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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Murder!?

  • Title: Hollywoodland
  • IMDb: link

Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland isn’t quite what you’d expect.  Much more an art house character study than a Hollywood thriller, it provides some genuinely funny and dramatic moments.  Although Hollywood does raise its ugly head in places, for the the most part it’s a well acted and well financed small film that finds most of the right touches to provide an intriguing look at the life, and death, of the man who many saw only as Superman.

George Reeves (Ben Affleck) is dead, and private investigator Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) wants to know why.  Sure he’s in it for the money and fame, but the more he becomes entangled in the web of lies and mysterious secrets, the more he needs to know the truth.  Was it a suicide like the local police want everyone to think?  Or was it murder?

The film follows two lives over the course of its two-hour running time.  The first is the life and career of George Reeves.  The second is the life of Simo which, in many ways, mirrors Reeves own in how it falls apart over the length of the film.

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Superman Remade

  • Title: Superman Returns
  • IMDb: link

superman-returns-poster

What’s with Hollywood and rubberized super hero suits?  Is there some kind of run on cloth?  Did they buy it all in bulk a few years ago and have to use it all up before buying something new?  Anyway…

Superman Returns isn’t a great super hero flick, but it does have charm and heart which left me happy, though not ecstatic, with the outcome.  Given its similarities, it’s impossible to not compare it to Donner’s original, and find it wanting.  Still, in a summer that’s given us X-Men: The Last Stand and Nacho Libre this Superman looks damn good.

Five years ago (sometime not long after the events of Superman II) Earth’s scientists found the remains of Krypton and, without saying his goodbyes, Superman left his adopted home.  As the movie opens Superman (Brandon Routh) crashes back to Earth on the Kent farm.  After a brief talk with Ma Kent (Eva Marie Saint – very nice casting choice!) Clark returns to Metropolis and his life as a reporter for the Daily Planet.

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Your Mission if You Choose to Accept It

  • Title: Mission: Impossible III
  • IMDb: link

mission-impossible-3-poster

I wasn’t a fan of the first film, but enjoyed Mission: Impossible II for its style and big stunts (and the delectable Thandie Newton), but this film finally is what I’ve been waiting for from the franchise.  Big elaborate stunts, a comprehensible plot, a bad-ass villain, and a team of IMF agents working together doing their jobs (and not all killed off in the first ten minutes) this is the Mission: Impossible I’ve been waiting for.

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has given up active assignments for the IMF and now trains recruits and spends time with his fiance Julia (Michelle Monaghan) who doesn’t know what he really does for a living.  Hunt is finally happy and at peace until a friend from the IMF (Billy Crudup) contacts him and tells him his star pupil (Keri Russell) has been taken hostage.  Hunt returns to the field with his team (Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Maggie Q) for a rescue mission.

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The Sentinel

  • Title: The Sentinel
  • IMDb: link

Remember when it seemed like every other film was about the President of the United States?  What happened to that trend? Oh yeah, Clinton left office.  It’s telling when the only time Hollywood looks to the White House for material it’s either damning (see American Dreamz) or focusing on the underlings who make things run.  One would think that In the Line of Fire closed the book on Secret Service films, but apparently that was not to be.  Are we better off for having reopened the veiled windows of what goes on with the President’s bodyguards once more?  Let’s find out, shall we?

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Unlucky Slevin Lacks Bang

  • Title: Lucky Number Slevin
  • IMDb: link

Lucky Number Slevin

I’m not a big Josh Hartnett fan; I’ve seen to many of his movies.  I know that sounds harsh but anybody else remember Hollywood Homicide, 40 Days and 40 Nights, Blow Dry, and Pearl HarborSlevin takes a rather simple plot and twists it up in a maze-like formula of so many thrillers these days.  While it’s better than something like Taking Lives in the end that’s not saying much.  It’s not bad, it’s got a good cast and a few memorable moments, and a 70’s style set designer for some reason.  But in the end it’s just okay.  Still, any film where Josh Hartnett gets punched repeatedly in the face I’m all for.

Slevin (Josh Hartnett) decides to take a trip to New York City to visit his friend Nick Fisher (Sam Jaeger).  From the moment he steps into NY things go wrong.  First he’s mugged getting into town losing his wallet and all identification (and getting his nose broken for the first time) and on arriving at Nick’s apartment is taken by thugs to be the owner of the apartment, his friend Nick, who has fled the city owing money to two competing gangster families and left Slevin holding the bag.  With friends like these…

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