According to Dark Horizons, a controversial new book, “Diana And The Paparazzi” is being prepped to be adapted to a major motion picture, and Keira Knightley is being courted to play the role of the world’s most famous princess.
The success of “The Queen” has been a major influence on the decision to make the film apparently with producer Quentin Reynolds (“Evil Aliens” – and with credits like THAT to his name, how can you not take him seriously?) talked up the project at Cannes and claims “For every pound The Queen makes, a film about Diana would make ten”.
Ugh. I feel dirty just typing this guy’s words…
The Invisible (2007) – Review
So teenage goth crybabies are making their own Hollywood films, these days? Wait, what am I saying, they’ve been doing that since “The Crow”. Anyway, this flick is pretty much what you’d expect from the trailers and commercials: a trendy teeny-bopper suspense flick starring a Hot Young Cast with plenty of angst and emo rock to spare. Oh joy.
Nick Powell (Justin Chatwin) is your typical high school senior, blessed with a massive fortune and good looks. Yet poor Nick is not happy because his Mommy doesn’t pay attention to him. Then there’s Annie (Margarita Levieva), a scrappy young delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks with a rough family life and a penchant for crime. After a jewel heist and a case of mistaken identity, Annie is lead to believe that Nick turned her over to the cops. In a fit of rage, she kills him and hides his body. Or so she thinks. In reality, Nick’s life is hanging by a thread and his disembodied spirit is forced to roam the Earth, unable to be sensed by any living person. That’s bad news for Nick, as his body can only last a few more days and Annie is the only one who can reveal its whereabouts to the proper authorities. However, Annie is more interested in stealing, taking gratuitous shower scenes and dancing at raves than turning herself over to the cops. And then Nick falls in love with her. Wha?
This movie was annoying from start to finish, from the completely terrible Hot Young Cast to the wretched moral that “if you had a rough family life then it’s A-OK to kill people!” I haven’t had a theatrical experience this annoying since “Delta Farce”. Annie proves to be an absolutely terrible excuse for a human being, stealing jewels, cars, threatening to maim and murder other people, actually attempting to murder another person, shirking responsibility for her actions, threatening to kill anyone who would turn her in and just being an all around unlikable bitch. And yet the audience is instructed to feel sorry for her because she suffered parental neglect and that excuses everything she does. I don’t think so. Director David S. Goyer tries his best to cram that kind of lily-livered moral down the viewer’s throat, but I don’t buy it for a second. Call me cold-hearted if you wish, but I’m not of the clan that views childhood sob stories as a Get out of Jail Free Card, especially not for the degree of ill deeds Annie performs throughout the film.
Goyer never skimps on the teenage angst, slopping it on at every convenient opportunity. “The Invisible” can’t seem to go five minutes without playing the latest emo rock singles kids listen to endlessly as they lightly cut their arms in a desperate plea for attention. I felt like I was in high school all over again; the part of high school I hated. When Goyer isn’t trying to force us to like Annie’s character because boohoo her Dad works the night shift, he’s trying to soften us up to her by giving her gratuitous shower scenes or random trendy rave sequences. I guess this works if you came to the movie with the intention of masturbating, but as far as story and characterization is concerned, it’s all pointless and dull.
As far as the supernatural elements of the film go, I actually saw this story over a decade ago on an episode of “Are You Afraid of the Dark”, so Goyer gets no points for creativity there. Nick’s character is also rather unlikable, amounting to little more than your usual angsty teen who hates his Mom because she has his future planned out for him. His falling in love with Annie feels especially forced and unbelievable. Nick is supposed to mirror the audience (only able to watch and not interact), and his gradual development of affection for Annie is intended to mirror are own. Well it doesn’t. I still thought she was a bitch when the movie was over.
“The Invisible” is just a bad movie, plain and simple. Even if you agree with the moral that “killing people is okay so long as you come from a broken home”, you still won’t like the movie because it’s poorly written, poorly acted, poorly edited and has an atrocious soundtrack.
Grade: F
28 Weeks Later – Review
I was never a really big fan of “28 Days Later”. I mean, it was alright, but I didn’t think it was remotely worthy of the slobbering praise it received. So, naturally, I was hesitant going into its sequel, “28 Weeks Later”. Would it be more of the same? Thankfully, “28 Weeks Later” is an all-around improvement over the first installment, at least from my point of view, and definitely qualifies as a “good horror movie”.
Twenty eight weeks after the outbreak of the Rage Virus, all the infected within London have starved to death, the city has been de-quarantined and displaced families are gradually being moved back in to populate the empty streets. The United States military is overseeing the entire operation, with clean-up efforts still progressing in cordoned-off areas of the metropolis. However, an infected person has slipped through the cracks and begun spreading the terrible malignancy all across the city. To crush the virus before it can spread, the US military has enacted Code Red: exterminate everything within the city whether it is infected or not. Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) are the only children within the city, and they’re also the only chance there is of discovering a cure, as their unique genetic code leaves them immune to the Rage Virus. If humanity is to survive, the brother and sister must make it out of London alive. However, their biggest threat isn’t the hordes of flesh eating infected, but the trigger-happy soldiers out for blood.
