The lasting horror of war is the blight it leaves on the lives of those left behind. Early sound pictures tried to deal with the guilt and pain of WW1, and the great Ernst Lubitsch took time out from romantic comedies and musicals for this very grim rumination on lies and responsibility. A French soldier decides to contact the family of a German he killed in the trenches; with no clear purpose or plan, he’s apt to make things worse for everybody. Lionel Barrymore and Nancy Carroll are wonderful, but you’ll choke up in the scenes with the German mother, played by Louise Carter. The film is best known for its opening montage, in which Lubitsch openly attacks the hypocrisy of militarist patriotism. It’s an exceedingly effective, non-hysterical piece of anti-war filmmaking.
Broken Lullaby
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / The Man I Killed / Street...
Broken Lullaby
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / The Man I Killed / Street...
- 3/29/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Robert Siodmak’s superb noir classic pits two graduates of Little Italy against one other: a crook who can deceive relatives and seduce strangers into helping him, and the cop who wants to put him out of business. Starring the great Richard Conte, with Victor Mature in what might be his best role.
Cry of the City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography Lloyd Ahern
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...
Cry of the City
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 95 min. / Street Date November 15, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Fred Clark, Shelley Winters, Betty Garde, Berry Kroeger, Tommy Cook, Debra Paget, Hope Emerson, Roland Winters, Walter Baldwin, Mimi Aguglia, Kathleen Howard, Konstantin Shayne, Tito Vuolo.
Cinematography Lloyd Ahern
Original Music Alfred Newman
Written by Richard Murphy from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Directed by Robert Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Perhaps because of a legal or rights issue, Robert Siodmak...
- 12/3/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Kicking & Screaming
In the grand scheme of things, Kicking & Screaming never will be remembered for its dazzling originality (Four words: The Bad News Bears) or its sparkling wit. It doesn't even really have any memorable sequences that eventually would find their way onto an Oscar clip reel.
But when it comes to making good on its promise -- namely Will Ferrell as a driven soccer dad in a suitable-for-all-ages comedy -- the picture delivers the entirely pleasant if somewhat recycled goods.
Laughs-wise, it lacks the raucous edge of an Old School or Anchorman or the retro charm of an Elf, but there's still plenty of Will-power to fuel this likable underdog trifle. It certainly is more enjoyable than a lot of what passes for family entertainment these days.
While the Universal release shows a considerable amount of moxie by going up against the Force, parents still won't have to drag their kids kicking and screaming to this no-brainer example of surefire counter-programming.
Ferrell plays Phil Weston, a good-natured vitamin salesman with a supportive wife (Kate Walsh) and a well-behaved 10-year-old son (Dylan McLaughlin).
He also happens to have Buck, a fiercely competitive, highly critical father (a perfectly cast Robert Duvall in full-tilt The Great Santini mode) with a young second wife and a 10-year-old of his own (Josh Hutcherson).
When Buck, who coaches the top-ranked Gladiators little league soccer team, sends Phil's kid down to the bottom-ranked Tigers, Phil steps in to whip the hapless players into championship contenders with a little help from his dad's next-door neighbor, Mike Ditka -- yes, that Mike Ditka -- as well as a couple of young Italian prodigies who have been recruited from their uncle's deli.
In the process of rising to the occasion, Phil turns into a caffeine-injected soccer-dad monster but manages to see the error of his bullying ways before the final goal is scored.
It's the kind of tried-and-true story -- which initially was kicked around by Ferrell and his manager, Jimmy Miller, before being handed off to Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick (the team behind The Santa Clause movies) -- that really depends on its cast and a director with solid comic timing to get the job done.
Having established himself with American Wedding and How High, Jesse Dylan displays the requisite light touch, though in the process of going for that loose, improvisational feel, occasionally the shtick gets stuck in a repetitive rut.
Even though this one's aimed at kids, there's still enough of Ferrell's amiably loopy personality to satisfy his fans. It's great to see Duvall taking on a rare comedy, and he looks like he's having the time of his life, while famed Chicago Bears coach Ditka, in his first major feature outing, proves to be a natural, more than holding his own against Ferrell and Duvall.
Production values (though set in Chicago, the movie is shot extensively in Southern California) are bright and sunny thanks to reliable assists from cinematographer Lloyd Ahern ("Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story") and the versatile Mark Isham, who mixes it up with an appropriately playful score.
Now if only they had managed to accomplish all of the above without seeing the need to include the Black Eyed Peas' ubiquitous Let's Get It Started, they might really have started something.
