Actor and filmmaker Edward Burns comes from a family of cops, and he always relishes the opportunity to play one in a movie. In “Alex Cross,” he got to portray Detective Tommy Kane who is partner and childhood friend to Dr. Cross (played here by Tyler Perry), and the boyfriend of Detective Monica Ashe (Rachel Nichols). While at the movie’s press conference which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills back in 2012, he talked about what drew him to the role.
Burns said he was aware of James Patterson’s Alex Cross books and that he had read a few of them. The character he plays, however, is not actually in any of Patterson’s books and was an original creation for this movie. He ended up getting a call from the movie’s director, Rob Cohen, who was determined to make this particular Cross film more of an action picture than a police procedural.
Edward Burns: Rob told me that he wanted to develop this new character opposite Alex that’s sort of a best friend. He said we’ll be working on this script up until we shoot and that he’d love to have some input from me. Anytime a filmmaker says they want you to collaborate with them that gets an actor excited, so I jumped in.
When it came to establishing the relationship between Tommy and Alex, Burns said there are two scenes in the movie that give viewers insight as to when these two met and how their relationship has evolved over the years.
Edward Burns: The thinking was we became friends as kids, and when we were little, I was a little more of the protector of him. When we got older, bigger and smarter, he then became the guy that looked after me. That’s what the tone of the relationship is between these characters in the film, and in our last scene together in the car we reminisce about how our roles have changed over time.
For Burns the one fun thing about playing cops in movies is that there’s always that period of when you have to do tactical police training.
Edward Burns:We had a great time working with the guys from the Detroit SWAT team and police department, and that’s always a lot of fun. It’s amazing because you always have to keep relearning that stuff (sweeping a room and proper weapons procedure).
Some actors hate being typecast as cops, but Edward Burns appears to be happy to play as many of them as he can. We look forward to him playing as many more cops in the future, and we applaud him on his continued dedication to the realm of independent film.
“Alex Cross” is now available to own and rent on physical media and digital.
WRITER’S NOTE: This interview took place back in 2012 and may contain outdated information.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, filmmaker David Twohy has left a strong impression on moviegoers everywhere. He got his start as a screenwriter on “Warlock,” “The Fugitive” and “Waterworld,” and he eventually proved himself to be an effective director with the underrated “The Arrival” which starred Charlie Sheen as an astronomer who discovers evidence of intelligent alien life, and the equally underrated submarine supernatural horror film “Below.”
But the movie Twohy is still best known for is “Pitch Black” which had him joining forces with “The Fast & The Furious” star Vin Diesel who played the dangerous criminal, Riddick. Its budget was only $23 million, but Twohy and Diesel created a movie that was intensely exciting and which made the most of its modest budget. So strong was the cult following for “Pitch Black” that the two later made “The Chronicles of Riddick” which had a budget of over $100 million. While the sequel was not a commercial success, fans were still craving another Riddick movie and kept pushing at Twohy and Diesel to bring this anti-hero back to the silver screen.
Fans got their wish when “Riddick,” the third movie in the “Pitch Black” franchise, opened in theaters on September 3, 2013. After dealing with a big budget and a Hollywood studio, Twohy and Diesel ended up raising the money independently to make this particular sequel a reality and maintain full creative control over it. It follows Riddick as he is left for dead on a desolate planet and ends up being sought out by bounty hunters who are prepared to bring his head back in a box. But soon they are stalked by vicious alien predators, and they are forced to join forces with Riddick in order to survive the long dark night.
I was lucky enough to attend the “Riddick” press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, California just before this sequel was released back in 2013. Twohy talked about the challenges of making this particular movie as well as what it was like working with Diesel who had just received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Question: How did the final film compare to what you originally envisioned, and were there any big challenges you faced in terms of the look of the film?
David Twohy: Did the finished product end up like we had imagined it? Yeah, it does because really, as a responsible filmmaker, I have to imagine the whole movie. After I script the movie, I have to storyboard it out, I have to budget it, and I have to understand if I can afford all those visual effects or not. So more than anybody, it looks like the movie I had imagined, sometimes better, sometimes not quite as good depending on how we execute the visual effects. But yeah, I’m not surprised by it because it’s what I do and it’s what I set out to make. Sometimes Vin, who is not privy to everything that’s in my head and all the work that I’ve done with the concept artist (and he likes it that way), is surprised, but I don’t have the luxury of being surprised. I can’t be surprised by anything in the filmmaking process if I’m doing my job right. So, it’s very much the movie we set out to make, and we set out to make something that would fit into the budget that we had ($38 million). I think you all know that this was an independent movie this time out instead of a studio movie. So, knowing that we would have limited resources, Vin and I sat down in his kitchen and we came up with a story that would fit that budget. It couldn’t be as grand as the last movie, and it had to be more contained. It feels more like “Pitch Black” to some people. It probably is more like that at least in its tone and scope (we limited it to one world), but it’s very much the movie we set out to make, and there were not that many surprises for me along the way.
