Hypothermia (2010)

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

GENRE: MONSTER
SOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)

At first I was confused by the clear plastic case on the DVD for Hypothermia instead of the standard black, but when I opened it up it all made sense - it comes with a reversible cover that boasts completely different box art, so the clear plastic was there to let you see it. I also noticed that it was superior art, and as I slid it out to reverse it I realized that my assumption about the film was backed up by this alternate cover, which I have posted below for your enjoyment (you can see the "default" cover on the Amazon link below).

Now, I see that poster and I think: "Oh cool, this looks like a B movie from the 70s." You know, something you'd catch on late night cable, perhaps with a horror host, scaring the shit out of impressionable youth or entertaining those who were possibly a bit drunk. Then it would disappear, find its way onto MST3k or one of those Mill Creek budget packs, and be championed by nostalgic viewers and/or people like me who watch a lot of crap and can appreciate a straight up monster movie every now and then. Plus it's eye-catching, unlike the rather bland cover they went with that shows some people standing on the ice, plus the monster below them if you look at it really closely. I guarantee everyone who buys this DVD will be sporting the alternate cover, and I can ALMOST guarantee that they probably cost themselves a few sales by not using it in the first place.

As for the movie itself, it's pretty good, with two big blunders that keep it just shy of a full blown recommendation. One would be the not particularly good monster suit; while one could argue it totally fits with the cheesy 70s Bigfoot and swamp creature suits you'd see, that sort of "retro" approach can only get you so far, and as a result it never feels very menacing. And either by design or by post production second guessing, many of its attack scenes are confusing, as the shots of the monster never last long (and are often set in near total darkness). So you can barely see anything and what you DO see looks silly - it's not a good combo.

The other issue is the very ending, which... actually I have no idea what the hell happened there. I will welcome all theories, but I'd be even more interested in hearing someone who found it in any way satisfying. Even with the cheesy suit, I was on board with the movie and ready to defend it (a few friends had offered "condolences" when I tweeted that it was today's HMAD), but that ending made it hard to argue with them. Much like my love of pop rock bands and the show Prison Break, I understand why folks find it so bad, and it's not worth the debate - by any reasonable measure you're "right", but dammit I like it anyway.

And I can justify that admiration with the film's first hour or so (it's only 72 minutes with credits), which quickly sets up the scenario and its characters, and keeps the pace chugging along as the monster stalks them from above, surfacing often enough to keep it from being dull but not so often that we don't get a chance to know who our characters are. It's certainly interesting to see Michael Rooker playing a normal family man for a change; I can't even remember the last time he played a character that didn't put me on edge (Cliffhanger?), and he actually acquits himself nicely in the role. If nothing else, hopefully some filmmakers/casting types will see this movie and realize Rooker can play sympathetic roles and not just villains and weirdos.

Also: yay, practical FX! One of the characters gets a pretty nasty wound on his arm early on, and the other assorted injuries and deaths are given the ol' pre-CGI treatment that I always prefer. Hell, I can even appreciate that they tried to do a practical monster rather than a CGI one; it would probably look bad either way on this budget, so at least the actors have something to react to and interact with instead of staring at ping pong balls and green screens. I can also appreciate any movie that takes place almost exclusively on the ice - there's a cabin we see briefly in the first act and a little trailer that they use every now and then (which we learn is a set on the making of featurette), but the rest of the time they're really out there on the ice, falling through holes into the freezing water when applicable and probably not having too much sensation in their fingers and toes throughout the bulk of their scenes.

That tidbit is one of the few things learned on the making of, which is sadly lacking much in the way of interviews or anything like that - it's mostly just a random assortment of production footage and "fly on the wall" type stuff. The guy who designed the suit offers some thoughts (and we see director James Felix McKenney give it his approval), but otherwise there isn't much to chew on here. Rooker shows up a few times (it ends on his last day of shooting), but the other actors are barely glimpsed, which is a shame as I would have liked to hear the actress playing his wife explain why she had the same scolding look on her face and tone to her line delivery throughout the film. Doesn't matter if her husband is being a Clark Griswold-ian family man, or there's a monster swimming nearby, or she's just seen a loved one get killed, she always looks and sounds like a woman who just found out her kid got caught smoking at school and has to drive over there on her day off to pick him up from the principal. Bold choice.

However the other two bonus features are kind of awesome. One is the full version of the fishing show that we see on a TV for a brief moment; it's too small to tell in the film but the star of this "show" is none other than Larry Fessenden, and he's a riot playing a straight-faced parody of those Sunday morning shows. It runs about four minutes, just long enough to amuse and make it worth your while. The other one is even better - a ten minute account of the guy who has to bring a major prop for the film all the way to upstate New York. He's joined by his dad, and a hefty portion of the piece is his old man telling him about watching horror movies with the (future) mom of the family back when they were first dating. It's a wonderfully sweet little concept, and the exact kind of bonus feature I like - something unusual that you know wasn't slapped together by one of the producers looking to make his DVD look more interesting to buyers. No one will buy Hypothermia for this little piece, but damned if it isn't worth keeping the disc out of respect for such a great idea.

The underwhelming monster and totally jarring ending make this one a tough sell, but if you're in the mood for a more serious monster movie (i.e. NOT the ones they show on Syfy) with a unique setting, I think it's worth the whopping 70 minutes it takes to watch it. Rooker fans should enjoy seeing him do something a little different, and it's a huge improvement on McKenney's Off Season, something I always like to see. Knock em dead next time, sir.

What say you?

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Our 31 Days Pre-Game warm up!

 

It's that time of year again!

October is our month; There's a creepy chill in the air, the trees are losing their leaves, and the best day of the year is only mere weeks away. Halloween is our Christmas, and that's why we celebrate it not only on the 31st, but for the 30 days leading up to it as well.

This year for our 31 Days of Horror countdown, we're mixing it up a bit. On some days, we're going to do a double feature with like-minded movies, on others, we're going to watch multiple flicks in a series. Sometimes we'll just watch one flick. Depends.

Some days during the 31, we're going to check out new releases at the Theater; with full crowds to scream along with us.

To get us in the mood for tomorrow's day 1 kick off, we're watching one of the most seminal Halloween flicks ever made. If this one doesn't get us in that dark, cold, fall-is-here type of mood, nothing will.

Trick r' Treat is to Halloween what A Christmas Story is to Christmas; it's an essential, almost seminal Holiday movie-watching experience. It's a mood setter. It's a modern day classic. It's a movie about the actual spirit of Halloween, and what happens to those foolish enough to not follow its rules.

There's no better way to get ourselves into the Halloween mood.

See you tomorrow for Day One!

Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures

On September 15th, select AMC theatres had a marathon of all four Indiana Jones films. Cody was at one of those theatres.

Indiana Jones was a big presence in my household throughout my childhood. He was a new hero on the scene at the time, he was quite popular, and his movies were in heavy rotation on cable. Since his adventures were such that I could enjoy with parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends, most of their airings played out on our televisions. My father was a big fan of the character, his fandom perhaps slightly enhanced by the fact that the character shared a name with his home state, and even bought a piece of official merchandise that was stowed safely away in a cupboard - a replica of Indiana Jones's famous hat. I was fascinated with that hat as a kid, since I basically became obsessed with film as soon as I became conscious, and would occasionally get it out of the cupboard just to examine it. I was holding a piece of the movies in my hands... The hat fit my father, but even at that young age it was too small for my large noggin, so I never could put it on to play Indiana Jones myself. Pretty much the only Indy playing I ever did was in the Last Crusade video game.

