By Christopher Stipp
May 14, 2004
LET’S SEE YO’ ID
Without messing around, and with the exception of paraphrasing some Ice Cube above, the trailer that is running for THE BOURNE SUPREMACY has some great weight behind it. Without a doubt there is car chasing much gritter-looking than anything in THE ITALIAN JOB and a little more explosive action than in RONIN. While the latter mixed foreign cities with 4-wheel action with great effectiveness, I do hope BOURNE replicates its sleeper status as a great, well-thought-out action pic. If you do yourself a favor this week and have the chance to look at least one of these movies, make it this one. Trailers can only tell so much, and can hide a lot, but the advertising for this flick sells a pile of crap well if that’s the case.
That’s all I need to yammer on about for this week so if the mood hits you right and you just want to let it go, shoot an email and let me know whatever random thought crosses your mind.
Enjoy.
Director: Andrew W. Zehner
Cast: Sam Nicotero, John Williams, Grant Bhyron, Madeliene Gainers, Billie-Jo Stewart
Release: April 10th, 2004
Synopsis: Wanna-be filmmaker Steven Speilburgh gets wrapped up in a mob-organized drug ring when ecstasy gets delivered to the theatre in candy boxes. If you’re a fan of MALLRATS and CLERKS… You’ll love this back and forth comedy about movie theatre employees and the situations they “try” and handle. Remember…His name may sound the same as a big time director, but this time the adventure isn’t on the big screen…it’s in the lobby.
View Trailer:
* Small (QuickTime)
Prognosis: Positive.
It’s nice to see so many people take a stab at comedy in the independent market. While there are some missteps and awkward moments of dialogue here, there are some elements to this trailer that prevent this movie from going into a complete freefall.
The trailer does itself a favor with being tongue-in-cheek about the name thing right from the start. The comparison to the legendary filmmaker Spielberg and the guy in this movie who is a director on a smaller scale with the name of Speilburgh is a good premise. As with any movie created around a comedic premise the question then becomes whether the movie can elevate itself over that and produce something amusing.
One of the first people, nay, the very first person, we see on the screen, is a fairly tight shot of Speilburgh’s boss. His name is irrelevant as his appearance says it all in spades. He’s a wide lapel wearing, scummy looking, prototypical tyrant of the working class he most definitely is and the guy, in all his sleaziness, admonishes our protagonist, Speilburgh, for being late to work. It’s a little over-the-top (not to be confused with the Stallone stalwart), but comedy can be that way and it’s fine.
We get to see that Speilburgh works in a theater, imagine that, and we are introduced to his co-workers. We get an obnoxious, lippy friend; a hot chick, possibly the guy’s girlfriend; a retard who rips tickets (no one likes a retard for comedic effect more than me); another girl who works the frontline with Speilburgh; and then we get some unseemly guys who come looking for the Speilburgh’s manager, not knowing he inadvertently OD’s on some ecstasy in the previous ten seconds of film, and who start trouble with the rest of the movie theater crew in pursuit of the drugs which seem to belong to them. Somehow through this convoluted concoction there is a semblance of plot and manages to be quite funny.
The best friend role, played by a guy who is easily a ringer for Joe Lo Truglio of MTV’s defunct The State sketch comedy series, does his job well as he tries to explain to Speilburgh that what looks like packages of Junior Mints is a little more powerful than your average chocolate. Even Jay, the ticket ripping retard, has some Screech-like qualities that are likable and could afford to give the film more than a couple good moments of fun. However, as with everything, there are some points of contention.
The goombas sent to pick up the drugs seem flimsy facsimiles of the real thing; I want to believe these guys can do some damage, bust a kneecap or punch in a face, but I’m not really feeling it. We also get some random guy who leads the very same heavies to the deceased manager and says matter-of-factly, “I see dead people.†I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be ironic, funny or seriously out of place. Another line that made me question some of the other dialogue is when one of the guys who is shaking down the joint gets pinned on the ground, and is visibly upset, and let’s us all know that Speilburgh is dead but he, “just doesn’t know it yet.†Thanks, Brandon Lee, I knew you were still alive out there in the great beyond. We do, however, get some redemption in the form of Speilburgh as action hero, armed with nothing but a pellet gun. I liked this kind of thing in MEN AT WORK (Charlie Sheen’s best cinematic work to date) and VACATION and I like it here. This kind of situation also reminds me of the Ben Stiller parody of DIE HARD in a grocery store. It has an absurdist element that plays really well in the few moments we have to digest it.
