Savages

First Hit:  Overly done mishmash of drugs, violence and machismo.

Oliver Stone has done a wide assortment of films and many of them have stories based in violence.

This one is another of those violent films of his and it appears he wanted to say something about the word savages. What the point was of this movie didn’t land on me.

I found this film overly acted (by Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek to name too examples) while aiming to shock the audience with the type of the uncaring violence we see in the news coming out of Mexico.

My interpretation of the purpose of this film was to see what happens when two friends Ben and Chon (played by Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch respectively), have their shared girlfriend O (played by Blake Lively) is taken from them because they didn't want to do a drug deal. The three of them love their life by making, selling and using their high grade pot.

Chon is an Iraqi war vet and is a cold killer but only has to use his skills occasionally to keep the drug payments flowing to their business. Ben is a botanist and is the creator of their product which exceeds all other pot in the world. He’s kind hearted and does volunteer work throughout the world when he’s not creating a new strain.

Elena (Hayek) is the leader of a Mexican drug cartel that wants Ben and Chon’s (names reminded me of Cheech and Chong – bad choice of names) product. Elena's enforcer is Lado (played by Del Toro). The film, which early on depicts beheadings and later on with lots of uncaring machismo violence, has no real point except we get to see Ben and Chon get their girl back after Elena kidnaps her to force a deal with the weed makers. For some acting relief, Stone has John Travolta as Dennis the dirty Federal Drug Agent.

Lively is pretty and, at times, plays an effective stupid girl who is a full blown pothead. Johnson is supposed to be the smart cool one and at times he’s OK in this role. Kitsch holds his role as non-caring enforcer well enough. Del Toro is overly slimy in his portrayal of an enforcer. Hayek is wasted in her role as an accidental drug cartel leader. Travolta made the most of his role and screen time. Shane Salerno, Don Winslow and Oliver Stone wrote this poorly constructed script with some stupid lines like “went all Henry the 8th on them”. Stone looks like he found a way to imbibe himself in drugs and violence once again.

Overall:  I enjoyed seeing my old playground town of Laguna Beach, but everything else was wasted – just like how the main characters spent most of their time.

From Paris With Love

First Hit: Although not an intelligent film or full of interesting plot twists, I enjoyed its silliness, self depreciating humor and suspenseful attempts.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays James Reece an attaché to the US Ambassador to France. He doubles as a special agent doing some low level work like switching license plates on vehicles of suspected individuals or by planting bugs in an office.

Reece is involved in a serious relationship with a French woman named Caroline (Kasia Smutniak). One evening he gets a call from his special agent boss who tells him he’s been promoted and will work with a partner named Charlie Wax (played by John Travolta).

He picks Wax up at the airport where he is giving the customs people a hard time about cans of energy drink. This scene is where Wax provides the audience a look at his character; bold, brash, single minded, and seriously violent. This takes Reece by surprise but as he spends time with Wax there is an understanding that Wax is clearly on a mission. 

The trail Wax is following begins with drugs and drug dealers and ends with a possible terrorist plot to kill a US delegation and involves Reece's girlfriend. Plausible? Probably not, but the fun of this film is the bold brash ways of Charlie Wax.

Travolta is funny and mostly unbelievable but this wasn’t supposed to be a real life story. Meyers is OK although he looked 18 years old in a couple scenes but in other scenes he looked more age appropriate. The story line is not plausible or really serious, almost comic book in nature but that is what made it fun to watch.

Overall: It was amusing, implausible, seriously violent, and makes fun of itself. A romp which had me laughing more than once.

The Taking of Pelham 123

First Hit: The impact of this film wasn’t like the original; however the strong acting makes this a good watch.

The original film has a subway car being hijacked for ransom; this new version has a subway car being hijacked ransom; what makes the original more compelling?

The context in which they were filmed: In our world today someone hijacking something is more common and we’ve had real life bombings and killings in subways therefore we are use to it, at times even numb to it.

Back in 1974 when the original came out, high jackings, bombings and killings sprees, especially in subways, were more unusual, hence the impact on the audience was different; it was unusual and scary. However, strong character acting by John Travolta as Ryder the head hijacker and Denzel Washington as the disgraced dispatcher made this new version of this film work.

John Travolta has the look, feel, and dialogue which gives his character the psychotic edge making his character compelling to watch. Denzel Washington is very strong as the intelligent direct interface between the ticking time bomb below the surface of New York City and the everyday life taking place on the streets above. Tony Scott directs this film with little waste; however I found that the shaky camera shots and the quick cuts during the scenes where the police are ferrying the money from one side of NYC to another excessive and needless.

Overall: An entertaining film but it doesn't have the impact as the original for the reasons stated above. However, if were born after 1970 and you’ve not seen the original, this one will do very nicely.

Bolt

First Hit: This was an out loud funny film that hit its marks all the way through.

Scary to me when animation films, of which I’ve seen two in two weeks, are consistently and overall better than many of the non-animation dramas I’ve seen.

The story is about a dog which has lived his whole life on a television set and therefore when his human companion, a young girl named Penny, goes home he still exists on the set. On their TV show, called Bolt, he and Penny fight crime and he has superpowers which include a stare that melts steel and a bark that has earthquake type repercussions.

Because of the set up, all he knows is the TV world and therefore he believes that everything which takes place on the set is reality. One day he believes that Penny gets kidnapped and gets out of his closed trailer to go find her. He ends up in the real world and slowly discovers his super powers do not exist.

At first Bolt blames his diminished capacity on Styrofoam packing peanuts which get stuck to his dog fur. He meets up with a cat and a hamster and together they are off to find Penny.

There are many funny bits in the film like when another dog comes up to him and starts to sniff his butt. This has never happened before and Bolt is quite taken aback.

To me the funniest scene is when the cat is sitting in a tree and egging Bolt on to use his super bark to make him come out of the tree.

Disney produced this film and it has the Disney animation quality. Everything flows well. Bolt’s voice is provided ably by John Travolta and Miley Cyrus is the voice of Penny. Their adaptations are excellent and carry the tenor.

Overall: This was a really good film and it was easy to just sit back and relax while it takes you on its journey.

Hairspray

First Hit: I was very pleasantly surprised. It is a good lighthearted romp.

It must confess that musicals are something I generally don’t like; however the last three I’ve seen have been good including this one.

The first one I liked was Moulin Rouge. The second was film, which is reviewed on this site, is Once and then there is this film Hairspray.

The songs worked, the period was brought forth faithfully and I immediately remembered my own local dance program that I use to watch. The film brought back good memories.

Nikki Blonsky was wonderful and believable in her role. Travolta had a more minor role and was good, although I keep seeing John Travolta playing a character versus the character.

Michelle Pfeiffer was funny as a bitchy controlling station manager and mother. Christopher Walken has been doing wonders with small interesting quirky roles and he doesn’t disappoint here as the husband. The scene he has with Michelle Pfeiffer was great.

I liked the that they dealt with segregation in the language and the feeling of the time. It was a good reminder of the power of Martin Luther King and what was wrong back then.

Overall: It was a wonderful romp and I had a wonderful time and left the theater feeling good.