Billy Bob Thornton wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.

(Warner Brothers) Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, Tim Blake Nelson, J.K. Simmons, Bruce Dern, Max Theriot, Mark Polish, Jon Gries, Bruce Willis. Directed by Michael Polish

For as long as he could remember, Charlie Farmer (Thornton) wanted to be an astronaut. The son of a Texas rancher, he joined the Air Force and became a test pilot, the better to join the space program, which he did. After his dad’s suicide, however, Charlie left the program to take care of his family, a decision he regretted the rest of his life.

Now, Charlie Farmer is building a rocket in his barn. His kids – including son Shepherd (Theriot) are behind him, his beautiful wife Audie (Madsen) supports him, even as she works as a waitress in a diner to help make ends meet. Even his father-in-law (Dern) respects him. Most of the rest of the people in town think he’s a whacko.

Unfortunately, the feds get wind of his scheme when he tries to buy 10,000 square pounds of rocket fuel and decide to shut down this amateur Buck Rogers. The bank, to whom Charlie has already fallen terribly behind in mortgage payments, has initiated foreclosure proceedings. Charlie is this close to losing everything. Still, he has his family dreaming together – and that in itself is a very powerful thing.

There can be some extreme corniness at times, with emphasis on family unity and pursuing dreams nearly at the expense of all else. You can see why it didn’t resonate with a younger audience, a virtual kiss of death at the box office today. That doesn’t mean this isn’t a good movie. It has all the elements of a family movie, but the character exposition might be a bit too much for younger audiences, who could conceivably be bored.

There are some moments that will wake you up, like most of the launch sequence scenes. Some nice visuals too, as early on Billy Bob in full spacesuit regalia chases a stray calf while riding a horse. Talk about cowboys and aliens.

Thornton excels at these kinds of roles, the low-key salt of the earth family man, and he doesn’t get to play them too often. He carries himself with great dignity, but loses his cool just often enough to put you a little bit on edge around him. Madsen as his long-suffering wife continues to be impressive with almost every role she plays. Willis, in an uncredited turn, plays an old friend of Charlie’s who made it on into “the program” after Charlie dropped out, and went on to fly the space shuttle.

I liked the underlying current of the role of civilians in space. I believe that you will start to see more civilians playing larger roles in future space missions especially as the commercial possibilities of space become more lucrative.

All that aside, I found this to be a charming movie that I became engrossed with. Occasionally, the writers strained credulity a bit – they painted themselves into a few corners and used some shall we say, novel approaches of getting out of them. However, those moments are few and far between. I was completely taken with Charlie Farmer’s story, and I think a lot more people will be too, once they give it a chance. For the record, the DVD is a little difficult to find in stores, but it is available generally on premium cable and video-on-demand services.

WHY RENT THIS: Unexpectedly charming. Low-key without being sleep-inducing. Message is one we rarely hear these days outside of the occasional Disney movie.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Paints itself into corners plot-wise and doesn’t resolve every challenge in a satisfying manner.

FAMILY MATTERS: A little salty language and some perilous situations but otherwise suitable for all audiences.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Just as Farmer is about to launc h, Shepard says “Cleared for launch at zero hour, 9am” in an homage to Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 6/10

TOMORROW: Australia

Más allá de lo que uno pueda parecer lo que es cierto es que hay parecidos que pueden ser extraordinarios. Sin ir más lejos ahora todas las televisiones están dándonos la tabarra con el parecido que tiene Paquirrín con el médico que trato a la madre durante un tiempo, el tristemente desparecido Dr. Muñoz Cariñanos.

Parecidos hay para todos los gustos y no tienen que ser precisamente entre personas que se conocen entre sí. Si no haber como se explica el parecido del Honorable expresidente Jordi Pujol con el mutante de “Desafío Total” Kuato o con el Maestro Yoda de “La Guerra de las Galaxias”, o el de otro expresidente, el Lehendakari Ibarretxe, con el Comandante Spock de la serie “Star Trek”, sin olvidarnos de lo que se parece el presidente Zapatero a Mr. Bean. Pero aún hay más ¿recuerdan al “Superhéroe Americano”, William Katt? Es igualito que David Bisbal, o el “Rolling Stone” Mick Jagger, calcado al feo de los “Hermanos Calatrava”. Entre los deportistas nos podemos encontrar al seleccionador Vicente del Bosque, al que podríamos confundir con el payaso Krusty de la serie “Los Simpson”, sin olvidarnos que en Telecinco tenemos a un periodista para cuando la cosa se ponga fea, Hilario Pino y Bruce Willis son igualitos. Yo sin ir más lejos tengo un amigo que se parece a Mr. Bean y otro a Imanol Arias.

