Domino
REVIEWED 10/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

It had been a while since she had seen her dearly departed Dad, but there he was. Laurence Harvey. Starring opposite Frank Sinatra, in the famous movie, 'The Manchurian Candidate', on the blood stained black and white television set of that stench-filled compound at the butt-end of LA's half acre of Hell. Domino's (Keira Knightely) cold deep eyes stared blankly at her father's famous performance, as the ragged old woman in the kitchen fumbled with the paper plate decoder and the severed right arm of her tortured son. The arm had the combination tattooed on it. The homemade decoder told how to open the safe. All they needed was the Casino's stolen money locked inside. Now that the screaming and the shooting had stopped, Domino had hoped they'd be out of there before anything else could go wrong. Being a professional bounty hunter sucked rat chunks a lot of the time - now that they had the production crew of a Reality TV show tailing their every step for mass consumption by the unwashed masses of America's couch potatoes - but this assignment sucked rat chunks the size of their dangerously painted Winnebago parked outside. As the story goes, the money had come from an armoured truck robbed by the infamous First Ladies Gang, and Domino and her boss Ed Moseby (Mickey Roarke) and Choco (Edgar Ramirez) had been called in by their bail bondsman contact, Claremont Williams III (Delroy Lindo; 'Gone in Sixty Seconds' (2000), 'Sahara' (2005)), to track down those four men hiding behind masks of Mrs Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Kennedy and secure the cash. Problem was, two of the guys they'd captured were sons of Mafia Don Anthony Cigliutti (Stanley Kamel). Problem number two was that the FBI was following Ed's team. problem number three, the TV crew had taped evidence of Cigliutti's boys being violently apprehended. Problem four: Everyone was lying. The stolen cash was all that made sense. Get the cash, give it back to the Casino, and maybe (just maybe) everybody could go home alive and in one piece. Well, except for the guy whose arm they'd removed from the rest of his body. He might live. Probably longer than they will, considering they've been set up and it's a fifty-fifty split whether Domino takes a bullet from an FBI shooter or a Mob gunman...

Holy cripes! First of all, this wildly psychedelic celluloid meat grinder from acclaimed director Tony Scott ('Beverly Hills Cop II' (1987), 'Man on Fire' (2004)) isn't intended to be a biopic about (reportedly) former Ford model turned nightclub owner, ranch hand and, eventually, bounty hunter Domino Harvey (1969-2005). When 'Domino' begins by telling you that it's based on a true story, and then adds "sort of..." as a caveat, it means it. Imagine if Tarantino had directed 'The Untouchables' (1987) after his 'Kill Bill' double bill, and you get the idea. Sure, many aspects of Harvey's real life are woven into Richard Kelly's deliriously raucous and raunchy screenplay throughout. Her famous actor father, Laurence Harvey (1928-1973) ('The Manchurian Candidate' (1962)), and Sixties Brit supermodel mother Paulene Stone are worked into the story. Several other key points from this obviously fascinating woman's experiences are cited as well, but it's still not the whole story and has clearly been overwhelmingly exaggerated by truckloads of artistic license. It's not an entirely bad thing and, in this case, isn't the worst part about that. From the first time that I'd sat through the weirdly enunciated "I am a bainty hountah" trailer I had my doubts, but Keira Knightley ('Bend It Like Beckham' (2002), 'King Arthur' (2004)) is extraordinary here as Domino, effortlessly carrying this hundred and twenty-eight minute mind bending scorcher with an unbridled passion that knows no bounds. It's truly exhilarating to watch her thunder across the screen opposite Mickey Roarke's ('Barfly' (1987), 'Sin City' (2005)) gnarled mass of tattooed muscles as her grimy fugitive huntin' boss Ed Moseby, despite Scott's relentless use of unorthodox storytelling and obtrusive camera tricks. Feeling a lot like a far more acerbic cinematic love child of 'Natural Born Killers' (1994) and 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' (1998), 'Domino' grabs you by the collar and mercilessly drags you through this delightfully tumultuous junk yard of double cross and dirty dealings gone terribly wrong when the sons of LA Mafia boss Anthony Cigliutti (Stanley Kamel) are named in an armoured truck heist. Obviously, the story is fictional, even though some the people portrayed in this violent roller coaster ride are not. Caracas-born Edgar Ramirez offers up an immensely satisfying American big screen debut as psychotic team mate Choco, and it's fun seeing television's 'Beverly Hills, 90210' (1990-2000) co-stars Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green play versions of themselves as celebrity hosts of a Reality TV show starring Domino and Moseby's motley crew of social rejects. Pretty well everything about this flick is absolutely amazing and incredibly mesmerizing - except for the post-production editing and camera tricks. Agonizingly continuous bouts of colour saturated, double and triple layered scenes seem determined to leave you cross-eyed and suffering a thumping headache long before the closing credits spit you out of the theatre with a snarl. You want to squint at the screen, just to keep a lot of what cinematographer Daniel Mindel masterfully captures in focus. Scott has used this fairly artsy technique in his previous films, but sparingly, as a way to powerfully express a character's confusion or drug-induced haze. Here, it plays out more like a child's new toy - much like the over used, ever-moving camera of ten years ago that probably caused many moviegoers and TV addicts to grind their teeth into stubby nubs. This bizarre effect reaps the same reaction, and tends to unnecessarily undermine this picture's overwhelming luxurious strengths. I still had a blast with this one, though. Absolutely check out this extremely entertaining and hugely imaginative collision of everything that your mother probably warned you about avoiding, showcasing Knightley's superior performance skills on all fronts as a worthy Oscar contender.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Doom
REVIEWED 10/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

It's cold and wet and stinks of death. The rusted surface of Mars had been deemed uninhabitable a long time ago, and the Oduvai facility clawed into the side of this desolate crater miles from Earth wasn't much different. John "Reaper" Grim (Karl Urban) hated this dump. It had been ten years since his father had dragged John and his sister Samantha (Rosamund Pike; 'Die Another Day' (2002), 'Pride & Prejudice' (2005)) there on an archaeological dig that had gone terribly wrong. Now he was back, a grizzled Marine dispatched as part of the elite Rapid Response Tactical Squad led by "Sarge" (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) to quarantine the complex and find out what new disaster cursed this wretched maze of dim tunnels and high tech laboratories. Six scientists had gone missing, and it was their job to secure and neutralize any threat, and to bring them home. Alive, or in body bags. They hadn't expected one of their own to die. But, Goat (Ben Daniels) had been attacked while sweeping the sewers for stragglers in the dark. He just lay there, with his jugular ripped open like a sacrificial lamb's, bleeding to death in the infirmary while they'd fought to save his miserable life. The dig had found something. Samantha's research had uncovered an advanced humanoid people that had once lived on Mars. Her superiors had toyed with the data, experimenting on live subjects, injecting ancient alien chromosomes into their blood stream. Creating something big and evil and hungry for victims. The carnage was horrifying. People there were being indiscriminantly killed. Brutally. Mercilessly. Some of them didn't stay dead, rising as gruesome cadavers in search of fresh prey. Unstoppable. Sarge had his orders. The squad is heavily armed. Oduvai is locked down. The game is on.

Loosely based on the hugely acclaimed, popular landmark first-person and multiple user shoot 'em up computer game from id Software reportedly first released as shareware to the public through the University of Wisconsin's website in 1993, this sporadically entertaining action thriller from director Andrzej Bartkowiak ('Romeo Must Die' (2000), 'Cradle 2 the Grave' (2003)) feels a lot like a rehash of pretty well every movie where trigger happy human finger puppets face off against blood thirsty monsters. In this case, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson ('The Scorpion King' (2002), 'Walking Tall' (2004)) stars as the US Marine Corps' Rapid Response Tactical Squad leader "Sarge" sent along with his motley crew of rough 'n' tough grunts to a besieged archaeological facility on Mars to annihilate gruesome, xenogenetic beasties and their Undead victims in the year 2026. Even if you've never played Doom, you've likely seen a lot of this stuff before on the big screen. 'Aliens' (1986) - cited as one of the game's original inspirations - easily comes to mind. 'Doom' the film really doesn't bother with much of the Hell-related story that longtime players are familiar with, and a lot of the scientific bafflegab is merely circumstantial pretense to what roars and splatters across the big screen once things heat up. Surprisingly, this relentlessly noisy gore fest does deliver more than a hundred and five minutes of mind-numbing vicariously sated blood lust for a paying audience. Okay, not to the point of offering up a compelling human drama rife with dilemmas and powerful meaning, but it's definitely a cleverly presented roller coaster ride. It's a masterpiece compared to 'Alone in the Dark' (2005), but far less outrageous than 'Resident Evil 2' (2004), if you're wondering how this one stands against other recently released game-to-screen adaptations. It's fun when you're put in the action through one of these characters' eyes for a relatively short period of time here, for instance. The creatures are also incredibly impressive. Johnson, along with co-star Karl Urban ('The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), 'The Bourne Supremacy' (2004)) as peripheral turned primary protagonist soldier John "Reaper" Grimm, do pull in reasonably good performances with Dave Callaham's and Wesley Strick's undemanding screenplay. I actually would have preferred to see more effort made towards fleshing out the story so that 'Doom' the movie feels more like, well y'know, a movie and not a prolonged teaser loop on an arcade machine loosely interrupted by dialogue and vague references to a previous disaster that's never really elaborated upon. This extremely violent jaunt is still a thoroughly satisfying guilty pleasure over-all, though. Mainly because it's a great-looking effort that's peppered with morbidly cheesy humour, all wrapped up in a fast-paced package that a paying audience can just sit back and enjoy for what it is. If you're a fan of Sci-Fi horror and don't mind some gratuitous swearing and a fairly pedantic ending, I'd definitely recommend seeing 'Doom' on the big screen to get the deliciously gooey full effect.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Dreamer
REVIEWED 10/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

