Review - The Taking Of Pelham 123

"The Taking Of Pelham 123" is a remake of a novel by John Godey. The original was made in 1974 and starred Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, and Lee Wallace. The premise remains the same - four armed men hijack a New York City subway train. Their only contact with the outside world is Walter Garber (played by Denzel Washington), a NYC Transit official. The gang's leader, Ryder (played by John Travolta), gives him an ultimatum - ten million dollars in one hour...or hostages will be excecuted.

As usual, Washington and Travolta turn in excellent performances. Washington's Garber is a man facing demons of his own...and is now faced with huge responsibility. Travolta plays Ryder with his usual manic flair...but like Garber, there is more to him than there appears. An excellent supporting cast includes Luis Guzman, John Turturro, and James Gandolfini as the Mayor of New York (nice to see Tony Soprano found work after the mob!).

You would like to learn a little more about some of the characters in the story...but they do fill you in on just enough that you don't leave the theater scratching your head in confusion. The original was good...but I actually believe this was better. And yes...I did see the original!!!

A tense thrill-ride from start to finish, don't miss the train for "Pelham 123".

Review - Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

The Transformers return in spectacular fashion in the big-budget sequel to the 2007 mega-blockbuster. Sam Witwicky is preparing to go off to college, while Mikaela is running her family's auto shop. The Autobots are helping the US Government hunt down the remaining Decepticons. However...one of the Decepticons leaves a warning...about the return of the Fallen.

This is everything you want a summer movie to be - big, loud, and over the top. The action comes early and often, and all the familiar faces return...including a few new Transformers. These include Mudflap and Skids (a pair of jive-talking Autobots), Arcee (who changes into three separate motorcycles), Soundwave (the Decepticon communications master), and Jetfire (an old Decepticon who changed sides...and now uses a cane to get around).

Some of the comic moments are a little forced, and I may not be alone in saying that I enjoyed watching Shia LeBeouf getting hunted down by the Decepticons. Is there any possible way he could be left out of the sequel? Oh, yeah...Transformers 3 is scheduled for a 2012 release.

Not quite as good as the original...but still, definitely worth the trip to the theater! Once again, "Transformers" delivers!

Three Best Of - John Hughes

Few filmmakers have been as associated with a decade as John Hughes has with the 1980's. He has been a screenwriter (with almost forty films to his credit), a producer, a director, a soundtrack writer, and even an actor in three movies. His teenage comedy/dramas are among some of the most remembered movies of the time. Since Hughes only directed eight movies, I will take into account his writing/producing credits as well. On that note, without further adieu, the three best movies of John Hughes:

1 - The Breakfast Club (1985) "Breakfast Club", the nickname for Saturday morning detention, was Hughes' first movie as a producer. It was his second turn as a director, and his sixth screenwriting credit. The story of five teenagers at a suburban Chicago high school from five completely different cliques is still considered one of the best teen movies ever. There are lots of laughs for sure (mostly at the expense of Principal Vernon, played brilliantly by the late Paul Gleason), but there are also some very serious moments as well.

2 - Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) Take two comic geniuses (Steve Martin and John Candy), place them in a never-ending series of disasters, and watch the sparks fly! When a stuffy businessman attempts to get from New York to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving dinner, he is aided and thwarted simultaneously by a boorish shower curtain ring salesman. The pair are forced to work together, despite a continuous string of misadventures. Martin's "f-bomb" tirade to the car rental clerk, and Candy's declaration of "We'd have more luck playing pick-up sticks with our butt cheeks" are just two of the hilarious moments.

3 - Ferris Buellar's Day Off (1986) While "Home Alone" is arguably Hughes' biggest-grossing movie (he produced and wrote the screenplay for it), "Ferris Buellar's Day Off" is the movie that most fans will always remember him for. The grand tale of a high school slacker taking a sick day with his best friend and girlfriend, all while making a right fool of Principal Ed Rooney, is a classic story. Matthew Broderick brings humor and insight to the wiser than his years Buellar, and breaks the fourth wall constantly throughout the picture. A who's-who supporting cast (which includes Kristy Swanson, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Ben Stein, and Hughes regular Edie McClurg) only adds to the delight.

But that's just my opinion...

Honorable Mention - "Sixteen Candles", "Weird Science", the first three "National Lampoon Vacation" movies.