By the mid-'90s, though there were rumors to the contrary, the series seemed to have come and gone. My interest in the films died down, and I've only rewatched them a few times in the last seventeen years. I bought the box set of the trilogy when it came out on DVD in 2003, but the discs never got much play. I probably rewatched the first three movies before going to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, and seeing Crystal Skull on opening weekend was the last time I watched any of them before this month.

I wouldn't have watched the movies again any time soon, and thus re-discovered my enjoyment of them, if it wasn't for AMC Theatres. Raiders of the Lost Ark was given a brief IMAX re-release in anticipation of the September 18th release of the Indiana Jones films on Blu-ray, but AMC decided to take Indy's return to cinema screens one step further, announcing a theatrical marathon of all four films to be held at select theatres on September 15th. One of the participating theatres was the same one that I saw The Ultimate Marvel Marathon at back in May. I had a fun time at that marathon, so I couldn't pass up the chance to return for nine hours (including the short breaks in between the movies) of Indiana Jones.

Along with these marathons come swag. At the Marvel marathon, we had gotten a lanyard for the event that would serve as our ticket for the day, 3-D glasses in the style of an Avenger, and a free Avengers comic book. For Indiana Jones, we got a free poster for the event - I still haven't unrolled mine - and a lanyard to wear during the day. This time the "ticket" attached was made to look like the idol seen in the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the marathon's schedule on the back.

I took my seat in the theatre, in the same room that the Marvel marathon was held in, and the Indiana Jones marathon started off at 10:30am with

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
 
Like Star Wars, the idea for Indiana Jones was born out of George Lucas's love for serials, a form of entertainment that had its golden age between 1936 and 1945, adventure films that were broken up into short chapters and released to theatres weekly to be played before features. In this case, rather than space battles and alien worlds, Lucas came up with his own "man of action". He first had the idea for the character (originally named Indiana Smith) in 1973 and began developing a story with director Philip Kaufman, who at that time had just made The Great Northfield Minnesota and would go on to direct The Outlaw Josey Wales, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1979), and The Right Stuff, among others. Kaufman eventually moved on to other projects, and Lucas put Indiana Smith on the shelf while he focused on Star Wars.

Steven Spielberg had always been a fan of James Bond. As he was getting his directing career going in the mid-to-late '70s, he really wanted to direct a Bond movie. He was considered for 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me, he allowed the Bond producers to use a bit of the music from his Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1979's Moonraker, but he never got the offer to direct one. When he brought up his desire to make a Bond movie to Lucas, Lucas presented him with a different idea - why direct someone else's character when they could make a movie about their own globetrotting adventurer? He told Spielberg about Indiana Smith... or maybe Indiana Jones would be a better name.

Lucas brought the well-developed idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark to the table, and through extensive talks with Spielberg and writer Lawrence Kasdan, who Lucas brought over from working on The Empire Strikes Back, the version that ultimately reached the screen was whipped into shape.

The story was set in 1936 to properly pay homage to the golden age of serials, and the hero they created is a professor of archaeology, an expert in the occult, and an obtainer of rare antiquities. He searches the world for ancient artifacts, which he then sells to his friend Marcus Brody (who is also the dean of Marshall College, where Indy teaches), to be displayed in the museum he's the curator of.

Like a Bond film, Raiders begins with an action sequence that is almost entirely unrelated to the events of the rest of the film, introducing us to Indiana Jones as he makes his way through a dangerous jungle and into a boobytrap-rigged cave to retrieve a golden idol. When the idol is removed from its weight-sensitive pedestal, traps are set off and in one of the most popular moments of the series, Indy is chased back out of the cave by a massive rolling boulder.

When Indy exits the cave, we get this sequence's connection to the rest of the film - French archaeologist René Belloq is waiting for him, and demands that he hand over the idol. It seems Indy and Belloq have had many encounters over the years that have played out this way, Indy going through the trouble of obtaining relics just to have Belloq show up and take them away from him. Belloq is the type of villain who is the shadowy reflection of our hero, and he flat-out admits to it in a line of dialogue.

Indy returns home to Connecticut emptyhanded, but two men from Army Intelligence soon show up to talk to him. The film's period provides the perfect villains to thwart - the Nazis - and Army Intelligence knows that the Nazis have been searching the world for religious artifacts because Hitler is obsessed with the occult. The Nazis are currently digging for something outside Cairo, and Indy immediately deduces that they must have discovered the lost city of Tanis, the possible resting place of the lost Ark of the Covenant, the chest the Hebrews used to carry around the stone tablets the Ten Commandments were written on. The Ark may have been taken to Tanis in 980 BC and hidden in a place called the Well of Souls, after which Tanis was consumed by the desert during a sandstorm that lasted a full year. The Ark contains the power of God, the Bible describes the Ark being used to level mountains and lay waste, legend has it that any army carrying the Ark is invincible. Not something you want in the hands of the Nazis, if you believe that sort of talk. Indiana Jones doesn't, that's a boogeyman story to him, he doesn't believe in magic or supernatural hocus pocus, there's nothing that his gun and whip can't handle. He just wants the Ark because it's a valuable artifact. Army Intelligence is willing to pay handsomely if Indy can beat the Nazis to the Ark and retrieve it for them. That's an offer that's right up his alley.

His first stop is Nepal. To find the Ark, you need the headpiece for the Staff of Ra, which has to be taken into a map room in Tanis so the sun can shine through the crystal in the headpiece and point out the area on the map where the Well of Souls is. Indy's mentor Abner Ravenwood was an expert on Tanis and the Ark, and is believed to have found the headpiece.
 

Any man of action needs a love interest, and here Indiana Jones's is Marion Ravenwood, the daughter of his mentor. Indy and Marion have a rocky relationship, they were romantically involved ten years earlier and did not part on good terms. Marion is now stuck in Nepal and trying to raise enough money to return home by running a dive bar. Her father has passed away, but the headpiece is in her possession and she's not so willing to give it up. Joining Indy may be her ticket home, so she ends up accompanying him to Cairo and through all the danger that follows.

Some great action and suspense sequences play out as Indy searches for the Ark, battles Nazis, and tries to keep the artifact out of the hands of the villains, which include Belloq, who turns out to be the archaeologist heading up the dig in Cairo. As the situation builds to its climax, events begin to occur that may test Indiana Jones's disbelief in the legends...

I don't really need to say it, pretty much everybody knows - Raiders of the Lost Ark is a fantastic film. It's got a good story, some very cool effects, great action, Spielberg does an awesome job directing it, and the cast is perfect, from Harrison Ford as Indy and Karen Allen as Marion to Paul Freeman and Ronald Lacey as the lead villains and Denholm Elliott and John Rhys-Davies as Indy's pals Marcus Brody and Sallah. As smart as it is entertaining, it's one of the best adventure movies ever made.


When Raiders of the Lost Ark ended, there was a short break before the second film was set to begin, so I spent the time strolling around the AMC and people watching. I saw one man on his knees in front of an empty bench on which he had stood up his lanyard so he could take pictures of it with his cell phone. A woman walked up to him and, as if to say "Of course I'd find you doing this", said to him, "You blogger." The man was not me. I took my lanyard pictures on the seat of my car.

Soon it was 12:45pm and time for

 
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (1984)

The follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark is actually a prequel, but it's not the type of prequel that exists to answer questions and give further information about backstory, the only thing that makes it a prequel is the fact that it just happens to take place one year before the events of the first film. There are multiple theories and rumors of why Lucas and Spielberg might have wanted to set this movie before Raiders, but the one that makes the most sense to me is that they wanted an Indiana Jones who was still a free-spirited adventurer who had no belief in the supernatural and they felt the things he witnessed at the end of Raiders would've changed his outlook on the world.

