen his life go wrong in a devastating "losing streak" that began over three years before with the loss of his son and then the loss of a job.
Each man finds himself in Mexico City, pursuing career opportunities. For Julian, it's a big hit commissioned by his handler, Mr. Randy (Phillip Baker Hall). For Danny, it's a competitive pitch to a Mexican firm for an assignment that will pull his wife and him out of severe financial distress. The two wind up in the same starkly modern but soulless hotel bar.
The initial get-acquainted bar talk goes seriously wrong right from the start. But Danny's deal grows complicated, forcing him to stay on a few days, so Julian, suddenly lonely when he realizes it's his birthday, takes Danny under his wings for a trip to the bullfights and into his confidence when he reveals his occupation as a "facilitator of fatalities." He, of course, must prove this to Danny, and it is only a matter of time before he requests Danny's help as a co-facilitator.
The comedy may be character-driven, but the vehicle stalls frequently. The extremes between the two buddies cover up most deficiencies, but eventually audiences may wonder if Shepard has a point or a destination. It's a movie-long struggle to find a meaningful way for the lives of two disparate characters in a hotel to intersect as they did in, say, Lost in Translation.
Scenes grow dialogue-heavy and the thriller aspect to the tale never takes hold. One also becomes aware that despite the fact the movie jets away to Manila, Budapest and Vienna, it clearly never leaves Mexico City. (The U.S. sequences and designer Rob Pearson's sets for the Wrights' suburban Denver home, build at Churubusco Studios, are much more effective.)
Which is not to say that production values aren't excellent for a movie made for much less than a studio would spend. Pearson, cinematographer David Tattersall and composer Rolfe Kent give the film a definite sheen.
Ultimately, just in a nick of time, the movie does discover a destination, one that gives the comedy something of a moral lift despite the fact Danny does indeed briefly become a facilitator of a fatality. And, if nothing else, no one seeing The Matador will ever quite forget the indelible image of the former James Bond striding through the hotel lobby, clutching a beer and wearing only a black Speedo and boots.
THE MATADOR
Stratus Film Co. and DEB Productions present in association with Equity Pictures Medienfonds a Furst Films/Irish Dreamtime production
Credits:
Writer/director: Richard Shepard
Producers: Pierce Brosnan, Beau St. Clair, Sean Furst, Bryan Furst
Executive producers: Bob Yari, Mark Gordon
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: Rob Pearson
Music: Rolfe Kent
Costume designer: Catherine Thomas
Editor: Carol Kravetz-Akyanian.
Cast:
Julian Noble: Pierce Brosnan
Danny Wright: Greg Kinnear
Bean: Hope Davis
Mr. Randy: Phillip Baker Hall
Phil Garrison: Adam Scott
Lovell: Dylan Baker
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 96 minutes...
- 1/24/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis have joined Pierce Brosnan in the black comedy Matador for writer-director Richard Shepard. Set to start shooting next month in Mexico City, Matador centers on an unlikely friendship between a globe-trotting assassin (Brosnan) and a gullible young suburban couple from Denver (Kinnear, Davis). Financed by Stratus Film Co., Matador is being produced by Irish DreamTime partners Brosnan and Beau St. Clair along with Furst Films' Sean Furst and Bryan Furst. Stratus partners Bob Yari and Mark Gordon will receive executive producer credit. "We were knocked out when we read this script," Yari and Gordon said. "We expect this movie to have great commercial appeal throughout the world." Added Sean Furst: "It is rare to land your dream cast. The fact that it happened is a testament to the strength of this material, the tenacity of Stratus and the collective passion behind the project." David Tattersall is the director of photography, with Jim Lyons set as the film editor. Catherine Thomas will handle costume design, with production design by Robert Pearson. Kinnear is repped by CAA. Davis is repped by UTA and manager Perri Kipperman at LMRK.
Even the toys in "Small Soldiers" had more personality than leaden killing machines Kurt Russell and Jason Scott Lee in Warner Bros.' wobbly space adventure.
But that is "Soldier"'s one gambit that almost works -- Russell matter-of-factly delivering only a handful of short lines in 90-plus minutes -- as the film rates low on the genre scale and won't win the boxoffice battle.
