Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2012
"This is going to be hard for you to believe. Whatever you think you remember, it's not real. This person you think you are now, it's all a lie."
Philip Dick's original stories We Can Remember It For You Wholesale and Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep made the pulp-age science fiction writer a household name in the 1980's. The later title became Ridley Scott's breakout cult classic Bladerunner, while the former title became the troubled Total Recall. I say troubled because the film went through 40 actual script rewrites, three lead actors, and several directors before it finally made it to the big screen in 1990. The result was memorable for the Arnold Schwarzenegger camp, an epic tale that involved a race of mutant humans and political control over the planet Mars. We all remember the classic scenes, and the film has had some legs over the years in home video. We recently reviewed the latest Blu-ray release of that film, which you can find Here. It's now over 20 years later, and Total Recall has found its way into the seemingly endless wave of remakes/reboots/reimagining to reach the box office.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on July 27th, 2012
With August just around the corner and the summer movie season coming to a close, this is usually the time when studios dump off the rest of their bigger-budget films before they head into the fall and begin prepping for the award season. Occasionally we’ve been given a few gems, but for the most part there is nothing really to get too excited over. It’s also not to favorable when a movie attempts to be released the week following an enormous blockbuster like Dark Knight Rises, but it seems The Watch has stepped up to see what monetary crumbs it can muster up from the moviegoers this weekend.
There is a lot of talent in front and behind the camera on this film, and if this film delivered on its potential this could be a surprise moneymaking giant. Unfortunately this film doesn’t manage to live up to its potential and becomes a missed opportunity for all involved. I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie; in fact I enjoyed quite a bit, but when you have Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill headlining your movie, I just expected a little more out of these guys.
Posted in: The Reel World by M. W. Phillips on July 20th, 2012
“You think this can last? There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”
In the spirit of full disclosure, let me state that my favorite comic book hero is Batman. As a child, even before the Sixties TV show premiered, I loved the tale of Batman. It is a story of a child who overcomes the fear and destruction of his childhood and becomes stronger because of it. He grows into an extraordinary man and, in spite of having no super powers, created a legend out of himself by becoming an icon for justice. Bruce Wayne channeled his lust for vengeance into mastering his intellect, detective skills, science and technology, physical prowess, martial arts skills, an indomitable will, fear, and intimidation skills to fight his continuous war on crime. He may have inherited almost limitless wealth, but he didn’t let it make him soft; instead he converted the riches into a crime-fighting asset. His behavior may be borderline psychotic, but he lived by an impossibly strict, but simple, set of rules… no guns, no killing, no glory, but most of all, zero tolerance for crime.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on July 13th, 2012
"I love a terrible turn of events."
Ever wonder how the continents formed and the land masses on planet earth got their present shapes? The short answer appears to be nuts. Literally, nuts. For a decade our children have been getting their geologic time lessons from the folks at Dreamworks animated feature shop. Yes, the same folks who brought us the Shrek series. Ice Age came out in 2002 and took the box office like a blizzard piling up a drift of cash that amounted to almost $180 million before it was over. Not bad for a $50 million dollar film. Add in another $200 million in foreign receipts, and a series of sequels was an absolute foregone conclusion. The film introduced us to some memorable characters. Manny (Romano) was a lovable woolly mammoth. Diego (Leary) was a kind and wise saber-toothed tiger. Sid (Leguizamo) was their tagalong friend with not much going on in the noggin. A side story involved a prehistoric squirrel named Scrat who loved his acorns. He had a Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner relationship with acorns and took a lot of punishment to get one. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown brought the Ice a change in their environment and love in the air for Manny. He meets Ellie (Latifah). Together they must find colder climes as their ice is melting fast. They find their Winter Wonderland, and Blue Sky Studios found another hit. This time the film brought in a crazy $200 million here and another $450 foreign. Before home video the film was close to $700 million in box office. Can you say number 3? Add some dinosaurs to the cast for Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs and another $250 million for a total take of nearly $900 million on the third film. If you’re doing the math, that’s over $2 billion on three films. Is it any surprise that ten years after the first film the gang returns for Ice Age: Continental Drift? Who says the government’s the only one out there printing money?
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on July 6th, 2012
When I first saw the trailer for Savages I was more than a little unimpressed; in fact I was beginning to accept that there were no more great films to come from one of the directors I believe was in the top five working directors of the 80s and the 90s. Over the past decade he’s managed to churn out some decent films, but nothing that can measure up to Platoon, JFK, The Doors, Natural Born Killers or Nixon. With Alexander he took a big gamble and it was a commercial bomb, and since then it seems he’s been playing it safe. What I always respected about Stone was that he never used to play it safe; he took bold chances whether it be with the topic of the film or with the style of the film, but it seemed the commercial failure of Alexander took its toll.
