Salt on DVD now

Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is a CIA agent whose life changes when one day a Russian defector Orlov (Olbrychski) walks into her CIA offices and apparently reveals that she is in fact a sleeper spy who’s mission is to kill the Russian President. Does her boss Ted (Schreiber) believe Orlov?, does Salt know that she is a sleeper agent or as she goes on the run is this because her cover is blown or is it just out of concern for her husbands fate?

So Jolie takes on another ‘action’ role with the underlying premise of is she or isn’t she a Russian spy trying to bring down the USA. Everything, excuse the pun, needs to be taken with a pinch of ……. as its somewhat light on story but heavy on action and if you can get over the fact that Jolie doesn’t look like she can jump down a kerbside without breaking her leg, let alone leap from bridges onto lorries etc I guess you are half way sold on the central idea of the film. Jolie has perfected her ‘hitting and kicking’ snarl which is on show through out the film but you overall get the feeling that this for all of the woefully underused talented cast is acting by numbers. A string of action sequences held together by flimsy script full of holes.  I guess as popcorn movies go it isn’t terrible, its just also not that good.

Director: Phillip Noyce 

Cast:
Angelina Jolie -                   Evelyn Salt

Live Schreiber                    Ted Winter

Chiwetel Ejiofor                  Peabody

Daniel Olbrychski               Orlov

 

A Perfect Getaway on DVD now

An apparently naive American couple, Steve (Anderson) and Cydney (Jovovich) are honeymooning in one of the more remote islands on Hawaii decide to follow a remote walking trail with the hope of camping out at an idyllic paradise beach. Along the way they encounter Nick (Olyphant) and Gina (Sanchez) who are much more experienced travelers. All is going well until reports are overheard of the slaughter nearby of honeymooners and soon begin to suspect that their fellow travelers seem to fit the description of the suspects. All this leads to suspicion and distrust in an isolated place where the couples are forced to rely on each other.

Normally I would not have rented this film, its basic premise didn’t really appeal to me but I had read good things about it and thought that I would step outside my usual choices and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed. At the beginning of the film I cringed at the stereotypically xenophobic attitudes displayed by the central couple maybe its because I have traveled that I don’t approach everyone and everything with suspicion and fear (and if its that bad why put yourself through it!).

Later though as the film develops it does become more interesting and there is a twist, which is unexpected although it ultimately makes the film itself less believable. The problem with the twist was that even in private moments the antagonists seemed to be unaware of their actual role in the movie. Maybe it might have been better if I didn’t analyse and think back to earlier scenes in the films but I couldn’t help myself so glaring where the script inaccuracies.

Nicely shot, adequately acted – that’s about all I can say for it.

Director: David Twohy

Cast:

Steve Zahn – Cliff Anderson
Timoth Olyphant – Nick
Milla Jovovich – Cydney Anderson
Kiele Sanchez – Gina

For the official website click here

Sherlock Holmes on DVD now

Arthur Conan Doyles Victorian super detective gets a reboot for 2010 courtesy of Guy Richie, Robert Downey Jnr, Jude Law and in no small way the script writers Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham – and its done with some style. The film hits the ground running and apart from a few pauses barely draws breath for its whole duration. It reminded me of the James Bond Casino Royale (2007) reboot – once you have seen it theres no comparison to the previous films.

Holmes and Watson foil serial killer Lord Blackwood who is executed for his crimes, mysteriously though Blackwood rises from the dead and resumes killing. What follows is a twisting and enjoyable romp through Victorian London with Holmes picking up clues and deducting as he goes.

Downey Jnr, is charismatic, troubled and charming and is such a stunning actor he easily carries the film and the personality of the maverick, unpredictable and impulsive version on Holmes without a deerstalker in sight. Law, for me, was a total surprise, easily fitting into the supporting role and providing a steady partner to the volatile Holmes, for the first time ever I can honestly say I enjoyed his acting, he seemed to be a character rather than himself in different costumes.
Richie redeems himself as a director and his vision of Victorian London is amazingly realised, as a Londoner myself it was as if I was given a glimpse of what London was like in the middle of the industrial age – fantastic.

Strong also is excellent as another great Hollywood villain (hes had back to back movie villains in Kick Ass, Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood) hes suitably sinister and hiss worthy as Lord Blackwood determined to bring down Holmes and gain power in the process. McAdams as Adler is sufficient, shes a good leading lady never to distracting from the movie but also never really gives enough spark to stand out – which is a good thing in this movie as she doesn’t detract from the clever twists and turns of the plot line.

Really enjoyable, really fun – I hope it’s the first of a franchise!

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast:

Robert Downey Jnr – Shelock Holmes
Jude Law – Dr John Watson
Rachel McAdams – Irene Adler
Mark Strong – Lord Blackwood
Eddie Marsan – Inspector Lestrade

For the official website click here

Surrogates on DVD now

The latest film from Mostow – the director of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is set in the near future when human beings stay indoors while their surrogates (or avatars – if another film hadn’t stolen the title!), live their live for them. The surrogate has the humans consciousness (signature), are nearly always perfect looking and are replaceable – unlike the fragile human live they imitate. This leads to a near crime and trouble free world.

