Review by Vives Anunciacion
Cinderella Man
Directed by Ron Howard
Written by Cliff Hollingsworth
Starring Russell Crowe. Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti
PG 13/ 144 minutes
Universal Pictures/ Miramax Films
Opens September 14
There’s a movie about a people’s champ that’s inspiring to see. It’s not Lisensyadong Kamao. Cinderella Man, starring former Roman Gladiator Russell Crowe is a rousing fairy tale if it is one.
Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) is a promising heavyweight boxer who is forced to retire early due to a disabling wrist injury. Out of work during in early years of the Great Depression, Braddock struggles every day to feed his young family. Temporary work in the local wharf restores his physical strength, but the pay isn’t enough to keep the kids warm in winter.
Jim’s tough talking manager Joe Gould, passionately played by Paul Giamatti (from Sideways), enlists him for a one-time supporting bout, which Jim wins much to everyone’s surprise. The win earns Jim recognition from his former ring employers and the admiration of his fellow workers in the docks. A few more fights and Jim becomes a local legend, as an ordinary man given a second chance at being great during the most difficult time in America’s economy. He ‘s given the moniker Cinderella Man, whose fairy tale return to boxing greatness is supported by the masses.
Eventually Jim reaches the championship fight against heavyweight titleholder Max Baer (Craig Bierko), whose deathly blows are infamous for literally killing his opponents in the ring. This fact scares Jim’s loyal wife, Mae (Renee Zellweger), who would rather see Jim working peacefully in the docks rather than find her husband lifeless after one round. Jim stands his ground, and fights Baer for all his worth, even his life, for the honor of all those who believe in him.
Ron Howard reunites with his A Beautiful Mind team to make this Depression-era historical drama about second chances and the human will to survive. Russell Crowe, best remembered as Maximus in Gladiator, reenters the fighting ring as American boxing legend Jim Braddock, who fought Max Baer for 15 historic rounds in 1935. Paul Giamatti deserves an Oscar nomination for his role as Joe Gould, though nearly everyone in the cast gave commendable performances.
However, casting Renee Zellweger as Jim’s loyal wife Mae is the chink in Cinderella Man’s formidable acting power. She is simply off in this movie, partly reprising her technique as Roxy Hart in Chicago and partly not exerting any effort at all. Zellweger and Crowe don’t make chemistry onscreen, crucial for the strong bond between husband and wife Jim and Mae Braddock. Too bad for the otherwise superb ensemble acting. Camerawork is impressive, and editing is excellent.
At more than two hours, the Depression-era drama is slow in the first hour, while the remaining second half is predictable, no thanks to 2003’s feel-good Depression drama, Seabiscuit. Then again there’s always a need to discover everyday heroes anywhere.
Cinderella Man is a thoroughly well-made, feel-good boxing movie, maybe even excellently made, except that it lacks the stamina to last until the final rounds of Oscars fight. We’ve seen Million Dollar Baby, Raging Bull, The Champ, and an entire Rocky series. Cinderella Man is Seabiscuit in a fight ring, where gloves are more important than the shoes.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Modesty aside
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Sky High
Directed by Mike Mitchell
Written by Paul Hernandez, Robert Schooley
Starring Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston
G/ 100 minutes
Walt Disney Pictures
Opens August 31
You don’t need super powers to appreciate this family movie about self-discovery and self-importance. Sky High is a light-hearted high-school comedy that mixes Harry Potter with The Incredibles and X-Men with a little 80’s Pretty in Pink.
Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano from Seabiscuit and Almost Famous) is worried that he’s about to start freshman high school at Sky High. He’s not worried about school bullies. He’s not thinking about pimples. He’s worried that his super parents Steve Stronghold (Kurt Russell) a.k.a. The Commander, and Josie (Kelly Preston) a.k.a. Jetstream plus the rest of the super academy will find out that he doesn’t have super powers. At least not yet.
His high school troubles begin with Power Sorting. The school separates all freshmen into Heroes and Sidekicks (ala Harry Potter sorting hat) depending on the student’s super ability. A weak super power fates a freshman to eternal Hero Support assignment while an impressive display of powers makes brands the candidate as a Hero. Unlucky Will, who is yet to discover his super powers, is demoted as a humble sidekick. He forms a gang of other non-performing mutant freshmen together with his eco-friendly kababata Layla (Danielle Panabaker.) This version of superhero apartheid upsets Will, until he discovers his super strength.
