Bruce Willis

‘Ocean’s Trilogy’ Review and 4K Review

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.

When you think of the “Ocean’s Trilogy,” you think of big movie stars, high stakes, and witty banter. These are individuals known for being con-artists and having a certain set of skills, but they bring an element of fun to the proceedings. They are interesting, layered, and unique.  These are not your bargain basement crooks and thieves. These films are also aided by the direction of the stellar Steven Soderbergh. He makes everything pop and sizzle on screen. He knows how to add just the right amount of style to these films without taking away from his ensemble cast.  The beauty of a Soderbergh film is the fact he can dabble in a number of genres and make a film successful both commercially and financially. He’s not just pigeonholing himself into one type of film.  He can do an independent film that gets people talking or he can do blockbuster films like the “Ocean’s Trilogy.”

Let’s start with “Ocean’s Eleven,” which is, of course, a remake of the 1960 film starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. I don’t think it is fair to compare these two films as they are forty years apart, but I will say that both are entertaining and sleek in their own ways. Remakes in general tend to get a bad rap, but when they are done with the right people involved and the right mindset, they can really deliver the goods.  It’s about taking an idea and making it your own without copying from the original source material.  This is not always easy to accomplish, but they did that with “Ocean’s Eleven” in 2001.

The charming George Clooney stars as Danny Ocean, a professional thief who has recently been released from prison. Even though he served time, he’s on the lookout for his next big caper.  Once he gets involved with the thrill of the chase and the risk and reward that comes with it, it’s hard to turn it down or live a normal lifestyle after that. He meets up with an old partner named Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), and they are looking to hit up Las Vegas for their next big heist. When it comes to a heist like this, money is important. They end up securing the money from Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), and their plan is to rob three casinos in Las Vegas, which are owned by Tishkoff’s rival. The stakes are high, at $160 million, so they need to make sure they are on their A-game.

In order for Danny and Rusty to pull this off, they will need to assemble the right team. They enlist the help of Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison), Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), and Virgil and Turk Malloy (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan). Every one of them brings something unique and special to the table. Julia Roberts also shows up as the Danny Ocean’s ex-wife, Tess, and she has a bone to pick with Danny. Andy Garcia is in the film as well as Terry Benedict, the owner of the three casinos they are trying to rip off in the film.

“Ocean’s Eleven” Cast Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Li Dian Feng, Scott Caan, George Clooney ,Brad Pitt ,Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, Don Cheadle, Edward Jemison and Carl Reiner © 2001 Warner Bros. Photo by Sid Avery

For my money, “Ocean’s Eleven” is the best of the three films.  The pacing is terrific, and there is never a dull moment in the film.  Even though there are a lot of moving pieces, it never feels like the movie is overstuffed, boring or too long as it moves at a brisk pace.  Also, when you have top-notch actors and actresses together, you know you are going to get some great performances.  A big part of the fun of these films is seeing these Hollywood legends go toe-to-toe with one another.

Moving onto “Ocean’s Twelve,” which came out in 2004, I don’t want to go into too much detail on this film just in case you are watching this trilogy in order for the first time.  I will say I found it to be a little bit more of a slog to sit through and a bit of a letdown after “Ocean’s Eleven.” It was merely an OK film.  It was successful at the box office, but I didn’t find the story as engaging this time around.  Of course, the characters are still entertaining and fun to spend time with, but since there isn’t a great story or plot to drive them, they quickly run out of steam here.  It ends up being one of those films where the cast had a lot more fun making it than we had watching it.

 In 2007, they came back with “Ocean’s Thirteen” which introduced Al Pacino to the proceedings and was once again directed by Soderbergh. Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are missing here, which makes this film feel a bit off in regards to the female-male ratio.  Roberts, especially, was such a big part of the first film, and Zeta-Jones was also very charming and lit up the screen in “Ocean’s Twelve.”

“Ocean’s Thirteen,” however, is a nice return to form after the lackluster and underwhelming “Ocean’s Twelve.” It’s almost as if Soderbergh sat down and realized what was missing from the last film and made sure to make up for those mistakes this time around.  The addition of Al Pacino to the mix is also a juicy twist as well.  What I enjoyed most about “Ocean’s Thirteen” is how it brought back the fun factor from the first film. “Ocean’s Twelve” was an entertaining film at times, but it was also a lazy one as well.  This time, they work on making sure the fun is included along with a story that can hold its own in the process. 

When these films work best in this franchise, it is when they realize we are just as interested in the story as we are in the characters.  They go hand-in-hand. They play off each other in a sense.  We love to see the characters in action and find out all of the twists and turns along the way.  It was clear they put time, effort and brains into the first and third films. They lost their way a little in “Ocean’s Twelve,” which feels like a sequel they didn’t put a ton of thought into.

“Ocean’s Eleven” – * * * ½ out of * * * *

“Ocean’s Twelve” – * * out of * * * *

“Ocean’s Thirteen” – * * * out of * * * *

4K Info:  The “Ocean’s Trilogy” is released on a three-disc 4K set from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment.  This set only includes the 4K discs, so if you are looking for Blu-rays and 4Ks together, you will not find them here. According to the press release, the 4K remasters of “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Ocean’s Twelve” and “Ocean’s Thirteen” were completed at Warner Brothers Discovery’s Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) with the participation of Soderbergh. All of the films are rated PG-13, and their respective running times are 116 minutes, 125 minutes and 122 minutes.  There is also a digital copy for each film which allows you to own all three copies of the trilogy.  Subtitles are included in English, Spanish, and French.

Video Info:  I really like the look of these movies on 4K.  Having previously seen “Contagion” on 4K, also from Soderbergh, I’m happy to report this is another fantastic looking 4K set.  Its color is vivid, bright and filled with a lot of life.  It’s also dark and mysterious when things turn up a notch. All three of the films look great on 4K.