One of the marks of good art is what it can evoke. Film is no different. While I do think there are some groaner lines and uninspired camera work in places I would still want to see this thing from start to finish if for no other reason than the film has promise to be better as a sum of all of its parts. The Farrelly’s aren’t known for their great use of cinematography, and not every joke of theirs sail out of the park, but they do have a handle on how to pace a comedy. If the trailer is any indication, this film has the potential of being a very effective comedy but only if there’s real originality, and not a gimmick, at its core.
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Richard Linklater
Release: July 2, 2004 (Limited)
Synopsis: It’s nine years after Jesse and Celine first met in BEFORE SUNRISE. Now, they encounter one another on the French leg of Jesse’s book tour.
View Trailer:
* Small (Windows Media, Real Player)
Prognosis: Positive.
I would like to see this film. I want to see this film.
Apart from being one of the better actors to have successfully gone through puberty on screen, Ethan Hawke definitely has a modicum of talent. While TRAINING DAY was certainly a watershed moment for his popular movie man image, nothing can hold a candle to the EXPLORERS; when that treasure of a film, embodying many childhood fantasies of my own, comes on Saturday afternoon television, usually between a Billy Mays infomercial for Oxi Clean and an Andy Griffith marathon, life just stops. I could easily watch that film again and again. It is of concern to me, then, that the original movie that is this current film’s bookend, BEFORE SUNRISE, is something I have yet to experience. Watching the opening to this trailer, and seeing the Ethan Hawke I couldn’t stomach almost a decade ago, I could possibly see why that is the case.
It is of no surprise, then, that the trailer starts with Ethan circa 1995 (the hip, urban Ethan. The I-can-be-a-novelist-too Ethan. The REALITY BITES, but not for Ethan, pre-GATTACA Ethan.) While I can appreciate Richard Linklater’s ability as a filmmaker, the movie drips schmaltzy romanticism in a way that even now I have a hard time appreciating. However, as the premise unfolds, and as Ethan woos Ms. Delpy for the first time in Vienna I like where it is going. The two of them explore what “could be†with a complete stranger as they spend one evening together; fine, a little carnival action, a little kissy kissy, and a quick hump. I’m thankful I could sum it up in so few words.
Fast-forward nine years and the trailer opens anew with some Ang Lee HULK split screen action, one of a few times it does this, as Ethan pops in a small shop in Paris to see his old one-night stand. This is the kind of situation usually reserved for Ricki Lake but the moment is demure and sweet. In the nine years since, we can see that Delpy has aged well (girl is as plain as the missionary position, but it’s nice to see a woman with a very pleasing aesthetic in a role that would otherwise be filled by a young bimbo.) and that Ethan needs to eat a sandwich or two. Seriously. The man looks gaunt, even giving him 10 pounds of camera weight. The two of them then bound off for an afternoon in what one thinks will be an exploration of what could be with someone who could have been. Again, it’s kind of sweet.
The movie seems to be all about them. There is lots of talking seems to be the order of the day, and that’s really fine by me, as this is Linklater and in his hands this, hopefully, will be a nice elevation above FRENCH KISS and FORGET PARIS where there the city of Paris is treated with a romanticism that invades the plot needlessly. There are great punctuating moments of Ethan talking about the nature of his infatuation for Delpy and how he is a man on the verge of dissolving into molecules. It’s sappy and all that crap but I am going on the record as I will happily go willingly, even making her think it’s one of “her†selections so I can have an excuse to see SPIDER-MAN 2 the following weekend, a film this is ostensibly trying to counter-program against.