Pero lo peor es cuando pasas de parecerte a otra persona a parecerte a tu perro. En muchas personas se da el caso, la cara del dueño y la del Bulldog es igual, o la de un Bóxer con su dueño, que no sabes a quien darle de comer.

Pero el colmo es cuándo ya te pareces hasta en los gestos, sino mirad a María Patiño que parece que se ha comido a su Caniche o a Belén Esteban que se parece a su Chihuahua, no sólo en lo físico, es que chilla igualito, igualito que el perro

Publicado en “La Voz de Ronda” 21/11/2009

No dia 10 de novembro deste ano, o famoso “dia do apagão”, fiquei incomunicável. (não se preocupe, não vou ficar aqui descrevendo como foi essa minha emocionante experiência, vou só fazer um breve resumo, ok?) Breve resumo: acabou a luz, com ela o telefone sem fio ficou sem função e sabe-se lá porque, o sinal do meu celular também se apagou. Pessoas na rua gritaram.

É óbvio que nessa onda de desespero hollywoodiano condensada no famoso 2012, pensei com toda a classe que tenho: “F*deu, o mundo vai acabar antes. Tipo… agora!”. E aí, como não tinha absolutamente mais nada pra fazer, me pus a pensar nesse momento “de despedida”.

. Pensamento 1: “Puts, eu vou mesmo morrer sozinha? Que triste e sem graça.” – Essa história de olhar pro teto e pensar no mundo acabando me deu uma coisinha nostálgica. Queria dar um abraço na minha mãe antes de sentir o teto caindo, um último momento de “é nóis, mano!” pra que anos à frente nossos fósseis fossem estudados pelos ETs como um bicho só com duas cabeças. Mas em seguida, tendo o fato como inevitável, pensei que pelo menos meus últimos dias tinham sido bons, felizes, gostosos e bem aproveitados.

.  Pensamento 2: “Perdi, preibói! Devia ter gastado todas as minhas economias numa puuuuta viagem. Ou em sapatos.” – Autoexplicativo.

. Pensamento 3: “Cadê o Bruce Willis, carai?!” – Desde que eu assisti Armagedon, e ele colocou explosivos no meteoro gigante, fiquei ainda mais convencida de que ele é o cara! Ele é duro de matar, ele ajudou a NASA, ele salvou o mundo. Bateu uma certeza de que tudo poderia acontecer, ele iria dar um jeito. Mas não rolou…

. Pensamento 4: “Vai doer?” – O mundo ia acabar. Isso eu entendi, beleza. Mas eu especificamente, iria morrer como? Despencaria prédio abaixo, teria um ataque de susto e pararia de respirar, seria lançada pelos ares quando o centro da terra explodisse, tropeçaria na tentativa de fugir e bateria a cabeça na quina da escada? Não sei. Mas queria que fosse uma coisa meio “1, 2, 3 e já!”

. Pensamento 5: “Deixa de ser trouxa. Faltou luz em Higienópolis, oras. Grandes merdas!” – Eu não tinha noção nenhuma da proporção da coisa toda. Saí na janela, e vi espíritos pessoas andando com velas em seus apartamentos.

Antes do pensamento 6, eu dormi. E pelo que pude ver, o mundo ainda não acabou. Mas essas histórias todas de pais que matam os filhos, que esquecem os filhos no carro, iceberg derretendo, trânsito recorde em São Paulo e gente que faz bronzeamento artificial só podem ser um sinal. O mundo tá ficando louco aos pouquinhos, preparando o bote. A qualquer momento o planeta vai sumir e, pasmem, o Silvio Santos também. Cuidado!

.

A começar nas estrelas de Hollywood, as mulheres na casa dos 40 e 50 anos começam a preferir homens mais novos. Demi Moore e Madonna já mostraram publicamente que a sua preferência recai sobre homens bem mais novos. A actriz namora com Ashton Kutcher, de 31 anos e a cantora Madonna namora com o modelo brasileiro Jesus Luz, de 22 anos.

Segundo uma pesquisa do site de encontros Parship, as mulheres na faixa dos 40 e 50 anos, estão cada vez mais dispostas a sair com homens cinco ou mais anos mais jovens. Tendo como amostra 4,5 mil solteiros inscritos no site, 34% das mulheres com 40 anos e 38% das mulheres com 50 anos namorariam homens mais novos. Em 2005, esse número era de 8%.

Outro dado curioso da pesquisa mostra que as mulheres não procuram apenas relacionamentos casuais com os rapazes mais novos, mas sim relações longas e até casamento.

No entanto, esta tendência não se aplica aos homens. Apenas 8% sairiam com uma mulher mais velha.

(Notícia i online)

.

