Dell's Good, Bad & Ugly Movie Reviews

[Houston]

Dell's Classics Presents:

The 400 Blows
AKA Les quatre cents coup
1959. Not Rated, 99 minutes.
Director: Francois Truffaut.
Starring Jean-Pierre Leaud, Claire Maurier, Albert Remy, Guy Decomble.
Young Antoine Doinel (Leaud) navigates his tough childhood without much guidance from his largely apathetic parents. Part of appreciating this movie is understanding why it was made. This is the directorial debut of Truffaut. Prior to getting behing the camera, he was one of France's top movie critics and had become increasingly disappointed with the way movies were being made. Instead of continuing to complain about the matter, he simply made a movie himself, setting out to do something different than what he'd been seeing. On top of that, its largely autobiographical as well. In the process, he helped kick off what became known as the French New Wave. Read more about it, here. It is a real slice of life, feeling like you're simply spending time with our young hero, not necessarily watching a movie with a traditional plot and conflict, though both eventually become apparent. Nor is it manipulative melodrama, intent on getting you to cry as it so easily could've been. That its unobtrusively shot without a ton of fancy editing tricks helps foster the illusion. The natural feel of the writing and acting work heavily in its favor, also. Though each performance is effortlessly realistic, including that of our child star Leaud, the actors never seem to preen for the camera. Finally, in true slice of life fashion we get a stopping point moreso than an ending. The possibilities of what could happen next are endless, both good and bad. This gives the movie more resonance than your typical happy ending does. If you're an artsy-fartsy film buff, you must see this movie. If the sight of a black-and-white movie instantly puts you to sleep and the thought of reading subtitles turns your stomach stop reading this review now and forget I ever mentioned this flick. Yup subtitleophobes, we're speaking French.
MY SCORE: 10/10

Personally think 400 Blows is a little overrated but I loved Truffaut's lesser known follow up called "Shoot the Piano Player", watched it last night. I read that one thing he didn't like about The 400 Blows is that it didn't show his appreciation or influence of American films. So with Shoot the Piano Player he made a more darker film noir-esque movie. It's more like Breathless(but actually serious) than The 400 Blows.


That link you posted mentioned his 3rd film called "Jules and Jim", planning to watch it tonight:yep:

 

[dell71]

Thanks. I haven't seen "Shoot the Piano Player" or "Jules and Jim." Have to do that soon. I have seen "Breathless" and that's one I think is way overrated, but as you can tell I love "The 400 Blows."

 

[dell71]

The Watch
<strong>Directed by Akiva Schaffer.</strong>
<em>2012. Rated R, 102 minutes.
Cast:
Ben Stiller
Vince Vaughn
Jonah Hill
Richard Ayoade
Rosemarie DeWitt
Will Forte
Mel Rodriguez
Doug Jones
Erin Moriarty
Nicholas Braun
R. Lee Ermey
Joe Nunez</em>​

Evan (Stiller) is the manager of the local Costco and the organizer guy in the town of Glenview, Ohio. He creates clubs and committees for everything. Naturally, after his buddy Antonio Guzman (Nunez), the after-hours security guard at said Costco, is murdered in the store, Evan organizes a neighborhood watch to find the killer. Only three people answer his call to duty: Bob (Vaughn), Franklin (Hill) and Jamarcus (Ayoade). They aren’t the most dedicated soldiers. However, as long as there plenty of cold Budweisers around they’re happy. In any event, they get more than they bargained for when it becomes evident that hostile aliens are responsible for the killing. You’ll notice I’ve already mentioned two brand names. You will become well acquainted with them as well as Ray-O-Vac batteries and Magnum condoms. In other words, product placement and penis jokes ensue.

Strangely, between all the commercials flying at us exists a fun movie with a wacky premise. Ben Stiller plays himself, as always, so you already know if you think he’ll make you laugh. Vince Vaughn also does his normal schtick. However, he seems much more into it than he has in quite some time and is really pretty amusing. Less known Richard Ayoade also provides us with a few chuckles and the cameo by the great R. Lee Ermey is downright hilarious. Still, our heartiest laughs go to Jonah Hill. His character is not quite off type, but he approaches it from a different angle than normal. It works wonders. The four share a nice chemistry making the banter between them enjoyable.

Most surprising is there are a pair of well-executed human stories mixed in to all the advertisements and raunchy jokes. One involves the state of the relationship between Evan and his wife Abby played by Rosemarie DeWitt, here looking very Tina Fey-ish. The other is about Bob and his daughter, the rebellious Chelsea (Moriarty). Both work better than expected as if organic to the tale and not shoe-horned in just because. In fact, I enjoy these parts of movie more than the main plot.

