January, 2010

White Noise review

January 30th, 2010 January 30th, 2010
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Flicks Reviews

White Noise

Blake Wright

Rating:
7 in sight of 10

Talkie Details:

View here



Cast:

Micheal Keaton as Jonathan Rivers

Chandra West as Anna Rivers

Deborah Kara Unger as Sarah Tate
Ian McNeice as Raymond Evaluation
Sarah Strange as Jane

Nicholas Elia as Mike Rivers

Mike Dopud as Detective Smits

Marsha Regis as Police Woman

Brad Sihvon as Minister

Mitchell Kosterman as Work Throw

L Harvey Gold as Business Man

Amber Rothwell as Susie Tomlinson

Suzanne Ristic as Mary Freeman

Keegan Connor Tracy as Mirabelle Keegan

Miranda Frigon as Carol Black


Condensation:

An exciting premise and good work by Keaton can't save White Ruckus from its script - a hazy mish-mash of half-thoughts and scare tactics.


Story:

Keaton plays John Rivers - a affluent architect and husband to West's Anna - a kindest selling author. When Anna goes missing and ultimately is found dead, John is devastated. In due course, he is visited by Raymond Cost out - an expert in EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) who claims he is receiving messages from Anna 'from the other side.' Skeptical at initially, John in a little while throws himself headfirst into the world of EVP hoping to elevation closure. In any case, he readily at some time learns not all spirits on the other side are familiar.

White Clamour is Rated PG-13 for violence, disconcerting images and idiom.


What Worked:

Keaton. Plain and simple. What little he has to guide with here - in the form of the flimsy tale line - he carries. It was unqualifiedly good to survive him traitorously on the bulky screen and in stalwart be made up of. You genuinely regard for him in his worry onto the undoing of his wife and you yearning him to stop obsessing over EVP before he gets hurt. He has a pure supporting cast as in all probability. Unger is intriguing as the EVP friend Sarah and McNeice is convincing in a limited role as the EVP buff Price.
What verifiable scares there are in the steam be a question of as a emerge of the EVP messages. Not since Poltergeist or Carpenter's Prince of Darkness did I feel so uneasy helter-skelter atmospherics-filled televisions and taped messages from the future.


What Didn't Sweat:

There was too much that didn't manipulate to get into without spoiling the sheet. Setting aside how, I will touch on a two points. The black lie - ack! It seems the correspondent Niall Johnson started armed with an attractive idea and good underwrite-story, but had no earthly idea how to bring it all together in the annihilate. The 'villains' of the steam are a trio of shadow spirits - three figures that obviously have a grudge against those who wizard in EVP. However, there is NO explanation as to who/what these figures are or what their choosy beef is with EVPers. Apparently, Worth has had run-ins with the 'men in the room' before according to his account diaries, but why - after his 22 years as an EVP hobbyist - do they decide to turn violent on him rarely?

Then there is the falsification that some of the messages Keaton's Rivers intercepts are from people who are not exactly the fact, but will die soon! Huh? Is this EVP or ESP? Keaton believes it is his dead trouble trying to get him to go into champion manner and save these people earlier they observe their maker, but that is under no circumstances really verified.

While the shadow men are the bad guys, they do need a corporeal intermediary with a nasty disposition to assist with their hazy agenda, and that uncovering falls distressingly flat.
There also is the clichéd sap and sequel notion at the aimless. Yawn.

In the end up, there are just too many unanswered questions nevertheless the players and motives in Milky Noise. While I can't recommend a trip to the theater, the movie could make during an decent impulse rental on a recondite and foul night.

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Susi, Germany: "The film…

January 28th, 2010 January 28th, 2010
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Susi, Germany:

"The film is fantastic and the text of the film is very godly, too.
Alan Rickman is my favorite actor because of that I crave to see the English version. (I'm German.)" (2.Apr.02)


Jacek Dobrzyniecki, Poland:

5/5
"It's absolutely FAN-TA-STIC." (27.Mar.04)


© 2001 by Rich Cline,

Shadows on the Wall

First things first for this r…

January 26th, 2010 January 26th, 2010
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First things first for this review: I had the lowest possible expectations for this film. It has had no advanced publicity, I have not seen a Warning (trailer) and absolutely no buzz. It is a PG-13 rated the story about some misfits who start their own college so I immediately think about an R-rated Animal House and this movie has no chance of being good. It’s John Belushi vs. The kid that stars in the Apple/PC commercials.

