Snowpiercer (2013)

Film Title: Snowpiercer
Released: August 1, 2013 (South Korea)
Directed by: Bong Joon Ho
Written by: Bong Joon Ho & Kelly Masterson, based on Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand & Jean-Marc Rochette
Starring: Chris Evans, Song Kang Ho, Jaime Bell, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer & Ed Harris

Plot: The last remnants of humanity board a globe encircling train called the Snowpiercer after a failed global warming experiment. 17 years later, a revolt has begun to buck the caste system that has arisen.

IMDb: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 95/100
My Score: 4/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Director Bong Joon Ho’s gritty post-apocalyptic sci-fi film Snowpiercer far outshines its graphic novel origins. I read the English translations of all three volumes of Le Transperceneige in preparation of watching this film and wasn’t overly impressed with them. It’s safe to say that I didn’t have very high expectations for the movie but was pleasantly surprised. One of those films that instead of adapting the story of its source material it takes the basic premise alone and creates its own tale. After a failed global warming experiment has brought on a fatal ice age, the last remnants of humanity are travelling on a revolutionary train with a perpetual motion engine that will never break down. A strictly and sadistically enforced caste system has been in place for the 17 years since the train has started its global circuit, but one man Curtis (Chris Evans) is determined to upset the status quo and bring down the system that has enslaved so many for so long. The movie succeeds on many levels. The acting is superb, the story incredibly well formed and the emotional resonance is deep. Like most great films, it transcends the genre in which it is presented. There are some surprising plot twists and emotionally gut-wrenching scenes. Highlights include the performances by Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer and Ed Harris. If there was possibly one drawback (if only a small one) it was the ending. I understand the need for a happy (-ish, anyway) ending but perhaps it would have been truer to the rest of the film, as well as the source material, if there wasn’t one. This is more of a thinking man’s sci-fi, focusing more on character rather than flashy special effects. That’s not to say there aren’t any but the film does not rely on them to carry it through. John Hurt, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell and award-winning Korean actor Song Kang Ho co-star in this widely acclaimed film that appeared on no less than 40 critics top ten lists and was heaped with accolades. This is third film Bong has been behind the camera while Song was in front of it, having previously collaborated on the films Memories of Murder and The Host, also to wide praise.

R.I.P.D. (2013)

Film Title: R.I.P.D.
Released: July 17, 2013 (Iceland)
Directed by: Robert Schwentke
Written by: Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi (screenplay), based on a story by David Dobkin, Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi, based on the Dark Horse comic created by Peter M. Lenkov
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds & Kevin Bacon

Plot: A cop killed by his partner joins the ranks of the Rest in Peace Department, an undead police force tasked with tracking down escaped souls.

IMDb: 5.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 13/100
My Score: 2/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

R.I.P.D. is an effects heavy 2013 adaption of a Dark Horse comic book series of the same name. Nick (Ryan Reynolds) is not so much a dirty cop as he his a guy just trying to give his bride some piece of mind and a guarantee of future security. When he gets squeamish over taking some undocumented gold after a bust and decides to back out, his partner Hayes (Kevin Bacon) kills him. Instead of heading off to Hell, Nick's soul is intercepted by the Rest in Peace Department and he is given a choice: work for the R.I.P.D. and maybe be able to get to Heaven, or take the express route down. Nick is saddled with former wild west sheriff Roy (Jeff Bridges) and they stumble across a conspiracy concerning the gold at the heart of Nick's murder. Like many movies who focus on effects rather than coherent story, R.I.P.D. is a mess of shallow characters and whose plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There are some inspired moments, though. R.I.P.D. officers have avatars when working the streets of the living so as not to be recognized in any way by those they may have left behind. Nick is seen as an old Chinese man (James Hong) and Roy as a gorgeous blonde (Victoria's Secret model Marisa Miller) who is continually hit on by men. Instead of a gun, living people see Nick's avatar wielding a banana. Unfortunately, these high points are few and far between. Bridges as the out-of-time-and-place lawman Roy seemed forced and a caricature instead of a character. Bacon comes across as flat and the normally reliable Reynolds has very little to work with. I cringed when Nick told Roy he hoped the coyote who had made love to Roy's skull after he died had gotten both eye sockets. Who thinks this is funny? And if the gold that Nick and Hayes split was to be used to build a machine to close the soul portal and allow all the dead souls to stay on Earth, why did Hayes allow Nick to take any of it to begin with? It doesn't matter 'cause look at all the weird looking dead people and the whirly killer vortexes that appear for no reason and disappear just as suddenly. Don't they look cool? Mary-Louise Parker co-stars as Proctor, Nick and Roy's boss who was once romantically involved with Roy. Their antagonist relationship goes from tiresome "chief-yells-at-hero-cop-for-not-following-the-rules" to downright creepy in the final scene. Stephanie Szostak adds some heart as Nick's pretty wife struggling with her husband's death but the uneven script leaves the big emotional scenes feeling contrived. Not much here to recommend repeat viewings. Director Robert Schwentke has directed another comic book adaption, RED starring Bruce Willis and Parker, and has been given the reigns of the Divergent series, directing the sequels Insurgent and the upcoming (as of this writing) Allegiant: Part 1. Writing partners Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi penned the live-action adaptation of Aeon Flux and the remake of Clash of the Titans. David Dobkin directed the Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn vehicle Wedding Crashers and The Judge starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Robert Duvall, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role. Peter M. Lenkov developed the Hawaii Five-0 TV reboot with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and co-wrote Demolition Man starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.

