AWN Blogs

Steven Spielberg knows how to pick the right stories and tells them well. This film was marketed as a romantic comedy when really the film is much more. It really doesn’t fall into any typical genre category.

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN) is a citizen of the Eastern European country of Krakozia, who has flown to New York City, but is forced to live in the airport, because his country has been overthrown by a coup thus invalidating his passport. Homeland security official Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci, BIG NIGHT) tries everything in his power to get rid of Navorski, because he doesn’t want to deal with the problem.

The Dixon character is one of the more interesting things about the film, because he’s less of a villain and more of a character study of a mid-level bureaucrat, who follows the rules to the letter, strives for the minor power that he has, but doesn’t really want any responsibility. On the flipside, Navorski works as the perfect foil, because he is patient and sincere. The film takes a fascinating look at how someone with limited means could survive living for nine months in an airport terminal.

Fans of Isaac Asimov’s original book have deemed this film version complete fluff. I have not read the book, so I can’t comment. I feel what was brought to the screen was popcorn entertainment with enough smarts to make me believe I wasn’t being talked down to.

Director Alex Proyas created wonderful visual styles with his films THE CROW and DARK CITY. However, where THE CROW and DARK CITY were very dark and moody, I, ROBOT is very bright and clean. Yet, Proyas evokes the same feelings. The sterile world seems too sterile for its own good. This feeling works right into the motivations of the lead character Del Spooner (Will Smith, INDEPENDENCE DAY), who is very skeptical of robots in general. He is specifically brought onto a case of the apparent suicide of robotics genius Dr. Alfred Lanning (James Cromwell, BABE).

Ben Stiller films make me laugh. They don’t talk down to me. They avoid the stupid obvious jokes. They find humor within the story and don’t artificially provide it. They’re entertaining.

This time around Stiller plays White Goodman, the cocky owner of Globo Gym, who wants to buy out Average Joe’s Gym across the street so he can put up a parking lot. Goodman is kind of a jerky version of Stiller’s Zoolander character. Average Joe’s owner Peter LaFleur (Vince Vaughn, SWINGERS) is a nice, witty slacker, who hasn’t paid his bills in months. The bank sends in Kate Veatch (Christine Taylor, ZOOLANDER) to work out the financial problems and foreclosure by Goodman. Without $50,000, the gym will go under.

Low-budget horror/sci-fi flick PITCH BLACK has become a cult hit and helped propel star Vin Diesel into stardom. Capitalizing on the success of the first film, director David Twohy was allowed to make a sequel with greatly expanded resources.

The murderous convict Riddick (Diesel) is still running from bounty hunters. He gets a bit ticked off when he discovers that the newest bounty on his head comes from one of the people he saved in the first film – Imam (Keith David, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY). The night-visioned killer comes to discover that Imam’s planet is under attack from a violent cult called The Necromongers, which are led by Lord Marshal (Colm Feore, CHICAGO). Riddick becomes a reluctant hero, especially when he learns of the murderous track the young girl (Alexa Davalos, AND STARRING PANCHO VILLA AS HIMSELF) he saved in the first film has taken.

Billy Wilder directed my absolute favorite romantic comedy of all time – THE APARTMENT. In SABRINA, he continues the magic. I saw the 1995 remake with Harrison Ford first, but it pales in comparison. Along with a win for legendary costume designer Edith Head, the film received five additional Oscar nominations, including Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Actress for Audrey Hepburn, in her second American film, receiving a second Oscar nomination.

Hepburn (WAIT UNTIL DARK) plays Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter of a rich family’s chauffeur, who has been in love with the Larrabee family’s younger playboy son David (William Holden, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI) since she was a little girl. Her father Thomas (John Williams, THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS) wishes she could just get over David, especially when she goes away to cooking school. When an older and more sophisticated Sabrina returns from Paris, David quickly becomes smitten with her, despite being engaged to Elizabeth Tyson (Martha Hyer, MY MAN GODFREY). This development greatly worries David’s older, more mature, brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart, THE AFRICAN QUEEN) and his cigar-smoking, liquor-drinking father Oliver (Walter Hampden, ALL ABOUT EVE), because Elizabeth’s father is the owner of a company that the Larrabees want to acquire. So, Linus sets out to get David out of the picture for a while and woo Sabrina himself. But what Linus doesn’t expect is that love happens.

