NARROWING INTO INDEPENDENCE DAY

<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/AVvXsEhQYhllv1MujpyIKFTRzF678JliDQ-OOEwDp8xwzsFDQtZeSdmEM90xX5V1SrhI0WafTK570JqPVMS1Tcr0_0EfbH520TF6A28MCjY2yY0Tr0xLpfKp8pGrOwmIGmY2Kxnk5-A83eKoqik/s1600/large_nkj3HRG3g2zjlKRWmjJHvElhX4y.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQYhllv1MujpyIKFTRzF678JliDQ-OOEwDp8xwzsFDQtZeSdmEM90xX5V1SrhI0WafTK570JqPVMS1Tcr0_0EfbH520TF6A28MCjY2yY0Tr0xLpfKp8pGrOwmIGmY2Kxnk5-A83eKoqik/s400/large_nkj3HRG3g2zjlKRWmjJHvElhX4y.jpg" width="266"></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"><u>INDEPENDENCE DAY</u></td></tr> </tbody></table> Most films of this kind are more entertaining during the set-up – introducing characters while building the plot – than the bombastic, sometimes overlong and one-dimensional resolution but not in the case of INDEPENDENCE DAY where the dialogue tries so hard to provoke perpetual heart-tugging chortles of an opening night audience, it's as if the very motion picture were running for office...<br> <br> The hackneyed characters range from a flamboyant gay man: a narrow-nuke-minded Secretary of Defense; a humble yet brilliant science engineer; a holed-up hippie scientist; an old wisdom-spouting Jewish man; a crazy redneck conspiracy theorist; a confident pilot; his comic-relief buddy; a dignified First Lady; and the ultra-patriotic President of the United States – all so extremely cliché it's a miracle any of them can escape without ruining the entire experience, no matter how much big-budget CGI occurs as the aliens blow up the White House and various cities within giant space ships that had shadowed every region of the entire planet Earth. But two of the humans on board not only get much better, they save INDEPENDENCE DAY from being one of the most annoying and cringe-worthy theatrical experiences of all time: And what an unlikely pair we have in Will Smith's Captain Steven Hiller and Jeff Goldblum as David Levinson, both taking part in a genuinely suspenseful third act mission to destroy the aliens in a manner reminiscent of H.G. Well's WAR OF THE WORLDS: by going underneath their vulnerabilities while jet fighters take out the mothership like the original STAR WARS dogfight finale.<br>

adam baldwin, bill pullman, disaster, jeff goldblum, judd hirsch, nineties, science-fiction, will smith

NARROWING INTO INDEPENDENCE DAY

INDEPENDENCE DAY Most films of this kind are more entertaining during the set-up – introducing characters while building the plot – than...

WILL SMITH AND MARGOT ROBBIE IN FOCUS

<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/AVvXsEhI8do_z874cisODjUnJ9Yl_vxuSbJbrhCISIWlwWPhKtmA8bVjvnhEhvhRsG5u7VL5gtPaq6XJNuzMoXm7muy4m7T0TScGyO80iuep55mznGjk4o5TzEj6OUwFmzXMT656J0rWmEUZu7Y/s1600/w0.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/AVvXsEhI8do_z874cisODjUnJ9Yl_vxuSbJbrhCISIWlwWPhKtmA8bVjvnhEhvhRsG5u7VL5gtPaq6XJNuzMoXm7muy4m7T0TScGyO80iuep55mznGjk4o5TzEj6OUwFmzXMT656J0rWmEUZu7Y/s320/w0.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2015 rating: ***1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> With Elmore Leonard gone, and Quentin Tarantino making either War, Western or Kung Fu flicks, it’s nice to hear the JACKIE BROWN style groove of classic and modern-nostalgic R&B guiding a hustling-bustling crime caper flick along… And it helps if it’s actually good. <br /> <br /> Will Smith’s con man extraordinaire Nicky and wannabe player Margot Robbie’s Jess are made for each other, almost too well…<br /> <br /> In a nicely edited sequence, Nicky teaches the stunning blonde how to "hypnotize" a potential victim: followed by so many easy scores with the help of a band of hustlers under Nicky’s watch, your head will spin – yet with the steady music and solid mainline it’s a nice kind of dizzy despite one too many recent flashbacks, and the bigger cons testing a logical ability to suspend disbelief. <br /> <br /> Broken into two halves, the initial overdose of steamy bedroom sequences pay off so the leads, developing with each other, mean more when the prime "gotcha" moments occur. And Will Smith proves his worth as an actor, always keeping you guessing if he’s telling the truth, taking you for a ride, or both. Let's just hope the immense publicity for FOCUS pays: It's well worth the price of seeing everyone else being ripped off. <b>OVERALL RATING: Jedi, <u>Rebel</u>, Droid, Sith. </b>

2015, caper, con man, gerald mccraney, margot robbie, will smith

WILL SMITH AND MARGOT ROBBIE IN FOCUS

2015 rating: ***1/2 With Elmore Leonard gone, and Quentin Tarantino making either War, Western or Kung Fu flicks, it’s nice to hear the ...