A começar nas estrelas de Hollywood, os homens na casa dos 40 e 50 anos começam a preferir mulheres mais novas. Bruce Willis e Ron Wood já mostraram publicamente que a sua preferência recai sobre mulheres bem mais novas. O actor namora com Emma Heming, de 30 anos e o músico namora com a garçonete russa Ekaterina, de 20 anos.

Segundo uma pesquisa do site de encontros Pareopreconceito, os homens na faixa dos 40 e 50 anos, estão cada vez mais dispostos a sair com mulheres cinco ou mais anos mais jovens. Tendo como amostra 4,5 mil solteiros inscritos no site, 34% dos homens com 40 anos e 38% dos homens com 50 anos namorariam mulheres mais novas. Em 2005, esse número era de 8%.

Outro dado curioso da pesquisa mostra que os homens não procuram apenas relacionamentos casuais com as raparigas mais novas, mas sim relações longas e até casamento.

No entanto, esta tendência não se aplica às mulheres. Apenas 8% sairiam com um homem mais velho.

(Notícia BrancaINPura)

Até o rebelde, esclarecido e “anti preconceito” Sean Penn (49) terá perguntado a Madonna se ela tinha um novo filho, ao vê-la com Jesus Luz. Isto depois de ele ter trocado Robin Wright Penn (43) por Petra Nemcova (28), Jessica White (25), etc

O preconceito é triste e infelizmente, contagioso. Esteja atento aos sintomas.

SURROGATES

Imagine a world where you don’t have to get up early in the morning, shower, get dressed, navigate traffic, get to work on time, dodge annoying bosses and equally annoying colleagues, avoid being given memos or suspensions for low performance evaluations or for doing such inane stuff as forgetting to turn off the light after office hours or taking too many coffee or bathroom breaks. Imagine a world where you don’t have to be subjected to the daily rudeness of people cutting in during queues, rude people in supermarkets, or groceries, or movie theaters, or inside public transportation. Imagine being spared the kind of physical torture that daily living in the modern, post-industrialized world of pollution, acid rain, excessive UV rays and crime generates. Imagine being able to stay at home, having a substitute who looks and talks like you, being able to do that for you, and all you have to do is jack into a network to be able to keep in touch with your substitute you as he/she goes through the daily rituals of modern living. Would be pretty nifty, huh?

This is the premise of the movie “Surrogates”. Based on a comic book and directed by Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), this movie takes our growing obsession with virtual reality (SIMS, online RPG games, farmville, facebook, myspace, twitter and so on) to a whole new level: we can have virtual selves, “surrogates” who walk and talk and act like us, doing the dirty work of living our lives while we stay in the comfort of our home viewing it from the sidelines. Except there is growing dissent and the predictable marginalization of people who cannot afford surrogates and thus is the stage set for virtual, and real racial tension between those who can afford surrogates and those who don’t and oppose their use. A series of murders involving surrogates and their owners occur and into this mystery steps in US Federal Agent Tom Grier (Bruce Willis in a freakishly photoshopped face and body…with blond hair no less…and bangs) and partner, Radha Mitchell as they try to solve these crimes. A series of convoluted plots later, Grier discovers that the founder of the company that produced the surrogates (James Cromwell – in a similar role he did in “I, Robot”) had engineered the murders to bring down the company he helped create so that he can destroy not only the company but also the surrogates and their owners. Needless to say, the real Grier emerges from his self-imposed isolation to solve the mystery, destroy the surrogates and save the day.

Verdict: Hmmm….hard to tell. It was entertaining, yes, but not compelling. There is something about a freakishly photoshopped Bruce Willis that is surreal. I doubt if virtual selves can be taken out of computers and online games and software and into real life. Thus, you would have to dismiss plausibility and delve into the philosophical and metaphysical aspects of the story. You already know what this story wants to say: Don’t live like a zombie, live your life authentically, etc.etc. A lot of other sci-fi (and non-genre) movies have already successfully tackled these issues. Perhaps what this film lacks is the same kind of thing that Mostow’s other movie, Terminator III lacked: spirit, soul, sass.

THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM

Let me just say, Jackie Chan rocks and Jet Li rules. For as long as I can remember, their movies dominated my childhood, along with the movies of such B-level actors as Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and Sylvester Stallone (macho Philippines, what can I say?). I have never seen them in one movie before, and to see them in one movie now excites like no other. And this movie, does not disappoint. Forget the plot, I watch Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies for the kung fu.

But briefly: in the days of Middle Kingdom some thousands of years ago, the virtuous Monkey King (Jet Li) wins the favor of the Jade Emperor and thus earns the ire of the Jade Warlord who tricks him into giving up his powerful staff and his power during a duel, thereby making the Jade Warlord win the duel, imprison the Monkey King in clay and allow the Jade Warlord to rule over the kingdom ruthlessly.