Suddenly, Will becomes the popular guy everyone expects from the son of superheroes, and catches the eye of beauteous senior Gwen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Transferred into Hero status, Will is separated from his gang of Sidekicks. While Will is struggling with his new-found superiority, he still has to deal with everyday teenage life.
High school crushes, super-annoying bullies and peer pressure make Sky High a typical teen movie dealing with typical teenage concerns except with a superhero twist. The first thirty minutes of the movie is drowse-inducing, and only picks up when Will discovers his powers. From there it’s smooth sailing for Sky High as it manages to cruise safely on the border of camp and serious comedy while lightly tackling common teenage school issues. The 80s new wave music helps set up the teen romance theme. Costumes are geeky-perfect.
Tons of references and parodies from other superhero movies, plus a few new story elements makes this movie an easy view. Wonder Woman Lynda Carter makes a cameo as the super school’s luminous Principal Powers, while Bruce Campbell shouts around as Coach Boomer.
Disney marries the high school coming of age genre with comic book comedy to dish out a surprisingly entertaining teen movie fun enough for kids and amusing enough for the young-once.
Sky High doesn’t aim for Incredibles-high magnificence, but is conscious enough not to drown itself on too much mediocrity.
Shakespeare may have asked whether it’s better to be born great than made great (in Twelfth Night), but Sky High does say it’s better for most people to achieve it.
Sky High
Directed by Mike Mitchell
Written by Paul Hernandez, Robert Schooley
Starring Michael Angarano, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston
G/ 100 minutes
Walt Disney Pictures
Opens August 31
You don’t need super powers to appreciate this family movie about self-discovery and self-importance. Sky High is a light-hearted high-school comedy that mixes Harry Potter with The Incredibles and X-Men with a little 80’s Pretty in Pink.
Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano from Seabiscuit and Almost Famous) is worried that he’s about to start freshman high school at Sky High. He’s not worried about school bullies. He’s not thinking about pimples. He’s worried that his super parents Steve Stronghold (Kurt Russell) a.k.a. The Commander, and Josie (Kelly Preston) a.k.a. Jetstream plus the rest of the super academy will find out that he doesn’t have super powers. At least not yet.
His high school troubles begin with Power Sorting. The school separates all freshmen into Heroes and Sidekicks (ala Harry Potter sorting hat) depending on the student’s super ability. A weak super power fates a freshman to eternal Hero Support assignment while an impressive display of powers makes brands the candidate as a Hero. Unlucky Will, who is yet to discover his super powers, is demoted as a humble sidekick. He forms a gang of other non-performing mutant freshmen together with his eco-friendly kababata Layla (Danielle Panabaker.) This version of superhero apartheid upsets Will, until he discovers his super strength.
Suddenly, Will becomes the popular guy everyone expects from the son of superheroes, and catches the eye of beauteous senior Gwen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Transferred into Hero status, Will is separated from his gang of Sidekicks. While Will is struggling with his new-found superiority, he still has to deal with everyday teenage life.
High school crushes, super-annoying bullies and peer pressure make Sky High a typical teen movie dealing with typical teenage concerns except with a superhero twist. The first thirty minutes of the movie is drowse-inducing, and only picks up when Will discovers his powers. From there it’s smooth sailing for Sky High as it manages to cruise safely on the border of camp and serious comedy while lightly tackling common teenage school issues. The 80s new wave music helps set up the teen romance theme. Costumes are geeky-perfect.
Tons of references and parodies from other superhero movies, plus a few new story elements makes this movie an easy view. Wonder Woman Lynda Carter makes a cameo as the super school’s luminous Principal Powers, while Bruce Campbell shouts around as Coach Boomer.
Disney marries the high school coming of age genre with comic book comedy to dish out a surprisingly entertaining teen movie fun enough for kids and amusing enough for the young-once.
Sky High doesn’t aim for Incredibles-high magnificence, but is conscious enough not to drown itself on too much mediocrity.
Shakespeare may have asked whether it’s better to be born great than made great (in Twelfth Night), but Sky High does say it’s better for most people to achieve it.
