HENRY CAVILL & ARMIE HAMMER IN THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirmTAotWif4aGq06qvcZ2-DJWftKA6HHsaSHGbt9X65QDp6-dKyO2pkAmHlS5tnO2whMSQ7PWc9_kTcYMGrfn8ZIaRpysHdKKMMB7ADUxAMapYpqvse2y8q71dVQC2l8eu0fw5zLF9Tk/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-08-13+at+10.27.01+PM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgirmTAotWif4aGq06qvcZ2-DJWftKA6HHsaSHGbt9X65QDp6-dKyO2pkAmHlS5tnO2whMSQ7PWc9_kTcYMGrfn8ZIaRpysHdKKMMB7ADUxAMapYpqvse2y8q71dVQC2l8eu0fw5zLF9Tk/s320/Screen+shot+2015-08-13+at+10.27.01+PM.png" width="111" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Unlike another spy franchise derived from the Cold War 1960's, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. television series is mostly regarded by those "in the know" while CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB operative Illya Kuryakin, played by Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, know what's needed for each and every semi-complicated scene, headlined by an ingenue who stretches beyond the love interest role: Everything is pretty much about Alicia Vikander's Gaby while the boys are along for the ride...<br /> <br /> Actually, it <i>is </i>their vehicle... Especially Hammer's Illya, who gets his very own suspenseful closeup whenever on the verge of losing his cool. In fact, by the second half, much like The Avenger's Hulk, we're overly anticipating his crazy tantrums; wherein the MAN himself is more in the dark. Other than a Robert Vaughn cleft chin, what exactly does the American bring to the table to match his temperamental scene-stealing Russian sidekick? <br /> <br /> Well he's perfectly suited, genuinely dapper, beds chicks like James Bond, and can speak all the dialogue, extra clearly. For even when a nuclear bomb plot goes occasionally haywire and the characters are playfully treated as if we knew them much better (director Guy Ritchie in SHERLOCK HOLMES mode), Solo's there to guide us along the clever espionage/action despite being second... no, make that third... fiddle throughout.

2015, alicia vikander, armie hammer, guy ritchie, henry cavill, jared harris, spy, TV adaptation

HENRY CAVILL & ARMIE HAMMER IN THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

2015 rating: *** Unlike another spy franchise derived from the Cold War 1960's, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. television series is mostly ...

