The Taking of Pelham 123
John Travolta and Denzel Washington play against ‘type’ in this exhilarating thriller. Travolta is terrific as a criminal who abducts a New York City subway train and holds its passengers for ransom. Travolta is sleazy, nasty and very foulmouthed. It is a movie ‘side’ of John you will be surprised to see. Meanwhile, Denzel is over-weight and grumpy as a railway official, with his own problems, who John will only do business with. Denzel is just as impressive! However, Tony Scott’s direction becomes a bit annoying after a while. He keeps his camera in perpetual motion. Continually zooming in and out, and roaming around and about. After a while it induces feelings of nausea, rather than action and tension. The story is so exciting, that the camera becomes a visual gimmick the movie could have well done without.
Land of the Lost
Will Ferrell stars as a ‘mad scientist’, who is sucked into a space-time vortex, along with his research assistant and a red-necked tour guide. There, they encounter dinosaurs, ape-like cavemen, and strange beings from outer space, or a parallel universe. The movie is an hysterical ‘send up’ of all those ‘Lost’ movies of the 1950s, with their awful production values, tatty sets and special effects. Granted, though, the production values, tatty sets and special effects are great in this movie. But, the movie doesn’t go the full distance. You can actually pinpoint the spot where the movie looses the plot.
The Steam Experiment
Another ‘mad scientist’, this one well played by Val Kilmer, believes that the world will end in 2012, when Global Warming will bring the Earth to a point where no-one will be able to survive. To prove his hypothesis, and to get it published in a local newspaper, the scientist locks up six people in a steam room, or Turkish Bath, and gradually increases the heat. Meanwhile, a policeman, notified of the case, tries to find the victims before they over cook. The movie is quite a nice emotional thriller, especially when the temperature starts to rise in the steam room. Armand Assante, as the cop, and Eric Roberts, as one of the steam room victims, both give good support.
Acolytes
This is a very impressive ‘little’ movie from Australia. Three high school students find a body buried in the bush. They also find clues which can lead to the killer, but, after not notifying the police, for the ‘fun’ of it, they try to find the killer themselves. Pretty soon they are in way over their heads! The movie makes great use of the vast and mysterious Australian Landscape, and its depiction of regional suburban Australia effectively concentrates on isolation and alienation. The movie gradually builds in horror and suspense.
What Goes Up
Let’s not call this movie a ‘black’ comedy. Let’s just call it odd! A cynical New York reporter is sent to a New Hampshire town to cover the hoopla surrounding local hero Christa McAuliffe, who is to be the first civilian astronaut to go into space in the Challenger. However, on arrival in the small town, the reporter becomes much more interested in an apparent suicide of a local high school teacher, and the effect this has had on his ‘awkward’ and ‘difficult’ students. The reporter’s editor doesn’t think there is much to the story, but, the reporter insists on seeing it through. Eventually, the movie becomes an investigation into ‘truth in journalism’. You can’t call the movie funny, and you can’t call it serious. But, it is effective all the same. Steve Coogan, Hilary Duff , Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby and Molly Shannon star.
Terminator Salvation
This is the forth episode of this ongoing movie series. This movie has been directed by MCG, and it stars Christian Bale as John Connor. If that means anything to you! John Connor is still leading the resistance, fighting the machines, but the sudden appearance of a mysterious stranger sends John into a spin, as John is not sure if the stranger is from the future, present or the past, or if he is here to help or to hinder. I can’t explain the movie any better. I guess it will make more sense if you have been following the entire series. I kinda gave up after ‘The Terminator’ (1984) and ‘Terminator 2’ (1991). I found this latest episode ludicrous and silly, but, the special effects are good. An Arnold Schwarzenegger ‘look-a-like’ makes a brief appearance towards the end of the film. This ought to give some of you a great big thrill!
2012: Doomsday
Yet again another movie which uses as its ‘bait’ the catastrophic events which are supposed to occur in the year 2012. The scenario of this movie suggests that in the year 2012 the Sun, the Earth, and the other Planets, align with the gravitational pull of a ‘Black Hole’. The Earth will stop spinning, there will be a polar shift, and then the Earth will start spinning in the opposite direction. That is certainly something to think about, but, if you were to think that the DVD cover of this movie was any indication of the movie’s content, then you would be expecting a film full of massive natural and environmental disasters. Unfortunately, that is not the case. What you get is a long and tedious discussion about the existence and meaning of God.