Directed by Paul Anderson ("Mortal Kombat", "Event Horizon") and written by David Webb Peoples ("Blade Runner", "12 Monkeys"), the trashy sci-fi extravaganza opens with a grim outline of the life of Todd (Russell), picked as a newborn to be trained in combat and raised with other recruits as lifelong soldiers.
From being encouraged to beat the hell out of fellow cadets to knowing that falling too far behind in a group run can mean instant de-enrollment via execution, Todd is notably desensitized and shut down emotionally and intellectually. But after fighting in numerous conflicts with exotic names like Argentine Moons and showing no hesitation slaughtering foes and hostages that get in the way, at 40 he's considered the best of the best by his commander (Gary Busey).
Not a robot but bioengineered to be stronger, faster, longer-lasting and even more silent and obedient, Caine 607 (Lee) is proudly revealed by his sadistic CO (Jason Isaacs) to Busey and his men. A ruthless comparison ensues -- with Todd getting his bristly hair mussed during a 15-mile run. In an uneven fight, bald Caine 607 gets a small scar or two but terminates a few foes including, it appears, our eye-gouging hero.
Waking up in a junk pile aboard a huge space garbageship, Todd is not in great shape but makes it safely to Trashdump World, where he encounters survivors of an ill-fated expedition. He immediately develops a major crush on nurturing, gentle, blonde Sandra (Connie Nielsen) and hangs around with her little boy (played by twins Jared and Taylor Thorne), but the locals find him a dangerous presence.
Unfit to live with normal folk, Todd is banished but quickly welcomed back when Caine 607 and comrades are unleashed to exterminate trespassers on the windy, desolate planet. Overcoming countless opponents armed with machine guns, missiles and flamethrowers, commandeering futuristic assault vehicles and finally battling Caine 607 to the death, Russell's superhero is humorlessly efficient, seemingly impervious to pain but capable of a good cry now and then.
Visual effects supervisor Ed Jones and crew create a cool windworld with apocalyptic refuse piles, and David L. Snyder's production design is suitably fantastic. Trying to keep one engaged with vigorous action sequences but meeting defeat, Anderson and cinematographer David Tattersall don't have much to work with in the minimal, comic book-like story.
SOLDIER
Warner Bros.
in association with Morgan Creek
A Jerry Weintraub production
in association with Impact Pictures
Director: Paul Anderson
Screenwriter: David Webb Peoples
Producer: Jerry Weintraub
Executive producers: James G. Robinson, R.J. Louis, Susan Ekins
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: David L. Snyder
Visual effects supervisor: Ed Jones
Editor: Martin Hunter
Costume designer: Erica Edell Phillips
Music: Joel McNeely
Casting: Mindy Marin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Todd: Kurt Russell
Caine 607: Jason Scott Lee
Mekum: Jason Isaacs
Sandra: Connie Nielsen
Church: Gary Busey
Nathan: Jared Thorne, Taylor Thorne
Mace: Sean Pertwee
Rubrick: Mark Bringelson
Running time -- 98 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
But that is "Soldier"'s one gambit that almost works -- Russell matter-of-factly delivering only a handful of short lines in 90-plus minutes -- as the film rates low on the genre scale and won't win the boxoffice battle.
Directed by Paul Anderson ("Mortal Kombat", "Event Horizon") and written by David Webb Peoples ("Blade Runner", "12 Monkeys"), the trashy sci-fi extravaganza opens with a grim outline of the life of Todd (Russell), picked as a newborn to be trained in combat and raised with other recruits as lifelong soldiers.
From being encouraged to beat the hell out of fellow cadets to knowing that falling too far behind in a group run can mean instant de-enrollment via execution, Todd is notably desensitized and shut down emotionally and intellectually. But after fighting in numerous conflicts with exotic names like Argentine Moons and showing no hesitation slaughtering foes and hostages that get in the way, at 40 he's considered the best of the best by his commander (Gary Busey).
