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The Hunt for Eagle One movie

  • Author: admin
  • Filed under: Action
  • Date: Mar 28,2008

“The Hunt for Eagle One”, which comes with the notoriety of being produced by the legendary (or is that infamous?) Roger Corman, stars Mark Dacascos, who I have always found to be terribly affable. It’s hard not to like the guy, just as I generally find movies starring Jason Scott Lee or Bruce Campbell to be better (or at least more bearable) because it stars those men. In “Eagle One”, Dacascos plays Lt. Matt Daniels, a Marine leading an assault on the hideout of a Filipino terrorist, when he’s diverted to rescue downed female pilot Theresa Randle behind enemy lines. Meanwhile, Rutger Hauer earns a nice paycheck by chomping on a cigar and appearing onscreen intermittently from the comforts of a couple of movie sets.

Although you’ve probably never heard of him, “The Hunt for Eagle One’s” real star is director Brian Clyde, who directs the film’s many action scenes with great skill despite what must have been a low budget. (Corman is notorious for his low, low, low budgets, preferring to toss in stock footage from his extensive vault of past films rather than pay for new ones.) So given the film’s pedigree as a Corman film, it’s a wonder that “Eagle One” looks, and is as good as it is. In fact, Clyde should make copies of “Eagle One” and spread it around Hollywood , because given a bigger budget, this guy could pull off “Saving Private Ryan” without breaking a sweat.

It’s no coincidence that I mention “Saving Private Ryan”, because “Eagle One” is basically a retread of Spielberg’s film; or as Tarantino puts it, “Guys go on a mission” movies. To wit: a group of soldiers must march behind enemy lines to rescue one of their own, the mission not of their own undertaking, but to safeguard the job of their boss, General Lewis (Hauer). To that end, Daniels has to take his men deep into the Filipino jungle, battling guerillas/terrorists as they go. Meanwhile, Randle’s Amy Jennings is convinced that her captor wants to keep her alive for reasons unknown. We also hear Randle’s voiceover narration, which is a bad idea, as it undermines any tension the film might have generated from the question of whether Daniels will reach Jennings in time or not. After all, if the woman is narrating her own story, she must have survived her captivity, right?

Fans of action movies should know that “The Hunt for Eagle One” offers up great entertainment value for the buck. As for everything else… Well, let’s just say B-action movies shouldn’t try to make political statements, because they generally come through as clich’s. The Evil Corporation, the Big Bad Government Conspiracy, etc. Having been kidnapped by American-hating terrorists, Jennings is of course subjected to inane slogans, is called infidel a lot, and has to listen to promises of destruction on America and all that other good stuff guys like Osama Bin Laden seems to read out of a pamphlet like mindless robots everytime someone puts a camera to their face. And I could be wrong, but writer Michael Henry Carter seems to be making a joke at the expense of military “intelligence”.

But the above are minor quibbles, as the film barely spends any time on them, which in this case is a good thing. Clocking in at a breezy 85 minutes, “The Hunt for Eagle One” zips by in a hail of bullets, jungle fatigues, and terrorist clich’s. On the downside, the quick running time also means little characterization, and for the entire film I was never sure how many men Daniels had in his squad. There is Daniels, a Filipino translator, the explosives guy, and the sniper, who is also black. I believe there are about a half dozen more people in Daniels’ squad, but I could be wrong, as they seem to come and go at will. Or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. Let’s go with the latter.

Star Mark Dacascos doesn’t have very much to do by way of acting, although he certainly plays the skilled soldier well enough, owed more to his physicality than anything. Theresa Randle doesn’t quite convince as the downed pilot, and in the scenes where she’s required to hold a weapon, Randle looks terribly uncomfortable. And while director Brian Clyde spins gold out of pennies for the most part, even he can’t overcome all of the film’s budgetary constraints. In the film’s climactic battle, the Filipino army storms the terrorist’s hideout while aided by artillery. Curiously, one can’t help but notice that all those artillery shells never seem to land on the terrorist’s main building. They must have just rented the building, I suppose.

