Featured New Release Poll- 3/11

These next couple of weeks have a recurring theme at the box office; that's right, it is alien season at the local cineplex!

This week sees Battle: Los Angeles square off against Mars Needs Moms. One is a gritty action movie in the vein of Independence Day, the other features a motion capture performance by Seth Green as a rambunctious 9 year old. We'll leave it up to you which is which.

Also in the mix this week is a twist on Red Riding Hood, directed by Twilight's Catherine Hardwicke and starring Amanda Seyfried.

Winner: Rango

Wasn't much of a contest as Johnny Depp's Rango easily beat out the competition.

Have to say I am glad this one won, I am intrigued with the way they made it (filming Depp and the other actors, recording their audio performances, and animating over the visuals) and the CG effects looks very impressive as well.

Featured New Release Poll- 3/4

This week makes up for the lack of highly anticipated releases last week... here we have four big ones with A-list talent, big budgets, or impressive animation.

The Adjustment Bureau features Matt Damon as a political candidate who uncovers a big-brother organization attempting to control his fate.

Next is Beastly, a modern day retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Vanessa Hudgins, Alex Pettyfer, and one of the Olsen twins (I know right?).

The long awaited Rango fills the third slot. Johnny Depp voices the eponymous Chameleon, a timid sort of lizard who winds up as the sheriff of a lawless Wild West town populated by various animated critters.

Take Me Home Tonight is the final film this week, an '80s buddy comedy with Topher Grace and Anna Faris.

Haven't had a poll this big for a while, go vote!

Winner: Hall Pass

Hall Pass won last week's abysmal poll, which is probably good because if history is any indicator Nicolas Cage's Drive Angry might not stay in theaters long enough for me to have seen it. Will be nice to see a comedy, here's hoping it is actually, you know, funny.

Unknown

I am writing this review half asleep, but that shouldn't matter, and in fact it may be fitting for this film, because Liam Neeson looked like he was generally half asleep while making it.

I'm not saying that Unknown is a BAD movie, only that it could have been much much better.

The action starts with Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) and his wife Elizabeth (January Jones) arriving in Berlin for a biological conference of some kind. A luggage mishap sends Martin back towards the airport when a car crash derails his vacation plans and sends his reality spinning.

It seems that a coma has dropped Martin Harris off the face of the Earth. He finds his wife, who doesn't recognize him and is married to a man who has assumed his identity. Martin must unravel the mystery of who he is, or was; is his situation the result of a brain injury, or is he caught up in a sinister plot?

I checked the film out with my friends Jeff, Casey, and Greyson. While we were somewhat divided on how we felt about the film overall, we all agreed on what was wrong with it, so I'll start there. (I think a simple Pros/Cons list should be easy enough at this hour...)

Cons:

1. It is Stupid

Specifically, the ending is stupid. Without giving too much away, there is at one point a giant digital clock attached to... something...(use your imagination) which is completely and ridiculously unnecessary.

Besides that, the viewer is required to take a few too many leaps of faith for my liking.

Also I'd like to point out that, while the marketing team for Unknown would like you to believe it is an action packed thriller, there are only very few adrenaline-soaked moments. Mostly, Martin goes about uncovering the mystery the peaceful (read: boring) way. You know, running around Berlin, telling his crazy story to anyone who will listen.

2. January Jones

Ouch. She was really bad in this. Jeff pointed out a moment in the film, when Martin has tracked her down, that the audience (the one's who didn't watch the trailer anyway) learns that she no longer recognizes him. She did that little head tilt to the side, you know like a dog? Here I'll just show you:




I still to this day have not seen Jones project any emotion in a role other than icy ruthlessness. She's beautiful and all, but seriously, it might be time to hang it up. She hasn't improved since the 2003 Adam Sandler flick Anger Management, which says a lot.

She wasn't alone in this film though... most of the acting was pretty subpar, even from Liam and Inglourious Basterd's Diane Kruger.

3. The Corny Subplot

If you've seen the movie, you get it.



Ok, it's time for...

Pros:

1. High Production Value

The writers and actors may have phoned it in, but the production crew tried their darndest to make up for it. For the most part the movie looks and sounds great. At this point in film making history, anything not shot exclusively in front of a green-screen is good in my book. This movie gets props for using real locations in Berlin, and having actual sets with pretty good set design.

Take a decent, extended action sequence and some fairly well done "trippy" parts, and the filmmakers could have had a good movie on their hands. Oh well.