See more evil
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Red Eye
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Carl Ellsworth
Starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy
PG 13/ 85minutes
DreamWorks Pictures
Opens September 7
The phrase “flying the friendly skies” may no longer apply in these days of terror, especially if the threat would come from the person sitting next to your seat. Veteran horror filmmaker Wes Craven successfully crosses genres and makes his first decent psychological thriller set in a jet 30,000 feet in the air.
Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls, The Notebook) plays hotel manager Lisa Reisert, who is flying back to Miami after attending her grandmother’s funeral in Dallas, Texas. At Dallas International Airport, she meets the charming Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy, last seen as Scarecrow in Batman Begins).
The two immediately establish a friendly bond, as lonely strangers are wont to do while waiting for their delayed flight. They even share a drink at the airport bar. The friendliness would cease as soon as their plane would take off.
Jack tells Lisa he is part of an elaborate political plot to assassinate the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (played by Jack Scalia) who is set to stay in the hotel where Lisa works. The plot is to have the Secretary transfer to a specified room where the terrorists can kill him easily. Unless Lisa cooperates to change the secretary’s room reservations, an assassin waiting for Jack’s go signal will kill her father. With no where else to go, Lisa tries all she can to stop the assassination without endangering her own father’s life.
McAdams and Murphy, two very promising young Hollywood actors, square off convincingly as each opponent tries to outsmart the other through charming teeth. Brian Cox, playing Lisa’s father Joe Reisert, doesn’t do much as required by his token role.
Red Eye, which either means an overnight flight, a danger signal or an inferior whiskey, is a tightly paced, technically well-made thriller that has all the good ingredients. Despite having an airplane full of passengers, the film’s tight framing confines the tension between Lisa and Jack only, creating a claustrophobic and suspenseful atmosphere throughout the movie. Craven knows this; after all, he’s behind A Nightmare On Elm Street and the Scream series.
At 85 minutes, the film is fast-paced, but the feeling only takes off literally only after the airplane lifts off, nearly 20 minutes into the show – by most conventions that’s too slow for any movie to set up the premise.
Finally, despite the effective thrills and surprising plot twists, the story is really is a corny one. Such a grand plot resides on the decision of a hotel reservation at 30,000 feet. If it weren’t for the good points, I’d take the next flight out from this one. Don’t blink on this one, Red Eye good enough to see.
Red Eye
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Carl Ellsworth
Starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy
PG 13/ 85minutes
DreamWorks Pictures
Opens September 7
The phrase “flying the friendly skies” may no longer apply in these days of terror, especially if the threat would come from the person sitting next to your seat. Veteran horror filmmaker Wes Craven successfully crosses genres and makes his first decent psychological thriller set in a jet 30,000 feet in the air.
Rachel McAdams (Mean Girls, The Notebook) plays hotel manager Lisa Reisert, who is flying back to Miami after attending her grandmother’s funeral in Dallas, Texas. At Dallas International Airport, she meets the charming Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy, last seen as Scarecrow in Batman Begins).
The two immediately establish a friendly bond, as lonely strangers are wont to do while waiting for their delayed flight. They even share a drink at the airport bar. The friendliness would cease as soon as their plane would take off.
Jack tells Lisa he is part of an elaborate political plot to assassinate the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Charles Keefe (played by Jack Scalia) who is set to stay in the hotel where Lisa works. The plot is to have the Secretary transfer to a specified room where the terrorists can kill him easily. Unless Lisa cooperates to change the secretary’s room reservations, an assassin waiting for Jack’s go signal will kill her father. With no where else to go, Lisa tries all she can to stop the assassination without endangering her own father’s life.
McAdams and Murphy, two very promising young Hollywood actors, square off convincingly as each opponent tries to outsmart the other through charming teeth. Brian Cox, playing Lisa’s father Joe Reisert, doesn’t do much as required by his token role.
Red Eye, which either means an overnight flight, a danger signal or an inferior whiskey, is a tightly paced, technically well-made thriller that has all the good ingredients. Despite having an airplane full of passengers, the film’s tight framing confines the tension between Lisa and Jack only, creating a claustrophobic and suspenseful atmosphere throughout the movie. Craven knows this; after all, he’s behind A Nightmare On Elm Street and the Scream series.
