Monday, August 06, 2007 Rant Archive
I’ve been a huge fan of the Bourne Identity and Bourne Supremacy films. So when I went into The Bourne Ultimatum with high expectations. I was not disappointed, and you won’t be either. This film just plain rocks!
The fact that they films have been so consistently great can be attributed to Director Paul Greengrass. Greengrass took the reigns from Bourne Identity from Doug Liman, who is still onboard as an executive producer, with “Supremacy” keeping the tone of kinetec, in-you-face action that is surprisingly low tech and much more sastifying than the big CGI based set pieces that have taken over, and ruined, most action films of late. With Ultimatum, Greengrass improves on this style injecting the story with a robust jolt of adrenalin that make the two-hour film fly by leaving you wanting more.
The story revolves around Bourne (Matt Damon) seeking the final piece in the puzzle of his identity. He’s gotten his vengance in “Supremacy”, and now he’s out to regain his memory and discover the who, how and why he was turned into a killing machine, and what was the life he left behind.
He’s on the hunt, in B-movie terms “This time it’s personal” comes to mind. The CIA’s extra-legal assassination team of baddies track him through the exquisite locations of from Moscow to Turin, Paris, London, Madrid and Tangier, Morocco before landing him back on the home turf of New York. The use of locations in the Bourne movies are always a treat. They frame the story with a cold-war type “spyworld” feel and are perfect platforms in which to frame the frenetic action sequences.
300 is a stunning and visual masterpiece that outshines even the most highly-regarded movies - of its genre - in recent history such as THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Director, Zack Snyder, has created a world where live action meets the incredible strides of today’s video games. Through his use of CGI technology, and digitally enhanced scenes – shot entirely on blue and green screen sets – Snyder has brought history to life in bold, dynamic and modern ways.
300 is based on the historical battle the Spartans of Greece fought against the Persians – who ruled most of the world at the time – for control of their freedom and very lives. While there may be elements of historical truth to some of this story, it is really an amalgam of fantasy, myth and action that makes it shine. Zack Snyder, along with the amazing abilities of his cinematographer, Larry Fong, and editor, William Hoy, have taken movies to the next level, by employing some of today’s most cutting edge technologies, making the movie look like a video game come to life.300 not only contains some of the most stylistic camera shots and colors I’ve ever scene in a movie, it also manages to display – what comes across as – 3D imaging without the need for those silly glasses.
With all of the amazing special effects, you would think story and plot lines would suffer, but that’s what makes this movie a cut above the rest. Snyder did a brilliant job of ensuring the movie has both style and substance. With engaging characters like the heroic King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and the love of his life, Queen Gorgo (Lena Heady), 300 is a movie that has something for everybody.
With THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM dominating the box office this weekend, some of you may not have noticed that another comedy debuted this weekend. The Lonely Island guys shot this movie in between the last two SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE seasons from a script by Pam Brady (SOUTH PARK). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, however, to realize that they did substantial rewrites here as the finished product is infused with their particular brand of absurdist and nonsensical humor.
The result, directed by Islander Akiva Shaffer, is HOT ROD, a small but entertaining comedy that will remind a lot of people of ANCHORMAN and TALLADEGA NIGHTS. In fact, the story – about a loser (Andy Samberg) trying to follow in the footsteps of his dead stuntman father to earn the respect of his stepdad (Ian McShane) while trying to win over the girl next door (Isla Fisher) – was originally written with Will Ferrell in mind. And while the premise is not all that original, the movie as a whole is a lot of fun.
Samberg does his best Ricky Bobby impression as Rod Kimble, the lovable loser who’s noticeably too old to be in a jumpsuit and cape making movies on his moped. He lives at home and spends most of his time planning stunts with his stepbrother Kevin, mechanic Dave (Bill Hader) and ramp-builder Rico (Danny R. McBride). When his abusive stepfather needs a $50,000 heart transplant, Rod decides to raise money by staging the biggest stunt of his life – outrageously so – by jumping 15 school buses (beating Evel Knievel’s record by one)… and then kicking his stepfather’s ass.
