BuzzSugar

2012: Apocalyptic Good Times

BuzzSugar — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:00 -0800

In terms of end-of-the-world movies, 2012 packs it all - a love story, teary family moments, action-packed adventure, over-the-top-CGI, and a ton of recycled film cliches - in a two and a half hour package. That's lengthy by today's standards, but I wasn't bored for a minute. This is pure escapist entertainment.

The film opens in 2009 as a scientist in India and his American associate Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discover that the Earth's core is overheating. His forecast: Tectonic plates will shift, thereby causing a worldwide catastrophe that will wipe out the human race.

Dun, dun, dun! (Doesn't take long to pull you in, does it?) To hear my full assessment, read more.

The real action goes down three years later in 2012 when, according to the Mayan calendar, the Earth will reach its end. The entire So-Cal coast starts crumbling, so our hero Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) and his family begin a journey to China where the governments around the world have supposedly assembled spaceships to carry select humans to safety.

What? You expected this to be plausible?

Of course not, but the film does include tons of cool CGI - volcanos, snow storms, giant tsunamis. It's like every disaster movie you've ever watched combined. (That should come as no surprise seeing as how the director is Roland Emmerich who created The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, and Godzilla.)

As for the characters, we've seen them all stereotyped in other films before, but they're still enjoyable here. (Even though I admittedly winced over a Russian family complete with a fur coat, tiny dog, and an employee named Sasha.) This is thanks to the actors who play their parts with believability, even when the scenes feel ridiculous. Ejiofor portrays a great bleeding heart swept up in a governmental plan that's looking out for No. 1, and Cusack pulls off his father role without being over-the-top or sappy. Also, watch for Woody Harrelson as a nutty conspiracy theorist living in Yellowstone National Park.

2012 is purely meant to be fun, and it succeeds. There's a constant barrage of cliff-hanger moments that never let up, and though you pretty much know where things are headed, it's easy to get sucked in.

(Don't forget that if you see a movie that you'd like to review, you can post your write-up in the Movie Review Group in Community - I may even post it here on the site!)

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures

RocknRolla: Slow to Build With a Rockin' Finish

BuzzSugar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:30:32 -0800

RocknRolla is extremely similar in tone and format to director Guy Ritchie's other films, and I must say I'm starting to think that his movies are only as good as the actors in them. Snatch is a good ensemble piece overall, but the most memorable parts are due to standout performances by actors like Brad Pitt and Alan Ford. Though not as good a film as Snatch, RocknRolla similarly benefits from some fine performers, in this case Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, and Toby Kebbell, among other members of the extensive cast in this convoluted story.

And by convoluted I mean I'm not sure I can even get into the plot here without writing another six paragraphs or so. Suffice to say there are a couple high-level criminal guys (played by Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong and others), a resourceful accountant (Thandie Newton), a few bumbling low-level thugs (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy), and a druggie rock star, Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) all chasing around large amounts of money and/or a beloved painting. There are a lot of men behaving badly because they had cruel fathers. There's a good amount of violence (often paired with great music) and torture mixed with dry, dark humor. It's funny and exciting - but not consistently so. For more on what I mean, read more.

The beginning is slow to build, with tons of details to take in at once, and sometimes the story is downright uninteresting. But the ending is exciting enough to make you forget the entire hour or so that came before it. Maybe that's Ritchie's shtick: Saving the best, most memorable parts for last so you're left with the impression that it was a great movie.

So, is it worth it? That depends. If you haven't liked any of Ritchie's stuff in the past, this movie will definitely not change your opinion. If you've never seen his movies, start with Snatch and make RocknRolla last on the list. And for any fan of his, RocknRolla is worth it for the helluva good ride we get to take in the last third or so of the movie.

Oh, also: We get a brief glimpse of Gerard Butler's bare backside. So. There's that.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

W: Too Little, Too Soon

BuzzSugar — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:30:33 -0700

No matter your political persuasion, most can agree that the presidency of George W. Bush is concluding on a low and solemn note, the full consequences of his years in office still unknown. There is no doubt he is one of the most controversial figures of a generation, and his life will provide vast and fertile ground for dramatists someday. Which brings me to my basic conclusion that someday is not here yet, and Oliver Stone's new biopic of the president, W, is a half-baked attempt at telling Bush's story and it suffers from the fact that the real-life tale is far from being over.

There is so much to think about when it comes to the life of Dubya. His transformation from a spoiled ne'er-do-well to the leader of the free world is good stuff. Because of the timing and the subject, it's the kind of biography that requires a director to have a point of view and a nuanced storytelling ability. Stone brings neither to his movie and the effect is a shallow psychoanalysis of Bush that too often borders on absurd and darkly funny in ways that I'm not sure was intentional. There is one thing that nearly salvages the whole ordeal, though, and that's Josh Brolin. To see why, just read more.