Enter present-day, unlikely geeky hero —- who stumbles upon the staff while trying to save a Chinese shop owner from a gang of bullies. The staff brings him to the past, to the Middle Kingdom, where he encounters an immortal, played by Jackie Chan, a monk, played by Jet Li and a young musician hell-bent on exacting revenge on the Jade Warlord. As it happens, our unlikely geeky hero turns out to be the Chosen One, the one who will end the Jade Warlord’s reign of tyranny, free the Monkey King and usher in a new era of peace. Thus, the immortal and the monk train aforementioned hero and helps him defeat the Jade Warlord and free the Monkey King.

Suffice it to say, just watching Jackie Chan and Jet Li fight it out in their scenes together with balletic elegance is awesome. They’re like the Robert De Niro and Al Pacino of kung-fu movies.

ADVENTURELAND

Remember those times in your life when everything just persists on being shitty? When you were young and had a kick-ass degree and upon graduation realize that neither your youth nor your degree can save you from a shitty life or from getting shitty jobs that pay shit wages? Well, don’t look now but somebody came up with the bright idea of making a movie out of your life. And mine, as it happens.

Jessie Eisenberg plays fresh comparative litt major whose father gets demoted and thus has to move with the whole family to Pittsburgh to be able to survive on the father’s salary. Jessie’s dreams of graduate school and of a summer spent in Europe are dashed to pieces, and he must now get a dead-end minimum wage job at “Adventureland” as one of the operators of the games. His life would have been infinitely boring and tedious had it not been for Em (the, must-admit, cute Kristen Stewart), the cool, laidback colleague he becomes mildly interested in and who shares a mild attraction to him as well, but who is, in fact, sleeping with the resident technician cum wanna-be rockstar, played by Ryan Reynolds. Things come to a head when Eisenberg finds out that Em has, in fact, been sleeping with the married Ryan Reynolds, but they make up in the end.

High school noir-comedy, tak można najzwięźlej opisać ten film. Pomysł: kryminał typu film-noir wsadzić w mury szkoły średniej, okrasić pewną dawką pastiszu wspomnianego gatunku i dodać kilka sprośnych komentarzy i sporo gagów w stylu filmów dla nastolatków. Fajne jest to, że bohaterowie zachowują się jakby byli dorosłymi graczami w jakiejś kryminalnej rozgrywce. Mamy tu famme fatale, zamach, narkotyki, brutalność i reportera szkolnej gazety, próbującego rozwikłać wielką zagadkę. Jeśli chodzi o estetykę i grę aktorów jest całkiem spoko. Zrobiony jest dobrze i jest w pewnym stopniu szalony, a fabuła pokręcona. Jakby tego było mało dyrektora szkoły gra Bruce Willis, a MTV lansuje ten film porównując go do takich tytułów jak Rushmore, The Usual Suspects, Chinatown, Sixteen Candles, czy Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Ale czy film jest spoko?

Nie jest. Jest średni. Troszkę sympatyczny ale średni.

Ogólnie jest to lepszy film typu high school niż ten z Megan Fox, ale dużo gorszy niż wszystkie wspomniane. Porównanie jest bezcelowe, your argument is invalid.

Quentin Tarantino may be many things — perverted, profane, whipsmart, cocky, a little too enamored with his own cleverness — but subtle he is not. He’s not even in the ballpark. Matter of fact, if that ballpark blew up, he wouldn’t hear the sound for another three days. Nah, Tarantino’s a guts-glory-chicks-and-explosions kind of director, and that imagination of his? In the name of Le Royale with Cheese does it dream up some wild-n-twisted trips.

Mark ”Pulp Fiction” down as one of the wildest. Every nanosecond of this humdinger’s 154 minutes contains something warped/crazy/effortlessly cool to behold: philosophical discussions about foot massages, the nature of miracles and a gold watche that has been places no watch should go; murders both coolly calculated and comically accidental; a frightful drug overdose; kinky sex (think S&M with an Alabama drawl and a gimp); and, last but not least, a sinfully delicious $5 milkshake. Random as this catalogue seems, Tarantino’s film is far more scattershot. The action doesn’t adhere to a simple timeline; instead, there are three stories that run parallel, then smash together, then diverge only to reconnect in ways that boggle the mind upon repeat viewings. “Pulp Fiction” is a genius noir/gangster combo that keeps us guessing. Guess long enough, though, and patterns start to emerge from the madness.