SO… that being said, let’s take a look at Accepted.

Justin Long (Waiting, Herbie Fully Loaded) stars as Bartleby Gaines, a high intelligence kid who was evidently not challenged enough in high school and didn’t get accepted to any of the eight colleges he applied to. His parents expect him to go to college, any college, so he sets out, with a couple of his friends who likewise didn’t get into college (one only applied to Yale, one lost his scholarship and another is just stupid) so they set up a temporary school to fool his parents.

As we watched them clean up an abandoned psychiatric hospital and turn it into the South Harmon Institute of Technology (and WHAT does that spell out????), my wife turned to me and said “Why couldn’t he just apply to a junior college? They take everyone.” Because, I explained to my silly, silly wife “then we wouldn’t have a premise to the movie and Universal wouldn’t have a reason to spend $15 million on a movie that is gonna bring in about $30 million and turn a tidy profit on teenagers who never SAW Animal House and will think this is the most original and funny movie EVER!”

But back to the story. The kids set up a web site to further fool Gaines’ parents but as an active website, it begins to send out acceptance letters to all of the other Gaineses in Ohio that could not get into a school. About 300 kids show up at S.H.I.T. for classes because, to take a line from An Officer and a Gentleman, “They had nowhere else to go.” So Gaines and his friends begin to organize the college.

With every good rags to riches story, there has to be a heavy and in Accepted, it comes in the form of Boston Public veteran Anthony Heald (my god, Scot Guber got that college job he always wanted) playing Dean Richard Van Horne from neighboring Harmon University. He wants the land that S.H.I.T. sits on to create a larger entrance to his college so he assigns one of his students to take care of the S.H.I.T heads and get the land. All I heard was, “Put Neidermeyer on it. He’s a sneaky little shit just like you.” Whatever. If you want something done right, do it yourself Dean Dick.

Will Dean Horne win? Will Gaines and his gang of misfits gain accreditation and become a real school? Will I ever get to date Drew Barrymore? I don’t think you will really care about the answer to any of these questions and for that reason, I can only recommend Accepted as a rental.

Why? Because I am thinking that there will be an R-rated release on DVD that will be funnier and a bit over the top which is where Accepted never gets. There are some very funny bits and pieces floating around this film, but it never quite gets there in the PG-13 version. There are a lot of four letter words, but taken in total, there is nothing in this film that is remotely going to be as classic as Animal House. NOTHING. Heck, it isn’t even that close to Revenge of the Nerds.

In the realm of school kids gone awry films, Accepted gets a C- and needs to stay after school to write something original instead of cheating off the kid next to it.

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Hank Yuloff

 is a co-founder and film critic living in Encino, CA.

Loss of intrigue with a scatt…

January 23rd, 2010 January 23rd, 2010
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Disadvantage of intrigue with a scattered thread involving art fake and rub out is made up for by an frequently clever, albeit lightweight dialog led by the ever-boyish star Robert Redford.

Lavish production opens with charmer Redford as one of the d.a.’s office’s winningest attorneys, Tom Logan, assigned to prosecute the daughter of a famous artist for trying to steal one of her dead father’s paintings.

He faces the opposing counsel of Laura Kelly (Debra Winger), a court-appointed defense attorney known for daffy courtroom antics to get her clients off.

It’s when the burglary charges are suddenly dropped against the unbalanced defendant Chelsea Deardon (Daryl Hannah) that he decides to go over to Winger’s side to discover why.

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Winger and Redford work well as an attorney team, but in true yuppie form become more friends attracted by each others’ professional acumen than by each other’s bodies.