Indiana Jones was a likeable hero in Raiders, but I actually like the character much better in Temple of Doom. In Raiders he was low-key and serious, here he's livelier and more lighthearted. He was motivated by money in Raiders, but it seemed like he was just trying to make ends meet. Here, he's not pursuing artifacts for the noble cause of making sure they're preserved in a museum, he's completely mercenary, out to find artifacts that will bring him "fortune and glory". When we first catch up with him in Temple of Doom, he's selling the remains of an ancient Emperor to Shanghai crime boss Lao Che in exchange for a large diamond.

Several action moments in Temple are sequences that were brought up during the development of Raiders but couldn't find a place in that film. Early ideas for Raiders had Indy going to Shanghai to retrieve a section of the Staff of Ra and getting attacked, having to use a large gong as a shield from machine gun fire. He avoids machine gun fire by using a large gong as a shield in the nightclub opening of Temple after his exchange with Lao Che goes wrong. He escapes from the club with the criminal's "famous American female vocalist" mistress Willie Scott and they're driven to the airport by his young orphan sidekick Short Round.

Indy, Willie, and Short Round board a cargo plane to leave the country, not realizing that the plane is owned by Lao Che. The pilots ditch the plane mid-flight, leading to another scene originally conceived during the Raiders discussions - the escape from a crashing plane by jumping out with an inflatable raft and landing on a snowy mountain.

The raft is then swept down a river until Indy and company end up in a small village in India that is experiencing a streak of horrible luck, the village elder telling them that they are the answer to his prayers, they have been delivered to the village by Shiva to help his people.

At the center of the film's plot is the legend of the Sankara Stones, five stones that were delivered to the priest Sankara by the Hindu god Shiva for him to combat evil with. One of the sacred stones was kept in a shrine to protect this village Indiana Jones has ended up in by chance or by the will of Shiva, but it has been stolen. Since the stone was taken, the village wells have dried up, the river turned to sand, the crops were swallowed by the earth, the animals layed down and turned to dust, there was a fire in the fields and when the men returned from fighting the fire, they found that all of the village children had been kidnapped. The source of all the evil befalling the village is the nearby Pankot Palace, which had been deserted, but a new Maharaja has recently moved into it.

Indy agrees to go to the palace as the villagers want him to, but he's still not a noble hero. Legend has it that when the stones are together, the diamonds inside of them will glow. Diamonds. These stones mean fortune and glory for Indiana Jones, and if he saves a bunch of kids while he's getting them, well that's just a nice aside.

Indy, Short Round, and the very reluctant and out of her element Willie make their way to Pankot Palace, and soon after a dinner of truly disgusting cuisine that is reminiscent of a scene from the previous year's Bond film Octopussy but with a much higher level of grossness, they find that the civilized appearance of the new Maharaja is actually a front for the Thuggee, a gang/cult that existed in India for hundreds of years before seemingly being wiped out by British forces in the 1830s. The Thuggee are back now and have three sacred stones in their possession. The final two are believed to be in the ground beneath the palace, so the village children are being used as slave labor to mine for them. When the Thuggee have all five stones, the power of their evil will sweep over the entire country.

Our heroes go through battles with cult members, brainwashing, human sacrifice, rooms full of insects and spikes, and an out of control rollercoaster-esque mine cart chase that is another leftover from Raiders. It all builds up to a final confrontation on a rope bridge high above alligator-infested waters, where Indiana Jones stands in the middle of the bridge, holding a machete, Thuggee coming at him from both sides. In the greatest, most badass moment of the entire series as far as I'm concerned, Indy decides, with the tension building and John Williams providing a great piece of score on the soundtrack, that the way out of this situation is to cut the bridge in half with everyone standing on it.

When coming up with the story for Temple of Doom, George Lucas intended it to be a darker film than its predecessor, since going darker for the second Star Wars film had worked out well. He has said that he felt he went too dark with it, and points to the fact that he was going through a divorce at the time as the reason why. While it's true that Temple does include some darker elements, I don't think it goes too dark, there's a nice balance of lightness throughout. As I said, Indy himself even feels like a lighter character. The movie starts with a musical number, there's a funny, plucky child sidekick, and Willie brings comedy to almost every scene she's in. Or annoyance, depending on your view of the character, but she never bothered me. She didn't bother Spielberg either, he married the actress, Kate Capshaw.

Temple of Doom is the entry in the series that I watched the most growing up, so nostalgia might play a hand in the fact that I think this is the one that has the most memorably iconic moments and settings, the best representation of Indiana Jones as a character, and the best villain in the form of Thuggee high priest Mola Ram, who can tear a person's heart out of their chest with his bare hands.

Since I had roughly five more hours to spend in the theatre as of the end of Temple of Doom, I figured that the break after it would be the perfect time to hit up the concession stand. Like at the Marvel marathon, I decided to take advantage of the large drink and large popcorn deal, with the intention of getting the one free refill on each by the end of the day.

 

And so it was with large drink and large popcorn at hand that I took my seat at 3:05pm for

 

INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989)

The opening sequence of the third film takes us even further back into Indiana Jones's past, all the way back to 1912, where a young Indy is played by River Phoenix. This sequence does what the typical prequel does, providing a bunch of unnecessary answers to unasked questions. While out on a field trip in the Utah desert, young Indy witnesses a group of shady characters unearthing the Cross of Coronado and celebrating the riches that it will bring them. At this point in his life, Indy does have the pure "that's an important artifact, it belongs in a museum" outlook and does his best to get the cross out of their hands. Turns out that Indy gained his fashion sense, the scar on his chin (which Harrison Ford got in a car accident), his predilection for using a whip, and his fear of snakes all in this one fateful afternoon. It's ridiculous, but it is entertaining.

The film then jumps ahead to 1938, when the rest of the story plays out. After Indy finally obtains the Cross of Coronado for Marcus Brody's museum. As he leaves Marshall College after a day of teaching class, Indy is picked up by a carload of men and taken to meet with their employer, Walter Donovan, a man who has a passion for antiquities and has contributed some to Brody's museum over the years. Donovan has in his possession a broken stone tablet from the mid-12th century that has enscribed it in some directions pointing to the final resting place of the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend, the chalice Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper and was later used to catch his blood at the crucifixion. As the tablet says, whoever drinks water from the cup will gain eternal life.

Donovan is heading up an attempt to recover the Holy Grail, and to aid in his quest he also has a manuscript that details the legend of three knights of the First Crusade who hid the cup away. Two of the knights died of extreme old age 150 years later, leaving two markers pointing to the location of the cup, over which the third knight still stood guard. One of the markers is the tablet Donovan has, the second is believed to be buried in a tomb in Venice... But Donovan's search has hit a snag. His project leader has vanished. He wants Indy to find him, "find the man and you will find the Grail." Indy doesn't seem interested in this mission at first, but then he's told the identity of the missing man - his father, Henry Jones.

Researching the Holy Grail and following its trail has been an obsessive hobby of Henry Jones's for forty years, he has a journal packed with all of his notes on the subject. A journal that Indy receives in the mail the same day he's told that his father is missing, sent from Venice.

Indy sets off to find his father, bringing the bumbling Marcus Brody along into the field with him to follow the clues in the journal to the second marker in Venice, where he meets the beautiful Doctor Elsa Schneider and immediately tries to woo her with some Bondian charm.