Sort of. Since Tarantino makes it nearly impossible to understand how these stories pool into a cohesive ending, let’s tackle one beast at a time. First, there’s “Vincent Vega and Marcellus Wallace’s Wife,” the tale of L.A. hitmen Vince (John Travolta) and Jules (a perfeclty cast Samuel L. Jackson) heading to do a job ordered by their loose-cannon boss Marsellus (Ving Rhames). Since Marsellus recently threw a guy out a high-rise window for giving his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) a foot massage, Vince has the jitters about taking her out on the town. His plan is simple: “Chew my food with my mouth closed, laugh at her fucking jokes, and that’s it.” Of course, trouble has a tendency to follow Vince, so things don’t go that smoothly.

Smoothness doesn’t much like Butch (Bruce Willis) either, which we discover in ”The Gold Watch.” A talented boxer with a sweetly innocent girlfriend (Maria de Medeiros), Butch shovels some dirt on his own grave by winning the fight Marsellus paid him to throw. But his neat double-cross turns messy through a series of freak coincidences, the most interesting involving two pawn shop owners who plumb forgot to pack their manners (not to mention their morality) when they left the Deep South. ”The Gold Watch” leads into “The Bonnie Situation,” a conclusion of sorts where Tarantino himself shows up as Jimmie Dimmick, a pal of Jules who begrudgingly agrees to help him clean up an accidental hit (“my gun went off! I don’t know why!” insists the a brain matter-spattered Vance) with help from Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel). What’s on Wolfe’s business card we can’t be sure, since the terse mystery man only offers “I solve problems” as his job description.

It’s offhand comments like these that demonstrate one of Tarantino’s greatest strengths: revealing character traits with one or two stray lines of dialogue. He’s a student of human nature, and he knows the ways people fill time by arguing over whether foot massages are sensual or wondering what cheeseburgers are called in France (see above). And yet everything these characters say tells us something about themselves or the story. Christopher Walken, in his lone scene, delivers a howling-good speech that seems like comic relief, but the subject — the gold watch — comes back into play. Jules spouts a nonsensical version of Ezekiel 25:17, but it reveals his own moral code. Thurman, who finds jumpy loneliness in Mia, parlays a terrible joke about tomatoes into a real connection with Vince. Haphazard though they seem, these lines are the threads that knit everything together.

What else dazzles about “Pulp Fiction”? There’s the abundance of lurid violence — much of it comical (including an uncomfortably funny rape scene), some of it truly shocking, none of it gratuitious. Jackson and Travolta are one hell of two-man team, while Willis registers a pulse and Eric Stoltz has wit to burn. Ultimately, though, it’s the manic, fearless force of Tarantino that makes “Pulp Fiction” a sweet, sweet joyride, indeed.

Grade: A

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Good news for Mel Brooks fans — his Grammy-winning comedy collaborations with Carl Reiner, The 2000 Year Old

MIRREN: seeing Red

Man, have been remastered and repackaged for a 50th anniversary four-disc reissue (three CDs and one DVD), The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History, due in stores this week. Not only that, Toronto audiences well finally get to see Mel’s Broadway musical version of Young Frankenstein, now slated to play March 16 – April 18 at the Princess Of Wales … Helen Mirren is set to co-star with Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in a new thriller, Red, after she brings the National Theatre production of Phedre to Broadway with Dominic Cooper, the Mamma Mia boy toy currently on view with new scene-stealer Carey Mulligan in the hit TIFF star-maker An

MERCER: Rodeo daze

Education … 40-year CHUM radio veteran Roger Ashby will be inducted into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame at a Canadian Music Week dinner March 11 at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel … and talk about yer urbane cowboy! Rick Mercer goes a-ridin’ and a-ropin’ at the Edmonton Rodeo tonight, and actually lives to tell the tale, on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report at 8 pm.

FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES: He became David Frost in Frost/Nixon, shone as Tony Blair in The Queen, and plays legendary maverick U.K. rugby coach Brian Clough in The Damned United. So what does Michael Sheen have to do with that mess of a man pictured beside him? Yup – that’s

SHEEN: he sucks, but only in THIS movie

him. Sheen plays the vampire leader Aro in last weekend’s top boxoffice sizzler, The Twilight Saga: New Moon. And he makes no bones about why he took the role. “I knew it would make my 10-year-old daughter, Lily, very happy,” he confesses. And it has. “She’s got pictures from Twilight and New Moon everywhere in her bedroom,” he notes. “And now, she’s put her dad up there as well.” Just wait ‘til she sees him as The White Rabbit in Tim Burton’s bound-to-be-peculiar re-telling of Alice In Wonderland.