Based on a true story, LONELY HEARTS follows a pocket of troubled characters: a cop with rocky relationships, a con-artist, and a woman with more emotional baggage than the latest Louis Vuitton luggage collection.
They all collide in late 40s America, where post-war wives yearned for love and companionship but were naïve to the malicious intents of some men. And so the film follows the story of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, more aptly known as the “Lonely Heart Killers.”
The plan was simple: lonely women would post ads in a popular national magazine. Ray would reply with letters oozing with poetry, passion and romance. Once they replied, he would set up a meeting. One of the women who answered was Martha Beck, a lonely nurse from a southwestern town.
She was at first a mark, but love at sight made that a whole different story. They were intense, maniacal and both shared the same common interests: kinky sex, violence and money. The two would lure their prey to fork over their cash, and swindle them for every last buck. In the end, they were believed to have murdered about 20 people, 12 of which they confessed. This also included a young girl and her mom.
Love is a fickle creature, and the boys learn that lesson the hard way this week.
Bret and Jemaine find themselves a couple of girlfriends down at the croissant shop, but as always, there’s trouble in paradise. For starters, Jemaine’s girl Felicia (or is it Lisa?) can’t stand him, and the extent of their conversations revolve around how Bret is making out with his girl. But poor Bret is just being used for sex – even though he wants to wait to make it special – and his girl won’t take no for an answer.
A gender role reversal ensues, as the girl tricks him into sleeping with her (or at least sitting there while she gets it on) by telling him she’s leaving for Iraq the next day. An emotional Bret is distraught, as she happily rehashes the details with all her friends after blowing him off.
But at least he got some action – even if he didn’t want any. Jemaine would kill for some lovin’, but even his attempts at reverse psychology fail. “I don’t want to have sex with you,” he coos to his lady, but she completely agrees and keeps on running.
According to HouseGuest Kail, “It takes a certain mental strength to be a pawn.” It takes a certain mental strength to be brine shrimp as well. “Certain” meaning not much. Who are the brine shrimp nominated for eviction this week?
“There is a little weasel in this game.” So sayeth the new head of household, Daniele. And she is talking about your doofus, I mean player, America, and she is right. Eric is a little weasel not because of the things he does but how he does them. America told him to cast votes that went against his alliance and now Daniele has figured it out. What is Eric reaction to this turn-about? Outrage.
What a doofus.
Someone flew a biplane banner over the house during the HOH competition that called him and Amber liars. Eric almost beat Amber to the crying punch. I am simply overjoyed.
The concept of phone votes making one player do something was stupid to begin with. Casting a weasel like Eric in that role was simply annoying. He told the camera that Nick thought he could hang with the boys and flirt with the girls and that is Eric’s game. He was serious.
In today’s world of blogs and reviewing, “pleasant” is the equivalent of damning with faint praise. But go back in time, to a period when “pleasant” was a good thing, and you’ll be surprised at how much fun a “pleasant” series like MY BOYS can be.
In the latest episode of MY BOYS (Mondays at 10 p.m. on TBS), PJ (Jordana Spiro) discovers that “Ethics is often the battle between what you want to do and what you should do. And what PJ wants to do is date the new boy in town. But there’s that pesky ethics thing.
MY BOYS is arguably the funniest original sitcom on cable. Actually, it’s the only intentionally funny original show on cable, but that’s another story. It’s so funny you’ll laugh out loud even when you’re watching it alone in your room. And when you realize what you’re doing you quickly shut up before your mother yells, “Hey, what’s going on in there?” That is, if you lived at home with your mother, which I of course don’t.
PJ is a sports reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times. So when a good looking young pitcher is brought up by the Cubs, she’s there for an interview. And when the good looking young pitcher starts making eyes at her, well she’s there, too. And when the pitcher is named one of Chicago’s 50 hottest bachelors, she’s there.