CLASH OF THE TITANS (2010)

Written by Travis Beacham and Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi



Directed by Louis Leterrier


Where & When: AMC Burbank 16, Burbank, CA. April 4, 2010 1:50PM


I am not a fan of films being remade.

The only thing more ridiculous and misguided is movies based on classic television shows. Most of these films flop at the box office and yet, Hollywood insists to keep on making them.

I understand why films are remade or "re-imagined", as Hollywood likes to refer to these, but the problem is that the film makers tend to think that all they need to do is just fill this new version with great, modern visual effects and that will be enough to convince an audience to come. They fail to realize that these most of these original films were a reflection of a specific time and were made by people who had something to say and not simply about making a fast buck off a previously successful and established idea. Besides, in this day and age with cable television and DVDs, why watch something like Tim Burton's inferior remake of "Planet of the Apes" (2001) when you can still watch the much, much better original?

So, this brings me to the latest recreation, "The Clash of the Titans" which is based on the original 1981 film. Now, I was old enough to have paid adult admission to see the first film but too young to be able to buy an alcoholic beverage in California at the time so I don't hold any childhood nostalgic admiration for this movie. I thought the film was not great but slightly entertaining. This is probably one film that you could easily improve on since the original is not considered a masterpiece.

The story, which is based on Greek mythology, is about a time when people believed in not one God but many Gods. Zeus, (Liam Neeson) was the King of the Gods and ruled the heavens while his brothers, Poseidon (Danny Huston) ruled the oceans and Hades, (Ralph Fiennes) was tricked into ruling the underworld and he has been holding a big grudge every since.

A fisherman (Pete Postlethwaite) discovers an elaborate box floating in the ocean. He retrieves it and opens it to find a dead woman and a baby that is still alive. He takes the child home to his family to raise and they call him Perseus.

Years later, the family is out fishing when they see soldiers from the city of Argos destroying a giant statue of Zeus. This act angers the gods and Hades rises up and kills many of the soldiers and sinks the family's boat. Avatar's Sam Worthington plays Perseus, now a young man and he tries in vain to save his family but he is unable to.

Perseus is rescued by the surviving soldiers and taken to Argos where he is brought before the royal family. During a celebration, the King and Queen proclaim that they are as great as the gods and their daughter, Andromeda (Alexa Davalos) is more beautiful than the goddess, Aphrodite.

This causes Hades to return where he causes more destruction and attacks Perseus. Perseus is unharmed which makes Hades realize that he must be a demigod and the son of Zeus. To punish the people of Argos for their insolence, Hades will send out the Kraken to destroy the city in ten days unless they sacrifice Andromeda.

Desperate to save his daughter's life, the King seeks the help of Perseus to destroy the Kraken. He wants him to travel with a small group of soldiers to seek the advice of the Stygian witches on how to do this. Perseus wants no part of this but Io, (Gemma Arterton) a beautiful demigoddess who has been watching over Perseus since he was an infant, convinces him to agree to the King's plan so he can also avenge the death of his family.

The group begin their journey where they first encounter Acrisius (Jason Flemyng). He is the one who, in a jealous rage, sent his wife and the baby, Perseus to their deaths when he found out that Zeus was the father. Now a servant of Hades, he is given super powers by the god to try and stop them and kill Perseus.

After fending off Acrisius, Perseus continues on where he and the group fight off giant scorpions, team up with the Djinn, who are magical sand-creatures, deal with the uncooperative witches, and battle for the head of the snake-haired, Medusa before Perseus flies back to Argos on the winged horse, Pegasus. Will he get back in time to save the princess and the city?

This "Clash" takes itself much more seriously, has better special effects and is certainly less campy but to say it's a better film is a bit of a stretch. It's like comparing a Fuji apple to a Granny Smith apple: They are slightly different but they both still apples. The film is busy, loud and visually stimulating, mindless fun which is how, I guess, you could describe the original film.

I don't know if Mr. Worthington was necessarily the best choice for the lead in this film but he does do a good job as Perseus. Mr. Fiennes does sinister very well but my favorite character in this was Medusa. I thought it was great how she was actually part reptile, part beautiful woman and I loved, although it was too brief, her entire battle sequence in the film.

