The Movie Rambler has moved! Brand spanking new content from release information to DVD reviews and viral marketing games, trailers, stills and the same old movie reviews are all over at Blogger now. It's the same old wit you've come to expect in an easier to read and write format.
The Movie Rambler: http://themovierambler.blogspot.com
Also on Twitter! http://twitter.com/TMovieRambler
Whichever way you dice it, Crank just isn't my type of movie. However, Jason (what a great name) Statham has made a cottage industry unto himself by playing these types of roles in these types of movies. (See: The Transporter) And, if I may say so, he's not half bad on the eyes.
"In this high-octane sequel, hitman Chev Chelios’ (Statham) launches himself on an electrifying chase through Los Angeles in pursuit of the Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart. CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE is written and directed by Neveldine/Taylor, the duo behind the 2006 hit film CRANK, and the upcoming GAME starring Gerard Butler.
Jason Statham (THE TRANSPORTER, THE BANK JOB) returns to star as hitman Chev Chelios. Reprising their roles from the 2006 original are Amy Smart (ROAD TRIP, the upcoming MIRRORS) as Eve, Dwight Yoakam (SLING BLADE) as Doc Miles, and Efren Ramirez (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) as Venus. Rounding out the cast are Clifton Collins Jr. (CAPOTE, the upcoming STAR TREK prequel) and Bai Ling (RED CORNER, the upcoming LOVE RANCH).
The plot centers around a mother who, desperate to send her son to private school, opens a biohazard removal and cleaning service.
Adams entranced young and old alike as Giselle in Enchanted while Blunt faced off against Glenn Close in The Devil Wears Prada. Arkin is an Oscar winner for LMS (hmmm...another "sunshine" title for him...); Zahn famously bared his naked ass with Paul Walker in Joy Ride; Rajskub is known as Chloe O'Brien from 24 and Olsen currently has a recurring role on Brothers & Sisters.
Sin Nombre tells the story of Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a teenager living in Honduras, and hungering for a brighter future. A reunion with her long-estranged father gives Sayra her only real option – emigrating with her father and her uncle into Mexico and then the United States, where her father now has a new family.
Meanwhile, Casper, a.k.a. Willy (Edgar Flores), is a teenager living in Tapachula, Mexico, and facing an uncertain future. A member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang brotherhood, he has just brought to the Mara a new recruit, 12-year-old Smiley (Kristyan Ferrer), who undergoes a rough initiation.
While Smiley quickly takes to gang life, Casper tries to protect his relationship with girlfriend Martha Marlene (Diana García), keeping their love a secret from the Mara. But when Martha encounters Tapachula’s Mara leader Lil’ Mago (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), she is brutally taken from Casper forever.
Sayra and her relatives manage to cross over into Mexico. There, they join other immigrants waiting at the Tapachula train yards. When a States-bound freight train arrives one night, they successfully rush to board – riding atop it, rather than in the cars – as does Lil’ Mago, who has commandeered Casper and Smiley along to rob immigrants.
When day breaks, Lil’ Mago makes his move and Casper in turn makes a fateful decision. Casper must now navigate the psychological gauntlet of his violent existence and the physical one of the unforgiving Mara, but Sayra bravely allies herself with him as the train journeys through the Mexican countryside towards the hope of new lives.
Nearly 30 years after it's initial release, Friday the 13th looks antiquated, almost laughable, after recent horror thrillers like the Saw series. Acting can be a bit on the amateurish side, the gore effects are decidedly low-rent, the story is paper thin, the characters even more so. But who cares. This is the origin of a character which continues to haunt audiences the world over. F13 is a generic slasher film through and through with the bad "guy" knocking off the dim-witted teenagers in the woods one by one. More than the blood, maybe that's the appeal: seeing people the audience is clearly smarter than and superior to being impaled because they're in the wrong place at the wrong time.
One thing the script gets wrong is the identity of the killer. (Spoilers ahead...) The killer, it turns out, is Mrs. Voorhees, Jason's mother. She continues to seek revenge on people not affiliated with her son's supposed drowning. In terms of motivation, I guess it works in some roundabout, don't think about it too much way. But how mentally unhinged does this woman have to be in order to harbor this grudge roughly two decades after the first murders? She could have easily burned the camp down so no one could ever come again. But no. She decides to wreck havoc on kids who were barely born when the drowning took place. It makes little sense, if you must know the truth.