One piece missing from Stone’s crew that I feel has made an impact over the years has been the absence of cinematographer Robert Richardson. Could this be the key ingredient missing all this time? Richardson has done some great work with other directors most notably with Tarantino (Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds) as well as Scorsese (Hugo). But for me when I look at some of the great director and cinematographer relationships over the years, the one with Stone and Richardson seems to be the perfect marriage of talent put to the screen. After working on several films without Richardson at his side, I feel Stone has found a suitable fit for him with Daniel Mindel (Domino, Star Trek) as his shooter this time around.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on July 3rd, 2012
"There's rumor of a new species in New York."
It would be easy to say that The Amazing Spider-Man is a remake of the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. It certainly looks that way. After just a single decade Sony Pictures has decided to go back to the origins of the popular comic character and pretty much start over. This film takes us back to the proverbial origin story. Once again we get to see young Peter Parker, this time played by Andrew Garfield, get bitten by that nasty spider and find himself with wonderful powers, and of, course great responsibilities. The reboot does tend to beg at least two questions up front. Why the quick turnaround, and what could you possibly do to improve upon at least the first two Raimi films? Let's answer each of them, shall we?
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on June 29th, 2012
What if your favorite childhood toy were to not only come to life but also be your best friend for life? This is the scenario writer/director Seth Macfarlane (creator of Family Guy and American Dad) set out to explore in his first live action venture behind the lens in this summer’s comedy Ted. With the freedom of an R rating I was curious to see what Macfarlane would bring us and what I came away with was something of a surprise.
The film opens in 1985 with the Narrator (Patrick Stewart) introducing us to the young John Bennett who it turns out is the most unpopular kid in the neighborhood. He’s like most kids from this time with his Indiana Jones poster on the wall and his astronaut-themed bed sheets. But what John craves most is friendship. It’s on Christmas morning that his parents give him a giant teddy bear that he wastes no time in naming Ted. Though he loves his toy, John can’t help but wish that the bear were his “real” friend, and it’s that night while under the sheets with Ted, John makes the wish for Ted to become his best friend forever.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on June 24th, 2012
"The ancients spoke of it. It is the heart of this fierce land. It is carried in the wind. Born of our legends, and when we are put to the test, it is the one thing that we must always be."
Readers of this site already know that I have a particular fondness for most of the films that have come from Pixar. The studio pretty much invented the computer-animated feature film, and they've been setting the bar higher with each new release. I've always thought it was rather fitting that the studio ended up as part of Disney. After all, it was the Mouse House that invented the animated feature to begin with. It all has a certain poetic destiny feel for me. Pixar is still leading the cutting edge. My favorite to date has been Monsters, Inc. and I am eagerly waiting for the Monsters University prequel, which is now only a year away. In the meantime, the powers that be over at Pixar have tossed us yet another original story: Brave.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on June 22nd, 2012
"History prefers legends to men. It prefers nobility to brutality, soaring speeches to quiet deeds. History remembers the battle, and forgets the blood. However history remembers me if it remembers anything at all, it shall only remember a fraction of the truth for whatever else I am: a husband, a lawyer, a president; I shall always think of myself first and foremost as a hunter."
It's been almost four score and seven years ago, it seems, since there's been a really good vampire movie. I'm not talking about the brooding angst-filled pretty boys that populate the television screens and the cinemas these days. I'm talking about a good vampire movie filled with equal parts terror and compelling drama. Certainly, there have been more than a few entertaining vampire films to come along. But who'd have thought that it would take old Honest Abe Lincoln to scare up the best vampire movie of the new century? Apparently Russian director Timur Bekmambetov did.
Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on June 22nd, 2012
Expectations can mean everything when you go into a film. That's usually a problem for that certain class of movie which defies definition at almost every turn. It's the kind of movie that often flows from a first-time director and writer. It's also the kind of film that plays best in the festival circuit where the audience isn't really looking to so much pigeonhole a movie as much as a mainstream audience does. When Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World decided to join a crowded summer of blockbuster anchor films, it invited such expectations. I won't deny that I had them. And this is a case where I walked away from a film very much unlike what I expected...for the better.
The world is about to end. An asteroid named Matilda (huh?) is careening toward the Earth, and the last effort to pull an Armageddon-style rescue plan has failed. Mankind has about three weeks until the next extinction event on planet Earth. People react differently to the news. There are the expected riots and chaos, of course. Some use the news as an excuse to party, as if they really needed one. Some reexamine their lives, while others turn to spirituality. Some just want someone to spend the end with.