Wanna know why George W. Bush won the election? Watch this film. The film looks at the work of Bush’s senior advisor Karl Rove. Based on the best-selling book, the film lays out pretty much the same information. The talking heads in the film make a strong case for how Rove will try to win at any cost.

From bugging his own office to starting whisper campaigns about Texas governor Anne Richards being a lesbian and senator John McCain having a black love child, his fingerprints seem to be clearly on all those occurrences. The wealth of similar actions in every campaign that he is involved in begs to say that he is behind these actions.

The worst information the film issues is the man’s determination to destroy people who cross him. It seems clear that he did this to agriculture officials in Texas, which looks similar to the CIA leak in the White House. He was kicked off the Reagan-Bush campaign for linking info.

Brad Bird is an animation genius. He went from directing THE SIMPSONS to directing THE IRON GIANT to his newest masterpiece THE INCREDIBLES.

Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson, TV’s COACH) is a top superhero, but after saving a suicidal man that didn’t want to be saved lawsuits end up forcing all superheroes into the witness protection program. Mr. Incredible, now Bob Parr, lives in the suburbs with his wife Helen (formerly Elastigirl) (Holly Hunter, THE PIANO) and his children Dash (Spencer Fox, screen debut), Violet (author Sarah Vowell, screen debut) and baby Jack Jack (Eli Fucile and Maeve Andrews, both screen debuts). Bob now works at an insurance company, which he hates. Once a week, him and his old superhero friend Lucius Best (aka Frozone) (Samuel L. Jackson, JACKIE BROWN) go out to listen to the police scanner in their car to see if they can do something secretly heroic.

Director James Whale had a lot of clout in Hollywood after the success of FRANKENSTEIN and was able to cast the relatively unknown actor Claude Rains in the lead role as Jack Griffin, which is part of the success of the film. Rains’ face is only seen once, but it’s his voice and dialogue delivery that really sells the material.

Griffin is a scientist who has invented a serum that turns people invisible, but also turns them mad. He desperately wants to find a cure so that he can return to his beloved Flora (Gloria Stuart, TITANIC). However, Flora is being wooed by wimpy scientist Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan, “G” MEN) and, as Griffin gets more insane, he turns his violence toward Kemp.

The Zatoichi series is hugely popular in Japan. It has spawned 27 features and a 100 episode TV series. Shintaro Katsu spent most of his career playing the iconic character – a blind low-class masseur who has blindingly fast swordplay skills. The series mixes action and comedy much like INDIANA JONES.

In his final appearance as Zatoichi, Shintaro also wrote and directed the film. The direction and style is highlights, but the film’s iconic portrayal of the character is what makes the film so wonderful. The film follows Zatoichi on a journey to avenge the murder of a mother and father by warring yakuza (gangsters), which leaves a flock of children orphans. The film takes its time to develop the plot and characters. I especially liked the relationship between Zatoichi and the masterless samurai (Ken Ogata, SEPTEMBER 11).

Based on a book by Roald Dahl (CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY), this film from the eclectic director Nicolas Roeg (DON’T LOOK NOW) is very aware of how children view the things that go bump in the night. Kids see signs that make them certain that the supernatural is real.

Our hero Luke (Jasen Fisher, PARENTHOOD) has the added assurance that witches are real from the tales of his grandmother Helga (Mai Zetterling, TV’s MISS JULIE). Dahl’s story knows how to build real fear on a childlike level. Luke’s parents die, his grandma is sick and he runs into a witch while in his treehouse. This sets the mood for when Luke and his grandmother set off to England. In their hotel, the convention of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is being held. Soon enough, Luke discovers that the convention is really for witches led by the Grand High Witch Miss Eva Ernst (Anjelica Huston, THE ROYAL TENEBAUMS). The witches, who loathe little children, plan to turn all the kids in England into mice and Luke becomes one of their victims.

Post MISERY stardom Kathy Bates takes on the lead in this Kleenex box flick. Bates has the flasher role, but the real central character is narrator and Bates’ oldest child Shayne Lacey (Edward Furlong, TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY). After their father dies, the Lacey tribe loses everything. So Frances Lacey (Bates) packs up her family and moves to Idaho.

She finds a plot of land and half finished house from Mr. Munimura (Soon-Tek Oh, MULAN), who becomes a benefactor to the family despite the complaints of Frances, who is a hard-headed woman who refuses to take hand outs. Frances sets her mind to building a house for the family by themselves. The general plot isn’t all that different from any single mother fighting for her family tale, but it’s the film’s perspective that makes it interesting.