Killers

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Kutcher and Heigl Co-Star in Spy Retires to Suburbia Sitcom

Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher) is a CIA Agent with a license to kill. The dashing international spy with 14 notches on his belt is staying at a luxurious, seaside resort in Nice, France where he is preparing for another hit. The daring sleuth’s current assignment calls for him to scuba dive to a yacht docked nearby in order to attach an explosive to the bottom of a helicopter sitting on the boat’s deck before detonating the bomb via remote control once the chopper’s hovering over the Mediterranean.
En route to executing the assignment, however, sparks fly when he shares an elevator with Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), a conventional Midwestern gal registered at the same hotel. She’s on vacation, accompanied by her parents, to get back into the saddle after recently being dumped by her jerk of a boyfriend. Until now, her alcoholic mother (Catherine O’Hara) and overprotective father (Tom Selleck) have mostly been running interference between their daughter and any prospective suitors, like proverbial flies in the ointment.
However, instantly-smitten Jen and Spencer agree to have dinner that evening, a date which blossoms into a whirlwind romance that in turn leads to love and marriage. Tired of the grisly side of his profession, Spencer welcomes this opportunity to leave espionage behind for an uneventful life in suburbia with the girl of his dreams.
An ominous warning from his boss (Martin Holbrook), that no one just walks away from the Agency unilaterally, bears fruit only after we find the cozy couple settled back in the States. Just pregnant Jen still has no clue about her husband’s line of work until he spill the beans when assassins start jumping out of the woodwork to take potshots for the $20 million bounty on his head.
Thus, the plot finally thickens in the second act of Killers, a freewheeling farce directed by Aussie Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde). This madcap, action sitcom merges the talents of Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, a well-matched pair of naturals blessed with perfect comedic timing. The two generate as much screen chemistry as they do laughs, although they’re ultimately abandoned by a script which turns a tad too farcical for this critic’s taste.
Nonetheless, the movie is worth the investment for the cinematic capture of the Southern France backdrops, as well as the badinage between the charming leads ever so reminiscent of those classic Doris Day-Rock Hudson exchanges in flicks like Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964).
Send Me No Hit Men!

Very Good (2.5 stars)
Rated PG-13 for sexuality, profanity and violence.
Running time: 100 Minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate Films

Toe to Toe DVD

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Black and White Coeds Lock Lacrosse Sticks in Cross-Cultural Drama

One of the best art house flicks of 2010 is this character-driven affair written and directed by Emily Abt. Set in the Washington, DC area, it revolves around an unlikely love triangle which comes to test the already tenuous bond of friendship forged between a couple of high school classmates, one black, one white, who play on the lacrosse team.
Tosha (Sonequa Martin), who hails from Anacostia, can only afford to attend the exclusive prep school because she’s on a full scholarship. She and her two siblings are being raised in the ‘hood by their doting grandmother (Leslie Uggams) while their overworked single-mom (Dionne Audain) works double shifts to keep a roof over their heads on her security guard salary.
Somehow, Tosha keeps her nose to the grindstone, ignoring the dysfunction at home and the daily taunts coming from jealous girls on the block. They love teasing her mercilessly as she walks down the street to catch the bus for everything from acting white to having once allowed the boys to see her panties for a couple of bucks.
Tosha doesn’t find much relief at school either, where she finds it hard to fit in with the spoiled-rich kids. Because of all of the above, she focuses intently on her goal of being admitted to Princeton, which she sees as her ticket out of the ghetto.
Jesse, at least by outward appearances, has a relatively-easy go of it in life. After all, she lives in a sprawling mansion in the suburbs and has her own sports car. However, because her absentee divorced-mom is always away on business, the unsupervised teen suffers from loneliness and the consequences of a series of poor choices that have led to promiscuity, substance abuse and STDs.
So, Jesse spends the bulk of her free time slumming, since she has a thing for Go-Go music and Jungle Fever for brothers, which explains why she gravitates towards hanging out with Tosha. But the plot thickens when she falls for the charms of a smooth-talking DJ (Silvestre Rasuk) already involved with her friend. At that point, all bets are off, and the two go “Toe to Toe.”
Hell hath no fury like a sister scorned, especially for a wannabe.

Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 104 Minutes
Distributor: Strand Releasing
DVD Extras: Theatrical trailer, other Strand trailers.

Shutter Island DVD

 

 

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Disappointing Scorcese Mindbender Due on DVD

 

                Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorcese’s latest collaboration fails to measure up to The Departed, for it simply peters out after establishing a very promising premise. The movie was adapted from the best seller of the same name by Dennis Lehane, a psychological thriller set in 1954 off the coast of Massachusetts at Ashecliffe Mental Hospital for the Criminally-Insane.

