Rick's Flicks Picks will be on hiatus while I'm vacationing with my parents for their 40th wedding anniversary. This Weekend's Film Festival will return next week and later this week I'll have a new feature previewing my picks for the most anticipated films of the fall "Oscar bait" season.
Going back to its serial roots, this new STAR WARS adventure feels like a chapter in a continuing story while standing on its own as an individual story. Unlike PHANTOM MENACE it stands on its own. Not only the animation moves this installment into a new direction. The light blue "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" is still present, but the signature text crawl has been replaced by a Gary Owen-ish announcer, filling us in on what has preceded this story. Big on action and pun-filled banter, this film reminded me of the fun I had with SKY CAPTAIN more than any of the STAR WARS prequels.
The Clone Wars are raging. Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter, HEROES first season) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor, TV's DRAWN TOGETHER) are battling the Separatists droid army, led by Count Dooku (Christopher Lee, LORD OF THE RINGS). Yoda (Tom Kane, TV's KIM POSSIBLE) has assigned Anakin a padawan learner named Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein, TV's THAT'S SO RAVEN), a snippy young girl who is desperate to prove herself. Anakin resists having a pupil at first, but takes to the brash young Jedi quickly. They are given the mission to rescue the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hut (Kevin Michael Richardson, TV's THE BATMAN), whose help is needed by the Republic in their war effort. But Count Dooku sends his assassin Asajj Ventress (Nika Futterman, TV's MY GYM PARTNER'S A MONKEY) to thwart their efforts.
I like myself a good genre film. Recently I read a report that proposes that there is a gene that makes certain people react more positively to horror films. As a kid I always watched classic horror films on Sunday mornings. I particularly loved monster movies. So this week, I'm looking at five of the best creature features of the 21st century. To qualify the films have to have monsters. Some have monsters that are heroes. Some have monsters that are misunderstood. Some have ancient monsters. Some have monsters that come from another dimension. Some have monsters from another planet. So come along my genetically prone and enjoy some scares, adventures and even a few laughs.
Kicking off this week's lineup, we have Guillermo del Toro's HELLBOY. When it comes to giving us great monsters, director del Torro has given us some of the best in recent years. 2004's HELLBOY established him as a director to watch, before crafting the masterpiece PAN'S LABYRINTH, a film filled with some of the most imaginative creatures since STAR WARS. Based on Mike Mignola's comicbook, the story follows a secret U.S. agency that investigates paranormal incidents. Lead investigator Hellboy, played perfectly by Ron Perlman, has special knowledge of the paranormal, being that he is a large red demon with horns (that he saws off) and a giant rock fist. He secretly loves normal looking Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), who has the power to engulf herself in flames. Their partner is Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), an amphibian psychic. These "freaks" must stop the immortal Rasputin (Karel Roden) and his devilishly wonderful baddie Kroenen (Ladislav Beran), a villain with sand in his veins, literally. Mixing the thrilling with the humorous, this is a superhero movie that remembers to have fun. As I said in my original review, "When it comes to the best of comicbook movies, they are always the ones that deal with the heroes like humans." HELLBOY truly gives us creatures we can care about.
This funny mess feels like a bunch of actor-centric comedy sketches strung together. Some of those sketches work much better than others. The weaker sketches often feel like stale leftovers from a 2001 episode of SNL. And like it happens on SNL from time to time, the guest hosts steal all the scenes from the regulars.
Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan, TRISTRAM SHANDY) is making the big-budget war picture "Tropic Thunder" in Vietnam. The troubled production stars action superstar and questionable actor Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller, ZOOLANDER). The rest of the cast includes: the award-winning method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN), who has undergone a controversial skin operation to play a black soldier; drug-addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy; rapper-turned-actor Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson, ROLL BOUNCE); and skinny, smart newcomer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel, KNOCKED UP). The production is a mess and the producers are not happy. So along with Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte, AFFLICTION), the veteran who wrote the novel the film is based on, and pyrotechnics expert Cody (Danny McBride, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), Cockburn takes his actors into the jungle to film gorilla-style, until they stumble upon the hideout of drug dealers.
Fred Schepisi's A CRY IN THE DARK was an unexpected entry on AFI's recent top-10 courtroom dramas list. Based on a true story, the drama deals with the price a couple pays when they are convicted in the court of public opinion following the death of their daughter. Driven by a powerful Oscar-nominated performance from Meryl Streep, the film watches as religious prejudice and a media hungry for sensation lead to the conviction of an innocent woman.
