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Following the same sulfur-smoked path blazed by (former) greats such as Vin Diesel, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson marches his career boldly into oblivion by signing on the dotted line with the action star’s Great Satan . . . Disney.

This time Dark Lord Disney stages an unholy trinity of travesty by insulting the intelligence of the movie-going public with kitschy banter, offending the sensibilities of the entire sporting world by intoning that an athlete is incapable of balancing a family and a competitive entertainment profession, and decimating the career of a headlining superstar in the name of comedy.

Again, the descendants running Walt’s wicked whimsy machine seduce and derail a promising talent with dollar signs.

Bad, bad Disney. Poor, poor Dwayne.

Technorati Tags: The Game Plan, Disney, evil, Satan, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, The Rock

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Welcome to Hollyweird’s not-so-new cash cow . . . the mid-east war movie. In this iteration of entertainment exploiting an American tragedy in the name of good ol’ capitalism (because they don’t call it ‘The Industry’ for nothing), a misfit cast interprets an unlikely script to manipulate your heart rate, heart strings, and hard earned cash.

The most featured foible of this film is the cast. Apparently the director was on vacation during the solicitation process, and in his absence, the PA responsible for making calls learned that every serious, A-list contender for a headlining role was taking a hash break in Amsterdam, meditating with aliens, or filming a feature that didn’t exploit a travesty of US military politics. He then began selecting actors by walking through Wal-Mart and randomly aiming a laser pointer at the second feature of those DVD 2-paks that contain one movie you want but can’t find paired with a movie no sane person would ever purchase.

This is hardly the fault of the actors. Jamie Foxx certainly proved he had acting chops in ‘Ray’, but here he’s filling a role that was obviously written for Denzel. Jennifer Garner, though she admittedly looks great

in red leather

or a business suit,

simply isn’t an action flick chick if the box office take on ‘Elektra’ is any indication. Jermey Piven was a riot in ‘PCU’ and plays a spectacularly squirrelly fellow in ‘Entourage’, but as a US diplomat surrounded by armed men and Saudi royalty in a war-torn territory, we’re waiting for a joke that never comes, aside from the inherent incongruency of Piven in such a role. The cast isn’t incompetent, it just doesn’t fit the film.

That aside, the sparse story of US forces in a scenario of skepticism eventually earning the trust of the royal family amidst tragedy has been done to death. Yes, there will be the requisite excess of explosions and exaggerations of news footage with which we’ve been bombarded since 9/11 became marketable . . . Yes, there will be the small flares of tension due to cultural misunderstanding and misinterpretation . . . And yes, there will be the customary child’s life in danger, the pseudo-shocking allusions of abuse, the obligatory bond that develops between child and US representative, as well as the development of a relationship between the loving father and the US forces present to help . . . and yes, you’ll love this film . . . IF you’re into exploitative farcical fabrication.

Technorati Tags: The Kingdom, 9/11, war movie, middle east, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jeremy Piven, cash cow, Entourage, PCU, Ray, Elektra, Alias

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In a remarkably innovative attempt to make film feel educational (without going the way of Al Bore and Leo DeCapitato), Sony presents (brace yourself) a movie about a book based on fictitious people in a fictitious book club applying fictitious literature to life. Note that the movie is not actually about the literature, but rather about the group of people who read the literature according to the book upon which the film is based. Sure, it has the trappings of being a smart film, and it might even make you feel good about yourself for having watched a movie about a book about people who read books, but don’t be fooled. It’s still just a Hollyweird fluff film about women trying to find themselves and find love amidst the tangle of relationships and sex while bitching about their friends, crying in their pajamas, eating ice cream - and of course, referencing the books that seemingly excuse their behavior.

Is it a great cast? Yes. Do they deliver great performances? Most likely. Does the subject matter deliver the illusion of intelligent art? Indeed it does. Nonetheless, it is what it is . . . an elaborate chick flick masquerading as clever entertainment.

Also of note is the WWJD variant featured in the trailer, ‘What Would
Jane Do?’. In the case of this film, a more appropriate expansion of
the acronym would likely be ‘Whiny Women Journaling Depression’.

Technorati Tags: Jane Austen, Book Club, literature, film, book, chick flick, WWJD

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Legends of violence, criminal masterminds, murderers, outlaws, psychopaths, and maniacal sociological predators - first told as stories, later written in books, and now presented on celluloid - hold a fascination for humanity, most likely due to the dichotomy of the perpetrators’ relationship to the general population.  They walk, talk, and carry the outward appearance of men and women we know, yet their minds and behaviors translate as devoid of human emotion, compassion, morality, or logic.  These are a race of people who have escaped the confines of civility - or who have learned to construct their own freedom from within the appearance of those boundaries.  Most often the stories focus upon the crimes and aberrations themselves . . . but not this film.

‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ intones the life of Jesse James as a man . . . a father and a friend, an intelligent, rational being with personality, emotion, and purpose - though still in the context of the planning of his next crime.  Nonetheless, the deviant is found not in James’ behavior, but in his companion, the character of Robert Ford, a young man obsessed more with the legend of James than James as a man . . . obsessed to the point that while his actions would traditionally classify him a hero, his motivations reveal him to be less conscionable than James himself.

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Technorati Tags: Jesse James, Assassination, Robert Ford, heist

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Miss Foster, your inconsistencies are showing.  We first noticed them when your accent continually morphed during ‘Silence of the Lambs’.  Sure, we were a bit less educated as a movie-going public in the early 80’s, but still we noticed.  However, it’s a more principled question that arises as we see the release of ‘The Brave One’.  It was conflictingly reported that you turned down the reprisal of the Starling role in the film ‘Hannibal’ either because you did not like the ending as written and felt it untrue to the character (certainly a fair explanation given that actors inherently know better the behavior of their characters than the writers who create them), or possibly because you no longer wanted to be associated with such films.  We would have to assume the former to be true for the sake of integrity, given that starring in a vengeance-killing film such as this one is hardly wholesome entertainment fair.

That said, The Brave One certainly promises to deliver on the dramatic and personal fulfillment fronts, and Miss Foster’s performance looks to be genuine in spite of being familiar.  The trailer itself evokes a decidedly emotional response and leaves plenty of room for character development given the small cast and simple plot concept.  We likely won’t remember it in ten years as anything other than ‘Hey, what was that film Jodie Foster was in where she killed a guy to get her dog back?’, and there won’t be accolades from the academy, but it’s as solid a piece of celluloid as Hollyweird has rolled out in three months or better, and is hopefully an indication that fall will quickly drop the fluff of the blockbuster season and produce some films worth watching.

Technorati Tags: The Brave One, Jodie Foster, Hannibal, Starling, dog, blockbuster

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