The truth is we don't know how this story ends yet, but most of us do know how it all began: Jr. started out as a silver-spooner born into a politically influential family. He aimlessly boozed his way through life without much consequence until he got married and religious and decided to make something of himself. All of this is more or less depicted in the movie.

The overarching Freudian theme is how Bush Jr. is forever wilting under the weighty expectations of his father (played nicely by James Cromwell), who has invested the family's political legacy in brother Jeb anyway. Basically the movie's premise is that Dubya needed a hug from his dad, and had he gotten that kind of love and support he may have ended up elsewhere (maybe he would have been baseball commissioner, which is suggested to have been his first love). But it was his drive to prove everyone wrong - along with a sign from God - that drove him to be president, despite being emotionally undermined by his dad along the way.

It's the kind of flimsy pop psychology that reminds me of an Oprah episode - and that's not even the biggest problem with it. The real laughs (intended or not) come from the cast assembled to portray Bush's cabinet, including: Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice, Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld and Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell. Whether coming up with the sound bite "Axis of Evil" in the oval office or planning world domination in a dark, cave-like war room a la Dr. Strangelove, the film lurches between eerily familiar and downright parody. Newton's portrayal as Rice is particularly jarring and quite bizarre. Sometimes the movie feels like an ambitious idea that just misses the mark and other times it seems like the rush job it is.

Interestingly enough, Brolin is able to pull a tremendous performance out of this exercise in wacky (and glib) history-telling. His interpretation of the character is a straightforward portrayal that never turns into a joke, despite the well-known (and often mocked) mannerisms of the president. It would be a performance to gush over under any circumstances, but the fact that he shines while playing a guy that comedians have had a field day impersonating for eight years is quite the accomplishment. I have a renewed respect for Brolin's talent, that's for sure.

Actors like Brolin, Elizabeth Banks (as Laura Bush) and Dreyfuss give this movie some life and I found it bizarrely riveting to watch the strange way these events are captured in the film. However, none of this makes up for the fact that it all feels slap-dashed and unfinished. Because Stone has everything and nothing to say about George W. Bush, the effect is just a surreal slog through a sad piece of our nation's history, the timing of which makes it not just a so-so movie, but a kick in the gut while the nation's already down.

Photos courtesy of Lionsgate

Movie Preview: Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla!

BuzzSugar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:31:47 -0700

The title of this movie doesn't have an exclamation point at the end - I added that to the headline on account of my extreme enthusiasm for the RocknRolla trailer! As a huge fan of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, I am positively giddy to see a trailer for another movie in that same vein. Plus, the cast rocks. There's Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven, and, well, Ludacris. There's also Hottie McManly himself, Gerard Butler.

The trailer shows a supernatural aspect to this movie, along with the same old violence and that kind of wry, dark humor that permeates Snatch and Barrels. The plot description states: "London's criminal underworld takes notice of a Russian mobster's shady land deal, a scam that puts millions of dollars up for grabs."

If you are already a fan of director Guy Ritchie's style (we can ignore that he ever had anything to do with Swept Away for now), you might swoon at this trailer just as much as I am. The movie opens in the UK September 12, and then we'll get it October 31. Until the video becomes embeddable, you'll have to check out the trailer over on Empire where it premiered. Enjoy! And let me know what you think.

Source

Thandie Is Condi and Gruffudd Is Blair in Stone's Bush Movie

BuzzSugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:30:45 -0700

Ordinarily, I wouldn't care quite so much about all the casting news for one movie, but Oliver Stone's project about George W. Bush is different. These are political figures that everyone is familiar with, and the project is about a president who's still currently in power. I have to admit, I'm intrigued. I wish I'd thought to do a recast challenge for this film, though so far I think the casting decisions have been interesting.

The most recent news has to do with National Security Advisor-turned-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British prime minister Tony Blair, who will be played by Thandie Newton and Ioan Gruffudd, respectively. Newton is the first non-American cast member in this project to portray a US political figure.

In regard to the script itself, Hollywood Reporter remarks:

As one of the few cabinet members to serve during both Bush terms, Rice's role in the Bush White House is seen as pivotal. According to those who've read the W script, Rice is said to be in a key first scene as well as a number of scenes connected to the Iraq War. Blair also appears in Iraq-related scenes.

Still yet to cast: Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and advisor Karl Rove. Any ideas about who should play these parts?

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