June 12th, 2009
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There is a world of difference between the original
Walter Matthau-Robert Shaw “Pelham” and this Tony Scott mostly action remake,
though the basic premise of a hijacked subway car in the NYC transit system
is the film’s focus. Characters differ in this one as hostages are killed
and the film maintains a terrific pace leaving you breathless. Ryder, the
mastermind (John Travolta) in this one, is a psychotic individual who will
maintain his time limit for the ransom of the train and passengers and
not hesitate to kill one at a time when his conditions are not met. He
is in constant touch with dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington)
at MTA transit headquarters. A new character, Lt. Camonetti (John Turturro),
a police negotiator, appears in this one and not in the original. I’m told
there were no police negotiators at that time. This individual is a savvy
one, no nonsense and straight forward in manner. Playing the Mayor of New
York City is John Gandolfini, who has a brilliant line when told he must
handle this hostage situation in an affirmative manner for the public:
“I left my Rudy Giuliani suit at home.”
Many liberties are taken in the telling of the tale. For starters, no IRT train goes to Coney Island to run on the Brighton BMT tracks; the two lines never merge as the width of the train cars for the lines differ. Second, I question an abandoned subway station and tunnel directly under the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. But those not that familiar with the Big Apple will not notice these incongruities. (Attribute it to possible poetic license taken in the film?) |
Filming in the actual subway tunnels plus the
marvelous NYC locales used bring a tremendous reality to this film. I understand
too that there are places, such as MTA headquarters where the whole system
is monitored in operation, which have never before been filmed or seen
before by the general public. All this adds to the authenticity of the
drama. Both a sense of suspense and an atmosphere of dread prevail throughout
the machinations of the plot.
This new version of “THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1
2 3” has been updated to the present time, though at the time of filming,
the Dow Jones Industrial stock average is so much higher than today what
with all that has happened since making this motion picture. I must admit
that this film is quite exciting, well done, and one to see for pretty
good escapist entertainment.
The Players: Denzel Washington, John Travolta,
John Turturro, Luis Guzman, Michael Rispoli, and James Gandolfini
The Filmmakers:
Directed by Tony Scott
Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
Based on
the novel by John Godey
Director of Photography: Tobias Schliessler
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
From Columbia Pictures and MGM
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Eddie Murphy's career gets a life preserver in the
form of this harmless amusing fantasy that neither boosts nor injures.
Murphy's track recordsince the remake of Nutty Professor has been less
than stellar and some will say NP wasn't such a hit either. '' Imagine
That'' being a co-production with Nickleodeon, tries to please adults and
beguile children at the same time , garnering a larger audience than the
rude, crude films of Murphy's recent past would. Well...maybe...
Evan Danielson ( Eddie Murphy ) is a driven financial executive with an ex-wife Trish ( Nicole Ari Parker ) and a young daughter who doesn't get her share of her father's time. He spends his time on his Blackberry, on the phone and rushing from meeting to meeting withhis team leader Tom Stevens (Ronny Cox ). Evan starts to stress out when his career is in jeopardy when a rival named Johnny Whitefeather ( Thomas Hayden Church ) who extols native American values, goes after an impending promotion that will happen when the big boss Dante D'Enzo ( Martin Sheen ) retires. Evan is beside himself to twart the slick tactics of Whitefeather until his daughter accidentally gives him some insider information she got from a secret source that puts him back on top. When Evan asks Olivia ( Yara Shahidi ) how she got the investment data, he is shocked when she introduces him to the inhabitants of her imaginary land, three invisible princesses and their Queen mother. Evan rediscovers his inner child and finds the answers to all his problems...and lots of near magical financial data that makes him the wonderkind of the office as he scopps Whitefeather every time. But, when push comes to shove, whats more important to Evan - his daughter or the promotion? Pleasant is the best we can do with this one and I contemplate how the film would have fared if we had seen Ollivia's princesses and their world? Anyway, if you have pre-teen girls they may get a minor thrill from this one. |
The Filmmakers:
Directed by Karey Kirkpatrick
Screenplay by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson
Released by Paramount Pictures
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Human beings, by nature, must interact with
others. I often think that being put into solitary confinement in prison
must be devastating.
