Movie Reviews on good movies that are compulsory viewing

Movie Reviews this week looks at the suspense thriller The Taking of Pelham 123.

It stars Denzel Washington (Training day) as Walter Garber, as he puts it a “lowly public sector employee” looking after the trains that run through the intersections at New York, except this day he didn’t know what he was getting himself into when he puts his socks on this morning.

It also stars John Travolta (Pulp fiction) as Ryder , straight out of prison and looking to for some kind of revenge on the City of New York. He and his accomplices Phil Ramos played by Luis Guzman (Traffic) and Bashkim played by Victor Gojcaj manage to hijack Pelham 123, so called because it arrives at Pelham at precisely 1:23 p.m. As Walter’s job this day is operating the trains (it turns out he has been demoted penning an investigation if he took a bribe) so it is left to Walter to bargain with Ryder for the lives of the several passengers on board, while Ryder asks the City of New York via it’s mayor placed pretty well by James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), it turns out Ryder wants $10 million dollars and one cent after making Walter calculate what the current rate is for the “commodities” on the train, Ryder says he wants $10 million dollars, Walter sarcastically asks him about the one cent, and he says Walter can keep it as a broker’s fee.

In comes a special Hostage Negotiator Camonetti played by John Turturro (You don’t mess with the Zohan), there is a particular well made scene, where Walter is told he has done a good job, while Camonetti takes over negotiating with Ryder, that leads to some disastrous consequences.

Walter is chased and brought back to negotiating per Ryder’s request and as the two get to know a little about each other, Ryder asks why he is doing control work for the trains, Walter explains he has been demoted pending an investigation, what follows is a brilliantly shot scene, where Walter is made to confess in front of the Mayor, his boss, and all his colleagues that he did take the bribe, how he did it and what he used the money for, or else hostages would be killed, at first the audience is not sure if the confession was on the spur of the moment to save lives, but from Walter’s expression it seems genuine.

This is a brilliant suspense thriller with the usual twists we have come to expect from movies where hostage negotiation is involved.

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Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 10/11/2009 09:39:00 PM

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Movie Reviews this week looks at the animated feature Nine.

It tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world, where humanity has all been wiped out by the machines it created to help them, and the only remnants of humanity are stored in little gingerbread man toys, fabricated from clothing, buttons zips, and any material lying about the house, and designated numbers for each one made as their names, our protagonist is number nine.

It stars the voices of Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) as Nine, Christopher Plummer (Dolores Clairbone) as One, the lovely Jennifer Connelly (A beautiful mind) as Seven, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Five, Marin Landau (Ed Wood) as Two, and Crispin Glover (Charlie’s Angels, Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle) as Six.

We join our protagonist Nine as he awakens to life, without a voice, looking at his make-up consisting of house-hold items, old cloths, and a zipper which he is conscious of opening (which is a little strange, seeing that there is nothing inside), he sees a little talisman with strange objects on it and picks it up, puts it in his body, and goes out onto the world. The world is typical of a post-apocalyptic version, machinery strewn everywhere, and crumbled buildings littering the streets. He happens to bump into Two, who fixes his voice, and in so doing sees the talisman Nine has brought along with him, but just as Two is about to take him to a sanctuary, there are attacked by a malevolent machine, seizing Two and taking him away to it’s lair, along with the much prized talisman.

As Nine tries to figure out how to save his new found friend, he meets others like himself, led by the careful One, and his body guard, who charades Nine for getting himself in trouble, there is a great exchange between Nine and One the voice of experience and survival, with the voice of youth and adventure. Despite One’s warnings, Nine manages to convince Five to join him on a quest to save Two, it seems a daunting prospect, such small beings against a much powerful and stronger malevolent force, on their journey, they find out that the talisman is a lot more powerful than they ever thought, but is there any hope for them or their remnants?

This is a very enjoyable animated feature film, with brilliant scenery throughout, and a gripping storyline equally well suited to children as well as adults, with the suspense beautiful captured especially for an animated movie.

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Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 10/10/2009 02:11:00 PM

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Movie Reviews this week looks at the science fiction comedy Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.

It stars the hilarious Chris O’Doyd (The IT Crowd, something about him reminds me of the sidekick priest in father Ted), as Ray, a science geek, fresh from losing his job, who along with two of his best friends Toby and Pete played by Marc Wooton and Dean Lennox Kelly (Shameless) respectively, are discussing time travel, in their local pub one day as only nerds can.