 Audio Info: There is a lot of talking in these films as they are going over plans and information, and the dialogue comes in crystal clear on all three films.  The soundtrack is just right in covering the dialogue, music and background noise without being too distracting. It captures the essence of each film.

Special Features:

“Ocean’s Eleven”

• Commentary by Steven Soderbergh and Ted Griffin

• Commentary by Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia

• Are You In or Out? The Making of Ocean’s Eleven

• Pros & Cons: Inside Ocean’s Outfit

• The Style of Steal

• The Look of the Con

• Original Ocean’s, Original Cool

“Ocean’s Twelve”

• Commentary by Steven Soderbergh and George Nolfi

• Ready, Jet Set, Go: The Making of Ocean’s Twelve

• HBO First Look: Twelve Is the New Eleven: The Making of Ocean’s Twelve

• Deleted Scenes

“Ocean’s Thirteen”

• Commentary by Steven Soderbergh, Brian Koppelman and David Levien

• Third’s a Charm: The Making of Ocean’s Thirteen

• Ahab with a Piggyback: The Means & Machines of Ocean’s

• Jerry Weintraub Walk and Talk

• Masters of the Heist

• Deleted Scenes

Should You Buy It?

I’m seeing this set go for about $55 right now online, which is a really good price. That’s a little less than $20 for each 4K.  If you enjoy a good movie collection, this one is definitely recommended.  You get all of the old special features included here along with updated 4K transfers on these films as well.  These are 4K transfers where it is clear they put a lot of care and effort into them. They didn’t just throw them together.  If you enjoy heist movies with great casts, you really can’t go wrong with this trilogy.  I’d recommend you go out and buy this set right now at its current price. You can make a weekend out of watching all three films and really enjoy yourself.

**Disclaimer** I received a copy of this film from Warner Brothers to review for free.  The opinions and statements in the review are mine and mine alone.

‘The Expendables 2’ – More Fun Than Its Predecessor

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: This review was written in 2012.

“The Expendables 2” is the kind of dumb action movie fun we have come to expect from the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis among others famous in this particular genre. Clearly everyone involved in its making was simply out to give action fans what they want, and while there are no real surprises in store, it is still fun for those who just want to enjoy the R-rated carnage being inflicted onscreen without analyzing this sequel’s threadbare plot. It’s also nice to see a lot of these action movie icons come together in the same film, and it helps to make “The Expendables 2” more memorable than its predecessor.

This sequel opens like gangbusters as the Expendables blast their way through a village to rescue someone who looks rather familiar (I’ll leave it to you to find out who it is). Those who survived the first movie, or proved to be nowhere as expendable as the film’s title suggested, are back, and seeing them lay waste to a foreign army made me wonder if these were the soldiers John Rambo forgot to eviscerate in “Rambo.”

Afterwards, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is greeted by the secretive Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) who gives Ross a mission he is in no position to turn down; recover an electronic device that can help retrieve a dangerous substance which cannot fall into enemy hands. It turns out that this substance is plutonium, and the gang is met by an especially villainous character appropriately named Jean Vilain (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who plans to sell it to the highest weapons making bidder. This leads to the Expendables losing one of its members in unforgivably cold-blooded fashion, and that ends up making this particular mission especially personal.

Stallone once again has the lead role and co-wrote the script, but he has turned the directing duties over to Simon West, the filmmaker responsible for “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “The General’s Daughter” starring John Travolta, some remakes which vary in degrees of quality (“When A Stranger Calls” and “The Mechanic”), and perhaps the best Jerry Bruckheimer guilty pleasure to date, “Con Air.” While I have no problem defending Stallone as a director, having West take over proved to be a good move. The action scenes are more cohesive, the editing is not all over the place, and everything we see onscreen remains appropriately LOUD.

By the way, those who complain about how loud “The Expendables 2” is, just shut up. All the action movies released in summer 2012 are just as loud, so we should expect the increase in volume by now. Next time bring yourself some ear plugs if you want to preserve what’s left of your hearing!

Now Stallone and Schwarzenegger are definitely showing their age here (Schwarzenegger especially), but it is great to see them still kicking ass even as they have long since become senior citizens. In an industry which continues to be increasingly youth-based, these action movie veterans prove the odds against them are more expendable than they are. Seeing Schwarzenegger handle a machine gun is especially fulfilling as it shows he has not lost aim after getting caught up in the realm of politics as Governor of California.

Jason Statham, who returns as knife specialist Lee Christmas, almost looks like a kid compared to the rest of the cast. Liam Hemsworth, who portrays former military sniper Billy the Kid, practically resembles an infant next to Stallone which probably makes the majority of the cast feel jealous as a result, and Terry Crews still knows how to rock a nasty looking gun as weapons specialist Hale Caesar (nice name). Randy Couture returns as demolitions expert Toll Road, but he does not much to do here. The same goes for Jet Li who plays combat expert Yin Yang as he ends up disappearing from this sequel far sooner than I would have anticipated. As for Dolph Lundgren, who reprises his character of the volatile Gunner Jensen, he actually grew on me a bit this time around.

There are some “new” cast members who team up with the Expendables this time, and they prove to be welcome additions. Nan Yu adds that needed touch of estrogen to this testosterone dominated franchise as Maggie, a CIA agent who provides some of this sequel’s few surprises as she proves to be an expert in more ways than one. The previously mentioned Liam Hemsworth gives “The Expendables 2” that youthful feel of someone who has yet to become as cynical as his hard-bitten colleagues, and he gives a strong performance as a soldier eager to steer his destiny in a new direction.