From Venice, Indy goes on to rescue his father from a castle on the Austrian/German border. Fittingly, Indy's father is played by the original cinematic James Bond, Sean Connery. The interaction between Ford and Connery is very amusing, as Indy constantly tries to impress the father who was always strict and distant, while dad continues to disapprove of most of what his son does. Indy has to drag his father through the extensive action sequences that ensue; a motorcycle chase, trouble aboard a zeppelin, an aerial dogfight, Indy taking on a tank while on horseback. The elder Jones finds all of this "intolerable". What Indy finds intolerable is his father calling him "Junior".

The adventure takes Indy on a trip to Berlin that brings him face-to-face with Hitler, off to the coast of Turkey, where Sallah returns to the series and becomes involved, and out into the desert to search for a temple carved into the side of a cliff. As with the Ark of the Covenant, Indy is again racing against the Nazis in his search for the Holy Grail, with his father warning him that if the cup ends up in the hands of Hitler, "the armies of darkness will march all over the earth".

The events of Raiders of the Lost Ark actually didn't change Indiana Jones all that much. He still doubts the legitimacy of the Holy Grail legend, advises his students not to take mythology at face value, and even takes Christ's name in vain, for which he gets a slap from his father. In the end, he's put through the ultimate test of faith, where he'll either have to fully accept the truth of the mythology or perish.

The Last Crusade is a highly entertaining film, largely due to the great chemistry between Ford and Connery. I can still remember my first viewing of this movie, when it had just been released on VHS. Appropriately, I watched it with my father.

Whereas Temple of Doom only connected to Raiders of the Lost Ark through the characyer of Indiana Jones, the story and situations in The Last Crusade call back to Raiders in several ways, from the Christian angle of the MacGuffin to the return of Marcus Brody and Sallah, and the way Indy gets pulled into the adventure at Marshall College. The word going around at the time of the film's release was that The Last Crusade would be the final installment in the series, and it does sort of feel like things have come full circle and nicely wrapped up as a trilogy. In the end, the characters literally ride off into the sunset.


I went at my popcorn like a beast throughout The Last Crusade and successfully wiped it out by the time the end credits began to roll. During the break afterward, I returned to the concession stand for my popcorn refill, which I did not intend to eat. I took the refilled bag out to my car and stowed it away to take home with me.

Back in the theatre, I watch the guys who have come to the marathon in their Indiana Jones costumes take a group cell phone picture and then exchange numbers to pass the picture around. The Jones clones and their significant others proceeded to chat, exchange names, and celebrate this opportunity to "bond over their geekery."

Another conversation I overhear is a girl discussing her favorite Indiana Jones lead female. At first she names Marion Ravenwood as her favorite, but then changes her answer to Elsa Schneider. "She betrayed him, but she was still likeable."

Eventually, it was 5:35pm and time for the much-maligned

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (2008)

The movies series appeared to be over in the early '90s, but the lead character was kept alive with a television series called The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (or The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones when it reached home video), which ran for two seasons starting in 1992. To this day, I have not watched a single episode of that series, so I don't know much about it. It was during the filming of a 1993 episode in which Harrison Ford made a cameo as Indy at age 50 that George Lucas began thinking that they really should make another movie.

Lucas's idea for the fourth film was to take the series in a different direction, bring Indiana Jones into the 1950s and pay homage to the flying saucer sci-fi movies of that decade. He had Jeb Stuart turn his concept into a script and the first draft of Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars was delivered in late '94 or early '95. Spielberg and Ford were not keen on the idea of mixing Indy with flying saucers and aliens, so the project didn't make it very far at that point. Their interest level in reviving Indy went up and down for the next several years, and whenever the idea was brought up, George Lucas insisted - if a fourth movie was made, it was going to deal with aliens. The script was put through many drafts over the years as Spielberg and Ford were finally talked into accepting Lucas's idea and they tried to find a draft that would satisfy everybody. The Last Crusade writer Jeffrey Boam gave it a try, Frank Darabont worked on the script for a year and wrote a draft that Spielberg and Ford were happy with but Lucas rejected, Jeff Nathason did rewrites and earned a "story by" credit (shared with Lucas) on the finished film, while David Koepp was the writer who turned in the draft that everybody gave the greenlight to.

The involvement level of the aliens was lessened throughout the years, Spielberg and Ford were able to talk Lucas out of having flying saucers in action sequences, but aliens did make it to the screen, as did many other elements that were present in a draft revised by Jeb Stuart in February 1995. Russian villains, a rocket sled, flesh-devouring army ants, waterfall action, Indy getting married, and yes, even the "nuke the fridge" moment were all going to be part of the fourth film from the beginning, they just got shuffled around and rewritten through all the drafts done over the years. From Stuart through Darabont, Indy just went into a crawlspace and tipped a lead-lined refrigerator over the entrance to survive the nuclear blast he gets caught in, it was only changed to him getting thrown miles by the blast while hiding inside of the refrigerator sometime in the last few years between Darabont and the screen.

The finished film finds Indiana Jones in 1957, nineteen years after the events of The Last Crusade, and from what we can gather from the dialogue he's been quite busy since we last saw him, working for the OSS during World War II and going on many spy missions around Europe and the Pacific. Now he's been captured by Russian soldiers while on an expedition in Mexico and taken to Nevada to infiltrate Area 51. Turns out Area 51 is where the Ark of the Covenant was stored at the end of Raiders, but the Russians are looking for something else... a body from a mysterious crash site that Indy was called in as part of a team to examine in 1947. The Roswell UFO crash. The Russians have come for the corpse of the alien from that crash.

The Russians get what they want, while Indy's escape from them takes him on a rocket sled ride and through the infamous nuke moment.

Returning to Connecticut and work at Marshall College, Indy is soon contacted by a young greaser called Mutt Williams, who informs him that his old colleague and Mutt's surrogate father Professor Harold Oxley has run into trouble in Peru. Oxley was in South America on an expedition involving crystal, skull-shaped artifacts and the search for the lost city Akator, known to the conquistadors as El Dorado, said to have been built by local tribesmen seven thousand years ago at the order of the gods. Legend is that a crystal skull was stolen from Akator in the 15th or 16th century, and whoever returns it to the city temple will gain some kind of power. Oxley had a crystal skull in his possession and someone has kidnapped him and Mutt's mother during the search for Akator.

After a motorcycle chase with Indy and Mutt being pursued by Russian goons through the streets of Bedford, CT and the Marshall College campus, the two follow the clues left behind in Oxley's notes to find his trail so they can try to rescue him and Mutt's mother Mary. Eventually, Indy and Mutt are captured themselves by the same people who have Oxley and Mary in their custody - the same group of Russians who took Indy to Area 51. Led by Irina Spalko, the Russians intend to find Akator and use the power of the crystal skull to be able to spy on people all around the world, brainwash leaders, and spread Communism across the globe.

When Indy meets Mutt's mother, it turns out to be a familiar face to both him and the audience - Karen Allen reprises her Raiders role of Marion Ravenwood.

In the end, Akator is discovered, and George Lucas gets his aliens. Not space aliens, but dimensional aliens, from "the space between space".

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn't generally very well regarded, and I don't like it very much myself. Like Spielberg and Ford, mixing Indy and aliens is not an idea I'd want to go with, but I do think the basic story is fine, the execution is just very lacking. It's hard to believe that this script was the result of umpteen years of development, because it still comes off as half baked. I'm also not fond of the look of the film. The cinematographer on the previous three was Douglas Slocombe, who didn't return for this one because he had retired after The Last Crusade and was about ninety-five years old when Crystal Skull was shot. His replacement is Janusz Kaminski, usually a great cinematographer, but I don't like his work on this movie much at all, especially not his use of bright white backlighting. The look isn't helped out by the fact that so many of the locations are obviously completely fake, CGI creations. Everything about the movie feels artificial. It doesn't live up to its predecessors, the magic was lost by the time it was finally made.