AFTER EARTH

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIMYTgcgf7aRfcsE3ptkTL9yTv_jWytiDDxE-8322JAyx5nMnmmyeGf6lWH-VaOb52isEwbfpgm4bpEFg3eWYhbwWVnWKuCAJcWCHPmzq6_dMwLNlSrWVpfhDAUbThJxLP5l-UqjM7O1A/s1600/after-earth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikIMYTgcgf7aRfcsE3ptkTL9yTv_jWytiDDxE-8322JAyx5nMnmmyeGf6lWH-VaOb52isEwbfpgm4bpEFg3eWYhbwWVnWKuCAJcWCHPmzq6_dMwLNlSrWVpfhDAUbThJxLP5l-UqjM7O1A/s640/after-earth.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2013 cast: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Sophie Okonedo rating: **1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> A hybrid of George Lucas’s “used future,” the main spaceship a sleek stingray-shaped vessel with primitive interior; James Cameron’s existential stranger in a strange land AVATAR; and PLANET OF THE APES wherein two “astronauts,” in this case real life father/son Will and Jaden Smith as Cypher Raige and Kitai, land on Earth in a future where deadly creatures (including gorilla-like antagonists) are hostile to all things human. <br /> <br /> Skipping past the backstory of Earth’s original demise caused by everything preached in AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH plus some really aggressive aliens, mankind resides on a planet where young Katai is training to be like his father, not only an intrepid General but he can make himself invisible to the alien foe. This is called “Ghosting” and like all science-fiction films there are odd terms commonplace in this otherworld we’re thrust into. But only the basics are important here: bravery and skill and how the reluctant, vulnerable youth has to eventually combine both to survive. <br /> <br /> The underdog Katai gets an unfortunate chance to prove his worth when their spaceship, with his father and a host of doomed soldiers on board, is caught in a meteor storm and crash-lands on the hostile planet Earth. Cypher is severely injured and has to give his son instructions as he treks into the wilderness, fighting adversaries while in search of the tail end of the craft: here’s where a device is located that can ensure a rescue.<br /> <br /> Much of the film has Jaden Smith’s Katai alone against the elements, but not entirely. His father gives him instructions from the crashed ship, providing the youthful hero not only loopholes for several nail-biting situations but Katai's never given enough chance to prove himself outside father’s constant influence. In other words, Will Smith’s expository-input gets downright tiresome, turning what could have been a sleek Jack Londonesque survival tale into a Monday Night Football color commentary.<br /> <br /> Jaden’s acting isn’t bad, relying mostly on a deer-caught-in-headlight reactions and sporadically breaking down in tears. Meanwhile, Will Smith seems to be reading his dialog in slow motion – then again he’s acting like every monotone character set in director M. Night Shyamalan cinema… Although he has an excuse since his character’s under heavy medication... And as dad's broken leg gets worse, son fights the big bad beast that’s been anticipated all along (including several dreamlike flashbacks).<br /> <br /> AFTER EARTH probably won’t heal the maligned M. Night and yet it’s better than anything he’s directed in years. Certain scenes, especially that final battle verses the beastly CGI alien, has enough suspenseful intensity where Katai's situation seems more desperate than Jaden can pull off emotionally. But as a revved-up action hero, the kid does all right.

2013, jaden smith, m. night, science fiction, will smith, zoe kravitz

AFTER EARTH

year: 2013 cast: Jaden Smith, Will Smith, Zoë Kravitz, Sophie Okonedo rating: **1/2 A hybrid of George Lucas’s “used future,” the main s...

MEN IN BLACK III

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TkjzFPUyw6lfj4aSgJZbalOpOy4ue0n2W6M7n_D1CbZZomJVAe8xSorI4SUDrmOObP-g29jAXmX3aj2zRWg1bxHZ8SdIULR9_SoB_JvtIQd7CrX7ERdPAMjuusIJufUVDvjRBe2RFiGs/s1600/MEN-IN-BLACK-3-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TkjzFPUyw6lfj4aSgJZbalOpOy4ue0n2W6M7n_D1CbZZomJVAe8xSorI4SUDrmOObP-g29jAXmX3aj2zRWg1bxHZ8SdIULR9_SoB_JvtIQd7CrX7ERdPAMjuusIJufUVDvjRBe2RFiGs/s320/MEN-IN-BLACK-3-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tommy's not around for long here</td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>title:</b> MEN IN BLACK III<br /> <b>year:</b> 2012<br /> <b>cast: </b>Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin<br /> <b>rating: </b>**  <br /> <br /> Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return as Agents J and K… sort of. Before you know it, K’s wisped off as if he never existed – at least in his partner’s lifetime. The main villain is an imprisoned alien named Boris the Animal. The angry goon, resembling a mutant biker, has one arm thanks to Agent K years earlier.<br /> <br /> After breaking out of the moon’s prison, Boris goes back in time and kills K for revenge. To resurrect his partner, J leaps into the 1960’s where young K works for The Agency. For a little while the film becomes a 48 HRS replica: the hard-nosed "cop" doesn’t trust the energetic "convict" who keeps begging for a gun. Although it takes some talking into, K’s soon convinced of their basic mission: kill the bad guy to save himself <i>and</i> the earth won’t be taken over.<br /> <br /> Sound confusing? Well some parts are – but it doesn’t matter. There’s a few good action scenes that occur much too quickly and the counter-culture shock (including a run-in with Andy Warhol) seems a mere distraction. Josh Brolin as the young K imitates his NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN co-star dependably and has decent chemistry with Smith. But they’re joined by an annoying alien who, resembling a dimwitted college student wearing a snow cap, provides so much exposition about the “time continuum” our heroes have little to figure out on their own while the climax, set at the Apollo 11 takeoff, lacks the bombastic punch of the original. And the lesser aliens along the way are too bright and flashy and…'90’s-looking, most likely an intentional homage to the fifteen-year-old predecessors – but a better script (and villain) would have helped.

2012, action, barry sonnenfield, science-fiction, tommy lee jones, will smith

MEN IN BLACK III

Tommy's not around for long here title: MEN IN BLACK III year: 2012 cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin rating: **...