My Two Cents - Top Grossing Movies

Titanic. The Dark Knight. Star Wars. What do these three movies all have in common? Simple...combined, they grossed over one and a half billion dollars at the United States box offices. One and a half billion. And that was just at movie theaters in this country. A better question is - how? Why? What determines if a movie is going to be a box-office smash, or an absolute bomb? If there was a simple answer to that question, Hollywood would be turning out billion-dollar megablockbusters by the truckload. Since they aren't...here's my take on it:

First and foremost, it doesn't hurt that these were three exceptional films. Often, there is a great deal of hype surrounding them...and most of that hype occurs when the movie is already released (the classic "word of mouth"). Unlike most movies, where the hype machine revs up months in advance. Also...most of these movies transcend simple genre descriptions. There is a little bit of something for everyone.

But, in the end...it's an intangible. Sometimes, a movie comes along...and it is just a smash. Consider that in 1977, "Star Wars" was the highest grossing movie in US box office history. It took twenty years before "Titanic" took the crown. And it was another eleven before "Dark Knight" joined the exclusive club of highest grossing movies. In the history of Hollywood, only eight movies have grossed over four hundred million at the US box office: Titanic, Dark Knight, Star Wars, Shrek 2, E.T., Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace, Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest, and Spider-Man. Eight movies in over eighty years...that's pretty exclusive company.

Will there ever be a movie that out-grosses Titanic? It's impossible to say for certain. Surely no one ever thought Star Wars would be outgrossed. Not only was it outgrossed...but it was outgrossed by over one hundred and forty million dollars. And eleven years after it was outgrossed by Titanic...Dark Knight outgrossed it by seventy-three million. It will take an extraordinary set of circumstances to break Titanic's stranglehold on the top spot. But if life has taught us nothing else...it is that records are made to be broken.

But, that's just my opinion...

Review - Star Trek

The long-anticipated and much-hyped reboot of the "Star Trek" series arrived this summer. As a long-time Trek fan, I walked into the theater with a mixture of anticipation and dread. To my delight...the anticipation and hype were all worth it! To this point, this is hands-down the best film of the summer!
This is not so much a new chapter with the old Star Trek characters...but a reimagining of the old storyline. The same characters from The Original Series...but completely different. A fascinating concept (as Spock might put it), but it works. And what helps the most is an unbelievable cast! I never thought I would live to see the day I said someone out-Spocked Leonard Nimoy...but Zachary Quinto pulls it off! Chris Pine captures the charismatic swagger of Kirk. Karl Urban almost steals the movie as the crusty "Bones" McCoy. My only complaint on the casting goes with Anton Yelchin as Chekov. They seemed to play him more for comic relief than anything else.
Easily, no contest, the best movie of the summer (so far)!!

Review - Terminator: Salvation

The much-anticipated sequel to the first three "Terminator" movies finally arrives! John Connor, now an adult, fights a losing war against Skynet and the machines it controls. The human resistance finally catches a break with a discovered tool that stops the machines in their tracks. But the sudden appearance of a mysterious figure...as well as the capture of John's father, Kyle Reese, complicates matters.
I find it unusual that of all the "Terminator" movies to get a PG-13 rating...they chose this one. I think that this is the one movie of the series that needed an R rating the most. The visions of the future from the first two movies compared to this one seem to have changed drastically as well. In the first movie, mankind was living underground like moles, starving and filthy, poorly equipped. Suddenly, they have planes, helicopters, and a small arsenal at their disposal (including nuclear submarines).
While there is a great deal to nitpick with this movie...there is no denying that it is a far better movie than the third installment (although that isn't saying much). I would even go as far as to put it close to the second movie...but nothing will ever touch the greatness of the original.
In summary - good story, good acting, lots of action. Definitely worth the trip to the theater.

Review - X-Men Origins - Wolverine

Everyone knows the man. The cigar-smoking, metal-laced, berserker mutant known to some as Logan...and to everyone as Wolverine. In the first big movie of the summer, we explore the background of how Logan became what we know him as today.
This movie spans a great deal of time quickly before the opening credits are through. From Logan's childhood in Canada, to stints in every major war from the Civil War to Vietnam, and finally, Logan's leaving a top-secret military group which features fellow mutants Sabretooth (half-brother Victor Creed), John Wraith, Agent Zero, and Deadpool. We see how Logan has the one true love of his life taken from him...and his joining the now-infamous Weapon X program to avenge her.
On some levels, this movie succeeds greatly. We finally get to see Gambit (played excellently by Taylor Kitsch). Liev Schreiber gives a much better performance as the sadistic Sabretooth, and of course, Hugh Jackman turns in another great turn as Logan. The big problem here is...it's the classic case of Hollywood hype fallen short. As great as this movie could have been, it just wasn't what we were promised. Ideally, this should have been two separate movies (the first one could have lead up to Logan joining Weapon X, the second finishing off the story).
All in all, good, but could have been much better. Decent start to summer 2009.