I relieved my drink cup of its contents during Kingdom of the Crystal Skull so I'd be able to get the free refill before I left the theatre, and thus had to rush out to relieve myself as soon as the end credits started to roll.

I had something weighing on my mind throughout the day, an impending meet-up that I was both looking forward to and very anxious about, and had finalized the details of through text messages during the break between Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade. After getting my free refill, I left the theatre and headed out for a type of situation that I have a tougher time enduring than Indiana Jones had with any of the trouble he ever found himself in: social interaction.

In the end, I'd call the whole day a success. The social situation went well and I enjoyed the marathon very much. As I said in the opening, watching the movies again on the big screen reminded me just how much I actually like them. Chances are I'll be rewatching them more often from now on than I have during the last seventeen years.

My short wrap-up on the series: Raiders of the Lost Ark is the most well made of the bunch and an all-around great film. Temple of Doom is the most iconic. The Last Crusade is the most purely entertaining. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is disappointing, but three out of four ain't bad.

[Official Thread] The Melody (2012)

 

Synopsis :

Ketika karir Win, penyanyi dan penulis lagu terkenal yang sombong, berada di saat-saat yang sulit, ia kabur ke provinsi Mae Hong Son untuk bisa menerima kenyataan yang pahit dan hidup di sebuah kota kecil di pegunungan. Disinilah di mana ia bertemu Mok, pianis berbakat yang sebenarnya sering membuatnya kesal. Tak disangka, Mok menjadi katalis perubahan besar dalam hidupnya. Kedekatan dan musik mengajarkan Win bahwa melodi yang indah yang telah Ia cari-cari sepanjang hidupnya terletak di dalam diri Mok. Tapi sayangnya, takdir membawa rintangan yang harus dilewati oleh keduanya dan menyadari cinta diantara mereka.

The Melody a.k.a Rak Tam Nong nee

 Enjoy Thai Movies  

Cast:

Pariyachat Limthammahesorn

Worawej Danuwong

Director:

Tossapol Srisukontarat

ตย. The Melody รักทำนองนี้ (New Official Tr.)

The (Love) Melody : Ruk Tham Nong Nee - Thai Movie - Official Teaser

OST:รักที่ไม่มีคำว่ารัก - THE MELODY [Full Thai Lyrics]

at scene 12/02/2012 - THE MELODY รักทำนองนี้

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10 Manfaat Olahraga Bagi Anak

10 Manfaat Olahraga Bagi Anak

Jakarta - Olahraga tidak hanya bermanfaat untuk orang dewasa saja. Kegiatan ini pun memiliki banyak kegunaan untuk anak-anak.

Selain untuk kesehatan, olahraga berguna bagi kehidupan sosial anak nantinya. Berikut adalah manfaat yang didapat anak dari berolahraga yang dirangkum dari Gal Time:

1. Untuk Kesehatan dan Kebugaran
Para peneliti di Centers for Disease Control mengkonfirmasi kemungkinan obesitas di kalangan anak-anak Amerika, yang bisa memicu penyakit seperti diabetes, tekanan darah tinggi dan lain sebagainya. Olahraga secara teratur merupakan salah satu cara terbaik untuk memerangi obesitas pada anak-anak dan juga menjaga kesehatan serta kebugaran mereka.

2. Meningkatkan Kemampuan Akademis
Menurut para peneliti di Michigan State University Institute, anak yang berolahraga tampil lebih baik di sekolah daripada mereka yang tidak. Partisipasi dalam olahraga mengajarkan anak-anak untuk fokus pada tugas dan mengelola waktu mereka secara efektif.

3. Mendorong Sportivitas
Anak-anak yang berpartisipasi dalam olahraga bisa mengasah keterampilan sportivitas mereka dengan baik. Berjabat tangan dengan kompetisi, tidak peduli apa hasil dari suatu pertandingan, mampu menerima kekalahan dan berusaha melakukan yang terbaik bagi dirinya dan tim secara keseluruhan.

4. Mudah Bersosialisasi
Olahraga bisa jadi cara untuk membangun jaringan sosial instan untuk anak. Kerjasama sebagai satu tim atau bertemu rival lainnya akan membuat jaringan pertemanannya semakin meluas.

5. Membangun Harga Diri
Anak-anak akan mengembangkan harga diri melalui prestasi. Olahraga memberi kesempatan anak untuk belajar, mencapai sesuatu, dan merasa nyaman terhadap diri mereka sendiri. Dukungan dari orangtua dan pelatih akan mendorong perbaikan kinerja mereka ke arah yang positif sehingga menumbuhkan pencitraan diri yang baik.

6. Mengajarkan Kerjasama
Anak-anak akan mengenal segala macam pelajaran sosial yang sangat berharga melalui olahraga. Menjadi bagian dari kelompok dan belajar untuk melakukan yang terbaik bagi tim secara keseluruhan adalah salah satu manfaat yang paling berharga dari olahraga bagi anak.

7. Bekerja Berdasarkan Tujuan
Membawa pulang piala juara, memenangkan turnamen, adalah tujuan akhir olahraga bagi anak. Olahraga memberi pengalaman berharga dalam memecahkan tujuan jangka pendek maupun jangka panjang. Anak diajarkan untuk menjalani suatu proses dan perlu kerja keras sebelum mendapatkan sesuatu.

8. Pembinaan Ketekunan
Olahraga mengajarkan anak untuk tidak mudah menyerah walau menghadapi cidera, kekecewaan, dan kekalahan. Mereka belajar untuk mengatasi kekalahan dengan tenang dan bekerja lebih giat lagi untuk kepentingan putaran berikutnya dengan penuh ketekunan.

9. Mencegah Masalah
Kenakalan remaja seperti kekerasan, pengrusakan, penggunaan narkoba dan lainnya bisa diminimalisir dengan olaharaga. Rutinnya jadwal latihan membuat anak tidak sempat membuat masalah-masalah kriminalitas semacam itu, dan mereka akan lebih fokus terhadap pencapaian prestasi mereka.

10. Menyenangkan
Selain untuk kesehatan, berolahraga juga menjadi kegiatan yang menyenangkan untuk dilakukan. Kerjasama tim, bersorak mendukung teman, berpelukan ketika berhasil melakukan sesuatu, dan lainnya akan membuat anak berkomitmen pada olahraga dalam jangka panjang. Diluar jam pelajaran yang membosankan, olahraga adalah waktu anak untuk bermain dan bersenang-senang dengan teman-temannya.


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Lindungi Keluarga Kita dari 3 Hal Ini

Jika ditanya apakah kita ingin melindungi keluarga kita, ane yakin kita akan menjawab 'Ya'. Jika ditanya apakah yang akan kita lakukan untuk melindungi keluarga kita? Maka kita akan menjawab apa yang terbaik yang kita bisa. Bukan begitu?

Sebagai sumber income keluarga kita bekerja untuk menghasilkan income/penghasilan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan hidup, untuk kebutuhan pokok, kebutuhan sekolah anak, dan kebutuhan-kebutuhan lainnya, namun pertanyaannya bagaimana jika income/penghasilan itu terhenti?