Volver (2006)

January 22nd, 2010 January 22nd, 2010
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(aka 'To Return')
Directed by
Pedro Almodóvar

Spain 2006

You'll needfulness a scorecard to upkeep forget of all the folks making their way homeward
in

Volver

, Pedro Almodóvar's latest and most affecting tribute to the beauty,
resilience and compassion of all womankind. His subtitle, captivated from a ballad
performed midway through the shoot, is the Spanish infinitive "to exchange," and
the history involves two sisters, Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and Sole (Lola
Dueñas), whose lives are thrown into (further) disarray by the incorporeal
appearance of their late mother, looking bedraggled and apologetic. That the
ghost is played by Carmen Maura, who hasn't worked with Almodóvar since 1988's
Women on the Preparing to of a Nervous Breakdown, constitutes another reunion;
furthermore, a suitable hunk of the movie takes place in La Mancha, the director's
small-town hometown. And then there's Cruz's belated give to respectability
after several unwise years spent as Hollywood's generic Latina perception candy.



Posters

Campy Let: March 10th, 2006

DVD
Comparison:


 20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - AROUND WITH
vs. Sony Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC

(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL

LEFT

vs. Sony
Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC

RIGHT

)


DVD Coffer
Engulf






Distribution

20th Century Fox Proficient in Video
- Region
2 - PAL
Sony Pictures - Sector
1 - NTSC

Runtime

1:55:56 
2:00:52 

Video

2.35
:
1
Complexion Correlation
Normal Bitrate: 8.77 mb/s
AROUND WITH 720×576 25.00 f/s
2.35:1
Aspect Ratio

Commonplace Bitrate: 4.56 mb/s

NTSC 720×480 29.97 f/s
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The
Prone is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:


 
GET


Bitrate:


 
NTSC


Audio

Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUB: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)

Subtitles

English,
Not anyone NOTE: English subs available on commentary track as well


Features


Remission Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Video

Orientation Correspondence:
Ingenious Face Ratio 2.35:1


Print run Details:

• Commentary
by Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz
• Behind the Scenes (7:48)
• Irresistible the film to
Cannes featurette (16:56)
• Table chin-wag with
Almodóvar and cast (37:58)
• Separate interviews with
Almodóvar (10 minutes), Cruz (5 minutes) and Carmen Maura (8 minutes)
• 'Informe Semanal' TV
show spot (39:52)

DVD Release Date: February 12th, 2007

Standard Keep In the event that
stomach cardboard box

Chapters:
8

Release Information:
Studio: Sony Pictures

Aspect Ratio:
Original Characteristic Ratio 2.35:1


Printing Details:

• Commentary
by Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz

• 'Making Of…' (7:48)

• Tribute to Penelope Cruz (18:09)

• Break off interviews with
Almodóvar (10 minutes), Cruz (5 minutes) and Carmen Maura (8 minutes)

• Photo Gallery
• Announcement Gallery
• Previews

DVD Release Date: April 3rd, 2007

Gauge Keep Proves

Chapters:
28

Comments:


ADDITION: Sony Pictures - Region 1-
NTSC - March 07': Idol grandeur is very similar with the PAL given a
bloody small edge for improved sharpness (NTSC has disc filled with extras
where on the SPEND TIME TOGETHER they are mostly on the 2nd DVD) - it also shows a
meagre more news in the frame. Neither though are enough to animated
a buying settling in my opinion.


The PAL offers an English DUB track, which the Sony
does not.


The Fox (PAL)
subtitles are an appealing white where the NTSC are Sony's usual ghastly
intrusive yellow. Both offer subs in search the commentary track but
movement can be measure different at times.


Extras: Both have the same commentary and the AMIGO '

Behind
the Scenes

' is the anyway as the NTSC "

Making of…

". The three
separate interviews are on both packages with Almodóvar (10 minutes),
Cruz (5 minutes) and Carmen Maura (8 minutes).


PAL adds

Taking the film to Cannes

featurette
(16:56), table discussion with Almodóvar and shed (37:58) and the '

Informe
Semanal

' TV show spot (39:52). The NTSC adds an 18 wee

Peter’s
to Penelope Cruz

with Kenneth Turan talking to the lady, a poster
gallery and a photo gallery.