This is the latest film to be done in 3D but it was added after the film was completed and it is obvious. The effect adds absolutely nothing to the film and I could barely tell the film was supposed to be in 3D. While this "Clash of the Titans" is a slight improvement from the original (and owes a big debt to "Gladiator") but I think it is very safe to say that this film will not be revered by anyone twenty six years from now.

CHLOE (2010)

Written by Erin Cressida Wilson



Directed by Atom Egoyan



Where & When: AMC Century City 15, Century City, CA. April 2, 2010 5:05PM



"Chloe" is another foreign-language film that has been remade for American audiences and once again it has been translated very, very poorly. This film, based on the 2004 French film, "Nathalie", follows the same basic plot but loses all of the style and subtlety of the original.

Catherine (Julianne Moore) and David (Liam Neeson), a couple who live in Toronto, Canada and have been married for many years. She is an OB-GYN and he is a college professor and they have a teenage son, Michael (Max Thieriot). They live in a beautiful home and their lives appears to be perfect. David is turning 50 and Catherine decides to throw him a surprise birthday party. David teaches at a college out of town so he needs to fly back home. All of the guests are waiting for David's arrival when he calls Catherine and tells her he missed his flight and won't home until late.

David is home in the morning and apologizes for missing the party. David's cell phone goes off and Catherine decides to check it. She sees a text that says, "Thanks for great evening" and attached is a photo of David with an attractive girl. Catherine is now suspicious and thinks her husband may have missed his flight intentionally to carry on with an affair.

Catherine has seen a young woman that lives near her office and later discovers that she is a prostitute. She runs into her at restaurant and decides to hire her to do a job. Blond, buxom and beautiful, Chloe (Amanda Seyfried) seems like the perfect choice to try and seduce Catherine's husband to see what he will do and to test his fidelity. She gives Chloe instructions on where she could meet her husband and to report back to her all of the details.

After she meets with David, Chloe tells Catherine that nothing much happened but he did say that he was very attracted to her. Disturbed by this news, Catherine wants Chloe to meet with her husband again to see if he will act on this desire.

This time when Chloe reports in, she informs Catherine that they had a sexual encounter. Catherine is upset but wants her to tell her about it. Chloe proceeds to go into the event in detail that is in bizarrely tame language for what is supposed to be an erotic thriller.

Catherine finds herself jealous but also somewhat sexually aroused. She still wants Chloe to continue seeing her husband and informing her about their trysts but soon, Catherine discovers that not everything is at all what they appear to be. Catherine gets herself wrapped up in Chloe's desires and things spiral out of control and places her family in danger.

I knew that the American remake of an interesting but very French film was going to get the Hollywood treatment but I had hoped that with a talented director like Mr. Egoyan that it wouldn't get too dumbed down but I was very wrong. "Chloe" is a film that plays like one of those soft-core porn movies shown on late night cable except with better actors and a lot less sex. This version follows the original film fairly closely in the beginning but by the end, out of nowhere, it veers into "Fatal Attraction" territory. This should be a psycholgical, sexual thriller but instead we have an overcooked, soap operatic, cheesy drama. It's a complete mess and it doesn't make any sense.

All of the actors are fine and do their best to try and elevate the material but that really should have been done to this script before they showed up to work.

Do yourself a favor and skip "Chloe" and go rent the original, "Nathalie".

THE RUNAWAYS (2010)

Written & Directed by Floria Sigismondi


Where & When: Los Feliz 3, Los Angeles, CA. March 29, 2010 7:00 PM



The Runaways were the first, all female, rock and roll band who enjoyed a brief run of moderate success in the 1970's before the band imploded by all of the same things that destroyed plenty of all male rock bands: fame, money, egos and drugs.

The band consisted of Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton), Sandy West (Stella Maeve) and lead singer, Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning). Jackie Fox, the band's bassist was not included in the film for legal reasons and a fictional character called "Robin" (Alia Shawkat) was created to fill out the band and doesn't utter a single word. The funniest part was when "Robin" is asked a question and the band's producer answers for her.

A teenage Joan idolized Suzi Quatro, a rare, female rocker and wants to start an all girl band. One night, she sees Kim Fowley, (Michael Shannon) a record producer at a club. She gets the nerve to approach him with her idea. He's intrigued and introduces her to drummer, Sandy West. He tells them to call him when they are ready to do something.