Lindy (Streep) and Michael Chamberlain (Sam Neill, JURASSIC PARK) took their three children on a camping trip in the Australian outback. One night cooking dinner, Lindy noticed that a dingo had wandered into their tent and took off with their baby. After an extensive search, the baby was never found. Due to their Seventh-day Adventist beliefs, they quickly found peace with what happened as God's will. Their lack of the "proper" reaction in the public eye made many doubt their story. After they are not charged during an first inquest hearing, the case was reopened after new forensic evidence was found. As the public opinion turned against them shaky forensic evidence and biased experts lead to their conviction.
Based on the American crime novel by Harlan Coben, TELL NO ONE is a French thriller from actor/director Guillaume Canet (starred in the Oscar-nominated JOYEUX NOEL), which harkens back to before crime stories became relegated to the CSI and LAW & ORDER TV franchises. This innocent man yarn would make Hitchcock proud as it weaves intrigue and murder and a mysterious missing woman into a touching love story. While it provides its fair share of twists and turns, the true driving force is a simple tale of a husband who truly loves his wife.
Dr. Alex Beck (Francois Cluzet, STORY OF WOMEN) and his wife Margot (Marie-Josee Croze, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY) have been together since they were children. One summer day, they go to their private lake where they skinny dip. Alex's father has recently died in a hunting accident and he is in disagreement with his sister, an equestrian star named Anne (Marina Hands, THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS), about selling the farm. This spurs an argument with Margot and she leaves Alex on a floating dock as she heads back to the car. She screams and he swims back to the dock, where he is struck unconscious.
This Weekend's Film Festival concludes the four-part series on the new editions to the AFI Top 100 List upon its 10th anniversary. By viewing this lineup, along with Part I, Part II, and Part III, you will have seen 20 of the 23 new films to make the list. Some are far more deserving than others, but for the most part the all newbies deserve to be included. The reason three films didn't make TWFF lineups were for various reasons. SOPHIE'S CHOICE was featured in another lineup on regret, while INTOLERANCE and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA represent the weakest of the newcomers. For the fourth, and final, lineup, the films mainly represent newer movies. One of the films is a classic black & white courtroom drama from the 1950s. One is a 1970s crime procedural that doesn't feature cops. One of the films is a modern classic that found its audience from repeated airings on cable. One of the films changed the way America looked at race. The fifth film made us see dead people.
Alan Pakula's ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN is essentially a crime procedural that replaces cops with reporters. Winning four Oscars and nominated for four more, the Watergate investigation film was added to the 10th anniversary edition of the AFI Top 100 American films list. Bolstered by subtly in every aspect, the production is a marvel in that it works at all. At 138 minutes, it's dialogue driven, dozens and dozens names are thrown around constantly. But William Goldman's Oscar-winning screenplay keeps us on track and Pakula and editor Robert Wolfe (both nominated for Oscars) keep the pacing crisp and exciting. Additionally, it's what Hitchcock always said — an audience will always sympathize with a character that does their job well. Woodward and Bernstein did their jobs very well.
I was a teenager when I first saw Spike Lee's groundbreaking feature DO THE RIGHT THING, and it disturbed me. I was naïve about racism and sexism, thinking that they only existed in some backwoods Southern town. It's kind of nice to think a kid can grow up thinking that, but it was easy for me because I was living a comfortable upper-middle-class white lifestyle in the Northern suburbs. If I remember back correctly, I didn't like it when I first saw it, but I never forgot it. I've been drawn back to it time and time again, rewatching the ending looking for clues to the "real" meaning. It took me awhile to discover that the conflict that I felt was the meaning.
Lee stars as Mookie, a pizza delivery boy for Sal's Famous Pizzeria in the Bedford-Stuyevesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. The joint's namesake Sal (Danny Aiello, MOONSTRUCK) has run the business for more than 20 years, before the neighborhood became mainly black. He works with his two sons Pino (John Turturro, THE BIG LEBOWSKI) and Vito (Richard Edson, STRANGER THAN FICTION). Pino despises working at the restaurant because he has a burning distain for its black customers. Vito, on the other hand, has none of those issues, often looking to Mookie for friendship when his older brother beats on him. On the wall, Sal has pictures of famous Italian Americans, which provokes the easily provoke-able Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito, MALCOLM X) to demand famous black people to be put up on the wall because black people are the only ones spending any money in the place. Sal tells him to open his own place then kicks him out. His begins the bubbling of the racial tensions on this hot summer day, which will explode by closing time.