That main plot, of course, heavily involves aliens. It’s rather lazy in almost all regards and seems ill-fitting of the movie they’re in. Though set up to play as a spoof of alien invasion flicks, the effort is only half-hearted. This includes creature design awfully similar to some rather famous cinematic extra-terrestrials. By the end, we realize their entire storyline is just one long dick joke. No pun intended. Sorta. Okay, I’m lying. Either way, the punchline to this particular dick joke is rendered ineffective by all the ones that came before it. Sorry. Sorta.

Despite the rampant commercialism, lazy sci-fi and endless succession of genital humor I found <em>The Watch</em> fun to sit through. I realize these aspects are a complete turn-off for many, hence the abysmal reviews this has generally garnered. They are for me, normally. They even keep me from grading this as a great movie. However, maybe I was just in the right frame of mind. Maybe, I’m more susceptible to such humor than I’d like to believe. In any event, the guys kept my interest and made me laugh. At the end of the day that’s all I ask out of my comedies.

<strong>MY SCORE: 7/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Premium Rush
<strong>Directed by David Koepp.</strong>
<em>2012. Rated PG-13, 91 minutes.
Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Michael Shannon
Dania Ramirez
Jamie Chung
Wolé Parks
Aasif Mandvi
Lauren Ashley Carter
Christopher Place
Anthony Chisolm
Kym Perfetto</em>​

Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) is a Manhattan bike messenger. For those of you who’ve never been to New York he’s a same day courier of small packages that rides a bicycle instead of driving a truck. Rest assured, this is a real job in the Big Apple. As you might imagine, with your knowledge of Manhattan traffic, real or just what you see in movies, this isn’t the safest occupation in the world. Wilee seems to make it even more dangerous. He usually rides at breakneck speed, refuses to even have a break on his bike and commits as many moving violations as humanly possible. He has an unbridled passion for riding and is completely dedicated to being on time. Therefore, he’s the perfect person for Nima (Chung), the soon-to-be ex-roommate of his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Vanessa (Ramirez), to call when she has a highly valuable, time-sensitive envelope to be delivered across town. He picks it up at about 5:30. It had better be there by 7:00, or else. Of course, we wouldn’t have a movie if there weren’t a few obstacles. Namely there’s Bobby (Shannon), a desperate cop with a serious gambling problem. He’s intent on getting that envelope for himself. Lots and lots of bike riding ensues.

There are a couple of cat-and-mouse games going on. This is where <em>Premium Rush</em> excels. First and foremost is the aforementioned one between Wilee and Bobby. Next, but no less fun, is between Wilee and a legit bicycle cop. Watching our hero try to elude both is highly entertaining. These, along with our dirty cop mishandling his debtors, provides us with the film’s action and does an excellent job of it. The contents of the envelope and the story behind it gives us its heart. It works enough for us to root for its safe delivery.

Where <em>PR</em> sputters is when its attentions turn to the love story stuck in its spokes. It is an awkwardly handled triangle with fellow bike messenger Manny (Parks) vying with Wylie for Vanessa’s attention. Oh, I forgot to mention she’s also a messenger. It mostly involves each guy yelling their case at her then trying to force their lips on her. Who says romance is dead? Truthfully, this could sorta work if performed properly. Unfortunately, the line deliveries of both Ramirez and Parks leave a lot to be desired. Assuming it is actually them we see riding through the streets, they’re better cyclists than actors. At least they are in this movie.

The only other issue is time. We effectively jump back and forth within it on the day in question. Each leap backwards reveals enough of the story to keep us engaged. The problem comes when we start getting close to our deadline. You know how in some movies the hero has thirty seconds to diffuse a bomb and takes ten minutes before he gets it done with one second left on the clock? Yeah, sort of like that.

In the grand scheme of things, the problems I’ve mentioned are really small. They don’t subtract from our enjoyment of <em>PR</em>. Watching all the bike stunts is fairly exhilarating and the whole thing moves at a brisk pace. Down time is kept to a minimum and surprisingly so is stupidity, aside from the finale I mentioned above. This should quench the thirst of all you action junkies.

<strong>MY SCORE: 7.5/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Ice Age: Continental Drift
<strong>Directed by Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier.</strong>
<em>2012. Rated PG, 88 minutes.
Cast:
Ray Romano
Queen Latifah
Denis Leary
Keke Palmer
Peter Dinklage
John Leguizamo
Jennifer Lopez
Wanda Sykes
Nick Frost
Josh Pegg
Simon Pegg
Seann William Scott</em>​

Our most beloved prehistoric squirrel, Skrat, has finally gone and done it. His magnificent chase of that ever elusive nut has improbably led him to the Earth’s core. This sets off a chain reaction causing the surface above to split into what we now know as the seven continents. This parting of the land separates woolly mammoth Manny (Romano) from his wife Ellie (Latifah) and their now teenage daughter Peaches (Palmer). He finds himself out to sea on a block of ice with his trusty and familiar cohorts, Diego (Leary), the saber-toothed tiger, and Sid (Leguizamo) the sloth. Also along for the ride is Sid’s grandmother, Granny (Sykes). Manny trying to get back to his family as they try to reach safety ensues. And the squirrel chasing that nut.

