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Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
There's been a lot of surprisingly positive word-of-mouth on this film from those who got a chance to see it on opening day. This meant I ended up going into it with heightened expectations. Thankfully, I wasn't let down.
Revenge of the Sith is helped immensely by having a definite target to aim the plot toward. We all know what happens in the end, the fun is in getting there. Fortunately, George Lucas doesn't disappoint in this regard. Anyone who is familiar with the original trilogy is going to enjoy seeing it all come together, as there are tons of little details that click into place while the story unfolds.
I'm sure there are many haters who will disagree with me, but I thought Hayden Christensen really did a good job this time around. A few years have passed since Attack of the Clones, and Anakin is a much more confident, less whiny character. Of course, we're still asked to buy the love story between Anakin and Padme, but since there's a lot more stuff going on this time, it's not so crucial to the entire movie.
That said, there really is a whole lot of stuff going on in this movie. It will certainly take me another viewing or two to absorb it all. The action moves by at a relentless clip, never dragging. There are several great saber battles, many big battle scenes, and some very emotional sequences in the later part of the story.
The special effects are really a step up from the last movie, if you can believe it. Every frame is just crammed with action and movement, but it is done in a way that is much more natural and seamless than some of the gratuitous effects shots in the first two prequel movies.
In the end, I definitely felt that this was a fitting end to the prequels and made me want to watch the original trilogy again. Which I suppose is the point, isn't it? Recommended. 3.5/4 stars.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Yes, I'm geeky enough to watch Attack of the Clones in preparation for seeing Revenge of the Sith. It's amazing how reading too much fanboy ranting/praising can impact your impression of a movie after you've seen it. For instance, late last year, I checked out The Phantom Menace again, having not seen it for a few years. Turns out it wasn't nearly as bad as I had been convinced, and certainly had quite a few excellent moments in it.
Which is pretty much how I see Attack of the Clones. Like its predecessor, the movie has quite a few really good moments, which are unfortunately brought down by George Lucas' inability to create a convincing love story between Anakin and Padme. Both movies really end up being judged by whether or not you can hold your nose during the clunky dialog and passionless acting in order to really enjoy the good bits.
Which isn't to say all the dialog and acting is outright bad. It's fine during the action scenes, and even during the political intrigue. But this movie suffers too much from the fact that the central focus is supposed to be the story of Padme and Anakin falling for each other. And they never really connect in a way that makes this part of the story believeable.
Still, there are the good spots: Yoda whirling and twirling with a lightsaber, the saber battle with Dooku, the fight on Camino between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett. Of course, the special effects are top-notch (they'd better be, since the movie is 90% special effects). And several of the peripheral performances are good, especially Christopher Lee as Count Dooku and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan.
When I first saw this movie, I thought it was far and away better than Episode I. Having seen them both again, I think Episode I isn't quite as bad as I had originally thought, and Episode II maybe wasn't quite as good, bringing them about on par with each other. 2.5/4 stars.
Starsky & Hutch
Well, this was certainly a step up from Dodgeball, but I still remain unconvinced that Ben Stiller is actually funny. This time, he at least has Owen Wilson to back him up, and the results are fairly amusing. For some reason, I have always found Owen Wilson amusing — sort of the anti-Ben Stiller, I guess — ever since I first saw him in Shanghai Noon.
In Starsky & Hutch, they each play their usual shtick, with Stiller as the hyperactive loser type and Wilson as the laid back devil-may-care type. I don't recall seeing the original TV show, but from reading some other reviews, it sounds like this is a decent approximation of the original personalities. Snoop Dogg throws in a scene-stealing performance as Huggy Bear the pimp informant.
Fortunately, this movie doesn't rely much on either of my ranting points from Dodgeball. The humor comes mostly from the 70's cop show parody, and for the most part, it works pretty well. There's even a disco dance-off scene — what more could you want? :-)
Overall, this isn't great art, but I laughed enough to make it worth the time. 2.5/4 stars.
The Right Stuff
Digging back into the early 80's, Vera and I both realized we had never seen The Right Stuff. Which is really odd because when it was released, I was at the right age to really be into the whole space program. :-)
The movie traces the parallel paths of the early test pilots (who were struggling to break the sound barrier, and then eventually in continued competition to outdo each other) and the early astronauts (who were subjected to all sorts of interesting preparations and trials as NASA struggled to keep up with the Russians). The cast is an ensemble of many talented actors playing famous folks from history, including Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager, Ed Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as Gordon Cooper, and Scott Glenn as Sam Shepard, who practically steals the show.
The mood of the film is overall serious but with a generous dose of humor tossed in to keep things moving throughout the 3+ hours of its running time. There is a lot of history to tell, and this movie does a good job of keeping it all straight. There are a lot of great character moments, especially concerning the families of those who were putting their lives in danger, and the tension that remained between those who stayed behind as test pilots versus those who decided to sign up to be astronauts.
Having seen the outstanding HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon a couple of years ago, this movie turned out to be an excellent "prequel" of sorts to the history of the Apollo missions as shown in that miniseries.
Random unexpected cast sightings were Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer as bumbling recruiters for the space program.
Overall, this was a fun and fascinating movie with great characters and an interesting story to tell. 3.5/4 stars.
Collateral
Okay, I'll admit it up front: I'm a huge Michael Mann fan. I was really into Miami Vice when it was on during my teenage years. And The Last of the Mohicans is one of my top 5 movies of all time. I've pretty much enjoyed all his movies so far (though I haven't seen Ali yet, so there's still an opportunity to disappoint me :-)
So I went into Collateral with high hopes. They were further elevated by having Tom Cruise on board, since he's been on a pretty good winning streak recently (Minority Report and The Last Samurai were both excellent movies).
A lot of fuss has been made over seeing Cruise play the "bad guy" in this movie, but I didn't find it particularly surprising, especially given that his character is such a cool professional at what he does. Jamie Foxx does a credible job as the cabbie who is essentially held hostage to the killer's whims.
One scene in particular made me laugh unexpectedly, where Cruise's character uses cable ties to tie Foxx's hands to the steering wheel. But for the most part, the movie is dark (set entirely at night) and grim. The cinematography and direction is top-notch, as I would expect from Michael Mann, and the whole city is brought to life. There is also a real tension throughout the film, and some nice unexpected twists. The scene where Foxx had to go talk to Cruise's contractor to get some additional information was particularly intense.
The only real problem I had with the movie was the ending, which was telescoped from the very beginning. I'm not normally one to try and guess the ending, but for some reason in this movie it was just too obvious.
But getting there is most of the fun anyway, and this movie was still a fun ride. My expectations might have been a bit high, but I'd still give it 3/4 stars.