Playing for Keeps

Yellow Card

★ ★ 1/2 out of 5 buckets | Rental

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Rated: PG-13 - Some sexual situations, language and a brief intense image.

Release Date: December 7, 2012

Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

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Director: Gabriele Muccino
Writers: Robbie Fox
Cast:  Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Dennis Quaid, Uma Thurman, Noah Lomax, Catherine Zeta-Jones, James Tupper, Judy Greer

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SYNOPSIS: A former soccer star with no prospects tries desperately to reconnect with his son and soon-to-be remarried ex-wife. When he has the chance to spend more time with his son by coaching his soccer team, he finds himself dealing with lustful soccer moms and quirky dads.

REVIEW: Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino takes on the romantic comedy genre with dashing Gerard Butler and sexy girl next door Jessica Biel. Robbie Fox, writer of the 1993 So I Married an Axe Murderer, returns as a scribe after an eighteen hiatus, begging the question of whether soccer and family can mix. 

George (Gerard Butler, Chasing Mavericks) was a famous soccer striker in his youth, until an injury sidelined him and stole away his prospects in the sport. Today, he moves into a guest house in Virginia to be closer to his ex-wife Stacie (Jessica Biel, Hitchcock) and son Lewis (Noah Lomax, The Middle). Struggling to make ends meet and to become a quality father to Lewis, George takes in the challenge of coaching his son's wayward soccer team. With the kids in the team engaged with the sport, George finds himself having to deal with lustful divorcees in the form of soccer mom Barb (Judy Greer, Jeff, Who Lives at Home), married women Denise (Cathrine Zeta-Jones, Rock of Ages), and a rich, jealous husband Carl (Dennis Quaid, The Words) who cheats on his wife Patty (Uma Thurman, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) but lives by his own double standards. George may have been able to handles the stresses of World Cup play, but his chance to make good with his son and to make peace with his soon-to-be remarried ex-wife may prove too much to endure.

Chiseled, scruffy, and dashing Gerard Butler made a name for himself with the theatrical Phantom of the Opera and 300, leading to roles in a string of so-so romantic comedies and decent action films. He provides one of the voices to the successful How to Train Your Dragon films and the gritty Machine Gun Preacher. Following up the zen surfer Chasing Mavericks drama, Butler continues with a more semi-serious romantic film to finish out the year. Jessica Biel, fresh off her limited released of the Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren film Hitchcock, has been successful in mixing up her resume with action, horror, and romance. Both make the most of the film and their characters, with Butler as the immature womanizer and Jessica as the woman who had to give up her love affair with a sports star in order to move on with her life to raise their son by herself.

Butler and Biel are cast with several A-listers including Thurman, Quaid, and Zeta-Jones. But the real show stealer is Judy Greer as soccer mom divorcee Barb. Sure, Thurman and Zeta-Jones are sexy and flirty as heck, but Greer's Barb is brilliant as the seemingly bi-polar emotional wreck that finds solace in Butler's George. Dennis Quaid plays a neurotic jealous husband who walks the line between a good guy and a bad guy. Either way, Butler's George should have probably given Quaid's Carl a wider berth. 

The story is solid enough, but formulaic. Characters are introduced and used, except Greer's superior performance, just as plot devices to throw at George. They serve their purpose well enough, but each piece hangs out to flap in the wind afterward. And the believability factor suffers a little bit when George's appearance at Lewis' practice turns into a soccer clinic and the complete turnaround of a losing bunch of kids to championship material. The story of George, his son Lewis, and ex-wife Stacie works to a greater degree, focusing on George's attempt to reconcile and better his relationship with both of them.

Playing for Keeps is a pleasant semi-dramatic romantic comedy. Anyone who can relate to divorced parents trying to reconcile for the sake of a child will appreciate what this film is trying to achieve. There is sexiness, bare chests, and charisma for most, and the campiness and hijinks of the soccer moms interested in George does take away from the more serious story between George, Stacie, and Lewis.

Playing for Keeps is a cute flick that will entertain moviegoers in the mood for a light dramatic romantic comedy. Butler and Biel have plenty of chemistry to go along with perfect smiles and beautiful features. Is this film nothing but the back of the net? You decide.