To ensure getting the family back together is no easy task, there must be a villain. This one is Captain Gutt (Dinklage), an ape/pirate who runs a scurvy crew. The most important of the bunch is his first-mate Shira (Lopez). She’s a saber-toothed tiger and love interest to Diego. J-Lo handles the character capably. Still, Gutt stands out as a fun bad guy. Dinklage voices him excellently with a mean streak just enough to be a little scary to the youngest viewers. Gutt also provides us some of the movie’s best visuals just by swinging around as apes are wont to do. He also has a bit of magnetism about him. Helping in this regard is the fact that he’d be perfectly at home as the villain in the next <em>Pirates of the Caribbean</em> flick.

Speaking of <em>PotC</em> it is but one of the movies <em>CD</em> pays homage to. Most notable of these is <em>Braveheart</em> as the movie has lots of fun with that. It even makes fun of itself from time to time. Thankfully, it does so in a manner allowing it to avoid becoming self-parody. Just a wink and a nod letting us know it understands that much of what’s happened over the course of the series isn’t historically or chronologically accurate.

Liberties with history aside, the main point of these films is to have fun. Of course, the not-so-subtle message in all of them is that we can all get along despite our differences. Even the bad guys are a collection of numerous species cooperating on a task. Once again, the lesson comes through loud and clear. The added layer is our concentration on inter-generational relationships withing the family. It’s nothing groundbreaking but still nicely done.

The <em>Ice Age</em> franchise has found a nice niche for itself. They aren’t truly great movies like the <em>Toy Story</em> films, but they’re certainly a cut above most of the dreck passing for children’s entertainment. Each installment, <em>Continental Drift</em> included, is a fun adventure that manages to inject new colorful characters into our cast of familiar faces without upsetting the dynamics. This fits nicely into the canon.

<strong>MY SCORE: 6.5/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Wrath of the Titans
<strong>Directed by Jonathan Liebesman.</strong>
<em>2012. Rated PG-13, 99 minutes.
Cast:
Sam Worthington
Liam Neeson
Rosamund Pike
Ralph Fiennes
Bill Nighy
Toby Kebbell
Édgar Ramirez
Danny Huston
Lily James
John Bell
Kathryn Carpenter</em>​

Even though he’s half-god, Perseus (Worthington) has made it clear to his father Zeus (Neeson) he wants nothing to do with those snobs on Mount Olympus. Still, the old man comes sniveling back, begging Perseus to save their hides. Zeus’ dad Kronos is a little ornery over being defeated by his boys eons earlier and wants a return match. After Kronos starts killing off gods and threatens both the gods and man alike, you know who reluctantly joins the fray. He enlists the help of Queen Andromeda (Pike), her army and his cousin, fellow half-god Agenor (Kebbell). In case you’re somehow not sure, this is the sequel to the 2010 remake of <em>Clash of the Titans</em>.

That last sentence sums up a lot of what people think is wrong with Hollywood. It’s what they point to as evidence of the movie industry’s lack of original though. This is particularly true of the blockbusters flooding the multiplexes every summer; an endless procession of sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots and re-imaginings heavy on techno wizardry and light on substance. These generalizations might seem unfair in a review on any one film in particular. However, <em>Wrath of the Titans</em> must wear the shoe it fits.

Sam Worthington adds another to his repertoire of bland protagonists. Liam Neeson does what Liam Neeson does: use his booming voice to give his character an air of authority. However, he spends most of the movie on the sidelines. Pike just looks pretty as Queen Andromeda. Most bizarrely, Kebbell as Agenor seems to be impersonating Russell Brand. As simple as the plot seems, its execution is jumbled. It doesn’t always make sense and a general mess is made of Greek mythology. In short, stuff just keeps happening whether it’s logical or not.

On the plus side, that stuff keeps the movie somewhat interesting. There is tons of action as our heroes try to save both the Earth and the heavens. Creature designs are generally fantastic and they tear up things pretty well. The one exception being our main baddy. He’s a little too out of whack with everything else and getting anywhere near him should cause death. Sadly, it doesn’t because then our hero wouldn’t be able to be heroic. There is some heavy-handedness about father-son and sibling relationships. Honestly, this doesn’t bother me since it at least makes sense. More troublesome is the weirdly atheist undertones. As I’ve said in reviews of other films there are good, even excellent movies from that point of view. The problem here is it feels needlessly subversive to its own subject matter. Combined with all the poetic license taken with the characters we get the feeling the people who made <em>Wrath of the Titans</em> don’t exactly appreciate Greek mythology.