As Ray goes off to the bar to order three pints, he comes back to his friends and tells them an unbelievable tale of having met a girl at the bar who tells him she is from the future, his friends laugh it off, assuming he is either pulling their leg, or she maybe a local stripper with an American accent. The girl Cassie played by the lovely Anna Faris (Scary Movie) is really from the future, and is here to fix a “Time Leak”, apparently in the future agents can go back in time with their bodies hardwired with it’s own time machine, and of course the usual rules of not interfering with the future still applies, so strict about going back and interfering in a historical event, that could wipe out several blood lines, such as going back to prevent World War II.

Of course Ray’s friends don’t believe a single word he says, until one of them, Pete, goes to the toilet, but on returning to the bar sees that everyone in the bar is dead, he runs back to the toilet, comes back out again and apparently he is back at the bar with his friends and everyone is still alive, he tells them the unbelievable story, and although they laugh it off, he suggests that for it to happen to them, i.e. for them to travel in time, they would have to go through the same motions he did, to witness the future, and follows a hilarious scene where they follow his exact movements, even down to the way he shakes his hands after using the toilet. They go back to the bar, apparently not noticing anything odd, until they are almost at their spot in the bar when to their amazement, they see themselves, sitting at the bar only moments earlier, discussing what they were talking about earlier.

From this apparent “Time leak” they try to get back to their own time, meeting Cassie along the way who is trying to fix the time leak, apparently not succeeding each time, on one of their trips to the future, they find that they have been immortalized by humanity, with a huge gravity painting of them at the bar, discussing a very important piece of paper Toby has penned in his many attempts to write a good science fiction script, Hollywood would accept.

It is an enjoyable movie, combining comedy from both sides of the Atlantic many will sure to enjoy.

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Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 10/07/2009 11:58:00 PM

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Movie reviews this week looks at the animated feature film Battle for Terra.

This is an enjoyable animation, adults as well as children will enjoy, and as usual, the animation quality is top notch, and knowing how the characters portraying the voices look in real life, you can tell a great deal of attention to detail was done.

The plot of the story is that a peaceful civilisation have wake up one day and find this giant space ship blocking the light of their sun, soon afterwards, the aliens invade their land, capturing several of them, including the father of our heroine.

During this mission, one of the aliens loses control of his aircraft chasing our protagonist Mala Evan voiced by the lovely Evan Rachel Wood( Mickey Rourke’s daughter in The Wrestler), in the process he is injured and she takes him to her home to tend to his injuries, and it turns out the alien is a human, i.e. we are the aliens invading another civilisation/planet.

The twist on the frightening alien civilisation taking over our land is unique this time, as we are seeing things from the point of view of the peaceful aliens, who the humans have ear marked to take over and named “Terra”.

It turns out Earth is no longer habitable, in fact it’s resources have been depleted by man’s wanton desire(a stark warning, for global warming), and humanity have already “terraformed” our closest planets, Mars and Venus, but it turns out that the colonies wanted independence, and a war broke out that wiped out all three planets, so the remnants of humanity have been in space looking for a permanent home. The planet nicknamed “Terra” is chosen as adequate, but there is a problem, it’s atmosphere is poisonous to humans, and the only solution if humanity is to take over the planet is to convert it’s atmosphere to one of oxygen, but that would mean making the atmosphere poisonous to the local indigens.

The unassuming hero for humanity Stewart Stanton voiced by Chris Evans(Push, The Fantastic Four) whose craft was damaged is now faced with the very civilisation he has sent to annihilate. It also stars the voice of Brian Cox(X Men 2, Troy) as a no-nonsense pragmatic General Hemmer, and the voice of Danny Glover(Lethal Weapon, The predator 2) as the leader of the last colony of humanity, President Chen.

The star quality emanating from the voices, do a very good job, passing over the various emotions, desperation, survival, extinction, all themes very relevant in the current era.

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Posted By Blogger to Movie reviews on 10/06/2009 08:52:00 PM

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This is a magical fantasy movie starring Hong Kong Kung fu Legends Jackie Chan, and Jet Li in their first collaboration, Jackie Chan(Police story, Drunken Master, The Myth) plays Old Hop in the real world and Lu Yan in the fantasy Forbidden Kingdom, while Jet Li(Romeo must die, Hero) plays The Monkey King, and also stars as The Silent Monk.

