Those darn immortals are back to fight the game where there can be only one. (There should have been only one film, the first one). This is the fourth big screen presentation of the Highlander series and brings Conner and Duncan McCloud together again (they first appeared in together in the pilot of the Highlander television show). This story seems to put itself sometime before or during (more likely before) the first movie and takes you on a new timeline tangent. It seems to cut out the second and third film from this new time line which is fine by me. This film is more like the television show with many of the same characters. Of course this is where the interesting part of the film ends. You then go onto the bad immortal trying to kill Conner and Duncan for past transgressions and we have the standard flashback sequences we have to put up with. This bad immortal goes by the name of Jacob Kell and has a group of immortal thugs who work for him. Just watch any of the television shows and you've got this story. I will admit I got up and left the theatre after an hour watching this one so maybe, that is a big maybe, they could have turned this film around in the last half hour or so but that is a big maybe and based on my past experience they couldn't make such a turn aorund. If you are a big fan of the show, you'll probably like this one, but it would have been better shown as a two hour made for televison moview or video release. My suggestion to everyone is to pop in to their DVD player or VCR the original Highlander movie. Don't spend your time or money on this one.
3 out of 10
Ryan Phillipe and Benicio Tel Toro (Usual Suspects) star in this crime action movie. They play two criminals who have decided they have nothing to offer the world so they hatch a plan to kidnap a surrogate mother carrying the child of a man connected to the mob. (Opps!) This of course leads them to a confrontation with bodyguards, mobsters, and
3 out of 10
I have not seen this movie but I got some feedback from a visitor so I thought I would post something.
[Playing in Local Theatres]
1 visitor rating - average rating of 6 out of 10
The comic book characters have hit the big screen. This film could have been a major dissapointment but thankfuly it was not. Director Bryan Singer allegedly wanted to very faithful to the comic book series. This combined with faithful writing leads to, for the most part, and enjoyable show. There are not many well known actors in this film. However, Patrick Stewart does plays Professor X and Ian McKellan plays Magneto. The script tries to develop all of the X-men but the film is only about 80 minutes long so they really do not have time. The story generally concentrates on Wolverine and Rouge and how they discover they are mutants. They in turn are discovered by Professor X and taking to his school. All the good Professor X mutants end up tangling with the Magneto mutants throughout the film.
[Playing in local theatres]
7 out of 10
1 visitor rating; average of 8
Yeah! Another John Woo film for our viewing pleasure. I wish I could have been more pleased but since Woo came to the U.S. it has been like watching a bird chained to the roof; it can fly, but it cannot soar. In this Mission Impossible adventure Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt, super secret agent man of the IMF. He is assisted by Ving Rhimes and other memebers of the IMF team and a theif, Cruise's romantic interest, played by Thandie Newton. Hunt's nemisis is Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) a former IMF team member who has stolen a viral cure and plans to ransom it. The film starts off relatively slow with lots of plot build up. So we do not get into the cool John Woo action for 40 minutes. Even when we do it is relatively short until the final scene. Woo of course does his best under the constrainsts of Hollywood. Woo uses his signature stuff like pigeons/doves and motorcycles. Some of it is introduced in such a hokey manner. For instance the motorcycles are driven by guards on a small island with really no roads and just rocks and they try to attack Hunt by running him over and jumping over him. It was just silly. Also the initial romantic meet up after a car chace felt corny. Bottom line, not enough Woo action and too much corn! Maybe he should be allowed to make an R movie again. [Playing in local theatres]
7 out of 10 (remeber my caveats!)
I ran out to see this movie on a whim and missed the first ten minutes. Even though this film stars Bruce Willis I was not in any particular hurry to see it. I thought it would be your standard "guy with good intentions losses his way and has some third party show him the way" movie. It was pretty much this very type of movie When I decided to actually run out and see it I did it on a whim and missed the first ten minutes.
[Playing in local theatres]
7 out of 10
I went to see this film not because I was eager to see Hamlet again but because of the setting it took place in. This Hamlet takes place in New York City in the year 2000. The King and CEO of the Denmark Corporation has died and the Queen has married the King's brother. Hamlet is played by Ethan Hawke and he is joined by a group of largely unknown actors as the rest of the cast (at least unknown in Hollywooed). We do get to see Bill Murray in the role of Polonius. I did not know Murray could do Shakespeare. I thought the acting was solid by everyone but no one excited me. The lines of the original play are not changed they just put the story into a modern environment. If anyone remembers Dicaprio's Romeo and Juliet a couple of years back will be happy to hear that Hamlet is not as over the top as that. This Hamlet is also thankfuly shorter than Kennath Branagh's version. I was neither disappointed or excited by this film. If you like Shakespeare a bit and think it would be neat to see it "modernized" this film might be worth a weekend matinee. [In theatres. In Minneapolis it was only playing at the Lagoon, Uptown]
6 out of 10 (I might have given it a 7 but Hamlet was wearing a stupid hat through half the film). P.S. See if you can find the product placement in this movie. It is not hard.
Well, I was excited to see Jet Li grace the big screen again in America. (Lethal Weapon 4 was his first American appearence). In case you don't know, Jet Li is a martial arts master who has made dozens of films in Hong Kong (akin to Jackie Chan but with a different style and less comedic). My excitement turned to boredom as I had to sit through long scenes that contained no action. Jet Li is famous for action; flying through the air kicking, punching, etc. They give him few opportunities here. When they do they take away alot of the joy of his moves by using computer generated action and short sharp fight scenes. I pay money to see Jet Li do his stuff. When he doesn't I feel ripped off. They sucked me in with the preview showing all the action.
Let me give you a little bit of the story. It is supposed to be based on Romeo and Juliet, hence the title. Besides the two families at war it bears little similarity. Han (Jet Li) comes back to America when he hears that his brother is dead. He meets with his father and his father main lieutenant (Russel Wong). He ends up hooking up with the daughter of his fathers rival (Delroy Lindo). First Han and then "Juliet" try to solve the murder. They uncover some betrayal and win in the end. The story is not all that spectacular and the acting is just average. (I enjoyed watching Jet Li more than I enjoyed watching some of the American actors). Although Delroy Lindo always gives a solid performance but he always seems to play the same stoic type of guy.
I just have to learn that Americans cannot make Hong Kong Action Movies but they can always try. [Playing in local theatres]
5 out of 10
Russel Crowe stars as Maximus a Roman general who ends up being sold into slavery. He is then forced to fight in the gladitor arena to win his freedom. This movie has a lot of flash but not enough substance to back it up completely. I don't want to say it has no substance. You have exciting action and an okay story. The story does not really surprise you in any way though. The acting is okay but Crowe is not up to his Insider level. His nemisis in the movie, the ceaser, (played by Jacquin Pheonix [I think]) has more depth and range of character. They also gave the ceaser more screen time. (At least it felt that way). I felt like I was watching the "Ceaser" instead of the "Gladiator". A little warning for the squemish, there is lots of blood and killing in this film, but maybe not enough. [Opening soon in local theatres]
6 out of 10
1 visitor review, average rating of 7