I would also like to point out, if you do check out the trailer, and like the music running underneath it, to pick up Long Distance by Parisian’s own Ivy. They were, without compunction, the perfect choice for this trailer and it’s nice to give props to trailers that incorporate a nice sound without bringing out old pop standards from the 80’s or 90’s that severely ill fit a trailer’s storyline.
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill
Release: August 6, 2004
Synopsis: Foxx plays a Los Angeles cab driver forced to serve as a chauffeur to a contract killer (Cruise) on a string of hits. Ruffalo will star as a detective on the trail of Cruise’s character.
View Trailer:
* VARIOUS (Windows Media, QuickTime, Real Plater)
Prognosis: Positive.
Jaime Foxx as an unsuspecting cab driver, and possible comedic foil, to Tom Cruise’s violent hit man isn’t really selling me in this trailer.
As the trailer opens up Foxx is gets his cab ready for a paying fare, picks up Cruise, and they have a small conversation. While this seemingly simplistic series of events unfold, the shots of downtown L.A. fade in/fade out/fade in/fade out. It takes a few moments for the trailer to get into the groove of things but it sets the story up quick and that gets applause from me. Cruise speaks off-screen, telling Foxx what he would like to hire him for the night, and this is very effective for two reasons. 1) People who see this in the theater won’t become enamored with Cruise as they whisper to their significant other “we’ve got to see this because Tom Cruise is in it†and miss the point of what is happening on the screen and 2) It allows the eye to soak in the nighttime of L.A. and understand this movie starts and ends in one night.
LAX at night, a helicopter following the streets below and using L.A. for the backdrop, images that flood the screen as the trailer unfolds, evokes images from HEAT and I cannot say for sure if that was more coincidental than it was intentional, but it did get me back into the same mood about why I loved Mann’s 1995 ode to contemporary police work, police life and the bad guys who run roughshod all over them. The trailer exudes a kind of confidence that Mann knows how to capture.
The mood changes, however, as we get a good look at silver-haired Cruise as he strides forward out of the camera’s view, leaving us with a not so desirable look at Foxx enjoying a hoagie inside his cab. Essentially, a body falls on the car (the windows blowing out always make a great effect regardless of the make or model, be that Hyundai or Yugo), Foxx gets out, stunned, and Tom, glibly, fesses that he’s the one who killed the guy. They stand there. Somehow it feels awkward. Before anyone gets the chance to think about why Foxx is standing there like a bumbling idiot and not trying to beat down a man who is not currently holding his gun (dumbass), Cruise’s voice chimes in that Foxx will drive him around in his cab, let him do this thing, and should Foxx do it to plan he “might make it through the night.†I know, it’s a groaner of a line but I am sure men all across the land will be inspired to see the movie based on that sound bite.
The quick clips start shuffling in from there: there’s a shot of a gun loading, of Tom running, some chairs breaking glass, a coyote crossing the street (!), some night clubbing, some of Tom trying a new dance technique called the head bob and weave, of Foxx trying to look cool, of Tom shooting a gun between his legs while on his tuchus (As Men on Film would say, “I ain’t even gonna touch it.â€), and even some more glass shattering. After seeing this trailer the film feels like something out of a Nakatomi high rise auctioneer in downtown L.A. with the exception that this takes place on the street. And where the hell is Ruffalo in all of this? Nowhere to be found in this trailer, I say.
Michael Mann likes taking his time between directing. In the ‘90s he only directed three vehicles (THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, HEAT and THE INSIDER) so hopefully this will be a movie worth the extended wait since his last project, 2001’s ALI. If it isn’t, which could happen if Foxx feels the need to be a much not needed comedic relief character, then we need only wait until next year when Cruise and Mann team up again in THE FEW.
