So here we are. There is you and here are me.
This week on the Republibot Weekend Movie Preview we have a relatively slow week, still, that doesn’t mean we won’t have fun together. All it takes is two – or at least one really dedicated individual…
As always though, before we get started, it is important to note that I don’t view these movies in advance, nor do I any research on any of them (what would be the fun in that, right?). I am just passing judgment sight unseen. All of the film information in these previews, including the plot summary, has been pulled from the Opening This Week page of IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/nowplaying/). This week we are previewing Dear John, and From Paris With Love – amongst others… So, jump on through and let’s get on with the fun…
Dear John
Director: Lasse Hallström
Stars: Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried, Richard Jenkins
Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing
The Plot: A romantic drama about a soldier (Tatum) who falls for a co-ed (Seyfried) while he's home on leave. Their relationship is tested in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, an event that causes him to re-enlist for service.
The Republibot Take: I don’t know a thing about this movie and I am pretty unfamiliar with everyone involved other than Lasse Hallstrom, but I love the way the Plot synopsis is written: “Their relationship is tested in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, an event that causes him to re-enlist for service.” Geeez, stupid 9-11, has to go and ruin everything, and force this dude with a little girl’s name to re-enlist in the military and potentially lose his new girlfriend, how uncool is that?
There was just a commercial for this on TV while I was watching the Office, and it is being heavily advertised as a chick film – based on the book by the guy that wrote The Notebook (which was insufferable).
Sci-Fi Quotient is 3 – I really need to change this scoringsystem again, 3 seems awfully high for this movie…
From Paris with Love
Director: Pierre Morel
Stars: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Studio: Lionsgate
The Plot: In Paris, a young employee in the office of the US Ambassador (Myers) hooks up with an American spy (Travolta) looking to stop a terrorist attack in the city.
The Republibot Take: I am actually kinda looking forward to this. This dude Pierre Morel directed last year’s Taken, which was a surprisingly satisfying movie (I think I called it “porn for over-protective fathers” at the time – but, you know, not “porn” in the naked people going at it unhygenically sense, that would be icky). Anyway, Travolta looks like he is having a lot of fun here, and as much fun as we can make of him, he can definitely be entertaining when he gets a head of steam up.
Plus, fast paced violent action movies with hearts of gold are priceless.
Well, maybe not priceless, but worth a matinee when nothing else is going on.
Sci-Fi quotient is probably a solid 5 to 5.5 on this.
Frozen [limited]
Director: Adam Green
Stars: Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers
Studio: Anchor Bay Films
The Plot: Three snowboarders become stranded on a chairlift at a ski resort. Realizing it'll be a week before the resort opens again, they are forced to make a series of life-or-death decisions.
The Republibot Take: Oh, awesome!! A movie with snowboarders. That get stranded. On a ski lift. For a week… Maybe it will turn out like Alive, the movie about the soccer players stranded in the mountain wilderness. That eat each other.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a whole series of stranded athlete films that all end in cannibalism? Football players get stranded in the middle of the Superdome and at the end of the week only Brett Favre is left standing having eaten all of the rest in order to survive. Basketball players get stranded on the Utah Jazz and no other teams will ever sign them away so they end up eating each other until only John Stockton is left standing and he retires to Spokane where no one ever sees him again. Golfers get stranded Orlando while on tour and slowly get picked off one by one by Elin Nordgren. Water polo players get stranded at the local pool at the Y and have to resort to cannibalism to survive but do it really slowly in order to avoid cramps while swimming. The possibilities are wonderfully endless…
Sci-Fi Quotient is 4.5 (because possibly there is discussion of how awesome the new line of space age inspired snow boards are).
District 13 - Ultimatum [limited]
Director: Patrick Alessandrin
Stars: [IMDb doesn’t list any]
Studio: Magnet Releasing
The Plot: Captain Damien Tomasso (Raffaelli) reunites with ex-thug Leito (Belle) for a second mission within District 13, one of the most notorious ghettos in Paris. This time, the look to restore peace by any means necessary in order to prevent a coalition of crooked cops and politicians from using extreme force to raze and redevelop the area.
The Republibot Take: District 13 rocked. No, not the one about the South African Aliens (my review here: http://www.republibot.com/content/movie-review-district-9), the one about the cop and the noble poor guy in a walled off neighborhood in France that is run by a bunch of drug dealers and criminals that somehow come into possession of a nuclear bomb. The action was awesome and the parkour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour) chase scenes were heavily aped in the first James Bond movie with what’s his name blonde guy that looks more mean than suave.
The sequel is currently on OnDemand at a premium and I have been arguing with myself on whether or not I want to pay to see it on my TV and spend my time getting distracted with what else is on or wait for it to show up in a theater locally and actually enjoy it.
Sci-Fi Quotient is 6.5 since it does take place in the future, albeit a near future.
Red Riding: 1974 [limited]
Director: Julian Jarrold
Stars: [IMDb doesn’t list any]
Studio: IFC Films
The Plot: The first in a trilogy of films that fictionalize the Yorkshire Ripper murders, a series of crimes that gripped northwest England in the 1970s and '80s. Followed by Red Riding: 1980 and Red Riding: 1983.
The Republibot Take: I have been seeing discussion of these films pop up a lot lately on the geek film sites (www.aintitcool.com, www.chud.com, etc), but sadly I have ignored them so I really don’t know much more than what is stated in this Plot Synopsis. So…
Sci-Fi Quotient = 4.
Alrighty then, that is all this time, but next week looks like a full week of genre related entertainment – be sure to check in when we preview The Wolfman, Valentine’s Day, and Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (when I first read that I thought it was another Michael Jackson tribute film…).
Until then, see you in the comments.
No, just the one copy - I shot it in film, and edited in film, did audio separate and minimal, video was still pretty young and equipment was expensive, so we didnt copy it over.