It had been years since a horse had lived in the old barn of young Cale Crane's (Dakota Fanning) father's Lexington, Kentucky horse farm. Ben (Kurt Russell) had been a horse man all of his life, and had made a good living for his family training prize winners for Mr. Palmer (David Morse) and his rich client Prince Tariq (Antonio Albadran). Cale loved horses, and she was determined to go with her Dad to his job at the race track that fateful, misty autumn morning. The day that she first saw Soñador. That two year-old chestnut-coloured filly was beautiful. Cale liked her, remembering the words that her Grandfather, "Pop" (Kris Kristofferson), had made her memorize: "I am a champion. When I ran, the earth shook and the skies parted." The sheer excitement of seeing Soñador thunder along the sandy stretch of track against the other horses at the Kentucky Fairgrounds later that day had overwhelmed this little girl. It was as though Cale was riding that promising contender. As though she was hearing what the horse was saying: "I will meet you in the winner's circle, where you will put a blanket of flowers on my back." Magical. The accident changed all of that. Soñador had fallen during that race. Her right front cannon bone, below the knee, had fractured just as Ben had been worried about. He didn't want to race her, but Palmer had insisted. He had threatened. The crowd froze in horror as Soñador collapsed in mid-gallop, slamming hard into the dirt and wrenching her neck sideways as she tumbled onto her back in pain. Cale ran after her father in stunned disbelief as he and the vet quickly checked the damaged leg. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but it wasn't good. It was the end. It was the beginning of hope. It was the day that Soñador moved into the Crane barn, and their acreage of land became a horse farm again...

Loosely based on the real life comeback story of Mariah's Storm, 1993 Breeder's Cup contender and legendary champ at Chicago's Arlington Park, 'Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story' (its complete title) is a thoroughly satisfying family flick from debuting writer/director John Gatins. It's easy to make references to the far superior 'Seabiscuit' (2003) because both movies are about injured horses that return to the race track as prodigal under dogs vying for a place in infamy, but this feature feels more like a contemporary version of the Oscar-winning 'National Velvet' (1944) than anything else, simply because it's unofficial main star is a little girl with big dreams. Dakota Fanning ('I Am Sam' (2001), 'Man on Fire' (2004)) is absolutely phenomenal here as precocious Kentucky farm girl Cale Crane, beautifully accompanied by Kurt Russell ('Stargate' (1994), 'Sky High' (2005)) - doing an outstanding job as her archetypal father and beleaguered head horse trainer Ben - and Kris Kristofferson ('Payback' (1999), 'Blade: Trinity' (2004)) playing Cale's rustic Grandfather "Pop". Quite frankly, this ninety-eight minute crowd pleaser is one of the few flicks where a paying audience would be hard pressed to avoid saying that the choice of cast members is exceptionally perfect. I will admit that pretty well any movie with five scenes containing at least one horse will undoubtedly automatically win me over in a nanosecond, but cinematographer Fred Murphy captures each detail with notably classy style. In a recent interview with Horseraces.net, Gatins cited his long experience and admiration of horses, and the script shows it from beginning to closing credits. However, even though 'Dreamer' is predominantly about this two year-old chestnut filly named Soñador's - or, Sonya, for short - uncanny path against unsurprising odds, the meat of this movie rests with the captivating human dramas spiced with a rare freshness that its human characters bring to the big screen. In many cases, it's the small moments of minimalist acting, such as the tender love affair spoken only through glances between Ben and his wife Lilly (Elisabeth Shue; 'Leaving Las Vegas' (1995), 'Hollow Man' (2000)) or the laser sharp body language that speaks volumes across the awkwardly closing chasm between Ben and Pop, that make this cinematic treasure such a tremendously satisfying screening. Less capable talent would have either completely ignored those delightfully subtle nuances or played them out as Mimes. Here, they're extraordinary to witness, while enjoying the dialogue's quick intelligence. Yes, it does play out like a bygone live action Disney feature at times, but even that lends itself to its overwhelming charm. The only down side is the crescendo bloated soundtrack that seems unnecessarily trite at times. It's a minor quibble, though. Absolutely do yourself a huge favour and check out this immensely memorable, family-friendly drama for its incredible cast and a truly satisfying story.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Derailed
REVIEWED 11/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

When his cell phone rang, Chicago's JMD March Advertising executive Charles Christopher Schine (Clive Owen) hadn't expected to hear Laroche's (Vincent Cassel) voice. Not again. The numbness of a long month since that night at the Lake Hotel - that night that Charles was going to cheat on his wife Deanna (Melissa George), with Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston)... the night that Charles had laid flat on his back in that grungy hotel room... on the floor... his bludgeoned face a mash of pain and blood... Charles, fighting to stay conscious, failing to get to his feet and save Lucinda, while she kept whimpering at the intruder, Laroche, to stop raping her on that nearby bed... beyond Charles' reach or focus... in that cursed Lake Hotel suite - thundered over Charles and clamped his skull with dread as though nothing had changed. He could barely feel his legs, standing on that dark sidewalk of fallen November leaves, feeling Laroche's cruel chortle stab through him from the phone. How the hell did he get this number? Charles had promised this brutal maggot that the police wouldn't be called, and Lucinda had insisted in fear of threatening her marriage that they stay silent about their sudden indiscretion - their infidelity so savagely interrupted at gunpoint - and Laroche had left with their money and credit cards. The affair had remained a secret. He remembers how Laroche had tormented them that night. How that sub-human parasite had blackmailed Charles into handing over the Schines' twenty thousand dollars in hard earned savings earmarked for their ailing daughter Amy's (Addison Timlin) treatment. A ransom to keep his marriage intact. That should have been enough for Charles to keep his life. To be left alone and forget. But, Laroche hadn't forgotten. He was calling for more money, and the stakes had been raised. Charles looked at the screen on his cell phone and his veins turned to ice. Laroche was inside the Schines' house. With Deanna and Amy.

Based on writer James Siegel's acclaimed 2003 novel, this deliciously clever psychological thriller from Swedish director Mikael Håfström ('Ondskan' (2003)) is a thoroughly satisfying vengeance driven drama. Sure, the basic plot of Chicago advertising executive Charles Schine (Clive Owen; 'Gosford Park' (2001), 'Sin City' (2005)) racing against time to save his unwitting family from harm against the brutal greed of blackmailer Philippe Laroche (Vincent Cassel; 'Shrek' (2001), 'Irréversible' (2002)) after Schine's momentary lapse of fidelity with fellow commuter Lucinda Harris (played by Jennifer Aniston; 'The Good Girl' (2002), 'Along Came Polly' (2004)) goes terribly wrong does feel slightly familiar once everything is revealed. It's the journey that makes 'Derailed' such an enjoyable ride, however. I don't want to ruin this hundred and seven minuter by giving away too much, but Stuart Beattie's wonderfully polished screenplay obviously takes devilish pleasure in knocking you out of your seat with this flick's relentlessly violent and clever twists. Owen is great here, as his rattled character walks a slender grey line between being a rather sheepish, victimized good guy and - conversely - a dented vigilante endangering those around him by blindly seeking an insatiable revenge. The best aspect of this wildly intelligent flick is that Cassel plays an outstanding villian throughout, brazenly appearing where you'd least expect him, and truly succeeding in making a paying audience want to trounce Laroche at the first opportunity. Awesome. Aniston also portrays her role fairly well, wonderfully giving you bouts of enjoyable if not slightly affected banter opposite Owen in the first act, but her character's importance does tend to evaporate into the background as 'Derailed' becomes a mano-a-mano battle of wits and fists throughout the subsequent majority of what clicks out on the big screen. Shades of 'Ransom' (1996) abound, but this one's definitely a much darker tale. Over-all, I had a great time with it. Check out this impressively entertaining effort for some imaginative twists tossed at this great cast of capable talent.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

The Dark Hours
REVIEWED 12/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Prim and sensible Dr. Samantha "Sam" Goodman (Kate Greenhouse) tightened her grip on the steering wheel, pulled her car over to the side of that secluded wooded stretch of wintry Northern Ontario road, and fell apart. For the first time in two years, Sam felt alone and frightened. Helpless. She knew that her boss at the asylum for the criminally insane was right in insisting that she take the weekend off, but all she wanted to do was bury herself in her work. To keep her slowly shattering mind sharp and focussed on the unemotional structure and clinical procedure of evaluating the patients one check box at a time. Detached. Not like them. She could handle the outside world. She wasn't like them. She couldn't be. Her work would push her as far away as possible from the poisonous seed that had started growing again inside of her skull. What a fool she had been to believe that it wouldn't. The CAT scan x-ray taken yesterday morning still burned in her brain. Sam had seen thousands of them before without batting an eyelash, but this one - hers - hung like a muddy Rorschach ink blot backlit on the blinding wall in that dim, antiseptic room. A stark, gnarled topography of the war raging inside of her. Unemotionally, clinically, forcing Dr. Goodman to see the tumour had doubled its size in her frontal lobe. It was inoperable. Festering. Eating her mind, killing her again. Sam's temples ached, as her tears continued to ooze down her trembling face in that chilled driver's seat. The experimental drug hadn't worked. Her studies done in secret had failed her. Just as what had happened to Harlan Pyne - rapist, murderer, comatose - Sam knew what was in store for her now. Dammit. She needed to stay in control. She needed to get away. To be with her husband David (Gordon Currie), at the cottage nestled in the snowy forest ahead. He wasn't expecting her to show up that night at their cottage. He'd said that he needed to finish writing his book. Surprisingly, Sam's cute younger sister Melody (Iris Graham) was also there. Sam could hear her flirtish giggle from the kitchen as she'd entered that cold night. What was she doing there? What had Sam unexpectedly walked in on? The axe blade glinted in the light of that roaring fire. Pyne (Aidan Devine) demanded an answer. Pain was a teacher that cleansed the soul, and Melody had to pay for breaking the rules of Pyne's cruel games now. Things had gotten out of control. Something had to be chopped off...