One action star, however, who I was happy to see here was Chuck Norris who portrays a “lone wolf” retired military operative named Booker, an homage to the character he played in “Good Guys Wear Black.” Now while I can’t agree with Norris’ political beliefs in real life, seeing him appear onscreen had me applauding. Norris has always had a strong and memorable presence in the movies I have seen him in, and he has one of this movie’s best lines regarding a snake.

But one actor I actually had more fun watching than I thought I would in “The Expendables 2” was Jean-Claude Van Damme. His limited acting skills prove to be a perfect fit for this sequel’s main villain, and he creates a perfectly detestable bad guy we want to see Stallone and company beat the crap out of. Now while he may be one of my dad’s favorite actors (just kidding), I have never cared much for him in movies other than “Hard Target” or “JCVD.” But here, Van Damme proves he still has those graceful moves as he dares his opponents to take him out minus the use of guns.

I guess I could complain more about “The Expendables 2” as it likely has more plot holes than anyone would notice upon first glance. But hey, in the end this is a movie which should be fun, and for me it was. I enjoyed seeing these action stalwarts come together in one place, and seeing them interact made for some exciting and funny moments. This sequel may not reach the exhilarating action movie heights of this year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” or even “The Raid: Redemption,” but it does get the job done. With something like this, that is usually the best you can hope for.

* * * out of * * * *

‘The Expendables’ – The ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ of Action Movie Extravaganzas

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: This review was written back in 2010. It has since been upgraded to eliminate typos and run-on sentences which never should have existed in the first place.

Sylvester Stallone continues his cinematic time travel to the testosterone driven action extravaganzas made famous in the 1980’s with “The Expendables,” a film you can easily describe as the “Ocean’s Eleven” of action films with its cast of movie stars and martial artists you never would have expected to see together on the silver screen. After previously revisiting his iconic characters of Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, Stallone stars and directs this film which is a combination of “The Dirty Dozen” with a little bit of “The Delta Force” thrown in for good measure as we are bombarded with gunfights, explosions and everything else these movies had to offer. The morally conflicted heroes or superheroes currently dominating cinemas today are nowhere to be found here as this film’s mission is to simply give the audience an action-packed adrenaline ide with the good guys defeating the bad guys.

The plot here is paper thin to where I wondered if “The Expendables” had one at all. It involves a team of mercenaries led by Barney Ross (Stallone) who gets his team together for a mission which involves overthrowing a brutal dictator (is there any other kind?) in South America named General Garza (David Zayas). Things, however, get complicated as they always do when the team discovers Garza is in co-hoots with ex-CIA agent James Munroe (Eric Roberts) who is determined to keep Garza on a tight leash while controlling Garza’s biggest business, drug trafficking. The team eventually realizes this was all a set up by the CIA to take out both Garza and Munroe as the agency wouldn’t be able to do it without serious consequences, hence the title of the movie. These elite mercenaries are the best at what they do, and they have no connections to senior military officials. They get killed off, and the CIA can comfortably deny their involvement, just like the Impossible Mission Force.

Stallone makes it clear from the start that he is running the show here as he is said to control every aspect of every movie he appears in, even if he is not the director. He has been dealt so many career setbacks over the years to where it is truly astonishing he has not been forever relegated to the straight to video realm alongside Steven Seagal. While “Daylight” and “Driven” looked to be the final nails driven into his movie star coffin, new generations keep discovering those movies which brought him stardom, and he is still quite the box office draw overseas. “The Expendables” is not necessarily going to be remembered for his performance which is adequate here, but it is nice to see him let loose after the intensity of “Rambo.”

Jason Statham co-stars as Ross’ right-hand man, Lee Christmas, and he gets to kick ass here without having to look all prim and proper like he did in those “Transporter” movies. Lee is always fast on his feet and super quick with a blade, but if only he could work out his relationship with that woman he left behind. Statham is one of best actors in “The Expendables,” and he holds his own throughout each scene opposite the veteran movie stars. Moreover, he is the one to have on your side if your boyfriend is foolish enough to hit you in the face.

We also have Jet Li on board as Yin Yang who quickly becomes the butt of jokes over his diminutive height, which is of course a setup for the ass kicking we know he will eventually be doing. Terry Crews, as Hale Caesar, sports a huge ego which is soon outdone by his massive automatic shotgun which results in some of the film’s most graphic moments that will have audience members going, “OUCH!”

Dolph Lundgren temporarily escapes his direct to DVD career here as Gunner Jensen, and it’s nice to see him in a film which gives him more dialogue than usual. Right from the start, you know he won’t go from here in pieces.

While Eric Roberts has never fully escaped the shadow which enveloped his career after playing Paul Snyder in “Star 80,” he still creates slimy villains like very few others can today. His villainous character may seem one-dimensional on the page, but the actor makes him a charismatic one and the kind we love to hate.

The brutal dictator is the typical kind you find in movies like these, and David Zayas does good work here even though he is only given so much to do. Some of you may remember Zayas as Enrique Morales from “OZ,” and I wish Stallone allowed the actor to bring that same energy to General Garza. Watching him on “OZ” was electric because he could come across as quite frightening without having to raise his voice any, and I was hoping he could have had more of Morales’ impact here.

And let us not forget the scene where the original Planet Hollywood trio comes together in a manner which does not involve bankrupt restaurant chains. Seeing Stallone onscreen with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger feels long overdue and, if nothing else, shows how each of them has a good sense of humor about themselves and their Hollywood images. This is especially the case with Schwarzenegger, and you will see why.

Overall, “The Expendables” is definitely a fun time at the movies, but I came out of it feeling like it could have been better. It is also a victim of Jason Bourne franchise editing style as the camera is flying all over the place, and the editing is so lightning quick to where you cannot always tell what is going on. There are a number of cool action sequences though where the adrenaline really kicks in, and characters of all kinds get eviscerated in memorably painful ways. As for the acting, it is good for the most part, but some actors remind of us more of what they were originally famous for, and how none of it had to do with classical actor training.