Much like its predecessor, <em>Wrath</em> isn’t the worst movie in the world. It’s just not a good one, either. The visuals work very well. Full disclosure: I did not watch either of the franchise’s movies in 3D which I’ve heard complaints about, especially in regards to the first film. The action keeps things moving along nicely and it’s thankfully short at ninety-nine minutes. Unfortunately, the characters are dull and/or given nothing to do and what’s happening around them doesn’t always add up.

<strong>MY SCORE: 5/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Trouble with the Curve
<strong>Robert Lorenz.</strong>
<em>2012. Rated PG-13, 111 minutes.
Cast:
Clint Eastwood
Amy Adams
Justin Tumberlake
John Goodman
Chelcie Ross
George Wyner
Matthew Lillard
Robert Patrick
Joe Massingill
Ed Lauter
Tom Nowicki</em>​

Gus Lobel (Eastwood) has been a baseball scout for the Atlanta Braves for forever and a day. He loves the game so much he even named his daughter Mickey (Adams) after Mickey Mantle, his all-time favorite player. As it eventually happens to most of us, Gus’ eyes are going on him. That’s an even bigger deal than normal given his job. It doesn’t help that Philip (Lillard), the young hotshot in the front-office wants to phase him out and rely much more heavily on his new fangled computers.

Luckily for Gus, he’s still got one friend who thinks like him and is willing to go to bat for him. That’s Pete (Goodman), who also works in the front-office. He figures out what’s wrong with his buddy and, in hopes of saving Gus’ job, convinces Mickey to tag along with her dad on a scouting trip to watch highly-touted prospect Bo Gentry (Massingill). Bo literally gets a hit on the first pitch of every at-bat until the plot requires otherwise. Since he’s so good, he is also an insufferable jackass. Scouting Bo aside, the real question is whether Gus and Mickey can survive each other. They don’t have much of a relationship mostly because Gus is a crotchety old dude who isn’t happy unless he’s ripping someone a new one. Think Clint’s character from <em>Gran Torino</em> sans racism and cool car.

Watching Eastwood and Adams play off one another is somewhat intriguing. They combine to create a genuine portrayal of two people who care for each other but can’t communicate without it getting testy. A little less effective is the telegraphed-from-a-mile-away romance between Adams’ character and Johnny “Flame” Flanagan played by Justin Timberlake. He’s a former pitcher once scouted by Gus who is now a rival scout for the Boston Red Sox. Some of their scenes together are fun, especially if you enjoy baseball trivia. Unfortunately, her overly pushy boyfriend treating their relationship like a business transaction plus the fact that Flanagan is the only other scout that doesn’t qualify for AARP makes it feel too preordained for us to get worked up about.

Things go along well enough for a good deal of the run time, but dammit, we’ve got problems to solve. Best handled of these is Gus and Mickey’s relationship. It feels like a logical resolution. On the other end of the spectrum is Gus’ work issue and Mickey’s love affair. That love thing is handled exactly like you suspect it will be but were praying the filmmakers aren’t that lazy. Sorry, they are.

That work issue is even more ridiculous. Being a baseball fan with friends who shun the hordes of new statistics out there, I am acutely aware that this movie plays as the exact counter-argument to the Brad Pitt flick <em>Moneyball</em>. Even so, what this movie comes up with is just way too contrived for its own good. Basically, it’s “look what fell out of the sky!” What we’re left with is a film that plucks along in an occasionally interesting manner, thanks to the performances of its leads, but never quite gets us emotionally involved enough to buy the ending.

<strong>MY SCORE: 5.5/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Red Dawn
<strong>Directed by Dan Bradley.</strong>
<em>2012. Rated PG-13, 93 minutes.
Cast:
Chris Hemsworth
Josh Peck
Josh Hutcherson
Adrianne Palicki
Isabel Lucas
Connor Cruise
Edwin Hodge
Alyssa Diaz
Julian Alcaraz
Will Yun Lee
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Brett Cullen
Fernando Chien
Kenneth Choi</em>​

The first person we meet is Matt Eckert (Peck). He’s a hotshot high-school quarterback who selfishly puts himself before his team, the Wolverines. Hint: this will be a recurring theme. Wee next his father Tom (Cullen), the local tough guy cop and his tough guy brother Jed (Hemsworth), home on leave from the military. Blanks are filled in by an assortment of locals. You know the locals: the girlfriend, the geek, the other girl(s), the black guy, etc. In a shocking nod to diversity, we actually get two black guys. Of course, neither one…well, I’m getting way ahead of myself. Most of the locals are teenagers and friends of the boys, but there are a few strangers who find themselves in this ragtag bunch due to the circumstances. What circumstances? North Korea has invaded the United States and are hitting the town of Spokane, Washington pretty hard. A daring escape forms the aforementioned bunch, without dad, by the way. One thing leads to another and before you know it, they’ve become a resistance known as…wait for it…wait for it…the Wolverines! Yayyy! If, like me, you’re old enough to actually remember the last decade of The Cold War then you probably know this is a remake of the 1984 original which stars Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, and a number of the day’s hottest young stars.