This bizarre psychological horror from debuting director Paul Fox seems fairly clunky around the edges, but features a predominantly good cast of Canadian talent led by Kate Greenhouse ('External Affairs' (1999)) as prim and incurable brain tumour stricken asylum patient evaluator Dr. Samantha "Sam" Goodman trapped in an isolated cottage with her husband David (Gordon Currie; 'My Blue Heaven' (1990), 'Highwaymen' (2003)) and sister Melody (Iris Graham; 'Going the Distance' (2004)), cruelly held captive by the criminal insanity of Sam's former nuthouse subject Harlan Pyne (Aidan Devine; 'Don't Say a Word' (2001), 'A History of Violence' (2005)) and his erratic sidekick Adrian (Dov Tiefenbach; 'Jason X' (2001), 'The Delicate Art of Parking' (2003)). 'The Dark Hours' clicks along at an impressively tight pace for the first half, wonderfully layering on a gritty sense of sharp suspense for a paying audience as these characters are relentlessly bludgeoned by Pyne's ghoulish games of emotional torture. That is, until Wil Zmak's screenplay - that feels like an experimental, updated short story from Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), stylistically inspired by 'A Beautiful Mind' (2002) or, perhaps, 'Identity' (2003) - self-destructs into little more than an absurd jigsaw puzzle of poorly edited gore during the final half hour. Fox had a great thing going here, and then someone seems to have spiked his beer with the ashes of Dadaist artist Salvador Dali's evil twin. Don't get me wrong, the subtle use of metaphorical props (No, there aren't any melting clocks or burning giraffes, but there might as well be.) and the nightmarish retelling of the story that you've just sat through but in a completely different way truly are clever ideas that easily rival anything from the twisted mind of David Lynch. I also kept being reminded of the scary moments from 'Flatliners' (1990). Greenhouse and Devine both give specifically incredible performances throughout, effortlessly fleshing out their roles to the point where you can't help but want to see what either of them does next. The problem is, Fox and film editor Marlo Miazga leave out too much basic storytelling stuff, after the plot twist, that would have otherwise helped the last part of this eighty-minute nail biter make a lot more sense. There's a big difference between showing distraught trauma spiralling out of control within a danger-filled world created for the big screen, and splicing together otherwise great footage captured despite lack lustre production value to make a finale that merely gives moviegoers a splitting headache as a reward for attempting to follow along without the aid of serious drugs. I'm still going to recommend this foul-mouthed and bloody cinematic brain cramper, because it's probably the most creatively fascinating and over-all freshly entertaining English-language Canadian flick that I've seen in a while - but, only just - that diehard fans of this genre are likely better off waiting a couple of minutes to check it out on Pay TV or as a cheap and senselessly gooey rental.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Dosti
REVIEWED 12/05, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Well, this subtitled and star-studded Bollywood mess credited to writer/producer/director Suneel Darshan ('Talaash: The Hunt Begins...' (2003)) easily could have been a far more sustainably impressive cinematic effort, if the surprisingly disjointed wisp of a screenplay hadn't spent so much time sabotaging itself throughout. Bobby Deol ('Barsaat' (1995), 'Tango Charlie' (2005)) and Akshay Kumar ('Aan: Men at Work' (2004), 'Garam Masala' (2005)) individually strike an incredible balance between high drama and broad humour, as Deol's poor little rich boy Karan Thaker and Kumar's rags to borrowed riches Raj Maholta awkwardly turn their attentions toward marital bliss that are relentlessly poisoned by their tumultuous pasts as bosom buddies since childhood.

As an Anglo Westerner, I'll admit that their first few scenes punctuated by a catchy tune revelling in these two fella's undying love for each other did smack of homosexual affectations, but that erroneous first impression might have actually helped this exasperating hundred and thirty-six minute contemporary Masala to be far more compelling if Darshan had actually intended to go that route. 'Dosti: Friends Forever' (its complete title) is an unmistakably familiar buddy flick rife with the same types of overused on-screen exercises in heart straining misinterpretations seen played out hundreds of times before. There's nothing new here, except when this cast is sporadically motivated to work their acting muscles. That's when Deol and Kumar electrify this picture. That's when their equally impressive co-stars Kareena Kapoor ('Hulchul' (2004), 'Kyon Ki?' (2005)) and Lara Dutta ('Andaaz' (2003), 'No Entry' (2005)) absolutely shine at portraying these guys' girlishly mischievous yet wonderfully strong counterparts. Faced with the noticeable absence of South Asian films starring the phenomenal Rani Mukherjee on the big screen here, I'm slowly becoming a big fan of these two brilliantly capable rising stars as they're both given better roles that require more than the ability to cry on cue and cutely wiggle dance for a roving camera. 'Dosti' somewhat does that, with Kapoor's performance as Raj's tormented love interest Anjali effortlessly surpassing this otherwise strangely cobbled flick's poor imagination. Dutta's role as Karan's precocious love at first sight Kajal is also a delight for a paying audience, until the dubious pacing and disproportionately weak dialogue summarily demands that the soundtrack overwhelms the story. Yes, a majority of the songs are good toe tappers, but when you're given hugely captivating romantic moments that are abruptly cut with - for instance - a cheesy Disco ditty chanting "Now is the time for romance, let's boogie-woogie dance-dance," it's tough to keep a straight face while nursing your whiplash. Darshan seems embarrassed to allow this quartet of proven talent to assist in fully realizing this feature's potential as a completely satisfying movie, choosing instead to thrust in a final dagger with a wildly strange bit of unintentionally laughable theatrics capped by fluffy controversy lazily plucked from the ether before the closing credits. Rent it so that you can fast forward to the few satisfying bits of superior acting and funny moments from this troupe, but as a whole, don't be surprised if you're left wondering what this effort's writer/director was smoking...

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Date Movie
REVIEWED 02/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

An aggravatingly unimaginative series of one punch line movie spoofs and pop culture send ups predominantly sabotage this surprisingly mundane romantic comedy that stars Alyson Hannigan ('My Stepmother Is an Alien' (1988), 'American Wedding' (2003)) as desperate Bachelorette Julia Jones, whose sudden fairy tale engagement to British Dr. Grant Fonckyerdoder (first timer Adam Campbell) is endangered by Julia's overbearing father Frank (Eddie Griffin; 'The Meteor Man' (1993), 'Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo' (2005)) and Grant's former fiancée Andy (Sophie Monk). 'Date Movie' is somewhat like a cinematic equivalent of something you'd probably expect to find in MAD Magazine, except that what works within the context of a comic strip panel there doesn't quite measure up when performed on the big screen as presented here.

Sure, it's a potentially clever premise that worked for 'Airplane!' (1980), 'Top Secret!' (1984) and 'The Naked Gun' (1988), but co-writers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer - who also direct this eighty-five minute blob of corn - simply don't give each peripheral instance of irreverent goofiness the chance to be more than a superficial parody of something else. The joke quickly becomes one where you're supposed to laugh at how many films this film pokes fun at, instead of mainly laughing at what comes out of the fun-poking as being memorably hilarious in and of itself. As though they lose their nerve, or simply aren't creative enough to push the comedy any further as a stand alone effort. It's actually tough to believe that a complete script exists at all, because - despite the sometimes impressive make up, reminiscent of what's seen in the later episodes of television's 'SCTV' - much of what a paying audience ends up sitting through feels improvised on the spot. Amateurishly crass, with the emphasis being setting up skit-like gags that don't really go anywhere.