A lot of people refer to these as “zombie flicks”, and while there are definite similarities, the “28 Whatever Later” franchise is most definitely not a zombie series. Still, the differences aren’t so big, and honestly, these films don’t try and present the Rage Virus as the true enemy, but the writers make it expressly clear they aren’t big fans of the military. In the previous installment, the heroes escaped the infected hordes only to fall into the clutches of a bunch of rape-crazy soldiers. This time around, the United States military are treated as the greater threat, carpet-bombing London, gassing the streets, sniping the survivors and wiping everyone down with blow-torches. The infected psychos don’t seem so scary after that.
Still, this film isn’t 100% “Blargh, soldiers are the true evil!” political commentary. There are at least three good ones who risk their lives to safeguard the two kids. So while the US military definitely comes off as the real villains, Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo doesn’t lay it on as thick as he could.
The scope of the movie is much grander than the original (you can thank the increased budget for that). Special effects show London getting razed to the ground and mustard gassed back to the Stone Age. But what’s that you say? “I came to see zombies/infected freaks, not soldiers.” Well, you still get plenty of em. Legions of them run through empty streets at all hours of the day while the sight of hundreds of infected marching over the horizon towards the main cast provides a great “Oh s***!” moment. And I can’t deny, the entire sequence with the helicopter (you’ll know it when you see it) was fantastic.
“28 Weeks Later” isn’t without its problems, though. If there’s one thing I will never forgive “the Blair Witch Project” for, it’s making the shaky-cam all sorts of trendy. Fresnadillo seems to have a serious mad-on for the shaky-cam, and uses it without restraint for just about every action sequence. This results in the maximum amount of confusion and disorientation the audience can handle without getting nauseous. The entire opening sequence relies on the shaky-cam far too much and what we get is an absolute disaster. You can’t tell who’s a bad guy, who’s a cast member, who’s a man, who’s a woman, who’s a table…nothing. You might as well be having a seizure; you’ll get the same effect.
The “28 *blank* Later” franchise still isn’t one of my favorites, but at least it now has an installment I could actually enjoy. The movie isn’t perfect or timeless but it does have some serious entertainment value. You should check it out, if not in the theater than at least on video.
Grade: B-
‘A Mighty Heart’ Movie Trailer & Stills
Finally, we have the movie trailer for the Angelina Jolie film A Mighty Heart, check it out here.
A Mighty Heart is the film about kidnapped & murdered Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl & his wife Marianne. Jennifer Aniston was reportedly lined up for the film which was produced under Brad Pitt’s production company. But then there was that big Hollywood split & it looks like Angelina got the role.
A Mighty Heart debuts in U.S. theaters June 22.
Photo Credit
Fracture (2007) – Review
I remember hearing the reactions when the trailer for “Fracture” came out: “So, what, is this ‘Hannibal Lecter V’?” I’ll admit, even I came to that conclusion upon gathering the plot of the film: Anthony Hopkins plays a deranged murderer of frightening intellect and outstanding manners who outwits police officers struggling to put him behind bars. But once again proving that there’s more to Hopkins than “that guy who was in ‘Silence of the Lambs’” he manages to play a villain of the same archetype who is considerably different from his most famous role yet still intriguing and entertaining. Good show, old sport.
After discovering his wife (Embeth Davidtz) having an affair with a Los Angeles hostage negotiator (David Strathaim), wealthy engineer Ted Crawford (Hopkins) shoots her in the head, placing her in a coma. Crawford is then taken into custody and delivers a signed confession, leaving hot shot lawyer and compulsive winner, Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), to take the case. However, shortly after putting his new career at a topflight law firm on the line, Willy discovers that all the evidence obtained at the scene of the crime and from Crawford himself (including his confession) are null and worthless. Crawford seems to have planned everything far in advance and if Willy intends to put this psycho away, he’ll have to out-think him.
This is one of the better mystery-suspense films I’ve seen in recent years, thanks in large part to the interesting twist in the plot. You know Hopkins shot his wife, they show it to you. However, what you don’t know is how he disposed of the evidence (even though, of course, all the clues are laid out before you). Half the fun is watching Hopkins outwit his opponent through clever loopholes and seeing Gosling squirm under his thumb as he struggles to locate substantial evidence Hopkins hasn’t already taken care of.
Like any good script, the execution is almost entirely in the hands of the cast assembled for the task. The selection was excellent, with each character drawing me into the experience without missing a beat. Crawford is calm, cool and collected with a dark edge to him, but unlike Hopkins’ other psychotic alter-ego, is much less on the crazy side. He never once loses his temper or does something outrageous, yet Hopkins delivers a performance with all sorts of humorous quirks and gags that make you just love the villain.
Gosling should not go without credit as the film’s hero. The character of Willy Beachum is a compulsive winner, which is both his greatest strength and weakness. His inability to accept a loss or back down from a challenge plays him right into Crawford’s hands while simultaneously plowing his life into ruin. He shows some real character progression throughout the film as he struggles with various morality issues (just how badly does he want to win) and learning not to be so arrogant.
There was honestly nothing wrong with this film. If you like mystery suspense films of the low-key variety (as in, no explosions) then you’ll enjoy every minute of “Fracture”. A great cast, a strong script and some very satisfying pay-off.
Grade: A