Showing posts with label Ciaran Hinds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ciaran Hinds. Show all posts

Friday, November 1, 2013

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (2002)

Completely disregarding the first three Jack Ryan films, THE SUM OF ALL FEARS casts Ben Affleck as a young CIA analyst who is an expert on a a little known Russian figure (Ciaran Hinds) who is suddenly announced as the new Russian president, after the old one unexpectedly kicks the bucket.  Because of this Ryan is summoned by the CIA Director (Morgan Freeman).  At the same time, a nuclear bomb gets into the hands of the Nazis.  Yes, the Nazis.  Anyway, tensions rise between America and Russia, so it's up to Jack Ryan to save the day.

I really enjoyed the first three Jack Ryan films, but TSOAF was pretty lame.  Not only was Affleck unable to fill the screen character first played excellently by Alec Baldwin and then perfected by Harrison Ford, but the story was just boring!  Yeah, there's a few explosions and a gun or two fired, but overall, TSOAF is a snoozer.  Blah, blah, blah, bomb missing, yelling and posturing, helicopter crashing, fast typing...I don't know, the supporting cast (all except Ryan's girlfriend) were really good, but the direction was so bland and the story so played out that there was zero tension.  It made money at the box office, but it's easy to see why this reboot failed to garner any sequels.   

Part 1 - The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Part 2 - Patriot Games (1992)
Part 3 - Clear and Present Danger (1994)
Reboot 2 - Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Thursday, March 21, 2013

JOHN CARTER (2012)

Civil War-era soldier John Carter finds himself on the run from some Indians.  He's holed up in a cave when suddenly a funny looking dude appears and tries to kill Carter with a knife.  Carter beats the crap out of the guy and accidentally transports himself to Mars with the odd amulet the man was holding.  Once on Mars, John finds that because of the difference in gravity on Mars he's now superstrong and can jump super fucking high.  Added to this, John gets himself involved with an ongoing conflict between the three biggest groups on Mars...mainly due to the fact that the daughter of the blue group is hot as fuck!

As far as entertainment goes, JOHN CARTER is a good watch, but despite all of the bizarre creatures and action-packed sequences I still just felt kinda "blah" about the whole thing.  The biggest things that could have turned this into something more promising would have been: 1) different director.  I love FINDING NEMO and WALL-E is one of the greatest films of all time, but Stanton was just not the man for this job. 2) don't make Carter so depressing. 3) make Carter less indestructible. 4) make the Tharks less cartoonish and more threatening. 5) streamline the script.  There was way too much stuff going on.

Not a great film or a bad film, just merely a mediocre one.  That said, the ending was the best part and I probably would watch a sequel just to find out what happened.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012)

Do you like earth-shattering booms that'll shake your speakers right off the wall? You like high-piercing screeches so loud that it'll make dogs two counties over soil themselves? How about jump scenes so goddamn startling that it'll make the cat sleeping in your lap jump up and rip your face off ? If you answered "Yes." to any of those questions then do I have the movie for you! It's called THE WOMAN IN BLACK and it's about a young lawyer sent out to a secluded estate to clear up the paperwork/will of a woman who just died. Bad News Bears for him though because the house is haunted!

At first, it's just random sounds that could be attributed to the wind or maybe birds, but soon enough things escalate to eardrum exploding crashes that sound like somebody detonated an nuclear bomb in your backyard. Alternate that with scenes of crusty phantoms standing around looking sinister and you pretty much have the entire movie. I liked the first 20 - 30 minutes, it had a nice build-up, the house looked creepy and a sympathetic character was created out of the widowed Daniel Ratcliffe, but once the ghosts started showing up there was nothing. Just boom, shriek, jump scene and repeat until end credits.

Worth watching, I guess, if you're easily amused and don't mind the sound of the Space Shuttle coming through your wall every five minutes. If you need me I'll be in my room watching THE SHINING.

Part 2 - The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014)