The story surrounds Jason Tripitikas played by Michael Angarano(24, Will and Grace) being bullied by a gang, and his love of Kung fu movies, which he rents from an elderly Old Hop(Jackie Chang), during one particular night, Old Hop is robbed, and in the event of trying to protect Old Hop, he gets hold of an old staff, which transports him into the realm of the magical Forbidden Kingdom, where an evil Jade Warlord played by well known Kung fu Star Collin Chou. The Jade Warlord has taken over the Forbidden Kingdom while the King of Heaven is away.

This magical kingdom has a select number of Immortals, who cannot be killed except by a jade poison dart. It turns out that there was an immortal a Monkey King(also played by Jet Li), who had been challenged to a duel by the evil Jade Warlord, who was growing increasingly bitter over the favouritism shown to the Monkey King by the King of Heaven, as the King of Heaven left the Forbidden Kingdom into the hands of the Jade Warlord until his return, the Jade Warlord saw the opportunity to end the Monkey King once and for all, by attempting to kill him during the duel, just in time before he is killed the Monkey King freezes into stone, and sends out his magical staff out of the Forbidden Kingdom, and a prophecy was born that one will come that will return the Monkey King’s staff to the rightful owner.

Our young protagonist suddenly finds himself in the Forbidden Kingdom, where he, Lu Yan, his associate Golden Sparrow played by the lovely Yifei Liu and a monk known as The Silent Monk (also played by Jet Li) have to get the staff to the Monkey King, however he is still immortalised in stone, in the lair of the Jade King.

The cinematography gives the impression of being in a fantasy world, where everything is possible.

It has some classic funny moments, especially where Lu Yan is trying to summon rain while the stern faced Silent Monk makes a mockery of his attempt.

This is a great action movie with fantastic comedy moments, and the fans are no doubt clamouring for a sequel.

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This is Oliver Stone’s(Director of Platoon) biographic on the life of the 43rd President George W. Bush Jr. chronicling his days from Yale through to his presidency, and the Iraq and Afghan wars.

The lead role is played superbly by Josh Brolin(No country for old men), having the Texas accent, and Bush’s mannerisms down to a fine art, playing the younger Bush during his time at Yale, and the Grey-haired Bush during his time right up to the conflict in Iraq.

Vice-President Dick Cheney is played superbly by an unrecognisable Richard Dreyfuss(Mr. Holland’s Opus) with a very uncanny resemblance, even the mannerisms of grinding his teeth, Condoleeza Rice is played by an unrecognisable Thandie Newton(The pursuit of Happyness, The Chronicles of Riddick), Colin Powell is played impressively by Jeffrey Wright(Shaft, Quantum of Solace), Donald Rumsfeld is played by the veteran Scott Glenn(The patriarch in Brothers and sisters), Paul Wolfowitz is played by Dennis Boutsikaris(The Last Don), Karl Rove is played by the diminutive and brilliant Toby Jones(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) .

We chronicle various aspects of the former President’s life, from drilling jobs in Texas, running his own oil company, running a major league team, all seem overshadowed by the deep disappointment Bush Jr. regards in himself, as opposed to his younger brother, who he sees as his father’s favourite Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, as seen by his father George W. Bush Sr. played wonderfully by James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential). At times the elder Bush is long suffering towards his son, and other times, does not communicate with him directly, apparently only through notes, as he did when George W. Bush became Governor of Texas.

The conflicts amongst the key participants in the Oval office before the justification of the War in Iraq, notably the friction between Donald Rumsfeld, Vice-President Dick Chenney, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Commander of the Armed Forces Colin Powell, regarding the search for weapons of mass destruction, and following U.N. protocol is well acted. The arrogance of Bush and his dismissal of the U.N. in this regard is believable given press conferences at that time.

Overall this portrayal of George W. Bush Jr. aims to keep a balanced perspective, from his battle with alcohol, and trying to make his own way in the world, without everybody else thinking everything in his life has been handed to him on a silver platter, to his liaison with Laura Bush played by the lovely Elizabeth Banks(Meet Dave), to the much maligned war, where as he puts it, “I am just trying to make the world a better place”.

