STOMPING THROUGH 'GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIxWx9ap7LYu4dHnuPME8V35ssQJGK-TVixSKAQ1f0t9dN2vqw8lzmK_LUDllvOIvKy1TLMT75v9VBCE8tsmH3tz80V-OvOaypbVkJu7yhS41ruN6-Y_lmxT7ipAMBoK6pR_U0-692VeWzWDuM1r8Vf9MkJbUZ_HkNANmTK1qIsxJnfiTcg4-PzYD6gbm/s1366/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-24%20at%2012.18.25%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnIxWx9ap7LYu4dHnuPME8V35ssQJGK-TVixSKAQ1f0t9dN2vqw8lzmK_LUDllvOIvKy1TLMT75v9VBCE8tsmH3tz80V-OvOaypbVkJu7yhS41ruN6-Y_lmxT7ipAMBoK6pR_U0-692VeWzWDuM1r8Vf9MkJbUZ_HkNANmTK1qIsxJnfiTcg4-PzYD6gbm/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-24%20at%2012.18.25%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>From GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE Year: 2024 Rating: B</u>—</td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of the worst things about these new GODZILLA and KING KONG or GODZILLA <i>and</i> KING KONG movies are the humans, and someone must have sent a memo to the director, because people take the backseat here...<br><br>But this is not really a GODZILLA picture despite him getting first-billed... it's really a KING KONG adventure as he traipses around Hollow Earth (which is basically the same deep-underground/inner-earth portal from the original LAND OF THE LOST), trying to survive a horde of competing apes before finding one youngster he can partner with... while leading to the main "titan" antagonist, which is a let-down, only because it takes over half the screen-time to anticipate what's basically a red-headed Kong on ozempic (with an angry expression like Caesar from the new PLANET OF THE APES franchise), trashing a magical whip with an enslaved giant dragon-like creature and...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><span></span>

2024, action, adventure, dan stevens, fantasy, godzilla, king kong, monster, new, rebecca hall

STOMPING THROUGH 'GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE'

From GODZILLA X KING KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE Year: 2024 Rating: B — One of the worst things about these new GODZILLA and KING KONG or GODZILLA ...

JASON BATEMAN & REBECCA HALL & JOEL EDGERTON IN THE GIFT

<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/AVvXsEirsLSjcCtCrhl4yquIC3Wh2-Ty9tXYdZN1DXr7nY7SOJ4jrkAhAQ6sfTjypOhda-UXzPgyjte4F8ptmRHpX9gsBHP61uxu15pKTJyeNQds-fFEnlZy82OdsXyOiC0CsTlQBFB9hCBMecY/s1600/Screen+shot+2015-08-07+at+11.15.24+PM.png" 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/AVvXsEirsLSjcCtCrhl4yquIC3Wh2-Ty9tXYdZN1DXr7nY7SOJ4jrkAhAQ6sfTjypOhda-UXzPgyjte4F8ptmRHpX9gsBHP61uxu15pKTJyeNQds-fFEnlZy82OdsXyOiC0CsTlQBFB9hCBMecY/s320/Screen+shot+2015-08-07+at+11.15.24+PM.png" width="208" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2015 rating: ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> THE GIFT is both exactly what it seems and nothing like it's supposed to be. Well that's the eventual turnout, which shouldn't be spoiled. Only to say that Jason Bateman takes a passive passenger seat until really coming alive. Those who grew up watching him as a snarky child and teenager can probably imagine the unseen yet very mentioned, extremely manipulative popular kid from former school days. One that rears up as a stalking reminder in the form of a once-bullied menace played by writer/director Joel Edgerton, who gives a sort of voyeuresque pulse ala FATAL ATTRACTION combined with the basic plot of a lesser known vehicle putting the indecisive wife up front, UNLAWFUL ENTRY...<br /> <br /> Bateman and Edgerton aside, the central character is Rebecca Hall's Robyn. She not only plays the most vulnerable in a movie built on edgy suspense and sudden jolts to scare the audience, but she holds the big questions to this particular style of thriller. "How much will she let this noticeably freakish person get away with, and for how long?" And the sole answer relies on Bateman...<br /> <br /> As Simon, a seemingly cookie-cutter "yuppie" husband, he holds the truly intense cards provided by Edgerton, the writer. For the character-actor turned filmmaker, in a role that could have been his very own scene-stealing Glenn Close bunny boiler meets Norman Bates PSYCHO, Joel lets the moody tension rely elsewhere. And for the most part, with the exception of a few overlong scenes concerning husband and wife during a claustrophobic first act, it's an entertaining two-hours of intentionally awkward silence... that knows when and when not to make a lot of noise.

2015, jason bateman, joel edgerton, rebecca hall, thriller

JASON BATEMAN & REBECCA HALL & JOEL EDGERTON IN THE GIFT

year: 2015 rating: *** THE GIFT is both exactly what it seems and nothing like it's supposed to be. Well that's the eventual tur...