Director: Pitof
Cast: Halle Berry, Sharon Stone, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Alex Borstein, Michael Massee, Frances McDormand
Release: July 23, 2004
Synopsis: Catwoman is the story of shy, sensitive artist Patience Philips (Halle Berry), a woman who can’t seem to stop apologizing for her own existence. She works as a graphic designer for Hedare Beauty, a mammoth cosmetics company on the verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product. When Patience inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer is hiding, she finds herself in the middle of a corporate conspiracy. What happens next changes Patience forever. In a mystical twist of fate, she is transformed into a woman with the strength, speed, agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat. With her newfound prowess and feline intuition, Patience becomes Catwoman, a sleek and stealthy creature balancing on the thin line between good and bad. Like any wildcat, she’s dangerous, elusive and untamed. Her adventures are complicated by a burgeoning relationship with Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), a cop who has fallen for Patience but cannot shake his fascination with the mysterious Catwoman, who appears to be responsible for a string of crime sprees plaguing the city.
View Trailer:
* Small (Windows Media, Real Player)
Prognosis: Um, yeah, about as solid of a Negative as they come.
Ok. The fan boy complaints are at a din, although I couldn’t really tell that for sure as the sounds of nerds everywhere falling over on their pocket protectors and comic books (hermetically sealed in Polypropylene bags with 6 3/4 x 10 3/8 acid free backing boards, of course), laughing at all the advance photos of Catwoman are almost too loud to differentiate between the two.
I will not speak here on any authority about the Catwoman franchise in the DC universe; I parked my hooptie ride and threw away my keys over at Marvel almost two decades ago after seeing a sweet commercial for what I thought was a G.I. Joe cartoon only for the announcer man to tell me to check out the rest in that month’s issue of the G.I. Joe comic series. It was a sleazy tactic to move books as I bought into it and have never looked at another publishing house longingly ever since. It is with a little authority, then, that I speak to the larcenous way in which Patience Philips, Halle Berry, embodies a character that should have been envisioned differently. Watching the trailer, though, to a certain point, almost everything looks like it was in place.
“From a life that was taken…â€
Some nice looking, and silent, script appears on the screen; it’s one of the best uses of it so far this year as we’re saved from a crappy voice over. A body floats in the water (“Ooo…is that a dead woman?â€) with a bright, shimmering light shining above it.
“A new one will be born.â€
There is some good, stock techno pumping that punctuates the beginning and then pops up in the middle of the trailer that helps this thing along and after we get some flashes of something landing on its feet (“Could it be her? I don’t know!â€) there is absolutely no reason to be a playa hater just yet. We get a superb close-up shot of a muddy faced Halle (“Is that a Revlon mask?â€) who then opens her eyes to reveal a normal pupil that turns into, gasp, a cat’s eye; I’ve liked this look ever since I felt drawn to it by Nastassja Kinski’s milky white face on the CAT PEOPLE tape cover; it’s the VHS copy that keeps creeping me out at Blockbuster as I troll around the horror section since 1984.
Halle is looking feline fine as she straddles a motor bike, sans suit, off to deliver some pussy payback of some sort I guess. There is then a quick shot of her falling, sans suit, and landing on her hands of course. So far everything is popping on all cylinders. Warner Brothers should have been creaming themselves with anticipation to this point. This is when we see the cat suit.
Um, yeah, I’ve heard of visualization techniques that can help destroy any urge, impulse, desire or path to gratification. This is probably one of the longest seeing-your-grandmother-in-her-underwear visual aides that will provide many a lustful soul gain control of themselves. I can’t decide if the “cat suit,†if you’ll allow me to be so bold to call those shredded ribbons of leather puke a suit of some kind in the first place, is just funny because it looks that way or if it’s because the suit is emblematic of the way Warner Brothers is cobbling together their comic book hero franchise films. I feel embarrassed for the fans that have to endure such “creative freedom†from people ignorant of the simple, basic ways to treat these kinds of properties. First step is respect, kids.
