Action

300

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 300
  • IMDB: link

300-poster300 is the artistic retelling of the legend of 300 Spartans who stood against the mighty force of the entire Persian army, numbering in the millions, and held their ground at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.  Ripped from the pages of Frank Miller‘s graphic novel, the film, as Miller and Lynn Varley‘s original work did before it, celebrates the legend of the events rather than trying to produce a historically accurate account.  And so I’ll judge it on that basis alone.

In terms of capturing the look and feel of Miller’s work the film is a huge success.  In terms of translating the story to screen it struggles at times.  Don’t get me wrong, 300 is quite enjoyable and far better than I feared, but as a longtime fan of Miller’s work it’s not as good as I hoped.  It’s epic, but also cheesy.  It’s brutal, but also timid.  And sadly, it will remind you of better films you would rather be watching.

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Ghost Rider

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Ghost Rider
  • IMDB: link

ghost-rider-posterThe thought that kept going through my mind during Ghost Rider was – huh? The film is a schizophrenic mess which at times appears to be a legitimate Hollywood film and then seconds later makes you think you’re watching some apathetic junior high kid’s film project.

Without a coherent tone, the film flounders through lousy acting, crummy directing, and dreadful writing.  Two of these three failures can be laid at the feet of writer/director Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil, Simon Birch).  I don’t want to say the writing was awful (too easy), so instead let’s just say Johnson’s writing style makes the dialogue of George Lucas sound like Shakespeare.

And his directorial decisions, from casting to final cut are simply dreadful.  Add to that some of the worst acting by an ensemble since Ed Wood made his last film and you’ve got the making of one huge train wreck.  But hey, at least the guy on the bike looks cool.  That’s something, right?

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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Murder!?

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hollywoodland
  • IMDb: link

Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland isn’t quite what you’d expect.  Much more an art house character study than a Hollywood thriller, it provides some genuinely funny and dramatic moments.  Although Hollywood does raise its ugly head in places, for the the most part it’s a well acted and well financed small film that finds most of the right touches to provide an intriguing look at the life, and death, of the man who many saw only as Superman.

George Reeves (Ben Affleck) is dead, and private investigator Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) wants to know why.  Sure he’s in it for the money and fame, but the more he becomes entangled in the web of lies and mysterious secrets, the more he needs to know the truth.  Was it a suicide like the local police want everyone to think?  Or was it murder?

The film follows two lives over the course of its two-hour running time.  The first is the life and career of George Reeves.  The second is the life of Simo which, in many ways, mirrors Reeves own in how it falls apart over the length of the film.

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The Sentinel

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Sentinel
  • IMDb: link

Remember when it seemed like every other film was about the President of the United States?  What happened to that trend? Oh yeah, Clinton left office.  It’s telling when the only time Hollywood looks to the White House for material it’s either damning (see American Dreamz) or focusing on the underlings who make things run.  One would think that In the Line of Fire closed the book on Secret Service films, but apparently that was not to be.  Are we better off for having reopened the veiled windows of what goes on with the President’s bodyguards once more?  Let’s find out, shall we?

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Unlucky Slevin Lacks Bang

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Lucky Number Slevin
  • IMDb: link

Lucky Number Slevin

I’m not a big Josh Hartnett fan; I’ve seen to many of his movies.  I know that sounds harsh but anybody else remember Hollywood Homicide, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Blow Dry, and Pearl Harbor?  Slevin takes a rather simple plot and twists it up in a maze-like formula of so many thrillers these days.  While it’s better than something like Taking Lives in the end that’s not saying much.  It’s not bad, it’s got a good cast and a few memorable moments, and a 70’s style set designer for some reason.  But in the end it’s just okay.  Still, any film where Josh Hartnett gets punched repeatedly in the face I’m all for.

Slevin (Josh Hartnett) decides to take a trip to New York City to visit his friend Nick Fisher (Sam Jaeger).  From the moment he steps into NY things go wrong.  First he’s mugged getting into town losing his wallet and all identification (and getting his nose broken for the first time) and on arriving at Nick’s apartment is taken by thugs to be the owner of the apartment, his friend Nick, who has fled the city owing money to two competing gangster families and left Slevin holding the bag.  With friends like these…

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