Saturday, January 12, 2013

Mish Mash 3 (Dragon Eyes, Jack Reacher, Hoodlum, The Godfather: Part II, Dante's Peak, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)


1. I saw Dragon Eyes like six months ago and meant to write about it but just never got around to it.  Anyway, it’s not nearly as good as Hyam’s previous film, Universal Soldier: Regeneration.  The story and action scenes don’t seem to be as fleshed out.  One fight scene is really baffling too where Cung Le (The Man with the Iron Fists) goes up against like six or seven dudes and it’s all done in a horrendously Matrix-y way where they constantly slow the footage down and then speed it up again.  I can’t stand that shit.  Hyams didn’t pull that kinda crap in Regeneration.  So that along with the less complex and also less interesting characters I would say that this is definitely a step back for him.  But still, this picture is better than a lot of other action movies that get released theatrically these days.



2. Jack Reacher wasn’t very good but did anyone else really enjoy that car chase?  I thought it was done pretty damn well and it was impressive to have a lot of shots in there showing Tom Cruise actually driving the car for real for a good portion of it.  Werner Herzog was fantastic too.  I love that they made him all fucked up with a bad eye and no fingers.  He also has that incredible voice with a menacing delivery.  It’s just a shame that they didn’t give him anything to do.



3. Unfortunately Hoodlum wasn’t the gem I was hoping it would be.  It was a little too confusing to follow, I couldn’t understand a lot of Tim Roth’s lines and it looks cheap, like really cheap.  Also the acting is not very good with the exception of Laurence Fishburne.  Some of these aspects could work in the film’s favor but it just moves too slowly and the characters were underdeveloped.  I had high hopes for this Bill Duke period crime drama but alas.  Although, the “split” scene is fucking great and the best part of the movie.



4. I don’t get The Godfather: Part II.  Or maybe I should say I don’t get why everyone loves The Godfather: Part II.  The first film I do get.  It’s a masterpiece.  But I thought the sequel was pretty boring.  I don’t think the two-movies-in-one thing worked with the separate Vito and Michael stories.  If they had each been their own picture then we probably would’ve gotten a better third movie than Part III (believe all the shit you hear about Sofia Coppola’s acting being atrocious, she really is terrible in it).  It’s weird for me because Vito is by far a better character than Michael but I wasn’t that interested in how he got his start.  Michael is pretty uninteresting to begin with but on top of that Al Pacino plays him so stiff.  You could put a cardboard cutout of Pacino in front of the camera and just have him record his dialogue later and the movie would be no worse.  However, I found myself in a conundrum because I was more interested in his storyline than Vito’s.  Michael’s plot was more exciting because it involved the same type of sinister shit that made the first one so good and not deal with just one small time asshole who wants a piece of Vito’s action.  So the two major stories of the film I had inverse issues with.  This film is no doubt epic but best sequel ever made or even as good as part one?  I don’t see it.  When it was all said and done I thought Part II was only a little better than Part III.  It wasn’t night and day like I was led to believe.



5. So the other day I sat down to have dinner and saw that Dante’s Peak was going to start in a minute so I decided to enjoy my meal in the company of the 90’s disaster movie.  I only meant to watch like a half hour of it but I ended up seeing the whole damn thing.  The first half was about how I remembered it, typical action film clichés are set up but there’s some nice tension built.  The second half when Dante starts to blow was a lot more exciting than I recalled though.  I mean Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton get so much shit thrown at them and it’s just one crazy situation after another.  It’s a solid 45 mins or so of relentless catastrophes that’s constructed wonderfully.  It starts with earthquakes, then some guy gets trampled trying to escape a mob, the roads gets destroyed, the town shakes to pieces, Brosnan’s truck gets stuck in a river, it’s raining ash, a helicopter crashes and explodes, Brosnan and co. run from pursuing lava, a lake gets turned into acid and on and on and on.  Jesus.  I was captivated.  All of this shit looks really good too because the filmmakers used practical effects with actual cars, fire, buildings getting destroyed and miniatures ‘n shit.  And I love that they took the time to stop the devastation for a sec to (Spoiler) have a sad moment and kill off the grandmother character.  But before she goes when she’s laying there all burnt to shit and totally fucked up did anyone else think it was really funny when Hamilton says, “you’re gonna be alright”.  I think this picture deserves a second look if you have the time.  It’s just a lot of fun.   Also, it’s worth mentioning that I saw director Roger Donaldson’s latest movie, Seeking Justice, starring Nicolas Cage.  It was a pretty enjoyable one time watch.  I’d recommend it.     



6. I kind of hope they don’t make the other two Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books into movies here in the U.S.  I saw the Swedish sequels and man are they boring.  They don’t have anywhere near as good of a story as the first one.  Lisbeth seems like a good character to have stories about but the ones Stieg Larsson came up with are just tedious.  Oh and does anyone else think that guy looks like John Hughes?  Shit, maybe John faked his own death and became Stieg.

   

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