Kicking & Screaming
Universal
Universal Pictures presents a Mosaic Media Group production
Credits:
Director: Jesse Dylan
Screenwriters: Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Executive producers: Charles Roven, Judd Apatow, Daniel Lupi
Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern
Production designer: Clayton R. Hartley
Editors: Stuart Pappe, Peter Teschner
Costume designer: Pamela Withers Chilton
Music: Mark Isham. Cast: Phil Weston: Will Ferrell
Buck Weston: Robert Duvall
Barbara Weston: Kate Walsh
Himself: Mike Ditka
Sam Weston: Dylan McLaughlin
Bucky Weston: Josh Hutcherson
Janice Weston: Musetta Vander
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
But when it comes to making good on its promise -- namely Will Ferrell as a driven soccer dad in a suitable-for-all-ages comedy -- the picture delivers the entirely pleasant if somewhat recycled goods.
Laughs-wise, it lacks the raucous edge of an Old School or Anchorman or the retro charm of an Elf, but there's still plenty of Will-power to fuel this likable underdog trifle. It certainly is more enjoyable than a lot of what passes for family entertainment these days.
While the Universal release shows a considerable amount of moxie by going up against the Force, parents still won't have to drag their kids kicking and screaming to this no-brainer example of surefire counter-programming.
Ferrell plays Phil Weston, a good-natured vitamin salesman with a supportive wife (Kate Walsh) and a well-behaved 10-year-old son (Dylan McLaughlin).
He also happens to have Buck, a fiercely competitive, highly critical father (a perfectly cast Robert Duvall in full-tilt The Great Santini mode) with a young second wife and a 10-year-old of his own (Josh Hutcherson).
When Buck, who coaches the top-ranked Gladiators little league soccer team, sends Phil's kid down to the bottom-ranked Tigers, Phil steps in to whip the hapless players into championship contenders with a little help from his dad's next-door neighbor, Mike Ditka -- yes, that Mike Ditka -- as well as a couple of young Italian prodigies who have been recruited from their uncle's deli.
In the process of rising to the occasion, Phil turns into a caffeine-injected soccer-dad monster but manages to see the error of his bullying ways before the final goal is scored.
It's the kind of tried-and-true story -- which initially was kicked around by Ferrell and his manager, Jimmy Miller, before being handed off to Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick (the team behind The Santa Clause movies) -- that really depends on its cast and a director with solid comic timing to get the job done.
Having established himself with American Wedding and How High, Jesse Dylan displays the requisite light touch, though in the process of going for that loose, improvisational feel, occasionally the shtick gets stuck in a repetitive rut.
Even though this one's aimed at kids, there's still enough of Ferrell's amiably loopy personality to satisfy his fans. It's great to see Duvall taking on a rare comedy, and he looks like he's having the time of his life, while famed Chicago Bears coach Ditka, in his first major feature outing, proves to be a natural, more than holding his own against Ferrell and Duvall.
Production values (though set in Chicago, the movie is shot extensively in Southern California) are bright and sunny thanks to reliable assists from cinematographer Lloyd Ahern ("Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story") and the versatile Mark Isham, who mixes it up with an appropriately playful score.
Now if only they had managed to accomplish all of the above without seeing the need to include the Black Eyed Peas' ubiquitous Let's Get It Started, they might really have started something.
Kicking & Screaming
Universal
Universal Pictures presents a Mosaic Media Group production
Credits:
Director: Jesse Dylan
Screenwriters: Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Executive producers: Charles Roven, Judd Apatow, Daniel Lupi
Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern
Production designer: Clayton R. Hartley
Editors: Stuart Pappe, Peter Teschner
Costume designer: Pamela Withers Chilton
Music: Mark Isham. Cast: Phil Weston: Will Ferrell
Buck Weston: Robert Duvall
Barbara Weston: Kate Walsh
Himself: Mike Ditka
Sam Weston: Dylan McLaughlin
Bucky Weston: Josh Hutcherson
Janice Weston: Musetta Vander
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
- 6/7/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Undisputed
Revisiting the sort of pugilistic territory he explored in his debut feature, "Hard Times", director Walter Hill, clearly inspired by the legal travails of Mike Tyson, has fashioned a lean and mean thriller that, no disrespect intended, is in the best B-movie tradition.
This tale of a heavyweight fighter incarcerated at the height of his fame, and the inevitable prison boxing match that results, is an entertaining and hard-edged actioner bearing not a trace of narrative fat, and in earlier days would no doubt have incited wild excitement had it been shown at the exploitation palaces on 42nd Street. Commercial prospects look underwhelming in this far-too-repressed cinematic age, but a perfect late summertime release slot should help it find an audience. Too bad so many drive-ins have disappeared.