2. Bruno Ganz

Ganz, who played in one of my favorite movies, Wings of Desire, is the lone acting standout. Jurgen, an ex-Stasi private detective, is an early ally for Harris, and helps him piece the mystery together. This sickly old man provided pretty much the only tension I felt in the film, while waiting for the tottering, coughing old man to suddenly keel over in every shot.


3. SPOILER ALERT!!




January Jones got blown up.




The film is entertaining enough if you go into it with low enough expectations. I did and enjoyed the few moments of quality enough to not give it a failing grade. Unknown does take itself too seriously however, which annoyed me. I would have liked the film more if it accepted its own cheesiness. As it stands, Unknown is a poor man's Bourne.



Attendance: 3/5
Crazy Fan Boy Factor: 0/5
Crowd Response: 1/5

-----------------------------------------------------

Production Value: 4/5
Plot: 2/5
Action: 1/5
Liam Neeson < 90's Harrison Ford




Overall: 5/10

Featured New Release Poll- 2/25

Oscar week's poll is pretty light on releases, with only two big movies coming out, and neither looks to be in the "mega-blockbuster" category. But we shall see....

Drive Angry 3D stars Nicolas Cage as a man who escapes from hell to take on a cult that murdered his daughter. Sounds interesting enough but Nic hasn't been choosing the best material lately... lets hope for a change in his fortune.

In the other corner, Hall Pass, starring Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis. Looks like yet another entry in the rapidly growing comedic subgenre of thirty-something men behaving badly, started by The Hangover.

You know what to do!

Top Five Car Chases

I think we can all agree that nothing makes a movie interesting faster than a good car chase. Knowing this one simple fact, I looked into cinema history for some of the greatest, coolest, craziest, and most intense chases ever put to film.

As a rule, I eliminated any chases that overly rely on CGI effects and quick cut editing to enhance the chase. Only old fashioned car chases with real stunts and crashes allowed. So, unfortunately, I had to cut some of the cooler ones from recent years (Matrix Reloaded, Quantum of Solace.


5. The Blues Brothers

Honestly, if we were rating chases based on property damage alone this film would have no competition. Unfortunately, other factors had to be taken in to consideration and that's where The Blues Brothers misses points.

Still, there are some pretty nifty, memorable car chase moments in this 1980 musical-comedy directed by John Landis.

For example, when this film came out it set the record for number of vehicles destroyed in a movie, a record which stood until it's sequel, Blues Brothers 2000, came out in 1998.



The chases in this movie are mostly over the top for comedic effect, featuring hilariously inept driving by the police, insanely physics-defying stunts, and a great punchline at the end of the chase when Jake and Elwood make it to their ultimate destination.

I couldn't find a good video of the police car pileup in the final long chase scene, so here instead you can see the first chase early in the film.


4. The French Connection

This is one of the most often mentioned of all car chases on film, and with good reason.



For starters, the inclusion of Gene Hackman gets you automatic points. Not to mention the great editing and some fantastic (real) crashes. Much of the chase was shot guerrilla style, without permits, which if you live in New York must be a terrifying thought. Plus, this sequence pretty much invented the "woman pushing a stroller" bit which I'm sure has been done to death by now.

Mostly, this chase rules because it is a car chasing a TRAIN. A runaway train with a gunwielding madman onboard, So so cool.


3/3.5 Ronin

The "Michael Bay Law of Car Chases" states in article three that a car chase is made infinitely cooler if you add guns. Case in point: 1998's Ronin, a film that would suffer badly if not for the three well placed car chases through European meccas. Add Robert De Niro brandishing a rocket launcher from the sunroof and you automatically have one of the awesomest chases ever...



Then they had to go and one up it with this gem!


With some excellent stunt driving, impeccably choreographed stunts, and some of Europe's finest automobiles, Ronin easily makes this list.


2. To Live and Die in L.A.



William Friedkin is better known for the chase in The French Connection, but this is the better true car chase. Both scenes have terrific cinematography and editing though, which is an absolute must in any good car chase.

Also of note is the staging of the "driving against traffic" sequence in such a bizarre way. Notice how Chance (William Peterson) gets back into the correct flow at the end? No, the movie doesn't take place in England. Friedkin had the entire highway driving the wrong way, making for an even more disorienting scene.


1. Bullitt



The hilly streets of San Francisco. Mustang vs. Charger. The sweet reveal at 2:10 in the above clip. The tense buildup. Steve McQueen at his prime. THE iconic movie car chase. Bullitt's chase seems to have it all. But is it the best?

Did you read the above paragraph? Of course its the best!

(just for fun, watch the clip again and count how many times they pass the green VW Beetle)