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The final part of the Matrix trilogy was welcomed as a renovation and worthy conclusion of the ethos of the original Matrix, and did give the trilogy a fitting end the fans were happy about.

It again stars Keanu Reeves(Point Break, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure) as Neo, Laurence Fishburne(Apocalypse Now) as Morpheus, Carrie Ann Moss(Memento) as Trinity

The war with the A.I. is reaching it’s climax, the last human fortress Zion is under attack by the machines, and unless our protagonists can do something, their life and civilisation will be wiped out.

The antagonist, Agent Smith played by Hugo Weaving(Lord of the rings: The Fellowship of the ring) has somehow managed to get his personality out into the real world, while in the Matrix like a malevolent virus he has taken over everyone, and is waiting for Neo to turn up for their final encounter.

We learn a little about the unfolding in the life of the real world for Morpheus, Neo and Trinity, with people constantly wanting something from Neo in the real world, keeping him away from Trinity more than he would like, to send messages to their loved ones, whose minds haven’t been “unplugged” yet, to constantly protecting his friends and companions from Agents, who like regular software have been given upgrades to combat the threat of Neo. The complicated relationship between Morpheus and his lost love Niobe played by the wife of Will Smith (who was the original choice to play Neo by the Wachowski brothers) Jada-Pinkett Smith is developed a little further.

Less time is given to the other A.I. as was done in the previous sequel, and instead focuses on the main thrust of the story, the war between civilisation and the A.I. and if Neo, Morpheus and Trinity have any say on how it will all end.

The suspense that has been building up for a few years since the original Matrix is well played upon, and the conclusion is a fitting end to the roller coaster of cinematic vision and innovation that hasn’t captured the minds of many movie goers since.

Many saw this final sequel as redeeming some of the disappointments some of the fans saw in the second sequel, and it is not an underestimation to say the Matrix trilogy is to the current I.T. and Internet savvy generation what Star Wars was, to the generation of the late 70’s and 80’s.

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This is the sequel to The Matrix, again starring Keanue Reeves(Point Break, Bill and Ted’s Excellent adventure) as Neo, Laurence Fishburne(Apocalypse Now) as Morpheus, and Carrie Ann Moss(Memento) as Trinity. It was reported Laurence Fishburne, signed up to the sequels without reading the scripts.

The directors Andy and Larry Wachowski better known as the Wachowski brothers have reportedly refused to do any interviews about The Matrix or it’s sequels, possibly to continue and preserve it’s cult status.

As with many sequels, there are never as critically acclaimed or well received by the fans as the originals, and this is no exception. That said for cult fan status it was a long wait, with a superb teaser trailer broadcast during the Super Bowl, that had many fans salivating. This sequel did reveal a little bit more about the composition of the real world our protagonists lived in and the Matrix world the frequented.

In this sequel we are introduced to a whole other A.I. living in the Matrix, Persephone played by the beautiful Monica Bellucci(The brothers Grimm) and her husband Merovingian played by Lambert Wilson(The Lazarus Project, Babylon A.D.), and The Oracle was also revealed as another system of control, unfortunately the original actress Gloria Foster who played The Oracle, died soon after completing her scenes.

Morpheus believing a prophecy told to him by the Oracle, that getting Neo to the source will end the war and set them free from the A.I., along with Trinity try to get Neo to the location of the source, battling some nifty Programs along the way, a pair of them having the ability to move through objects and other people(which is plausible as no one in the Matrix is really flesh and bone, but a kind of simulation).

The Wachowski brothers on the few times they did talk about The Matrix, said they always wanted to make a movie that combined their love of Kung-Fu and the Martial Arts with Science Fiction, and The Matrix captures this beautifully.

The interesting thing about the Matrix and it’s sequels is the hidden meanings littered throughout every scene, going back to look at various scenes again, and reading up about it, the hidden religious references combining key aspects of the world’s major religions is quite interesting, from the “Know thyself” writing when Neo first meets The Oracle to his first encounter with The Oracle’s protector Seraph played by Collin Chou(The Forbidden Kingdom, DOA: Dead or Alive) (apparently The Wachowski brothers tried to get Kung-Fu legend and three times Chinese high kick champion Jet Li to play _ but he declined indicating he didn’t want people to ignore the storyline and focus that he is in the movie)telling Neo “you never truly know anyone until you fight them“.

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This is a classic science fiction tale that was ground breaking for it’s story line and special effects.