The weirdest thing is that this consistently unfunny picture basically satirizes two specific comedies, 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001) and 'Meet the Fockers' (2004), without managing to be funnier than the originals. Panicked failure seems even clearer when disappointingly flat takes on 'Hitch' (2005) and 'My Best Friend's Wedding' (1997) are lazily cobbled into the mix, peppered with lame spins on 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' (2002), 'What Women Want' (2000), 'Pretty Woman' (1990) and 'When Harry Met Sally' (1989). In more capable hands, even the campy scene where characters from 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2004) wander onto the set, could have easily affected the over-all story in a much more captivating direction. The sexually charged nod to 'King Kong' (2005) that's tagged on at the end has absolutely nothing to do with what you've just sat through, but is actually the most measurably funny. Sure, it's obvious that 'Date Movie' is essentially meant to lampoon Chick Flicks over-all, much like the 'Scary Movie' series of features notoriously take naughty jabs at the Horror genre, but there's nothing in this one that gives you the sense that anyone involved really knows how to do that with any tangible ability within the context of telling a fresh story featuring captivating characters and, well, notably funny stuff. Yes, there are a handful of scenes that do tickle at the chuckle bone, but the majority of those remotely humourous bits and pieces are used in the ads. So, why bother? The idea is a great one, but this corny disaster is just a forgettable, talent-wasting regurgitation of mostly superior comedies that you're probably better off checking out instead.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Doogal
REVIEWED 03/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Originally released in 2005 as 'The Magic Roundabout' - adapted from the popular series of over five hundred stop motion animated shorts by French creator Serge Danot entitled 'Le Manège enchanté' (1963-1967) and then altered for British television by English narrator Eric Thompson beginning in 1964 - this entirely computer animated, feature length movie intended for young children sends Doogal the candy-loving Dog and his friends Brian the shy Snail, Dylan the hippy Rabbit and Ermintrude the singing Cow on a perilous quest by train to find three magical diamonds that will stop evil wizard Zeebad from turning the entire world into a wintry wasteland thrown into eternal darkness.

This isn't the first time that these bizarrely anthropomorphized characters have been in a movie, reportedly starring in 'Dougal and the Blue Cat', made in 1970. Their latest flick actually starts with the impressive and equally goofy 2004 cartoon 'Gopher Broke' from Blur Studios, and fans of Thompson's old and vaguely drug referential, small screen 'The Magic Roundabout' clips will likely be initially confused by this eighty-five minute romp of corny slap stick and soft laughs that's been overtly Americanized for audiences on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Here, most of the familiar Brit accents are gone, much of the humour is made up of catch phrases lifted from Hollywood movies that a crowd of tiny tots probably wouldn't be allowed to see, that magical carousel has become more ornate and its wooded enclave is now a nameless cobble stone town mainly populated by nameless human caricatures. And yes, the character Dougal has been rechristened as Doogal for no apparent reason. French fans probably felt the same moderate disorientation about Danot's original stories being summarily changed and his lovably pompous, shaggy Pollux being renamed Dougal forty years ago, too. Besides, didn't Dougal prefer sugar cubes? It's tough to avoid turning this into something similar to a sentimental argument about what type of chocolate might or might not be better for you, but 'Doogal' is a reasonably entertaining adventure story that tends to rehash many elements from previously seen flicks made specifically for toddlers who can handle slightly intense scenes. Few surprises over-all, with loads of forgettably safe fun.

The weirdest thing is that Jack-in-the-box like Zeebad and the town's similarly springy good wizard Zebedee duel each other by firing powerful plasma ribbons resembling sneezed ropes of glowing mucus from their twitching, bushy moustaches. Too funny. It's a mildly welcome effort from co-directors Dave Borthwick and Jean Duval that doesn't completely revamp the source material to begin with, despite this version featuring a curious mix of otherwise notable actors that includes Daniel Tay ('Elf' (2003)) as the voice of Doogal, William H. Macy ('Fargo' (1996), 'Cellular' (2004)) as Brian, Jimmy Fallon ('Taxi' (2004), 'Fever Pitch' (2005)) as Dylan, and Whoopi Goldberg ('The Color Purple' (1985), 'Star Trek: Nemesis' (2002)) as Ermintrude. Narrator Judi Dench ('GoldenEye' (1995), 'Ladies in Lavender' (2004)) and Ian McKellen ('X-Men' (2000), 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003)) as Zebedee seem to be the only cast members kept on from the British release - maybe because Pop singer Robbie Williams' ('De-Lovely' (2004)) Dougal and the BBC's former 'Dr. Who' star Tom Baker's ('The Golden Voyage of Sinbad' (1974), 'Dungeons & Dragons' (2000)) Zeebad had dialogue deemed unsuitably suggestive or foreign to contemporary North American kids unaware of the earlier shows - but, that's fine because it's clearly obvious that 'Doogal' isn't meant for adults intent on dragging out their offspring to revisit a part of their own tube watching childhood like the UK version sounds like it is.

I say that while acknowledging my having been a rabid fan of the retooled British shorts back in the 19-mumbles when I was a little boy, and yet barely recall more than the characters nowadays. This new one's for today's kids living in today's world, so let it. In that respect, it more or less works as a humourously captivating big screen escape that's similar to 'The Polar Express' (2004), but with brighter animation. The DVD's of the British and French versions are apparently already available for diehard purists, but if you do find this US version showing at an affordable local matinee, 'Doogal' is well worth introducing small kids to the big screen with as an undemanding preschooler pleaser.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Dave Chappelle's Block Party
REVIEWED 03/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

The diverse Rap music stylings of a number of notable star performers are prominently featured during the last three quarters of this over-all wonderfully enjoyable, low-key back stage pass-like documentary from award winning French director Michel Gondry ('Human Nature' (2001), 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (2004)), where Emmy-nominated comedian Dave Chappelle ('You've Got Mail' (1998), 'Undercover Brother' (2002)) invites a lively cross-section of folk from his hometown of Dayton, Ohio - plus a few hundred more from in and around New York - to converge on a small Brooklyn street for his free outdoor concert held on September 18, 2004.

This is such an entertaining time at the movies, despite it being a little rough around the technical edges in parts, and whether or not you're a huge fan of such a delectable mix of toe tapping tunes shot live. 'Dave Chappelle's Block Party' isn't so much a concert film as it is a kind of man-on-the-street cinematic tag along, with Chappelle spreading the word about this amazing event to pretty well anyone he bumps into and introducing you to the neighbourhood and the people living and working near where it'll all take place, while interjecting a wealth of quirky asides as the excitement builds. It's never really explained why he decided to organize this show, but there's a feeling of him simply wanting to give back by bringing together some of the most incredible talent to be seen and heard in one place. It's a treat, watching Chappelle eat up the big screen as this flick's precocious congenial host throughout, handing out golden tickets and then letting Gondry turn the camera on some of the lucky few destined to make the trip from Dayton for this special day, as well as watching Chappelle trade irreverent quips with various band members during their rehearsal sessions later on.

The best non-musical moments would definitely include when he's just goofing around with the kids from the CSU marching band that pile into the bus for the party, with younger kids at the Day Care Centre soon to overlook the festivities, and with the many kids-at-heart who regularly make memorable appearances during the course of this hundred-minute picture. My favourites would also be when the eccentric hippy couple who own the decrepit old church they've named Broken Angel briefly let Dave and his crew into their lives for a few laughs, the naturally hilarious banter between Chappelle and Mos Def ('The Italian Job' (2003), '16 Blocks' (2006)), and the candid moment when The Fugees' Wyclef Jean's chat with the CSU band easily turns into an ad hoc sing-a-long of President accompanied by piano. Good stuff. However, 'Dave Chappelle's Block Party' is unmistakably about the music. You're not served up entire songs, but the oftentimes extended segments of these live sets are electrifying little treasures. That's where you truly get to see magic in the making, with Gondry deftly capturing this street party atmosphere of fun and friendship. Even a sudden rain shower doesn't dampen the mood. Ponchos are handed out, and the bands play on. The politicised duo Dead Prez perform a rousing cut of their Turn Off The Radio; John Legend and the group Common thump out a slightly grittier version of Jesus Walk than what's heard on the 'Jarhead' (2005) soundtrack; Erykah Badu's ('The Cider House Rules' (1999), 'House of D' (2004)) playful side emerges during her double song crooning of Back In The Day and Love Of My Life - a gust of wind blows loose her huge Afro wig - and Jill Scott provides a little psychedelic Motown sound before Badu joins her and The Roots for an impromptu finale of You Got Me.

Yes, there's more, and it's all worthy of much praise. That's especially the case when Lauryn Hill ('Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit' (1993), 'Turn It Up' (2000)) steps to the stage, reuniting here with her former band mates The Fugees after seven years, for a gorgeous rendition of Killing Me Softly. Awesome. Sure, some of the jokes are sophomoric and crude, or conspicuously racial in nature, but 'Dave Chappelle's Block Party' is absolutely well worth the price admission and will likely send you out of the theatre afterwards feeling as though you've just witnessed a high point in musical history for a lot of people - and, you'd be right.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Darna Zaroori Hai
REVIEWED 05/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Reportedly a sequel to the similarly eerie cinematic anthology 'Darna Mana Hai' (2003), five precocious Bombay school children become lost while wandering into the woods at dusk, and then a heavy thunderstorm strands them in a secluded old house inhabited by a creepy elderly woman (Ava Mukherji) who agrees to tell them some scary stories - including The Professor, The Night Visitor, The Insurance Agent, The Director, and The Possession - in this somewhat unrefined, star studded and subtitled Bollywood Horror flick. Thankfully, the majority of these unrelated scenarios presented in a kind of 'Tales from the Crypt' (1972) manner, with each helmed by a different director and featuring some truly talented big names, are absolutely well worth the price of admission for diehard fans of this decidedly spooky genre. All the same, much of the violence is left to the imagination, making 'Darna Zaroori Hai' more psychologically scary than it being about splattering guts and goo at you. My top shelf picks would definitely include the hilariously irreverent opening vignette from director Sajid Khan, about oafish Satish (Manoj Pahwa) mocking his superstitious mother and cutting through a spooky graveyard to see the Friday the 13th late screening of 'Darna Mana Hai', the wonderfully unsettling story from director Vivek Shah that I call The Night Visitor, where the seemingly haunted country manor of Varshia (Sunil Shetty) and her occult dabbling husband Rahul (Sonali Kulkarni) is visited by a handsome stranger (Rajpal Yadav) in need of a late night car mechanic, and the truly inspired tale of ghostly possession where Ajay (Randeep Hooda) is unwittingly being held by a grisled homicide detective (Zakir Hussain) for the gruesome axe murder.