Question: It was interesting to see that Dahl (played by Katee Sackhoff) was not a love interest in this movie. Usually, the girl ends up being the love interest of someone, but instead she was this independent woman who can hold her own. Can you talk about casting Katee and why you chose to make her this independent woman who can take care of yourself?
David Twohy: I remember Ridley Scott telling me this story about the original “Alien;” Ripley was scripted to be a man, and he decided to make her a female thinking that these parts should be gender-neutral. I’ve always remembered that, and the women in my movies do stand up on their own two feet and are not pieces to anybody, and I like that. In terms of Katee, she was the first person to read for the role of about a hundred actresses, and that I remembered her throughout the whole process speaks highly of her. So finally, I said, “Who was that girl who came in the first day, she had blonde hair and she kind of killed it? Who is she?” They said, “Oh that’s Katee Sackhoff from ‘Battlestar Galactica.'” Well, I didn’t really follow “Battlestar Galactica,” so I didn’t even know her from that, so I’m not casting or for that. I just thought she was the best available actress so we cast her like that, and I’m so glad we did because she was a joy to have on the set. And clearly, like the character, she holds her own amongst the men and swears worse than any of them. Her off-screen lines are just as good.
Question: What made you bring this franchise back to R-rated territory after the PG-13 “Chronicles of Riddick,” and is there going to be another “Riddick” anime, game or ride?
David Twohy: (laughs) A Riddick ride? Well, actually we are doing some D-Box seats in theaters, the motion platform seats. I just experienced them for the first time and it’s the closest thing to a Riddick ride as you’ll get. It’s watching the movie, but it’s motion based. I don’t know what that in between thing will be, but we embrace them, and I would like to do more. We published the motion graphic novel as well which helped with the back story of how Riddick went from King of the Necromongers to a man alone on a planet. We embrace those things, and it would be great to get another game off the ground, but those things are very hard to launch. They are costly and they need a lot of lead time, so it’s hard to sync those games to the release of a movie. But we would like to do another one and we are talking about it. The R-rated movie was important to us because, as a filmmaker, I have the flexibility I need to do what I want. With PG-13 I feel like I’m pulling my punches either in the script or working with my actors on the set and coming up with stupid analogues for the word “fuck.” I’m getting tired of that. It gets to the point where people aren’t talking like people talk anymore. Just because I don’t want to pull my punches anymore, I felt this was important to me. It also plants a flag in the ground for our fans as well and lets them know we are true to the character and the nature of the series. The reason for PG-13 last time is obvious. It was because we were a big studio movie funded by a big studio, and to minimize their risk they wanted to branch out to what they think is the widest possible audience and they think that’s PG-13. There is actually a sound reason for that, but Vin and I feel more comfortable back in the R-rated universe.
Question: In “Riddick” you deal with the Necromongers briefly and just move on from there. Do you plan on going back to that story thread if this movie is successful enough to merit a sequel?
David Twohy: Yes. If it is successful and if we have a flexibility to go wherever want for the next movie, and Vin and I are talking about two more movies and probably just that (it would be good to do a closed ended franchise rather than a franchise that just keeps spitting them out just to spit them out), we would like to get back to the Necromongers. I am currently cutting the director’s cut DVD right now which includes more of an epilogue which has Riddick returning to the Necromonger empire and actually setting things right there in terms of the guy who abandoned him on this planet and left him for dead, and his search for Vaako (played by Karl Urban) who he thinks has the answer to where his home world lies. The next few weeks will be telling for us, and we want to pay off the fans who have stuck with us all this time. They have never stopped talking about this movie to us, and it was them who made us open our eyes and say it will be honestly irresponsible to leave it like it was and not make another movie.
Question: How did you and Vin get back to the savagery of the “Pitch Black” with this one and made it look like “Conan the Barbarian” as opposed to “Conan the Destroyer?”
David Twohy: That was important too, and it was also part of the character who thinks at the story’s outset that maybe he feels that he is gotten a little slow, a little soft, who has dulled his own edge as King of the Necromongers and wonders what happened to him. Did he commit the greatest crime of all? Did he get civilized? So, the exploration of him trying to get back to basics to find his edge again, to get back to the lean thing he was, it’s a good evolution for Riddick and it’s also sort of a parallel to what the franchise has undergone
Question: What do you like most about collaborating with Vin Diesel?