George "Iceman" Chambers (Ving Rhames) is a champion boxer who has been given a six- to eight-year sentence on a rape charge, of which he vehemently protests his innocence. He's sent to Sweetwater Prison in the middle of the Mojave Desert, where his presence immediately attracts the rabid interest of both guards and inmates. Iceman is used to being considered the toughest guy around, but he finds competition in the form of Monroe Hutchens (Wesley Snipes), a former boxer sent to prison for life 10 years ago just as he was starting to make it big. Since then, he's amassed an undefeated record of 67 wins in prison matches, despite displaying a constant Zen-like calm that leads him to such pursuits as building an elaborate model of a pagoda out of toothpicks.
Another inmate is Mendy Ripstein (Peter Falk), a highly connected gangster in failing health who always manages to get what he wants. And what he wants now is to arrange a bout between Iceman and Monroe, neither of whom is interested. But when he dangles a shortened sentence -- he's got that kind of clout -- and a heap of money to the respective fighters, they quickly agree to a match, to be fought by the far less restrictive "London Prize Ring" rules.
Hill and David Giler's screenplay is uncommonly taut and focused, with only the excessive use of screen titles and such minor affectations as numerous "interview" segments shot in black-and-white detracting from its forward drive. While not exactly deep or nuanced, it does reveal flashes of dark wit, like one character's comment, after watching the inmates banging their tin cups, that "these dumbshits have been watching too many old prison movies." A slew of first-rate character actors provide colorful supporting performances, including Michael Rooker as a savvy guard, Jon Seda as Mendy's helpmate, Wes Studi as Iceman's wary cellmate and Fisher Stevens as a slimy prisoner dubbed "Ratbag". Master P makes a cameo appearance as the leader of a prison rap group, in a role that could be modeled after any number of hip-hop stars.
Hill invests the proceedings with his usual expert professionalism, applying the sort of rigorous and sober cinematic discipline that's in short supply these days. Both Rhames and Snipes deliver terrific performances, in dramatically contrasting styles, with the former investing his role with his trademark flashy charisma and the latter working in an effectively minimalist mode. Falk is clearly having a ball as the codger gangster and seems to particularly enjoy his opportunity to possibly set a record for onscreen expletives.
UNDISPUTED
Miramax Films
Millenium Films, Hollywood Partners, Amen Ra Films, Motion Picture Corporation of America
Credits:
Director: Walter Hill
Screenwriters: David Giler, Walter Hill
Producers: David Giler, Walter Hill, Brad Krevoy, Andrew Sugerman
Executive producers: Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, John Thompson, Wesley Snipes, Avi Lerner, Sandra Schulberg, Rudolf Wiesmeier
Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern II
Editor: Freeman Davies
Production designer: Maria Caso
Music: Stanley Clarke
Cast:
Monroe Hutchens: Wesley Snipes
George "Iceman" Chambers: Ving Rhames
Mendy Ripstein: Peter Falk
A.J. Mercker: Michael Rooker
Jesus "Chuy" Campos: Jon Seda
Mingo Pace: Wes Studi
Ratbag Dolan: Fisher Stevens
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
This tale of a heavyweight fighter incarcerated at the height of his fame, and the inevitable prison boxing match that results, is an entertaining and hard-edged actioner bearing not a trace of narrative fat, and in earlier days would no doubt have incited wild excitement had it been shown at the exploitation palaces on 42nd Street. Commercial prospects look underwhelming in this far-too-repressed cinematic age, but a perfect late summertime release slot should help it find an audience. Too bad so many drive-ins have disappeared.
George "Iceman" Chambers (Ving Rhames) is a champion boxer who has been given a six- to eight-year sentence on a rape charge, of which he vehemently protests his innocence. He's sent to Sweetwater Prison in the middle of the Mojave Desert, where his presence immediately attracts the rabid interest of both guards and inmates. Iceman is used to being considered the toughest guy around, but he finds competition in the form of Monroe Hutchens (Wesley Snipes), a former boxer sent to prison for life 10 years ago just as he was starting to make it big. Since then, he's amassed an undefeated record of 67 wins in prison matches, despite displaying a constant Zen-like calm that leads him to such pursuits as building an elaborate model of a pagoda out of toothpicks.
Another inmate is Mendy Ripstein (Peter Falk), a highly connected gangster in failing health who always manages to get what he wants. And what he wants now is to arrange a bout between Iceman and Monroe, neither of whom is interested. But when he dangles a shortened sentence -- he's got that kind of clout -- and a heap of money to the respective fighters, they quickly agree to a match, to be fought by the far less restrictive "London Prize Ring" rules.