As the film unfolds, we’re introduced to Federal Marshals Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) as they head by ferry to the high-security facility to help handle a crisis situation. This deliberately-paced opening tableau is rather evocative of the Gothic horror genre, atmospherically, as the boat slowly breaks through a thick mist to reveal the eerie specter of an imposing edifice sitting high atop the tiny isle, ala the fog-shrouded mansion or castle of so many classic haunted house flicks.

The lawmen are met at the dock by Deputy Warden McPherson (John Carroll Lynch) who insists that they surrender their weapons before being allowed onto the grounds, whose high walls and electrified fence make the place look more like a prison than a hospital. The tension is then ratcheted up a notch when they learn they’ve been summoned there because a patient (Emily Mortimer) somehow escaped from her locked cell the night before, and she could be hiding anywhere on the island. The deranged woman is considered extremely dangerous, since she was committed for a triple murder.

In the wake of the briefing, a hurricane hits the island which quite conveniently not only knocks out all the electricity but prevents any further ferry service to the now totally-isolated institution. Of course, this only serves to make increasingly-uncomfortable Teddy and Chuck’s frantic search for the murderess even more urgent.

I’m guessing that this scintillating setup probably reads like an appealing edge-of-the-seat thriller. Not so fast, Kimosabe, for I dare not divulge any of the ensuing, unpredictable developments which turn a compelling whodunit into a surreal and patently preposterous mindbender. Suffice to say that in the end this critic felt cheated to have the complicated mystery resolved by a rabbit-out-of-the-hat revelation that had little to do with the misleading series of red herrings that I’d invest over two hours in.

                The cinematic equivalent of a bait and switch scam.

 

Fair (1.5 stars)

Rated R for profanity, nudity and disturbing violence.

Running time: 137 Minutes

Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

DVD Extras: None.

From Paris with Love DVD

 

 

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: DVD Features Travolta as Spy in Espionage Thriller

 

While it’s title invokes images of the James Bond classic From Russia with Love, from Paris with Love is not an adaptation of another Fleming best-seller. Rather, it is a relatively-bombastic remake which brazenly lifts a few of From Russia’s pivotal plot points while crediting Luc Besson and Adi Hasak for the screenplay.

In From Russia, Agent 007 traveled from London to the Soviet embassy in Istanbul to team with a low-level clerk who was unwittingly being played by a duplicitous villainess with a top secret, Cold War agenda. However, in this suspiciously-similar political potboiler, the CIA dispatches crack Agent Charlie Wax (John Travolta)from D.C. to the American embassy in Paris where he buddies-up with an ambitious clerk (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) who has previously only been assigned menial tasks like changing diplomats’ license plates.

The aspiring spy has just accepted a marriage proposal from his beautiful girlfriend Caroline (Kasia Smutniak), being blissfully unaware of the fey femme fatale’s mysterious link to the Middle East. But before the cozy couple barely has a chance toast their engagement, the grateful groom-to-be finds himself deputized by his new partner and drawn away to participate in a sting operation ostensibly aimed at the cocaine dealer responsible for the drug overdose of the Secretary of Defense’s daughter.

During the ensuing, ever-escalating series of bloody stakeouts, trigger-happy Charlie exhibits none of the charm, subtlety or elegance we’ve come to associate with sophisticated espionage work. Splatter fare featuring an almost infantile Ugly American with access to an infinite supply of live ammo, misbehaving like the proverbial bull in a china closet.

 

Very Good (3 stars)

Rated R for graphic violence, pervasive profanity, drug use and brief sexuality.

In English and French with subtitles.

Running time: 93 Minutes

Distributor: Lionsgate Home Entertainment

DVD Extras: Director’s audio commentary, a theatrical trailer, “The Making of” documentary, pus a couple of featurettes.

This Week’s DVD Releases

Tavis Smiley: MLK: A Call to Conscience


Toe-to-Toe


The Harder They Come


41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall


From Paris with Love


The A-Team: The Complete Series


The Cry of the Owl


The Wheels on the Bus Sing-Along Travel Kit


Jim Henson’s Dog City: The Movie


iCarly: iSaved Your Life

Double Take

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Hitchcock Mockumentary Mixes Suspense with Cold War Paranoia

 

Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) set a stratospheric bar still rarely reached when it comes to the suspense genre. Now, the legendary director gets a chance to star in a psychological thriller, albeit posthumously, courtesy of archival footage interwoven with a dizzying montage of snippets from movie classics, TV commercials and newsreels shot during the height of the Cold War.

