Posts tagged show
“Taken” An Exciting Thriller
Feb 4th
An Exciting Thriller
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
TAKEN is a nonstop action thriller that does its job very well, but its job is just to make you enjoy it while watching and then forget about it after it’s over.
In other words, it has no lasting value other than what appears on-screen for 91 minutes.
Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, who is divorced, who has a 17-year-old daughter, and who gave up his career in order to live close to his daughter in Los Angeles.
What was his career? Well, we aren’t told explicitly, but it kept him away from his daughter, Kim, while she was growing up, and he was probably an agent for the C.I.A.
However, what he tells Kim is, “I was a preventer. I prevented bad things from happening.”
And, Boy, does he ever! With all the gadgets and know-how he needs to prove it!
Bryan reluctantly agrees to let Kim go to Paris with her friend, Amanda, but only if Kim will follow all the rules he lays down for her.
And, sure enough, their very first day in Paris, Kim and Amanda are kidnaped out of the apartment they are staying in, which causes Bryan to leap into action and show his stuff.
Through his expertise and contacts, Bryan figures out that he has only 96 hours to rescue Kim or else he will never find her, and so Bryan is off to Paris.
Right at the Paris airport, there is a good chase with a fantastic ending. Then that night at a construction site, there is a big shoot-out and escape. No, there is not quite an escape. Wait, yes, there is.
Bryan knows lots of tricks, and the action is very good.
No, it is outstanding!
Bryan proves to be one ruthless, hard-nosed “preventer,” but the movie might remind you of the 1988 FRANTIC, starring Harrison Ford and directed by Roman Polanski, only this one has more testosterone.
The action is nonstop and is just chase after chase after chase with no depth, but only horizontal action.
Then there is a coda at the end which wraps everything up in a nice, heartwarming bow.
TAKEN should be taken with a grain of salt–no, a spoonful–no, a cup– no, a pound of salt, and then you can enjoy it for what it is, an exciting thriller.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Gran Torino” Beyond Self-Parody
Jan 28th
Beyond Self-Parody
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
GRAN TORINO is the latest film directed by Clint Eastwood, he also stars in it, and he has said that it might be his final acting job.
That would be a shame, because it doesn’t represent his best acting work, nor does it show his best directing, either.
Clint plays Walt Kowalski, and the film opens at the church ceremony for the funeral of his wife, Dorothy. Walt is clearly uncomfortable, and he also makes it obvious that he doesn’t approve of the way his teenage granddaughter dresses and acts.
However, one of his sons says something to the other one that gives us an insight into Walt. He says, “There’s nothing anyone can do that won’t disappoint the Old Man.”
Walt is retired, after having worked for the Ford Motor Co. for 50 years, and his prize possession is a 1972 Gran Torino, which he tells people he even helped assemble. He doesn’t drive it, but keeps it clean and pristine in his garage.
I don’t believe that it is a coincidence that 1972 was also the year that DIRTY HARRY was released, and later we will see Walt use some mannerisms that an old, retired Dirty Harry Callahan might use.
Walt lives in the same Detroit neighborhood that he and Dorothy always lived in, only now it is almost unrecognizable with the influx of immigrants.
A family of Hmong people live in the house next door, and Walt reluctantly gets to know them better.
One night he catches their teenage son, Thao, trying to steal the Gran Torino out of Walt’s garage, which was to be the initiation requirement for Thao to get into the gang his cousin runs with.
When the gang tries to take off with Thao, Walt points his rifle at them and actually says, “Get off my lawn!”
However, Thao was being forced to join the gang, and when Walt prevents it, Thao’s family bring Walt food and flowers out of appreciation, which Walt doesn’t approve of one bit.
Walt becomes a hero in the neighborhood, and Thao is sent to Walt to work off the debt he now owes Walt.
Whatever humor is in the film is Walt teaching Thao how to be a man like him.
GRAN TORINO has loose directing, poor acting, not very good writing, and sinks to beyond self-parody.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Slumdog Millionaire” Wonderful and Heartbreaking
Dec 24th
Wonderful and Heartbreaking
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is a gem of a movie by director Danny Boyle that is suspenseful when it shouldn’t be and uplifting when it is at its most depressing.
Of course, this could also describe the country of India, where the story takes place.
The film begins in 2006 as we see 18-year-old Jamal Malik being tortured by the police. Jamal is a “slumdog,” an orphan from the extreme poverty of the slums of India. And yet somehow he has managed to appear on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and unbelievably answered all of the questions correctly up until the last one, which will be asked that night.
The producers of the program suspect that Jamal is cheating, because how else could a slumdog possibly know the answers to all those difficult questions?
Jamal tells the police defiantly, “I knew the answers.”
Then in flashback we see the progression of questions as they were asked, and in further flashback we see the lives of young Jamal as a child and his older brother, Salim, and the event in their struggles just to stay alive that provided Jamal with the correct answer to the question.
At one point, they befriend a young orphan girl named Latika, and she joins the two brothers growing up, whom they refer to as “the third Musketeer” based on their having read the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas.
One of their life-changing moments was when they were all taken out of a garbage dump by a group of adults who claimed to be an orphanage, but in reality they exploited all the children under their control and taught them how to beg on the streets and the ways to get the most money.
However, when Salim discovers the horrible plans in store for Jamal, the two boys escape, but Latika can’t keep up with them, and she is left behind in the clutches of the adults.
In fact, one of the reasons that Jamal wanted to appear on the quiz show was in the hope that Latika would be watching and get back in touch with him.
The construction of the film is wonderful, the pictures are beautiful, but the stunts involving the child actors look terrifyingly dangerous, making you wonder how they were accomplished.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is both wonderful and heartbreaking.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”