Like its predecessor, <em>Red Dawn</em> is a relentless barrage of blood-soaked patriotism. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with national pride, but that’s pretty much all there is. Some effort is made to develop the relationship between the brothers, but I’ve already told you everything there is to know. Everyone else is a cardboard cutout either part of and/or helping the resistance, or they’re traitors, saving their own hides by helping the enemy. Speaking of the North Koreans, that’s just it – they’re North Koreans. The idea, drilled home by all the news blurbs that open the film, is that their current real-life leadership is not only crazy enough to invade they actually make that move. From there, we get a depiction of how we Americans like to think we’d react to such a situation.

Of course, such a depiction requires lots of action. <em>Red Dawn</em> does lots of things well in this department. For starters, there’s lots of it. The next supposedly covert operation is never far away. It should go without saying that each one erupts in gunfire. These scenes do a surprisingly decent job of creating tension. If nothing else, we know that a number of North Koreans (and their supporters) will die along with one of our heroes. Guessing which “good” guy gets it is where the tension is. The problem here, like with the rest of the movie, is we might be emotionally invested in the cause (provided we’re American or anti-North Korean), but not in any character not named Matt or Jed. Therefore, ancillary characters dying is of little concern to us. Even worse, when the movie tries to manipulate us one last time with a major decision made by one of these people, we’re just thankful he made the choice on his own because we wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him, otherwise. Our lack of compassion for this character further proves that our roster of freedom fighters is made up of types rather than actual people. Magical Negro, anyone?

Okay, so depth is not found here. It’s a shoot ‘em up, popcorn flick designed by Americans for Americans and uses no uncertain terms. At being precisely this it succeeds. Note for note, it’s practically identical to the clunker <em>Battleship</em>. This one swaps out space aliens for North Koreans. Otherwise, they’re virtually the same. Somehow, this is still better. Perhaps because we can more readily identify with menaces from another country than another planet. More likely, this one removes just enough cheese and other Michael Bay-isms (I know he didn’t direct <em>Balttleship</em>) to be a more believable, if still implausible tale. The action looks better and the run time is a good deal shorter, avoiding most of the long, boring stretches where nothing is really happening. Things are happening here all the time. This makes it a fun watch that uses our fears to create an action-filled adventure. There is no cinematic genius on display, so I wouldn’t call it good. It’s just a better movie than <em>Battleship</em> constructed from the same parts.

<strong>MY SCORE: 5/10</strong>​

 

[JimLeavy59]

Still waiting for that Last Ounce of Courage review.

 

[dell71]

Oops. Forgot about that one. Thanks.

 

[dell71]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture
<strong>Directed by Robert Wise.</strong>
<em>1979. Rated PG, 136 minutes.
Cast:
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
James Doohan
Walter Koenig
Nichelle Nichols
George Takei
Stephen Collins
Persis Khambatta</em>​

Cpt. Kirk (Shatner), actually now an Admiral, reassumes control of the USS Enterprise in order to stop a mysterious enormous and extremely powerful cloud from destroying Earth. Honestly, Trek has never been so boring. However, to give it a few points in its favor you have to understand the circumstances under which this movie was made.

Of course, common knowledge is that <em>Star Trek</em> was a late 1960s television series that was far more successful in syndication than its original run. So it was known that the show had a loyal following but not if that was enough to guarantee the movie would be a hit.

Two things were working against it. First, it had been roughly a decade since the show last aired an original episode; remember "The Next Generation" and all of the other ST spinoffs hadn't happened, yet. Not only was no one sure if the public really wanted new ST material, but how do you introduce it to new fans? Second, no one was remaking old TV shows into movies at the time. Conventional wisdom said that TV shows and their stars didn't translate well to theaters. All of this equals a movie meant to bring in new fans while appeasing hardcore Trekkies.

To accomplish this we get a plot that would be right at home on the TV series, but feels stretched thin here, and the actors who played our heroes in the show reprising their roles despite having gone up a uniform size or two. We also get lots of iconic moments, themes and lines rehashed for the big screen. This includes dramatic grand entrances for several of the most famous characters. And way too many lingering, loving shots of the Enterprise doing nothing. All of this makes the movie move sooooo s l o w. Its 136 minute runtime feels more like 136 hours.

For those new fans there's lots of special fx which look like a laser light show at best and, by now, have aged poorly. In fact, the fx of the first two Star Wars movies, released in 1977 & 1980, respectively, have held up far better. All of this might be forgiven if it had just been more fun. Its the same trap that befell Superman Returns just a few years ago. It's so reverential of its source material that it strait-jackets itself into just giving praise to it without ever becoming a good ST experience.

