SUSPECT ZERO zeroes in on the face of Aaron Eckhart, a big movie star who should be bigger in a vehicle that won't be his break-through flick, but is a good step in the right direction. It is to Eckhart what 8MM is to Nicolas Cage, what 1995's Seven is to Brad Pitt, what Murder By Numbers is to Ben Chaplin, menacing murder movies tailor-made for leading men. 2001's Along Came a Spider was not this dark, but all these films could very well have a thread tying them together - so much so that this could be an extension of the theme from 1995's Copycat. And while it is no The Silence of the Lambs, SUSPECT ZERO turns out to be more of a sequel-in-spirit to Murder By Numbers than it is to Producer/Director E. Elias Merhige's previous flick, Shadow of the Vampire. Carrie-Anne Moss is getting type-cast, whether she knows it or not, and comes off here as the softer side of Trinity from The Matrix. Maybe filmmakers feel she is the anti-dote to the oppressive bleak atmospheres they choose to create with these repetitive stories, items that are beyond "film-noir", things I would call "deep film-gloom" - a huge wall of emptiness that embraces movies in this suddenly omnipresent genre.
Eckhart as Agent Tom Mackelway has his Dasani water on his desk, and we soon find out that he has a penchant for breaking the rules, as well as going by the book. It is this professional dilemma that gives our hero some kind of humanity - that inner struggle. Ben Kingsley has the ability to indulge in "remote viewing" - seeing murders that will be or have been committed. The trailer seems to give an awful lot of the plot away, and the basic plot is pretty good. It's just that it takes more than twenty minutes to get off the ground, and then has some unnecessary baggage like too many scenes where only a masochist would keep their eyes on the screen. Eckhart looks completely different from his roles in Erin Brockovich and Your Friends & Neighbors - a good sign that his good looks can be used in a chameleon-like fashion, something that is not currently part of the resume' of Carrie-Anne Moss. There's intrigue, you will engage your brain and think quite a bit, and SUSPECT ZERO manages to survive its flaws to emerge as interesting big screen glossy B movie. As entertainment Suspect Zero does succeed, but the continuity is broken up by the plot twists and the incessant - sometimes vulgar - focus on extreme violent imagery. And what is it with these murder flicks and numerology - Suspect Zero, 7, 8MM, Murder by #s ????
For cast & credits go here:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324127/fullcredits
This film was viewed at the Fenway, 201 Brookline Ave., Boston, 7 PM August 25, 2004 by
rock journalist joe viglione. http://www.joeviglione.com
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Saturday, August 14, 2004
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR
Paul W.S. Anderson's Alien vs. Predator is a first rate monster movie that succeeds because the creatures take a back seat to drama and a spirited cast. It's the difference between a classic baseball pitching duel and a slugfest. And surprisingly it's the film critic elite - those making the unspoken claim they would rather the "pitching duel" - who are up in arms that this intriguing motion picture isn't Independence Day (1996) or even King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1963) - who are bashing it the way the new Predator -Ian White (replacing the late Kevin Peter Hall in the role) slaps around the "Alien" Tom Woodruff, Jr.. That these two actors won't find the kind of noteriety that Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff enjoyed after Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931)
is a given - thespian skill is not challenged by the athletics necessary to play these roles - and that's something Anderson realizes from the outset. As The Thing (Thing, The (1951)) by virtue of his mostly unseen presence created terror in the Arctic (and Sci-Fi cache for future Gunsmoker James Arness), the screenwriter/director takes this all the way to the Antarctica. "The Thing From Another World" was at a research station, while Alien fights Predator far below an abandoned 1904 Whaling Station. Antartica is far more remote to movie goers than the Arctic - and putting the pyramid below the ice is a clever setting. The rapidity with which the cast is dispensed also makes it clear that this is all about mood and anticipation, not character development, though the winner here is the rugged Italian actor Raoul Bova who finds himself way Under the Tuscan Sun - deep inside a cold vault at the bottom of planet Earth. Bova is a real find - and though this won't be his break-through film, it will definitely put him on the map. Anderson sets a great mood with a cast that ranges from the relatively unknown to possible future household names - specifically Sanaa Lathan ( following Bova) as someone who has upped her marquee value. Keep in mind that - arguably - the best known "name" here, Lance Henriksen , got his sea legs in James Cameron 's The Terminator in 1984 and Aliens in 1986 (as did Bill Paxton , not in this flick). Henriksen also showed up as "Bishop II" in 1992's Alien ³ - so there's some kind of thread for the fans to latch onto.