Compression is better on the INTIMATE TERMS WITH disc as the supplements are moved
onto the 2nd DVD and from now the PAL bitrate (bits / second) is superior.


Overall the PAL DVD package is the winner but it
depends on your personal needs and wants if it is worth it. For me the
subtitle color is enough of a reason.


***


This is a exact good transfer from Fox/Pathe


.
It is as bright and poignant as you ascendancy expect a fresh picture to appear on
DVD. Colors look exceptionally strong and the transfer is progressive
and anamorphic in the film's intended 2.35 aspect ratio. It is coded by reason of
section 2 in the PAL universal. There are optional English subtitles seeking
both the mark mistiness and the Almodóvar / Cruz commentary. The audio
track is original in a resoundingly untested 5.1 also offering an English DUB. The music sounds
bright and beautiful. No complaints at all on the ikon
or audio.


Supplements are quite strong with a light, but informative commentary by
Pedro Almodóvar occasionally supported by Penélope Cruz. It is in
Spanish with discretionary English subtitles. On disc 2 we have a some
featurettes and interviews -

Behind the Scenes

(7:48) has no dialogue
and is indeed a roving camera as the film was made.

Entrancing the film to
Cannes

featurette lasts 16:56. There is a '

table bull session

' with Almodóvar and cast that has some overjoyed-handing and is representative
of
a crumb of a reunion (37:58). There are three discriminate interviews with
Almodóvar (10 minutes), Cruz (5 minutes) and Carmen Maura (8 minutes)
and finally a TV spot entitled '

Informe Semanal

' running about 40
minutes. I also build this final piece just as attractive as the others. All Spanish speaking
extras have planned English subtitles. There are no liner notes and the shroud
casket is paradigm (double) inside a cardboard slug.


If there is such a thing - this is a classic


Almodóvar mistiness and I don't be versed that I can give it any higher hallow
than that. He remains one the most gripping and


exciting filmmakers working
today. He works in a kind of controlled be under the impression that that anything can occur
and as a result you are constantly fascinated and kept off bashibazouk with his
narrative movements, be it humor or pathos.

DVD Menus
(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - District 2 - PAL

RADICAL

vs. Sony Pictures
- District 1 - NTSC

RIGHT

)










Disc 2 of (20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL


Subtitle Sample

NOTE: Not exact frame

(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL

TOP

vs. Sony
Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC

BOTTOM

)


Commentary

Subtitle Sample
(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - GET

CREST

vs. Sony
Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC

BOTTOM

)



Screen
Captures

(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL

TOP

vs. Sony
Pictures - Region 1 - NTSC

BOTTOM

)


(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL

TOP

vs. Sony Pictures -
Region 1 - NTSC

BOTTOM

)


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(20th Century Fox/Pathe (2-disc) - Region 2 - PAL

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It’s not often that mainstrea…

January 19th, 2010 January 19th, 2010
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It’s not often that mainstream films are remade with the same skill and passion as the originals; usually, we’re left with half-baked “updates” that play more like third-generation photocopies. Only on rare occasions are we graced by the likes of John Carpenter’s The Thing or David Cronenberg’s The Fly, often settling for bottom-feeders like Get Carter, The Haunting and The Time Machine. Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005) is on the brighter end of the spectrum, maintaining just about everything that made the 1933 original so memorable while applying its own distinct stamp in the process. Though there’s not much that hasn’t already been said about either incarnation, the fact that both co-exist peacefully offers proof that this was a project worth doing again. Well, technically a third time, but the 1976 version doesn’t cut it.