That last one is almost as nightmarish as 'The Shining' (1980) was, despite much of it taking place in a small room with very little action. Awesome. While a couple of the remaining mini dramas impressively rely on the superior talent and presence of their stars to pull you in with their outstanding performances - namely, undisputed powerhouse Amitabh Bachchan as a reclusive and irrationally paranoid University professor, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, as well as mercurial wünderkind Anil Kapoor playing famed film director Karan Chopra who's first intrigued by and then suspicious of a lovely hitchhiker (Mallika Sherawat), directed by Jijy Phillip - the three stories that I've picked as the best of the bunch memorably stand out for being over-all well written and cleverly depicted shorts that could have easily been embellished into thoroughly enjoyable white knuckled feature length movies on their own. Yes, a paying audience also has to endure one bimbette wiggle dance that's set to the atrociously lazy theme song near the beginning, and director Manish Gupta's efforts with the old lady telling those kids these hair raising yarns is fairly meandering and unnecessarily over blown in its actual usefulness as a familar launching point for each skit. However, 'Darna Zaroori Hai' is still predominantly a fun ride whenever it shakes off its few noticeably annoying flaws.

Stacking it up against most successful Hollywood chillers, this South Asian import is easily well worth a rental on a dark and stormy night for its consistently satisfying frights dealt by some incredible talent in front of and behind the camera. Good stuff.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

The Da Vinci Code
REVIEWED 05/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

While on a symposium and book signing tour in Paris, Stanford University Professor of Religious Symbology Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks; 'Nothing in Common' (1986), 'The Terminal' (2004)) is unwittingly singled out as the prime suspect by relentlessly obsessive French Homicide Detective Bezu Fache (Jean Reno; 'The Professional' (1994), 'The Pink Panther' (2006)), when the Louvre Art Gallery's aged curator Jacques Sauniere (Jean-Pierre Marielle) is found murdered and bizarrely displayed amongst cryptic messages written in Sauniere's blood, in director Ron Howard's ('Ransom' (1996), 'Cinderella Man' (2005)) tirelessly over-hyped, surprisingly poorly cobbled adaptation of author Dan Brown's 2003 best selling fiction, in which Langdon is quickly joined by French Police Cryptologist Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou; 'Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain' (2001), 'Un long dimanche de fiançailles' (2004)) on a perilous quest of ciphers and puzzles towards verifying the truth behind a two thousand year-old Christian lie coldly guarded by a fanatical sect of Opus Dei, tracking down the elusive stone sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene protected by a contemporary and dwindling Knights Templar cloister known as the Priory of Sion, and evading the tenacious grasp of an ever nearing Fache.

Running at nearly two and half hours, this sporadically subtitled suspense thriller is definitely ambitious. The problem is, Howard and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman seem at odds regarding what aspects of this artificially controversial and imaginatively embellished story are worth focusing on throughout. It's a series of brain teasing riddles versus scenes of Indiana Jones-style action that don't quite mesh well together. So, 'The Da Vinci Code' - which really doesn't have anything to do with renowned Italian artist and engineer Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), except to use a couple of his famous paintings as coy props - swiftly becomes an over-long muddle of enigmatic hyperbole and silly violence that forgets that a reasonably smart paying audience actually needs to follow along in order to care about what happens to any of these characters. That's where this one fails miserably. It's futile to pick apart the innumerable glaring examples of selective artistic license reminiscent of 'National Treasure' (2005) that are suggested as being undeniable historical facts supporting this picture's crazy plot, because what's ultimately important is whether or not this release is a successfully entertaining picture in the final cut. It's still a fiction. Well, switch off above the neck and take a couple of naps during the screening, and it might be entertaining. The predominant sleuthing angle isn't particularly captivating and seems unsure about exactly what Langdon and Neveu are trying to solve. Is it who killed Sauniere? Well, you know whodunit and nobody particularly cares about bringing the real killer to justice. Is it supposedly discovering new clues about Christ's relationship with Magdalene? Well, no. The advertising hype ruined that surprise, and it happens in the middle of this film as a fairly contrived anti-climax. In fact, most of the interesting historically related stuff that's touched upon here feels ruthlessly sidelined as anecdotal context for brief moments of curiously sparkley special effects and little else. The structure of this feature consistently sabotages its undoubtedly fascinating aspects in favour of sending you down another uneventful maze of dim passageways and amateurish dialogue. So, what are you left with? 'The Da Vinci Code' ends up being an unnecessarily tush-numbing cinematic test of endurance about two fugitives who can't figure out how to unlock a Rubick's Cube-like tube carrying a papyrus map to where the Holy Grail is apparently hidden. They can't pry it open, because that will smash a vial of vinegar inside it that will dissolve the map. And, they can't just drill through and siphon out the papyrus map-eating vinegar, and then break open the puzzle so that you can go home an hour earlier, because there are no electric drills in France (I guess). A more logical curiosity is why Langdon doesn't concentrate on clearing his name by tracking down Opus Dei's murderous "angel" Silas (played by Paul Bettany; 'A Beautiful Mind' (2001), 'Firewall' (2006))? No, no, he must flee on this mystical, magical wild goose chase instead. It makes no sense. The entire last half, where more about Neveu is revealed, plays out as being horribly patched together and lazily deflating as well. And, because Hanks and this cast don't really bring much empathy to their roles, 'The Da Vinci Code' becomes gruelling and exasperatingly confusing for any moviegoer who truly wants to pay close attention and mindfully get caught up in what happens.

You're likely far better off simply reading the book at your leisure, rather than wasting a big chunk of your life picking at this monster turkey in a packed movie theatre of equally bored and disappointed moviegoers.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Don't Come Knocking
REVIEWED 05/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Notorious celebrity Howard Spence (Sam Shepard; 'The Right Stuff' (1983), 'The Notebook' (2004)) suddenly disappears from the Utah desert movie set of his latest Western to see his aged mother (played by Eva Marie Saint), and ends up returning to the small secluded Nevada town of Howard's former love Doreen (Jessica Lange; 'King Kong' (1976), 'Broken Flowers' (2005)) in the hopes of possibly meeting the twenty year-old son he never knew about - while stoic studio security man Mr. Sutter (Tim Roth; 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992), 'Dark Water' (2005)) doggedly tracks down Spence's whereabouts - in acclaimed German-born director Wim Wenders' ('Wings of Desire' (1987), 'Land of Plenty' (2004)) somewhat experimentally offbeat movie written by Shepard. This flick is such a wonderful feast for the eyes, thanks in large part to cinematographer Franz Lustig's beautifully composed shots that are heavily sprinkled throughout this hundred and twenty-two minute, mildly quirky low key drama. Shepard is incredible here, effortlessly carrying the lion's share of the story, depicting this disillusioned and emotionally exhausted middle aged movie star uneasy about being recognized while he struggles with the regret of having lived a self-indulgent life of tabloid-fuelling scandal that's damaged everyone he's left in his wake.

'Don't Come Knocking' is basically about this carefully greyed empathetic character awkwardly grasping at some glimmer of stabilizing redemption, and ending up taking on more than expected when faced with his estranged and temperamental adult son Earl's (Gabriel Mann; 'The Bourne Identity' (2002), 'A Lot Like Love' (2005)) jagged rage. Full of delightfully methodical introspection that's cleverly off-set by these oftentimes hilarious explosions of tortured emotion, this flick also tends to wallow in sporadic moments curiously uninteresting asides. Most notably, the secondary thread featuring Sarah Polley ('The Adventures of Baron Munchausen' (1988), 'Dawn of the Dead' (2004)) as Spence's other unknown love child Sky returning her mother's ashes to that same Nevada town, monotonously floats along in its own rather artsy bubble without really lending much gravity to the main arc over-all. Polley's appearance seems intended to be a kind of soothing, angelic catalyst at the end here, but her portrayal leading up to that point is annoyingly bland and life-sucking when compared to Lange's - who deftly embodies a gorgeous brittleness opposite Shepard - to the degree where I would have preferred to have seen more screen time afforded to Fairuza Balk's ('Return to Oz' (1985), 'Deuces Wild' (2002)) memorably scene stealing performance as Earl's riotously goofy girlfriend Amber instead. Roth also injects a certain amount of enjoyably soft irreverence, but his character is unnecessarily enigmatic for the most part, and does provide a few scenes where a paying audience isn't quite sure what he's doing or how what he's doing ties in as being anything other than interruptive filler. They feel like tossed in, spur of the moment skits that suspiciously accommodate a need for more time in front of the lens, instead of deliberately fleshing out Roth's Sutter or clearly moving the story along. Those are the main flaws of this movie, but they're easily forgotten while you're presented with more of Lustig's richly saturated visuals and an impressive wealth of small captivating highlights served up by the majority of this cast. Sure, the pacing is slow, but it works within the context of this world of heavy personal angst.

