Thandie Newton

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles
  • IMDb: link

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire ChroniclesOver his career Tom Cruise has supplied audiences with his share of good, bad, and indifferent feature films. Released in 1994, and adapted from the works of Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles gave audiences Brad Pitt as a present-day vampire describing his history to a reporter (Christian Slater). Directed by Neil Jordan the film also stars Cruise as the vampire Lestat turned by Louie (Pitt) and a young Kirsten Dunst as a child turned into a vampire who will never age.

The movie, and Cruise’s character, still feels too whiny as Lestat bemoans his immortality eventually turning on other vampires and walking the Earth alone. It’s certainly an interesting looking film (earning an Oscar nomination for Art Design) and even a whiny Cruise is occasionally compelling in the role of Lestat, Pitt is effectively creepy, and Dunst offers glimpses of the actress she would become. The film suffers a bit after Pitt exits stage left to be replaced by a vampire coven including Thandie Newton and Antonio Banderas.

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End of Days – Armageddon: The Day After 2012

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: 2012
  • IMDb: link

I didn’t expect much from director Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster flick other than a little dumb fun. 2012 couldn’t even deliver that.

What follows is a short, and hopefully concise, review for a long, and depressingly boring, film (158-minute running time) that is almost as much fun as spending three hours alone in a doctor’s waiting room.

Maybe it was asking too much of Emmerich to give us another big disaster flick (after all, it’s not like 10,000 B.C. did anyone any favors). The man who gave us Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and that woeful Godzilla remake, it seems, has nothing new to share. Instead he brings back the same tired storylines, with new actors and larger special effects, in hopes that this alone will be enough to satisfy.

It’s not.

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RocknRolla

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

There is no honor among thieves.

The latest from writer/director Guy Ritchie is a bit of a convoluted tale of real-estate scams in London.  Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) runs an under the table service of getting property rights quickly passed through red tape for an exorbitant fee.  Anyone needing business done quickly has no other option than to go through Cole.

After bilking two tough guys (Gerard Bulter, Idris Elba) out of their dream, and getting them to owe him money, Cole moves onto business with a Russian (Karel Roden).  Here’s where things get complicated.

In need of some fast cash One Two (Butler) and Mumbles (Elba) take a job from an associate (Thandie Newton) to rob a large supply of money coming into London.  Unknown to the pair the money is the payoff the Russian is bringing to Cole, and its theft jeopardizes the business deal.

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Dubya

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

“Any kind of government will do, as long as it’s a democracy.”

Oliver Stone‘s biopic on George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) is a bit of a mixed bag.  On one side you have a terrific lead performance by Brolin and strong performances by Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush and James Cromwell as Geroge Herbert Walker Bush.  On the other hand you’ve got a group of caricatures from the likes of Thandie Newton, Scott Glenn, Ioan Gruffudd, Toby Jones, and Jeffrey Wright, among others, all of which seem to belong more on a parody sketch from MADtv than a feature film.

Also, and perhaps more surprising, is that Oliver Stone, the guy who gave us an epic conspiracy in JFK and the foibles which brought down a president in Nixon, doesn’t have much to say about W.

Stone’s basic premise is George is a dumbshit with a daddy complex better suited to be a used car salesman who became president.  That’s not exactly breaking news.  And although there are some good scenes throughout the film, Stone doesn’t really offer much insight into the character as he’s too busy poking fun at everyone involved.

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Jog, Slightly Out of Shape Guy, Jog

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Run, Fatboy, Run
  • IMDB: link

“He runs marathons.”
“Why?”

run-fat-boy-run-poster
Um, isn’t he suppossed to be, you know, fat?

Dennis (Simon Pegg) is a loser.  He spends his days working as a mall security guard and his nights alone in his crappy basement apartment being scolded by his landlord Mr. Ghoshdashtidar (Harish Patel) and his buxom daughter (India de Beaufort).

It wasn’t always this way, however.  Dennis was once engaged to the beautiful and caring Libby (Thandie Newton), that is until he ran from their wedding leaving her pregnant and alone at the altar.

Years later Dennis, still not over Libby, faces her new boyfriend (Hank Azaria), a succcessful business man who seems both his ex and his son (Matthew Fenton) are starting to fall for.  To prove himself to Libby, Dennis signs-up for the charity marathon and attempt to beat Whit and win back his family.

The cast is pretty good across the board, and that’s a good thing because the writing leaves something to be desired.  Still, you really have to wonder about casting Simon Pegg, who is not fat, in the title role here.  I guess the title “Run, Jerkface, Run” didn’t have the same ring to it.

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