In “MOON,” Sam, a young man, had been contracted by a corporation to spend a three year period on a base on the far side of the moon that’s mining energy from rocks: a Helium-3 facility extracting fuel for fusion powered generators. Sam is in such a lonely place, but is nearing the end of his contract and will soon be back on earth with his wife and young daughter with whom he is able to communicate both visually and audibly from this moon station. The only face-to-face live conversation he is able to have in his present setting is with a HAL-like machine (remember “2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY”?) named Gerty. This almost human robotic piece has a smiley face in front to denote emotions and is, unlike HAL, uncomplicated and well-intentioned. Leaving Sarang, the moon base Sam has called home, is now the paramount thought occupying his mind. But his health begins to deteriorate. He has hallucinations, headaches, lacks focus, and is beginning to cough up blood. Even his link to earth and his wife and daughter suddenly goes off line. Sam takes out a lunar vehicle for a drive to investigate and accidentally crashes into a huge obstacle. He awakens recuperating on the base with no memory of how he got back. It’s then that the strangest thing happens: he meets a younger version of himself who claims to be Sam and has a new three year contract. Sam is perplexed as to what is happening. Is this double a clone? Worse yet, the double accuses him of being a clone. |
The director in a Q&A brought out the following
points concerning his film:
“If you met yourself in person, would you like yourself?”
“Sam’s life for the three year contracted period was
supposed to be easy.”
“There is no good or evil in the film but shades of
gray.”
“Finally we question: Is there moral finality?”
“What might even the most benign ‘green’ corporation
be willing to do? What would they do to a lone blue-collar caretaker on
a base on the far side of the moon?”
One does conjecture that companies want the
maximum out of their endeavors with the minimum outlay of cost. And if
there are no “watchdogs,” who knows what they will try to get away with?
“MOON” is one brilliant piece of filmmaking
that holds your attention throughout as you empathize with Sam and his
dilemma. Alienation, technology, paranoia, and accepting oneself are all
factors in the weaving of this provocative story. Even if science fiction
is not your cup of tea, this is still one film to see
The Players: Sam Rockwell, (voice of) Kevin
Spacey
The Filmmakers:
Directed by Duncan Jones
Story by Duncan Jones, written by Nathan Parker
Director of Photography: Gary Shaw
Released through Sony Pictures Classics
Food
reviewed by Andrew Johnson
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“FOOD, inc.” is a new documentary film that gives
you much to ponder – literally “food for thought.” One speculates how the
food you see beautifully packaged in the supermarket came to be processed
before getting there. Corporate greed and corruption seem to have taken
over with inhumane treatment for animals before and in the slaughterhouse
just to make that much more of the almighty buck.
There are 47,000 products in the average supermarket.
If you know how they got there, you might not want to eat them.
Corn is fed to cows rather than grass which help form E. coli bacteria. Processing plants have become more and more contaminated. Cheaper, cheaper, cheaper for money, money, money! The corn fed to cows because it is cheaper than grass. The cows were not designed by evolution to eat corn. If a cow is fed grass for five days, it will shed 80 percent of the E. coli it forms from corn in their gut. One can say that there has been no government protection. |
In the film, we see chickens bunched together
in a large facility, never lit by sunlight or even artificial light. They
are fed to bursting in order to have fatter, plumper poultry for the table.
Most of them cannot even get up in a standing position let alone walk.
What inhumane treatment! The world seems to be running out of food and
nobody even talks about it. To eat well costs so much more than to eat
junk food. One out of three born after 2000 will get diabetes.
What an eye opener with these facts put forth
by this film! It even offers so much more unbelievable things not mentioned
in this review. Even Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was Monsanto’s
attorney for four years, and after his appointment to the Supreme Court,
he wrote a majority opinion in a case that helped Monsanto enforce its
seed patents. Talk about conflict of interest!
Director Robert Kenner has given us an extraordinary
document that should be seen by those in this country who eat, which means
everyone.
The Filmmakers:
Directed by Robert Kenner
Director of Photography: Richard Pearce
Released by Magnolia Pictures
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