One day a surrogate is destroyed with a weapon that also destroyed the human controlling it – this leads to FBI agents Tom Greer (Willis) and Peters (Mitchell) uncovering a conspiracy that goes further than expected.

This is a return to action for Bruce Willis which I was eager to see but unfortunately for me ultimately disappointed. I liked the idea of the perfectness of the surrogates – its would be like living in the world of the airbrushed (or second life for that matter), where everyone is slim, perfect skin, perfect teeth, perfect hair and beautiful. Everyone that is apart from Willis whose surrogate has a most disturbing hairstyle that made me snigger when I saw it – hes also notably older than the other surrogates but as its Willis you forgive him.

It’s the story though for me that disappoints, the premise is interesting and I feel so much more could have been done with the ideas that were out there rather than just a run of the mill thriller with a human twist.

Could have been so much more.

Director: Jonathan Mostow

Cast:
Bruce Willis – Tom Greer
Radha Mitchell – Peters
Roasmund Pike – Maggie
Boris Kodjoe – Pike
Ving Rhames – The Prophet

For the official website click here

Outlander – Out on DVD now

Set in 709BC in the Iron Age in Norway a space ship crash lands carrying Kainan (Caviezel) and an unwelcome hitchhiker, a deadly alien creature called a Moorwen. The creature begins to attack and kill people from Viking settlements. As Kainan is the only person who knows how to fight and kill the Moorwen he fights alongside the Vikings to free them from the terror he brought into their world.

It was a premise that had promise alien creatures against Vikings but sadly the promise fell a lot short of what the film actually delivers. The script s very predictable and the majority of the film appears to be a collection of borrowed ideas – it brings nothing new to the table.

The fight scenes have been seen before, primarily in Gladiator (when the Romans attack the Germanic tribes) or Braveheart – swords flash, mud and blood splatters in that slightly speeded up and then slowed down effect. The creature itself is the offspring of the trolls from Lord of the Rings and Ridley Scott’s Alien with neon lighting. It’s menacing to the Vikings but not to the audience.

The Vikings, although lead by the normally brilliant John Hurt are a stereotypical poorly portrayed bunch, there’s the feisty wench, drunken strong bloke and even orphaned ‘cute’ child… and many other types that have been seen many times before. There is also a jarring mixture of accents; whereas in Gladiator the cast spoke with all the same ‘classical English’ here we have a mixture of English – cockney and plumy, Irish and American accents, all of which mixed in together sound very wrong.

Its not the worst film I’ve seen – not by a long shot, but I found it predictable, pedestrian and also quite dull, maybe it was the sensation that I had seen it all before.

Director: Howard McCain

Cast:

James Caviezel – Kainan
Sophia Miles – Freya
Jack Huston – Wulfric
John Hurt – Rothgar

For the trailer click here

The International – Out on DVD now

Louis Salinger (Owen) is an Interpol agent working with Whitman (Watts) a Manhattan DA investigating the IBBC – a corrupt international bank that wants to control the illegal two hundred million dollar business of weapons trading. Salinger has his own personal agenda for bringing the bank to justice and the bank will stop at nothing to ensure that the deal goes through.

This seems is a slightly overlooked movie, which to me, is strange as the idea of an evil corrupt bank pulling strings all over the world seems very relevant in the light of the current economic climate. I found it intriguing of how this polished, smooth, seemingly respectable business was actually more concerned with dealing with death and will stop at nothing including murder to achieve its aims, its not a new idea but maybe for me it seems to be possibly close to actual fact.

Salinger is a man with a mission, he is haggard, haunted and totally focused on the task of bringing down the corrupt bankers he’s like a dog that wont let go of a bone. Which maybe is why I felt that Whitman was less believable and less motivated – these are really bad people, ones you wouldn’t mess with if you had something to loose, like family for instance, Salinger doesn’t Whitman does. I also found it strange that the ‘baddies’ didn’t exploit this – if they really are as corrupt as they appear to be.

Overall the movies good although it is flawed – Owen tears through cities openly waving a gun and no one reacts, even in New York the security and police seem to react sp slowly. There is a great scene set in the Guggenheim Museum which is on par with Bourne or Bond but apart from that scene the action is slower and more pedestrian which means that the movie doesn’t quite live up to its action thriller billing.

Its worth looking at, although don’t expect too much action packed thrills; this film is a little more cerebral than that.

Director: Tom Tykwer

Cast:
Clive Owen – Louis Salinger
Naomi Watts – Eleanor Whitman
Armin Mueller-Stahl – Wilhelm Wexler
Ulrich Thomsen – Jonas Skarssen

To view the trailer click here