DEATH OF TRADITIONAL CINEMA

Statham in a domestic thriller? No way. Statham worked well kicking asses and taking names in the TRANSPORTER movies, as well as in bone-crunching extravaganzas such as SAFE, KILLER ELITE, and the two CRANK and EXPENDABLES films. Even in a caper, Statham works well, as is the case with THE BANK JOB, his most highly-regarded film. But in a domestic thriller with James Franco as villain? Franco who will forever be the laughing stock of Oscar night history, and who works best in small roles such as Danny Clear in THE GREEN HORNET cannot possibly be menacing enough for Statham, but he is, and surprisingly, the film plays out decent enough to keep my attention. Written by Sylvester Stallone (yes, him) and directed by Gary Fleder (RUNAWAY JURY, KISS THE GIRLS), HOMEFRONT is basically yet another visual translation of the cinematic age old mantra in action movies, that ex-military or ex-police, or ex-whatever protagonists now living peacefully will always find their past catching up ...

Fans of the UNDERWORLD series have long waited for Kate Beckinsale's return as the leather-clad, double pistoled vampire Selene. The last we saw her was in 2006's UNDERWORLD EVOLUTION (because the third film is a prequel), and no matter how strong and able Rhona Mitra was in RISE OF THE LYCANS, we still wanted Beckinsale.  So in bringing back Beckinsale as Selene, there were few noticeable changes to the movie. First, the director is NOT Len Wiseman. Wiseman produces, but Swedish directing duo Marlind and Stein take charge of the action.  Second, the action never lets up. This ought to be the most violent first ten minutes of an UNDERWORLD movie. There are lesser dialogue, and the vampire mythology is completely erased in favor of a storyline that focuses on humans' campaign against vampires and lycans. Bullets fly every three minutes or so, or if not, somebody's neck gets bitten, or broken. The filmmakers are not shy with the amount of onscreen blood, too. This was ...

CONTRABAND works best when you think of the technical aspects: the icebreaker aerial shots, the restless camera when the characters are having a conversation, and the relaxed pacing. For a film about a smuggling, and eventual heist, CONTRABAND is pretty quiet. Thank God Baltasar Kormakur is no Michael Bay. One can't help but liken CONTRABAND to "GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS", a film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer starring Nicolas Cage. CONTRABAND shares similar plot jumpoff and resolution with GONE, and they both feature Giovanni Ribisi in opposing roles (Ribisi is the victim that sets things in motion in the latter film). Mark Wahlberg is the Nicolas Cage character who is a retired career criminal forced back in the game due to family involvement in crime. Yes, the story isn't exactly original. CONTRABAND also has that ITALIAN JOB feel (a movie which also stars Mark Wahlberg). Most of the suspense are layered during the planning stage, and while CONTRABAND piles up twist ...

Holmes and Watson are back, with Holmes neck deep in intrigue and hijinks, and Watson always ready to back him up, much to his annoyance. Guy Ritchie has managed to film this Sir Arthur Conan Doyle classic well, thanks also to the charm and talent of his two leads. However, A GAME OF SHADOWS may pale in comparison to its predecessor, especially when Mark Strong (Lord Blackwood from the first film) seemed a more vile character than Prof. James Moriarty (Jared Harris), and Moriarty is supposedly a formidable foe for Sherlock.  The action is still fast and funny, yet we already saw plenty of that in the first film. Noomi Rapace as a gypsy woman embroiled in the intrigue is welcome, but forgettable. The story is really a bromance between Holmes and Watson that a female decorative is hardly necessary.  I liked that new characters brought additional flavor to the story. Stephen Fry as Holmes's brother is hilarious, and it's good to see Watson's new wife serve a higher purpose...

There are sports dramas, and then there are sports dramas. WARRIOR, transcends the sports drama genre mainly because of the pureness of the sibling story at its core and the unflinching performances of its seasoned cast. Both Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy are compelling to watch, but it's Nick Nolte who plays their reformed father on a path of redemption who's really the show-stopper.  The mixed martial arts sport serves as the arena for siblings Tommy (Hardy) and Brendan (Edgerton) to dish out long standing family issues, and what's ironic is that neither of them wanted the confrontation. Each has a purpose for being in the ring- Tommy wants the money to fulfill a promise to a fallen comrade; Brendan needs to win or else their house will be repossessed by the bank. Eventually, they meet in the end. Brendan is willing to forgive, but Tommy is not. There is a subdued rage within Tommy that bursts whenever he pulls punches.  Through dialogue, we get a glimpse but never fully...

REAL STEEL is a family film in the truest sense of the word- an enjoyable, suspenseful action drama with an engaging father-son relationship in the center. Moreover, it has the energy and the hysteria of the greatest boxing movies, and placing it in a futuristic world but maintaining a present setting only adds to the film's beauty. Based in part to the Richard Matheson short story "Steel" which sets the story in the year 2156, REAL STEEL adjusts the timeline a little bit closer to reality, in the year 2020 where locations appear normal as it would today, only that the robots have replaced humans for sport. Jackman, who takes a break from the X-MEN films, is lean and still gritty as a washed out boxer roaming the country with a washed out robot.  The story gets interesting with the arrival of his estranged son Max (a starmaking performance for Canadian young actor Dakota Goyo), whom he gets to spend a brief time with, following the death of Max's mother, who is Jac...