MAY IN NOVEMBER: Toronto Western Hospital’s Fracture Clinic and Medical Imaging Waiting Room is a happier place this morning after renowned

KARP: a gift to last

Toronto photo artist May Karp gifted 22 pieces to TWH. Karp’s uplifting photography is already on view in a number of Canada’s larger hospitals. In 2004 she donated 27 framed images for Toronto General’s new Surgical Centre waiting room, adding warmth and a new visual focus for the families of surgery patients. After seeing the impact of her photography in the Surgical Centre, Tennys Hanson, President and CEO of Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation, asked her to consider a similar project for Toronto Western Hospital. “Hospital waiting rooms are for patients, sometimes for their relatives or friends,” Karp notes. “Most visitors are frightened and anxious. Time passes very slowly as they wait for results or treatment. One can almost ‘taste’ the emotions. Over 20 years ago I spent a lot of time in rooms like this. I experienced all the emotions many times since then.” Which is why her colourful, eye-catching and blissfully distracting works are brightening TWH this morning.

TOMORROW:

Glee & Nine go on the record.

-/-

When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I thought it looked fantastic. I later on tried to completely forget the trailer so that if the movie was crappy, I wouldn’t be disappointed.

Well, my newly low expectations for the movie were highly surpassed. I absolutely loved every single minute of this movie. From the great acting of Bruce Willis (Die Hard 4, The Sixth Sense) and Rodha Mitchell (Silent Hill) to the way they depicted the different looks of the people while compared to their surrogates. This movie was fantastic and kept me in amazement and suspense throughout the entire length of it.

As it’s out of theatres now, I can’t recommend going to see it there, but I do recommend buying it on DVD (or Blu-Ray) once it comes out. You won’t be disappointed.

We were in Clacton-on-Sea for a long weekend when I came across an advert for new TV channel CBS Drama. It launched last week, and they were making a big deal about screening Dynasty, when I noticed they’re also showing every episode of Moonlighting from the start – news that had Chef in raptures. This is the cult show that starred Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd as David Addison and Maddie Hayes, hapless private investigators at the Blue Moon detective agency.

Arguably the pinnacle of postmodern TV – in a later series Maddie asks David where he’s been as they walk past a Die Hard standee in a video store window – there’s plenty of wandering off set and in show production references, along with a full complement of shaky cases and 80s outfits. More fun than balloons – all I need to do now is get Sky. Chef’s Kiss!

Surrogates

Surrogates [Blu-ray]

Surrogates [DVD]

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Writer(s): Michael Ferris
John D. Brancato

Starring: Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames

The Surrogates stars actor Bruce Willis who is in a futuristic world where human beings now control robotic versions of who they wish to be which are referred to as their Surrogates. The movie is based on a graphic novel series of which I have not personally read but have been informed that the movie does not quite hold entirely true to the graphic novels. That aside this is a movie review and we are going to look at it from that perspective.

Bruce Willis always manages to find himself in the middle of some quite interesting roles, even as he gets older I find his work continues to be a high level of interest. That being said Surrogates as interesting as it seems on the surface did not quite deliver the cinematic punch I was hoping for.

The movie revolves around Tom Greer (Bruce Willis) as he investigates the murder of two Surrogates which resulted in the murder of their human operates, a crime which has never occurred in the history of Surrogate use. Greer tends to believe that Surrogate life is overused and often tells his wife that he would like for them to spend time together outside of their Surrogate bodies.

The investigation leads Greer to a character that is known as The Prophet (Ving Rhames) who leads a group of human beings that believe Surrogate life is wrong and should not ever be used. This movie tends to posses a strong statement about technology and the direction our own world seems to be going in, yet it does not deliver the impact that it’s very own premise wants to deliver.

Surrogates is a movie which I am not going to steer people away from as I did find it quite interesting in many ways. The only trouble is that the movie itself does not surprise you in anyway, nor does it quite drive it’s own message home either. Surrogates is a wait for video type of movie and could very well find a good home in some peoples DVD or Blu-Ray collections as well. Overall the movie itself is worth a watch but not one to rush yourself in to.

My Rating:54%

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A Hollywood producer, Ben (Robert De Niro), witnesses a poor test screening for his new film, Fiercely, mostly caused by the fact that its ending features its main character (played by Sean Penn, who plays himself in the film) being graphically shot dead, along with his pet dog.

Adding to Ben’s problems, he is having trouble making a clean break from Kelly, his second wife, and Bruce Willis is refusing to shave the large, thick beard that he has grown, which will result in the studio pulling the plug on their new project, and in turn put a certain end to Ben’s career. Any attempt to reason with Willis inevitably meets a violent, foul-mouthed response.
Willis does eventually shave his beard off, and the film goes ahead.