THURSDAY NIGHT REMAKE REVIEW OF 'POLTERGEIST'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilofRO4ev-FqbccW6RPsEPKl81GMiTL9yTYZphU2JhcXz5cRO5Q0WB8yDzi7vsHduBKKBxGgSjbyHc1wai6KZ5WSw11kN6VXdFEDjxzncY5lmdpDwV6-0_zH0AFnEBDtfRhG8b0shaUPI/s1600/Picture+1.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilofRO4ev-FqbccW6RPsEPKl81GMiTL9yTYZphU2JhcXz5cRO5Q0WB8yDzi7vsHduBKKBxGgSjbyHc1wai6KZ5WSw11kN6VXdFEDjxzncY5lmdpDwV6-0_zH0AFnEBDtfRhG8b0shaUPI/w168-h400/Picture+1.png" width="168" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> Well there <i>was</i> a theme park ride based on Steven Spielberg’s JAWS, so why not POLTERGEIST? You sit inside a tram connected to winding tracks, rolling through a riveting haunted house. Yet what separates this from any other frantic horror movie of the last decade is an evil clown doll… numerous clowns, actually… and a cute little girl sucked inside the television set. Hi Def... sans the Star Spangled Banner sign-off. <br /> <br /> Wherein the original had three complete acts, each a fulfilling story in itself, the new POLTERGEIST cuts right to the chase – and it’s <i>only</i> a chase this time around. The family consists of mellow patriarch Sam Rockwell, seeming more like a cool uncle than a responsible adult dad with his wife, two curious kids and one bitter teen… just like before. But this suburban clan act like they just met, lacking the ingrown chemistry before the haunting occurs and hardly earning the post-traumatic, devil-may-care attitude after the research staff, led by Jane Adams, moves in to investigate the paranormal emergency. <br /> <br /> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcxNFR1MlJw7jdN3EB2SgdFsdAIHBPp8jly6fwkP5Zqbp5bbgObUwxXc4Z8iyljjcKA5UanPyrLDs-MUCUBTQFK3NpgRoM6RMWXcqtzhwmAo5iLj_gtVXUlGYP93PDlHb-BhHkrrY1kM/s1600/Picture+3.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcxNFR1MlJw7jdN3EB2SgdFsdAIHBPp8jly6fwkP5Zqbp5bbgObUwxXc4Z8iyljjcKA5UanPyrLDs-MUCUBTQFK3NpgRoM6RMWXcqtzhwmAo5iLj_gtVXUlGYP93PDlHb-BhHkrrY1kM/s200/Picture+3.png" width="80" /></a>Like the unnecessary CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Special Edition brought us quickly inside the spaceship, this reboot takes us deeper into the ghoulish depths of the house built on a relocated cemetery. A nice attempt to learn the ingredients of all the bedlam, but without any explanation there’s no purpose to go that one step beyond, even when the usually-effective Jared Harris (reunited with his HAPPINESS lover, Adams)… a cross between the original Tangina and Robert Shaw’s tough JAWS shark hunter… arrives to clean house, literally. <br /> <br /> Not that there isn’t a fair amount of suspenseful jolts. It just wasn’t necessary to remake a cinematic experience that took its time to put the characters, and the audience, through an immense ringer. At a sparse 93-minutes, these people hardly suffer at all. The main clown serves as a cameo. And not long after "They're Here," they're gone.

2015, haunted house, horror, jane adams, jared harris, remake, sam rockwell

THURSDAY NIGHT REMAKE REVIEW OF 'POLTERGEIST'

2015 rating: ** Well there was a theme park ride based on Steven Spielberg’s JAWS, so why not POLTERGEIST? You sit inside a tram connec...

HAMMER FILMS PRESENTS THE QUIET ONES

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhM8if-g4vYnKWeg3ZsyNtw7B7NlfVvebMfRWuH1FzDsOXMVO2W-KnvCRPpqbR0PAVi1w36Bz5lg7OA3UqaCRhyphenhyphenXuGEtdr5FDZQpcw74VvMKnY5tjIKRGXrJ0xGmR1ndbIHvx2o-3ESh8/s1600/the-quiet-ones-review-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhM8if-g4vYnKWeg3ZsyNtw7B7NlfVvebMfRWuH1FzDsOXMVO2W-KnvCRPpqbR0PAVi1w36Bz5lg7OA3UqaCRhyphenhyphenXuGEtdr5FDZQpcw74VvMKnY5tjIKRGXrJ0xGmR1ndbIHvx2o-3ESh8/s1600/the-quiet-ones-review-1.jpg" width="185" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: **</td></tr> </tbody></table> Ever notice that pretty much anything spoken in a British accent winds up sounding intelligent?<br /> <br /> Well this is the case of the legendary and now revamped HAMMER FILMS, who years ago brought already-established icons to life ranging from FRANKENSTEIN to DRACULA and recently reentered cinema with THE WOMAN IN BLACK, to use the "documenting handheld camera<i> </i>device" but with a more clever twist.<br /> <br /> Plot has a England University Professor Joseph Coupland, played by Jared Harris, hiring a fresh and naive student, Sam Claflin's Brian McNeil, to film an experimental paranormal research taking place inside a rural building...<br /> <br /> The experiment centers on a young girl named Jane, who could very well be demon possessed, and along for the ride are two more kids: a flirtatious blonde girl and another young man... These two seem like the typical victims served up in any horror flick while the pivotal Brian is the blank slate/non-believer, so everything we experience will be through his eyes, and lens.<br /> <br /> The handheld scenes occur either for the moment or as archive footage viewed by teacher and students within the grungy confides of a makeshift labyrinth... Their ultimate goal is to watch the changes occurring outside (and inside) poor Jane, and then try pinning down that naughty spirit causing all the havoc. Meanwhile, Brian has become smitten with the subject, and the professor, with a grand touch of sleazy sinister about him, has his own personal desires. <br /> <br /> While much of the film is grainy and retro, there are sporadic bursts of intrusively modern CGI, causing an awkward imbalance that throws the intended super-reality out the window... And being set a year after THE EXORCIST haunted theaters, several mentions are made of it, a possible attempt to distract anyone from calling this a pale imitation...<br /> <br /> Unfortunately, that's all THE QUIET ONES amounts to... Beyond the all-too-familiar demon possession, the scariest scenes entail, ironically, <i>quiet</i> moments that suddenly burst with a plunder of noisy bedlam, none of which amount to a worthy hypothesis or conclusion.

