Here’s your first look at the brand new trailer for Charlie Day’s FOOL’S PARADISE.
The movie stars Charlie Day, Ken Jeong, Kate Beckinsale, Adrien Brody, Ray Liotta, Jason Sudeikis, Edie Falco, John Malkovich, Common, and Jillian Bell.
A satirical comedy about a down on his luck publicist, who gets his lucky break when he discovers a man recently released from a mental health facility looks just like a method actor who refuses to leave his trailer. With the help of a powerful producer, the publicist helps the man become a huge star, even marrying his beautiful leading lady. Their adventures lead them to cross paths with drunken costars, irreverent unhoused action heroes, unpredictable directors, super-agent, and power-mad moguls. Fame and fortune are not all they’re cracked up to be, and the two men must fight their way back to the things that matter the most.
Written and directed by Charlie Day in his directorial debut, the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” actor stars alongside an all-star comedy cast. Featuring one of the final screen performances of Ray Liotta, the cast includes Ken Jeong, Kate Beckinsale, Oscar® winner Adrien Brody, Jason Sudeikis, Edie Falco, Jason Bateman, Common, Jillian Bell, Dean Norris, Jimmi Simpson, and John Malkovich. The film is produced by John Rickard (“Peacemaker” Rampage), along with Tim Zajaros and Christopher Lemole (The Peanut Butter Falcon, Mudbound), Alex Saks (Red Rocket, The Florida Project), and Rick Dugdale (Zero Contact). The executive producers are Kirk Michael Fellows, Rob Gough, Manu Gargi, and Bob Shapiro.
Roadside Attractions will release FOOL’S PARADISE only in theaters May 12, 2023.
Charlie Day and Adrien Brody in FOOL’S PARADISE / Courtesy of Roadside Attractions
Kate Beckinsale in JOLT. Photo credit: Simon Varsano. Courtesy of Amazon Studios.
Beautiful Brit Kate Beckinsale is no stranger to fantasy action flicks after starring in VON HELSING and about five UNDERWORLD outings, fighting vampires and werewolves and bears (? – oh my). She looks every bit the part of an ass-kicker, and her stunt doubles work hard to maintain the illusion effectively. JOLT is more science-y and less supernatural than the aforementioned in this new fast-paced, high-octane rush for adrenaline junkies.
Beckinsale stars as a woman with such extreme anger issues, and abilities to act upon them, that she can only function in society while rigged with a device that lets her self-administer an industrial-strength electric shock when triggered. Which occurs often and easily. Her therapist (Stanley Tucci) oversees her attempts at forging a life. When she falls for a guy (Jai Courtney) during a one-night stand, she starts believing for the first time ever that she might have a shot at true, lasting love. But he’s killed the next day, squashing that dream, and setting her on a course to identify the perp, or perps, and even the score.
That’s a good, if not novel, premise for the mayhem to follow, as the reasons behind her loss unfold and spiral into Big Conspiracy territory. The ensuing events include more twists and surprises than average for such fare, and set up a whole lotta well-executed action sequences. Beckinsale is variably in league or at odds with the local cops in their respective pursuits. Bobby Cannavale is the supportive, sensitive detective, while his partner (superbly played by Laverne Cox) is the skeptic who’d like nothing better than putting Beckinsale down for the count.
Director Tanya Wexler runs a taut ship admirably well for one with only a handful of features on her resume, not exactly concentrated in this sort of production. I don’t know what the final release’s running time will be but the version made available to reviewers for screening maintained a pace, balanced between action and exposition, that kept me from thinking about that. That’s a big compliment, Ms. Wexler, since failure to trim the footage fat has been, unfortunately, a frequent component of my reviews. (Are you seeing this, Mr. Apatow?)
In a summer relatively light on escapist releases, this one’s a solid bet for entertainment value. They dangle the possibility of a sequel (without the Marvel-induced post-credits scene), which is a prospect I welcome. Now that they’ve established such a worthy protagonist, let’s keep her going with those clicks on Prime Video, folks.
JOLT opens on-demand Friday, July 23, on Amazon Prime.