It's about pot. So grab some chips cuz you're going to get the munchies watching this comedy from the Judd Apatow stable, written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who penned the surprising comedy SUPERBAD. Like that film, this one is essentially a buddy movie, but this one spirals into some humorous action. Indie director David Gordon Green has left his thoughtful Southern gothic style from films like GEORGE WASHINGTON and SNOW ANGELS on the shelf for his transition into mainstream movies; so don't expect anything deep. But what you should expect is a consistently funny and crazy comedy.
Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, KNOCKED UP) serves people court subpoenas for a living and in between jobs he smoke a lot of dope. He buys from Saul Silver (James Franco, SPIDER-MAN), a longhaired dealer who has a constant smile on his face and lives in his PJs. He's taken a shine to Dale and tries to convince him to stay and hang out every time he comes over for more weed. But Dale has other things on his mind, especially his 18-year-old high school student girlfriend Angie (Amber Heard, ALPHA DOG). Then one night on a job, Dale witnesses drug kingpin Ted Jones (Gary Cole, BREACH) and female cop Carol (Rosie Perez, DO THE RIGHT THING) murder a rival drug dealer. Completely paranoid and scared out of his wits, Dale rushes to Saul, who is sure that his supplier Red (Danny McBride, THE FIST FOOT WAY) won't rat them out. But when killers Budlofsky (Kevin Corrigan, THE DEPARTED) and Matheson (Craig Robinson, WALK HARD) come gunning for them, they begin to doubt Red's loyalty as a friend.
Frank Darabont's Oscar nominated THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION barely recouped its production budget when released in theaters in 1994. But anyone who went to see it quickly knew they were witnessing something special. Based on a Stephen King short story, the prison drama chronicles long-term prisoners and how incarceration changes them. One particular prisoner desperately hangs onto hope, while another says that in jail, hope can be a dangerous thing.
The optimistic prisoner is Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins, BULL DURHAM), a banker on the outside who was convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. He claims that he's innocent, but no one believes him, because everyone is innocent in prison. Red (Morgan Freeman, GLORY) is a vet of the prison, having been convicted of murder at a young age when a robbery went wrong. He's the man inside who can get you things, like cigarettes, posters of Rita Hayworth, or gem hammers. The warden, Norton (Bob Gunton, THE PERFECT STORM), discovers that having a smart banker in his control can be very beneficial when you need bribes laundered. Keeping Andy in fear equally are the rapist prisoner Bogs Diamond (Mark Rolston, RUSH HOUR) and the equally sadistic guard Capt. Hadley (Clancy Brown, TV's CARNIVALE).
Inspired by Denzel Washington's sophomore directing effort THE GREAT DEBATERS, This Weekend's Film Festival looks at films that showcase the power of education. The inspiration for this week's lineup deals with African American debaters in the 1930s. There's a film that teaches us about living life to the fullest. There's a film that deals with the pressures of an Ivy League education. There's a film that teaches us about the power of language. There's a film about the freeing power of knowledge. So take a seat and sign up for this inspiring collection of films.
The Friday night feature is THE GREAT DEBATERS. As I said in my original review, "In an American climate where the dumbing down of every aspect of culture is pervasive, this is the kind of inspiring tale we need. We see inspirational sports films roll out every year, but often a good educational film can be infinitely more uplifting." This film actually mixes the conventions of sports and school stories, using the framework of an underdog sports film. Melvin Tolson (Washington) is the strict couch of the debate team for an all black college. He selects only four students for his team, which include hard living Henry (Nate Parker), fiery Samantha (Jurnee Smollett), 14-year-old James (Denzel Whitaker) and conservative, returning debater Hamilton (Jermaine Williams). More than a film about overcoming race, the picture showcases the power of education to lift up lives. In capturing the compelling nature of heated debates, the film also addresses the key social debates of the era in an engaging fashion. Lead by a stellar cast, this production captures the heart while stimulating the mind at the same time.
This Best Picture Oscar nominee falls into that popular subgenre of inspirational films — the great teacher movie. Set in 1959 at a conservative prep school, Peter Weir's film is about learning for sure, but it's mainly about carpe diem — Latin for seize the day. Through poetry, a teacher tries to teach his students to think, which in a conformist's world can be very dangerous.