There are holes in the plot. Megalomaniac Charles Weyland (Henriksen) is hell bent on preserving his legacy - yet there are no cameras sending his "find" up to the surface - even if privately documenting the discovery of a monstrous pyramid on company computers and video. The icebreaker that helped deliver the crew could have been better in touch with all involved and would have added to the drama - and possibly sent reinforcements down. With Lathan's character, Lex Kline, warning that this group of explorers are not ready for such a monumental task, one would think Weyland would have hired two hundred extra hands to sit on the icebreaker just in case. The employees need not be told the nature of the exploration - but none of these logical elements are in the film - the focus is on the breeding of the Alien, the Predator looking for prey, and
humans trapped like rats in a maze 20,000 leagues under the sea, or something like that.
But despite the flaws, this is not what critic Jack Matthews of the NY Daily News calls "...if not the worst, sci-fi movie since Battlefield Earth (2000)". And while it isn't Terminator 2: Judgment Day - another flick where two pretty equal forces duke it out - there is a wonderful The Thing (from Another World) meets The Mummy
vibe going on, and it is that level of seriousness (harpooned when Lathan gets buddy buddy with the Alien)
which makes this ride much more satisfying than Brendan Fraser's Mummy, The (1999) Mummy series.
From 1942's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman up to 2003's Freddy Vs. Jason sixty-one years later, with the Vampire vs. Werewolf flick - also from 2003 - Underworld - thrown in for good measure - pairing up evil with evil is potential good box office. The good news about AVP - Alien vs. Predator - is that Screenwriter/Director Paul W.S. Anderson opts to create a Mummy film with the 20th Century Fox franchises "Alien" and "Predator" as side dishes. In doing so he's developed a marvelous suspense film at the risk of alienating (no pun intended) fans of the Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Sigourney Weaver originals.
Chris Reeves emerged from Superman while Jack Nicholson overtook the role of the Joker in Batman.
Having actors who are not going to upstage the plot is something Hollywood needs more of. Anderson has
done a commendable job with the evolution of both series. The chatter outside the theater after the flick
seems to indicate that those bashing the flick simply didn't get it. I was quite happy to see this great and suspensful movie coming in at #1 for the weekend of August 13-15 - there is less slashing and more drama, something needed these days.
Check out the box office:
http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice/latest/rank.html
Recommended movie sites:
http://www.fast-rewind.com/
Jack Matthew's 1 Star Review August 14, 2004 P. 17 NY Daily News jmath30031@aol.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/08-14-2004/entertainment/story/221804p-190617c.html
Rebecca Louie's 8/15/04 article Slithering To A Theater Near You
http://www.nydailynews.com/08-15-2004/entertainment/movies/story/221968p-190758c.html
Collateral A Review by Joe Viglione (coming soon)
is a given - thespian skill is not challenged by the athletics necessary to play these roles - and that's something Anderson realizes from the outset. As The Thing (Thing, The (1951)) by virtue of his mostly unseen presence created terror in the Arctic (and Sci-Fi cache for future Gunsmoker James Arness), the screenwriter/director takes this all the way to the Antarctica. "The Thing From Another World" was at a research station, while Alien fights Predator far below an abandoned 1904 Whaling Station. Antartica is far more remote to movie goers than the Arctic - and putting the pyramid below the ice is a clever setting. The rapidity with which the cast is dispensed also makes it clear that this is all about mood and anticipation, not character development, though the winner here is the rugged Italian actor Raoul Bova who finds himself way Under the Tuscan Sun - deep inside a cold vault at the bottom of planet Earth. Bova is a real find - and though this won't be his break-through film, it will definitely put him on the map. Anderson sets a great mood with a cast that ranges from the relatively unknown to possible future household names - specifically Sanaa Lathan ( following Bova) as someone who has upped her marquee value. Keep in mind that - arguably - the best known "name" here, Lance Henriksen , got his sea legs in James Cameron 's The Terminator in 1984 and Aliens in 1986 (as did Bill Paxton , not in this flick). Henriksen also showed up as "Bishop II" in 1992's Alien ³ - so there's some kind of thread for the fans to latch onto.
There are holes in the plot. Megalomaniac Charles Weyland (Henriksen) is hell bent on preserving his legacy - yet there are no cameras sending his "find" up to the surface - even if privately documenting the discovery of a monstrous pyramid on company computers and video. The icebreaker that helped deliver the crew could have been better in touch with all involved and would have added to the drama - and possibly sent reinforcements down. With Lathan's character, Lex Kline, warning that this group of explorers are not ready for such a monumental task, one would think Weyland would have hired two hundred extra hands to sit on the icebreaker just in case. The employees need not be told the nature of the exploration - but none of these logical elements are in the film - the focus is on the breeding of the Alien, the Predator looking for prey, and
humans trapped like rats in a maze 20,000 leagues under the sea, or something like that.