This weekend presents us with another film set in Manhattan, but the locale is the only thing it has in common with MENASHE. Well, it does deal with a father-son conflict, though the duo here is worlds apart from the shop clerk and his pre-teen progeny. For this release we’re taken from the orthodox Jewish community of Brooklyn to the posh, intellectual upper west side, and the son is a good ten years older, a twenty-something. The conflict here concerns something, really someone, the two men have in common, unknown to the patriarch. Though the son shares the frustrations about gentrification (“The city’s losing its soul”) with his parents’ friends, in many ways he may really still be on the cusp of adulthood, hence his status as THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK. And no, it’s not another post-apocalyptic, dystopian teens fighting for humanity opus, thank heavens.
It is set in the modern-day, as the opening title line-drawn animation informs us of the current state of the city, with the fleeing suburbanites returning to make NYC less dangerous…and interesting. We then meet the “title boy”, 23 year-old Thomas Webb (Callum Turner), a college graduate paying his bills as a Spanish tutor and living in a walk-up apartment on the lower east side. This is seen as an act of defiance by his father Ethan (Pierce Brosnan), owner of a small book publishing company. Perhaps he’s right, since Dad squelched his son’s own early literary aspirations by dismissing his work has “serviceable”. But Thomas still has much affection and concern for his mother Judith (Cynthia Nixon), a former artist who now channels her creativity by planning lavish dinner parties featuring a who’s who’s of NYC’s best and brightest. Judith’s also emotionally fragile, so Thomas tries to spend lots of time with her. He also spends time with a beautiful bookseller named Mimi (Kiersey Clemons). Thomas is smitten, but after a drug and booze-fueled one night stand, Mimi has firmly put him back in the “friend zone”. It was a mistake, a “one time thing”, since she’s got a boyfriend in a band who always seems to be on the road. But she still enjoys hanging out with him, which proves to be torture for Thomas. One evening, the frustrated young man meets his new neighbor, a much older man, sixty-something W.F. Gerald (Jeff Bridges), who inquires about his dour attitude. Soon Thomas opens up to the man who becomes a fatherly mentor, dispensing sage wisdom about life and love as they enjoy cigars and scotch. Then Thomas’s world cracks up when he and Mimi go to a high-class burlesque nightclub. He spies his father in the company of an alluring dark-haired younger woman. What if Judith finds out? He tracks her down and begins to “tail” the lady, first joined by Mimi, then solo. Eventually Thomas confronts the mystery woman, a free-lance editor named Johanna (Kate Beckinsale). He warns her to stay away from Ethan, while she believes he has other motives. A flirtation begins which sparks a wild romance, a very hush-hush affair. Has Thomas given up on Mimi? Can they keep this family destroying secret between them? Could things get even messier? Yeah, probably.
An impressive cast has been assembled for this very weird love triangle, but they’re tripped up by a script with an abrasive character at its center. Turner does his best to bring some humanity and depth to the mawkish self-absorbed Thomas, to no avail. He seems at times like a petulant adolescent just moments before throwing a tantrum when a shiny new toy is denied. Of course, the object of his main desire is the too flighty Mimi, Clemons projects smart sensuality, but it’s never clear why she continues to “lead on” then push away Thomas (perhaps she’s keeping him for a “back up” if the bad boy musician goes off with some groupies. Still, her character is more thought out than the siren cipher Johanna. Beckinsale is very believable as the high society knockout, but her dialogue is mainly riddles and admonitions. It’s never clear why she decides to juggle father and son, especially since there’s so little chemistry with Turner. Nixon, on the other hand, is the ethereal nurturer. Her Judith seems the fragile flower, but Nixon shows that there’s a lot more going on behind those clouded eyes. Bridges appears to be concocting a stew of some familiar recent roles for the oddball writer. He’s a bit of THE GIVER, a dollop of “The Dude”, with a layer of David Lynch (in his hair style and fashion sense). And yet again, his growling gritted jaw-line delivery becomes distracting. Oddly the actor who does some of his best work here may be Brosnan as a character we think is a heart-less, gold-grabbing philandering villain. However, Ethan has the most compelling “arc”, especially in the film’s last act when the triangle finally meets (connects, I suppose).
