Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Breaking News Regarding Guns, Drugs, & The US Government

Friday, November 19, 2010

Unstoppable Review

Trains and brains may rhyme, but both are in short supply in this movie about a locomotive that takes off without a driver. Dewey (Ethan Suplee) is the dolt who insists he doesn’t need to connect the air brakes just moments before he hops out of a moving cab to throw a switch. Not able to run any faster than he can think, his engine and its half-mile of cars are soon heading down the track without him. Even more surprising, his coworkers just laugh at the situation. When Dewey eventually finds the yardmaster (Rosario Dawson), he admits his mistake like a schoolboy who has cheated on a test, leaving Connie to figure out how best to cope with what is now described as "a missile the size of the Chrysler building."

Meanwhile at the other end of the line, veteran engineer Frank (Denzel Washington) and his rookie conductor Will (Chris Pine) have just pulled out with their load. And guess what? They are headed straight for the runaway. About the only thing more you could add to this already tense situation is a school field trip, tanker cars of hazardous chemicals and a small city with a big curving railroad bridge that can only be navigated at 15 MPH. Yup… they are all part of this movie mix.

If you come into this film expecting only exciting pictures of a train on the lamb and a passel of railroad workers wondering how they will stop it, then you may not be disappointed. However, being a big rail fan myself, I was hoping for a little more to get stoked over in this great locomotive chase. Pardon the inevitable pun, but this truly is a one-track script. Character development is virtually non-existent, with the exception of Frank and Will taking a few sideline moments to discuss marriage woes.

Then there is the critical lack of intelligence that overshadows much of what is on screen. Early in the movie, after being informed there is a train barreling toward him, Frank asks the obvious question: "Where is it?" Connie replies they don’t know. Yet Fox News (which is promoted to the point of saturation in this film that features dozens of fake embedded reports) has a helicopter tracking the locomotive with a live video feed. Too bad the yardmaster didn’t look at the huge TV in her control room. Later, when Connie finally is watching the news, she sees one of the company heroes madly driving his truck beside the speeding engine in an attempt to make a daring rescue. Shrieking, she gives this poor sap a call, forcing him to answer his cell phone while trying to pull off the difficult maneuver.

Along with the many moments of peril, an accidental injury with some blood effects is depicted. We also learn that railroad employees can swear up a storm because we are treated to a boxcar load of moderate and mild profanities, terms of deity and a sexual expletive.

Loosely based on an actual event from 2001, Unstoppable is a fast-paced, frenetic film with many hand-held camera shots that often tries too hard to convince us that a million tons of steel running out of control is a serious matter. For parents of older teens who are willing to tolerate the language and ignore the plot holes, this train may barely make the grade.

The Next Three Days Review

It’s not hard to understand why John Brennan (Russell Crowe) does what he does. But is it possible to justify?

His wife Lara (Elisabeth Banks) has been accused and convicted of murder. Three years into her sentence, their son Luke (Ty Simpkins) is beginning to forget what it is like to have a mom at home and John is tired of the prison guards and bars that stand between him and the woman he loves. Convinced she is innocent, he tries the legal recourse route using every penny he can scrape together from his teacher’s salary. But the couple’s hopes for a new trial are dashed when their appeal is thrown out.

Rather than continue to fight the system, John tracks down an ex-con (Liam Neeson) who has published a how-to book after escaping from prison seven times. Though John is warned about the risks of attempting a jailbreak, he forges ahead with a plan to spring his wife out of the correctional facility where she is being held.

Increasingly obsessed with the idea, he plots out his strategy on his bedroom wall, collecting maps, photos, time schedules, delivery truck routes and Internet videos on stealing cars and making bump keys. He also drives to the seedier side of town where he sells prescription drugs on the street to make some quick cash. While there, he also searches for a criminal element that can forge passports and other vital documents he’ll need for a quick trip out of the country with his wife and child.

Directed by Paul Haggis, the film’s tension builds at an escalating pace as the awkward academic seemingly bumbles his way through his early preparations. He is nearly caught while trying to test a homemade elevator key during a prisoner visit. Too eager to acquire fake papers, he is beaten and left bleeding on a dark side street after two thugs lure him into a trap and steal his money. Still filmmakers take no shortcuts to ensure audiences are on side with the petite blonde inmate whose innocence is questioned. They also give ample reasons to explain John’s vigilantism. But it becomes increasingly difficult to excuse his actions when he turns to crime as a way to secure his wife’s freedom and leaves a trail of fatalities in his wake. His recklessness also forces his parents (Brian Dennehy, Helen Carey) and sibling (Michael Buie) into compromising situations even though he is fighting to correct an injustice in the justice system.

Playing a cat and mouse game with detectives who are closing in on the escapees, the film does a fair job of holding the audience’s attention to the final climatic moments. However, the movie is not quite as convincing at making the audience cheer for a man who knowingly steps outside the boundaries of society to secure his own desires.