2014, horror, jared harris, new hammer films

HAMMER FILMS PRESENTS THE QUIET ONES

year: 2014 rating: ** Ever notice that pretty much anything spoken in a British accent winds up sounding intelligent? Well this is the...

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJ4iewpxgk9oJEs_PQzGE8W_W5BitpxBsj7qLc1zvWjiKrrO0CsDMZcMSTLXqy-hJmML4DF1gpBlOETGoQAKdhpUPySSTG1L_S-MmeAByHjU6zC3_2wT-pqWoERFKz3fcQTKB1wK2fK70/s1600/sherlock-holmes-460x307.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5687003647013858322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHJ4iewpxgk9oJEs_PQzGE8W_W5BitpxBsj7qLc1zvWjiKrrO0CsDMZcMSTLXqy-hJmML4DF1gpBlOETGoQAKdhpUPySSTG1L_S-MmeAByHjU6zC3_2wT-pqWoERFKz3fcQTKB1wK2fK70/s320/sherlock-holmes-460x307.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 224px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">title: </span>SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">year: </span>2011<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">cast: </span>Robert <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Downey</span> Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">rating:</span> **1/2<br /> <br /> The usual template for an action-packed sequel is to outdo the original with more explosions, fights, etc., and although there are some of these elements, mostly we have an 18<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> century cold-war thriller where Holmes and Watson take on the evil Professor Moriarty, played by a sneering Jared Harris, who, through bombing buildings, wants to ignite a sort of World War III… only thing is, there <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hasn</span>’t been a First World War yet. But that’s how it all plays out: in a James Bond meets Tom Clancy meets modern day headlines with a few good fights and not enough of what makes this new Sherlock Holmes, and the original Inspector created by author Conan Doyle, work: the steel-trapped brain that can figure out anything to solve a crime. There’s little mystery involved since we quickly learn the intentions of the bad guy – to start a few fake battles to cause a real big one – and the bickering relationship between Holmes and Watson has dwindled considerably, making it less humorous but ultimately allowing Jude Law’s Watson to be more than a straight man, especially during the climax. Robert <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Downey</span> Jr. displays the essential offbeat charm but seems to be holding back at times. And while Rachel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">McAdams</span> provides a mere cameo, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Noomi</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Repace</span> steps in as a fortune teller whose brothers have joined Moriarty to… well that’s all part the plot and, while somewhat convoluted and lacking the sparse punch of the original, there remains that essential string tugging the audience along to the next suspense-filled obstacle: too bad there’s not enough of them this time around. And those narrated brainstorms during perilous situations... careening us back to the action at hand... seem more forced than <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">imperative</span>. But the stuff that does work, like a fight on a train, makes for a pretty good time.

action, jared harris, jude law, mystery, robert downey jr., sequel, suspense, tens

SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS

title: SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS year: 2011 cast: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris rating: **1/2 The usual template...