But despite the flaws, this is not what critic Jack Matthews of the NY Daily News calls "...if not the worst, sci-fi movie since Battlefield Earth (2000)". And while it isn't Terminator 2: Judgment Day - another flick where two pretty equal forces duke it out - there is a wonderful The Thing (from Another World) meets The Mummy
vibe going on, and it is that level of seriousness (harpooned when Lathan gets buddy buddy with the Alien)
which makes this ride much more satisfying than Brendan Fraser's Mummy, The (1999) Mummy series.
From 1942's Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman up to 2003's Freddy Vs. Jason sixty-one years later, with the Vampire vs. Werewolf flick - also from 2003 - Underworld - thrown in for good measure - pairing up evil with evil is potential good box office. The good news about AVP - Alien vs. Predator - is that Screenwriter/Director Paul W.S. Anderson opts to create a Mummy film with the 20th Century Fox franchises "Alien" and "Predator" as side dishes. In doing so he's developed a marvelous suspense film at the risk of alienating (no pun intended) fans of the Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Sigourney Weaver originals.
Chris Reeves emerged from Superman while Jack Nicholson overtook the role of the Joker in Batman.
Having actors who are not going to upstage the plot is something Hollywood needs more of. Anderson has
done a commendable job with the evolution of both series. The chatter outside the theater after the flick
seems to indicate that those bashing the flick simply didn't get it. I was quite happy to see this great and suspensful movie coming in at #1 for the weekend of August 13-15 - there is less slashing and more drama, something needed these days.
Check out the box office:
http://movies.yahoo.com/boxoffice/latest/rank.html
Recommended movie sites:
http://www.fast-rewind.com/
Jack Matthew's 1 Star Review August 14, 2004 P. 17 NY Daily News jmath30031@aol.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/08-14-2004/entertainment/story/221804p-190617c.html
Rebecca Louie's 8/15/04 article Slithering To A Theater Near You
http://www.nydailynews.com/08-15-2004/entertainment/movies/story/221968p-190758c.html
Collateral A Review by Joe Viglione (coming soon)
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Little Black Book meets Zatoichi! Film Reviews from the pen of Joe Viglione
LITTLE BLACK BOOK
is a cool little movie that gets a good grade A as a quirky and intriguing comedy disguised as a chick flick. There's lots of psychology poured into the character development, which gives all involved their own identity efficiently enough to let the movie go through its various moments of reinvention without getting confusing. Brittany Murphy - I was trying to figure out who Brittany Murphy was sounding and acting like. God knows the always wonderful Kathy Bates keeps flashing a Bette Midler-style smile throughout her role as "Kippie Kann" - sort of reprising her part as Helen Kushnick from 1996's The Late Shift [TV] only this time Helen is in front of the camera!
Well, Murphy goes up to a poster of the Mike Nichols 1988 flick Working Girl and voila, it hits me - she's the reincarnation of Melanie Griffith. And she's not alone, at first Bates seems like she's just making a cameo, sort of like Sigourney Weaver as the audience therapist Debra Moorhouse in 1995s JEFFREY - and then you hear Carly Simon all over the soundtrack, just like in Working Girl --- only it is lots of Carly Simon, everywhere, everpresent. And the theme of the flick, as Working Girl had Sigourney Weaver exploiting her employees...well, if Science Fiction films can absorb camera work, costumes, plot and special effects of other Sci Fi flicks, why not chick movies too? But don't let the shallow idea of a guy with a slew of ex-girlfriends put you off - you have known women who peek into private places they shouldn't, so Stacy Holt's (Murphy's) lack of respect for other people's privacy sends a shiver to anyone who has ever been invaded by prying eyes and ears. Stevie Wonder's "All Is Fair In Love" would've been a great tune to put into this mess, and could have saved Stacy Holt's soul. After all, it was self-preservation - and her co-dependence on Holly Hunter, who thinks she's back in the days of BROADCAST NEWS. There's some real soul in this movie, and some very clever lines. Ron Livingston as Derek seems to be just a conversation piece, though one can't underestimate director Nick Hurran's ingenuity.
We were supposed to see Intimate Strangers (The U.S. title of Confidences Trop Intimes ) at Loew's Copley Place, but the theater was allegedly packed? It cost 6.00 to park for 7 minutes! Ridiculous - so we zipped over the the Copley to see Little Black Book instead.