Hill and David Giler's screenplay is uncommonly taut and focused, with only the excessive use of screen titles and such minor affectations as numerous "interview" segments shot in black-and-white detracting from its forward drive. While not exactly deep or nuanced, it does reveal flashes of dark wit, like one character's comment, after watching the inmates banging their tin cups, that "these dumbshits have been watching too many old prison movies." A slew of first-rate character actors provide colorful supporting performances, including Michael Rooker as a savvy guard, Jon Seda as Mendy's helpmate, Wes Studi as Iceman's wary cellmate and Fisher Stevens as a slimy prisoner dubbed "Ratbag". Master P makes a cameo appearance as the leader of a prison rap group, in a role that could be modeled after any number of hip-hop stars.
Hill invests the proceedings with his usual expert professionalism, applying the sort of rigorous and sober cinematic discipline that's in short supply these days. Both Rhames and Snipes deliver terrific performances, in dramatically contrasting styles, with the former investing his role with his trademark flashy charisma and the latter working in an effectively minimalist mode. Falk is clearly having a ball as the codger gangster and seems to particularly enjoy his opportunity to possibly set a record for onscreen expletives.
UNDISPUTED
Miramax Films
Millenium Films, Hollywood Partners, Amen Ra Films, Motion Picture Corporation of America
Credits:
Director: Walter Hill
Screenwriters: David Giler, Walter Hill
Producers: David Giler, Walter Hill, Brad Krevoy, Andrew Sugerman
Executive producers: Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, John Thompson, Wesley Snipes, Avi Lerner, Sandra Schulberg, Rudolf Wiesmeier
Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern II
Editor: Freeman Davies
Production designer: Maria Caso
Music: Stanley Clarke
Cast:
Monroe Hutchens: Wesley Snipes
George "Iceman" Chambers: Ving Rhames
Mendy Ripstein: Peter Falk
A.J. Mercker: Michael Rooker
Jesus "Chuy" Campos: Jon Seda
Mingo Pace: Wes Studi
Ratbag Dolan: Fisher Stevens
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/19/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Supernova'
The first big stinker of the new year, MGM's troubled sci-fi thriller "Supernova" has apparently been hammered into its present state by parties other than original director Walter Hill. That would account for the film being credited to one Thomas Lee, a literal nobody, but the project's poorly thought out mixture of believable science fiction and 1990s space opera is a fundamental design flaw, and the finished product's not likely to shine at the boxoffice.
Unspooling wide without the distraction of poor opening-day reviews because it wasn't screened for critics -- French critics might start getting this treatment all the time if they don't watch out -- "Supernova" tries to satisfy the target audience with lots of special effects and action sequences familiar to genre aficionados.
Nary a cliche from the "Aliens", "Star Trek" and "Terminator" universes has been left out, however, and the public is not easily fooled. In fact, the often incomprehensible and always derivative script based on a story by William Malone and producer Daniel Chuba is only matched by the bewildered or blatantly misled performers.
Lead James Spader, playing drug addict-turned-co-pilot Nick, who likes the quiet of "deep space," is stiffer than an asteroid as the action hero who tries to save a 22nd century medical rescue spaceship and crew about to be sucked into a blue giant star on the verge of exploding. He's paired up romantically, after the usual spats, with medical officer Kaela (Angela Bassett). She has to trust him after the captain (Robert Forster) is killed in a "dimensional jump" when they answer a galactic 911 call.
Nick takes over as their crippled ship the Nightingale 229 nearly crashes on a moon where the distress signal originated. With only hours to go before the ship is wiped out, Nick and crew have plenty of time to test the boundaries of a PG-13 rating and engage in zero-gravity sex and several climactic fights that get pretty nasty, but what irks more than the usual pandering to audience expectations is the feeble attempts at characterization.
Crowded with conflicts, corny hardware and other unexplained or unexplainable wonders of the future and overloaded with flimsy devices to create tension, "Supernova" comes down to the typical results of a bad guy drawing innocent people to their doom and not getting away with it. In the process, a somewhat sexually suggestive globe of material from the ninth dimension emerges as the universe-rearranging MacGuffin that Kaela's murderous ex-boyfriend (Peter Facinelli) means to take back to Earth, alone.
Lou Diamond Phillips and Robin Tunney as lovers and expendable crew members are joined by Wilson Cruz's sweet-but-doomed computer nerd, who created the partly self-aware ship computer Sweetie (voiced by Vanessa Marshall).
Nearly everyone dies and there is a big bang at the end.
