JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND # 13-2012

JOURNEY 2:  THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND is a nice family action adventure film.  Josh Hutcherson reprises his role as Sean Anderson in this second installment of the Journey series.  After receiving a coded message from his grandfather, Sean embarks on a mission with his mom’s boyfriend to find an island that does not appear on any map.  

The island is half a world away in the Pacific Ocean and the area is avoided by the locals.  But money will get you anywhere you want to go and Sean quickly obtains a ride on a chopper to the island.  A terrible storm causes the helo to crash and when they awake, they have washed up on the island.

Creatures on the island have mutated in a strange way.  The animals and insects that we know as small are large on the island and large animals are small.  Bees are large enough to hitch a ride on, but sharks are the size of minnows.

Eventually, the group happens on the lost city of Atlantis, but there is a problem.  The city will sink in just a few short hours.  The group must cross the island to find Captain Nemo’s submarine before the island falls to the ocean floor.

There is a lot here for the kids to enjoy, but not much for adults.  Hutcherson gives an adequate performance.  Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, mom’s boyfriend, is an upgrade over Brenden Frasier who starred in the first episode.  Michael Caine and Luis Guzman’s talents are under utilized as the grandfather and helo pilot.  Vanessa Hudgens, pilot’s daughter and love interest for Sean, doesn’t add much here.  She kind of stands around waiting to deliver her lines.  Big shout out to Stephen Caudill who plays a police officer and starred in my first feature BEHIND THE NINE.

Great flick for family night at the movies.  Journey 2 garners three of five airplanes.

SAFE HOUSE # 12-2012

Finally, the first really decent movie of 2012.  Denzel Washington stars as Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent now on the lamb for many years.  Frost’s penchant for committing treacherous acts landed him on the CIA’s most wanted.  Here, Frost acquired a computer file that contains every bad act ever committed by the CIA, MI6, etc.  His goal, sell it for cash and bring scrutiny upon the agencies.

Unfortunately for Frost, a lot of folks do not want the information leaked (national security reasons, of course).  Just about the time Frost is ready to make the deal, bad guys show up, try to kill him and attempt to take the file.  Frost is left with no choice but to turn himself in to the American Consulate.  

Once the CIA learns of his capture, they send a team in to move Frost to a SAFE HOUSE.  Matt (Ryan Reynolds) is the house keeper.  Matt is a hard charger and begs for a position in the field, but that’s not going to happen.  The SAFE HOUSE turns out not to be so safe and the same bad guys that tried to kill Frost earlier have somehow mysteriously found the SAFE HOUSE.  During the shootout, Matt escapes with Frost.

Matt has serious problems.  Basically, everyone wants Frost dead, and Matt is in the way. The story is littered with CIA and MI6 agents working on the fringe, anyone of whom may be one of the bad guys.  Frost himself, is somewhat less than cooperative.  Matt and Frost, sometimes working together sometimes not, evade, outrun and outfight the bad guys right up until the final showdown.

The casting for SAFE HOUSE is outstanding.  Sam Shepard plays a CIA chief, with Vera Farmiga and Brendan Gleeson his two competing underlings.  Robert Patrick makes a good crusty CIA operative as well.

If SAFE HOUSE has a flaw, and I am not saying that it does, it is the similarities to the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE  and BOURNE franchises.  I don’t just mean similarities in plot, but a scene or two feel and look exactly the same.  The denouement especially stands out.

There is still hope for the films this year.  So far, SAFE HOUSE is my number one movie for 2012 and garnishes four out of five airplanes.

THE WOMAN IN BLACK # 11-2012

This movie had one of the weirdest advertising campaigns that I can remember.  A camera scans across patrons in a movie theatre until we see THE WOMAN IN BLACK.  I guess it worked because it will probably crash through the $20,000,000 mark at the box office this weekend.  Super Bowl weekend!

THE WOMAN IN BLACK follows down on his luck Arthur (Daniel Radcliffe).  Arthur’s young wife died in child birth leaving him distraught and on the verge of suicide.  The only thing that keeps him alive is caring for his four year old son (which is mostly done by a nanny).  Arthur is so sad that his son draws him with a frown face.

Arthur not only has troubles at home, but his boss is not happy either.  Apparently, he thinks that four years of grieving is long enough and sends him on one last job to save his livelihood.  He takes the train to a small town in the middle of nowhere to get the affairs of a recently deceased woman in order.

From the get go, the town’s folks give Arthur the cold shoulder.  In fact, they do almost everything but physically put him back on the train.  Arthur will have no part of it.  He is determined to complete his mission and right proper at that.  

Arthur is in town less than a day when the first child dies.  And I mean first child since he arrived, because lots have died in the recent past.  You see there’s this WOMAN IN BLACK who’s dead, but really pissed off over the loss of her son.  Any kid in town that takes one look at THE WOMAN IN BLACK and they immediately off themselves in some not so pretty ways.

The entire town knows that THE WOMAN IN BLACK is to blame, but none bother to leave.  Their kids are marked for death, but that’s OK.  No reason to rush off.  One couple is so scared that they keep their daughter locked in the cellar (which THE WOMAN IN BLACK had no problem penetrating).

In the end, THE WOMAN IN BLACK demands to do things her way.  A lawyer dies, which should please many.  SPOILER ALERT:  THE WOMAN IN BLACK won’t settle for a happy ending.

This movie had its share of flaws.  Sure, it provided some of those “jump” moments that this genre must deliver.  However, the plot drags - molasses slow (what did I expect, it’s British).  Arthur spends about 75% of the movie chasing noises around a spooky house.  Reminds me of the plodding TINKER TAYLOR SOLDIER SPY reviewed last month.  But come on, if you knew that hanging around in this town meant certain death for your child, you would run for the hills.  Even after Arthur figures out what’s going on, he let’s his kid come to town for a visit.  I’ll rate this film two of five airplanes.

CHRONICLE # 10-2012

As some of you know, I helped produce a recently completed “found footage” movie - hopefully coming soon to a theatre near you.  In 1999, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT started the found footage movement, but it was slow to catch on.  Hollywood and film festivals are/were heavily biased toward film, and shunned these upstart digital movie makers.  The cold shoulder is heating up rapidly with the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY trilogy grossing over $300,000,000.  Even opening against the Super Bowl, CHRONICLE will probably earn back its meager $12,000,000 budget.

While watching CHRONICLE I kept asking myself “why is this a found footage movie?”  The most commonly asked question about this genre is “why does the person keep filming in the face of some mortal danger?”  In CHRONICLE, I was asking myself how can this kid with no job, a disabled but abusive father and a dying mother even afford a camera?  After his camera is destroyed, a friend just buys him a new one.  If the camera is gone, how do we have the footage?  How did we find the footage from the camera left on a mountain in the Himalayas?  The use of found footage becomes even more absurd when the girlfriend character is also documenting her life on camera.  CHRONICLE, with its levitating camera (crane shot) and its dual camera setup, should have been a straight up narrative movie.

That said, I found CHRONICLE to be surprisingly entertaining.  Three high school boys Andrew (Dane DeHaan) the outcast, Steve (Michael B. Jordan) Mr. Popular, and Matt (Alex Russell) anti-popularity, come into contact with an object that gives them super powers (and nose bleeds).  The powers are weak at first, but grow stronger with repeated use.  The power also links the three together so that each knows if the other is in trouble.  It’s all fun and games until outcast Andrew decides he just can’t take the abuse anymore.  Pain, death and destruction ensue.  Your classic battle of good versus evil.  If you are a fan of super hero action, I’d recommend CHRONICLE with a three out of five airplane rating.