Kim Gentes

Amazon DVD Link Lovely, Still

Review by Kim Gentes

Another good idea beaten with a club.

The idea of prehistoric man has always been intruiging to viewers of movies. It links our imagination with our humanity by placing what looks like regular people (with bad hair and low tech) back in a land of monsterous animals and mystical understanding.  10,000BC is another very good film concept.  But like my last review (Jumper) it turns out to be a good idea that seems to get the Jr. High School treatment from the filmmakers. The setting is the African continent, likely across the mid to northern parts of Africa leading from the Great Rift Valley through the Sahara to the Egyptian outlet of the Nile.  It is not completely clear where the journey begins, but it is possibly somewhere around Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Kenya, and ends up in the early stages of the Valley of the Kings, where the pyramids are still under construction.

The story starts out being about a small tribe of hunting nomads who survive on herds of migrating mastadons.  As the creatures migrations slow down the tiny tribe is slowly dieing off.  A personal struggle is introduced and our protagonist is a young tribal leader named D'Leh, whose love interest is kidnapped by marauding horse riders.  In his quest to free and regain his love, D'Leh and several of his tribesmen wander through Africa, gaining tribes of men to help them against the mighty armies of the evil Egyptian empire.  What begins as a simple love story tries to end up being the ultimate movie about class struggle.  The movie has just two problems- no acting and no directing.  The story was strong enough it could have held a good script under its premise, but the writing and details here totally make the film fall flat.  This film in the hands of a master (Speilberg, Coen brothers, or even Gibson) would have been fun if nothing else.  But not only was the directing about as inspiring as 3 day old soda left in the sun, but the acting consisted of glistening-eyed-looks with pretty people headshots and not much else.

Every attempt at emotion and engagement with actual human characteristics falls dismally short of plausible.  The one thing that does work is the well done visuals and excellent set work.

If you have big screen HD TV, wait till this film comes out on BluRay DVD.  You may otherwise feel like you have lived through 10,000 years of tired, cold popcorn crumbs before this film is over on the silver screen. The film is PG13, but that may be simply because it was just too bad for kids under 13 to experience.  The rating here could have PG and it would have been fine. There are a couple scenes of battle and people getting killed in epic battle scenes, but nothing grisly, or frightful for children 10 or over.

Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/T6F5sZ

Review by Kim Gentes

It was good, until the movie started.

You ever get the feeling that someone handed a great idea over to a bunch of 7th graders? If so, you have probably seen Jumper.  This is the action/sci-fi/adaptation gone awry from author Steven Gould.  The screenplay underwent a couple of revisions and direction landed with Doug Linman.  Perhaps another couple script revisions were in order here.  Jumper has a fun premise- teleportation.  Certainly people are gifted genetically to teleport, or so the story goes.  David Rice (played by Hayden Christensen) is one of those people.  The story follows David as he grows from adolesence to adulthood, though he remains selfishly focused throughout.  The story has a few plot twists, but nothing teleports the audience to a believable or even enjoyable place.  Ultimately, the film ends with less pizzazz than it starts and the audience is left wondering how such a cool idea was maimed into the resulting film.  There are touches of interesting action, but the plot and the characters remain undeveloped.  Christensen has even less acting presence in this film than he did in the Star Wars episodes where we played Anakin Skywalker. In fact, he still continues to brood of seemingly nothing in this film, leaving me to believe that he has about 3 poses and about zero acting ability.

The film would have been a good rental or netflix download, but paying full price was probably leaving us all feeling like someone just teleported off with our hard-earned money.

Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/S2Xnsz
 

Review by Kim Gentes

Funny, Heartwarming and slightly absurd.

Juno is the story of a teenage pregnancy, where Ellen Page and Michael Cera play the 16-ish unconventional highschool sweethearts who become pregnant.  Page plays the unbelieveably witty Juno, who is way too smart.  But her lines are so funny and so deftly acted, you buy everything and roll on laughing. Cera plays Bleeker, an emotionally in-touch version of Napolean Dynomite, complete with that same nerdish sex-appeal but lacking the absurd SNL-skit oddball family life. JK Simmons, most famous for his roles on prime time dramas like Law & Order, plays the wise and also perfectly cast father.

I admit, I was dragged to this movie, but I ended up laughing my head off. It was probably too funny, actually, especially for people who might have to deal seriously with this topic.  But the movie doesn't take itself too seriously, and the director here is smart enough to stay away from getting preachy about the issues.  This will be a perennial standout movie on the rental market, and it has already raked in $100million in the US theatres.  It has all quirkiness that links a film to our real world, oddball lives, while maintaining enough Hollywood to make it coexist in a realm of ideology that informs us of "how things ought to be".  I know its considered trite to speak of morality and conscience these days, but this is a refreshing, if slightly unrealistic, story that helps us remember what our best intentions should be.  And there is just enough "Cinderella" mixed in that you get that warm fuzzy feeling without having to throw up at the end.

Juno is a perfect "date" movie for any couple, with a likely cautionary repreave to any children under 13 due to language and sexual themes.  It's PG-13 rating is well-placed, in my opinion.

Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/RZfiSH

Review by Kim Gentes

Good concept, good suspense, good action. Not a perfect mix.

Tired of the same old daily life you've been living in suburban, middle-class America? Maybe you should be happy with what you have. This is the warning detailed in graphic violence of the action/thriller/gangster adapation called Death Sentence. Nick Hume (played by Kevin Bacon) is an upper level manager with a relatively boring career. He has a great family and a fine life. Into this world of safety bursts gang violence that abruptly ends the life of Hume's teenage son. Watching his dieing son, Hume's grief and anger become overwhelming to the point of retribution. In this state, he begins to wage a war on the gang that caused the death of his son.

The story is intriuging enough with the setup, but the action begins to take over the film. Soon the notions of a plot and plausability are left with a spiraling ascension into bullet ridden violence. There are some very good moments here by Kevin Bacon, and his co-star Kelly Preston, who plays his wife. But the escapes and heroics that take over the film become more like James Bond and Jason Stratham, than the "everyman" that Bacon is supposed to be. After the initial setup of about 30 minutes, the film retreats for about an hour into complete violence and action, only returning to a morality lesson for the ending sequence.

The film is definitely worthwhile seeing, and it has good components of human drama, action and suspense. But one is left feeling like these good components just weren't mixed that well. After seeing unbelievable gunfight scenes, and having almost everyone die, it seemed a little trite to conclude with trying to teach us all a good lesson. There are some strong performances by Bacon, Preston and John Goodman (who plays the most sickly vision of a criminal father you can imagine) and these bouy the story and keep you concerned for the characters.

As for the MPAA rating of R, I would say it is too low. The violence and graphic nature of the film is horrific for any child and is likely too much for many adults. The language is pervasive and affronting. I would have set this film at NC-17. Too much for most adults, let alone kids under 17.

Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/RHOrc9

Review by Kim Gentes