Twilight, the new film based on the popular book series by Stephanie Meyer, is a film that’s made primarily for three groups of people: Fans of the books, teen girls and gay boys. It’s dark, broody, overly emotional, and broody. Yes, I said ‘broody’ twice. Trust me, it’s no accident.

Since I haven’t read the book and I’m not a teen girl, I guess I’ll have to confess that I’m squarely in the third category of the intended target of the film. It’s a pity I didn’t like the film nearly as much as my partner, but I guess it’s more his kind of movie. Yes, plenty of girls and young women will drag their dates and boyfriends into the movie, but this is unquestionably a vampire-boy-chick-flick. Think Interview with the Vampire without Tom Cruise’s Lestat and throw in the “I’m not afraid to be close to a bloodthirsty predator” emo girl, and you’ve got Twilight.

What makes the film work is that it, like Troy, recognizes its target audience, and knows what they want: love story that has the sap oozing through each frame of the film, all-too-beautiful male stars who stir the hearts, plenty of unrequited passion, and enough tension to keep their interest. Throw in a few shirtless men and a good fight scene where one baddy vamp fights the good-guy vamp over the girl, and you have a fan-pleasing masterpiece. It’s too bad the rest of the audience isn’t all that interested. Read more »

Walt Disney’s Bolt fills the need for a fun family film over the Thanksgiving holiday perfectly, and manages to provide solid entertainment for young and old. Imagine a film that’s a mix of The Truman Show (1998), Underdog (2007), and a little bit of Cats & Dogs (2001), and you pretty much have the plot for this new pound of pixelated puppy pleasure.

Bolt, directed by the dual team of Byron Howard and Chris Williams, tells the story of the title pooch who lives in a world where he actually believes that he is a super-powered dog with a constantly endangered master named Penny (Miley Cyrus), a girl whose father is kidnapped by the deliciously evil Dr. Calico (love those evil kitty references, especially when they’re voiced by Malcolm McDowell).

In true Disney style, all of the animals can talk when they’re not around humans, so Bolt ( voiced by John Travolta) is able to share verbal jabs with his feline nemeses (who are in on the act — they love to taunt their co-star, even though it’s all a TV show). Read more »

Daniel Craig returns as Bond in Quantum of Solace, the 22nd film of the long-running British film series, once again proving his ability to carry the weight of a role that’s already been played by nearly half a dozen other actors. Casino Royale (2006) successfully — and triumphantly — rebooted the tired Bond series with critics and audiences alike comparing Craig to Sean Connery, whom many consider to be the best of all of the Bonds. It’s a pity that Solace never fully emerges from Casino‘s very long shadow.

Clearly, Craig’s performance as the womanizing sexist bastard who happens to be the world’s ultimate assassin is turning heads, with some critics even daring to commit the ultimate blasphemy by suggesting that Craig’s bond even outshines Connery’s.

This is not to say that Solace is a great film. In fact, even though it’s nearly non-stop action from start to finish, there’s very little time for the audience to breathe. Solace begins mere minutes after the events of Casino Royale, so if you haven’t refreshed your memory by watching Royale lately, you’re likely to be both confused and bewildered by the opening sequence of the film, if not the film itself. Read more »

While the naysayers of Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D will point to its 1959 classic predecessor, the new film succeeds in nearly everything it attempts. The only real down side is the fact that never really aspires to be more than a fun 3D escapist romp. To be sure, Journey has at least two major hurdles to overcome: the first film which starred Pat Boone, and the novel by Jules Verne.

Like a lot of films that languished for years in development hell, Journey met with its own bumps and twists, but those two major obstacles would have to be dealt with. In what is a classic modern avoidance tactics, script writers Michael Weiss, Jennifer Flackett, and Mark Levin chose to simply bypass both by referring to a world of “Verneians,” where certain people believe that Verne wrote his book based on fact, not fiction. Although I’m tempted to find out if such a group of people really exists, it’s just not that interesting an idea to pursue, so I’ll just move on.

Such illustrates both the success and the flaws of the film. By not giving into the challenge of adapting a 19th century story to the 21st century, director Eric Brevig is able to work free of any imposing need to meet expectations. This is a good thing, since clearly expectations are not really that high to begin with. Journey is Brevig’s first film as director, and took the helm with more than two decades of experience as a visual effects supervisor of a wide range of films including effects-heavy films like Scrooged (1988), Total Recall (1990), Hook (1991), Peter Pan (2003), and The Day After Tomorrow (2004).

Read more »

Before I spend any significant time in pontificating on just how bad The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (hereafter Mummy 3) really is, I should confess that I have a certain amount of fanboy affection for Brendan Fraser. It’s hard for me to not like one of his films. Alas, in the case of Mummy 3, the film really borders on a level of asinine that makes for downright painful viewing. Even my fondness for Fraser’s presence on the big screen doesn’t save this atrocity from the depths of total celluloid depravity.

Director Rob Cohen takes over the reins from Stephen Sommers, who helmed the first two films. Cohen’s style of storytelling clearly wanted to capture some of the apparent nostalgia of the first two Mummy films. Only there’s one big problem – it’s only been seven years since the last one, and the first two films really weren’t all that great to begin with.

SPOILER WARNING: I’ve long had a personal policy of spoiler-free reviews, but I’ll have to make an exception in this case because it’s just THAT bad.

Try to imagine, if you can, a scene where massive, overly-animated Yeti pounce on the villains only to kick one of the poor heavies over a roof in an impromptu football field goal, with the obligatory referee’s hand sign. If you think such a scene is an exercise of brilliant humor, then there’s not really much hope for you—you’ll probably love this movie. The rest of us will roll our eyes nearly out of their sockets.

Read more »

« Previous entries Next entries »