At 85 minutes, the film is fast-paced, but the feeling only takes off literally only after the airplane lifts off, nearly 20 minutes into the show – by most conventions that’s too slow for any movie to set up the premise.
Finally, despite the effective thrills and surprising plot twists, the story is really is a corny one. Such a grand plot resides on the decision of a hotel reservation at 30,000 feet. If it weren’t for the good points, I’d take the next flight out from this one. Don’t blink on this one, Red Eye good enough to see.
Boo bayou
Review by Vives Anunciacion
Skeleton Key
Directed by Iain Softley
Written by Ehren Kruger
Starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard
PG 13/ 140 minutes
Universal Pictures
Now showing
Lots of skeletons hide in this supernatural thriller from the writer of The Ring (US version). Skeleton Key is a decently-made workable thriller with a twisted twister ending that can scare the bones out of any screenwriter.
Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) plays caregiver Caroline Ellis, who is hired to take care of ageing stroke victim Ben (John Hurt.) To make her work easy, Ben’s elderly wife Violet (Gena Rowlands) entrusts to Caroline a skeleton key that can open all the doors in the 30-room plantation era mansion – except for one door.
Caroline is suspicious of the mysterious locked door, which even more mysteriously, Violet prevents her from opening. Determined to discover the secrets behind the door, Caroline’s investigation would lead her from missing mirrors to strange symbols to hoodoo incantations.
For a mystery thriller, Skeleton Key has rudimentary structure, decent shots and sufficient editing enough to give obligatory suspense. Design is underutilized, not taking advantage of Louisiana’s intrinsic beauty and weirdness. Acting is permissible, with Rowlands making a nastyViolet, while Hudson is convincing enough as a very curious caretaker. Music has enough New Orleans ambiance to enhance the movie’s overall feel.
In short Skeleton Key has almost all the elements of a technically efficient thriller. All except the twister ending that’s one part unsurprising and one part inventive. The ending isn’t wrong; in fact it’s a good cap to tie all the subplots and the narrative together. One can say that this movie’s ending has similar intentions as other Asian horror movies with female protagonists. It’s just that the story elements take a painstaking reveal, the ending is almost unacceptable after all the fuss.
Skeleton Key maybe worth the watch on dark rainy days, better on video while home alone than in a theater full of uninterested watchers eager to scramble to the nearest open door as soon as the credits roll.
Skeleton Key
Directed by Iain Softley
Written by Ehren Kruger
Starring Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, Peter Sarsgaard
PG 13/ 140 minutes
Universal Pictures
Now showing
Lots of skeletons hide in this supernatural thriller from the writer of The Ring (US version). Skeleton Key is a decently-made workable thriller with a twisted twister ending that can scare the bones out of any screenwriter.
Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) plays caregiver Caroline Ellis, who is hired to take care of ageing stroke victim Ben (John Hurt.) To make her work easy, Ben’s elderly wife Violet (Gena Rowlands) entrusts to Caroline a skeleton key that can open all the doors in the 30-room plantation era mansion – except for one door.
Caroline is suspicious of the mysterious locked door, which even more mysteriously, Violet prevents her from opening. Determined to discover the secrets behind the door, Caroline’s investigation would lead her from missing mirrors to strange symbols to hoodoo incantations.
For a mystery thriller, Skeleton Key has rudimentary structure, decent shots and sufficient editing enough to give obligatory suspense. Design is underutilized, not taking advantage of Louisiana’s intrinsic beauty and weirdness. Acting is permissible, with Rowlands making a nastyViolet, while Hudson is convincing enough as a very curious caretaker. Music has enough New Orleans ambiance to enhance the movie’s overall feel.
In short Skeleton Key has almost all the elements of a technically efficient thriller. All except the twister ending that’s one part unsurprising and one part inventive. The ending isn’t wrong; in fact it’s a good cap to tie all the subplots and the narrative together. One can say that this movie’s ending has similar intentions as other Asian horror movies with female protagonists. It’s just that the story elements take a painstaking reveal, the ending is almost unacceptable after all the fuss.
Skeleton Key maybe worth the watch on dark rainy days, better on video while home alone than in a theater full of uninterested watchers eager to scramble to the nearest open door as soon as the credits roll.
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