I won’t scold anyone for anything that isn’t already in that trailer, that’s for real fans to do on their websites, (OMG! CAN YOU BELIEF THAT SOOT? ROTFL! PWN3D!) but if Halle walking around, twirling a bullwhip over her head with as much sexiness as a two-dollar hooker in heat, is any indication, this will be a very interesting opening weekend when it comes. The director, Pitof, has been responsible for some fine visual effects work on ALIEN: RESURRECTION (as to much was his work, and not the lackeys who never get any love, I cannot quantify) and this will be his first real American, directorial project. I hope there is something beneath the surface that will prove me wrong. Alienating the base that buys the company’s books every Wednesday and who are rather vocal already about the appearance of Catwoman, and, I might add, constitute a good chunk of ticket sales and demographic spending power, doesn’t seem like a brilliant move but I will wait and see if my reactions as a comic fan were all for naught. I hope for DC’s sake they are.
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Franka Potente
Release: July 23, 2004
Synopsis: Following the smash worldwide success of 2002’s The Bourne Identity, Universal Pictures brings the second installment of best-selling author Robert Ludlum’s series to the screen with Matt Damon returning as trained assassin Jason Bourne in The Bourne Supremacy.
View Trailer:
* Small (QuickTime, Windows Media)
Prognosis: Positive.
The throaty sounds of an action movie voice over would usually induce rolled eyes and a disaffected stare at the screen from me. This was still the case as this trailer opens up showing us all, essentially, the ending to THE BOURNE IDENTITY. This is an almost necessary evil so it’s forgiven as it gets to the new story with much haste.
Matt, as Jason Bourne, is just hanging with his lady on a sandy beach, kickin’ it, when a guy with some very European facial hair (close to the face; some of that three-day George Michael circa 1990’s Faith album cover fuzz) starts shooting with a fairly powerful weapon. What is so odd about this opening, apart that it works to get me engaged, is how disjointed it all feels. I guess I’m just to believe that he was happy, living a good life, someone who isn’t introduced on screen finds him, starts shooting, as Jason leaves town, the trailer forgetting to mention Franka is kidnapped, as he begins an all new cinematic adventure.
These concerns go away as we get some bad ass slo-mo walking (never fails to impress as a technique) from Damon as he enters an airport, essentially trying to get the honkeys who came to his island paradise and effed it all to hell, and then goes nuts when security brings him to a room and try to detain him. He flees and, what I feel was one of the best shots in a trailer this year, there is a side shot of Matt driving quickly when he gets t-boned by a rapidly moving vehicle. It’s great because it follows from the near moment, almost impact, to full on hit in one shot. It’s sa-weet. Also, on a related tip, if car body counts are your thing, and you couldn’t get your fill by watching Crash (the NC-17 version, natch) again and again, this trailer is a wonderful preview of the kind of Yugo, Peugeot, small car street racing/destroying that will be going on in this movie.
The money shots just keep coming as the movie seeks to replicate the European feel of the first film (which, in my own stunted opinion, works well not only to show there is an action world outside of Hollywood and Hong Kong but it also might prompt productions that can afford it to use the globe as their own personal moviemaking playground.). There is also an increasing amount of hand-to-hand combat situations Matt seems to find himself in constantly. I am buying into all of it. Damon doesn’t seem to get the accolades he deserves for his work as his contemporaries get (I’m sure his accountant would disagree) but he seems to be working for a role that others would just sleepwalk in. He fits the role because Damon looks exactly un-like what this kind of role calls for.
Some other points of interest in this trailer would have to be none other than a very alluring Julia Stiles (I’ve got a weakness for Joker-like smiles, what can I say?) who seems to have no other purpose than to simply be The Girl Who Stands Around and Looks Good While Trying Not To Get Fired For Doing Nothing Else and a very pimp looking Brian Cox. Cox actually, and incidentally, is one of the bad things about the trailer. “You’ve got no idea what you’re getting into†is a groaner of a line, for sure, and he says it. He’s guilty by association but it’s enough to take me out of the moment and wonder if there just isn’t another way of portending danger than hearing that same numbing line in any movie where someone knows a rooster will come home to roost.
There’s no crappy music, the visuals speak for themselves, there is an awesome ending to this thing which I won’t give away (I know, the punk is acting like he’s a reviewing a movie) and it has all the visual ear markings of another sleeper hit. It did enough business overseas, probably helped by its inclusion of foreign locales, I do hope this film gets everything right that the first one did.
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