<strong>MY SCORE: 4.5/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
<strong>Directed by Nicholas Meyer.</strong>
<em>1982. Rated PG, 113 minutes.
Cast:
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
Ricardo Montalban
DeForest Kelley
Walter Koenig
Nichelle Nichols
James Doohan
George Takei
Bibi Besch
Kirstie Alley
Paul Winfield</em>​

No, I’ve never dressed in costume or went to conventions. Still, I was a bit of a Trekkie as a youth. I used to watch re-runs of the original series nearly every weeknight at 11 PM. I never could get into any of the spin-offs that followed years later, but Cpt. James Tiberius Kirk was always my guy. One of my favorite episodes featured Ricardo Montalban, AKA the guy from <em>Fantasy Island</em>, as Khan. He was one of the coolest villains in the show’s history. The episode ends with Khan, and some of his cohorts, being banished to a planet with no hope of getting off. I’ve left out some details which the movie will re-cap for you since it knows the gap between when this show first aired and when <em>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</em> hit theaters is so great many in the audience will have either never seen it, heard of it, or plain just can’t remember what happened. Now thirty plus years since the movie came out, that’s certainly the case.

We pick things up with my guy, now an Admiral since <em>Star Trek: The Motion Picture</em>, very unhappy with his job’s lack of excitement. This means, Adm. Kirk (Shatner) spends the early parts of the movie longing for the days of galaxy hopping and banging green chicks. His nostalgia is only worsened by the fact he’s about to go on a three week rip on his beloved Enterprise, but it’s only a training exercise. Meanwhile, one of Kirk’s former subordinates, Mr. Chekov (Koenig), lands on a barren planet with his new leader, Cpt. Terrell (Winfield). Much to their chagrin, they run into Khan and his ragtag bunch of survivors. As he is happy to remind us, Khan possesses a superior intellect, therefore he recognizes Chekov and remembers him as a member of Kirk’s crew. In short order, he devises a plan to exact his revenge against James T. Luckily for Kirk, when he has to spring into action he has some familiar faces on-board: Spock (Nimoy), Bones (Kelley), Scotty (Doohan), Sulu (Takei), and Uhura (Nichols), along with a bunch of fresh faced youngsters. Among the kids on the crew is young Kirstie Alley as Saavik, a Vulcan in training to become commander of her own starship.

The movie plays out as a chess match between Kirk and Khan. I know that doesn’t sound thrilling, but this is a fun movie. William Shatner plays things surprisingly subdued, but does get into his signature over-the-top style during verbal confrontations with his adversary. On the other hand, Ricardo Montalban’s performance is so deliciously hammy it’s not to be resisted. This guy doesn’t just chew scenery, he devours it large chunks at a time. How he wasn’t cast more often in villainous roles is beyond me. Trust me, anyone who can make Shatner appear restrained is doing big things.

While <em>The Motion Picture</em> feels like an overly long and boring love letter to the USS Enterprise, this feels like an actual episode of the show. That’s because lots of things the series was known for, good and bad/cheesy, are present in <em>Wrath of Khan.</em> There is a certain charm to seeing Kirk and company thrash around in an effected manner when their ship has been hit. Ditto for seeing some poor sap instantly drop to the floor when Spock grabs his shoulder. Spock himself provides us with was certainly, at the time, and is probably still the most shocking moment in franchise history. It gives us a jolt because it goes against the rules of the franchise. Precisely for that reason, it works wonderfully. It elevates what was a good <em>ST</em> flick to being arguably the best cinematic entry in the canon.

<strong>MY SCORE: 8/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Star Trek Into Darkness
<strong>Directed by J.J. Abrams.</strong>
<em>2013. Rated PG-13, 132 minutes.
Cast:
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Zoe Saldana
Simon Pegg
John Cho
Anton Yelchin
Karl Urban
Benedict Cumberbatch
Bruce Greenwood
Peter Weller
Alice Eve
Leonard Nimoy</em>​

After an attack on a Federation building, all of the Fed’s captains and their first officers convene to discuss how to handle the situation. During this meeting, the same person responsible for the original attack strikes again, killing Cpt. Pike (Greenwood). None other than James T. Kirk (Pine) volunteers to take his prized ship, and its crew, to find this man and bring him to justice the Old Testament way: flooding his hind parts with torpedoes. Another voyage of the Starship Enterprise ensues.

In keeping with its immediate predecessor, 2009’s <em>Star Trek</em>, this one’s heavy on the action and the special fx that make it possible. Without question, it excels in these areas. The Enterprise goes through hell and looks good doing it. Stuff blows up real good and the stunts are exciting. This makes the whole movie feel big, brash, and lots of fun. As a result, the slightly over two hour run time goes by pretty quickly.