This film has an impressive cast including Robin Wright Penn as Ben’s second wife, Kelly; John Turturro as Dick, the stereotypical shifty agent; Stanley Tucci as Scott, the blocked screenplay writer; Michael Wincott as Jeremy, the temperamental director; Catherine Keener, as Lou, the hardcore studio exec; Bruce Willis as the demanding movie star; and Sean Penn as himself.

De Niro is doing a great job although this movie does not appeal to everyone. He has some wonderful moments and moments when he is just plain, but you can recognize him in every scene. And there are so many aspects of him. His gestures are simply brilliant.

My husband and I like to recast classic movies while relaxing on Friday nights with a bottle of wine. We were trying to think of a good 90s flick to recast with today’s actors, and I think Pulp Fiction would be a good one.  Here’s a little inspiration for your own recast:

pasti anda berpikir, “telat sekali saya baru menonton film ini” haha, memang, dengan beban skripsi yang menanti saya trus menerus otomatis menonton film pun harus dikurangi, tapi surrogates ini memang film incaran saya dari dulu, mengapa? science-fiction plus bruce willis! nampak tidak bisa dilewatkan. hanya saja nampaknya saya terlalu high expectated terhadap film yang satu ini, saya berpikir bakal terjadi pertempuran yang mantap, konspirasi yang membingungkan, plus adegan action yang memacu jantung anda, tapi nampaknya saya salah, ide cerita memang blum pernah diangkat, tapi mungkin film ini terlalu pendek dan terlalu sedikit yang bisa disampaikan, walaupun pada akhirnya mungkin agak agak berbau “twist” tapi nampaknya tidak, yah memang mengerikan kalo masa depan terjadi seperti ini, dimana kita sebagai manusia asli digantikan oleh robot pengganti kita tanpa tahu sebenarnya resiko lebih besar mengancam kita dimana mungkin kita bisa kehilangan jiwa kita. but, this movie is not enough, ya lumayanlah untuk membunuh waktu.

Les Voyeurs #88 – Des Voyeurs dans l’avion

Diffusion le : jeudi 19 novembre 2009 à 18h sur Radio Grille Ouverte
vendredi 20 novembre 2009 à 18h sur Radio 16.
Rediffusion le samedi 21 novembre 2009 à 10h sur RGO.
En téléchargement pendant une semaine ici.
Et en écoute permanente là.

Actualité

Capitlism – A Love Story : Sortie au cinéma le 25 novembre 2009 du nouveau film de Michael Moore.
Spiderman 4 : Confirmation de la présence au casting de l’acteur Dylan Baker, interprétant le personnage du Dr Connors, devenant dans la BD le super-vilain Le Lézard.
Buffy, la tueuse de vampires : une web-série animée adaptant la 8ème saison des aventures en comics de la tueuse de vampires, va bientôt voir le jour, faisant donc suite à la 7ème saison de la série TV.
Delta Blues : la série créée en 2008 par Joshua Harto et produite par Georges Clooney à enfin trouvé son acteur principal en la personne de Jason Lee (le héros de “Earl”).
Prince of Persia – Les Sables du Temps :  Le prince de Perse doit combattre un Vizir rebelle désireux de s’emparer des Sables du Temps, un artefact conférant à son possesseur le contrôle du Temps. Adaptation cinéma de la célèbre licence de jeux vidéos. Réalisé par Mike Newell. Avec Jake Gyllenhaal. Sortie France 26 mai 2010. BA visible en VF pourrie ou VO HD.
L’actualité des Arcades : A l’origine ; L’Imaginarium du Dr Parnassus, Le Ruban Blanc (en VO), Away We Go, Micmacs à tire larigot, 2012, Twilight chapitre 2 : Tentation, Saw VI.
Les Beaux Gosses : Le beau coffret collector du film est disponible depuis le 12 novembre. Contient le film en édition collector 2DVD mais également le CD de la BO du film et surtout le “manuel pratique du puceau” !! Dépêchez-vous c’est pas cher !
L’actu du Sémaphore de Nîmes : L’Imaginarium du Dr Parnassus (en VO), mais aussi le film qui n’est plus à Alès et c’est dommage Panique au village !. Le Sémaphore organise également jusqu’au 26 janvier 2010 des projections des grands classiques du cinéma italien dont Affreux, sales et méchants, Les Monstres, Le Fanfaron, Hier aujourd’hui demain, L’Étranger. Plus de détails sur la programmation sur le site du cinéma ici => Sémaphore.

