A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
Okay, full disclosure: the original Die Hard is my all time favorite movie.
One of that film’s many great qualities is, back then Bruce Willis’s John McClane character was a regular guy in extreme circumstances. While each of the three sequels has been at the very least decent, McClane himself has morphed into more of a wise-cracking superhero.
That has never been more true than in A Good Day to Die Hard, the fifth, and definitely the weakest, in the series.
This new adventure has John traveling to Russia, where there apparently is no police force. He’s there to help his estranged son Jack (Jai Courtney) out of a jam, but John is barely out of the cab from the airport when things start exploding, drawing father and son into a ridiculous yarn involving a Russian political prisoner and a secret file.
There may have been an acceptable action flick at the heart of Skip Woods’s script, but director Jon Moore (Max Payne) buries it under misguided pacing and wretched excess.
The extended car chase that kicks off the film becomes downright tedious, setting the stage for a film that never has a chance to build any tension or interest. Though the film’s finale does boast some action that’s worthy of the Die Hard name, getting there just isn’t enough fun. Moore keeps his foot on the gas until he abruptly stops for some father-son bonding time, and much of the film feels slapped together (the bad editing job doesn’t help matters).
Producers may be grooming Courtney (Jack Reacher) to take over the franchise, but his charisma, in this effort at least, is lacking.
Sadly, so is the film. 2 stars (out of 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61UqRmDjwgc
SAFE HAVEN
Rule number one: do not mess with the formula (I know it’s not really rule number one, but we’re not supposed to talk about the real rule number one so this is the fake rule number one, now shush!)
The formula in question comes courtesy Nicholas Sparks, whose novels, from Message in a Bottle to The Notebook and beyond, have all become films with very recognizable elements. Attractive, lovestruck people in an idyllic setting are kept apart by emotional damage, family tragedy and ties to the past but somehow fight through the melodrama to find each other just in time for a tear-filed finale.
So far, the films have ranged from heinous to barely watchable.
The latest, Safe Haven, ranks as one of the better efforts. Not good, but at least a wee bit of an improvement.
The quaint setting this time is Southport, a small town in North Carolina that seems a perfect landing spot for Katie (Julianne Hough), a young woman running from..say it with me..her past.
Is she emotionally fragile, and pretty? Why yes, and so is local nice guy Alex (Josh Duhamel), the single father who is still reeling from the death of his wife.
Even if you haven’t read the book, you’ll guess most of the rest, though director Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat) does an admirable job of exercising some restraint as long as possible.
In the end, though, the emotional manipulation ingrained in each Sparks story will not be denied, as secrets from both Katie and Alex’s past collide in a melodramatic mess.
But wait! Sparks then adds the coup de grace, a shameless device that, though easily omitted to benefit the film version, showcases the formula so well all you can do is tip your hat in disgust.
These stories aren’t designed to be average. They are meant to be remarkable, if only for the sheer bombast of their sentimentality, and Safe Haven will keep the customers satisfied until the next installment.
2 stars (out of 5)
AMOUR
Amour – the sure winner February 24th in Oscar’s foreign language category – comes to Columbus just in time for Valentine’s weekend. It is a love story, after all. The Notebook, however, it is not.
This French-language film is the handiwork of Michael Haneke, also nominated by the Academy for his efforts in writing and directing the film. Those unfamiliar with the filmmaker should look into his catalogue; he’s never made a film undeserving of multiple viewings.
Indeed, Amour is not even Haneke’s first masterpiece. (See: The White Ribbon. Seriously. You should definitely see the film The White Ribbon.) In fact, Amour is his second Golden Palm takeaway from Cannes, and his second Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It’s his first nod for best film altogether, though. With Oscar leaving such brilliant movies as The Master and Moonrise Kingdom empty handed in the Best Picture nomination department, Amour has a lot to live up to.
Meticulous and unsentimental, Haneke seems an unusual helmsman for this tale of an elderly couple facing the devastating physical and emotional consequences of a stroke. In fact, he’s perfect. He sidesteps every inclination to be maudlin, melodramatic or sentimental and instead delivers a film as quietly devastating as it is beautiful.
Oscar nominee for Best Actress, a flawlessly honest Emmanuelle Riva compliments the equally genuine Jean-Louis Trintignant, as the two create a truthful love story wrapped in the unadorned poetry of decay.
The understatement and authenticity work together to detail a lived-in love, a livelong merging of the soul that transcends all other worldly entanglements. There is not a false note, not a single moment of sap or romanticism. There is much tenderness, though, and that’s what will demolish you.
Amour is a film like no other: an intimate, unsentimental portrait of aging, love and death. Who but Haneke has the nerve to pull that off?
5 stars (out of 5)
SOUND CITY
When Nirvana blew up the music scene with their 1991 album Nevermind, they drew instant comparisons to many legendary bands of the past.
Fleetwood Mac wasn’t one of them.
But to business owner Tom Skeeter, Nirvana was “Fleetwood Mac all over again,” as both bands recorded their breakthrough records at his Sound City recording studio during periods when it was badly in need of success stories.
Now, former Nirvana member Dave Grohl tells the story of that legendary studio in Sound City, his informative and endlessly entertaining documentary.
Grohl, who has gone on to massive success with Foo Fighters and various producing projects, proves an able documentarian, filling the story with a genuine love for the human element in music and indeed, in all things.
Through interviews, still photos, and some classic behind the scenes footage, Grohl traces the history of LA’s Sound City. It was, by all accounts, a dump of a place that just happened to have a great staff, a first rate drum room and one of the best recording consoles in the world.
Word spread quickly, and as early critics (like Tom Petty’s producer, caught on camera saying “this place should be firebombed”) became converts, Sound City played host to a litany of big names.
Of course, the rise of digital recording posed a threat to Sound City’s traditional methods. Grohl brings the story full circle by recruiting such legends as Trent Reznor and Paul McCartney to illustrate how, in the right hands, the two approaches can effectively mesh.
A sentimental yearning for “the way things used to be” is hardly groundbreaking, but Grohl and his friends present a solid case for less digitized rock and roll. For music geeks, Sound City is a must, and even casual fans will be won over by the film’s humor, heart, and passion.
Rock on!
4 stars (out of 5)