Not a robot but bioengineered to be stronger, faster, longer-lasting and even more silent and obedient, Caine 607 (Lee) is proudly revealed by his sadistic CO (Jason Isaacs) to Busey and his men. A ruthless comparison ensues -- with Todd getting his bristly hair mussed during a 15-mile run. In an uneven fight, bald Caine 607 gets a small scar or two but terminates a few foes including, it appears, our eye-gouging hero.
Waking up in a junk pile aboard a huge space garbageship, Todd is not in great shape but makes it safely to Trashdump World, where he encounters survivors of an ill-fated expedition. He immediately develops a major crush on nurturing, gentle, blonde Sandra (Connie Nielsen) and hangs around with her little boy (played by twins Jared and Taylor Thorne), but the locals find him a dangerous presence.
Unfit to live with normal folk, Todd is banished but quickly welcomed back when Caine 607 and comrades are unleashed to exterminate trespassers on the windy, desolate planet. Overcoming countless opponents armed with machine guns, missiles and flamethrowers, commandeering futuristic assault vehicles and finally battling Caine 607 to the death, Russell's superhero is humorlessly efficient, seemingly impervious to pain but capable of a good cry now and then.
Visual effects supervisor Ed Jones and crew create a cool windworld with apocalyptic refuse piles, and David L. Snyder's production design is suitably fantastic. Trying to keep one engaged with vigorous action sequences but meeting defeat, Anderson and cinematographer David Tattersall don't have much to work with in the minimal, comic book-like story.
SOLDIER
Warner Bros.
in association with Morgan Creek
A Jerry Weintraub production
in association with Impact Pictures
Director: Paul Anderson
Screenwriter: David Webb Peoples
Producer: Jerry Weintraub
Executive producers: James G. Robinson, R.J. Louis, Susan Ekins
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production designer: David L. Snyder
Visual effects supervisor: Ed Jones
Editor: Martin Hunter
Costume designer: Erica Edell Phillips
Music: Joel McNeely
Casting: Mindy Marin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Todd: Kurt Russell
Caine 607: Jason Scott Lee
Mekum: Jason Isaacs
Sandra: Connie Nielsen
Church: Gary Busey
Nathan: Jared Thorne, Taylor Thorne
Mace: Sean Pertwee
Rubrick: Mark Bringelson
Running time -- 98 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/23/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kenneth Grahame's enduring children's classic meets Monty Python in Terry Jones' energetic and whimsically eccentric version of "The Wind in the Willows".
While things get a tad murky and chaotic toward the end, terrific characterizations -- Jones recruited former Flying Circus mates Eric Idle, John Cleese and Michael Palin to do their colorful stuff -- help keep things light and amusing.
Entering an indifferent family feature market after spending a prolonged period on the shelf, it's not likely the Columbia release will generate a flurry of moviegoing activity, but it could do some breezy business once it blows into video stores.
Jones cleverly eschews animations and the Jim Henson's Creature Shop route in favor of good old-fashioned human beings with minimal animal accouterments to convey the intriguing inhabitants of Grahame's English countryside.
There's the ever-squinting Mole (Steve Coogan), whose subterranean home has been destroyed by those nasty Weasels. Accompanied by good friend Rat (Idle) and the crusty but wise old Badger (Nicol Williamson), Mole pays a visit to the flamboyant, motor car-obsessed Mr. Toad (Jones), who has been scammed out of the stately Toad Hall by the diabolical Chief Weasel (Anthony Sher).
Mole, Rat and company race to stop the slippery characters in their plot to level their idyllic terrain and transform it into a heavily industrialized, Weasels-Only zone.
Given the novel's original turn-of-the-century publication, there are all sorts of sociopolitical interpretations to be made here, but Jones, aside from referring to the Weasels as "Thatcher's children" in the press notes, steers clear of heavy-handedness.
Instead, he presents a classic good vs. evil scenario that is spiced up by a few goofy song-and-dance numbers and a whole slew of seasoned performances. In addition to entertaining turns by Jones, Idle, Williamson and Sher, Cleese is on hand as Mr. Toad's not-so-helpful Lawyer. Palin rises to the occasion as the Sun.
