Posts tagged murder
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Twilight Saga for Mature Adults
Jun 16th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Hotshots Movie Reviews
Twilight Saga for Mature Adults
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is part of a phenomenon in Sweden and Europe that is destined to become just as successful in the U.S.
The film is based on a trilogy of books written by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, and even though the three films made from them have broken records in Scandinavia, there is talk of Hollywood remaking at least this one and reportedly Brad Pitt has been offered the role of the lead character, Mikael Blomkvist.
I don’t see it, but then I haven’t read the novels and have only this film to go by.
Blomkvist is an investigative journalist who is tried and found guilty of libel for what he wrote in a magazine about a corrupt Swedish industrialist.
Blomkvist claims that he was set up, but before he serves his time in prison, he is approached by Henrik Vanger, the wealthy octogenarian and member of the Vanger Group, which is owned by a wealthy industrial family in their own right.
Vanger lives on a remote island in the Swedish archipelago where the rest of his family members also have homes, and he hires Blomkvist to investigate the murder of his niece, Harriet, who was 16 when she disappeared from the island back in 1966.
Although her body was never found, Vanger believes she was murdered, because she disappeared on a day when no one could get off or on the island, and every year on his birthday since then he has received framed flowers from around the world, which he believes are from Harriet’s killer who is taunting him.
Meanwhile, we meet a young punk-looking woman who is a researcher for a security company. She tells her boss, “You order the goods. I deliver them.”
She is Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the tattoo, she is a computer hacker, and she is rude, lewd, and crude personified.
When Lisbeth and Blomkvist meet and start working together, they uncover a mystery that leads to a thrilling climax, two equally gripping anticlimaxes, and a final denouement that will have you eagerly awaiting the next two films in the trilogy.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and its two sequels have been called “Harry Potter for grownups,” but I believe they are more likely to be a Twilight saga for mature adults.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Movie Trailer
Jun 11th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Movie Trailers
A discredited journalist and a mysterious computer hacker discover that even the wealthiest families have skeletons in their closets while working to solve the mystery of a 40-year-old murder. Inspired by late author Stieg Larsson’s successful trilogy of books, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo gets under way as Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander are briefed in the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, whose uncle suspects she may have been killed by a member of their own family. The deeper Mikael and Lisbeth dig for the truth, however, the greater the risk of being buried alive by members of the family who will go to great lengths to keep their secrets tightly sealed.
“Surrogates” Derivatives
Sep 30th
Posted by Channel 1 Networks in Hotshots Movie Reviews
Derivatives
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
SURROGATES is a classy looking science-fiction thriller starring Bruce Willis, and the first thing you are going to notice is all the weird-looking blond hair he has.
No, wait! That isn’t Willis’s character with all the hair. That is his surrogate, a realistic android that most people use to go out into society in place of them while the owners stay at home in a room hooked up to a device that allows them to be the “operators,” the eyes, ears, mouth, and flesh of their surrogate.
So, right away the audience is going to be confused between knowing what is a surrogate and what is a real person, and that confusion is going to result in more than one plot point.
Now, here is where I should say that the film is based on a series of comic books–Excuse me! “graphic novels”–called “The Surrogates,” written by Robert Venditti, who went to college with the dream of becoming a novelist.
In fact, in an interview Venditti said, “I was going to be the next Hemingway.”
Venditti is 35, and I am surprised he even knows anything about Ernest Hemingway.
Anyway, back to our movie.
Willis and his surrogate play FBI Agent Tom Greer, who are investigating a seemingly random murder that involves an unregistered surrogate.
Agent Greer has a partner, Agent Jennifer Peters, and she is a beautiful young woman played by Radha Mitchell.
After all, this is based on a comic book, remember?
Their investigation leads them to Dr. Canter, played by James Cromwell, the man who invented surrogates and ran the company that built them.
But before you say, “Uh oh! Wasn’t this already done in the 1982 BLADE RUNNER?” you are going to be reminded of the 2002 MINORITY REPORT when we learn about Agent Greer’s dead son.
And, in fact, when Cromwell shows up, you are also going to be reminded of the 1996 STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT.
Now, I used to make fun of recycled plots by saying that Hollywood has run out of ideas. Now I am going to say that writers have run out of ideas.
The frame of reference for young writers isn’t literature anymore. It is old movies, and by “old,” I mean within the past 30 years.
SURROGATES is not bad, but should be called DERIVATIVES.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”