Shutterbugs will likely salivate over this one, but 'Don't Come Knocking' is primarily a satisfying character-driven treasure that's definitely well worth checking out.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

District B-13
REVIEWED 06/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

It takes a while for this subtitled 2004 French action fantasy from cinematographer turned director Pierre Morel to settle into its fairly disjointed story that's set in 2010, about rogue vigilante Leïto (David Belle; 'Femme Fatale' (2002)) skeptically teaming up with undercover cop Damien (Cyril Raffaelli; 'Taxi 2' (2000), 'Kiss of the Dragon' (2001)) after a concocted prison escape, in order to breach the heavily guarded concrete and razor wire wall surrounding a rotting Parisian suburb called District 13 and diffuse a fairly plot unimportant experimental bomb that's set to kill millions from within the fortress lair of that neighbourhood's criminal warlord Taha (Larbi "Bibi" Naceri; 'La Mentale' (2002), 'Féroce' (2002)).

The main problem with 'Banlieue 13' (its original homegrown title) is that there really isn't much of a cohesive story for a paying audience to tap into and care about for the most part. All of these characters are little more than stereotypical human finger puppets that grimace and snarl through the majority of their scenes as though pretending to chew glass while spitting out dialogue is somehow equivalent to real acting. They're vapid and uninteresting. Of course, capturing compelling character development and carefully crafting a fascinating story arc aren't why this eighty-five minute flick exists. Morel is obviously still a cameraman at heart here, focusing much of his attention on presenting some of the most incredible stunt work ever seen outside of the Martial Arts genre in a while. The acrobatic extremes of Parkour - mainly an elegantly efficient form of fluidly moving through urban landscapes as though improvising an obstacle course, reportedly developed in France by Belle beginning in 1988 (at age fifteen) - take centre stage during the first half of this screening, with Belle and Raffaelli fearlessly hurling themselves with sometimes super human agility off of walls, mezzanines and throngs of trigger happy goons with terrible aim at break neck speed to a trippy back beat by Da Octopuss and others. Those moments truly are fresh and exhilarating. Especially when you consider that most of it hasn't been cleaned up with post-production computer tricks. As for the more familiar and heavily choreographed hand-to-hand fights that brutally slam across the big screen later on, they're fairly dragged out and seem pointlessly gratuitous. This is most notable when our heroes curiously face off against a ham hock fisted, cement punchin' giant of sweaty gruntin' ugly named Yeti. It makes no sense, lending nothing of value to what's transpired.

What's left of this picture plays out like a silly live action cartoon that tends to take itself way too seriously. And, that's a shame. You see Leïto's feisty supermarket cashier sister Lola (Dany Verissimo; 'French Beauty' (2001), 'Ally et xperiment' (2002)) handed over to Taha six months previous to the death defying mission through No Man's Land, but this screenplay from Luc Besson and Naceri doesn't bother to embellish that character either, summarily turning her into a boring hapless damsel in distress chained mere inches from the bomb. Yawn. Sure, there's an attempt at throwing in a plot twist at the end, but it's too late in the game for that to feel like anything other than yet another in this series of aggravatingly lame contrivances. Quite frankly, this flick would have been a whole lot more worthwhile if Morel had simply thrown out the script before shooting. More amazing Parkour footage and less story telling, and I hate to admit it but 'District B-13' - simply called 'District 13' or '13th District' on some theatre marquees - might have actually been worth the price of admission as a pleasurably guilty vicarious adrenaline rush at the movies. Definitely rent this one if you love jaw dropping, high velocity action scenes, but you're probably better off doing so with your thumb hovering over the fast forward button to skip through the rest of it.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

The Devil Wears Prada
REVIEWED 07/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Northwestern University Grad and burgeoning writer Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway; 'The Princess Diaries' (2001), 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005)) couldn't care less about the difference between a Jimmy Choo shoe and a Louis Vuitton purse, but she's in New York and needed a job and it was either work for Auto Universe or land that interview at Runway Magazine as junior assistant to high fashion's reigning patron and the world's worst boss, The Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep; 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (1979), 'Prime' (2005)), in this hilariously wry comedy from director David Frankel ('Miami Rhapsody' (1995)) that's based on former Vogue assistant Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel, where smart but frumpish Andy quickly faces insurmountable odds in trying to stay employed and keep her sanity intact at Runway, while dealing with Miranda's relentless condescension and outrageous demands, Miranda's senior assistant Emily's (Emily Blunt; 'My Summer of Love' (2004)) snobbish attitude, and Andy's boyfriend Nate's (Adrian Grenier; 'Celebrity' (1998), 'Anything Else' (2003)) growing disappointment that her job and the clothes and the make up are all successfully conspiring to change her for the worse.

This is such a memorably great time at the movies, and it's obvious that this entire cast had a blast lampooning the fashion world with deliciously acidic glee throughout. Streep is an absolute force of nature here, thundering like a hurricane through her scenes, chewing up and spitting out everyone and everything that falls victim to her character's manic vortex of chaotic control. Some of the greatest fashion designers in the world sheepishly cringe at Miranda's every faint gesture, and it's clear that Weisberger's experiences working under Vogue editor Anna Wintour loaned a certain level of albeit wildly embellished yet precisely specific insight for this script to draw from. "Where's that piece of paper that I had in my hand yesterday," is just one of many notable lines from Miranda's dialogue that pretty well sums up the hellish - and truly funny - emotional meat grinder moments that Sachs is thrown into here. Later on, Andy's impossibly given a few short hours to deliver the top secret unpublished manuscript of the upcoming Harry Potter book or she's fired. Writer Aline Brosh McKenna's screenplay crackles with sharp and witty potency, and it's a pure delight to see this outstanding cast keep up with the breathless pacing from beginning to closing credits. Hathaway is the perfect choice for this role, effortlessly depicting the down-to-earth girl next door who gets sucked in to the superficial and enigmatic trappings of the outer beauty industry simply by osmosis and being at her workaholic boss' constant beck and call. Andy's transformation is astounding, providing a paying audience with even more reasons to care about what happens to her as doors begin to open and others regretfully start to close. Top marks also go to mercurial character actor Stanley Tucci ('The Pelican Brief' (1993), 'Shall We Dance' (2004)), whose quick tongued portrayal of Runway's chief photographer Nigel wonderfully offers a somewhat stabilizing counter balance to the whirlwind of maddening energy that consumes and confuses Sachs. Awesome. Also keep an eye out for New Zealander Simon Baker ('Red Planet' (2000), 'Land of the Dead' (2005)) playing serpentine smooth lady killer Christian, relentlessly appearing out of no where to work at having for more than just a friendship with Andy. The best aspect of this hundred and ten-minute raucous fling is that all of these primary supporting characters are complex, and you get the opportunity to see their human side that's cautiously buried beneath each prickly exterior.

This feature doesn't get caught up in the glamour that's constantly in the spotlight, and Frankel carefully avoids turning this effort into little more than a pedantically fluffy feel good chick flick populated by glossy cardboard finger puppets. Sure, it's still predominantly a chick flick, and vague shades of 'Miss Congeniality' (2000) and the cameo bloated 'Ready to Wear' (1994) are recognizable here, but 'The Devil Wears Prada' goes beyond merely playing for the admittedly impressive droll laughs and physical comedy, truly making it a satisfying and surprisingly intelligent piece of high caliber movie making. Definitely do yourself a huge favour and check out this incredibly well crafted and contagiously funny picture that's also an extremely effective drama rife with wonderfully strong performances.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

The Descent
REVIEWED 08/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

One tortured year after a freak car accident took the lives of her husband Paul (Oliver Milburn) and their young daughter Jessica (Molly Kayll) on a secluded back road in the Appalachian Mountains, Sarah Carter (Shauna Macdonald; 'The Debt Collector' (1999), 'Niceland (Population. 1.000.002)' (2004)) and a group of five female friends return to the wilds of North Carolina and their love of extreme schpelunking, in this surprisingly boring and disjointed 2005 Brit gore fest from writer/director Neil Marshall ('Dog Soldiers' (2002)), where that team of cave exploring hobbyists ends up fighting for their lives while trapped two miles underground with a blood thirsty brood of albino man bats.

An overwhelmingly slow beginning and the fact that this ninety-nine minute cinematic slab of cheese feels too much like a cobbled, Feminist knock off of 'The Cave' (2005) systematically ruins the majority of what transpires here. It's won a few awards in the UK, but that merely suggests not too many horror films were made there last year. Uninspired contrivances and agonizingly mediocre stereotypes abound here, with cinematographer Sam McCurdy's lens only managing to artfully capture a handful of briefly impressive scenes. The cast includes Natalie Mendoza ('Moulin Rouge!' (2001), 'The Great Raid' (2005)), Alex Reid ('Arachnid' (2001)), Saskia Mulder ('Bimboland' (1998)), MyAnna Buring ('The Omen' (2006)) and Nora-Jane Noone ('The Magdalene Sisters' (2002)), and they all definitely make an effort to individually pull something worthwhile from this outrageously vapid script. They needn't have bothered. Fleeing sponge mops could have starred, without much difference. It's also clear that Marshall attempts to be clever throughout, ineptly alluding to a supposed infidelity early on that never materializes into anything, and later, lazily tossing in weird giggles emanating from the shadows as a way of falsely suggesting 'The Descent' is some sort of ghost tale regarding Sarah's loss. The screenplay isn't smart enough on any level to make those potentially interesting distractions work. The story plays out as being more a numbingly silly allegory about empowered women being brutally picked off one-by-one for merely trespassing in a world of men. They step into masculine roles, tread on the "wrong" turf, and pay the consequences with their lives. sheesh. Suffragettes must be spinning like lathes in their graves, frankly.