Amazingly this is the second feature this year from the prolific director Marc Webb, but with last April’s GIFTED he had a much more compelling story for that talented cast to explore. The New York locations are stunning (especially the wedding reception at a museum), but many of themes come of as “riffs” on much better Woody Allen flicks (a bit of HANNAH here, some MANHATTAN there). Plus many of the sophisticated dialogue comes off as coy and precious (like the opening scene cartoon). And the big emotional reveal in the final moments would be more at home in a daytime TV drama. The iconic city streets and Ms. Beckinsale are lovely, but THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW YORK has little life or originality.
The next installment in the blockbuster franchise, UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS opens everywhere January 6th! The 5th installment of the werewolves vs vampires opus follows Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) as she fends off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her. With her only allies, David (Theo James) and his father Thomas (Charles Dance), she must stop the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.
You can win Run of Engagement passes to see UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS! Just leave a comment below and we’ll send five of you passes good for two people. Good Luck!
Sony Pictures has unveiled two new trailers for films opening in 2017.
The next installment in the blockbuster franchise, UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS follows Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) as she fends off brutal attacks from both the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her. With her only allies, David (Theo James) and his father Thomas (Charles Dance), she must stop the eternal war between Lycans and Vampires, even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Directed by Anna Foerster, the screenplay is by Cory Goodman from a story by Kyle Ward and Cory Goodman.
Based on characters created by Kevin Grevioux and Len Wiseman & Danny McBride, the film hits theaters on January 6, 2017.
Milla Jovovich stars in Screen Gems’ RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER.
Based on Capcom’s hugely popular video game series comes the final installment in the most successful video game film franchise ever, which has grossed over $1 billion worldwide to date.
Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity’s final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began – The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.
Written and Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, here’s a look at the brand new trailer.
RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER opens in cinemas on January 27, 2017.
Film comedies packed witty, biting humor and whip-smart dialog are pretty rare these days. So LOVE & FRIENDSHIP, director Whit Stillman’s screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s lesser-known early short novel “Lady Susan,” is particularly welcome. With Kate Beckinsale shinning in the lead role as clever, ruthless Lady Susan, the witty comedy is even more delicious.
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is pure fun, a brilliant comedy filled with laugh-out-loud moments and terrific ensemble performances by a largely British cast, making it entertaining even for those who are not big fans of Jane Austen or costume films.
Unlike other more familiar Austen works, LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is more comedy than romance, although there is some of that too. The story might be described as a comedy of manners but that label makes this very funny film sound more tame than it really is. The story is set in the 1790s, a little earlier than most Austen stories, and focuses on the mother more than the daughter, as Austen usually does.
Writer/director Whit Stillman (“The Last Days of Disco”) crafts Austen’s work into a sharp, zinger-filled, twisty romp, a far funnier, smarter comedy and a refreshing change from the typical comedies in theaters now.
Kate Beckinsale turns in one of her sharpest, funniest performances as Lady Susan. Since her husband’s death left her with a daughter and a noble title but insufficient funds, she has stayed with a string of better-off relatives. Sharp-witted Susan has a well-deserved reputation as an accomplished flirt and a woman who can wrap a man around her finger. Now that her daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark) has reached a marriageable age, Lady Susan is determined to find her a rich husband, and one for herself as well.
That is the plan when a touch of scandal, involving Susan’s married lover, the handsome Lord Manwaring (Lochlann O’Mearain), brings her to the quiet country estate, Churchill, of her late husband’s brother., where she hopes to hide out while gossip dies down. Charles Vernon (Justin Edwards) welcomes his sister-in-law but his wife Catherine DeCourcy Vernon (Emma Greenwell), who has never met her before, is more leery, as Lady Susan’s fearsome reputation for twisting circumstances to her advantage, particularly with men, precedes her.
Susan has her eye on Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), the handsome bachelor brother of her hostess. Catherine regards that possibility with suspicion and alarm, as do her parents, Lady DeCourcy (Jemma Redgrave) and Sir Reginald DeCourcy (James Fleet). Her husband Charles has a more kindly view of his brother’s widow.
Susan arrives at the estate with a friend, Mrs. Cross (Kelley Campbell), who assists her like a combination companion, lady’s maid and seamstress, although as she tells her hostess, it would be “offensive to us both” if she paid her. However, Susan’s romantic plans are complicated when her daughter Frederica also arrives, tearfully fleeing the attentions of Sir James Martin (Tom Bennett), the always-sunny but dull-witted wealthy aristocrat that her mother had selected as a suitable husband for her daughter. The very silly Sir James soon arrives as well, uninvited, and becomes another house guest.