Actually, one actor I really have to give props to here is Mickey Rourke who made the other of all acting comebacks in “The Wrestler,” and recently stole scenes from Robert Downey Jr. in “Iron Man 2.” As Tool, a former teammate of this mercenary team who now spends his days doing tattoos for his buddies, he has a speech where his character talks about when he was in Bosnia where he witnessed a woman taking her own life. Tool could have kept it from happening, but he did not. This is one of those typical “buy back my soul” moments we see all the time, and I bet it looked flat on paper, but Rourke plays the hell out it and delivers this film’s most emotionally powerful moment.

So, it looks like the tagline for “The A-Team” movie was very wrong indeed; there is a plan B after all! Granted, “The A-Team” movie was more fun, but “The Expendables” has plenty of excellent moments which makes it worth the long wait. Plus, in a time where movies are very anti-mercenary, this is a unique example of where they can work as action movie heroes.

Now we have the inevitable sequel to look forward to, and you know there’s gonna be one. The big question is, what other 1980’s and 1990’s action stars will join Stallone and company on the next go around? Some of these cast members will clearly not be returning, so there are job openings. Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal and even Kurt Russell turned down roles in “The Expendables” for different reasons. But with this film being a hit, you know they will express interest in climbing aboard for the follow up.

* * * out of * * * *

Emily Blunt On Portraying a Single Mother in ‘Looper’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Sara (Emily Blunt) is a single mom who’s learned to stand her ground to protect her home — and her young son.

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written in 2012.

As single mother Sara, Emily Blunt is a powerful presence in Rian Johnson’s “Looper” and she more than holds her own opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis throughout. It’s been a busy year for the actress as she has appeared in several movies including “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and “The Five-Year Engagement,” but “Looper” gives her an opportunity to play a different kind of role which allows her to be tough and vulnerable all at the same time. It presents a big acting challenge for Blunt, and those who know her best know she’s always up for one.

“I think I really just want to challenge myself, more than anything,” said Blunt. “People have been asking me if I’m gravitating to these sci-fi roles, but I don’t feel I necessarily am because they’ve been sort of sporadic as to when they come out. But I do like the idea of creating a backstop that is high concept for the characters to really have stuff to play with within that.”

Blunt has described Sara as being a “very tough cookie” who lives an isolated existence on a farm out in the middle of nowhere. Sara looks to have completely shut herself from the outside world and spends the days working on her farm and taking care of her five-year old son, Cid (the amazing Pierce Gagnon). The beauty of Blunt’s performance is how she pulls back the layers of her character to show us what’s underneath.

“I think that I really loved the tough exterior with the inner guilt that she sort of torments herself with,” Blunt said. “I love that unraveling of the character that you don’t know why she’s so tough, you don’t know why she’s so protective. Gradually it unfolds throughout the course of the third act. So really what I said to Rian (Johnson) was that we’ve got to make this whole sequence in the third act like that movie ‘Witness.’ It’s got to have that sort of pastoral tension to it and the feeling of someone coming in that’s alien to your world and disrupting everything and how frightening that must be for her. So, I think really I wanted to make sure we maintain the mystique of the character as long as we could.”

In preparing to play Sara, Blunt had to resort to using what she called those “dreadful sun beds” to get the tan her character has from working outside in the sun all day. Blunt did say she took some time lay out in the sun a lot before shooting began, but also admitted it takes a really long time for her to get a tan. Still, using the sun beds and getting makeup put on top of her tanned skin proved to be preferable to getting a spray tan as she hates the smell.

Blunt also gets to ditch her British accent for a Kansas-sounding one in “Looper,” and she worked with a dialect coach and listened to people from Kansas to get it down right. But what really helped was listening to one Oscar-winning actor in particular.

“The person I listened to a lot was Chris Cooper who’s from Kansas and grew up on a farm. I loved his voice and it sounded very grounded. I found it more helpful to listen to guys than girls because of the toughness of the character,” said Blunt. “I watched ‘American Beauty’ and I watched ‘Adaptation’ but I mainly listened to his interviews, him giving interviews and stuff.”

Watching Emily Blunt from one movie to the next shows her having an understated power to completely transform herself into whatever character she plays. It’s like she almost makes her preparation look effortless, except of course for those scenes where she chops wood with a big axe. As a result, she has become one of the most interesting actresses working in movies today, and we all look forward to seeing what role she will inhabit next.

SOURCES:

Sean O’Connell, “‘Looper’ Interview: Emily Blunt Talks Shotguns, Redemption and A Nickname for Her Fans,” Cinema Blend, September 26, 2012.

Fred Topel, “Butching Out: Emily Blunt on ‘Looper’ and ‘All You Need is Kill,’” Crave Online, September 27, 2012.

Michael Clarke Duncan on Acting in ‘The Green Mile’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written in 2012.

The news of Michael Clarke Duncan’s untimely passing has us all feeling very sad, and I could not agree more with his “Green Mile” director Frank Darabont when he said “Michael has left us far, far too soon. We lost a great man and a great spirit.” That big, warm smile of Duncan’s always seemed to exude a kindness that was genuine, and he is a man who achieved his dream of becoming a movie star and earned the right to be one. This makes his death all the more painful to accept.

Duncan left us with a number of unforgettable performances, but many agree his greatest role was as the gentle giant John Coffey in “The Green Mile,” and it earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Special thanks need to be given to Bruce Willis, who he co-starred with in “Armageddon,” who recommended Duncan for the role to Darabont.

The toughest scene for Duncan, however, in “The Green Mile” came when Coffey tries to save the two young girls he is later convicted of murdering.