Maleficent (2014)

Film Title: Maleficent
Released: May 28, 2014
Directed by: Robert Stromberg
Written by: Linda Woolverton (screenplay), based on the story La Belle au bois dormant by Charles Perrault, based on the motion picture Sleeping Beauty adapted by Erdman Penner with screenplay by Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright & Milt Banta, based on the story Little Briar Rose by Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning & Sharlto Copley

Plot: A betrayed fairy curses an infant princess but then realizes that the girl may the land's only hope of survival.

IMDb: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 49/100
My Score: 4.5/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

I would like to start this review with a disclaimer. I am not one of those seemingly endless scores of people who find Angelina Jolie drop-dead gorgeous. In fact, I don’t even usually find her to be all that great of an actress. I went into this movie thinking that I would very much dislike the film. As you can tell from the score above, that was not the case at all; quite the opposite, in fact. It is less a re-telling of Sleeping Beauty as it is a re-imagining. Maleficent (Jolie) is a fairy who is betrayed by Stefan (Sharlto Copley), who cuts off her wings. For his feat, he is named heir to the dying king and once the monarch passes, he ascends the throne. Time passes and Maleficent, who was in love with Stefan, grows increasingly embittered. When Stefan throws a grand celebration to announce the birth of his daughter, Maleficent shows up and curses the child out of blind hatred of the man who stole more than he ever realized from her. Stefan entrusts the care of the infant to three inept fairies (Leslie Manville, Imelda Staunton and Juno Temple) until her sixteenth birthday but it is Maleficent who truly watches over the girl named Aurora (Elle Fanning) as she grows. Her exuberance and simple joy of life help Maleficent remember what her life was like before her wings were stolen and her heart broken. But King Stefan has fallen deeper into madness as each year has passed and will stop at nothing to destroy Maleficent. The script humanizes Maleficent and makes her the most sympathetic character in the whole affair. The principle cast is phenomenal. Jolie’s naturally angular features are exaggerated and it seems like this was a role her face was made to play. Copely is such an underrated actor. He delivers excellent performances in every film I’ve ever seen him in, hero or villain. He is such a chameleon that he seems to simply embody every character he portrays, like he just is the character instead of an actor playing a character. But the standout performance belongs to the cherub-faced Fanning, whose smile, laughter and pure joy is infectious. I had no problem believing that Aurora would melt the iciest of hearts. Like any good Disney princess, she makes everyone around her better people. Sam Riley is Diaval, a bird who Maleficent saves from death and turns into a man. He starts out as a henchman, being turned back and forth from a man into a bird (or various other creatures) as Maleficent sees fit, but as time moves on, becomes her friend and, more importantly, her conscience. The main complaint I have are the characters of Flittle (Manville), Knotgrass (Staunton) and Thistlewit (Temple). While all fine actresses, the characters are simply out of place in film. Like Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace or Olaf in Frozen, the characters seem to be completely out of place in the rest of the universe and present only for the much younger viewers to have someone goofy to laugh at. Speaking of Frozen, it is nice to see Disney continue to explore other types of love than just the heterosexual romantic kind that dominates all of the classic Disney fairy tales. This is a great script with fantastic performances and the right mix of humor, action and romance making this a fairy tale film to be spoken about in the same breath as The Princess Bride, arguably one of the best live-action fairy tales ever committed to celluloid. The only other mild complaint I might have was the ending. I’m not 100% sure what I was expecting of the climax, and when it was over I did have to remind myself that this was a Disney fairy tale, after all. Of course there was going to be a happily ever after. This is director Robert Stromberg's debut film. He has worked on a slew of projects, mostly in the visual effects department, but has shared two Oscars for Production Design; the first for James Cameron's Avatar and the second a year later for Tim Burton's re-imagining of Alice in Wonderland. Screenwriter Linda Wolverton also worked on Burton's Alice in Wonderland as well as a number of other more classic Disney titles such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Maleficent was nominated for a slew of awards including an Oscar (Best Achievement in Costume Design), a couple of BAFTAs (in the Children’s Award categories) and a handful of Saturn Awards (Best Fantasy Film, Best Actress [Angelina Jolie], Best Performance by a Younger Actor in a Film [Elle Fanning] and Best Costumes).