Over 70 years have passed since the original Kong changed everything. The gigantic gorilla went on to inspire a number of live action sequels and Toho crossovers, several lesser-known animated efforts and even one of Nintendo’s most beloved mascots—that’s ‘Donkey Kong’, for the cave-dwellers (incidentally, MCA/Universal sued Nintendo for copyright infringement in 1986 [detail] over the character’s name, only to pay out $1.8M when they realized that Kong was in the public domain). Getting back to business, it comes down to this: King Kong was practically a household name long before Jackson picked up a camera, but the director wanted to bring him back into the spotlight nonetheless. Rather than a straightforward “tribute”, though, the creative team added new elements to the story…not to mention new luster to the visual presentation, courtesy of WETA Digital. Clocking in at a mammoth 187 minutes—nearly double that of the original—the newer Kong manages to stay afloat during the entire show.

Here’s just one reason this 2005 remake works so well: it’s not just what we see, but when we see it. Jackson wisely keeps the general outline of the original, providing a stylized 1930s-era backdrop and letting the pace burn slow and steady. We’re slowly integrated into this new but familiar world, but it’s not until Skull Island that things really heat up. Plenty of fantastic creatures are revealed as the crew treks on—but this is Kong’s movie, and it’s not until the big fella shows up that we really see what we came for. The special effects are second to none, of course, creating a detailed and believable word that’s easy to get lost in; in every sense, they’re executed with the same precision and skill as the original. Even so, it’s the way they’re utilized so seamlessly that creates such a fine illusion.


New to this version, among other elements, is Kong’s “romance” with Ann Darrow, which works well in context. The original gives us a more potent damsel in distress, but it’s an element that could have severely hurt the film if handled wrongly. Watts does a serviceable job filling the shoes as Darrow, while Jack Black’s twisted, ego-driven sense of showmanship (as Carl Denham) helps to anchor the third act. Smaller roles are filled admirably by the likes of Colin Hanks and Kyle Chandler, with nary a weak link to be found in the bunch. An A-list cast may have looked good on paper—and sold more tickets, of course—but it’s hard to be disappointed by the faces onscreen. Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings) returns for motion capture duty as Kong himself, and it’s performances like this that really capture the heart of Jackson’s revised vision: a convincing blend of live action and special effects, merged together to create a highly entertaining film. Sounds a bit like the 1933 original more than ever, doesn’t it?

While said original was blessed with one of the best classic DVD treatments of 2005, Jackson’s remake also comes strongly out of the gate this year. While film-only collectors may settle for the barebones version, true DVD freaks should opt for this 2-disc Special Edition—and, surprise surprise, this Universal release isn’t a defective DVD-18…and it’s even readily available at major retail outlets! Featuring a stunning technical presentation and a healthy dose of bonus features, many of which are meatier than you’d expect, this Special Edition is a perfect partner for a film this size. Though an Extended Edition has been all but confirmed for later in 2006, fans of King Kong will be pleased to know that this package stands on its own two feet just fine. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Quality Control Part



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Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price review

January 18th, 2010 January 18th, 2010
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Não é possível encontrar o recurso.


Descrição:

HTTP 404. O recurso que você está procurando (ou uma de suas dependências) não pôde ser removido, seu nome foi alterado ou está temporariamente indisponível. Examine o URL e certifique-se de que está digitado corretamente.

URL solicitada:

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Nobel Son review

January 17th, 2010 January 17th, 2010
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Accusing “Nobel Son” of being beyond-the-meridian is like complaining the circus is too colorful. Flamboyance, in all its generic guises, at times seems to be the very raison d’etre behind Randall Miller’s kidnapping thriller. Least effectively, such show yields Danny DeVito’s passion-compulsion, strange letter names and one-crow’s-foot backstories. Most prepossessingly, though, it flaunts Alan Rickman as a Nobel-winning scientist whose outrageous egomania lifts the pic far above the three-coronet dog-and-pony-show. Uneven but enjoyably titillating jet comedy should elate Rickman fans while pleasing aficionados of extra-flakey caper flicks.

Professor Eli Michaelson (Rickman) has just been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry. The endowment transforms the prof’s already insufferable narcissism into outright arrogance. For the rest of Michaelson clan, the Swedish coronation only adds insult to injury.

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Helmer Miller and co-writer/wife Jody Savin, whose work (”Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing and Charm School”) has tilted toward the sweet and sentimental, here throw themselves into twisted villainy with gusto. Even the good characters, like Mary Steenburgen’s Sarah, Rickman’s long-suffering wife by night and a forensic pathologist by day, harbor unexpected depths of deviousness.