The girls add Lita and "Robin" and they contact Mr. Fowley. He's still interested but he feels they need a sexy lead singer. While searching in a club, he finds Cherie Currie (her real name). Cherie is from a broken home and is more interested in a way of escaping her life than singing in a band. He makes her an offer and tells her to prepare a song for an audition. Cherie arrives and is ready to perform "Fever" by Peggy Lee. That is rejected so Kim and Joan come up with an appropriate rock song that Cherie could do. They create the band's signature song, "Cherry Bomb".

Mr. Fowley tries to prepare them for what to expect when they go out on tour but he sent out teenage girls without any parental supervision except for a couple of horny roadies so of course, they are in way over their heads. They are not taken seriously, they have to handle hostile, sexist male bands, they are sexually exploited by everyone (most especially by their manager) and they overindulged in sex and drugs but despite all of this, together these girls rocked. Cherie crumbled under the pressure and soon realized she had to escape in order to survive which soon marked the end of the band.

The problem with "The Runaways" is that there is not one single moment in this film that has not been done or seen before and has been done better in many other bio-pic feature films. Ms. Sigismondi, who made her mark as a music video director, falls into the conventional, cliched traps in trying to tell this true life story and offers no fresh ideas nor any compelling reason to see this film beyond hearing and seeing what an all female band would be like. I'm sure it should be more interesting than what we have here.

The film actually feels like a long music video where everything looks great and they have down perfectly all of the fashion of the time but there is no real emotional connection to any of the characters.

Ms Stewart is spot on in her portrayal of Joan Jett, all the way down to the way she held her guitar. This part is more of a better fit for her than Bella in the "Twilight" films. Ms Fanning, who is now in that awkward stage of her career where she is no longer a child but certainly not yet a woman, does a credible job as Cherie Currie. I just felt she was trying a little too hard to convince the world that she is not a little girl anymore but Dakota, don't worry. I really think you will comfortably follow in the footsteps of another child actress who went on to have a brilliant career as an adult. Although she did struggle a bit as a teen but Jodie Foster did okay for herself.

I think Mr. Shannon was completely miscast in the part of the band's producer and went too far over the top. I have no idea what the real Kim Fowley was like and this could be exactly how he was but it just seemed like Mr. Shannon was performing and not ever a real person.

I can't make any comments on the rest of the band because they are barely present although we see them around Jett and Currie. Their purpose in this film seemed more as background filler instead of what I'm sure was a more integral part of creating the band. You can't call this the story of the Runaways when you only focus on two of the members. They don't even mention what became of them at the end of the film. The Runaways do deserve to have their amazing story told but unfortunately this film does not do their story any justice.

"AT THE MOVIES": R. I. P.

It is a very sad day and the end of an era.

It was announced yesterday, that the long running movie review program, "At The Movies" was cancelled and is going to end production in August.

The show's recent hosts, A.O. Scott of the New York Times and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune will be missed and I realize that we still will be able to read their reviews in their respective newspapers (for the time being anyway, if the papers don't vanish as well) but what I'm going to really miss is their enlightening discussions on why they liked or disliked a particular movie. I have gone to see a few movies that I had no interest in seeing based on their recommendations (and was very happy I didn't miss the film) as well have avoided a few that I might have wasted my money on.

The program began in 1986 with original hosts, the late Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert who helped bring to the world the terms, "Thumbs up" and "Thumbs down" to describe whether a film was worth seeing or not. They brought film criticism to the masses and helped make people think twice before they went to their local cineplex and selected which movie to go and see.

I had watched the show regularly but I have to admit I had stopped watching it around the time I had moved to Los Angeles which was in 1989. I recently rediscovered the show when Mr. Scott and Mr. Phillips were announced as the new hosts and I was curious what they would bring to this show. Like Mr. Siskel and Mr. Ebert, they wanted to have an honest and intellectual discussion about film. They brought their love of film and wanted to share their favorites, announce new discoveries and tell you which movies you might want to avoid.

I hope the show can find life in a new format somewhere because it really would be a shame if this type of program disappears.

MOTHER (2010)

Written by Park Eun-Kyo & Bong Joon-Ho


Directed by Bong Joon-Ho



Where & When: Laemmle's Sunset 5 West Hollywood, CA. March 16, 2010,4:00PM



We first see Hye-ja, the title character played by Kim Hye-ja walking through a field when she suddenly stops and proceeds to slowly start dancing. Bong Joon-Ho's latest film, "Mother" shows us all the disturbing events that led up to this opening scene but it still doesn't help explain what it is supposed to mean but perhaps that is another part of this strange and fascinating mystery.