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Hitchcock

It Will be a 'Good Evening'

★ ★ ★ 1/2 out of 5 buckets | Matinee or DVD

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Rated: PG-13 - Some violent images, sexual content and thematic material

Release Date: November 23, 2012 (Limited)

Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes

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Director: Sasha Gervasi
Writers: John J. Mclaughlin, based on the book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" by Stephen Rebello
Cast:  Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlet Johansson, Danny Huston, Jessica Biel, Tony Collette, Michael Wincott, James D'Arcy, Ralph Macchio

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SYNOPSIS:  Alfred Hitchcock fiances his next big project with Robert Bloch's "Psycho", putting a strain on his professional career and personal relationship with his wife, Alma.

REVIEW: Writer/Director Sasha Gervasi, writer of Tom Hank's The Terminal and director of Anvil: The Story of Anvil, takes on an iconic character in a true master of suspense director Alfred Hitchcock. Black Swan writer John J. Mclaughlin adapts a story based Stephen Rebello's book "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho", accounting for Hitchcock's challenges in front of, behind, and away from the camera lens.

Acclaimed Hollywood director Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins, The Rite) had just finished directing and distributing Cary Grant's North By Northwest to the American masses. Afterward, back on the Paramount Pictures studio lot Hitch (as he preferred to be monikered) sat looking for his next big project. When he came across the Robert Bloch novel 'Psycho', none of the other treatments or script offers appealed to him. 'Psycho' would be his next project. Turned down from financing from Paramount and other studios, Hitch was forced to finance the picture himself. Hitch's editor/writer wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren, Arthur), who he had always collaborated with on his film projects, continues to stand by his side - even as Hitch ogles his blond leading lady Janet Leigh (Scarlet Johansson, The Avengers). As the production of the film drags on, the pressure on Alfred Hitchcock mounts for both the film and the relationship with his wife especially when she takes up a writing collaboration with writer Witfield Cook (Danny Huston, Wrath of the Titans).

Although never winning an Oscar, Alfred Hitchcock has been instrumental as the inspiration of directors and filmmakers who have come after him. He launched careers and innovated much of the technical craft that director and cinematographers still use in some way today. Vertigo, North By Northwest, Rear Window, and The Birds, as well as others, are pinnacles of edge-of-your-seat film examples. Some of his films have been remade with fresh current twists and actors, Disturbia naming one, but Hitchcock was the one to thrill and scare audiences decades ago as an original master of suspense. Many of the Hitchcock films I watched as a youth, or discovered even more recently, left an indelible mark to what I considered great filmmaking.

Hitchcock, based on the novel 'Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho', delves into Hitchcock's madness and methodology. Ed Gein, noted as one of the earliest American serial killers, served as the inspiration of the Robert Bloch novel and served as macabre muse for the director. Hitchcock even takes to feverish dreams with Gein (Michael Wincott, The Crow) counseling him on matters of the heart and of the career. Often rumored or stated that Ed Gein was the inspiration for other films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the 1970s, Hitchcock's obsession with the killer and what he had done on an isolated farmhouse in Wisconsin in 1944 would try to spring to life on celluloid. The studios were against Hitchcock and the censors were ready to pull the plug on a domestic release. Alfred and Alma would have to put aside their disputes long enough to attempt to finish a film that had the potential to ruin their lives or bring the director notable glory.

Anthony Hopkins is wonderful as the pair-shaped filmmaker. While not an exact likeness, Hopkins embodies the big belly, the pout, and drooping eyes and lips with all the flair and quiet aloofness that we have seen in many of Hitchcock's films and television projects. At times, Hopkins is spot on with every inflection or enunciation, while at other times he sounds more like Sir Anthony Hopkins. The elegant Helen Mirren is outstanding as the faithful and dutiful wife of a director husband considered a genius, while a creative and accomplished filmmaking professional in her own right. Scarlet Johansson's Janet Leigh looks the part of the aspiring starlet, thankful for the opportunity to work with such an attentive director. Jessica Biel, as the actress Vera Miles, is forced into a secondary Psycho role on the film because of an earlier betrayal to Hitchcock. Danny Huston's Wit plays a hack screenwriter who wants to take Alma's talents, and possibly more, away from Alfred. And knowing that Anthony Perkins is no longer with the living, I am concerned that James D'Arcy (Cloud Atlas) may be wearing an Anthony Perkins suit - a la Ed Gein - because D'Arcy shows uncanny similarity to Perkin in both look and demeanor. It is as if this period biography was shot using a young Perkins himself!