For an action film on a budget, “The Hunt for Eagle One” is more than decent entertainment. A bigger budget and longer shooting schedule, not to mention about 30 extra minutes added to the running time, would have fleshed out the characters and the political situation in the Philippines . To be sure, the script for “Eagle One” doesn’t show much interest in being substantive on a geopolitical level, not that anyone should notice, as that particular niche is currently filled up by Hollywood ala “Syriana” and others. Which leaves you to wonder what Brian Clyde and company could have done with “Syriana’s” budget… Hopefully, we’ll get to find out one day.

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Human Traffic movie

  • Author: admin
  • Filed under: Comedy, Drama
  • Date: Mar 28,2008

One question: Why the hell are critics comparing this movie to Trainspotting and Go? To American critics, I guess the Trainspotting comparisons seem valid because the characters have funny British accents and do lots of drugs. The Go comparisons are likely spewing out because both films feature a rave. Okay, but so what?

Human Traffic shows us one weekend in the lives of five UK pals. For 48 hours every week, they’re allowed to break away from the monotony of their demeaning and low-paying nine-to-fives. Like our main character Jip (John Simm) says, “All that exists now is dubs, drugs, pubs, and parties…we’re gonna get more spaced out than Neil Armstrong ever did.” And that, they do.

Let’s meet the characters, shall we?

Jip is currently suffering from a sexual paranoia of sorts, resulting in “Mr. Floppy” whenever he’s about to get really intimate with a girl. Jip’s mom is a prostitute, and whenever he goes to visit her, he usually has to sit downstairs and wait while she finishes up with a client. Jip has been friends with Lulu (Lorraine Pilkington) for years, but she can’t seem to find a decent guy anywhere. Koop (Shaun Parkes) is a wanna-be DJ who gets madly jealous every time his girlfriend Nina (Nicola Reynolds) so much as talks to another guy. Moff (Danny Dyer) is unemployed and uses drugs to ignore the fact that he’s on a road to nowhere.

Their weekend will consist of getting high, going to a rave and a party, and coping with the day after. Friendships will be reevaluated, discoveries made, and one or more of them may come to a conclusion that may push their life into a new direction. Yes, yes, you’ve seen this kind of plotless youth-driven storyline many times before — Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused immediately comes to mind — but Human Traffic has a joyful exuberance that makes it wonderfully enjoyable despite its familiarity (or maybe even because of it). And it doesn’t hurt that the cast is immensely likable, either.

First-time writer-director Justin Kerrigan spices up the proceedings with some excitingly surreal flourishes. The morning after a night of partying, for instance, Moff is forced to sit through a meal with his family and he imagines that he can fastforward and rewind his jabbering parents with a remote control.

The friendships in Human Traffic are realistic, funny, and even touching. You don’t get to know some of the characters here as well as you’d like to, but it sure is fun hanging out with them.

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The Human Stain movie

  • Author: admin
  • Filed under: Action
  • Date: Mar 28,2008

American entertainment has long been pained with the racist history that mars it’s Vaudeville, radio, and early television years. Minstrel shows, Amos and Andy, and nearly everything in between came with the satisfaction that the inadequacies of blacks were funny, but just as long as no blacks played themselves.

Like Spike Lee’s Bamboozled (or maybe even Carl Reiner’s The Jerk), Philip Roth’s novel The Human Stain attempted to deal with these levels of racial profiling in today’s mores. In the case of Roth, the traditions he wants to question are built around sanctimoniousness, especially that begat by a maddeningly political correct society and a political machine that nearly debunked democracy over the Clinton sex scandal.

The film version of the novel, directed by Robert Benton, hasn’t quite the same incisiveness as Roth had, partly because the whole film feels uneven as it tries desperately to touch on the many facets of the source while attempting to make it accessible to a large audience. Sometimes a filmmaker can succeed at this — just look at The English Patient and L.A. Confidential — but too often, like here, the weight of 300 pages of text cannot be completely recreated in a feature length film.

However, The Human Stain remains respectable throughout. Roth’s underlying themes are still alive, if muddled, and their punch isn’t completely dulled. Benton, a director-writer whose credits include Kramer vs. Kramer and Nobody’s Fool has the know-how to guide his work through the meanings of Roth even if he never fully realizes those meanings.

Framing his treatise on Clinton-era sanctimony, Roth tells of a classics professor at a tiny Vermont college, Coleman Silk (Hopkins), who finds himself in a scandal when he asks if two absentee students are “spooks.” This being a racial epithet and the students being black (a fact be unlikely knew), means that then faculty board wants to save face by getting rid of him even though it’s his work that put the school back on the map if important higher education. Instead of entering a fight that might raise too many skeletons from his closet, Silk resigns his position and, after his wife is killed by a stroke, decides to write a book about the political correctness gone awry that murdered his wife.