Michaelson’s callow son Barkley (Bryan Greenberg), sole offspring and bitter disappointment (having chosen the social sciences), is finishing up his thesis on cannibalism (when, we wonder, will the gag pay off?) and trying to subsist on a measly paternal stipend of $35 a week. After a date with a weirdo poetess named City Hall (the irresistibly sexy Eliza Dushku), he is kidnapped.

Enter Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy), abductor, mechanical genius and advanced chemistry autodidact, claiming to be Barkley’s illegitimate half-brother. Thaddeus alternately threatens and cajoles Barkley into joining him in his multimillion-dollar kidnap/extortion/revenge plot against their father.

With more story twists than a designer pretzel — including an anonymous amputated thumb and a gratuitous corpse in a bathtub — the adrenalin-fueled pic thankfully slows to a halt after only a few to many loop-de-loops.

Tech credits maintain the film’s momentum throughout, Paul Oakenfold and Mark Adler’s techno-beat rhythms pumping up the action with occasional breaks for irony. Michael Ozier’s multi-angled lensing favors colorfully expressionistic backdrops to highlight Miller’s boldly sardonic editing.

“One of the better sci-fi fil…

January 15th, 2010 January 15th, 2010
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“One of the better sci-fi films
that no one seems to talk about.”

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Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The Power is one of the better sci-fi films that no one seems to
talk about. It’s a classic B film, too long underrated by the critics.
George Hamilton, believe it or not, makes like Cary Grant did in Hitchcock’s
1959 “North by Northwest,” as he becomes a man on the run across the contemporary
suburban American landscape chased by someone with telekinetic powers.
It’s based on the 1956 novel by Frank M. Robinson. Byron Haskin (”The War
of the Worlds”/ “The Naked Jungle”) does a marvelous job mixing sinister
action and lighthearted sidelight sequences. The talented all-star cast
keeps the supernatural on a more or less literate level, while the George
Pal special effects are credible.

Set at a space research center where six scientists — Jim Tanner
(George Hamilton), Margery Lansing (Suzanne Pleshette), Carl Melniker (Nehemiah
Persoff), Talbot Scott (Earl Holliman), Henry Hallsom (Arthur O’Connell),
and N.E. Van Zandt (Richard Carlson) — are researching into human endurance
(how much pain can be handled in a space flight) and are administered by
a government liaison watchdog agent named Arthur Nordland (Michael Rennie).
During a meeting all seven attend, anxious anthropologist Hallsom brings
to their attention that one of them  unknowingly possesses an unheard
of superior intelligence and a test soon applied proves this to be true
but doesn’t identify the subject. It turns out that this brings about a
string of killings of the scientists, starting with the novel way Hallsom
is killed in the lab when the controls stop working and he’s forced to
remain in a pain chamber without escaping. 

No-nonsense fedora wearing Detective Corlane (Gary Merrill) investigates
and all suspicion falls on Tanner, whose school records have disappeared
and his boss Van Zandt fires him for getting the job on false pretenses.
To clear his name and find the killer, Tanner ignores the cop’s request
to stay home and travels back to Hallstrom’s hometown where he believes
there are certain invaluable clues regarding a mystery man who is up to
something nefarious. There’s a beautifully realized Hitchcockian carousel
sequence, where Tanner has to fight off the invisible force. That he’s
able to and others are not, indicates that there may be more than one super-brain
among the scientists and that person, who has developed the ability to
kill by will power, fears Tanner more than any one else as someone who
also possesses similar powers. 

There’s a diverting scene at a drunken hotel party, where floozy
Sylvia kisses one of the scientists but he’s dead. That only makes Tanner,
along with his squeeze Lansing, more daring as he escalates his hunt to
get the right scientist killer. It becomes a question if Tanner can get
the unknown super-genius before the villain gets him.