Danny Elfman's music is a nod of the cap to the films of Hitchcock, with long drawn out strings to set the mood. And no movie of this type would be complete without the sharp repeating violin chords that accompany every butcher knife that finds itself by a shower curtain. While Janet Leigh was rumored to have sworn off showers after wrapping on Psycho, there is not a person over thirty-five who hasn't made the stabbing gestures, made the noise, or thought about who may be behind a vinyl motel curtain. Hitchcock has done for scenic motel vacations what Spielberg has done for swimming.

Hitchcock will not be a blockbuster, but it is a riveting, charming, funny, and probing period semi-historical film surrounding the lives and times of Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville, and the making of a film that would be a successful highlight of the director's career. If you are a fan of Hitchcock, then you should head to this namesake film as the raven flies.

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Total Recall (2012)

Bad Memory

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Rated: PG-13 Intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, some sexual content, brief nudity and language.
Release Date: August 3, 2012
Runtime:  1 hour 49 minutes

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Director: Len Wiseman
Writers: Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback, Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon, Jon Povil, based on the short story 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale' by Philip K. Dick
Cast:  Colin Ferrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel,Bryan Cranston, Bokeem Woodbine, Bill Nighy, John Cho

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SYNOPSIS: Factory work Douglas Quaid begins to question the reality of his life after a visit to memory inducing company ReKall goes awry and he finds himself on the road from both people he thought he knew and unknown shadowy government agents.

REVIEW: Underworld series writer and Underworld and Underworld: Evolution director Len Wiseman tries to remember what is real and what is illusion with a sci-fi remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger Total Recall based on the short story 'We Can Remember It for You Wholesale' by cult sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick. Forsaking a trip to Mars for locales for terrestrial, Kurt Wimmer (Salt) and Matt Bomback (Unstoppable) write a screenplay based on the original screen story by Ronald Shusett and Dan O'Bannon (Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem), and Sliders series writer Jon Povil. Can Colin Ferrell erase the memory of the Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie vehicle and replace it with something completely different?

In a world of the late 21st Century, the planet has been ravaged by over population and global chemical warfare. Years later, the only inhabitable regions of the earth are on the opposite sides of the globe. The United Federation of Britain stands as the technological and economical center while the Colony (Australia) serves as the source for cheap labor for the UFB. Joining the two regions is a tunneled transport called The Fall, a massive subway rail that runs through the center of the earth itself. Douglas Quaid (Colin Ferrell, Horrible Bosses) lives with his wife Lori Quaid (Kate Beckinsale, Underworld: Awakening) in the Colony, Douglas taking the 17 minute Fall trip through the planet to work on the Synthetics assembly line with his friend Harry (Bokeem Woodbine, Devil) in the UFB. Working as hard as he can to get ahead on the job, Doug still finds that he is missing something. With nightmares of a hard fought escape with a beautiful woman, Doug is restless and unsure of himself. Doug takes a trip to ReKall, a business that can implant realistic memories of vacations, or life as a wealthy or powerful individual. But just as the technician McClane (John Cho, American Reunion) starts the ReKall implant process, something goes awry and armed law enforcement tactical team burst in to apprehend Douglas. Escaping the situation by using unknown combat skills against the soldiers, Doug finds that he is unsure of his true memories as his wife, friends, and government turns against him in a expansive plot of UFB government led by Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston, Rock of Ages) against the rebellion led by Matthias (Bill Nighy, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). Only the woman from his nightmares, Melina (Jessica Biel, New Year's Eve), seems to be the only one that Doug can trust. Or can he? 

Cool for its time, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall was a film I took in at a summer drive-in theater. But, to be honest, aside from the practical visual effects and the novelty of the story, I really did not love the original effort. I just couldn't come to grasp the ancient terraforming mechanics on the red surface of Mars. Why did the original Douglas Quaid's hand fit the alien technology? Maybe another viewing of the original is in order. Maybe not. All I found that the bulging eyes scene at the end of the film was more comical than anything else.

All that being said, we need to look at what Colin Ferrell and crew bring to this sci-fi remake. Many wonder - as with many remakes - is Total Recall (2012) a necessary film? I think that Wommer and Bomback do a fine job crafting a completely different tale based on the same memory wiping concept from Philip K. Dick and the original screenwriting team. Keeping the action firmly on Earth, instead of traveling to the Red Planet of Mars, this version creates a world on the brink of collapse with precious resources encapsulated in two overpopulated regions of the planet. Wommer, Bomback, and director The Colony is a bottom-feeding Asian Fusion society with a Blade Runner flair, while the UFB is a high-rising magnetic sky rail utopia more similar to I, Robot and Minority Report. The original film would never have thought to use as much touch technology as we are treated to in the remake. It is amazing what real  technology can do on the limits of science fiction technology. And with any good remake, it is important to pay homage to the original - spending one moment with a well-endowed working girl and another with a red-headed traveler.