COLOMBIANA is full of promise- Firstly, Zoe Saldana seems poised for lead material for an action vehicle given her strong supporting presence in AVATAR, STAR TREK, and THE LOSERS; secondly, the revenge genre never gets old, and; finally, the trailer tells us the movie is loaded with bullets, explosions and what have yous.  In respect, COLOMBIANA manages to thrill during its first act, where we witness the young Cataleya survive his parents' murder and eventually escape to America to take shelter under his uncle (Cliff Curtis).  Curtis seems off here. There is something wrong with his accent, and his acting seems full of effort, as if trying too hard (it shows). As Cataleya grows up (Zoe Saldana), we follow her as she accepts kill missions for money, while sending messages to flush out her father's killers, much to the dismay of her uncle. In between, her clueless lover (Michael Vartan playing his ALIAS character, oddly enough) and the cops are thrown in a wild loop.  ...

It is quite redundant, so to speak, that a film about the untold story of a notorious figure such as Asiong Salonga, has an untold version (which may never see the light of day). But enough of that for now. The version circulating in theaters as of this writing, as you will vividly notice, is missing a directorial credit. You will not see Direk Tikoy's name, and yet traces of his directorial brilliance can be felt all over the place, at least during the early scenes. Rumor has it that the latter part is the " inepal " (bastardized) version. There were scenes that did not make sense, and another rumor circulated that not only were there edits made without Tikoy's consent, some scenes were even reshot by another director. All sanctioned by Governor E.R. who exercised his authority over the production. So I'm making the most out of my viewing of the abridged version of MANILA KINGPIN. In respect, the film has a lot of angst faithful to the gangster sub-genre of ac...

GHOST PROTOCOL is the fourth installment in the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise, the franchise that solidified Tom Cruise's image as an action star. Brad Bird directs (you might remember him as the guy who directed the Pixar animated movie THE INCREDIBLES) while J.J. Abrams takes a back seat as a producer this time. Almost nothing has been carried over from the previous film, except Simon Pegg's character Benji Dunn, who gets equal screen time here as that of Tom Cruise. That is one of the great things about GHOST PROTOCOL: the four leads get equal importance in the story. No one of the four gets used as a tool, like what happened to Pegg at M:I-3, or that Australian guy in M:I-2. Which makes you wonder, what ever happened to Luther (Ving Rhames)? The fourth M:I works because it retains the elements we've loved from the first film (directed by Brian De Palma)- the deception, the edge-of-your-seat missions (remember Ethan Hunt dangling from the ceiling to avoid tripping off t...

After turning video games to live action movies (MORTAL KOMBAT, RESIDENT EVIL), Paul W.S. Anderson turns his attention to a much beloved classic literary piece, and quite heavily adapted swashbuckler by Alexandre Dumas. It's a nice departure, really because the RESIDENT EVIL movies are going from bad to worse. The last one is just plain unwatchable. Sorry Milla Jovovich. Jovovich redeems herself though here. As the duplicitous Milady, Jovovich is sexy, seductive, and deadly. There seems to be plenty of room for playtime. Anderson's treatment is light and almost cartoonish, as if a Disney movie. The only one missing it seems is Jack Sparrow. There are obvious deviations from the novel (airships!) but such upgrades are still welcome. The titular three musketeers Athos (Matthew Mcfadyen), Aramis (Luke Evans), and Porthos (Ray Stevenson) blend well together, and the young musketeer D'Artagnan (Logan Lerman) is easy to root for. Lerman embodies D'Artagnan with the energy ...

During the first act of WU XIA, Peter Chan's latest film, I was like "Whoa! This is a clear ripoff of David Cronenberg's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE". That feeling would permeate the entire first act and eventually lets down any hope for the story, or the character build up. If you've seen A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, then you already have an idea of WU XIA's plot. The second act gets better though. An investigator Xu Baijiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) digs deeper into the mysterious past of a paper worker Liu Jinxi (Donnie Yen) and director Chan vividly establishes Baijiu's moral dilemma, as well as Jinxi's justification of "the greater good", actually telling us that his character has already changed, and that we, too should give him a chance. And how couldn't we? With those soft eyes and humble voice Yen is believable as a man of peace. The third act is where the film kicks in high gear, both in action and in story development. Jinxi's past catche...

Guy Ritchie was born to do gangster films. LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS is downright inventive and funny; its unofficial sequel, SNATCH is equally enjoyable. ROCK N' ROLLA is a little over-the-top, but still worth watching. So when a guy like Ritchie (I haven't seen SWEPT AWAY, and I'm not planning to) decides to toy with our minds via the convoluted and chopsuey cinematic mess that is REVOLVER, there goes the cardinal rule about visionary filmmakers and that one time that they hand us a piece of crap.  A character in the mockumentary FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION by Christopher Guest said: "I always tell my students, 'you can hand me a piece of crap wrapped in a big red bow, but at the end of the day it is still a piece of crap wrapped in a big red bow'." While I cannot easily dismiss REVOLVER as crap, the big red bow mentioned is the tirade of blinding colors, cartoonish editing, the Tarantino ripoffs (the anime use is just one example), and the attemp...