“I had a lot of crying to do, a lot of howling to do, and it took a long time to do it and it really drained me,” Duncan said. “I’ll remember that day more so than anything else because as we were filming that, everybody was rushing toward me.”

What made the scene work for Duncan is how everything around him felt “so real,” and he remembered getting incredibly scared every time Darabont said “roll.”

When it came to preparing to play such emotionally charged scenes, Duncan credited the training he received from noted acting coach Larry Moss who taught him “how to dig within myself.”

“I’m an emotional person, a very emotional person,” Duncan said. “All those tears you see in the movie were mine.”

Darabont still vividly remembers how “immersive and incredible” the experience of making “The Green Mile” with Duncan was:

“What sticks most in my mind was his (Duncan’s) devotion to his craft and the strides he made as an artist during that time, which was beyond inspiring to those of us who took the journey with him,” Darabont said. “Never has an actor more richly deserved the recognition of an Academy Award nomination than Michael did for his performance as John Coffey.”

Rest in peace Michael, you will be missed.

SOURCES:

Kimberly Nordyke, “‘Green Mile’ Director Frank Darabont Remembers Michael Clarke Duncan,” The Hollywood Reporter, September 3, 2012.

Meriah Doty, “Bruce Willis helped Michael Clarke Duncan get his Oscar caliber role,” Movie Talk, Yahoo! Movies, September 3, 2012.

Dennis McLellan, “Michael Clarke Duncan dies; Oscar-nominated ‘Green Mile’ star was 54,” Los Angeles Times, September 3, 2012.

Attending The ‘Die Hard’ Mural Unveilling at Fox Studios

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Bruce Willis attends as 20th Century Fox presents a dedication of a permanent sound stage mural celebrating 25 years of “DIE HARD” and “A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD” in Los Angeles, CA on Thursday, January 31, 2013. (Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)

WRITER’S NOTE: As the first paragraph will indicate, this event took place back in 2013.

I was one of the lucky attendees at the Fox Studios lot on January 31, 2013 where the unveiling of a brand-new mural done in honor of “Die Hard” took place at Stage 8. The action classic which stars Bruce Willis as New York Detective John McClane has now reached its 25th anniversary, and the fifth movie in the long running series, “A Good Day to Die Hard,” is about to be released. Joining Willis in this celebration were Fox Film Entertainment chair Jim Gianopulos and the cast and director of “A Good Day to Die Hard.”

I cannot begin to tell you what a thrill it was to be a part of this historic event. Like so many, I was raised on the original “Die Hard” and its sequels, and the fact this franchise has held up so well is really a testament to the character of McClane and Willis’ portrayal of him. Before McClane, all movie action heroes were indestructible superhuman armies of one who obliterated every single bad guy while barely getting hurt in the process. McClane, however, was a different kind of action hero because he was like the rest of us; vulnerable, easily wounded, scared, and far from ever being indestructible. Gianopulos made this clear when talking about the character and his enduring status.

“While John McClane describes himself as the ‘fly in the ointment, the monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass,’ I’d like to think his appeal is just that he’s the everyman who just has this uncanny way of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and who never, ever says die,” Gianopulos said. “So, however you try and categorize him, John McClane will live on for audiences in our hearts and the studio’s legacy and so will his ‘yippee-ki-yay…’ Well, it’s a family thing so I can’t really say it.”

Gianopulos also rightly pointed out how, unlike Batman or James Bond, John McClane has been played by the same actor in all five “Die Hard” movies. The crowd was thrilled to see Willis show up for this mural unveiling, and he looked genuinely happy to be there and to see us so excited.

“This is really very nice, really nice,” Willis said of this occasion. “I worked on this lot. I started on Stage 20 here and I moved on to bigger things here at Fox, and I just couldn’t be more pleased that you all came out here. It has been a big, great, fun time doing ‘Die Hard’ for the last twenty-five years and living to talk about it.”

Afterwards, Gianopulos gave Willis a device which looked like a detonator to a bomb and, after the 20th Century Fox Fanfare was played, he pushed the button on it. What followed were some loud pyrotechnics and the dropping of the curtain to reveal the 35- foot “Die Hard” mural which was designed by muralist Van Hecht-Nielsen and painter Fernando Cepeda. It depicts the scene where McClane makes his way through an air vent and pulls out his cigarette lighter to see what’s ahead. This of course led to one of Willis’ famous quotes from the movie:

“Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…”

I personally got a huge kick out of the whole presentation as did everyone else, and it was greeted with thunderous applause from the onlookers as well as many car alarms which were inadvertently set off by the pyrotechnics (I guess they had to have their say as well). Then again, “Die Hard” did get its name from a car battery, so the irony is hard to ignore.

Following the mural presentation, we were invited to a screening of “A Good Day to Die Hard” held at the Zanuck Theatre on the Fox Lot. Introducing the movie was its director, John Moore, who added he hopes his funeral looks like this and with so many excited people in attendance. He also pointed out while this was a special screening of the new “Die Hard” movie, he also called it a “nerd screening” because of a new sound system being utilized for it.

“This is an Atmos screening of ‘A Good Day to Die Hard,'” Moore said. “To explain what that is, Atmos is a new three-dimensional sound system that Dolby is rolling out over the next few years, and this is only the eighth film to be mixed in Atmos. If I could director direction to the ceiling for a moment, you can see there is an array of nearly 40 speakers, and this creates a three-dimensional sound that’s gonna role of you like nothing you’ve ever experienced… Or since the last time something’s rolled over you.”