This inspiring teacher is John Keating (Robin Williams, GOOD WILL HUNTING), an unorthodox English teacher who wants his students to become extraordinary. Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke, BEFORE SUNRISE) is new to the school, but expectations are high due to the previous success of his older brother at St. Andrew's. His roommate Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard, TV's HOUSE) is a joiner who likes to try new things and goes out of his way to include the shy Todd. However, he also feels trapped in a life not of his own choosing, planned out precisely for years to come by his father (Kurtwood Smith, TV's THAT '70S SHOW). Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles, FOUR BROTHERS) is a lovelorn young man who falls for the pretty Chris Noel (Alexandra Powers, RISING SUN), who unfortunately is dating the local high school's football star. Charlie Dalton (Gale Hansen, SHAKING THE TREE) is a free spirit who takes to Mr. Keating with passion.
Here is a movie about a demanding teacher that doesn't paint the educator as a petty masochistic dictator. Set at Harvard, this film, based on a novel by John Jay Osborn Jr., looks at the game of high stakes education at Harvard Law School. First-year students come to the Ivy League school and fall into three categories according to the film's hero James Hart — 1) the high achiever who has to work extremely hard to stay there, 2) the struggling student keeping their head above water living in constant fear, and 3) the hopelessly doomed. This is a bloody sport and many will not make it to the end.
James Hart, played naturally by Timothy Bottoms (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW), is a Midwesterner who doesn't quite fit into the traditional Ivy League mold. He's excited and intimidated to take a class with the legendary Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. (John Houseman, MY BODYGUARD), who wrote the book on contract law, literally. To protect themselves against the daunting amount of work, the students form study groups; each member assigned a subject to outline for them all to share. Founder of the group Franklin Ford III (Graham Beckel, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL) is your cliche Ivy Leager with his bowtie and his snooty way of talking. Kevin Brooks (James Naughton, DIARY OF THE DEAD) has a photographic memory, but can't connect the dots between facts. Rounding out the group are overly levelheaded Thomas Craig Anderson (Edward Herrmann, LOST BOYS), pretentious prig Willis Bell (Craig Richard Nelson, 3 WOMEN) and the constantly-on-edge O'Connor (Robert Lydiard, THE DAY OF THE DOLPHIN). They not only debate law but more importantly law school survival. It is thought that women are career suicide for a first-year law student, so when Hart meets Susan Fields (Lindsay Wagner, BIONIC WOMAN), we worry, and then when we discover she is Kingsfield's daughter we get really scared.
Lately soldiers have figured into several lineups for This Weekend's Film Festival. Inspired by the release of STOP-LOSS on DVD, this week's lineup takes a different approach to the soldier's story. All five films deal with soldiers' under threat of court martial. Some soldiers in the lineup are rebelling against orders they find unfair, while others were just following orders. Others are being investigated for murder, while others may lose years of their lives for petty crimes. The closing film puts its soldiers in the tough decision of being court-martialed for doing the wrong thing and the right thing. These feature lots of action and drama, while telling some unique stories about soldier experiences.
Back in 1999 when I first saw ads and trailers for THREE KINGS, I wasn't expecting something so smart and fresh. It seemed like a simple heist story, but it turned out to be so much more. For me it was the film that firmly positioned George Clooney in my mind as a movie star. Having not seen FLIRTING WITH DISASTER at that time, it was my first experience with the work of director/writer David O. Russell, who was able to perfectly balance between the action, the humor and the meat of the story, while establishing a unique visual style.
Set after the ceasefire of the first Persian Gulf War, Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg, BOOGIE NIGHTS) discovers a map hidden in the butt of an Iraqi soldier, which leads to a bunker where millions of dollars of stolen Kuwaiti gold bullion is being hidden. While Troy plans with no-nonsense Chief Elgin (Ice Cube, BOYZ N THE HOOD) and ignorant hick Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze, director of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) on how to get the gold, Archie Gates (Clooney, THE PERFECT STORM) hears rumors about the map. He is a sergeant major from special-forces who is about to retire and has long ago stopped caring. Outranking the others, he forces himself into their plans, which if they get caught, they could be court martialed for. As one might expect, their plans don't work out perfectly, getting caught in between Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi rebel forces.
With its big name stars and big star moments, this slick courtroom drama was good Oscar bait material for director Rob Reiner in 1992. There was no way of knowing at the time that the film would only gain weight in the future for events that couldn't even be thought of in the early '90s. Set at Guantanamo Bay, the crime story revolves around the death of a marine private and the possible orders that were given that might have lead to his death by the abuse of other soldiers. Aaron Sorkin's script deals with the following of orders that are not just and a military code of conduct that has become warped. Looking back now, the film almost seems hauntingly prophetic.
Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison, LITTLE BIG LEAGUE) and Private Louden Downey (James Marshall, TV's TWIN PEAKS) have been charged with murder for the death of William Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo, ALIVE), the weakest soldier in their unit. Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore, ST. ELMO'S FIRE) believes the deaths were the result of a hazy ritual called Code Red, which went awry, and wants the case as a way to expose the practice. Her superiors are playing politics and decide to go with Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise, RISKY BUSINESS), a skilled lawyer who has never seen the inside of a courtroom because he is the master of the plea bargain. Along with researcher Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak, THE USUAL SUSPECTS), Kaffee and Galloway dig deeper into the case and hit nothing but stonewalls from those involved.
In his second effort as a director, Denzel Washington has now established himself as just as much a powerful force behind the camera as he is in front of it. His debut film, ANTWONE FISHER, was a surprisingly powerful film, and like that film, THE GREAT DEBATERS uses what seems like a conventional plot to actually tackle unconventional screen topics. Too often African-Americans are portrayed on TV and films as barely literate, but recent films like this one and AKEELAH AND THE BEE have brought an intelligent and inspiring portrait of African-Americans to audiences. But to pigeonhole these films as "black" stories would be undercutting their universal power, which deal with the universal power of education.
Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in 1939, so one could say that his early beginnings sit him aside other classic pulp detectives like Philip Marlowe. Director Christopher Nolan understands this and brings it to the forefront in his latest Batman feature film, which is at least as good as BATMAN BEGINS and in many respects better. Worthy to stand along other great crime dramas, this superhero film is like HEAT; only Al Pacino's character wears a cowl instead of perfectly coifed hair. It's like SILENCE OF THE LAMBS; only Hannibal Lecter fancies purple handmade suits to a classy linen ensemble. As much as you might have liked them or even hated them, it quickly rids the memory of images of Jack Nicholson hamming it up in circus make-up, or Joel Schumacher adding nipples to the Batsuit. This is the film Dark Knight fans have grown up to see.
The lineup for this week’s This Weekend’s Film Festival is a continuation of the on-going look at the 10th anniversary addition of AFI’s top 100 American movies. The last edition came right before AFI’s latest list announcement of the 10 top 10 genre pictures. This week deals with new films to arrive on the top 100 that also made one of the top 10 lists. Three of the epics are here, along with one animated and one sci-fi film. This is a great lineup and an interesting look at some new classics and hits, along with a classic epic.
Kicking off the lineup is TITANIC. Ranking 6th on the epics list and #83 on the top 100, James Cameron’s epic romance/disaster tale is by and far the highest grossing film in U.S. box office history. Winner of 11 Academy Awards, this tale of the tragic love between rich Rose, played by Oscar-nominated Kate Winslet, and poor Jack, in a mega-star making turn by Leonardo DiCaprio, contains what epics are supposed to have — an intimate story against an gigantic landscape. Cameron’s attention to detail is breathtaking and the groundbreaking visual effects still hold up well today. Russell Carpenter’s Oscar-winning cinematography is gorgeous. As I said in my original review, “TITANIC is worth seeing mostly because of the classic iconic romantic imagery. While they might not all be laced together naturally, there is no denying that when Rose and Jack stand on the rail at the bow of the ship that hearts can swoon for the idea of perfect love.” No matter your opinion of the film’s story problems, there is also no denying its firm place in film history.
Based on Scott B. Smith’s much-lauded horror novel, THE RUINS appears to be just another HOSTEL-like dead teenager film. Though it never rises to greatness, it is a solid entry within the dead teenager sub-genre. It’s a horror story that doesn’t rush into its gruesome moments, allowing use to meet its character before they start descending into madness.
Jeff (Jonathan Tucker, HOSTAGE) is a medical student who has gone on vacation to a Mexican resort with his heavy partying girlfriend Amy (Jena Malone, SAVED!), her best friend Stacy (Laura Ramsey, LORDS OF DOGTOWN) and Stacy’s boyfriend Eric (Shawn Ashmore, X-MEN). When German tourist Mathias (Joe Anderson, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE) present them with the proposition to travel to an off-the-map Mayan ruin, Jeff jumps at the chance to get some culture into their trip. However when they arrive, they encounter hostile natives, who surround them, forcing them to flee onto the summit of the ruins, where they discover why the villagers are so scared of the ancient temple.
Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic brings a film noir feel to a futuristic Earth where human-like renegade androids called replicants are hunted by blade runner assassins. However killing a replicant isn't murder; it's retirement. Perfectly paced for its haunting material, BLADE RUNNER is a moody detective story, but also ponders bigger issues about the meaning of life. If you knew that the day of your death was predetermined, but didn't know the day, how would that affect the way you live your life?
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford, INDIANA JONES) is the best blade runner around. Detective Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh, BLOOD SIMPLE) calls on his services after four top model replicants escaped an off-world site and since coming to Earth killed a police officer. Deckard is losing the taste for killing replicants, so Bryant keeps creepy detective Gaff (Edward James Olmos, STAND & DELIVER) on his tail. Meanwhile the renegade replicants, led by the military model Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer, TURKISH DELIGHT), begin searching for Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel, THE SHINING), the creator of the replicants. In his mission to retire Batty, Deckard visits Tyrell and meets the seductive woman Rachael (Sean Young, NO WAY OUT), who turns out to be the most advanced replicants he has ever seen. Sadly she doesn't know she isn't human.
While technology has gotten better since TOY STORY was released, it's not easy to improve on storytelling this clever. John Lasseter's masterpiece could have been so many things with its recognizable brands and pop culture references, but it avoids all the pitfalls of that material and crafts an innocent story about friendship and love. The franchise has become a money making machine since, but, the film isn't about selling toys, but the joy of a toy in the hearts of a child and the joy of being that beloved toy.
TOY STORY presents the whimsical idea that toys come to life when humans are not around. Woody (Tom Hanks, BIG) is the king of the toy chest in Andy's room. He organizes the other toys, which include the comedian Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), dedicated Slinky Dog (Jim Varney, ERNEST GOES TO CAMP), insecure dinosaur Rex (Wallace Shawn, THE PRINCESS BRIDE), piggy bank Hamm (John Ratzenberger, TV's CHEERS), and the ceramic lamp Bo Beep (Annie Potts, GHOSTBUSTERS), who has a thing for Woody. It's Andy's birthday and he gets the new spaceman action figure Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen, TV's HOME IMPROVEMENT), who doesn't believe that he's a toy. With his fancy gadgets, Buzz quickly becomes Andy's new favorite, leaving Woody feeling forgotten.
Almost 10 years after bursting onto the feature film scene with BOYS DON'T CRY, Kimberly Peirce returns with an Iraq War drama that survives some plot contrivances with very well observed complex characters. As the title suggests, the film deals with the military policy of stop-loss, where soldiers can be reassigned to duty after their term of service is up. Nearly 81,000 Iraq War soldiers have been stop-lossed, which is viewed by some as a backdoor draft that pushes our stretched military too far.
Personalizing this idea, we meet a group of soldiers in Iraq. Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe, CRASH) is the strong leader of the men, who is determined to do his duty to the best of his ability. Sgt. Steve Shriver (Channing Tatum, STEP UP) is a tough soldier with a pretty girl named Michelle (Abbie Cornish, CANDY) back home. Tommy Burgess (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, BRICK) is a troubled soldier who drowns his sorrow in liquor. Rico Rodriguez (Victor Rasuk, RAISING VICTOR VARGAS) is a trash-talking private who finds the positive in every situation. After an ambush in Iraq that kills some of their squad and severely injures others, the men get a break back home in Texas. Brandon and Steve have finished their tours and look forward to starting their civilian life, however, the horrors of war have made the transition difficult. Then Brandon is stop-lossed. He strongly objects and ends up AWOL, fleeing to Washington D.C. to plead his case to a senator he knows.
Guillermo del Toro, director of PAN'S LABYRINTH, brings his boundless visual imagination to another screen edition of the HELLBOY saga. Filled with fanciful creatures and whimsical silliness, del Toro nicely balances between humor and action in this fun superhero adventure. While not as fresh as the original, HELLBOY II holds its own in a summer filled with wonderful superheroic antics.
Ages ago the magical creatures of the world made a truce with humans, setting aside their indestructible golden army. They would stay in the woods while humans ruled the cities. However, as the cities spread and humans became consumed with greed, the magical creatures were pushed into the shadows. Now Prince Nuada (Luke Goss, BLADE II) wants the magical world to rule again, so he seeks the three pieces of the crown that controls the mechanical golden army made up of 70 times 70 warriors. With his robbery of the second piece of the crown and the murder of dozens of humans, the U.S. government calls in their paranormal task force of Hellboy (Ron Perlman, THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN), Liz Sherman (Selma Blair, CRUEL INTENTIONS) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, PAN'S LABYRINTH).