But what skeletons are these that he was so afraid to admit to? Since this is integral to the duration of the film past these opening moments, writing about the film would be impossible without unveiling them prematurely. Any reader still intent on seeing The Human Stain without having this knowledge ahead of time (which is the best way to see the film) should cease reading now.

Silk’s mighty secret is that, unbeknownst to his wife, friends, students, and colleagues, he is black. Born light-skinned in a poor African American family, he decided that his only chances for career and personal happiness would be to present himself as a Jew. In the form of young actor Wentworth Miller, collegiate Silk is completely believable as being Jewish (Miller is biracial). But, looking at the Silk who commands the screen in the film’s 1998 scenes (the Monicagate scandal is often in the background), a broken man unable to admit to himself who he is, the career and personal happiness he thought were more affordable as a white man have remained all the while unattainable.

Enter Faunia Farley (Kidman), a barely literate janitor who gets entangled in an affair with Silk. Her background is one of further personal disgrace. Born into an affluent family, she was disturbed by its avarice and wastefulness, finding a lower-class lifestyle more suitable. Even in the novel, which is ten times better than the film, the character becomes more of a preoccupation for the author to direct some inner meaning without making it too apparent. Whatever façade of storytelling, though, is lost in the casting of Kidman, who never fully drops the fact that she is Nicole Kidman, The Star. This is her Oscar-push performance of the year, and the fact that she’s making it so clear isn’t very helpful when the character is supposed to be built of modesty.

What I liked about The Human Stain is that it remains true to Roth even if little of the film completes his endeavor towards understanding ourselves. The film may be the most uneven work of the year, but surrounding that unevenness is nirvana.

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Human Nature movie

  • Author: admin
  • Filed under: Comedy
  • Date: Mar 28,2008

An adaptation of Charlie Kaufman’s script produced by Spike Jonze, the duo behind Being John Malkovich, Human Nature could only mean an odd hurlyburly film. Only halfway successful since director Michel Gondry makes a hirsute comedy led by a solid cast that nonetheless loses its breath over the length of the film.

Tim Robbins is Nathan Bronfman, a researcher obsessed with good manners whose project is “to civilize” a wild man, Puff (Rhys Ifans). Patricia Arquette plays Nathan’s girlfriend Lila Jute, an abnormally hairy woman who is divided between her desire of normality and her true nature.

As understood, the film is constructed around two antagonisms: that of the nature and civilization found in Puff and the human nature and appearance that affects Lila. While Human Nature clearly pokes fun at modern civilization, it is not however a humanistic fable. Nathan symbolizes the superficial character of modern society. His definition of the perfect man—erudite, cultured and refined—quickly turns out to be a tedious snobbery that cannot truly serve as a model. On the other hand, the final twist also shows that utopia is not a solution but rather a lure for the naive. Far from preaching a return to nature, Human Nature opts instead for an adaptation of society’s mold without erasing the cave man that lies dormant in us.

While the film has without any doubt the touch of madness that seems to characterize Charlie Kaufman’s work, it is neither as cerebral nor as original as Being John Malkovich. The topics tackled were already treated in films as diverse as Truffaut’s Wild Child, Todd Brownings’ Freaks or the unpalatable The Loss of Sexual Innocence by Mike Figgis. The movie also seems to surf the current wave of vulgar American films. One thinks of the Farrelly Brothers or American Pie.

Human Nature also sins by a deceleration of rhythm halfway through. In his first directing effort, Michel Gondry—a defector of music video (Bjork, Daft-Punk, Rolling Stones, IAM.) and advertising (Nike, Gap, Coke) who is rather accustomed to fast editing following musical rhythm, fails to sustain the audience’s attention in the less “glorious” moments. It fact it succeeds better in wacky or explosive scenes. The four main actors know how to spice up an already spicy script. Their performance is a treat and makes the most insane moments even more delectable. One can only admire the naturalness of Patricia Arquette and Rhys Ifans who say their wacky lines naked. One Arquette deserves to be saluted for taking risks antipodal to the usual Hollywood path. Ifans, of Notting Hill fame, confirms his stature as the crank of current cinema. Tim Robbins does not deprive himself either while Miranda Otto is a perfect false ingenue.

