Movie Reviews

42

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 42
  • IMDB: link

42Written and directed by Brian Helgeland, 42 chronicles the struggle and rise of Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) as Major League Baseball’s first African American player. Although a bit formulaic (it seems we’ve got several similar racially-themed sports movies over the past decade or so with The Express, Pride, and Remember the Titans), Helgeland successfully delivers an emotional and uplifting tale that’s more concerned with the historical importance of Robinson’s ascension to the majors than the any specific game of baseball in which he played.

In a straightforward story like this that doesn’t dig too deep into the hidden recesses and personal life of its main character to offer new insights not already available to the general pubic much of the success or failure is going to rely on the performances to carry the film. Here Helgeland makes terrific choices as Boseman (who coincidentally played Floyd Little in the similarly-themed The Express) carries the film with the ease Robinson swung a bat or caught a fly ball.

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Trance

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Trance
  • IMDB: link

TranceTwo thoughts ran through my head when the end credits rolled on the latest film from director Danny Boyle. First, Rosario Dawson is one hell of a beautiful woman. Seriously, this film will be known, even more than for its train wreck of a plot, for the infinite number of screenshots of the fully nude actress which will inevitably hit the Internet in the coming months.

And second, when you get past the smoke and mirrors, the endless twists, turns, misdirection, and Dawson’s full frontal nudity, there’s not really that much to Trance. Despite a strong set-up, the script by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge eventually crumbles under the wight of its preposterous plot. Trance is simply too complicated for its own good.

The film opens with the theft of a $25 million painting from an auction house in broad daylight by a brazen group of criminals (Vincent Cassel, Danny Sapani, Wahab Sheikh, Matt Cross). Despite the best efforts of our narrator, the heroic auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy) who is injured in the heist, the crooks make off with the painting.

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Jurassic Park 3D

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  • Title: Jurassic Park
  • IMDb: link

Jurassic Park

Originally released 20 years ago, Steven Spielberg‘s dinosaur movie (adapted from the novel by Michael Crichton) gets a new run in theaters sporting retrofitted 3D effects. Despite CGI effects two decades old, the film holds up remarkably well and the 3D works (most of the time) to enhance what is still a thoroughly enjoyable popcorn movie.

The film, for those need a refresher, stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum as scientists recruited by a wealthy billionaire (Richard Attenborough) to sign off on his new amusement park which features cloned dinosaurs. Also along for the weekend are the billionaire’s grandchildren (Joseph Mazzello, Ariana Richards) and his “blood-sucking lawyer” (Martin Ferrero).

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Ginger & Rosa

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Ginger & Rosa
  • IMDb: link

Ginger & Rosa

Writer/director Sally Potter‘s Ginger & Rosa isn’t a bad film by any means, but it’s certainly more concerned with showcasing the talents of its actors (particularly its young leading lady) than presenting a compelling tale set in 1962 London against the backdrop of nuclear proliferation and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Elle Fanning stars as Ginger, the smart daughter of an irresponsible father (Alessandro Nivola) and demanding mother (Christina Hendricks). She’s also surrounded by a collection of equally pompous and pretentious role models (Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Annette Bening) who feed the girl’s interest in activism and rebellion without taking the slightest interest in what is going on inside Ginger’s impressionable young mind.

The calm in the storm for Ginger comes in the form of her lifelong best friend Rosa (Alice Englert). By far the more extroverted and promiscuous of the pair, Rosa continues to push Ginger into taking chances and having fun.

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On the Road

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: On the Road
  • IMDB: link

On the RoadAdapted from Jack Kerouac‘s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, On the Road follows the misadventures of young writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) who takes up with the charismatic Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) for a hedonistic journey across the country that involves sex, drugs, the defining music and philosophy of the Beat Generation, and both Dean’s girlfriend Marylou (Kristen Stewart) and wife Camille (Kirsten Dunst).

Francis Ford Coppola purchased the movie rights in 1979, but spent decades unable to get the meandering period piece centered around a group of self-important characters off the ground. In late 2010 his patience was rewarded by director Walter Salles and screenwriter Jose Rivera who were finally able to bring the project to fruition.

On the Road is, at best, a mixed success. The relationship between Riley and Hedlund succeeds while Salles sprinkles in solid small supporting performances from recognizable actors such as Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, and Alice Braga.

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