Escape Plan (2013)

Film Title: Escape Plan
Released: October 18, 2013
Directed by: Mikael Håfström
Written by: Miles Chapman & Jason Keller (as Arnell Jesko) based on a story by Miles Chapman
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwazenegger & Jim Caviezel

Plot: A man who has made a business of testing prison security systems by breaking out of them is double-crossed on a job and has to find his way out of the most secure prison on earth.

IMDb: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 49/100
My Score: 3/5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

The 2013 film Escape Plan stars Sylvester Stallone as security analyst Ray Breslin, a man so good at designing secure installations that his handbook on the subject is considered the bible by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He is paid millions of dollars by individuals wishing to test their systems, a service he performs by being incarcerated in their facilities and breaking out of them. When he is double-crossed on a high-risk job for the CIA, he has to escape from the most secret and secure prison ever conceived called the Tomb. To complete his plan, he enlists help from some fellow inmates (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Faran Tahir) while trying to survive the viciousness of the warden (Jim Caviezel) and his head guard (Vinnie Jones). The story was a actually a bit more convoluted than I was expecting, with some decent twists and turns I didn't see coming. Mostly a mystery/thriller whose action component doesn't really show up until the final act, Escape Plan is the first film in which the two action titans Stallone and Schwazenegger have starred opposite each other for an entire film. Although they both appeared in The Expendables and The Expendables 2 before this one, Schwazenegger's roles were considerably smaller than Stallone's. It was nice to see the two of them share the screen for so long, reminiscent of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in the John Avnet movie Righteous Kill. But much like Avnet's film, it may be remembered only for the casting choice. If that happens, I think it would be a shame since the film has more to offer than just the actors assembled, which is pretty admittedly pretty impressive and includes Sam Neill, Amy Ryan, Vincent D'Onofrio, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and Graham Beckel.

Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004)

Film Title: Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
Released: January 23, 2004
Directed by: Robert Luketic
Written by: Victor Levin
Starring: Kate Bosworth, Topher Grace & Josh Duhamel

Plot: A small town girl wins a contest for a date with a celebrity. When the movie star starts falling for her, it causes chaos in the life of the girl's best friend, who is also in love with her.

IMDb: 5.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 53/100
My Score: 2.5

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

The 2004 romantic comedy Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! is a decent, if not great, entry into the genre. Rosalee (Kate Bosworth), a PigglyWiggly cashier from Frazier’s Bottom, WV, wins a charity-sponsored contest for a date with movie star heartthrob Tad Hamilton (Josh Duhamel). After Hamilton becomes smitten with her, he follows Rosie back home, throwing a monkey wrench in the plans of Pete (Topher Grace), her best friend and co-worker, to tell her that he loves her. Grace is by far the best thing about this movie. Think of his character Eric Forman from That 70’s Show twenty years in the future but only four years older and you’ll understand who the slightly awkward and geeky but very lovable Pete Monash is. He and Kathryn Hahn’s bartender Angelica (who is smitten with Pete the way Pete is smitten with Rosie) have the best scene in the movie. These two characters are the only ones with any real depth to them. The rest of the cast of familiar faces are all flat by comparison. Gary Cole is Rosie’s dad, doing his best but is completely lost and out of his depth. Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes are Hamilton’s manager and agent, respectively, both named Richard Levy. These two provide comic relief in their scenes but are so one dimensional that they are referred to as The Driven and The Shameless in the credits. The monikers pretty much sum up the characters. Even Rosie’s other best friend Cathy (the cute-as-a-button Ginnifer Goodwin) seems to only be around to spout soft-core fantasies about Tad Hamilton. Speaking of Hamilton himself, he is a one trick pony as the egotistical movie star, pretty much unrepentant even in the end. The most disappointing depth-deprived character is probably Rosalee herself. Sure she ends up with the right guy in the end but her character didn’t need to go through any journey or change in any way to reach her destination. There a handful of other familiar faces who pop up, as well. Stephen Tobolowsky is Pete’s boss in an early scene, a pre-Oscar-winning Octavia Spencer is in a few scenes as another co-worker and Amy Smart acts opposite Duhamel in a scene from a movie within the movie. That's not to mention Jordana Brewster and Paris Hilton whose scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. There are some pretty funny lines (“Guard your carnal treasure!”) but this one is pretty much light fluff with Grace really doing the only heavy lifting. This is director Robert Luketic’s second film, having previously directed Legally Blonde starring Reese Witherspoon. He would go to on helm Monster-in-Law starring Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda, 21 starring Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, and Kevin Spacey, The UglyTruth starring Kathrine Heigl and Gerard Butler, and The Killers, starring Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! was nominated for eight Teen Choice Awards in 2004 but failed to win any.