The special effects by Digital Domain and special makeup effects designed by Patrick Tatopoulos whiz by effectively, but cinematographer Lloyd Ahern II, a frequent Hill collaborator, overdoes the woozy camera moves in trying to spruce up the stagebound action.
SUPERNOVA
MGM Distribution Co.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents
a Screenland Pictures/Hammerhead production
Director:Thomas Lee
Screenwriter:David Campbell Wilson
Producers:Ash R. Shah, Daniel Chuba, Jamie Dixon
Executive producer:Ralph S. Singleton
Director of photography:Lloyd Ahern II
Production designer:Marek Dobrowolski
Editors:Michael Schweitzer, Melissa Kent
Costume designer:Bob Ringwood
Music:David Williams
Visual effects supervisor:Mark Stetson
Casting:Mary Jo Slater
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Vanzant:James Spader
Kaela Evers:Angela Bassett
A.J. Marley:Robert Forster
Yerzy Penalosa:Lou Diamond Phillips
Karl Larson:Peter Facinelli
Danika Lund:Robin Tunney
Benji Sotomejor:Wilson Cruz
Sweetie:Vanessa Marshall
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Unspooling wide without the distraction of poor opening-day reviews because it wasn't screened for critics -- French critics might start getting this treatment all the time if they don't watch out -- "Supernova" tries to satisfy the target audience with lots of special effects and action sequences familiar to genre aficionados.
Nary a cliche from the "Aliens", "Star Trek" and "Terminator" universes has been left out, however, and the public is not easily fooled. In fact, the often incomprehensible and always derivative script based on a story by William Malone and producer Daniel Chuba is only matched by the bewildered or blatantly misled performers.
Lead James Spader, playing drug addict-turned-co-pilot Nick, who likes the quiet of "deep space," is stiffer than an asteroid as the action hero who tries to save a 22nd century medical rescue spaceship and crew about to be sucked into a blue giant star on the verge of exploding. He's paired up romantically, after the usual spats, with medical officer Kaela (Angela Bassett). She has to trust him after the captain (Robert Forster) is killed in a "dimensional jump" when they answer a galactic 911 call.
Nick takes over as their crippled ship the Nightingale 229 nearly crashes on a moon where the distress signal originated. With only hours to go before the ship is wiped out, Nick and crew have plenty of time to test the boundaries of a PG-13 rating and engage in zero-gravity sex and several climactic fights that get pretty nasty, but what irks more than the usual pandering to audience expectations is the feeble attempts at characterization.
Crowded with conflicts, corny hardware and other unexplained or unexplainable wonders of the future and overloaded with flimsy devices to create tension, "Supernova" comes down to the typical results of a bad guy drawing innocent people to their doom and not getting away with it. In the process, a somewhat sexually suggestive globe of material from the ninth dimension emerges as the universe-rearranging MacGuffin that Kaela's murderous ex-boyfriend (Peter Facinelli) means to take back to Earth, alone.
Lou Diamond Phillips and Robin Tunney as lovers and expendable crew members are joined by Wilson Cruz's sweet-but-doomed computer nerd, who created the partly self-aware ship computer Sweetie (voiced by Vanessa Marshall).
Nearly everyone dies and there is a big bang at the end.
The special effects by Digital Domain and special makeup effects designed by Patrick Tatopoulos whiz by effectively, but cinematographer Lloyd Ahern II, a frequent Hill collaborator, overdoes the woozy camera moves in trying to spruce up the stagebound action.
SUPERNOVA
MGM Distribution Co.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents
a Screenland Pictures/Hammerhead production
Director:Thomas Lee
Screenwriter:David Campbell Wilson
Producers:Ash R. Shah, Daniel Chuba, Jamie Dixon
Executive producer:Ralph S. Singleton
Director of photography:Lloyd Ahern II
Production designer:Marek Dobrowolski
Editors:Michael Schweitzer, Melissa Kent
Costume designer:Bob Ringwood
Music:David Williams
Visual effects supervisor:Mark Stetson
Casting:Mary Jo Slater
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nick Vanzant:James Spader
Kaela Evers:Angela Bassett
A.J. Marley:Robert Forster
Yerzy Penalosa:Lou Diamond Phillips
Karl Larson:Peter Facinelli
Danika Lund:Robin Tunney
Benji Sotomejor:Wilson Cruz
Sweetie:Vanessa Marshall
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 1/17/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Can't Hardly Wait'
Add the words "Till It's Over" to the title of this stale house party celebrating high school graduation, and you'll get a gauge of audience reaction to this dumb and dull comedy.