Human Nature is perhaps not a total success but it deserves to be seen for its daring in such a soft cinematic landscape.

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Hulk movie

  • Author: admin
  • Filed under: Action
  • Date: Mar 28,2008

Okay, so “The Hulk” is finally out and I’ll try to keep this short and sweet as to not give away too much.

I have to admit, this film will be hard to review because, bottom line, it’s extremely hard to categorize. In a nutshell, Ang Lee has given us something unlike any other superhero film has delivered up till now. “The Hulk” stars Eric (Chopper) Bana as repressed scientist Bruce Banner, Jennifer Connelly once again as the hot girl who likes introverted scientist types – Betty, Nick “I’m fucking crazy” Nolte as Banner’s “I’m fucking crazy” father and Sam Elliot as Betty’s father, who happens to be head of the United States armed forces. This film has been described as a $150 million dollar family drama and that’s pretty accurate. It’s essentially a four member relationship circle where Bana is the one who contracts the ability to turn into a one man tornado, Nolte is the sick bastard who put him in that position and wields this power of genetic mutation like a kid with a gun, Connelly who is the only one who can cure poor Bana, and Sam Elliot who uses all the nations nuclear and tactical capabilities the way we’d order a pizza to stop Bana.

That said, the real star of the film is not the Hulk really, but Ang Lee himself. This film is a purely visceral experience. Think ‘good’ Sam Raimi (Evil Dead 2, The Gift) and not ‘hack’ Sam Raimi (Kevin Costner baseball movie, Spider-Man). It uses the metaphor of dreams throughout the picture and literally feels like a dream. He edits like a deranged comic book madman. Within one-minute of dialogue, Lee will literally try as many crazy wipes as George Lucas used on one entire “Star Wars” film. Lee has made a conscious decision to take his audience on a psychedelic hazy trip through Bruce Banner’s confused life and like he himself, you don’t always understand exactly what’s going on.

Okay, now the goods! I will say that it takes about an hour for Banner to finally turn into the Hulk and during that time, Lee weaves a long set up of character and mystery that isn’t exactly audience pleasing, but slow and simply real. THEN BANNER GETS PISSED! And BOOM! The Hulk comes to life with some of the most beautiful action sequences ever captured in an effects based film. YES, during close- ups the Hulk does look pretty fake, but when he is being a badass Lee preferred a documentary feel where the Hulk is beautifully large, clumsy and REAL! The fight sequences will leave you feeling exhausted and happy. The focus of the action is the little details. Remember how great the Cave Troll was in Lord of the Rings? It was because it looked and acted like a real being that has thoughts and emotions. This isn’t X-Men, Spider-Man or Daredevil. It never feels choreographed or “cool” and we never hear a song by P.O.D. or Staind singing about “flying hiiiiiigh!”

With that said, the film’s finale continues the family circle dynamic with earth shattering results that is dream like and TOTALLY artsy-fartsy, but at the same time really, really balsy.

Even having read this review I guarantee you will all walk out of the theatre scratching your head thinking, “What was that?” And I give Mr. Ang Lee credit for that. I can’t imagine any director asking for this much money to make this kind of film and for nothing else I thank him for that, but don’t get me wrong, “THE HULK” KICKS ASS! You will definitely get your summer ass kicked with this one. Is it better than X2? In the long run, probably not, but this is a completely different beast – it’s the Hulk damnit!

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The Hudsucker Proxy movie

When writing a review column that focuses on telling people, especially parents, what elements in a current movie may have positive or negative effects on their children, you are often hard pressed to fit a movie like The Hudsucker Proxy into a category at all. Yet it attempts to tell a story that might have some attraction for teens, but will be as boring as watching grass grow for the under 12 group.

This is a movie based on many of the popular screwball comedies that originated in the 1930’s. A “screwball comedy” is packed full of wisecracking dialogue, frenzied action, and usually has opulent sets and production design to make up the effect. Ethan and Joel Coen, the two young brothers that produced and directed this movie, thrive on recreating earlier film styles into new titles.

