The Reel World

I know what you’re thinking, and I was also incredibly disappointed to learn this film was not a biopic of Xena: Warrior Princess actress Lucy Lawless. (This hypothetical film would obviously star the ageless Kiwi because the actress still looks incredible.) Fortunately, Lawless makes up for its startling lack of Lawless by being one of the better films I’ve seen this year.

Inspired by true events, this Prohibition-era tale follows the Bondurant brothers, a trio of successful bootleggers in Franklin County, Virginia. Franklin County is considered “The Wettest County in the World”, which is also the title of the 2008 historical novel by Matt Bondurant on which this film is based. There are plenty of TV shows (Boardwalk Empire, Justified) and movies (The Untouchables, Once Upon a Time in America and, um, Idlewild) that have used the Prohibition era as a backdrop or bootleggers as a plot point. However, the only movie I can think of that prominently features rural moonshiners is 1958’s Thunder Road, starring Robert Mitchum.

For the most part writer/director David Koepp has seen only moderate success when in the director’s chair with the films Stir of Echoes and Secret Window.  I mention this simply because he is one of the most prolific writers of our time, and most movie goers have no idea who he is or even what a screenwriter actually does.  A quick glance at his writing resume some titles that jump out are Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, Panic Room and Spider-man.  Koepp is pretty much your go to guy when a blockbuster film is in need of a writer.  Because of my geeky love for the films Koepp has helped write, I can’t help but get excited when I know he’s working on another project.  But somehow Premium Rush snuck up on me.

From the first frame of the film it wastes no time getting the action going as we watch Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) flying through the air in bullet time after his bike has collided with a car.  Quickly things begin to rewind taking us to the start of his hellish day.  Wilee is a rebellious former law student that showed a lot of promise but just never settled down to take the bar exam.  Right now he’s simply enjoying life as a message courier in New York City while struggling to make things right with his girlfriend, Vanessa (Dania Ramirez).

It did not surprise me at all to hear Dax Shepard admit in a recent interview that he loved Smokey And The Bandit. While there have been plenty of bad imitations, including a couple of misguided sequels, no one has really captured that special something that made Smokey And The Bandit comic gold. Now that's not to say that Hit And Run is a rip-off of Smokey And The Bandit. They are actually very different films. But there is an obvious homage element throughout that can't be ignored. The truth is, if you liked one, you're probably going to enjoy the other.

Charlie Bronson (Shepard) is living in a small rural town as part of the Witness Protection Program. He's been living with girlfriend Annie (Bell) who knows he's in the program but doesn't really know any of the details. He's "protected" by inept Marshall Randy (Arnold) who can't seem to contain those "accidental" discharges of his weapon or runaway incidents, not by a fugitive, but his own mini-van. They appear to have a good life together with a future until Annie is offered the job of a lifetime. She's offered a job to start the nation's first conflict resolution graduate program. But the job is in L.A., which is where Charlie's problems still live.

"Meet Norman. His parents don't get him. His sister doesn't like him. And the kids at school always pick on him. But he does have some friends. It's just that most of them aren't exactly alive."

The magic of stop-motion animation has been with us since pretty much filmmaking began. From the great master work of Willis O'Brien to the icon Ray Harryhausen, the process has brought some of the most imaginative films in history to life. Folks like Tim Burton have done wonders to keep the art form alive, as did Neil Gaiman with his Coraline from upstart Laika studios. The studio is back with another spooky stop-motion project. This time it's Chris Butler and Sam Fell directing Butler's script ParaNorman.

"War has rules, mud wrestling has rules - politics has no rules" - Ross Perot

When a political comedy starts out with a Ross Perot quote, you might start asking yourself if the comedy can be anywhere near as funny as the real thing. Of course, politics isn't very funny these days. You'd have to go back the 19th century to find a time when America was more divided or when the stakes were this serious. And we sure don't have Ross Perot to laugh at anymore. Sure, he's still out there somewhere, unless those black helicopters managed to finally get him. But elections just aren't the same without Elmer Fudd on the stump.

Going into this film, I considered the Bourne movies to be an extremely rare breed among film franchises: each sequel was better than the movie it followed. The fantastic Bourne Ultimatum even wrapped up the Matt Damon trilogy with an ending that dovetailed perfectly with the first shot of the series. So when I heard they wanted to make another Bourne film (uh-oh) without director Paul Greengrass (uh-oh!) or star Matt Damon (UH-OH!!!), I was, to put it mildly, skeptical. After all, how can you make a Bourne movie without Jason Bourne?

Well, it turns out you really don't.

"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.

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.

“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.

"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?