But for many of us, the biggest treat of the evening was when we were invited to the 21st floor of the Nakatomi Plaza where the original “Die Hard” was filmed… Okay, it’s really called Fox Plaza, but to us “Die Hard” fans it will always be known as the Nakatomi. The lobby in the building has changed only so much since 1988, and while the lighting inside was different, it still looks the same as it did back then. You should have seen us when we got into the elevators though because they looked exactly the same as they did in the movie. My friend Phillip was practically hyperventilating from all the excitement of being there, and he later claimed how he almost died of “sheer awesomeness.” We all definitely shared in that feeling, and I had a great grin on my face for the rest of the night.

The 21st floor was decked out with a DJ and food that ran from cheese and apple blintzes to bigger dishes like beef stroganoff and egg noodles, perhaps to reflect how “A Good Day to Die Hard” takes place in Russia. I loved how the floor resembled the one McClane hid out on when he set off the fire alarm and was waiting for the fire trucks to show up. This had a lot of us going up to the windows and looking out while repeating our favorite lines from “Die Hard” such as “c’mon baby, come ta’ papa, I’ll kiss ya’ fucking dalmatian” or “you macho a-holes! No! No!” We didn’t bang our hands on the windows though as that likely would have gotten us into trouble.

Actually, some of us got a really nice security guard to take us up to the 30th floor where the Christmas party in “Die Hard” took place, but it looks nothing like it did in the movie. In fact, much of what we saw in “Die Hard” was done on a soundstage, and the real 30th floor was full of empty office spaces still waiting to be occupied. We were hoping to go up to the roof where the helipad is so we could imitate the scene where McClane shot his machine gun into the air to get the hostages to run downstairs, but unfortunately the guy couldn’t do that for us (he was very nice about it though).

Still, we got to see the front parking area where Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) drove around in circles before going inside, and we also got to see the place where a terrorist stole a Nestle Crunch candy bar while waiting for SWAT to break into the building. It’s all those little details which got us so excited.

Seriously, this was one of the best evenings I have had in a long time. To be a part of it was an honor, and it was an amazing thrill to go inside the Nakatomi/Fox Plaza and see where “Die Hard” was filmed. I came out to Los Angeles to be a part of the movies and to be close to those involved in their making, and this was an occasion which allowed me to do just that. I’ll never forget this evening, and I look forward to having many more of them.

Noah Segan Talks About Playing Kid Blue in ‘Looper’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Noah Segan in Looper

WRITER’S NOTE: This article was written back in 2012.

While Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt get top billing in Rian Johnson’s “Looper,” one actor in the cast to keep an eye on is Noah Segan who plays Kid Blue. Segan previously worked with Johnson on “Brick” and “The Brothers Bloom,” and it turns out the writer/director wrote the part of Kid Blue with Segan in mind. While his role might seem small, Segan took his time to develop the character, and he is bound to leave a very memorable impression on audiences as a result.

Kid Blue is an assassin like Levitt’s character, and he loves wielding his six shooter which makes him look like a cowboy along the lines of Billy the Kid. While audiences will see Kid Blue as being one of the villains of this film, Segan sees the role a bit differently.

“I play an antagonist, I wouldn’t want to go so far as to call him a villain,” Segan said. “A little spoiler: nobody is that good in this movie. Everybody is some form of bad and has some villainous traits; some for better reasons than others. I would say the easiest comparison is if you’re ready for a cat-and-mouse game between Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, get ready for me to be the bulldog chasing both of them.”

What people will remember best about Kid Blue is how he is always carrying with him an old-fashioned six shooter gun. The character loves to show it off as it makes him look like a bad ass, but he is also famous for accidentally shooting one of his feet off with it. Segan took the time to describe the gun his character loves to wield in more detail.

“The Gatmen Gun, the gun that I use, is a very modern take on another classic weapon: a single-action revolver,” said Segan. “It isn’t a Colt 45, but the same thing that people carried in the Civil War and in the Old West; very elegant, perfectly made revolvers that, in the case of ‘Looper,’ happened to use ammunition usually reserved for big game hunting. Our bullets, that are a .45-70 caliber bullet, are not put into handguns. They’re made for giant rifles that are designed to take trophies home, or shoot at a tank. Rian found this company that makes these sort of novelty, single-action revolvers in this caliber and then had them adjusted for the Gatmen, and had them powder-coated black. In my case, I had mine chromed out with a flat-sight and a wooden grip reminiscent of a western gun that my character would want to use.”

What makes this especially interesting is “Looper” takes place in the year 2044, and yet Kid Blue seems to be stuck in a past which no longer exists. During a press junket for the movie which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, Segan talked of the contrast between the future this character lives in and how he emulates famous ones from history.

“I’m playing someone in the future who is obsessed with the past which is a big theme of the movie overall,” said Segan. “In my case, it’s very aesthetic. Having things you can touch, having blue jeans in the future, having cowboy boots in the future and my revolver in the future, it’s stuff that’s real easy to look at and play with. There’s a scene in the movie where I roll a cigarette with real rolling papers and smoke that. There’s something very tactile and something that almost doesn’t even exist today. It was very helpful, but everything that was there felt that way.”

It also turns out Kid Blue is actually Segan’s nickname in real life. His friend Paul Sado ended up introducing him to a 1973 movie called “Kid Blue” which stars Dennis Hopper, Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Lee Purcell, and Peter Boyle. After watching it, Segan said it became his favorite movie.

“There’s humor in the film, but it’s about change. It’s about adulthood and it stuck with me, and people started calling me Kid Blue,” Segan said. “Rian Johnson sent me the first draft of ‘Looper’ years ago. I opened it up and there it was on whatever page – Kid Blue. I called him up, and I said, what’s that? He said, ‘that’s you.’ It really works with this character. It’s a guy who’s sort of a bumbling diligent failure. In ‘Kid Blue,’ Hopper plays that up for comedy, and in ‘Looper,’ I sort of play up for pathos. I’m unimaginably trying to emulate Dennis Hopper.”