Hye-ja is a vendor and an unlicensed acupuncturist who cares for her mentally challenged son, Do-joon (Won Bin). Hye-ja's world revolves around her son but their relationship is probably a little too close for their own good.

One evening, Do-joon goes out to meet his only friend, Jin-tae (Jin Goo) who Hye-ja doesn't particularly care for, out for a night of drinking and skirt chasing. Jin-tae doesn't show up and Do-joon gets really drunk. While stumbling home, Do-joon sees a school girl walking ahead of him. Since he is drunk and horny, he calls out to her. She gets nervous and runs into an abandoned building. While standing outside of the building, a large rock comes flying out and nearly hits Do-joon. It appears that he just walks away afterwards from the building.

The next day, the school girl is found murdered. Her body is hanging over the balcony on top of the building and her head had been bludgeoned. Do-joon is brought in for questioning since he was the last one seen with the victim. He doesn't remember much from that evening since he was intoxicated. Since he had no lawyer or his mother there to help him, he is coerced in to signing a confession to the murder. He is sent to prison without a trial.

Hye-ja knows her son couldn't possibly be involved in this murder but the case is closed as far as the police is concerned. She realizes that it will be up to her to solve this crime and find the real killer. She will do whatever it takes to protect and save her child.

She first suspects Jin-tae as the possible murderer and she goes to some extreme lengths to find some evidence. After what she finds in his home turns out to be nothing, she continues on searching for clues. While visiting Do-joon in prison, Hye-ja is informed that he remembers something but it turns out to be a horrible, dark secret from his childhood that horrifies her and she can't believe that he can recall it.

Hye-ja continues on with her investigation until she finally finds some answers but in a clever but unnerving twist, things are not at all what they appear to be. Despite these new revelations, Hye-ja does what she feels is the best action to clear her son from a life behind bars although it makes one wonder whether her actions are simply a mother's love or should we question her state of mental stability?

"Mother" is dark, creepy, shrewd and mildly comical. Mr. Joon-Ho uses a slapstick style of humor at the beginning, perhaps to offset the disturbing themes throughout the rest of the film but I don't know how effective it is. I found it distracting and it is out of place for the type of film this is. This story is just simply too morose and the comedy felt awkward and forced.

Ms Kim gives a dazzling and intense performance as she digs deep inside of this fragile woman who is determined and willing to do anything to save her only child. This is one "Mother" you don't ever want to mess with.

"Mother" has been called a Hitchcock type of film and while this is supposed to be a high compliment and there are certainly elements in this, this film goes places that Mr. Hitchcock would never dream of going. Mr. Joon-Ho has a style that is uniquely his own and he takes this seemingly routine story and pushes it into directions that are shocking and unexpected. Don't let the subtitles scare you off from seeing this film. You will not see a film that is even close to as provocative or thrilling as "Mother".

BROOKLYN'S FINEST (2010)

Written by Michael C. Martin


Directed by Antoine Fuqua



Where & When: Arclight Cinemas, Hollywood, CA. March 9, 2010 4:30PM



"Training Day" (2001) was one of Antoine Fuqua's biggest successes and he now returns to the dark world of ambiguous cops and the gritty streets they work on. This time, instead of sunny Los Angeles, we are now in the borough of Brooklyn. We follow the lives of three police officers as they are struggle to handle the pressures of their jobs and try to stay on the right side of the law.

Detective Sal Procida (Ethan Hawke) has a large family and his wife (Lili Taylor) is expecting twins. They are barely getting by and now there are going to be more mouths to feed. His wife is also having complications with her asthma because of mold in their home and he has to come up with the money to put a down payment on a new, larger house. Desperate for a solution, Sal decides to kill and rob drug dealers for the cash but he is a God-fearing man, so he is conflicted.

Richard Gere plays Officer Eddie Dugan who is about to retire in a week after over twenty years on the job. Depressed, burnt out and not well respected by his fellow officers, Eddie needs to have a shot of whiskey first thing in the morning just to get going. He is assigned to training rookie officers for his last week on the job. He advises them not to get involved and to do so only if they have to. This doesn't leave much of an impression with the rookies. Eddie's way to relieve stress is to visit his local hooker (Shannon Kane) who appears to be the closest thing he has to a stable relationship.