Susan confides her frustration and plots to her close friend Alicia Johnson (Chloe Sevigny), an American married to an English aristocrat, the “very respectable” Mr. Johnson (Stephen Fry). Their conversations allows us to see inside Susan’s Machiavellian plans. To make things a big more complicated, Mr. Johnson’s former ward is Lady Lucy Manwaring (Jenn Murray), the jealous, hysterical rich wife of Susan’s lover.
It may seem like a lot of characters to keep track of but Stillman’s well-crafted script and firm directorial hand keeping things running smoothly and makes keeping everyone straight easy. Of course, no one does this kind of story as well as Austen.
Unsurprisingly, the period costumes are gorgeous and perfect, and sets and locations are lush and lovely, as is the polished photography. The gracious beauty of the clothes and locations deliciously contrasts with the ruthless social maneuvering taking place, part of the humor.
Few complications are beyond Susan’s powers to turn to her advantage, although plots may not turn out exactly as planned. Beckinsale’s fast-talking Susan is a force of nature, who both lights up and transforms every room she enters, but really the whole cast is a dream, nailing each character perfectly so that the whole plot unfolds in hilarious precision. Sevigny is particularly good as Susan’s confident, whose husband is alarmed by her wife’s friendship and threatens the unthinkable – leaving London for the wilds of Connecticut. Greenwell is very good as Catherine, appalled and intimidated by the relentless Susan. Samuel is also excellent as Reginald, who falls under Susan’s charms, and expresses the best shock at Sir James’ jaw-dropping witlessness. Bennett is wonderfully funny as the always happy, clueless Sir James. The ensemble cast works great as a clockwork whole.
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is just great fun, a fast-paced and brilliant gem that is sure to enchant Austen fans and non-fans alike.
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP is an adaptation of young Jane Austen’s novella Lady Susan, believed to have been written in the mid 1790s but revised up to a fair copy prepared in 1805 and finally published by her nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, in 1871.
Kate Beckinsale on Lady Susan:
“A new Jane Austen is quite a find, I think. It’s quite exciting to find something that people are not necessarily familiar with, either the trajectory of the story, or the characters.
“The thing about the Lady Susan Vernon character is that, unusually for romantic literature, at the core she’s not a very good person. And yet, she’s celebrated in the novella. It is extraordinarily well written and well observed and well drawn.
“This is an epistolary novel and it has its own difficulties in adapting. Lady Susan doesn’t have the same kind of reflection as Emma has, or self-analysis.”
For Austen fans, this is very exciting. Director Whit Stillman says, “Seeing an adaptation of Jane Austen’s early (and not-truly-finished) novella concerning the clever and triumphant Lady Susan Vernon gives hope of adding another Austen volume to the shelf of her great mature works – now in film form.”
Check out the brand new trailer.
Beautiful young widow Lady Susan Vernon visits to the estate of her in-laws to wait out the colourful rumours about her dalliances circulating through polite society.
Whilst ensconced there, she decides to secure a husband for herself and a future for her eligible but reluctant daughter, Frederica.
In doing so she attracts the simultaneous attentions of the young, handsome Reginald DeCourcy, the rich and silly Sir James Martin and the divinely handsome, but married, Lord Manwaring, complicating matters severely.
Catherine Vernon (nee DeCourcy) describes Lady Susan, per Jane Austen:
“She is really excessively pretty… I have seldom seen so lovely a Woman as Lady Susan. She is delicately fair, with fine grey eyes & dark eyelashes; & from her appearance one would not suppose her more than five & twenty… I cannot help feeling that she possesses an uncommon union of Symmetry, Brilliancy, & Grace. Her address to me was so gentle, frank, & even affectionate, that, if I had not known how much she has always disliked me for marrying Mr. Vernon… I should have imagined her an attached friend… Her Countenance is absolutely sweet, & her voice & manner winningly mild. I am sorry it is so, for what is this but Deceit?”