The action is fierce and fast throughout. From the opening dream sequence where Doug and Melina shoot their way out of a soldier infested compound, to the epic Synthetics shootout at the end, Total Recall jams as much firepower and fist power into its 109 minutes. Colin Ferrell shows that he has the ability to be an action star if he wanted to be and Kate Beckinsale reinforces her status as a true femme fatale powerhouse. The fight choreography alone is worth the price of admission. Ferrell and Beckinsale's hand-to-hand close-quartered fights and rooftop chases are excellent. Add in magnetic roadway and claustrophobic cubed elevator pursuits with bullet ricochets and you have perfect popcorn entertainment.

Even though the story is varied enough to offer many brand new lot angles, the concept of false memories or loss of memories have become common place. From memory-shackled films like Memento, to amnesiac special agents in the form of The Bourne Identity, to the original Total Recall, moviegoers have become fairly savvy about affairs of the mind. The remake does lose a couple points because of the fact of familiarity with the premise, even though director Wiseman takes the film in a different direction.

Visually impressive, Total Recall makes great use of anamorphic camera lens work to add more life into each scene. J.J. Abrams did a great job with the same technique in the Star Trek reboot/prequel/sequel. The horizontal light trails, coupled with top-notched modeling, CGI, and matte work, paints a complete picture of the bleak post-global war society.

Total Recall is great popcorn entertainment, allowing you to simply enjoy the spectacle that is one possible future. If you are old enough to remember the original film, you will recall some of what will probably come about. Filled with sweet action and a decent story, you may forget all about that early 90s version of... what were we talking about again?

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WORTH: Matinee or DVD

The A-Team

A Wild Ride!

[Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Jessica Biel, Sharlto Copley, Quinton Jackson]

Summer is almost in full swing, and the movies just keep on coming. There is now 2 or 3 movies a week that need to be watched, and I am a man on a mission. And, of course, a man on a mission is critical for taking in a movie like "The A-Team". So, me and the guys from work rallied together and headed to the closest multiplex to the office. Luckily, the closest multiplex is 2 blocks away.

SYNOPSIS: An elite squad of Army Rangers take on a mission outside of Baghdad and are framed for the theft of mint plates. Tried in a military court, the members of the alpha team soon escape and pursue the men responsible.

From polished to player, light to dark, crazy to crazier, and mohawks into meaning -- these are the traits that distinguish the new band of brothers from the original 80s television action series characters of Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Cooper), Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith (Liam Neeson), Capt. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley) and Bosco "B.A." Baracus (Quinton Jackson), respectively.

Ramping up beloved characters from the 1983 to 1987 hour-long small-screen actioner, director and co-writer Joe Carnahan breathes new life and new depths into the members of the A-Team. Gone is the "Face" all dapper and debonair, replaced by Cooper as a ripped bodied playboy living in the moment but unsure of how to measure up to strategic colonel. "Hannibal" from Neeson is a grittier, growling leader, still with a cigar and a catch-phrase but now when a more realistic perspective of life. Sharlto Copley, straight away from "District 9", supplies great laugh-out-loud moments closer to the brink than Dwight Schultz ever was. And Ultimate Fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson both channels Mr. T and Ghandi as he struggles with the warrior and new-found peacemaker within.

The story is action packed from beginning to end. Carnahan provides us both the heroes origin tale and several plans that come together. After being framed for the theft of one hundred dollar mint plates, the team is pursued by Jessica Biel as Department of Defense Charisa Sosa, Patrick Wilson as CIA agent Lynch and Brian Bloom as contract mercenary Pike. Bloom brings a lunacy to the Pike role that almost rivals Copley's Murdock, and definitely makes you smile.

But while the story and characters is solid, there are a few key issues. First is that when you use foreign actors, sometimes the native accents come through. While we can forgive Copley for the hints of South Africa since he throws all sorts of accents at us through the film, Liam's native tone seems to seep through too much. The other issue I have is the quality of some of the CGI effects during the beginning and ending of the film. I guess a $100 million doesn't go as far as it used to for digital FX. Lastly, a couple of surprises could have left as surprises. I saw a few plot points coming before the reveal, and wished for better writing in parts.

You will laugh at the villains and the lunacy. You will like the pace, the characters and the action. You will love it when a plan comes together!

Worth: Matinee & DVD