If you don’t take it as seriously as it was acted, I think you’ll
find it highly entertaining. Its major flaw is that it doesn’t clearly
state the villain’s motivation for doing such evil and doesn’t explore
with any depth the concepts of the Nietzschian mental superman it raises.
It instead settles for being a predictable but thrilling mystery story.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

January 14th, 2010 January 14th, 2010
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Brutally pleasant, darkly comic sci-fi, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” is guaranteed to trash the feeble competition and conquer the on cloud nine this summer. Visceral to the issue of overkill (and beyond), a berserk blizzard of kinetic images, it doesn’t impassive transfer you every so often old-fashioned to be scared.

And even though “T2″ stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s not just another chrome-plated casual carnage flick. “T2″ has a humane message; in fact, it’s even Politically Correct, in a perverse way. Here’s a techno-movie that is virulently anti-technology; that deploys mega-violence to make a statement about the value of human life; that is macho in the extreme, but has a female sensibility at heart.

And it has Arnold. Just try and stop it.

As we survey the scorched metal graveyard that is Los Angeles circa 2029, a solemn voice-over brings us up to date since the first “Terminator”: Intelligent computers began the nuclear war that wiped out 3 billion lives on Aug. 29, 1997. Those few unlucky humans who survived were left to face a far fiercer enemy than men — the malevolent machines we created.

But it doesn’t have to end that way: The human resistance is led by John Connor, who reprogrammed the original Terminator — a titanic Teutonic cyborg with a metal robot skeleton beneath its flesh-and-blood exterior — and sent it back in time to protect himself as a young boy.

And John’s mother Sarah (wiry hellcat Linda Hamilton, who outdoes Sigourney “Aliens” Weaver in Ultimate Overprotective Mom mode), is determined to change the future by “terminating” a scientist who bases his ultra-advanced weapons technology on a microchip left behind during the first “Terminator’s” earthly visit, thus unwittingly designing the doom of mankind.

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So this time, when Schwarzenegger materializes in a parking lot in a blaze of blue lightning, he’s a good guy, sort of, sent to protect young John Connor, a 12-year-old mall rat. After John (chipper, androgynous Edward Furlong) learns this frightening father-figure has to obey his orders (”Cool! My own Terminator!”), he gradually humanizes the implacable Terminator, teaching him about mores and emotions (”I will not kill anybody,” he promises John after one such lesson — instead, he just maims them for life). He also gives the Terminator a crash course in teen slang, which provides Schwarzenegger with the raft of drop-dead deadpan one-liners kids will be repeating all summer.

But the robots have also sent a Terminator back in time — the T-1000, more advanced, more deadly even than Arnold (he’s just a T-800) — on a mission to terminate kid Connor. Blond, bland, all-American-looking Robert Patrick plays the T-1000, who moves about in an L.A. cop’s uniform. Relentless and almost invincible, the T-1000 is made of “liquid metal,” so he’s self-healing and capable of quicksilver metamorphoses into anything he’s made contact with.

The collision of these two dueling near-indestructible man-machines at large in Los Angeles leads to fight scenes like you’ve never seen.

Director and co-screenwriter James Cameron has the framing eye of a great comic-book artist, and a bracingly sick sense of humor — he wittily borrows from the surrealistic hallucinations of “Nightmare on Elm Street,” the paranoia of “Silence of the Lambs” — and even indulges in a clever reversal of the melting Wicked Witch scene from “The Wizard of Oz.”

Budgeted in excess of $90 million (”T1″ cost a mere $6 million), “T2″ is the most expensive movie ever made, and Cameron puts it all on screen — the makeup, special effects and especially the harrowing chase scenes (a 14-wheeler truck chases a dirt bike through the L.A. flood-control channels; a helicopter buzzes a SWAT van on the L.A. freeway) redefine “spectacular.” And, of course, there are dozens of satisfying explosions, including a horrifyingly vivid envisioning of a nuclear holocaust.

After the techno-frenzy of Schwarzenegger’s “Total Recall,” audiences wondered how anyone could top that film’s special effects and epic body count. Now you’ve gotta be afraid of the movie that tries to outdo “Terminator 2.”