Tag Archives: Three-Stars

Terminator Salvation (Theaters)

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I was actually quite disappointed when I initially heard that Fox decided to cancel the sci-fi series, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I felt there was alot going for it, yet there was a part of me which understood that the story could only be taken so far. After watching Terminator Salvation, it just reaffirmed that understanding.

After the huge success of both The Terminator and T2, the storyline of the Connors versus Skynet becomes overused and all too familiar. Without much room to deviate from its theme, the franchise inevitably loses its mystique and becomes dull and overplayed. To cope with this, Terminator Salvation attempts to draw its audience in with a terrific action spectacle filled with explosions, car chases, and excessive gunfire. This initially works, but without any real story going for it, the movie itself becomes a mindless and pointless mess. The only real treat for moviegoers would be the new types of machines used in the film, but beyond the special effects, the film is quite hollow.

Christian Bale does try his best to keep this film afloat, but with such a limited dialogue to work with and a subpar plot, he is in no position to do that. It’s quite appalling really, when you consider how successful his previous role as the “Cape Crusader” was. I’m sure this film wont slow him down however, and he’ll do quite well when the next installment of Batman hits the cinema.

Entertainment wise, this film should appease those who are fans of hardcore action and violence. I’d skip this one completely if you need a storyline to keep you entertained. This film has none of it.

Synopsis:

In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Notorious (DVD)

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I have mixed feelings about some of these loosely “biographical” hip hop movies that have come out over the past few years. For the most part, they are fairly entertaining, however you can’t help but wonder how much of the movie is actually based on true events. 

Notorious is the story of rapper Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie Smalls.  The story follows Biggie from his grade school days all the way to the peak of his career then on to his untimely demise.  The story is your typical “young kid starts hustling in the streets, realizes he has a talent for rhyming, gets record deal and blows up” variety.  What sets this story apart from others like it, is the fact that many of the occurrences in the film were in fact true and highly publicized. While the majority of people only now about these events through various media, the movie does a good job recreating them and showing how certain things actually went down.

The depiction of Biggie’s life in this film is surprisingly positive.  Take that however you want it. Personally, I like Biggie, but I thought the portrayal they gave was a bit too positive for someone caught up in as much dirt as he was.  The actor portraying Big (Jamal Woolard) barely resembles him, other than being big and dark.  Vocally, he does a decent job of imitating Biggie, but at times he slips in and out of Big’s vocal range. He did do a good job of capturing Biggie’s appeal and charm. Even though he is, as self proclaimed “black and ugly as ever” you can’t help but like the guy.  Overall I thought he did a good job portraying as iconic a figure as Biggie Smalls.

Which brings us to the rest of the cast. Sean “Puffy” Combs (played by Derek Luke of Antoinne Fisher / Booby Miles fame) just seemed a bit miscast. I like Fisher and think he’s a great actor, but I don’t think he really captured Combs’ style and swagger very well.  I’m not a fan of Combs, but he definitely has a distinct confidence and arrogance that is all his own. It seemed he was too focused on making Combs appear to be sincere, which is fine, but there were quite a few moments that required him to bust out his ‘bad boy for life’ persona which just never really happened.

The other major character that merits attention is Big’s mother,Voletta Wallace (Angela Bassett).  While the role is a bit cliche also, Bassett does a great job portraying the no-nonsense, tough love Ms. Wallace.   This is probably her best role since ‘Vampire in Brooklyn’.  Ok I’m joking. Nothing can top Vampire in Brooklyn, but all jokes aside she is excellent in this film.

It’s hard to review a film like this without letting your feelings for the artist influence your perception.  All that aside though, Notorious is a decent movie that will keep you entertained the entire time…provided you are a fan of hip hop. Those with no interest in hip hop may be hard pressed to enjoy this film much, as that is the central focus of the entire movie.  With that said, you don’t have to be a hardcore fan to enjoy this, anyone who’s found themselves bobbing their head to a Biggie Smalls track can enjoy this film. Then again if you never have, you probably will by the end of the movie.

The Spirit (DVD)

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The Spirit is the latest movie movie to utilize the widely popular CGI backdrops made famous in films like Sin City and 300.  These two movies have one common thread, that is they are based on the graphic novels of Frank Miller.  The Spirit, however, is Miller’s take on the work of comic writer-artist Will Eisner.  It also marks Miller’s first solo foray into the world of directing. In Sin City, he co-directed with Robert Rodriguez. 300, while based on Miller’s original work, was directed by Watchmen visionary Zack Snyder.  How did Miller fare in his solo directorial debut?  Read on..

Let me start off by saying that despite the many visual similarities between the two movies, The Spirit is NOT Sin City 2. In fact, other than Miller having worked on both films, the two really have nothing in common other than a slightly similar visual style.  The Spirit is the story of a mysterious masked crime fighter of the same name (Gabriel Macht) with  amazing regenerative and healing abilities. He is pitted against his arch nemesis The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), as the two race to recover a missing package whose contents have the potential to doom the entire city. There are a few more details thrown in there, but that is pretty much the entire story.

I don’t have much experience with the source material other than reading a few issues, but let me just say that the movie version is definitely Miller’s interpretation of the Spirit mythos. While it isn’t exactly a bad interpretation, he takes a great deal of liberties with a lot of the characters, from their origins to their actual characteristics. This is actually quite forgivable, as Miller’s version seems more tailored for the big screen.  The problems arise in Miller’s overall presentation.

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