Dossier de la semaine : Des Voyeurs dans l’avion

La saga des “Airport”

Airport (1970) de Georges Seaton
Airport 75 (747 en péril – 1975) de Jack Smight
Airport 77 (Les Naufragés du 747 – 1977) de Jerry Jameson
Concorde : Airport 79 (Airport 80 Concorde – 1980) de David Lowell Rich

Les vols de l’extrême

L’Étoffe des Héros (The Right Stuff – 1983) de Phillip Kaufman
Des serpents dans l’avion (Snakes on a plane – 2006) de David R. Ellis
Des Zombies dans l’avion (Flight of the Living Dead : Outbreak on a plane – 2007) de Scott Thomas
Les Ailes de L’Enfer (Con-Air – 1997) de Simon West
Flight Plan (2004) de Robert Schwentke
Air Force One (1997) de Wolfgang Pertersen
Independence Day (1996) de Roland Emmerich
Die Hard 4 – retour en enfer (Die Hard 4.0 – 2007) de Len Wiseman

Les avions “cartoons” : les Z.A.Z. aux commandes

Les avions du futur

Furtif (Stealth – 2005) de Rob Cohen
D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) de Simon Wincer
Firefox, l’arme absolue (1982) de et avec Clint Eastwood

Coups de Cœur

Les Chevaliers du Ciel (2005) de Gérard Pirès
Aviator (2004) de Martin Scorsese

La bande originale de la semaine :

Papa Loves Manbo par Perry Como
Extrait de la bande originale du film Ocean’s Eleven (2001) de Steven Soderbergh

Chronique : La Carte Postale Sétoise

L’Enfer d’Henry-Georges Clouzot de Serge Bromberg et Ruxendra Medrea

Musique :
Who’s Driving Your Plane ? par The Rolling Stones

Extraits :
Airport 75 (747 en péril)
Des Serpents dans l’Avion
Firefox, l’arme absolue

Présentation : Cédric Cance, Erik Antolin, Jérôme Bauzon
Chronique : l’irremplaçable Jan Jouvert !
Technique : Jérémie Adrian

Imagine the Bourne Identity meets Taken, with Bruce Willis as the Matt Damon – Liam Neeson kick ass and take names character. That is Red.

Based on the Warren Ellis (GI Joe Resolute) written 3 issue comic, grittingly illustrated by Cully Hammer (Mallrats-artwork), Red is a collision of realist violence and good ol’ fashion whoop ass.  Willis will play Paul Moses, a CIA hitman in retirement trying to handle the horrors he’s done in the service of his country. Newly appointed CIA Director, uncast but most likely John C. Rielly (Step Brother), wants to clean house and Moses is at the top of the list. But when the first team of assassins fails, Moses goes Jason Bourne on the CIA, tracking them down and showing them the monster that was asleep for so long.

The story is a little thin, and short, but with alot of room to build on. When you read the comic you get hit with the whole story in under 76 heavily illustrated pages. It’s basic, but effective. Most of the characters are created in the illustrations and through the violence, rather than the see-spot-run dialogue. oh and there is violence, enough to make you think that this should be a  Quentin Tarantino movie.

But this is why you should be excited about Red’s prospects – Morgan Freeman, John C. Reilly, Helen Miren (The Queen), Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws), Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremecy and X-Men 2), Ernst Borgnine (everything for the last 50 years), Julian McMahon (Fantastic Four and Nip/Tuck) and Mary Louise Parker (Weeds) , headed by Bruce Willis under the Direction of Robert Schwentke (The Time Travelers Wife). By my count that’s 4 Oscar winners supporting Die Hard with help from a few Golden Globe/Emmy/Oscar nominees. Not to bad for a comic book adaptation movie, that’s whole premise is violence with more violence wrapped in violence.

The movie is currently pre-production, and is slated to start filming on January 11th, 2010; release date a year from now. I’m not saying that this movie is going to blow the doors off the oscars at all, but it’s probably going to be pretty awesome…but also good. Which is pretty rare these days. You either get Michael Bay’s awesome with a side of Megan Fox; or Daniel Day-Lewis on a four hour journey into depression.  Maybe this time we can just get a good ol’ fashion serving of whoop ass in between slices of quality film making.

Find Red at a comic store near you, if you live in Boston or Massachusetts go to the Comic Stop in Watertown, they are good people there.

(2009, USA, 88m)

★★★

In a future where humans live vicariously through robotic surrogates, an FBI agent must venture into the real world to solve a murder. An interesting premise is waylaid by indifferent direction and a sloppy, needlessly action-filled final act. Seek out the graphic novel source material instead.

Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Francis Ginty, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames, Jack Noseworthy, Devin Ratray. Directed by Jonathan Mostow; written by Michael Ferris, John D. Brancato; based on a graphic novel by Robert Venditti, Brett Weldele; produced by Max Handelman, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman; original music by Richard Marvin; cinematography by Oliver Wood; film editing by Kevin Stitt.