As for Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [2004] , U.S. title ) - directed by and starring Beat Takeshi Kitano, well, it has a bit too much violence and too little plot. The Harvard Square theater was packed and there were security guards making sure that no on in the audience was taping --- you gotta be kidding me -
is this "Zatoichi" series THAT collectible??? The close-to-full house was appreciative of the movie, but
the humor doesn't translate well to the chic Harvard Square that I once knew - one from three decades ago when David Crosby dubbed it "the hippest place" in the world. Nice to see another culture's decadence being screened in this part of the world, but at the end of the day "Little Black Book" and "Alien Vs. Predator" (see above) have more intrigue. We can blame the dubbing, but the dubbing wasn't at fault. It's better than Blair Witch Project...
is a cool little movie that gets a good grade A as a quirky and intriguing comedy disguised as a chick flick. There's lots of psychology poured into the character development, which gives all involved their own identity efficiently enough to let the movie go through its various moments of reinvention without getting confusing. Brittany Murphy - I was trying to figure out who Brittany Murphy was sounding and acting like. God knows the always wonderful Kathy Bates keeps flashing a Bette Midler-style smile throughout her role as "Kippie Kann" - sort of reprising her part as Helen Kushnick from 1996's The Late Shift [TV] only this time Helen is in front of the camera!
Well, Murphy goes up to a poster of the Mike Nichols 1988 flick Working Girl and voila, it hits me - she's the reincarnation of Melanie Griffith. And she's not alone, at first Bates seems like she's just making a cameo, sort of like Sigourney Weaver as the audience therapist Debra Moorhouse in 1995s JEFFREY - and then you hear Carly Simon all over the soundtrack, just like in Working Girl --- only it is lots of Carly Simon, everywhere, everpresent. And the theme of the flick, as Working Girl had Sigourney Weaver exploiting her employees...well, if Science Fiction films can absorb camera work, costumes, plot and special effects of other Sci Fi flicks, why not chick movies too? But don't let the shallow idea of a guy with a slew of ex-girlfriends put you off - you have known women who peek into private places they shouldn't, so Stacy Holt's (Murphy's) lack of respect for other people's privacy sends a shiver to anyone who has ever been invaded by prying eyes and ears. Stevie Wonder's "All Is Fair In Love" would've been a great tune to put into this mess, and could have saved Stacy Holt's soul. After all, it was self-preservation - and her co-dependence on Holly Hunter, who thinks she's back in the days of BROADCAST NEWS. There's some real soul in this movie, and some very clever lines. Ron Livingston as Derek seems to be just a conversation piece, though one can't underestimate director Nick Hurran's ingenuity.
We were supposed to see Intimate Strangers (The U.S. title of Confidences Trop Intimes ) at Loew's Copley Place, but the theater was allegedly packed? It cost 6.00 to park for 7 minutes! Ridiculous - so we zipped over the the Copley to see Little Black Book instead.
As for Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi [2004] , U.S. title ) - directed by and starring Beat Takeshi Kitano, well, it has a bit too much violence and too little plot. The Harvard Square theater was packed and there were security guards making sure that no on in the audience was taping --- you gotta be kidding me -
is this "Zatoichi" series THAT collectible??? The close-to-full house was appreciative of the movie, but
the humor doesn't translate well to the chic Harvard Square that I once knew - one from three decades ago when David Crosby dubbed it "the hippest place" in the world. Nice to see another culture's decadence being screened in this part of the world, but at the end of the day "Little Black Book" and "Alien Vs. Predator" (see above) have more intrigue. We can blame the dubbing, but the dubbing wasn't at fault. It's better than Blair Witch Project...
Sunday, August 01, 2004
TERROR THREAT ELEVATED!!!!!!!
Bill Maher was hilarious on August 13, 2004 with his "Terror Alert Weather Report" - we know the Terrorists want to return to America and get more attention for themselves, and the alleged "President" uses that fear to - not make the people feel safe - to make the citizens of this country fearful so that he can dictate.
THIS HOUSE IS CLEAN vs MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Zelda Rubinstein from AllMovie.com: Her best-remembered screen role was Tangina, the disastrously self-assured exorcist in the first twoPoltergeist films. Zelda's declaration that "This house is clean" has to be the most famous speaking-too-soon miscalculations in movie history"
Doesn't Zelda's "This house is clean" line remind you of Bush saying "Mission Accomplished" - ok, ok, Bush didn't say it, it was more like the "Read My Lips" promise of his dad, we read George W's lips andbehind him was a ludicrous banner "Mission Accomplished."
What a charade.
Read my letter to the Boston Phoenix, August 13, 2004
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/letters/letters.asp
THIS HOUSE IS CLEAN vs MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Zelda Rubinstein from AllMovie.com: Her best-remembered screen role was Tangina, the disastrously self-assured exorcist in the first twoPoltergeist films. Zelda's declaration that "This house is clean" has to be the most famous speaking-too-soon miscalculations in movie history"
Doesn't Zelda's "This house is clean" line remind you of Bush saying "Mission Accomplished" - ok, ok, Bush didn't say it, it was more like the "Read My Lips" promise of his dad, we read George W's lips andbehind him was a ludicrous banner "Mission Accomplished."
What a charade.
Read my letter to the Boston Phoenix, August 13, 2004
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/letters/letters.asp
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