Decked out as a wild-and-crazy, end-of-school-year party-rama, "Can't Hardly Wait" has many of the same decorations and trappings as "American Graffitti" and "House Party", but it's one dreary carbon of a celluloid.
Luckily, its target teen audience may be too wet behind the ears to have ever viewed this Sony release's wilder, woolier and funnier antecedents. Factor in a so-so opening weekend at the boxoffice, but word-of-mouth will be failing. Still, based on the recognition value of its youthful cast, this comic cut-out may chalk up some decent grades as a video rental, perfect as background noise at slumber and pizza parties but not distracting enough to intrude on more adventuresome late-night activities.
In this hodgepodge of party hijinks, writer-directors Harry Elftont and Deborah Kaplan have crammed together a cluster of kids -- all stereotypes -- and jammed them into, basically, a single-set situation. Unfortunately, this class is not nearly as edgy and charismatic as those at Ridgemont High. They are, left to right in the yearbook: Mike, a callous, handsome jock (Peter Facinelli), Amanda, the class beauty and Mike's porcelain girlfriend (Jennifer Love Hewitt); William, a National Merit Scholar geek (Charlie Korsmo); Kenny, a kooky shortboy who thinks he's a homeboy (Seth Green); Preston (Ethan Embry), a moony nondescript who pines for Amanda, and Denise, a sullen outsider (Lauren Ambrose). It all swirls around the fact that Mike and Amanda have broken up. Oh, there's other people too: a pair of nerds on the roof and a gushy girl who wants everyone to sign her yearbook. Interesting? Not even.
Unfortunately, Elfton and Kaplan, while stringing out predictable plot dots for these character cliches, have not even connected the basic linear points with any verve or originality. The narrative is merely a scattergun smear of lame sight gags and disjointed, dimwitted vignettes, camouflaged shrewdly by some quick-cut edits and jumpy swerves.
Overall, "Can't Hardly Wait" is about as much fun as listening to a valedictorian drone on about the future, all puff and predictability. It's an underachiever on all comic fronts -- poorly structured gags, underdeveloped plotting, dropped comic opportunities, witless dialogue, a band that doesn't play, etc.
Yet, amid its overall sloppiness, there is some merriment, supplied largely by Green for his wonderfully goofy performance as a nerd who tries to overcompensate for his lack of cool by affecting black, homey behavior.
In addition, Ambrose brings a vital sense of alienation to her role as class cynic. They are the only two characters who muster any empathy or interest.
CAN'T HARDLY WAIT
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
A Tall Trees production
A Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont film
Producers: Jenno Topping, Betty Thomas
Screenwriters, directors: Harry Elfont,
Deborah Kaplan
Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern
Editor: Michael Jablow
Production designer: Marcia Hinds-Johnson
Music: David Kitay,
Matthew Sweet
Executive music producer: Ralph Sall
Costume designer: Mark Bridges
Co-producer: Karen Koch
Casting: Mary Vernieu,
Anne McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Amanda: Jennifer Love Hewitt
Preston: Ethan Embry
William: Charlie Korsmo
Denise: Lauren Ambrose
Mike: Peter Facinelli
Kenny: Seth Green
Girl Whose Party It Is: Michelle Brookhurst
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Decked out as a wild-and-crazy, end-of-school-year party-rama, "Can't Hardly Wait" has many of the same decorations and trappings as "American Graffitti" and "House Party", but it's one dreary carbon of a celluloid.
Luckily, its target teen audience may be too wet behind the ears to have ever viewed this Sony release's wilder, woolier and funnier antecedents. Factor in a so-so opening weekend at the boxoffice, but word-of-mouth will be failing. Still, based on the recognition value of its youthful cast, this comic cut-out may chalk up some decent grades as a video rental, perfect as background noise at slumber and pizza parties but not distracting enough to intrude on more adventuresome late-night activities.
In this hodgepodge of party hijinks, writer-directors Harry Elftont and Deborah Kaplan have crammed together a cluster of kids -- all stereotypes -- and jammed them into, basically, a single-set situation. Unfortunately, this class is not nearly as edgy and charismatic as those at Ridgemont High. They are, left to right in the yearbook: Mike, a callous, handsome jock (Peter Facinelli), Amanda, the class beauty and Mike's porcelain girlfriend (Jennifer Love Hewitt); William, a National Merit Scholar geek (Charlie Korsmo); Kenny, a kooky shortboy who thinks he's a homeboy (Seth Green); Preston (Ethan Embry), a moony nondescript who pines for Amanda, and Denise, a sullen outsider (Lauren Ambrose). It all swirls around the fact that Mike and Amanda have broken up. Oh, there's other people too: a pair of nerds on the roof and a gushy girl who wants everyone to sign her yearbook. Interesting? Not even.