A major portion of this picture's entertainment value intentionally comes from watching the various ways that women are bitten, stabbed, terrorized and ripped apart. yawn. Sure, there are a few genre specific frights, but all of those moments pretty well involve toothy, pasty faced beasties suddenly jerking into view, in sync with David Julyan's prerequisite soundtrack of screeching violins and swelling orchestrals throughout. It's just goofy. And, I'm not going to touch this flick's bizarre visual symbolism of grunting, sweaty people continually dragging themselves through tight wet orifices. Yuck. The entire movie is like a creepy, misogynistic big screen Dadaist experiment - even one version of the poster swipes from the fairly provocative 1951 portrait photo by Philippe Halsman (1906-1979) of famed Dada co-founder Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), called Salvador Dali In Voluptate Mors, showing nude women clustered in the shape of a skull - eventually submerging itself in vats of chunky red goo while the main characters flail pointy climbing gear and deadly eye gouges at those nasty blind, carnivorous lady killers in the dark. The man bats, called "crawlers" in the closing credits, basically look like human gobs of rotten mashed potatoes with hissing fangs. They supposedly evolved from ancient teams of cavern climbers who, despite them being able to emerge at night to feed on wildlife, a paying audience is supposed to accept that these guys have preferred to live underground for a hundred years. Did they somehow inter breed with bats? You're never told. They're like territorial basement dwelling Hillbillies (I guess), only going outside when the snacks run low. Nothing about this story makes any sense, as presented here. At one point, Sarah deduces that the mortal fate of one of her friends came about from a terrible mistake that you witness earlier, turning her fear into vindictive rage that ultimately punishes the group's savior. So much for showing how women work together when the going gets tough. Only one person survives - of course, bursting from yet another earthy orifice. Awful.

'The Descent' isn't quite the worst movie seen so far this year, but it's an absolute shoe-in as an easy contender for that slowly growing list of talent wasting turkeys.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

The Departed
REVIEWED 10/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Troubled Boston State Trooper recruit Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio; 'The Quick and the Dead' (1995), 'Catch Me If You Can' (2002)) is sent under deep cover as longtime Irish crime lord Frank Costello's (Jack Nicholson; 'The Little Shop of Horrors' (1960), 'Something's Gotta Give' (2003)) newest thug, shortly before that precinct promotes its star undercover officer Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon; 'School Ties' (1992), 'The Brothers Grimm' (2005)) to its Special Investigations Unit in the hopes of flushing out a mob informant suspected to be in that elite department, in acclaimed director Martin Scorsese's ('Mean Streets' (1973), 'The Aviator' (2004)) incredibly intense and wonderfully impressive remake of the award-winning Chinese crime drama 'Mou gaan dou' (2002), where Costello becomes increasingly suspicious of everyone around him after a near miss raid of stolen micro processors sold to the Chinese, seeing him rely more heavily of his frayed wits, the measured loyalty of Costigan, and what ever useful information that comes from his deeply guarded mole.

Holy cripes, this is such an astounding piece of masterful film making from the maestro of mafia movies himself. Admittedly, when I'd heard that Scorsese "got the message" after his last epic wasn't awarded Best Picture at the Oscars, I figured he'd focus more on his film restoration projects and other altruistic interests for a couple of years. A chilling thought. I'm glad I was wrong, even though I've never seen the foreign original that this much anticipated release is adapted from. 'The Departed' is an immensely riveting psychological thriller that careens like a roller coaster ride of oftentimes explosive emotions. What's amazing is that writer William Monahan's screenplay pulls you into this story so completely, despite the fact that you pretty well know who Costello's mole is from the beginning. What keeps a paying audience captivated throughout this surprisingly fast and efficiently well paced hundred and forty-nine minute film is not knowing what any of these truly compelling characters are going are going to do next. This is in large part due to an incredible cast that also includes Vera Farmiga ('Return to Paradise' (1998), 'Running Scared' (2006)), Martin Sheen ('Apocalypse Now' (1979), 'Spawn' (1997)), Mark Wahlberg ('Renaissance Man' (1994), 'Invincible' (2006)), Alec Baldwin ('The Hunt for Red October' (1990), 'Fun with Dick and Jane' (2005)) and Ray Winstone ('Quadrophenia' (1979), 'King Arthur' (2004)). Every one of them pull out all the stops here, effortlessly bringing their performances to life in this gritty and tumultuous world where everyone looks like they could use a month's sleep. The cops are exhausted and impatiently hungry to cleanly take down Costello - at the same time as being edgy about Sullivan's internal investigation for a suspected leak. The criminals are equally volcanic, as self protective goons who somehow still abide by an albeit shaky code of ethics. When Costello growls, fear is their common ground. Costigan finds his own way to skirt the grey line between being both a criminal and a cop, where you sometimes have difficulty deciding where his true loyalties lie. The same holds true for many of the others. That's the magic of this masterpiece. Everyone's loyalty is put under scrutiny and brutally tested in various ways. Sure, it's blunt and bloody, like most of Scorsese's best. However, that disturbing aspect merely adds to the already overwhelming intensity that powerfully saturates this effort from beginning to closing credits. Even the supporting cast is superb.

I truly can't say enough great things about 'The Departed' without giving away too much, but the ending is so perfectly constructed that you can almost imagine scenes that don't actually exist here. What transpires throughout relentlessly knocks the wind out of you, with the residual effect staying with you long afterwards, but that moment clinched it for me. This is a product of pure genius, and undeniably a serious contender as one of the top best movies seen so far this year. Absolutely do yourself a huge favour by checking out this delightfully superior crime drama, as one of the few movies in a long time that completely makes it worth your while to leave the kids at home and go see it on the big screen.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Don
REVIEWED 10/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

A failed escape in the outskirts of modern India lands audacious and severely injured international crime syndicate manager Don (Shahrukh Khan; 'Devdas' (2002), 'Paheli' (2005)) in the secret custody of Mumbai Police Investigator DeSilva (Boman Irani; 'Veer-Zaara' (2004), 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' (2006)), and mild mannered look alike Vijay (also played by Khan) is quickly and covertly volunteered to stand in Don's place as DeSilva's ultimate informant against this malicious underworld organization, in co-writer/director Farhan Akhtar's ('Dil Chahta Hai' (2001), 'Lakshya' (2004)) cleverly intricate yet over-all contrived remake of the 1978 Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster, where Vijay's act is so convincing that newly indoctrinated criminal Roma (Priyanka Chopra; 'Waqt: The Race Against Time' (2005), 'Krrish' (2006)) continues to silently plot against Don in avenging her brother's murder, while DeSilva becomes the unwitting target of troubled ex-convict Jasjit (Arjun Rampal; 'Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai' (2006), 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' (2006)).

Admittedly, I never saw the original, but this hundred and seventy-one minute subtitled Hindi action flick does seem to have Khan revisiting old ground seen in his previous efforts where he's played good and evil look alike leading men. There are quite a few enjoyable plot twists that pop up 'til the final climactic moments, but thankfully, Khan's double double doesn't end up relying on being identified by a doting screen mother, nor do his Prince and the Pauper twin-like characters face off in front of trigger happy cops here. What's most impressive about this version of 'Don' is that Akhtar and co-writer Javed Akhtar's script is intricately pieced together in such a way that every main character radically affects the story's path at pivotal points. If Jasjit kills DeSilva, not only will Vijay be doomed, but Jasjit will lose the chance to reclaim his orphaned son (raised by Vijay). If Roma kills Vijay, she'll sabotage the downfall of that criminal empire and murder the wrong man. There's also a wonderful twist involving DeSilva, but I won't ruin that delicious surprise. Part of what I've already mentioned is a little bit deceiving as well, however it merely goes along with this entire feature's intriguing effectiveness as a thoroughly entertaining shell game from an intellectual standpoint. Not everything is what it seems to be. Additionally rewarding are the musical interludes of this Bollywood film, where most of the song and dance numbers enjoy a wider, American influenced stylistic theme that's still specifically relevant to what's happening.

At the same time, and apart from the dizzying amount of slightly indulgent stage posturing, there are a couple of notably distracting flaws. While Khan ferociously consumes his starring dual roles with boundless power and captivating believability, his weird fashion sense in relentlessly wearing neckties as scarves tucked into his haute couture shirts is uncharacteristically goofy for such a seriously nasty mob boss. Perhaps it's a nod to Bachchan's Seventies original. I kept waiting for a scene where Vijay makes reference to it and other details of Don's life, but unfortunately there are very few such small insightful moments afforded this action packed picture. More importantly, 'Don' has the tendency to feel contrived during many of the action sequences. Sure, some of them depict high energy and are visually memorable - including the daring mid air fight scene that seems completely borrowed from 'Moonraker' (1979) - but, the action moments play out like novelties bereft of appropriately understandable danger in some cases. At one point, during an early stand off between Don and DeSilva where Kareena Kapoor ('Kyon Ki' (2005), 'Omkara' (2006)) has an otherwise great cameo, she and you know that the gun pointed at her head is empty, and yet the screenplay wastefully forgets her vengeful motivations for being there in the first place. Later on, you watch as Jasjit hobbles along on top of a dangerously high pedestrian bridge in Kuala Limpur, without there really being any reason given for why he couldn't simply stand his ground in the shadows to beat up a couple of unimpressive gun men. These aren't overwhelmingly cheesy scenes, but the intensity doesn't always translate in a compelling enough manner within the context of this fictitious world, even though it's clear that a paying audience is expected to cling white knuckled and wide eyed in the theatre's seats every twenty minutes or so. That said, Rampal's gritty brooding performance also effortlessly levels out the continual theatrics and plot twists for you to tap into - when his character isn't doing pointlessly death defying stunts.