Although things begin to run out of steam during a prolonged railroad sequence, there's plenty to appreciate. Doing double duty, production and costume designer James Acheson dresses the characters in a British music hall assortment of stripes, checks and plaids, while the architecture is reminiscent of fellow Python member Terry Gilliam's Rube Goldberg-style animation.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
Allied Filmmakers presents
A John Goldstone production
Director-screenwriter: Terry Jones
From the novel "The Wind in the Willows":
by Kenneth Grahame
Producers: John Goldstone & Jake Eberts
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production and costume designer:
James Acheson
Editor: Julian Doyle
Music score: John Du Prez
Original music and songs: John Du Prez,
Terry Jones, Andre Jacquemin,
Dave Howman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mole: Steve Coogan
Rat: Eric Idle
Toad: Terry Jones
Chief Weasel: Anthony Sher
Badger: Nicol Williamson
Mr. Toad's Lawyer: John Cleese
Judge: Stephen Fry
The Sun: Michael Palin
Running time -- 87 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
While things get a tad murky and chaotic toward the end, terrific characterizations -- Jones recruited former Flying Circus mates Eric Idle, John Cleese and Michael Palin to do their colorful stuff -- help keep things light and amusing.
Entering an indifferent family feature market after spending a prolonged period on the shelf, it's not likely the Columbia release will generate a flurry of moviegoing activity, but it could do some breezy business once it blows into video stores.
Jones cleverly eschews animations and the Jim Henson's Creature Shop route in favor of good old-fashioned human beings with minimal animal accouterments to convey the intriguing inhabitants of Grahame's English countryside.
There's the ever-squinting Mole (Steve Coogan), whose subterranean home has been destroyed by those nasty Weasels. Accompanied by good friend Rat (Idle) and the crusty but wise old Badger (Nicol Williamson), Mole pays a visit to the flamboyant, motor car-obsessed Mr. Toad (Jones), who has been scammed out of the stately Toad Hall by the diabolical Chief Weasel (Anthony Sher).
Mole, Rat and company race to stop the slippery characters in their plot to level their idyllic terrain and transform it into a heavily industrialized, Weasels-Only zone.
Given the novel's original turn-of-the-century publication, there are all sorts of sociopolitical interpretations to be made here, but Jones, aside from referring to the Weasels as "Thatcher's children" in the press notes, steers clear of heavy-handedness.
Instead, he presents a classic good vs. evil scenario that is spiced up by a few goofy song-and-dance numbers and a whole slew of seasoned performances. In addition to entertaining turns by Jones, Idle, Williamson and Sher, Cleese is on hand as Mr. Toad's not-so-helpful Lawyer. Palin rises to the occasion as the Sun.
Although things begin to run out of steam during a prolonged railroad sequence, there's plenty to appreciate. Doing double duty, production and costume designer James Acheson dresses the characters in a British music hall assortment of stripes, checks and plaids, while the architecture is reminiscent of fellow Python member Terry Gilliam's Rube Goldberg-style animation.
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
Allied Filmmakers presents
A John Goldstone production
Director-screenwriter: Terry Jones
From the novel "The Wind in the Willows":
by Kenneth Grahame
Producers: John Goldstone & Jake Eberts
Director of photography: David Tattersall
Production and costume designer:
James Acheson
Editor: Julian Doyle
Music score: John Du Prez
Original music and songs: John Du Prez,
Terry Jones, Andre Jacquemin,
Dave Howman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Mole: Steve Coogan
Rat: Eric Idle
Toad: Terry Jones
Chief Weasel: Anthony Sher
Badger: Nicol Williamson
Mr. Toad's Lawyer: John Cleese
Judge: Stephen Fry
The Sun: Michael Palin
Running time -- 87 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 10/31/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A dirty dozen wad of cons hijack a prison transport plane in "Con Air", a high-flying actioner fueled by equal parts schmaltz and high explosives that is likely to pack high-altitude grosses for Buena Vista among younger viewers and action fans.
Starring Nicolas Cage and John Malkovich as the respective white hat and black hat, "Con Air" carries a first-class load of hardened con players -- Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, M.C. Gainey, Danny Trejo -- that would give the guests at Marion the heebie-jeebies. While this Jerry Bruckheimer blaster is likely to knock down big international grosses as well, don't look for it on your next flight to Cannes.