Unfortunately, Elfton and Kaplan, while stringing out predictable plot dots for these character cliches, have not even connected the basic linear points with any verve or originality. The narrative is merely a scattergun smear of lame sight gags and disjointed, dimwitted vignettes, camouflaged shrewdly by some quick-cut edits and jumpy swerves.
Overall, "Can't Hardly Wait" is about as much fun as listening to a valedictorian drone on about the future, all puff and predictability. It's an underachiever on all comic fronts -- poorly structured gags, underdeveloped plotting, dropped comic opportunities, witless dialogue, a band that doesn't play, etc.
Yet, amid its overall sloppiness, there is some merriment, supplied largely by Green for his wonderfully goofy performance as a nerd who tries to overcompensate for his lack of cool by affecting black, homey behavior.
In addition, Ambrose brings a vital sense of alienation to her role as class cynic. They are the only two characters who muster any empathy or interest.
CAN'T HARDLY WAIT
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures
A Tall Trees production
A Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont film
Producers: Jenno Topping, Betty Thomas
Screenwriters, directors: Harry Elfont,
Deborah Kaplan
Director of photography: Lloyd Ahern
Editor: Michael Jablow
Production designer: Marcia Hinds-Johnson
Music: David Kitay,
Matthew Sweet
Executive music producer: Ralph Sall
Costume designer: Mark Bridges
Co-producer: Karen Koch
Casting: Mary Vernieu,
Anne McCarthy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Amanda: Jennifer Love Hewitt
Preston: Ethan Embry
William: Charlie Korsmo
Denise: Lauren Ambrose
Mike: Peter Facinelli
Kenny: Seth Green
Girl Whose Party It Is: Michelle Brookhurst
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 6/5/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Turbulence'
It's "Twister" at 36,000 feet.
In "Turbulence", Lauren Holly has a particularly bumpy ride as a flight attendant who engages in a battle of wits with a cunning, psychotic killer (Ray Liotta) aboard a storm-battered 747 on Christmas Eve.
The result is a solid actioner charged by taut direction and sharp casting, not to mention terrific sound and visual effects.
While the picture has seen several delays in its arrival time due to, among other things, last year's TWA disaster, its January landing looks ideal as it fills a post-holiday action lull and gets a jump on the upcoming, similarly themed "Con Air".
Marking the feature debut of screenwriter Jonathan Brett, whose short film "The Dutch Master" received an Oscar nomination, the terror-in-the-skies scenario may not exactly be the freshest of concepts, but he's thrown in a few unexpected twists to keep things involving, while veteran TV director Robert Butler ("Hill Street Blues", "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") knows how to maintain a crisp pace.
Little time is wasted in the set-up: A New York-to-Los Angeles flight is headed into more than just inclement weather as a quartet of federal marshals board the plane with a pair of shackled criminals. One is Stubbs, a grizzly armed robber ("Braveheart"'s Brendan Gleeson) who takes delight in upsetting the passengers. The other is Ryan Weaver (Liotta), a charmer of a murderer who claims to have been framed for his death row sentence by a fame-chasing detective (Hector Elizondo), who was disappointed that the arrest never made "Hard Copy".
Stubbs, meanwhile, makes an in-flight escape attempt that triggers a nasty bloodbath. After the smoke clears, the only principals still left standing are Weaver and flight attendant Teri Halloran (Holly), who engage in a lethal game of cat and mouse as Weaver sheds his "is-he-or-isn't-he" persona in favor of his true psychotic serial-killer self, determined to crash the jumbo jet right smack dab in the middle of downtown L.A.
Although "Turbulence" raises some inevitable questions of plot logic (beginning with that uncharacteristically empty flight, given the Dec. 24 date) and has its share of clunky dialogue, the cast rises to the occasion.
In what effectively serves as the breakout role of her career, Holly ("Dumb and Dumber", "Down Periscope"), sporting a spiffy new hairdo, is pitch-perfect as the gutsy but vulnerable Teri; while Liotta, who's always great at playing the enticing psycho (see "Something Wild", "Unlawful Entry") portrays this particular variation with go-for-broke gusto. Also effective are Elizondo as a not-exactly-by-the-book cop, Catherine Hicks as a shaken senior flight attendant and Ben Cross as a pilot instructor who gives Teri a crash course in emergency landings.