Ada beberapa hal utama yang kita perlu tahu bisa menyebabkan income/penghasilan terhenti, bukan agar kita khawatir tapi sebaliknya kita menjadi aware terhadap hal ini dan mempersiapkan diri dengan lebih baik :

1. PHK
Perusahaan tempat kita bekerja memiliki hak untuk memberhentikan kita. PHK bisa terjadi pada siapa saja, bahkan orang-orang terbaik di satu perusahaan karena banyak hal yang memicu perusahaan akhirnya mengambil keputusak untuk melakukan PHK. Untuk prosedur seharusnya perusahaan memberikan notifikasi minimal sebulan sebelumnya sebelum hari dimana karyawan diminta berhenti. Namun dalam banyak kasus masih banyak perusahaan yang tidak menerapkan aturan ini.

2. Sakit
Salah satu hal yang kita jaga adalah kesehatan, namun ada saatnya tubuh kita drop / daya tahan tubuh menurun sehingga jatuh sakit entah karena keletihan bekerja, ada masalah/beban pikiran, atau akumulasi dari pola hidup yang tidak sehat. Demam berdarah, tipes, diare, maag, adalah sejumlah penyakit yang sering dialami dan bisa menyebabkan seseorang perlu dirawat atau memerlukan bed rest/istirahat dalam beberapa hari bahkan untuk beberapa kasus bisa sampai beberapa minggu.

3. Kematian
Semua orang akan meninggal dunia hal ini adalah fakta yang tidak bisa diubah oleh siapapun, sekaya apapun orang tersebut, sebesar apapun kekuasaan yang dimilikinya. Kematian adalah hal yang paling berat dirasakan karena bukan hanya income/penghasilan yang terpengaruh namun kita juga kehilangan sosok orang yang kita kasihi.


Berikut adalah beberapa solusi yang bisa dilakukan :

1. Sebelum di PHK
Untuk kejadian PHK kita sebagai karwayan, bisa menyiapkan diri dengan selalu meningkatkan skill/keahlian kita sehingga jika hal ini terjadi kita bisa tetap yakin dengan nilai jual/value kita di perusahaan lain dimana kita bisa segera mencari pengganti. Terkait keuangan hal ini bisa diantisiapasi dengan memiliki Dana Darurat yang jumlahnya akan semakin besar dengan semakin banyaknya tanggungan, untuk yang sudah berkeluarga minimal 6 bulan gaji atau pengeluaran, sehingga kita memiliki waktu 6 bulan untuk mencari pekerjaan yang baru.

2. Sebelum datang Sakit
Tentu saja langkah utama yang harus dilakukan adalah menjaga kesehatan dengan pola hidup sehat, mengatur makanan dan olahraga teratur. Namun hal lain yang tidak kalah pentingnya adalah memiliki Asuransi Kesehatan, jika kantor tempat kita bekerja sudah menyiapkan Asuransi Kesehatan dan cukup maka kita tidak perlu membeli Asuransi Kesehatan lagi. Dana Darurat juga menjawab solusi agar jika skenario terburuknya ternyata perusahaan kita sementara memberhentikan gaji selama kita dirawat.

3. Sebelum datang Kematian
Untuk hal ini solusinya sudah pasti adalah kita harus mencari pengganti income/penghasilan yang biasanya ada, lalu menentukan siapa yang bisa melakukan ini. Jika pasangan hidup kita dalam hal ini suami/istri memiliki kesanggupan maka kita tahu bahwa secara nilai ekonomis, keluarga kita tidak harus menderita, namun jika pasangan kita terutama pihak wanita tidak bekerja dan tidak memiliki kompetensi untuk menghasilkan income sebesar yang dulu dihasilkan, maka tugas ini bisa dialihkan ke pihak Asuransi. Asuransi Jiwa yang murni dengan perhitungan yang benar akan dapat meng-cover kebutuhan hidup keluarga, minimal sampai dengan anak terkecil memasuki usia mapan/lulus kuliah.

Sebagian besar orang yang sudah menyadari hal ini akan melakukan sejumlah persiapan, namun ada juga yang sudah mengetahui namun merasa tidak perlu melakukan apa-apa. Semua pilihan kembali ke tangan kita masing-masing.

Semoga Thread ini bisa mengingatkan kita kepada keluarga

Mari kita lindungi keluarga kita dari 3 hal diatas

Moga bermanfaat

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4 Stroller Bayi Termahal di Dunia

Stroller Bayi Termahal di Dunia

Tak sedikit orangtua yang mengeluarkan banyak uang untuk kenyamanan si buah hati, dan salah satunya adalah kenyamanan saat membawa anak jalan-jalan dengan stroller. Ingin tahu pilihan stroller dengan harga paling mahal di dunia? Ini dia

1. Silver Cross Balmoral Pram

Stroller dengan fitur tiga lapis pernis dan kulit kualitas terbaik asal Ingggris ini adalah buatan tangan dan telah diproduksi lebih dari 100 tahun. Uniknya, stroller mewah ini memiliki nomor individual sehingga tidak akan sama satu dengan lainnya. Anda bisa dapatkan stroller mewah ini mulai dari US$ 2.900 atau sekitar Rp 27 juta.

2. The Roddler by Kid Kustoms

Dimulai dengan harga US$ 3.500, stroller dengan desain menyerupai mobil klasik ini dilengkapi dengan iPod dock dan DVD player. Bahkan stroller ini bisa Anda modifikasi sesuai selera mulai dari pilihan kulit, tambahan logo, bordiran nama bayi dan lain sebagainya.

3. Bugaboo 'My First Car' stroller

Stroller seharga US$ 1.775 atau sekitar Rp 17 juta ini merupakan stroller termahal yang pernah dibuat Bugaboo. Bekerjasama dengan rumah mode Viktor & Rolf, stroller ini hadir dengan material yang biasa digunakan oleh mobil dan juga pegangan tangan yang dibungkus leather hasil jahitan tangan.

4. Bugaboo 'Donkey' Stroller

Sebelum kereta bayi 'My First Car', Bugaboo juga menyuguhkan stroller mewah dengan desain khusus bagi bayi kembar yang dinamakan 'Donkey' Stroller. Kereta untuk bayi kembar ini dijual mulai dari harga US$ 1.500 atau sekitar Rp 14 jutaan.

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Chained (2012)

SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

GENRE: SERIAL KILLER
SOURCE: BLU-RAY (OWN COLLECTION)

If you haven't seen Bereavement yet, perhaps Chained (formerly Rabbit) will intrigue you a lot more than it did me, as both films had the same central concept: a woman hating serial killer takes in a young lad and eventually "trains" him as his protege. But whereas Bereavement took a different turn and played up its horror elements (as it is a prequel to the cult slasher Malevolence), Chained chooses option B, opting for something a little more hopeful... and then nosedives thanks to a laughable twist.

Now, I won't spoil it for you, but it's kind of an interesting one in that writer/director Jennifer Lynch gives you some pretty huge clues about it throughout the film, yet it's so stupid that even though I considered it momentarily, I instantly chalked it up to "no way in hell they would do that". Alas, my instinct was right, and there I sat, laughing and shaking my head when the movie went there, but also doing it quickly and without fleshing out its nature. If she had made it a twist for the end of the 2nd act and let the 3rd act play out with all the pieces in place, it might have come together - but its just so abrupt and goofy that it just simply doesn't work.

I'm also unsure what kind of movie she was trying to make. She says on the commentary she doesn't think of it as a horror movie but a "movie with horrific elements", but if not horror then what is it? You can't end a drama on something this goofy, and as a thriller it lacks any real tension. Vincent D'Onofrio is the most prolific serial killer in (non franchise) movie history, but despite not living too far outside of town and being a weird loner type that would be the first suspect in a wave of killings, there isn't a single cop character in the entire film. Rabbit only makes a single escape attempt early on, and is caught instantly, so there's not a lot of suspense derived from his situation either - after a while he's just a meek slave.