Also helping time fly by is the movie’s sense of humor. Most of this comes from Kirk and Scotty (Pegg). Their exchanges are fun, even when they’re supposed to be serious. This includes their conversations with other characters, as both actors play their roles with a wink and a nod. In Pine’s case it’s a nice mix of arrogance and the ability to not take himself too seriously that fits his character perfectly. In Pegg’s case, and in that of Karl Urban as Bones and Anton Yelchin as Chekov, what works are over the top impersonations of iconic figures. They seem to know the story isn’t about them; that they’re there merely as stand-ins for the actors who once played them and, therefore, must behave as we remember them. For the most part, it works. To her credit, Zoe Saldans continues to make Uhura her own. Unfortunately, she isn’t given anything to do this time around other than be pissed off at Spock (Quinto) for being an insensitive boyfriend.

Speaking of Spock, he seems to be the person this movie really hitches its wagon to. It spends much of the time between action sequences exploring the duality and complications of a man who is half-Vulcan and half-human. They play this right through to the end, even inverting the climax of its its most direct influence, <em>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan</em>, to do so. Zachary Quinto is perfect all along the way. Even though Chris Pine continues to do very well as Kirk, there are still other actors I can see in the captain’s chair. Quinto has made it so that I can see no one else playing Spock. Exceptions, of course, to Leonard Nimoy who has a pointless cameo here.

With regards to the actual plot, there are some issues. Namely our heroes, who are supposed to be the best and brightest the Federation has to offer make a succession of dumb decisions which only serve to move the story forward, not solve their problems. I realize this is the case in lots of movies, but it seems too many times I asked ‘why would you do that?’ Other things are a bit predictable. Then again, that may hinge on whether or not you’ve seen <em>Wrath of Khan</em> so I can let that slide. In spite of these things <em>Star Trek Into Darkness</em> is a fun ride that continues to strip the franchise of much of its pretentiousness in favor of self-deprecating humor wrapped in a cooler veneer.

<strong>MY SCORE: 7.5/10</strong>​

 

[dell71]

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
<strong>Directed by Lasse Hallström.</strong>
<em>2011. Rated PG-13, 107 minutes.
Cast:
Ewan McGregor
Emily Blunt
Kristin Scott Thomas
Amr Waked
Tom Mison
Rachael Stirling
Catherine Steadman
Tom Beard
Jill Baker</em>​

Yemeni Sheikh Muhammed (Waked) is an avid fisherman and called a visionary by Harriet (Blunt) who handles his affairs in Britain. She’s been tasked with helping him introduce salmon fishing to the Yemen. This is problematic because there are no salmon native to the region and the region doesn’t seem conducive to salmon. For help, she contacts expert Dr. Alfred Jones (McGregor). He assesses the situation and tells her to go suck an egg, more or less. However, he’s coerced into helping her by his superiors, themselves under pressure from Patricia Maxwell (Thomas), the Prime Minister’s press secretary. She’s desperately trying to find something to show that British-Yemeni/Islamic relations are improving and this seems to be the most viable option. To make it work, Dr. Jones and Harriet will have to work closely together on repeated business trips to the Yemen where they’ll stay at the Sheikh’s palace as the only two guests. In case you weren’t sure where this is going, the doctor’s marriage is on the rocks and Harriet’s boyfriend, a soldier who is sent to Afghanistan (“or somewhere”) goes missing-in-action. Cue romance.

The most striking thing about <em>Salmon Fishing in the Yemen</em> is its visuals. It’s no special fx extravaganza, but the area where the Sheikh does his fishing is beautiful. We get to see it from a number of angles, when it’s quiet and when water is raging through its alleys. Unfortunately, there’s an entire movie between those shots that isn’t nearly as riveting. It moseys along without any real sizzle until it tries to inject some late. Before then, McGregor fawns over Blunt because his wife only cares that he keeps his job so the mortgage will continue being paid. By the way, she’s got a high-paying jet-setting job herself. Meanwhile, Blunt goes from being charming to blubbering incessantly about her presumed dead boyfriend. Both performers turn in solid work, but things never get to the point where it makes us tell ourselves that we just have to see how this is going to turn out.

Two characters break up the monotony, but only one does it in a good way. Our sheikh is burdened with giving the movie depth. Sadly, he strains to do so before ultimately failing. He plans on using the whole fishing thing as a grand metaphor. We get it. It’s nothing to spend a lifetime pondering, but it’s okay on its own. What undermines it is the steady stream of Yoda-isms he drops in conversations. He sounds like a walking talking fortune cookie. On the other hand, Kristin Scott Thomas is of greater effect as the relentless brash press secretary. She’s funny and lively. The movie instantly gets better when she’s on the screen.