Hudsucker tells the fictitious tale of the invention of the Hula-Hoop by a bright young mailroom clerk that works for a monstrous bureaucracy of which we are not sure what they produce. Two people wind up jumping out of windows in this film, but otherwise there is not much violence, little sexual content (a passionate kiss, and a short dream sequence where a girl dances around in a black item of some sort), and a few mild profanities. There also isn’t much plot, story, or any other reasons to take two hours to watch this movie.

What Hudsucker Proxy does have is stunning visual sets, all based on a 1930’s Art Deco style. As wonderful as the images are, after thirty minutes, they become boring and you start yearning for more story and less stupidity. The video box says the movie follows a Frank Capra style. Capra was known for movies that had a strong overall message. I kept waiting for the message in Hudsucker, and I’m still waiting. Overall, The Hudsucker Proxy provides a quick feast for the eyes and a famine for the brain.

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How to Make an American Quilt movie

  • Author: admin
  • Filed under: Drama, Romance
  • Date: Mar 1,2008

Time is a tricky mistress in “How to Make an American Quilt,” a touching new film directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse (”Proof”), starring a host of high-octane actresses.

The ostensible theme, how women love men, is as old as Eden. The look of the film is deceptive: Though set in the ’90s, “Quilt” could be taking place in the ’60s or even the ’40s. Flashbacks look modern. The present seems dated. The character played by Winona Ryder wears an antique skirted swimsuit to the community pool. Her seventysomething grandmother and great-aunt share marijuana with her. The light, the music, the conversations—revolving around love and marriage and infidelity and forgiveness—all swirl together to give the moviegoer a marvelous sense of timelessness.

It’s a story also of our particular time.

Finn (Ryder) is a 26-year-old graduate student at Berkeley. When her boyfriend, Sam (Dermot Mulroney), asks her to marry him, she balks. Instead of saying yea or nay, she takes the summer to work on her master’s thesis and make the big decision. Seeking refuge, and counsel, she moves into the Grasse, Calif., home of her great-aunt Glady Joe (Anne Bancroft) and her maternal grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn). What she finds is a circle of seasoned, self-possessed women all too willing to share their thoughts and life experiences.

Led by Anna (artfully played by poet Maya Angelou), each woman in the Grasse Quilting Bee, which includes Hy, Glady Joe, Em (Jean Simmons), Sophia (Lois Smith), Constance (Kate Nelligan) and Anna’s daughter, Marianna (Alfre Woodard), fashions a piece of cloth that shows “where love resides.” Together the swatches will make a wedding quilt for Finn.

The movie is an elegant collage of the stories behind these squares. For the most part, the tales are well told and well acted.

In one remembrance, Hy’s husband is dying. She calls on her brother-in-law, Arthur (Rip Torn), to pick her up at the hospital. They drive into the countryside. She says she wants to lie down. She rests on an old blanket under a tree. A small green leaf falls on the front of her white blouse. Arthur lifts it off. She reaches up and pulls him toward her. They kiss and the camera fades.

Glady Joe knows them both well. That evening she smells her sister’s perfume on her husband’s clothes. She goes ballistic and begins smashing every whatnot on her shelves.

She uses the shards of porcelain and glass to decorate several walls in the house.

In another recollection, Marianna meets the man of her dreams in a Paris cafe. He’s handsome. He’s a poet. And he’s already spoken for. He gives her a poem about old lovers finding meaning in the shreds of their lives.

Finn is torn between her boyfriend, Sam, and her summertime lover, Leon (Johnathon Schaech), who is constantly offering her ripe strawberries.

The movie is rich with imagery and metaphor. Some of it is lovely and subtle—the fallen green leaf, succulent red strawberries, a dead husband’s electric shaver. And some of it is heavy-handed—a crow that leads to love, the wall spackled with pieces of broken glass, water water everywhere and, of course, the quilt itself.

The film has its flaws. Occasionally the pace is too fast. Now and then Moorhouse tries to do too much—tell too many stories, juggle too many characters. Most of the men come off as fools, beloved infidels who can’t help catting around. But this isn’t a movie about men. It’s about women and the shreds and shards and squares that they must piece together into a life.

Adapting Whitney Otto’s stilted, self-conscious novel, Jane Anderson has written a confident screenplay; the result is a warm, comforting movie for sisters and daughters and mothers and aunts. And for the men who love them.

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