English novelist, biographer and critic Margaret Drabble says of Jane Austen:
There are some great writers who wrote too much. There are others who wrote enough. There are yet others who wrote nothing like enough to satisfy their admirers, and Jane Austen is certainly one of these. There would be more genuine rejoicing at the discovery of a complete new novel by Jane Austen than any other literary discovery, short of a new major play by Shakespeare, that one can imagine….
[Lady Susan was written in the period of the mid-1790s] when Jane Austen was about to start working on her first version of Sense and Sensibility, which was called Elinor and Marianne, and which was also, like Lady Susan, written in letter form. She was about this stage twenty years old.
Clearly, she liked Lady Susan well enough to make a fair copy of it, and not well enough to pursue its publication. Perhaps she was thinking of publication when she copied it, but none of her novels appeared until 1811, and by that point she may well have become dissatisfied with it again.
One could reasonably conjecture that one of her dissatisfactions sprang from the form in which she chose to write it. The letter form of the novel had been popular in the eighteenth century, and was very much a living convention when she tried to use it, but it did not really suit her talents — witness the fact that the second draft of Sense and Sensibility was in the third-person style of narration which she was to use from then on. The letter form is an artificial convention, and she felt its limitations: stylistically, she was a far from conventional writer, and as Virginia Woolf pointed out, she had the courage and originality to find he own way of expressing herself — her own subject matter, her own plots, her own prose. She admired Richardson greatly, all of whose works are written in letters, and she enjoyed Fanny Burney, but their method does not come naturally to her: she points out in her Conclusion, ‘This correspondence, by a meeting between some of the parties and a separation between the others could not, to the great detriment of the Post Office revenue, be continued longer,’ which indicates her sense of unreality in keeping the game up….
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP was an Official Selection of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival ‘Premiere’ Category.
Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions will release LOVE & FRIENDSHIP in theaters on May 13, 2016.
Simon Pegg, Robin Williams, Kate Beckinsale and the cast of Monty Python star in the funny new trailer for the comedy ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING.
ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING follows a disillusioned school teacher (Pegg) who suddenly finds he has the ability to do anything he wishes, a challenge bestowed upon him by a group of power-crazed aliens (voiced by John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin & Eric Idle), watching him from space.
As he struggles to deal with these new found powers and the events that subsequently arise, he calls upon his loyal canine companion Dennis (voiced by Robin Williams) to help him along the way.
Mishap after mishap finally leads him to the ultimate conundrum that all men dread and at which many have failed….should he choose the girl….or the dog….?
For more on the casting of Robin Williams as the voice of Dennis the Dog, read here.
Director Terry Jones’ cheeky comedy, ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, opens in UK cinemas on August 14.
Kate Beckinsale (CONTRABAND, UNDERWORLD) is in negotiations to star in the thriller THE DISAPPOINTMENTS ROOM, to be directed by D.J. Caruso (EAGLE EYE, DISTURBIA) , from an original screenplay by Wentworth Miller (STOKER).
Hoping to repair their failing marriage, Dana (Beckinsale) and Dave move, with their son Jeremy, into a dilapidated country manor near an aging Eastern seaboard town. In the course of renovating their new home, Dana discovers a small locked door in the corner of the attic that hadn’t appeared in the house’s blueprints. The ghost of a young girl appears and beckons her to open the door. But the spirits of those who protect the room’s terrifying secret return to make sure that the room remains closed forever.
The film will begin shooting on February 3, 2014 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The announcement was made today by producers, Geyer Kosinski of Media Talent Group and Mark Damon of Foresight Unlimited
Mark Damon’s Foresight is handling international sales and will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market. Envision Entertainment, PalmStar Media Capital and Merced Media Partners will co-finance the film.
The film will be executive produced by Demarest Films’ Sam Englebardt and Bill Johnson, Foresight’s Tamara Birkemoe, PalmStar’s Kevin Frakes, Merced Media’s Raj Brinder Singh and Envision’s Remington Chase and Stepan Martirosyan.
Wentworth Miller’s original Black List script, STOKER, was made into a feature film by Chan-wook Park starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman and Matthew Goode, and released earlier this year to critical acclaim by Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Beckinsale is repped by UTA and Media Talent Group and Caruso is repped by Media Talent Group and CAA.