JOHNNY DEPP AND REBECCA HALL IN TRANSCENDENCE

<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/AVvXsEi4V13eg5ZzhgjydRes_BEzKqC0q0TRw8qopx24wKNIcHYQlyBUMGuCt5pzEACoG4TASgGa1NdoiRSSnrUNtYu9js4kLiXTABkSkazqmlpphDrriGd8VO_HUw93XBv5WCYvvcdwMra68vc/s1600/Transcendence-data-cloud-of-Johnny-Depp-movie-poster.jpg" 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/AVvXsEi4V13eg5ZzhgjydRes_BEzKqC0q0TRw8qopx24wKNIcHYQlyBUMGuCt5pzEACoG4TASgGa1NdoiRSSnrUNtYu9js4kLiXTABkSkazqmlpphDrriGd8VO_HUw93XBv5WCYvvcdwMra68vc/s1600/Transcendence-data-cloud-of-Johnny-Depp-movie-poster.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 2014 rating: *1/2</td></tr> </tbody></table> It should come as no surprise that a mindtrip experience would begin in Berkeley, California… And with a mellow Jorma Kaukonen acoustic track chiming from a record player into a lovely garden, one wouldn’t expect TRANSCENDENCE to be so modern and technological…<br /> <br /> Even Johnny Depp’s brilliant Dr. Will Caster seems above such trivial matters as The Internet… With a voice sounding like a slightly buzzed Walter Cronkite impersonating an upper-class British snob, Depp is not only a guest star but doesn’t seem all there. Even when alive and kicking, before becoming part of a computer creation involving reanimated brainwaves, the Depp role could have been played by anyone…  <br /> <br /> And speaking of wasted casting, let’s breeze past filler roles including Morgan Freeman as a doubting scientist and Cillian Murphy as an FBI Agent… The real lead is Rebecca Hall as Caster’s wife Evelyn, who, carrying her late husband’s brain and voice via computer, sets up a gigantic research station in a town so small there’s hardly room for one horse. <br /> <br /> <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/AVvXsEhrLSLPKSIcHqHOF-pSgmyVVqMWEfnn1YFAJfyazo1cW-WhaIrh5RX8gwTmwcKlO5d4ET0echUFW3xfJkshKQQXMniJripxdhUaMeZpBgkOm1wdKojFrRiAj2T0Xx8H8rwXR0hZTHnuLAc/s1600/Quah2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrLSLPKSIcHqHOF-pSgmyVVqMWEfnn1YFAJfyazo1cW-WhaIrh5RX8gwTmwcKlO5d4ET0echUFW3xfJkshKQQXMniJripxdhUaMeZpBgkOm1wdKojFrRiAj2T0Xx8H8rwXR0hZTHnuLAc/s1600/Quah2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Got Jorma?</td></tr> </tbody></table> All the work misleads us into thinking something nefarious will happen… For it seems that Caster, whose flickering image appears anywhere his wife roams within the white-walled underground compound, isn’t exactly himself: he could very well be a monstrous computer taking over the world!<br /> <br /> Which all very much sounds like a potentially decent sci-fi thriller… But after a rushed military attack we’re left with a preachy message that could have been titled AN INCONVENIENT MATRIX... <br /> <br /> At least Jorma’s meditative <i>Genesis</i> is spun once again. If anything else, TRANSCENDENCE serves as an outlet for the Jefferson Airplane (and Hot Tuna) guitarist to be heard as a solo act in a big budget mainstream film... Although this particular white rabbit leads us absolutely nowhere.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><br />

2014, cillian murphy, johnny depp, mindtrip, morgan freeman, rebecca hall, science-fiction, thriller

JOHNNY DEPP AND REBECCA HALL IN TRANSCENDENCE

year: 2014 rating: *1/2 It should come as no surprise that a mindtrip experience would begin in Berkeley, California… And with a mellow ...

CLOSED CIRCUIT

<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/AVvXsEiwybB2MXeuEe5aSEtHv3tZgcdyXFxvkBKVnkAEn9HV1HdwUxJ0Y0ls47c99ybZdOll_VJemZy3TS3KyEDU2wpGWTRvyc8rC4TVTBSGYON6zry-QoybLQ1hw0nndFwGGoSTcC88PLclsEUp/s1600/closed-circuit.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwybB2MXeuEe5aSEtHv3tZgcdyXFxvkBKVnkAEn9HV1HdwUxJ0Y0ls47c99ybZdOll_VJemZy3TS3KyEDU2wpGWTRvyc8rC4TVTBSGYON6zry-QoybLQ1hw0nndFwGGoSTcC88PLclsEUp/s640/closed-circuit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>year:</b> 2013 <b>cast:</b> Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Cranham, Julie Stiles <b>rating:</b> ***</td></tr> </tbody></table> Cable movies have gotten better throughout the years, but that can be a problem. Especially when a theatrical film plays out like one. Which isn’t so bad in the case of CLOSED CIRCUIT, a decent thriller centering on two British defense attorneys for a Middle Eastern man accused of masterminding a terrorist act: the bombing of an outdoor mall is witnessed in the first five minutes from a collage of monitors, a device continued sporadically through the rest of the film.<br /> <br /> Eric Bana’s Martin Rose has a reason to be paranoid. Not only is the same taxicab driving him around town, but he’s breaking rules by working with ex lover Claudia, played by Rebecca Hall, and their past heats up along with the case, inevitably resulting in both their lives being put in jeopardy.<br /> <br /> The best scenes are in the build-up: Martin checks up on his client’s background as outside elements move in. Meanwhile, the romance with Claudia is standard fare, adding little to this refreshingly short movie that plays the cliché card in every (somewhat predictable) twist and turn. But Eric Bana's intense truth-seeking determination makes CIRCUIT worthwhile.<br /> <br />

2013, eric bana, rebecca hall, thriller

CLOSED CIRCUIT

year:  2013  cast:  Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, Kenneth Cranham, Julie Stiles  rating:  *** Cable movies have ...