The main con here is not Hannibal the Cannibal, but rather Cyrus the Virus (Malkovich), a cerebral slime who has masterminded an escape plan to take place during a transport of the country's most vile criminals to a new superprison.
The plane itself is a virtual flying prison, with all the amenities one would expect for its last-class passengers. In addition, to the sadistic Cyrus, prisoners include a serial killer (Steve Buscemi), a multiple rapist (Danny Trejo), a black militant (Ving Rhames), a crackhead (Renoly), a berserko killer (Nick Chinlund), as well as some other dudes who, rap sheets aside, are just plain mean and ugly. And there's one ringer in the deck, a sweet-natured parolee, Cameron (Cage) who has served seven years on a bum rap, and who's en route to reunite with his wife and child (Monica Potter, Landry Allbright).
The takeover is swift, sadistic and successful as Cyrus and his group of crazy cons commandeer the plane to a secret destination where they'll be whisked away to the sandy beaches of nonjurisdictional waters. Their daring has essentially flummoxed the flatfoots on the ground who don't even have a contingency plan for such an event -- so unlikely is its occurrence.
Only Cameron stands between them and umbrella drinks: Does the young husband risk his life to serve a system that has screwed him or does he just settle in for the ride? Hint: "Die Hard" in the sky.
Packed high with explosive action and loaded with high-stakes jeopardy, "Con Air" charts a generally sound narrative course, although it hits some story turbulence before it hits its climactic jackpot. Despite a descent into generic action pyrotechnics, Scott Rosenberg's screenplay is juiced with dry, witty dialogue and recharged with some preposterously apt comedy.
Director Simon West keeps things on course and aloft with a tight, in-your-face style that rarely loosens its grip; at times, however, the percussively charged story loses wallop in technical overkill -- the fiery explosions are piled too high, and the music, or so the bombastic thundering is called, is a deadening overkill.
Still, the tech credits, especially cinematographer David Tattersall's kinetic compositions and visual effects supervisor David Goldberg's high-tech blendings, stoke the story.
It's the well-chosen cast, however, that make this thing fly. As the parolee who risks his life to thwart the cons, Cage exudes bravery of the decent Everyman who rises to the occasion. With his flowing locks, scrabby beard and beatific gaze, Cage exudes a Jesus-on-the-cross sacrificial persona, albeit a Christ who pumped iron.
Oozing bile, Malkovich is highly menacing as the sociopathic sadist Cyrus, while Rhames is chilling as a murderous militant. As an intelligent serial killer, Buscemi's buggy performance is easily the film's eeriest -- Bundy, Gacey and Dahmer rolled into one.
On the ground, John Cusack is well-cast as a brainy U.S. marshal and Colm Meaney is entertaining as a loathsome good guy. Mileage plus awards to cast members Mykelti Williamson as Cameron's diabetic cellmate and Rachel Ticotin as a guard.
CON AIR
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures
A Jerry Bruckheimer production
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer
Director Simon West
Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg
Executive producers Chad Oman,
Jonathan Hensleigh, Peter Bogart,
Jim Kouf, Lynn Bigelow
Director of photography David Tattersall
Art director Edward T. McAvoy
Visual effects supervisor David Goldberg
Costume designer Bobbie Read
Music Mark Mancina, Trevor Rabin
Casting Victoria Thomas
Sound designer Christopher Boyes,
David Farmer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Cameron Poe Nicolas Cage
Larkin John Cusack
Cyrus the Virus John Malkovich
Garland Greene Steve Buscemi
Billy Bedlam Nick Chinlund
Bishop Rachel Ticotin
Malloy Colm Meaney
Swamp Thing M.C. Gainey
Diamond Dog Ving Rhames
Baby-O Mykelti Williamson
Johnny 23 Danny Trejo
Sally Can't Dance Renoly
Tricia Poe Monica Potter
Casey Poe Landry Allbright
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Starring Nicolas Cage and John Malkovich as the respective white hat and black hat, "Con Air" carries a first-class load of hardened con players -- Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, M.C. Gainey, Danny Trejo -- that would give the guests at Marion the heebie-jeebies. While this Jerry Bruckheimer blaster is likely to knock down big international grosses as well, don't look for it on your next flight to Cannes.