What else makes no sense? The complete idiocy with which the teens are written. To be fair, horror films in this subgenre weren't exactly en vogue in 1980 so even if they existed in the real world, there weren't many obvious examples of standard horror plot points. Don't go into a building alone. Don't run outside your cabin in the middle of the night in a bra and panties. Do grab anything you can to use as a weapon. Don't go exploring by yourself. Even though we might shout these things at the screen, the characters can't be 100% expected to think the same way.
Gigi (Goodwin) is infatuated with Conor (Kevin Connolly) after only one date. The problem is he's just not that into her, as evidenced by his lack of a call back. His friend, restaurant manager Alex (Justin Long) tries to give her advice on the mind of a man. Meanwhile, she gets conflicting information from coworkers Beth (Jennifer Aniston), longing for her longtime boyfriend Neil (Ben Affleck) to propose marriage, and Janine (Jennifer Connelly), seemingly happily married to Ben (Bradley Cooper), who has yoga instructor Anna (Scarlett Johansson). Did I mention Drew Barrymore's Mary? I didn't think so.
The trick with relationship films is to create characters any potential audience member can relate to regardless of their current status. And this is the first place HJNTIY succeeds. Each coupling and platonic friendship comes from a place of truth-mostly difficult truth, but truth nonetheless. An example comes fairly late in the production, when a revelation about Janine and Ben comes to light. It's completely unexpected, but at the same time feels completely in tune with the way the two interact. It also provides a reason for the worst act in the film.
The other key ingredient is a stellar cast-Goodwin excluded, thanks to her hopelessly naive and annoying character. They play their parts to perfection, never upstaging one another while sharing a scene and always fully aware they are in an ensemble production. Even though Anniston and Affleck are the marquee names, they get no more screentime than Long or Cooper. And what they all do with their allotted time verges on heartbreaking more often than not. Because of the way the characters are drawn and played, it's impossible not to feel every single emotion they run through. We know the pitfalls of their actions; on some level, I think they do too. Yet they continue on their merry way until they fall off the cliff. In this respect, they're no smarter or intuitively brilliant than of us in the real world.
A 129 minute running time may seem daunting for a relationship film. To be fair, it is one of the longer films in the genre, but never feels padded or overlong. No scene is extraneous to the plot since they all forward one of the many subplots in some way. Only a brief scene at the end of the film could have been trimmed between Beth and Neil. What keeps the film fresh is a constant cross cutting of characters and storylines, continually making the audience shift emotional gears. This way, we don't wallow on the negative or remain elated for too long a time.
Unlike the recent New in Town which telegraphed it's story within the first ten minutes, He's Just Not That Into You holds most of its cards until each plot reaches its organic climax, no pun intended. This way, the "important" parts are sprinkled from start to finish much in the same way they are sprinkled through life. And there are important parts for both sexes to pay attention to. Some will call it relationship clap trap or "the man is always wrong." Yeah, there is armchair relationship advice-it comes with the territory. Sometimes we need to see ourselves in a different light before we can make any kind of change.
Josh Tickell and his Veggie Van take us on the road as we discover the pros and cons of biofuels, how America’s addiction to oil is destroying the U.S. economy and how green energy can save us, but only if we act now.
Official Website
From the press release: From Henry Selick, visionary director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and based on Neil Gaiman’s international best-selling book, comes a spectacular stop-motion animated adventure – the first to be originally filmed in 3D!
Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) is bored in her new home until she finds a secret door and discovers an alternate version of her life on the other side. On the surface, this parallel reality is eerily similar to her real life and the people in it – only much better. But when this seemingly perfect world turns dangerous, and her other parents (including her Other Mother voiced by Teri Hatcher) try to trap her forever, Coraline must count on her resourcefulness, determination and bravery to escape this increasingly perilous world – and save her family.
The poster campaign, I’ll admit, is inspired.
Using the letters of the alphabet, each poster talks about the story.
Forget Wolverine, Transformers and GI Joe. I couldn't care less about Up! (right now). THE big movie of the summer comes May 8 in the form of Star Trek.
From the press release: "An exciting combination of action-packed crime thriller and family drama, The Enforcer stars action legend Jet Li (Forbidden Kingdom, The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) as an undercover Chinese agent sent to Hong Kong to bring down one of the region’s most nefarious criminals. When another officer is taken hostage, his cover begins to unravel, exposing him and those closest to him to grave danger."
Extras on the Special Collector’s Edition DVD include interviews and a commentary. The Enforcer is part of the Dragon Dynasty line from The Weinstein Company and Genius Products. Previous releases include Infernal Affairs 2 and 3, Police Story, Police Story 2 and Supercop.