David Twohy: That he doesn’t shut up (laughs). He’s a guy who aims high and pushes me to aim high. He’s a guy who dreams and thinks that anything is possible, and me I’m more of a practical guy. I try to be a responsible filmmaker, living with the constraints of what I’m given to make a movie with, but Vin doesn’t think like that. Vin thinks like anything is possible and he thinks big. Sometimes that’s almost a folly but other times it can be inspiring and it can open up my ideas to other ways of doing things. What’s great about it is that he’s a guy who has all the confidence in the world and always has ever since I cast him as just a guy, an actor, in “Pitch Black.” But he had an unshakable confidence in himself even back then, and he just seems to see the future or will it into being (laughs) so that he can say “hey I was right all along!” He’s great like that and he’s inspiring like that. Just about the time you think that Vin Diesel is a guy with big muscles and a big head and your kind of willing to dismiss him as that, you realize that this is a guy with a big heart too. He dreams no small dreams, and that’s good and that rubs off on everybody else he works with.
Question: Can you talk about crafting Riddick’s voiceover in the movie?
David Twohy: Here’s how I craft it, I sit in front of my computer screen and I write it. Then I’ll rewrite it, I’ll tweak it, I’ll rewrite it and then I’ll show it to Vin and he’ll say I’m digging this or I’m digging that. When he gets in front of a microphone, he’ll say 90% of it, but every once in a while, he’ll just stick in a line. I later find out it’s because it’s too similar to something else he said in another movie. We just work it out and then I’ll spitball three alternatives and when something pops up that he likes we’ll just lay it down. We’ve built a good level of trust with each other lately. As opposed to the voiceover in “Blade Runner” where it was just filling in stuff that you needed to know about the world and it wasn’t character-based, the one in “Riddick” is character-based and it comes with Riddick’s voice and how he sees the world. It takes a while to get it right.
Question: Riddick’s relationship with the puppy is one of the best things about this movie…
David Twohy: By the way, every woman who has interviewed me today talked about the damn puppy (laughs). I cut a trailer of this movie that was all about Riddick and his relationship with the dogs and I gave it to Universal and said, “Hey maybe we want to broaden our audience a little bit and make sure we get the women in here, you know?” Then they go, “It’s a little soft for a Riddick movie Dave.” God, I wish the marketing people were listening to this! I’ve been trying to tell Universal, I’ve been trying…
Question: Since the puppy was created with CGI effects and has a lot of interactive scenes with the actors, what did they have to work with on the set?
David Twohy: All the actors have plenty of reference whether its concept art which they can paper their trailers with or I’ll show them on the morning of the shoot. The puppy has stand ins. For the puppy, I got a 12-pound silicone puppy that looks like the real puppy. It’s furred, it’s got glass eyes and everybody wants to hold it, and it just feels right. The puppy made it into the movie in a couple shots. Plus, Vin has big dogs too, so more often than not he’s telling me how to greet the dog and how to pet it (I’m a cat guy, Vin’s a dog guy). So, he says, “No you don’t pet it like a cat. If you want to say hello to your big dog, you slap it on the shoulder.” So that’s what we do in the movie.
Question: What were the differences, both positive and negative, that you found making this movie independently versus working on a studio movie?
David Twohy: Mostly positive. We shot it in 48 days which was pretty streamline. During postproduction I showed it to an audience of 50 or 60 people and didn’t score it, didn’t test it. I just wanted to know what confused them so I could go back and clear up the confusions. I showed one or two cuts to Vin and then I locked the picture. That is as atypical as it gets in the professional filmmaking world because a lot those movies you saw this summer were focus grouped, tested, scored, recut, reshot, recut, tested, scored, and after a while there is a factory-made feel to those movies. So hopefully something this simple, streamline and filmmaking pure results in something that’s at least different and maybe better just in the handcrafted sense of it.
Question: So, would you say you had more fun with less money in some ways?
David Twohy: Yeah, we did, and I’m sure most independent filmmakers will tell you that. The downside is that we staggered to the starting line. We were up, we were down, we were up, and we were down. It all comes down to, is the paperwork closed? Is the bond closed? You have to close the bond to get the bank loan. It’s a lot of stuff I don’t know much about, and I wish it didn’t affect my life but it does. We started and we were shut down, kicked out of our studios, the doors locked. We had to come back three months later and pay our bills and start over. So those are the vicissitudes of independent filmmaking.
“Riddick” is now available to own and rent on DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD and Digital.
As this interview was conducted in the past, it may contain outdated information.
The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.
When it comes to comedy, it’s all a matter of opinion. Comedy, even more than film criticism, is subjective. For example, I’m not an Adam Sandler fan and I find his films terribly unfunny, but there is a reason why his films keep getting released by studios. There is really no right or wrong when it comes to comedy. With “Blazing Saddles,” I heard all of the praise surrounding it and how some critics considered it one of the funniest films of all time. While watching the film for the first time, I understood what they were going for and what they were looking to achieve. It wasn’t as though the film went over my head or I didn’t understand the style of comedy they were putting on screen. I just never laughed.