Noah Segan proves with his performance in “Looper” how there are no small roles, only small actors. On the surface it might seem like his character of Kid Blue is nothing than a one-dimensional bad guy, but Segan makes him much more than what was on the page. This is a testament to his preparation for the role which was thought out well and very creative. On the basis of his performance, it is certain we can expect many more from Segan in the near future.

SOURCES:

Samuel Zimmerman, “Q&A: Noah Segan on guns, gore and style of ‘Looper,’” Fangoria, September 28, 2012.

“Looper” press junket at Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, September 25, 2012.

Chase Whale, “10 Things ‘Looper’ Star Noah Segan Told Us About ‘Looper’ Star Noah Segan,” Film.com, September 25, 2012.

 

Whether Empty or Half Full, This ‘Glass’ is a Frustrating Misfire

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

glass movie poster

This is the first M. Night Shyamalan film I have looked forward to watching in over a decade. After the cinematic atrocity which was “The Last Airbender,” I had given up all hope of him returning to his former filmmaking glory. Then there was “After Earth” which did the impossible; it robbed Will Smith of his natural charisma, and it came with the pathetic tagline of “fear is a choice.” But now we have this highly anticipated 2019 film which combines characters from “Unbreakable” and “Split,” the latter being the first Shyamalan movie in ages to earn a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. As much as I try to leave my expectations at the door, this one piqued my interest ever since I got a look at its first trailer.

Well, the good news is that “Glass” is no “Last Airbender” as Shyamalan has managed to find his footing again as a filmmaker. The bad news is “The Sixth Sense” director still has yet to regain his mojo as a screenwriter. This long-awaited conclusion to his own superhero trilogy proves to be a disappointing misfire as the promises it looked to contain fall flat long before its misconceived climax which contains more endings than “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” and proves to be as frustrating as the one in “The Matrix Revolutions.”

Through a series of events, both David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and Kevin Wendell Crumb and his 23 different personalities which he refers to as The Horde (all of them played by James McAvoy) end up being imprisoned at a mental institution where Elijah Price/Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) has resided at for over a decade. The three are put under the care of Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), a psychiatrist whose specialty is working with patients whom she believes are suffering from delusions of grandeur. She wants to convince them they are not the superhuman beings they believe themselves to be, but we already know she will be in for one hell of a surprise.

“Glass” starts off interestingly enough as it reintroduces us to its three main characters with underplayed relish. Seeing David do battle with the most dangerous of Kevin’s personalities, The Beast, is fun as we see these comic book characters, or superheroes if you will, battle one another in a world more real to us than any in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also doesn’t take too long for these two to be put under the same roof with Mr. Glass who looks to be in a vegetative state, but we know when looking into his twitchy eyes that he is waiting to prove his latest comic book theory for all the world to see. Seeing Jackson’s face reminded me of when Dr. Loomis confronted a young Michael Myers in “Halloween” as he stared listlessly out a window. Loomis says to him, “You fooled them, haven’t you Michael? But not me…”

But once “Glass” moves into the mental asylum, Shyamalan’s version of Arkham, the film begins to fall apart as these three characters cannot come together in a fully satisfying way, and things begin to drag as he underplays everything to where everyone needed an overdose of coffee or Red Bull. Granted, Shyamalan likes to underplay things instead of numbing us with endless explosions and characters yelling at one another for no special reason, but I would have loved it if he presented his stories in an overblown manner for once.

And yes, being an M. Night Shyamalan film, this one has the kind of twists he has been employing constantly since “The Sixth Sense.” However, the twists he has in store for us in “Glass” failed to blow my mind in any stimulating way, and they only served to make an already frustrating film even more frustrating as a result. Nothing comes together in a way which makes much sense, and it reminded me of how sick I get of Shyamalan’s need to stay one step ahead of the audience in an effort to outdo his previous work. This has been a big problem for me since “The Village,” and things aren’t getting much better.

By the time he reveals his twists in “Glass,” I had already lost much interest in the story as I found my mind wandering constantly to where thoughts of “Good Will Hunting” danced in my head. As much as I am determined to accept movies for what they are instead of what I want them to be, I kept thinking of the various ways this one could have been greatly improved. Seriously, it would have been far more interesting to see these three men trapped in a room together to where they are forced to deal with one another in a way they could not have expected. This could have been a superhero movie meets “The Breakfast Club” as these three could have discovered all the things they had in common to where they realize how all they have is each other.

As for the acting, it is mostly very good. It’s nice to see Bruce Willis reprising one of his best characters for the first time in years, and playing David Dunn allows the “Die Hard” actor to climb out of the VOD and direct to DVD muck he has been stuck in for far too long now (“Marauders” anyone?). James McAvoy has an actor’s dream role as he plays a character with multiple personalities, and he realizes each one with tremendous thought and precision to where I was in awe at what he pulled off here. As for Samuel L. Jackson, his role as Elijah/Mr. Glass remains one of his most unique as he portrays a “bad-ass motherfucker” who uses his mind instead of a gun or his fists to fulfill his needs.

The only performance I had issues with was Sarah Paulson’s. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a fantastic actress who has given many great performances and will give many more in the future, but watching her portray Dr. Ellie Staple was an extraordinarily strange experience. This is not altogether her fault as her character is ill-defined and not conceived in a particularly interesting way, and even when revelations about Ellie are made in the last act, it is not enough to save Paulson’s talents from being wasted. The actress spends most of her time staring at the three main characters or into the camera and looking ridiculously ethereal from start to finish, and it got to where I wanted to yell at the screen, “Hey, act normal! Stop looking so serene!”