The main con here is not Hannibal the Cannibal, but rather Cyrus the Virus (Malkovich), a cerebral slime who has masterminded an escape plan to take place during a transport of the country's most vile criminals to a new superprison.
The plane itself is a virtual flying prison, with all the amenities one would expect for its last-class passengers. In addition, to the sadistic Cyrus, prisoners include a serial killer (Steve Buscemi), a multiple rapist (Danny Trejo), a black militant (Ving Rhames), a crackhead (Renoly), a berserko killer (Nick Chinlund), as well as some other dudes who, rap sheets aside, are just plain mean and ugly. And there's one ringer in the deck, a sweet-natured parolee, Cameron (Cage) who has served seven years on a bum rap, and who's en route to reunite with his wife and child (Monica Potter, Landry Allbright).
The takeover is swift, sadistic and successful as Cyrus and his group of crazy cons commandeer the plane to a secret destination where they'll be whisked away to the sandy beaches of nonjurisdictional waters. Their daring has essentially flummoxed the flatfoots on the ground who don't even have a contingency plan for such an event -- so unlikely is its occurrence.
Only Cameron stands between them and umbrella drinks: Does the young husband risk his life to serve a system that has screwed him or does he just settle in for the ride? Hint: "Die Hard" in the sky.
Packed high with explosive action and loaded with high-stakes jeopardy, "Con Air" charts a generally sound narrative course, although it hits some story turbulence before it hits its climactic jackpot. Despite a descent into generic action pyrotechnics, Scott Rosenberg's screenplay is juiced with dry, witty dialogue and recharged with some preposterously apt comedy.
Director Simon West keeps things on course and aloft with a tight, in-your-face style that rarely loosens its grip; at times, however, the percussively charged story loses wallop in technical overkill -- the fiery explosions are piled too high, and the music, or so the bombastic thundering is called, is a deadening overkill.
Still, the tech credits, especially cinematographer David Tattersall's kinetic compositions and visual effects supervisor David Goldberg's high-tech blendings, stoke the story.
It's the well-chosen cast, however, that make this thing fly. As the parolee who risks his life to thwart the cons, Cage exudes bravery of the decent Everyman who rises to the occasion. With his flowing locks, scrabby beard and beatific gaze, Cage exudes a Jesus-on-the-cross sacrificial persona, albeit a Christ who pumped iron.
Oozing bile, Malkovich is highly menacing as the sociopathic sadist Cyrus, while Rhames is chilling as a murderous militant. As an intelligent serial killer, Buscemi's buggy performance is easily the film's eeriest -- Bundy, Gacey and Dahmer rolled into one.
On the ground, John Cusack is well-cast as a brainy U.S. marshal and Colm Meaney is entertaining as a loathsome good guy. Mileage plus awards to cast members Mykelti Williamson as Cameron's diabetic cellmate and Rachel Ticotin as a guard.
CON AIR
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures
A Jerry Bruckheimer production
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer
Director Simon West
Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg
Executive producers Chad Oman,
Jonathan Hensleigh, Peter Bogart,
Jim Kouf, Lynn Bigelow
Director of photography David Tattersall
Art director Edward T. McAvoy
Visual effects supervisor David Goldberg
Costume designer Bobbie Read
Music Mark Mancina, Trevor Rabin
Casting Victoria Thomas
Sound designer Christopher Boyes,
David Farmer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Cameron Poe Nicolas Cage
Larkin John Cusack
Cyrus the Virus John Malkovich
Garland Greene Steve Buscemi
Billy Bedlam Nick Chinlund
Bishop Rachel Ticotin
Malloy Colm Meaney
Swamp Thing M.C. Gainey
Diamond Dog Ving Rhames
Baby-O Mykelti Williamson
Johnny 23 Danny Trejo
Sally Can't Dance Renoly
Tricia Poe Monica Potter
Casey Poe Landry Allbright
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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