Production values are exceptional, with top marks given to Mayling Cheng's production design that's so authentic you'd swear you could smell the diesel fuel and Mark Vargo's state-of-the-art visual effects. Meanwhile, composer Shirley Walker contributes a chillingly atmospheric score that quietly heightens the visual suspense rather than attempting to match it note for note.
TURBULENCE
MGM/UA
A Rysher Entertainment presentation
A Martin Ransohoff production
A Robert Butler film
Director Robert Butler
Screenwriter Jonathan Brett
Producers Martin Ransohoff, David Valdes
Executive producer Keith Samples
Director of photography Lloyd Ahern II
Production design Mayling Cheng
Editor John Duffy
Visual effects supervisor Mark Vargo
Music Shirley Walker
Costume design Robert Turturice
Casting Phyllis Huffman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ryan Weaver Ray Liotta
Teri Halloran Lauren Holly
Detective Aldo Hines Hector Elizondo
Stubbs Brendan Gleeson
Capt. Bowen Ben Cross
Rachel Taper Rachel Ticotin
Maggie Catherine Hicks
Running time -- 103 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
In "Turbulence", Lauren Holly has a particularly bumpy ride as a flight attendant who engages in a battle of wits with a cunning, psychotic killer (Ray Liotta) aboard a storm-battered 747 on Christmas Eve.
The result is a solid actioner charged by taut direction and sharp casting, not to mention terrific sound and visual effects.
While the picture has seen several delays in its arrival time due to, among other things, last year's TWA disaster, its January landing looks ideal as it fills a post-holiday action lull and gets a jump on the upcoming, similarly themed "Con Air".
Marking the feature debut of screenwriter Jonathan Brett, whose short film "The Dutch Master" received an Oscar nomination, the terror-in-the-skies scenario may not exactly be the freshest of concepts, but he's thrown in a few unexpected twists to keep things involving, while veteran TV director Robert Butler ("Hill Street Blues", "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman") knows how to maintain a crisp pace.
Little time is wasted in the set-up: A New York-to-Los Angeles flight is headed into more than just inclement weather as a quartet of federal marshals board the plane with a pair of shackled criminals. One is Stubbs, a grizzly armed robber ("Braveheart"'s Brendan Gleeson) who takes delight in upsetting the passengers. The other is Ryan Weaver (Liotta), a charmer of a murderer who claims to have been framed for his death row sentence by a fame-chasing detective (Hector Elizondo), who was disappointed that the arrest never made "Hard Copy".
Stubbs, meanwhile, makes an in-flight escape attempt that triggers a nasty bloodbath. After the smoke clears, the only principals still left standing are Weaver and flight attendant Teri Halloran (Holly), who engage in a lethal game of cat and mouse as Weaver sheds his "is-he-or-isn't-he" persona in favor of his true psychotic serial-killer self, determined to crash the jumbo jet right smack dab in the middle of downtown L.A.
Although "Turbulence" raises some inevitable questions of plot logic (beginning with that uncharacteristically empty flight, given the Dec. 24 date) and has its share of clunky dialogue, the cast rises to the occasion.
In what effectively serves as the breakout role of her career, Holly ("Dumb and Dumber", "Down Periscope"), sporting a spiffy new hairdo, is pitch-perfect as the gutsy but vulnerable Teri; while Liotta, who's always great at playing the enticing psycho (see "Something Wild", "Unlawful Entry") portrays this particular variation with go-for-broke gusto. Also effective are Elizondo as a not-exactly-by-the-book cop, Catherine Hicks as a shaken senior flight attendant and Ben Cross as a pilot instructor who gives Teri a crash course in emergency landings.
Production values are exceptional, with top marks given to Mayling Cheng's production design that's so authentic you'd swear you could smell the diesel fuel and Mark Vargo's state-of-the-art visual effects. Meanwhile, composer Shirley Walker contributes a chillingly atmospheric score that quietly heightens the visual suspense rather than attempting to match it note for note.
TURBULENCE
MGM/UA
A Rysher Entertainment presentation
A Martin Ransohoff production
A Robert Butler film
Director Robert Butler
Screenwriter Jonathan Brett
Producers Martin Ransohoff, David Valdes
Executive producer Keith Samples
Director of photography Lloyd Ahern II
Production design Mayling Cheng
Editor John Duffy
Visual effects supervisor Mark Vargo
Music Shirley Walker
Costume design Robert Turturice
Casting Phyllis Huffman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ryan Weaver Ray Liotta
Teri Halloran Lauren Holly
Detective Aldo Hines Hector Elizondo
Stubbs Brendan Gleeson
Capt. Bowen Ben Cross
Rachel Taper Rachel Ticotin
Maggie Catherine Hicks
Running time -- 103 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/3/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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