It stars Keanu Reeves(Point Break, Bill and Ted Excellent Adventure) as Neo/Mr Anderson(apparently Will Smith(Independence Day, I. Robot) was asked by the Wachowski brothers to play Neo, but he declined the role saying he wasn’t mature enough as an actor to carry out the role), an I.T. guy seemingly bored with his existence, he is contacted by the mysterious Morpheus played by Laurence Fishburne(Apocalypse Now), wanted by many for alledgedly terrorist activities.

It turns out that Neo isn’t really living in the real world at all, but under slavery, as he and the rest of humanity are under, being hooked up to a machine, providing life source for A.I(Artificial intelligence) that has taken over the planet over a war with humanity, leaving only a few renegades to continue the war against the A.I.

As Morpheus succinctly puts it “What if you were in a dream you couldn’t wake up from, how would you know what is real and what is not?”.

This all makes sense at this point, because as a prelude to this mind boggling discovery, there was an action sequence, where Trinity played by Carrie-Anne Moss(Memento) runs away from a couple of agents, into a phone box, and whilst she has the ear-piece of the phone to her ears, one of the agents runs down the phone box with a truck, with Trinity’s body nowhere to be found in or around the phone box after this encounter(apparently after showing that ten-minute action sequence to their executive producers, they signed up immediately).

Morpheus has been told a prophecy by the Oracle played by Gloria Foster that he will find The One that will put an end to the slavery and set humanity free from A.I., and he believes Neo is that one, however Neo needs some convincing, especially as Morpheus, Trinity and a host of others take him to see the Oracle, to see what predictions she has in store for him.

During this scene an interesting occurrence takes place, that just separates The Matrix from just another science fiction movie, Neo sees a black cat, and sees the cat again, he mutters to himself “deja vu”, immediately everybody in the entourage tenses up and he is asked what he saw, he relays what he saw, and everyone finds a hiding place, weapons at the ready, with Trinity explaining to Neo that deja vu happens when the A.I. change something in the Matrix, and sure enough the antagonist Agent Smith played magnificently by Hugo Heaving(Lord of the rings: The fellowship of the ring), is just around the corner.

It is a ground-breaking story line coupled with some superb action sequences, with great twists along the way makes for a classic science fiction movie.

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This is the second movie of the Oscar winner director of the Shawshank Redemption, Frank Darabont. Again this is based around a prison.

It stars Tom Hanks as a prison guard Paul Edgecomb, and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey a mysterious gentle giant of a fellow from the deep south at the turn of the twentieth century.

Unfortunately for John Coffey there has been a murder of two little girls, and when John is found holding on to the two girls and crying, he is assumed the culprit, and he is tried, convicted and sentenced to death by electric chair in the infamous “Green mile” prison.

What some of the people in the town and notably those in the “Green Mile” prison quarters are about to find out, especially the prison guards is that he has the magic of healing, he proves this on a mouse, who has been stomped on by the jail antagonist “Wild Bill” Wharton whose hero is “Wild Bill” Hitchcock and would not tolerate having anyone say a negative word against him, played by Sam Rockwell(Charlie’s Angels). John breathes on the mouse until its tail begins to twitch again with life, but there is an after effect, whenever he heals someone or something, he has to release the bad energy out of himself somehow.

It turns out that the prison warden, Warden Moores played by james Cromwell(L.A. Confidential) has a sick wife Melinda played by Patricia Clarkson (I must say watching her recently in Phoebe in Wonderland she looks exactly the same as she did almost ten years ago), and when John’s healing ability is discovered, after helping Paul with an embarrassing problem, he proposes that John pays a visit to the Warden’s wife, albeit not telling the Warden at all, only the fellow prison guards who all agree to ship him out at night.

Paul believes in his innocence, and in turn so do the other prison guards, Brutus “Brutal” Howell played by the stalwart David Morse(The Negotiator, Twelve Monkeys), Dean Stanton played by Barry Pepper(Saving Private Ryan) who all see John Coffee’s behaviour for themselves and realise he cannot hurt a fly, but is there anything he can do to prevent John Coffee from “riding the light” i.e. the electric chair?

This is a lovely science fiction and fantasy movie, with some unforeseen twists, and viewers will not miss the symbolism of John Coffey whose name is an acronym of Jesus Christ.

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