And we never leave them, which turns the middle of the movie into a blur of repetitive sequences: D'Onofrio tries to teach him something, Rabbit rebels, and D'Onofrio gets angry. In Bereavement we had the Michael Biehn character and his family to break things up, but here it's like these two exist in some sort of alternate universe where the only other characters are unnamed victims in montage scenes. Again, the police never come snooping, we barely ever see him operating his cab when he's NOT killing people, etc. There's also another nagging question any viewer would probably have, but it's answered by that dumb twist - not sure if that counts as a red mark on the film or not. On one hand, you can appreciate that they don't cheat by exploring this issue beyond a single newspaper clipping (sorry, trying to be vague - once you've seen the film you'd know what I meant), but on the other, it just adds to the movie's baffling lack of an outside presence - and the twist only explains one of those many concerns.

On the other hand, the movie is worth watching for D'Onofrio's performance. Sporting an accent that's somewhere between stereotyped Midwest and his own Edgar from Men In Black, he goes full force into making Bob a three dimensional character. He's got a weird tic where he's constantly wiping his mouth with a hanky, and the routine he has for his killing habits borders on autism; it's a terrific, strangely captivating performance. The kid playing Rabbit is quite good as well (actually, they both are as there's an 8ish and a 17ish one), and while their roles are very limited, it's nice to see Julia Ormond and Jake Weber as Rabbit's parents. Gina Philips also pops up, still quite lovely. Just a shame all of their screentime amounts to about 7 combined minutes because Lynch keeps her film focused on two guys who never let their antagonism really come to life; whenever it seems like things will hit the next level, Lynch pulls back and keeps things more or less the same.

Lynch and D'Onofrio provide an audio commentary that leans heavily on the latter's acting choices (the hanky thing was his idea), as well as shooting locations, the DP's use of color (she blows her own "this isn't horror" claims by saying she didn't want it to be colored blue "like OTHER horror movies"), and other minutiae. The story and the occasional twists (D'Onofrio's character has a very messed up flashback about his "first time") are mostly ignored - more often than not the two just sit in silence whenever anything major happens. If you're a fan of D'Onofrio (and why wouldn't you be?) and/or of acting then it's worth a listen to hear some insights into his process, but otherwise, like the film itself, it lacks a strong hook.

The only other bonus feature (besides a trailer) is the original version of one particular murder, which the MPAA made them modify in order to secure an R rating. The only difference is the amount of blood we see, making it the latest in a long line of MPAA decisions that simply make no logical sense. If you're an impressionable youth, a woman getting her throat slit and bleeding to death will do just as much damage as a woman getting her throat slit SLIGHTLY LESS and bleeding to death. And you can see the difference quite clearly, as this is an Anchor Bay release and thus carries their usual top notch transfer. On that note, they oddly don't have a trailer reel at the top, which is a tradition of AB releases - are they wising up in their later years?

I really wanted to like this one, and at times I did - D'Onofrio is terrific, it's well made, and there's a bit of sadness to the entire thing that I admired. But the boneheaded twist and seeming lack of a real world beyond Bob's front door just kept me at bay, and the similarities to another film (also released from Anchor Bay, incidentally) were a bit hard to forgive when that one was doing this stuff so much better.

What say you?

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The Films of Tony Scott: Part V

During the month of September, Cody will be posting a five article series looking over the filmography of Tony Scott.

 

Part V covers Scott's film work from Agent Orange (2004) through Unstoppable (2010).

"I've had a love affair with every movie that I've ever done. Some have been love affairs, some have been fuck affairs, some have been successful marriages, and some have been failures. But for the course of making the movie, the whole shooting and editing and finishing, they will always be great periods of my life. I've never had any regrets."

AGENT ORANGE (2004)

Agent Orange is a short film that Tony Scott shot for Amazon.com's Amazon Theatre. A young man standing in a subway station holding a bag containing a goldfish spots a young woman dressed entirely in orange - even her hair is orange - board a train and becomes instantly smitten with her. When we next see the young man, he too is dressed completely in orange and has even dyed his hair orange. As days go by, the young man posts pictures of two goldfish in a bowl together on the station walls with his number at the bottom while he waits for his orange soulmate to reappear.

Scott continued to use the erratic shooting style and flashy editing that he had honed on Beat the Devil and Man on Fire here, amping up the experimental style even further for this five minute short. It's definitely not something you'd expect to see from a sixty-year-old man.

DOMINO (2005)

In 1994, Tony Scott's business manager passed along to him a newspaper article on Domino Harvey, the daughter of The Manchurian Candidate actor Laurence Harvey, who had made an unexpected career choice: the former model was now working as a bounty hunter. Intrigued by the idea, Scott met with Domino and bought the film rights to her life story. But Scott didn't want to do a straightforward biopic, which led to the project going through many years of development, during which several drafts of the script were written, the first by Steve Barancik and subsequent drafts by Roger Avary. Scott was never satisfied. Eventually, he was given an early draft of Richard Kelly's Southland Tales and decided to hire the Donnie Darko writer/director to see what he could do with the Domino concept. As far as Scott was concerned, Kelly cracked the code. With Richard Kelly writing it, Domino was finally ready for production.

The film opens with the disclaimer "Based on a true story. Sort of.", and given the events that follow, it is very clear that most of this is entirely fictional. The movie covers the broad strokes of Domino Harvey being the daughter of Laurence, being a model but not fitting in with the others, trying to join a sorority but not fitting in. Finally, she sees an ad in LA Weekly promoting a bounty hunter seminar. She attends, and when the seminar ends she has figured out what she wants to do with her life. Her pitch for why she should be hired as a bounty hunter: she's a hard worker, a fast learner, not afraid to die, and wants to have a little fun.

Once Domino gets the job, that's when the story goes completely off the rails of reality. Kelly and Scott drop her and partners Ed, Choco, and Alf into a plot concerning ten million dollars stolen from an armored car, a severed arm, a DMV worker who makes fake IDs on the side and has been featured on The Jerry Springer Show and in the Guinness Book of World Records as America's Youngest Grandmother, a little girl with a rare blood disease, Beverly Hills 90210 cast members, thieves dressed as former first ladies, and a reality show crew. On the way to the massively destructive climactic gun battle at the top of the Las Vegas Stratosphere tower, the movie even finds time to put the characters through a mescaline trip in the desert.

 

This film is insane, and the shooting style matches its insanity. Like he used the Beat the Devil short to try out the ideas he had for Man on Fire, Scott used Agent Orange and Marlboro commercials to test the vision he had for Domino. Scott says he always wanted to be a rock star and Domino is him "exorcising his rock 'n roll demons" through a style alternately described as "bounty hunting on acid" and "on speed", and of course one sequence is on mescaline. Scott assures the audience in his audio commentary that he has done the firsthand research on these substances to properly convey through the film what your perception is like on them.

A hand-cranked camera was used and cranked at different speeds within the same scene, film was wound backward and forward through the gate and given multiple exposures, high speed film was transferred at high speed to create streaking and trails behind people and objects ("like you're on acid"), color was manipulated digitally, reversal stock was put through cross process to alter the color palette and increase the grain.

Richard Kelly hoped Domino would be successful enough to lead to studios putting out more films as experimental and subversive as this, but in the end its worldwide box office total was under $23 million.

 

 

DEJA VU (2006)

On Fat Tuesday in New Orleans, a ferry carrying many U.S. Navy sailors on shore leave, their friends and families, and other assorted citizens is blown up. The explosion kills five hundred and forty-three men, women, and children.

