Posts tagged race
“Extraordinary Measures” Feel-Good Weepie
Jan 28th
Feel-Good Weepie
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES starts off by stating that it is “Inspired by true events,” and you wonder how that knowledge is supposed to make us feel about the movie.
Is that simply a label of truth in advertising, or have we become so bombarded by so-called “reality television” shows that filmmakers believe that audiences will be more respectful than if the source material were just pure fiction?
At any rate, Brandon Fraser plays John Crowley, who really does exist, and this movie is based on the story of him, his family, and their struggles to achieve something remarkable, whereas Harrison Ford gets second billing in the credits, and his character, Dr. Robert Stonehill, is a composite of the doctors who helped Crowley achieve what he did.
You may even be surprised at how Ford pulls out his acting chops and shows some true emotions.
The movie begins with the birthday party of eight-year-old Megan Crowley, the daughter of John and his wife, Aileen, played by Keri Russell.
Megan is confined to a wheelchair, because she has Pompe disease, a form of muscular dystrophy, which tends to be fatal in children by the time they are nine or ten years old.
Megan gets a cold the next day, but has to go to the hospital, where the doctor tells her parents that she is not responding well.
So, Crowley does some research, and he learns about a scientist in Lincoln, Nebraska, who is working on a cure for Pompe disease. Dr. Stonehill has unusual work habits, and Crowley eventually travels to Nebraska to meet with Stonehill personally.
When Crowley finally manages to find him and tell him about his daughter, Dr. Stonehill says gruffly, “I do research. I don’t see patients.”
Crowley also has a six-year-old son who suffers from the disease, too, and when Stonehill says that half of his grants don’t even get approved, Crowley makes the rash promise that he will raise the necessary $500,000 for Stonehill to complete his laboratory work.
Then the rest of the movie is about how the two men set up their own bio-tech company and their race against time to save Crowley’s children, overcome their difficulties working with each other, and raise the money to become successful.
EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES is a feel-good weepie, but it is a good feel-good weepie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
The Hangover – Movie Trailer
Jun 5th
A blowout Las Vegas bachelor party turns into a race against time when three hung-over groomsmen awaken after a night of drunken debauchery to find that the groom has gone missing, and attempt to get him to the alter in time for his wedding. In 48 hours, Doug is scheduled to walk down the aisle, effectively ending his reign as a rowdy bachelor. Realizing that this is their last blowout with their best friend, Doug’s groomsmen organize a Sin City bachelor bash he’ll never forget. The next morning, the groomsmen come to in their Caesar’s Palace suite to find a tiger in the bathroom and a six-month-old baby tucked away in the closet. Unfortunately, Doug is nowhere to be found. With no memory of the previous night’s transgressions and precious little time to spare, the trio sets out in a hazy attempt to retrace their steps and discover exactly where things went wrong. Will they find Doug in time to get him to the wedding back in Los Angeles, or will his bride experience the sharp sting of disappointment when she walks down the aisle to discover that her future husband is nowhere to be found? Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Heather Graham star in a rambunctious comedy from Old School director Todd Phillips.
“Terminator Salvation” The Beginning of the End
May 27th
The Beginning of the End
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
TERMINATOR SALVATION is the fourth in the series of movies beginning with the 1984 TEH TERMINATOR, which started the story of robots taking over society in the future and sending a robot back in time to kill the woman who has the child who will defeat the robots in the future.
That child, John Connor, is all grown up in this movie, which takes place in 2018, and he is played by Christian Bale, most recently famous for his profanity-laced tongue-lashing of a crew member last year on the set of this movie.
The gimmick in this movie is that a robot is sent into the future and ends up helping Connor in his battles against the robots.
He doesn’t start out as a robot, however, but as a prisoner in 2003 who agrees to have his body turned over to the authorities after his execution in prison.
So, when Marcus Wright shows up in 2018, he looks exactly like he did
15 years earlier, except that he has mechanical underpinnings and can heal any injuries to his flesh almost instantly.
The other gimmick is that Kyle Reese, the man who was sent back in time to help Connor’s mother and ends up becoming Connor’s father, is a teenager in this movie.
When Marcus meets Reese and his young partner, Reese says, “We’re the Resistance, L.A. branch.”
Everything has been pretty much destroyed by the robots in what the humans call “Judgment Day,” and the future of the human race looks as bleak as the landscape all around them.
However, Reese is the key to the past and the future, although he, of course, doesn’t know that at this point in his life.
On the other hand, this is all the back story that the audience needs to know in order to understand what is going on.
If you don’t know the background information, then watching this movie can lead you to the conclusion that modern stories don’t have to make sense or be logical anymore. And special effects can allow the filmmakers to do anything they want.
Special effects also allowed them to include a surprise cameo of a guest appearance that builds on “I’ll be back.”
TERMINATOR SALVATION is the beginning of the end, and I’d just as soon hope there won’t be any more.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