This marvelous, multi-media mockumentary is the brainchild of Belgian Johan Grimonprez, a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has cobbled the assorted elements into a chilling feature draped with dread and sheer paranoia which practically defies description.

At the point of departure, Hitchcock announces in his trademark droll fashion that “If you meet your double, you should kill him, before he kills you.” After all, “Two of you is one too many, by the end of the script, one of you must die.” He subsequently crosses paths with his own spitting image, played by Hitchcock impersonator Ron Burrage, and the tension is gradually ratcheted in the intriguing game of cat-and-mouse which ensues. Thus, the picture’s title is a clever play on words which lends itself to a couple of interpretations, given that a “double take” for these purposes can be either a delayed reaction or the response of identical strangers to encountering each other, or both.

Ostensibly inspired by an actual incident which happened to Hitchcock during the production of The Birds, the bifurcated storyline simultaneously revisits the events surrounding the so-called Kitchen Summit Conference, a series of televised impromptu exchanges staged in Moscow in 1959 between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and then Vice President Richard Nixon. And yet another strand of the often mind-boggling mosaic is made up of bits from comical Folger’s coffee ads in which American housewives have been edited to look like blithering idiots with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.

                An impossible to pigeonhole production certain to generate a sense of nostalgia about a bygone era while only adding to the already lofty stature of a revered cinema icon.

 

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 80 Minutes

Distributor: Kino International

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening June 11, 2010


BIG BUDGET FILMS

The A-Team (PG-13 for profanity, smoking, and pervasive action violence) Screen adaptation of the pyrotechnics-driven TV series from the Eighties chronicling the exploits of a squad of former Special Service soldiers determined to clear their names after unfairly being branded war criminals. With Liam Neeson as Hannibal, Bradley Cooper as Face, Sharlto Copley as Murdock and Quinton Jackson as B.A. Baracus.

The Karate Kid (PG for bullying, violence and mild epithets) Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan co-star in this Beijing-based remake of the 1984 screen classic about a 12 year-old newcomer to China being bullied at school whose unassuming janitor agrees to help him master the martial arts so long as he promises not to question the seemingly-unorthodox training regimen. With Taraji P. Henson, Tess Liu and Harry Van Gorkum.


INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (R for graphic sexuality and nudity) Romance drama, set in Paris in the Twenties, abut the scandalous affair conducted by a famous French clothes designer (Anna Mouglalis) with the promising classical composer (Mads Mikkelsen) whose penniless, refugee family she let live in her villa after they escaped the Russian Revolution. (In French, Russian and English with subtitles)

Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema (R for violence, profanity, drug use and sexuality) Fact-based gangsta’ saga revisiting a Sowetan street hoodlum’s (Rapulana Seiphemo) rise from petty criminal to powerful crime boss in the wake of the fall of South Africa’s Apartheid regime. With Robert Hobbs, Kenneth Nkosi and Louise Saint-Claire. (In English and Afrikaans with subtitles)

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (R for profanity and sexual humor) Revealing bio-pic chronicling a year in the life of the legendary comedienne/elective plastic surgery devotee. With appearances by daughter Melissa, Don Rickles and Kathy Griffin.

Kings of the Evening (PG for mature themes, violence, smoking and mild epithets) Depression Era drama about a recently-paroled ex-con’s (Tyson Beckford) attempt to earn a little cash and respect in the ‘hood after two years in a chain gang by competing in a weekly fashion show with a grand prize of five dollars. Cast includes Lynn Whitfield, Glynn Turman and Bruce McGill.

The Lottery (Unrated) “Ticket out of the ghetto” documentary follows the diverging fortunes of four NYC families who feel their children’s prospects in life depend on whether or not their names are drawn in the lottery admitting students to a phenomenally-successful, Harlem charter school. With appearances by Eva Moskowitz, Geoffrey Canada, Cory Booker, Susan Taylor and Joel Klein.

Reel Injun (Unrated) Hollywood expose’ explores the evolution of the depiction of Native Americans in movies. Featuring Clint Eastwood, Russell Means, John Trudell and Adam Beach.

Winter’s Bone (R for profanity, drug use and violence) Dysfunctional family drama, set in the Ozarks, about a spunky 17 year-old’s (Jennifer Lawrence) perilous trek through the Ozark Mountains in search of her meth-dealing father who has jumped bail after putting up their house as collateral. Cast includes John Hawkes, Garret Dillahunt and Shelley Waggener.