Movie Reviews - new films reviewed

** Alert: Minor Spoilers **
In this remake of 1974 Taking of Pelham One Two Three, reckless gangster Ryder (John Travolta) kidnaps a New York subway train with a gang of faceless goons. Ryder demands 10 Million Dollars within one hour, or he will kill one passenger for each minute over time, and he won’t talk to NYPD hostage negotiator Lt. Camonetti (John Turturro) but only to train dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington), who was the unfortunate guy answering Ryder’s first call.

Ryder: Shit always hits you man.

It’s a two man-movie: John Travolta vs. Denzel Washington. Travolta’s henchmen are as faceless as the passengers of Pelham 123 which makes it hard to care much about them. The usually great John Turturro is sidelined not only by Travolta/Ryder but also by the script, and James Gandolfini as the Mayor has the unfortunate duty to point out the script’s plot-holes and ‘twists’ a quarter of an hour after the audience has noticed them.
So the movie rests solely on Travolta’s and Washington’s shoulders, who both have proved more than once that they can carry a film. But unfortunately they are not man enough to carry the titular subway-train. Travolta is a stereotype villain with a bad temper and horrible mustache, and Denzel seems just tired and overstrained – adequate for his character, granted, but his transition from good boy to avenger is as unbelievable as the fabulous profit Ryder makes on the exchange market or the fact that none of the passengers in a driverless speeding train has the brains to pull the emergency brakes. Another pointless remake.

The Taking of Pelham 123 movie trailer

In 1982, an alien spaceship has stranded over Johannesburg. The aliens, pejoratively referred to as ‘prawns’, were brought into a slum-like camp called District 9. There are 1.8 million of them now, and the government authorizes private military contractor MNU (Multinational United) to relocate the aliens into District 10, 240 kilometers outside of Johannesburg. Head of the operation is Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a bureaucrat who looks harmless but chuckles like an evil child when he witnesses the burning of alien larvae. But then he comes in contact with some alien goo and starts to metamorphose into one of them. Wikus has to run for his live as MNU wants to vivisect him because the alien DNA in his body enables him to operate alien weapons.

The themes – racial segregation, discrimination, prejudices (aliens are unmotivated, lazy, violent and dangerous, and they are junkies addicated to cat food) – are obvious but never in-your-face. They just provide the background for the stories of one man going all Brundle and evolving from arsehole to reluctant hero, and of two special aliens, ‘Christopher Johnson’ and his son ‘Little CJ’ (adorable), who are different from the others and have a plan. All that is packed into a Science Fiction-thriller told in a mix of interviews, (fake) news-footage and conventional movie narrative, and with enough action to keep the audience entertained.
A sequel is quite possible – and i’m looking forward to seeing it!

District 9 movie trailer

All of Eden’s (Eden Riegel) friends are in a relationship, and she is the last single left. To deal with her loneliness, Eden invents imaginary friends Catherine and Heather, but those friends turn out to be real bitches and not very helpful when Eden does have a date.

Imaginary Bitches is a web series created by Andrew Miller and starring Eden Riegel (People’s Voice Award Winner), Brooke Nevin, Elizabeth Hendrickson, Connie Fletcher and Jessalyn Gilsig (Heroes), dealing with relationships and the hardships of being a single woman. Much like Sex and the City then, but with a low budget and a running time of about seven minutes per episode. And with real people instead of snobby, annoying Carrie & Co.
For a web series, Imaginary Bitches is exceptionally well done and still looks good on a big TV-screen, but the main reasons to watch are the witty dialogue and (for the guys) Eden Riegel (who is a real cutie). Eden is slightly overacting with her frowning and eye-rolling which may be appropriate for the small dimensions of a webstream but seems awkward when watching the DVD on a larger screen, but that’s easily forgiven (i would even forgive her her imaginary friends if it comes to that!) considering her whole performance.
Just be careful when you watch Imaginary Bitches – they seem to have a tendency to spawn and might even be contractible!

Imaginary Bitches Teaser

WWII according to Quentin Tarantino: Two separate groups are planning to blow up the German leaders (including the Führer himself) in a cinema in Paris. One group are the ‘Basterds’ under the command of Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) who operate behind enemy lines with the goal of killing as many Nazis as possible. The other group is cinema owner Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) and her boyfriend and projectionist Marcel (Jacky Ido). Shosanna’s family has been killed by Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), the “Jew Hunter”, and she was the only survivor.

The title and big names are misleading – Inglourious Basterds is not so much the story of Lt. Aldo/Brad Pitt as the story of Shosanna/Mélanie Laurent and of Nazi ‘Jew Hunter’ Col. Landa/Christoph Waltz. Waltz and Laurent not only have the most screen time, their performances are outstanding as well, especially Austrian actor Christoph Waltz shines as ‘Jew Hunter’ Col. Landa.
The rest is pure QT: cast aside logic and historical facts, enjoy the ride. All the trademark Tarantino traits are there: violence, blood and gore, humor, action, extraordinary characters, beautiful femmes fatales and a choice of music as daring as ingenious.
If you liked Kill Bill, you’re going to like the Basterds as well.

Adolf Hitler: I have an order I want relayed to all German soldiers stationed in France. The Jew degenerate known as the Bear Jew henceforth is never to be referred to as the Bear Jew again. Did you get that, Kliest?

Shosanna Dreyfus: Marcel… burn it down.

Inglourious Basterds Movie Trailer

A movie based on some action figures? With an “original” plot where a mad arms manufacturer (Christopher Eccleston) and his evil genius scientist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) strive for world domination and only the mighty G.I. Joes, a secret international taskforce, can stop them? With lots of CGI, explosions and bogus science? At least the trailer promises some hot girlies (Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols) to lure the young male target audience into the theatres.

Not much to hope for then, but – surprise – Stephen Sommers milks the scrawny premises for every possible drop of fun and excitement and delivers more than could be hoped for. It’s a guilty pleasure (and of course far from a good film), but it’s as much fun as you can expect from a mindless action flick, and easily superior to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

G.I.JOE: The Rise of Cobra movie trailer