For what it’s worth, “Glass” does represent a big step up for Shyamalan as a director. He still shows a solid skill for generating moments of high tension, and this is especially evident in the scene where a male nurse threatens to drop a flashlight onto Elijah’s fragile body. Even though the proceedings could have used a serious energy injection, Shyamalan still shows signs of a director’s mastery of suspense which I hope will serve him well in the future. There are only so many filmmakers who can fall down so far and get a second chance in Hollywood, and I am certain the box office will make clear he is here to stay. But as a writer, he still needs a helping hand as the screenplay has several plot holes you could drive a fleet of double decker busses through.

To watch “Glass” is to analyze it for what it could have been instead of what it is. Shyamalan has succeeded in creating a cinematic universe which Hollywood studios salivate over on a regular basis as the possibilities for sequels appeal to them greatly, but what ends up on the silver screen is inescapably underwhelming. I am happy to say it is no “Last Airbender” and infinitely more entertaining than “After Earth,” but Shyamalan still has yet to regain his former glory as a celebrated filmmaker in the eyes of audiences around the world.

* * out of * * * *

 

 

‘Glass’ Trailer Sees M. Night Shyamalan Completing a Superhero Trilogy

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

Glass teaser poster

Night Shyamalan has had a rather crazy career as a filmmaker as he has reached the heights of cinematic glory with “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs” and also traveled to its unforgiving depths with “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth.” In between those films was “Unbreakable,” his superhero thriller from the year 2000 in which Bruce Willis starred as a security guard who is the sole survivor of a horrific train crash, and Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, a comic book art dealer who suffers from a rare disease which makes his bones extremely fragile and prone to fracture. I initially dismissed “Unbreakable” as the kind of lame effort from a filmmaker who pulled off one of the greatest twist endings in cinematic history. But in retrospect, it is truly one of his best films and perhaps even one of the best superhero movies ever.

Little did we know that with “Unbreakable,” Shyamalan had created his own cinematic universe. It continued with “Split” in which James McAvoy plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder who has 23 personalities inside of him. And now, we have the first trailer for “Glass,” the third movie in Shyamalan’s superhero series which unites Willis, Jackson and McAvoy together in a way which looks very exciting and highly promising.

The first image from this “Glass” trailer is of Dr. Ellie Staple who is played by Sarah Paulson. Ever since her appearance in the HBO movie “Game Change,” she has become one of my favorite actresses, and it is enthralling to watch her talk with these three men. Her face is a study in both fascination and terror as she is eager to talk with these men even though she is clearly scared of all they are capable of doing.

Then we get a look at these three men in the same frame, and it likes an “Avengers” movie you didn’t know was coming. For McAvoy, this represents a return to playing a character much like the one Sally Field played in “Sybil.” For Willis, it presents another opportunity to escape the direct to video realm as the “Death Wish” remake didn’t quite do it for him. And for Jackson, he gets to reprise one of his best and most unusual roles as this “bad ass motherfucker” has an infinitely high IQ but an ever so fragile body which fails him far too often.

Seriously, this is the first M. Night Shyamalan film I have looked forward to seeing in over a decade, and I say this even though “Glass” is coming out in January 2019. January is typically the month where Hollywood dumps its cinematic garbage on us as they have no idea where else to put it. Still, this cannot be any worse than “The Last Airbender.”

Check out the trailer below.

 

All-Time Favorite Trailers: ‘Die Hard 2’

Posted on by The Ultimate Rabbit

I so wish I saw this particular movie trailer in a theater when it first came out. Instead, I first watched it on the Movietime Channel which would later become E, Entertainment Television. One of my dad’s friends, however, told me of when he saw the “Die Hard 2” teaser trailer on the silver screen and of the reaction it generated. At first, it looked to him and the rest of the audience like just another action movie as the narrator went about describing Dulles International Airport even as there were title cards showing us exactly what he was saying. In my mind, I could see the audience repeating what they saw onscreen in a lifeless way as they waited impatiently for this trailer to end and for the movie they came to see begin.

But then Bruce Willis appeared as John McClane, and the audience burst into spontaneous applause as “Die Hard” quickly became an all-time action movie classic upon its release, and to see the former “Moonlighting” actor bringing this character back to the big screen made them super excited. With John McClane, Willis gave us a new kind of action hero which was so different from the superhuman ones Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone among others gave us time and time again. As a result, McClane proved to be more human than any other action hero many of us had seen previously.

When it comes to this particular teaser trailer, what I love is how it has all these sound effects going on even as the narrator narrates away, and it forces you to imagine what is going on at this airport during one of the busiest travel seasons ever. We have all been to the airport during the holidays and have experienced the craziness and insanity of getting checked in and of the flight delays which are usually inevitable, and this teaser pokes at those fears and anxieties we have while waiting to travel home to see our families.

Once we see the title card which says “but tonight on Christmas Eve,” I began to realize this might be the “Die Hard” sequel we had been waiting for. Then Bruce Willis enters and says, “How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?” It makes perfect sense that McClane would say this as, like I said previously, this is an action hero more human than the average one we had been exposed to for many years. Furthermore, I was happy to see Willis say this as many sequels strand characters like McClane in the same situation, and yet the filmmakers would treat it as though the previous movie never happened. But with this simple exchange which spells out how he spent Christmas this way last year, I became even more enthusiastic about this sequel as the filmmakers knew in advance that they had to deal with this inescapable fact.

Even after all these years, I still love watching this “Die Hard 2” trailer as it raises my excitement level to a very pleasurable degree, and it takes a lot for a movie trailer to do this for me these days.

WRITER’S NOTE: In addition to the teaser trailer above, I am also including the two trailers which came after it. Back then, this proved to be the first time when I realized movie studios were never content to release just one trailer for a summer blockbuster. Each of them was thrilling to watch, and this sequel was released back in a time when my expectations for a motion picture were much higher than they are now. These days, I am very guarded in my expectations as I usually expect them to not be met.