Well Mr. Farrell, is this going to be an annual Summertime event ? I’m talking about his starring in big budget remakes. And not of films from Hollywood’s Golden Age. These are from the last 30 years or so ( I saw them in theatres in the original release, so thanks for making me feel even older Mr. F! ). Last year he was in the remake of 1985’s FRIGHT NIGHT taking on Chris Sarandon’s suburban vamp Jerry Brewster ( I prefer the original for Roddy McDowell and the lack of murky, dim 3D ). This time he’s got much bigger shoes to fill. Farrell’s got the Arnold Schwarzenegger role in the remake of TOTAL RECALL. The first version came out in 1990 inbetween the Austrian Oak’s comedies KINDERGARTEN COP and TWINS, well before he returned as our favorite cinema cyborg. This was also director Paul Verhoeven’s follow-up to ROBOCOP ( which is about to be rebooted soon ). Now Len Wiseman ( perhaps best known for starting the UNDERWORLD series ) is behind the reins. Can he replace our memories of a butt-kickin’ Sharon Stone and those misshapen Mars mutants with this new SF head trip?
It’s pretty much the same set-up as before. Doug Quaid ( Farrell ) is a working drone living in the “Colony”. Seems that in the far off future the only parts of Earth that are still inhabitable are England ( now the United Federation of Britain where all the swells reside in luxury ) and an island across the globe ( probably Australia ) called ” The Colony”. It’s not so nice. You could say that it’s Gotham City to UFB’s Metropolis ( for you comics fans ). Every morning Doug leaves his gorgeous wife Lori ( Kate Beckinsale ) and joins pal Harry ( Bookem Woodbine ) in a massive commuter tube ( called ” the Drop”, or ” the Fall”, or something ominous like that ) that shoots them through the Earth’s core to UFB where they work at a factory producing robots ( or “Synthoids ” ) used as military back-up. Seems a revolutionary group lead by Matthias ( Bill Nighy ), which is trying to liberate the colonists, is causing UFB leader Cohaagen ( Bryan Cranston ) no end of headaches. Speaking of the old noggin, Doug’s not been sleeping well because of some dreams where he’s fighting UFB forces alongside gorgeous warrior Melina ( Jessica Biel ). These visions along with some job fatigue inspire Doug to walk into the local “Rekall” shop ( despite Harry’s warnings ). ” Rekall ” plants new memories into your brain via a high-tech brain-chair. But something goes haywire and a switch is tripped inside Doug. Seems that everything he knows is a lie! ( Cue David Byrne, ” This is not my beautiful wife..” ). Can he get to the bottom of things and learn the truth about his past? And how does he fit into the big global battles? Just who is he and what side is he on?
So does this version work better in the era of CGI effects? Well, Farrell is more believable as a working stiff than Ah-nold. And Mr. F handles the action stuff very well. But, for wont of a better word, the 1990 model is a whole lot more fun. I mean gooey-cheesy fun! There are a few nods to the original, but I miss those over-the-top make-up effects from Rob Bottin and company. And the new version is repetitious almost to the point of boredom. It’s chase, leap, shoot, chase, exposition…., shoot, chase, explosion, leap, plot…., chase, etc. The film plays out more like a video game with dull dialogue between levels. And all the running and chasing. Makes you realize why Chuck Jones’s Road Runner cartoons are so great! They’re only seven minutes, not stretched-out over two hours! I wish I could at least praise the art direction, but the ” Colony ” is pure BLADE RUNNER meets Venice ( with the crowded neon-lit streets and constant rain ) and AFB is THE FIFTH ELEMENT with the massive, stacked skyscrapers and magnetic hover-cars ( a nod to STAR WARS EP. II there ). As for the actors, Beckinsale looks to be relishing a rare bad-girl role ( greatly expanded from Stone’s role in 1990 ). She’s a sexy future version of the unstoppable Bond hench…er…person. At least she’s having some fun! Biel and Nighy are woefully underused as the rebels while Cranston is playing a more vicious balck-hatted villain version of the oily politico we saw a few weeks ago in ROCK OF AGES. The whole flick is exhausting and overdone. Not that the original is full of subtlety. After viewing this you may wish that you got your ” a** to Mars”, or to your local video store to see the original. I bet that talking chest-head thingy looks mighty fine on Blu!
