"X-Men: The Last Stand"
When a "cure" for the mutant gene is announced by a corporation working with the government, the militant Magneto rallies his mutant brotherhood for a decisive strike against homo-sapien humanity. Charles Xavier and his school of X-Men prepare to respond in kind, but the return of a former teammate, thought to be dead, upsets everyone's plans, as the nearly limitless Jean Grey may pose the greatest threat to mutants and humans alike. A heavy toll will be exacted, lives will be lost, and the greatest sacrifice will be made as the X-Men take The Last Stand.
"Citizen Kane"
Starring Orson Welles,
Directed by Orson Welles
2 hrs. 23 min.
The film begins at the end… then proceeds to explore the life of a man in a series of vignettes, through the eyes of those who knew him… while this may not sound like a groundbreaking idea today, "Citizen Kane" was the first film to use non-linear storytelling like this. With its revolutionary writing and innovative use of lighting, contrast, and camera angles, many still consider it to be the best film every made, the measuring rod by which all other films are sized up and critiqued. It made sense, then, for Mars Hill's Film and Theology class to engage the picture to see not only why it has held such lasting impact on the film world, but also to examine its message about man's striving and achievement.
"Constantine"
Starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Shia LaBeaouf, Djimon Hounsou
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Rated R
Ah, Hollywood. While Hollywood often pillages books, television and comic books for film ideas, voraciously mauling the source material beyond recognition, the process never ceases to amaze me. Particularly in light of recent comic book adaptations that have been so successful ("Spider-man" and "X-Men" come to mind, as well as lesser known "The Road to Perdition" and "From Hell") I expected better from Francis Lawrence's Constantine. For every Doctor Octopus, however, I guess there's a Halle Berry in a ridiculous cat-suit.
From a filmmaking perspective, the power of "The Exorcist", directed by William Friedkin and based on the book by William Peter Blatty, lies not in its gory visuals, or the flashes of demonic faces and images sprinkled generously throughout, but truly, ultimately, in the audio track. From the opening scene in Northern Iraq, with the sonic dissonance of a hundred pickaxes and the sound of hammers beating out metal on an anvil as the brilliant Max von Sydow struggles to choke down his heart medication, the film claws at your nerves in every scene. Even a harmless downstairs moment between Father Karras and the possessed girl's mother is made edgy by a rasping steam iron that hisses in and out like the demonic Linda Blair's hyperventilation. As the soundtrack alternates between Oldfield's seemingly mellow Tubular Bells and quick violin strings that strike without warning, the viewer is never allowed to relax, even when the scene is clearly removed from the source of danger. (It didn't hurt, either, that the Cinerama had the THX system maximized to the extent that the opening advertisement rattled my rib cage.)
One of the first images that greets us in James Wong and Glen Morgan's third "Final" (?) installment is a merry-go-round… a three-fold metaphor for the franchise, the plot, and the very nature of scary movies. In a movie most will undoubtedly dismiss as vapid, I think that these two former X-Files writers have more depth than some might surmise. From a franchise perspective, the painted, circling horses beckon "get on; here we go again". Even the plot of the film hinges on the fact that its characters, once "missed" by death, are caught in an inevitable cycle as their terrible fate swings round again. (And again…)
"Hannibal"
Hannibal Lecter – Anthony Hopkins
Clarice Starling – Julianne Moore
Mason Verger – Gary Oldman
Paul Krendler – Ray Liotta
Giancarlo Giannini – Rinaldo Pazzi
Directed by Ridley Scott
Based on the novel by Thomas Harris
"You can look at my face… yet you shied away when I said the name of God."
Gary Oldman—completely unrecognizable as the horribly disfigured, Lecter-obsessed billionaire Mason Verger—stares up at Julianne Moore's character (originally played by Jodie Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs") and points out the strong woman's vulnerability in one of the film's most poignant lines. (Yes—that's Gary Oldman, though he's not even credited in the film. Once again, his voice and appearance have transformed; most people won't even realize he's in the film.)
"INSOMNIA"
Starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Running Time: 1 hour 58 minutes
Rated R
The previews make it appear fairly simple; Al Pacino plays grizzled veteran L.A. cop, Frank Dormer, sent with his partner up to the frigid north of Alaska to assist local authorities with a murder quite uncommon to the region. Since the town is located in an uncomfortable geographic location on our planet—where the sun remains up for months—the detective finds he is unable to sleep out of his element. Add the obligatory dose of paranoia, someone who is probably the killer calling the detective at his motel room, and local authorities that aren't particularly pleased with Dormer's "help", and this might seem like a typical murder-mystery thriller… except that it isn't, and the film's surprising complexity makes it a wonder to behold.
LOST SOULS
Director—Janusz Kaminski
Maya Larkin—Winona Ryder
Peter Kelson—Ben Chaplin
When a demon-possessed serial killer's notes reveal the name of a man who is destined to be possessed by Satan to become the Antichrist, a young Christian named Maya Larkin (Winona Ryder) embarks on a quest to arrest the transformation of psychologist Peter Kelson (Ben Chaplin) into the devil incarnate. Ryder fumes, mopes, and stares at Chaplin in her attempts to "save" him, and Chaplin mopes and stares back; the two wander like lost actors in a movie that—save for some interesting visuals and cinematography—is just plain bad. Rarely scary and generally incoherent, the film is mediocre at best, and though it (surprisingly) tries to put a positive spin on Christianity, the plot and character development are so threadbare that no one will remember.
"MEMENTO"
Starring Guy Pierce, Carrie Anne-Moss, and Joe Pantoliano
Directed by Christopher Nolan
"Memory is unreliable."
"When I close my eyes, the world is still there…"
Ex-insurance investigator Leonard (Guy Pierce) is a man with a desperate mission and medical condition. He is single-mindedly pursuing his wife's killer, the man who also injured him. However, his head injury resulted in a unique predicament; Lenny has no short-term memory.
"MINORITY REPORT"
Starring Tom Cruise, Max Von Sydow, Collin Farrell
Directed by Steven "I apologize for A.I.—truly, I'm very sorry" Spielberg
Running Time: 2 hours 25 minutes
Released June 21, 2002
Rated PG-13
Steven Spielberg can actually be eloquent… when he steps down from the pulpit.
It's refreshing to see a tight, well-executed detective thriller set against a speculative future landscape (think "Blade Runner", but only superficially—both films are based on stories by Philip K. Dick) from which interesting philosophies and moralizing are culled merely as a byproduct of the polished narrative. Notorious of late for preaching through his films, Spielberg has once again concentrated on story elements first, allowing inherent messages to bubble to the surface naturally. Although the film IS thought provoking, the thrust of the story is character driven. A transparent agenda, evident in recent Spielbergian offerings, is replaced by intriguing cinematography, quality acting, and a classic "whodunit" mystery.