A multi-agency investigation ensues, with one of the investigators on the scene being locally based ATF agent Doug Carlin. Looking around, Carlin turns up evidence that points to the explosion being an act of domestic terrorism. A twist is thrown into the case later in the day, when the partially burned body of a woman named Claire Kuchever, who was killed two hours before the explosion and also made a call to Carlin's office that morning, is pulled from the river. Some of her fingers have been severed, there's duct tape residue on her mouth, she was doused with diesel, there's traces of base explosive on her skin. She was dumped into the river so it'd look like she was another victim of the ferry explosion, the terrorist and her killer are likely the same person.

Since Carlin has proven to be smart and capable, has a lead, and knows his way around the city, FBI agent Paul Pryzwarra asks him to join the newly formed investigative unit that he's head of. Carlin is taken to a highly secure location where a team of techies sit at an instrument panel in front of a large monitor showing unusual surveillance footage.

Carlin is told that the footage on the monitor is provided by a new program called Snow White, a digital recreation of the combined data from multiple orbiting satellites. They have audio and can look at the footage from any viewpoint they wish, even move through objects and structures, but they can't move it forward or rewind, they can only see things that were happening exactly 4 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, 14 and a half nanoseconds earlier. At Carlin's suggestion, they train their hi-tech eye on the final days in the life of Claire Kuchever.

As time goes on, Carlin doubts the "this is satellite imagery" explanation more and more, and when he presses the issue he's finally told the truth - they are actually looking directly into the past through a wormhole, a "time window". Since they're playing with time here, Carlin begins to wonder if it might possible to do more than just look into the past, maybe they could send something back into the past, do something to alter the events of the last few days. Rather than use this program to catch the guy who blew up the ferry after the fact, Carlin wants to stop the guy before it happens.

This sci-fi mystery action thriller is Tony Scott's return to the mainstream, he didn't do much experimenting on this one and he wasn't trying to make the viewers feel like they were on drugs. Deja Vu is the sixth and unfortunately the final film he made for producer Jerry Bruckheimer, following their collaborations on Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, and Enemy of the State.

This film's brand of time manipulation has some interesting limitations, one being that the monitor can only show images from within a limited radius of the base, but there is a goggle rig a person can wear to take the past view mobile. That makes for a fun sequence where Carlin follows the terrorist through the streets of New Orleans while wearing the goggle rig, a car chase where the participants are separated by four days. The techies don't know what the result will be from all of Carlin's past-altering suggestions and I don't know how much sense it all makes in the end, but I do know that it makes for an entertaining movie.


In 2007, Scott directed the fourth season premiere episode of the Scott Free-produced television show Numb3rs. Entitled Trust Metric, the episode dealt with the FBI team the show focused on trying to figure out if one of their own is a traitor. Scott brought on Val Kilmer as a special guest star, their fourth and last time working together. Kilmer had previously had roles in Top Gun, True Romance, and Deja Vu.

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (2009)

This is the third film adaptation of John Godey's 1973 novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, following a 1998 TV movie and a very popular 1974 movie that starred Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. I haven't seen the '98, but I like the '74 version a lot, and '09 keeps the set-up intact.

Things were running as usual in the New York City subway system when one of the trains departed from Pelham Bay at 1:23pm. By 2:00pm, the Pelham train has been hijacked by four gun-wielding men. The train is stopped between stations, communications shut down, the front car is uncoupled from the rest of the train and the passengers in it and the motorman are now hostages. The leader of the hijackers then calls in their demands: $10 million (it was $1 million in '74) must be delivered to them within one hour. If it's not, they'll start killing passengers.

The majority of the film plays out within the one hour window of waiting for the $10 million to be collected and delivered, and the heart of it all is the radio interaction between the lead hijacker and the train dispatcher who is his only contact to the outside world.

Some things play out differently in this version than they did in the first adaptation, but the main changes are in the character details. The hijackers do not have color codenames, since Quentin Tarantino had taken that idea for Reservoir Dogs. Walter Matthau played the person the lead hijacker was in contact with in '74, transit police officer Zachary Garber. Denzel Washington plays the role of Walter Garber in the '09 version, a motorman turned Rail Control big shot who's been demoted to dispatcher and is facing suspension, under investigation for taking a bribe during a business trip to Japan to check out some trains. Robert Shaw's lead hijacker in '74 was militaristic and calm, he did crossword puzzles while waiting for the money to arrive. John Travolta's lead hijacker, who calls himself Ryder, has more of a backstory and is extremely high strung, constantly ranting, raving, and cursing.

Screenwriter Brian Helgeland (who also wrote Man on Fire '04) and apparently an uncredited David Koepp did a fine job updating the story for modern times and the film looks good, especially in the subway train where green fluorescent lighting meets up with red lights and orange/yellow sodium vapor lights. The camera often moves around characters on 360 tracks and some high speed photography is thrown in here and there, including some shots of a helicopter that were done in "six by six", as Tony Scott calls it on his audio commentary. From what I've gathered by looking at his movies and listening to him talk about his style, I think that means it was shot at six frames per second and transferred at the same rate. As Scott says, that provides the image with a streaking motion that's "like you've just done acid."

Scott ends his commentary by saying that he hopes you won't reference the original movie when you're looking at this one, because he doesn't consider this film to be a remake of the '74 film. It just happens to have the same basic story. Besides, he says, "this is so much better." I have to disagree with him on that. I couldn't help but think of the original movie while watching this one, particularly how Travolta's character unfavorably compares to Shaw's. That's this movie's biggest weakness in my opinion, I thought Ryder was ridiculous. "Lick my bunghole, motherf---er!"

UNSTOPPABLE (2010)

I first heard of Unstoppable in the first half of 2007, when it was announced as having GoldenEye/Casino Royale '06 director Martin Campbell attached. Campbell eventually left the project, freeing it up to have Tony Scott come on board to direct what would end up being his final film.

I first heard of Unstoppable's story years earlier, because the true runaway train event that it's inspired by happened not far from my neck of the woods, the railroad is a major presence in the area I live in and I know many people who work for the company whose train got loose. Through these "connections", I heard throughout the production of the movie about how Hollywood was getting all the details wrong. The railroaders' verdict when they finally saw the finished film? "Totally unrealistic."

For the cinematic take on the events, the train belongs to a fictional company, allowing the movie to portray some employees as total incompetents and a boss as an idiot. The dangers are amplified as the runaway train speeds through over-the-top situations and an engine manned by a veteran engineer and a trainee conductor speeds after it in attempt to catch up to it and bring it to a stop.

The opinions of the railroaders I know weigh heavily on my own, it's hard for me to get into the movie when I've been told how nonsensical it is, but Scott did do a great job directing the hell out of the situation and making it as exciting as possible. The movie has a really nice look and there are some wonderful shots of the locations the tracks run through.

Denzel Washington takes the lead for the third Tony Scott film a row and his fourth film with Scott overall. Unstoppable also marked the third time that Scott cast a lesser known actor who I really enjoy watching, Lew Temple. Temple first came to my attention in Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects, and the other two Scott films he appeared in were Domino and Deja Vu.

As the end credits roll on Unstoppable, it brings a close to the long and very successful career of Tony Scott.

At the time of his death, Scott was scouting locations and gearing up to start production on a film that I would've loved to have seen, a sequel to Top Gun. I'm disappointed that we won't be seeing that, or any new Tony Scott movies. Looking over his filmography, I can say that I truly like the majority of his films, some of them I absolutely love, and I have enjoyed watching all of them this month. Even if his style wasn't always to my taste, it can't be denied that the man had an amazing and unique approach to visual storytelling.

R.I.P.

1944 - 2012