Definitely check it out for the thoroughly enjoyable ride of double cross and intrigue that keeps the pace nicely clicking along, but don't be surprised if you find that some aspects of 'Don' don't make any sense or easily fit into this otherwise impressible puzzle.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Déjà Vu
REVIEWED 11/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Piqued by the inexplicably strange evidence surrounding the mutilated corpse of lovely young restaurant manager Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton; 'Hitch' (2005), 'Idlewild' (2006)) in the wake of a horrifying act of homegrown terrorism that takes the lives of over five hundred American seamen and their families vacationing in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, local homicide investigator Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington; 'Malcolm X' (1992), 'Inside Man' (2006)) is quickly invited to join a clandestine experimental surveillance team headed by Special Agent Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer; 'The Doors' (1991), 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' (2005)) that claims to use collected and crunched satellite imagery to look at anywhere on Earth four days in the past replayed from any angle as though in real time, in director Tony Scott's ('Top Gun' (1986), 'Domino' (2005)) exasperatingly cheesy Sci-Fi crime romance, in which Carlin's dedication in using this incredible technology to identify and capture lone bomber Carroll Oerstadt (James Caviezel; 'Frequency' (2000), 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004)) for those tragic murders is quickly sidelined by his stunned realization that there's more to what Pryzwarra has told him about their time peering capabilities, and that there's a chance Doug can apprehend Oerstadt before that needless slaughter is committed, as well as save Kuchever from the dire events that lead to her untimely and brutal demise.

Probably the most enjoyable aspect of this hundred and twenty-eight minute film is that the dialogue has fun with explaining the related physics surrounding this device that folds time for the purposes of looking through a worm hole at the recent past. The problem is, it still doesn't mention how someone working a toggle at a computer console can pivot and zoom in on the camera angles of what's being viewed when there's no gyroscopically enabled camera hovering inches away from the nose of someone in the recent past in order to get the crazy bird's eye angles seen here. It's distracting, because you know that one line of scientific techno babble could have easily covered it. Apart from that, 'Déjà Vu' feels like it was cobbled together after screenwriters Bill Marsilii and Terry Rossio rented 'Paycheck' (2004) based on the Phillip K. Dick (1928-1982) story. The machine used here seems like a lazily bulkified, computer game junkie's upgraded version of that machine. Shades of 'Back to the Future' (1985), 'Twelve Monkeys' (1995), 'Minority Report' (2002), 'The Butterfly Effect' (2004) and 'A Sound of Thunder' (2005) also resonate here, all filtered through the pyrotechnic demolition derby addicted curious wisdom of executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Wade through the gooey miasma of incomplete hyperbole and splintering jagged props, and a paying audience actually does get to see Washington pull in a reasonably good performance that still really doesn't do his otherwise proven abilities any justice. Apart from its 'Timecop' (1994) slant, it's still a police hunt picture that doesn't require too much in the way of seasoned acting chops. His character is a detective, yet not once does he ask obvious questions such as why isn't more of the team driving around in specially retrofitted Hummers. At one point, after Oerstadt is already caught but is still running around plotting his attack in the past, Carlin suddenly leaps into a Hummer that's equipped as a mobile transmitter so that he can follow the Oerstadt of four days ago - but, with Carlin still driving around in the present and wearing flimsy looking head gear that allows him to see the past with one eye and the present with the other - in a bizarre chase scene that extends beyond the range of Pryzwarra's central command post. But, why? By then, it's already shown that they can send messages back. So, why not send a note that could actually stop over five hundred people walking onto a booby trapped ferry in the first place? Or, a note to Denzel Washington telling him to chuck out this script and wait for something better? Asking questions that apply logic seems futile with this soggy popcorn flick, though. Most of what transpires is basically a series of hopelessly mind numbing contrivances that meagerly jerk the plot through artificial hoops. People point guns at each other and miss a lot in this feature, too. Don't get me wrong, I do find the premise both fun and fascinating. However, it's tough to enjoy the premise when you have to switch off above the neck in order to avoid the overpowering urge to storm out of the theatre for your money back.

'Déjà Vu' is little more than a relentlessly silly live action cartoon that takes itself far too seriously, without it bothering to justify how it could possibly take itself so seriously. Come to think of it, I probably would have enjoyed this entire effort a whole lot more if it actually had been done as an Anime film. Denzel Washington, Val Kilmer, Paula Patton and James Caviezel are all really impressive actors in their own right, and yet I guess I'll need wait a little while longer before seeing them all work together in a movie that's worth the price of admission.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY

Dhoom 2
REVIEWED 11/06, © STEPHEN BOURNE
www.ofrb.gov.on.ca | www.rcq.gouv.qc.ca


REVIEW:

Put on high alert after it's deduced that enigmatic Aryan "Mr. A" Singh (Hrithik Roshan; 'Koi... Mil Gaya' (2003), 'Krrish' (2006)) - described as the smartest and coolest international jewel thief at large - plans to steal an as yet unknown rare artifact on a specific date in Mumbai, seriously determined ACP Shonali Bose (Bipasha Basu; 'No Entry' (2005), 'Omkara' (2006)) sees this as her last chance to finally complete her two-year investigation tracking this relentlessly elusive and gadget reliant criminal mastermind now on her home turf with the help of former college friend and stoic police detective Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan; 'Phir Milenge' (2004), 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' (2006)) and his eager yet simpleminded sidekick Ali Akbar Fateh Khan (Uday Chopra; 'Mohabbatein' (2000), 'Neal 'N' Nikki' (2005)), in this heavily hyped and light hearted crime comedy sequel from director Sanjay Gadhvi ('Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai' (2002), 'Dhoom' (2004)), where adept cat burglar Sunehri (Aishwarya Rai; 'Bride & Prejudice' (2004), 'Umrao Jaan' (2006)) quickly convinces Singh to accept her as his trusted protegé in his next big heist planned for Rio de Janeiro with Dixit still one step behind him while tag along Khan falls madly in love with Bose's flaky Brazilian beach bunny twin sister Monali (also played by Basu).

Admittedly, I never saw the original. However, it's a sheer delight to see Rai be given enough elbow room to portray a sassy, reasonably complex character this time around. In fact, one of the notable strengths of this hundred and fifty-two minute subtitled Bollywood Masala is that writer Vijay Krishna Acharya's screenplay encourages most of this ensemble cast to flesh out their roles and be versatile with their performances throughout. Bachchan does seem to have trouble expressing much more than a familiar brooding introverted temperament, but even that "Mr. Grumpy" monochromatic cloud works as a stabilizing force within the over-all scheme of this fairly enjoyable, action packed movie. Roshan continues to prove that he's probably one of the most graceful and expressive male actors on the big screen anywhere these days, and Chopra's brand of effortlessly contagious enthusiasm steals the spotlight in almost every scene he shares. Watching him and Bose together is priceless. Reportedly filmed on location in South Africa and Brazil (the latter apparently being a first for South Asian Cinema) as well as in India, 'Dhoom 2' as a whole is a strange combination of slickly shot fast paced wire work stunts and high concept musical sets paired with predominantly economy class studio scenarios and a hint of small screen cheese. It's as though buckets of cash were pointed at only half of what you see on the screen - namely, the adventurous and fantasy moments - and then this crew had to make do with what ever was available to finish the movie. For instance, a caper that takes place at a museum exhibit called Treasures of the Natives shows what you're told are the first coins ever made displayed here in open dirt at the foot of a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, suggesting there's a curator who should probably consider going back to school. I realize this one is supposed to be a comedy, but in another scene that involves a motorcycle chase through traffic in a tunnel, Jai and Ali simply jump off of their bikes and skid alongside while crouching behind their handle bars in order to evade the bullets being shot at them by Aryan who is fleeing directly ahead of them. The maneuver doesn't make any sense - even if it's supposed to be funny, without it being played up as being funny - leading you to decide that those and a few other instances here where tossed together at the last minute because (I guess) the money had run out to pay anyone to properly write those scenes. However, the majority of this feature is well structured and wonderfully entertaining, mainly because of smart casting. The soundtrack of musical interludes is also notably fresh, cleverly fusing contemporary Bhangra with Latin overtones to give each extravagant dance number a particularly sultry flavour. Good stuff.

'Dhoom 2' definitely has its fair share of gaping flaws and plot holes, but it's still a great action adventure populated by a captivating group of talent that absolutely gives you your money's worth.

home: http://www.moviequips.ca | index: http://www.moviequips.ca/#QUIPSOGRAPHY