Detective Clarence "Tango" Butler (Don Cheadle) has been undercover for years, involved in the drug trade. This assignment has cost him his marriage, blurred his loyalties and now he wants out. He has been promised a promotion and a desk job for awhile but he is still waiting. He is finally offered the promotion but he will have to set up a drug deal that involves Caz, (Wesley Snipes) a criminal who has recently been released from federal prison. The problem is that Caz had saved Tango's life while he was undercover in prison and he feels he owes him. Tango is torn between helping himself or helping someone, despite his criminal past, who has been a good friend to him.

These three characters pass each other briefly throughout the film and then they come together indirectly in the bloody and deadly conclusion. Since this is a cops and robbers story, it should be no surprise that there are guns and violence but be warned that this film is intense and ultra-violent.

This is a great cast and it is good to see the return of Mr. Snipes in a major motion picture. Mr. Fuqua manages to get some solid performances from all of them and we are treated to nice cameo appearances from Vincent D'Onofrio, Will Patton, Lela Rochon (the director's wife), and a very welcome return to the screen from Ellen Barkin as a ball-busting Federal agent. The script from Mr. Martin has some smart and clever dialogue in between the basic cop drama story.

"Brooklyn's Finest" is well made and entertaining but one thing it is not is fresh. You have seen these characters and situations way too many times in film and television which makes it difficult to watch this and not feel a sense of familiarity and predictability. Despite this, if you like police dramas, this film is slightly above average and worth seeing.

THE 82ND ACADEMY AWARDS

All of the little gold men have been given out so sadly, that means the end of another Oscar telecast. I enjoyed the show as always but of course, I have a few comments and gripes. My biggest complaint is that the producers of this year's show had been boasting that this was going to be the year that the show would come in on time and that would be accomplished by cutting away some of the fat. Some of the so called "fat" was moving all the honorary Oscars to a separate ceremony and eliminating the Best Song nominees from being performed on the show. These are two things that actually makes the show special but guess what?

The show ran over anyway. Why can't the producers of this show stop fighting this and just accept this fact: The show is a live telecast. This means that things are going to happen that you can't predict and it also means that it may cause the show to run over three hours. Let's just deal with this fact and move on.

The show started off wasting time by having all of the Best Actor and Actress nominees just standing there on stage and calling off their names, then proceeded to have Neil Patrick Harris (WTF?) come out and repeat his song and dance number that he did, but much better, on last year's Emmy awards. Then, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin came out to do an opening monologue. This was fine and some of it was actually funny but it went on way too long. Then awards were handed out, which is what the show is all about.

Another issue I had was that the non-celebrity winners were unfairly cut off after 45 seconds but the movie stars were allowed to babble on for as long as they wanted. Everybody is a winner here so let's play fair. The "In Memoriam" segment felt rushed and left off a lot of important people (Farrah. Bea.) who had passed away last year. James Taylor singing live during this. . . WTF for? I thought the John Hughes segment was very nice, although Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson haven't aged well. Finally, why were people bothered with Tom Hanks just opening the envelope and announcing the Best Picture winner? They had been announcing the nominees all night, so why waste more time going over them again?

As far as my predictions, I did all right but I am very glad I was wrong about the Best Picture winner. People came to their senses and selected a film that they won't be embarrassed they voted for in twenty years. This show will be best remembered for honoring the first female Best Director, the first African-American Best Screenplay winner and "White Lady Kanye". Well, until next year.



Here is the complete list of winners at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards:

Best Picture: "The Hurt Locker"
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
Best Cinematography: "Avatar"
Best Film Editing: "The Hurt Locker"
Best Foreign Language Film: "El Secreto de Sus Ojos," (Argentina)
Best Animated Feature Film: "Up"
Best Animated Short Film: "Logorama"
Best Live Action Short Film: "The New Tenants"
Best Documentary Feature: "The Cove."
Best Documentary Short Subject: "Music by Prudence."
Best Original Score: Michael Giacchino, "Up"
Best Original Song: Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, "The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart"
Best Art Direction: "Avatar"
Best Costume Design: "The Young Victoria"
Best Makeup: "Star Trek"
Best Sound Mixing: "The Hurt Locker"
Best Sound Editing: "The Hurt Locker"
Best Visual Effects: "Avatar"