Eventually, Dr. Jones and Harriet’s relationship goes through some typical rom-com contrivances we see coming from miles away and the local, unapologetically Muslim contingent provides some opposition to the sheikh. The issue with the former is predictability. To be fair, suddenly going in an unexpected direction probably wouldn’t work for this movie so we can let this slide. More problematic is the latter. Despite all the lip-service paid to working on Britain’s relationship with Islamics, it comes across as hypocritical. It’s because “the other,” Muslims in this case, are painted as savages. The one who embraces our (western) ideals, the Sheikh, is automatically assumed to be better than the rest. In short, none of the other Muslims in the film are actually people, they’re just perpetually agitated agitators. They show up, grumble about what’s going on, make threats (or make good on them), and disappear.

That said, many of the movie’s problems would be forgivable, or at least less noticeable, in a better movie. As currently constructed, we’re never really enthralled with what’s going on. Worse yet, we’re often bored by it. The actors do what they can, but are hamstrung by the material. By the end, we’ve no choice but to nit-pick all the issues that pop up. <em>Salmon Fishing</em> is occasionally cute, even funny when Kristin Scott Thomas is running her mouth. However, it falls apart because we turn to scrutiny in lieu of the romantic thrills it can’t give us.

<strong>MY SCORE: 5/10</strong>​

 

[j.hen]

Barely mentioned the Cumberbatch in your Star Trek review :smh:

He stole the show every time he was on screen imo, what did you think of his performance?

 

[dell71]

I thought he was solid, felt menacing enough. He did steal many of his scenes. There just weren't enough of them because, truthfully, he was secondary to the story.

And he's no Ricardo Montalban. :smug:

 

[riley420]

I would like to suggest that you see "Mud." My wife and I saw it this past weekend never having heard of it....and we absolutely loved it. Highly recommended.

 

[dell71]

I would like to suggest that you see "Mud." My wife and I saw it this past weekend never having heard of it....and we absolutely loved it. Highly recommended.

I plan on seeing. I've heard a lot of good things about it.

 

[Senser81]

Dell, have you reviewed/seen a movie called "Goon"? Its a hockey movie with Stifler.

 

[dell71]

Dragon
AKA Wu Xia
<strong>Directed by Peter Chan.</strong>
<em>2011. Rated R, 115 minutes.
Cast:
Donnie Yen
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Wei Tang
Yu Wang
Kara Hui
Wu Jiang
Yu Kang
Li Jia-Min
Zheng Wei
Xiao Ran Li</em>​

As per the overwhelming norm, our story takes place in a small quite village in China. Our hero, Liu Jin-Xi (Yen), lives a nice life with his wife Ah Yu (Tang), and their two boys. He’s a prized employee at the local paper factory and couldn’t be happier. One day, a couple of thugs show up to rob his place of employment. After a spectacular struggle, the bad guys end up dead. The police and the mayor show up. Detective Xu Bai-Jiu (Kaneshiro) suspects our hero is hiding something. He’s right. The rest of the next two acts play out as a police procedural, with the detective figuring out what Liu’s past discretions may have been and working on a way to bring him to justice for them. So far, so good.

To be honest, it is really good to this point. There’s very little in the way of martial arts, but the dynamic between the two men is intriguing. The inspector has some problems of his own, is exceedingly cynical and has an existentialist thing going on where he routinely has out-of-body experiences. It works much better than it sounds. Meanwhile, Liu is growing more suspicious of the cop but bravely keeps up a happy veneer despite some of the highly questionable tactics used by the detective. It’s a well-played cat-and-mouse intertwined with a cute family story. And yes, it’s working toward all the fighting. So far, so good.

Unsurprisingly, it turns out some very bad people are after our hero. With all the fuss the inspector has raised, Liu’s location has come to their attention. Of course, the leader of this group, the 72 Demons, dispatches two of their own to bring Liu to him. They show up in town, he refuses to go with them and an amazing battle sequence takes place that involves leaping across rooftops, cows and a waterfall into a raging river. After he defeats these two we’re next told what we already know: The 72 demons won’t stop until they’ve either gotten Liu or killed him. Whew! Now the scene is set for way more kung-fu. So far, so good.

Okay, there’s been some questionable science going on this whole time. Chiefly, it involves being able to kill someone with one blow to the vagus nerve. Since this is pretty standard martial arts stuff, no big deal. However, it sets us up for what eventually derails the movie. I won’t go into detail on what that is. I’ll just say our hero twice, purposely hampers his ability to fight before the battle even starts. It’s so far beyond dumb, I was taken completely out of the movie because everything before this is fairly smart.

You know how sometimes when things are going great, something ridiculous happens that ruins your whole day. <em>Dragon</em> is a microcosm of that experience. I sat down to watch a martial arts flick. I’m not so naïve, or stuffy, to think I’d be witnessing a deeply human experience. After all, I grew up on this stuff. I wanted to see Donnie Yen kick some ass, whether or not lots of wire work is involved. He does and it is, but I was still sorely disappointed. The action that closes the movie isn’t bad, but by then I didn’t care anymore. And the night was going so well.

<strong>MY SCORE: 5.5/10</strong>​