My first issue with “Blazing Saddles” was its lack of plot. It seems this is mostly a movie filled with random gags and one-liners that are intended to make the audience laugh. They throw everything but the kitchen sink at us. It must be said the film is filled with the N-word along with other racial and homophobic slurs. I understand this film was made in 1974, which was fifty years ago, but it’s still uncomfortable to watch. The film is not funny and the jokes don’t land. There is a way to be offensive and also be funny, but this movie did not accomplish that goal. With comedy, you can go almost anywhere if you know what you’re doing. We have seen films that pushed the comedic envelope in the past, but they have been done in a smart and clever way. This is just flat-out lazy.
The plot involves a railroad being built through the town of Rock Ridge, a railroad that will make a corrupt politician a lot of money if he is able to force the residents out of their town. One way he is hoping to do this is by having a black sheriff named Bart (Cleavon Little) come in and make some of the local residents uncomfortable. The sheriff is called Black Bart. Subtlety is not this film’s strong suit. Bart’s deputy is played by Gene Wilder. Even though they are hoping to get the locals out of Rock Ridge, they end up staying and fighting for their town. Bart must also deal with Lili Von Shtüpp, played by Madeline Kahn, who is looking to find a way to sink her teeth into him.
“Blazing Saddles” features performances from Mel Brooks, Alex Karras and Richard Collier, to name a few. However, no one can save this movie from its awful screenplay and bad jokes. It is unwatchable from start-to-finish. It took every ounce of strength in my body to not only watch this movie, but to finish watching it. I absolutely hated it in a way I haven’t hated a movie in a very long time. I understand they were trying to make a film that would be a satire on Westerns and how certain demographics view African Americans. It shows how they are exploiting African Americans because the money men are only focused on the bottom line. I know what the message was and what they were trying to do in this film. I just didn’t find it funny.
In the end, “Blazing Saddles” is considered a comedy classic and one of the funniest films of all-time. I wouldn’t be doing this film any justice if I didn’t acknowledge its reputation and its three Oscar nominations. It has clearly reasoned with a lot of people. With this being its 50th anniversary, I know a lot of people are very excited about this 4K release. One of the worst things you can do as a critic is to say a movie should not be watched by anyone, and if anyone likes this movie, they are a moron. I would never dream of doing that. I acknowledge the reputation of “Blazing Saddles,” but I simply shrug my shoulders and say, “This was not, at all, my kind of comedy.” As stated previously, comedy is subjective. If you love the film, you will love the 4K.
ZERO out of * * * *
4K Info: “Blazing Saddles” is released on a single 4K disc from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. It also comes with a digital copy of the film. It has a running time of 93 minutes and is rated R. You can purchase either the 4K slipcover or the 4K steelbook.
4K Video: The 4K HDR transfer from Warner Brothers is fantastic and looks terrific. Westerns, when done right, can look great on 4K. This is a visual feast for the eyes, and I imagine fans of the film will be quite pleased with this 4K transfer.
4K Audio: The Dolby Atmos track is also right on cue, as it’s a strong audio mix throughout the film that hits all the right notes.
Special Features:
Inappropriate Inspiration: The Blazing Saddles Effect
Scene-Specific Commentary by Mel Brooks
Blaze of Glory: Mel Brooks’ Wild, Wild West
Back in the Saddle
Additional Scenes
Should You Buy It?
I imagine some readers might call me too sensitive or say the film went over my head. I’m a huge fan of standup comedy, and I believe just about anything in the world is fodder for comedy when it’s done right. I understood exactly what Mel Brooks was going for in this movie, and I know that one of its writers was Richard Pryor. It is my job to give my honest assessment of this film, and I thought it was painfully unfunny and wanted to turn it off after twenty minutes. Because I was reviewing it, I felt obligated to watch the entire film. If this style of comedy is not for you, you won’t find a whole lot to laugh about in “Blazing Saddles.” If you enjoy the film and it fits into your comedic sensibilities, you will be very happy with it. This is another top-notch 4K release from Warner Brothers. They are doing a great job with releasing 4K’s from their massive library. Overall, if you loved this film, buy it. If you haven’t seen it before, I’d recommend watching it and seeing how you respond to it.
**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 following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.
“North by Northwest” is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock film of all time, which is no small feat and it’s not hyperbole. It is my favorite film from the director because it is his most ambitious. It has a running time of over two hours, and it is never boring, not even for a second. It is wall-to-wall suspense, excitement and intrigue. The acting is also top-of-the-line. Cary Grant has given a lot of great performances in his storied career, but he’s at his best in “North by Northwest” because he’s asked to juggle a lot and he’s also on screen for basically the entire movie. He goes from being cool, calm and calculated to being overwhelmed, frantic and verklempt. He also has a terrific screen partner in Eva Marie Saint, who recently turned 100-years-old! She’s a living legend.
Grant plays Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who is about to have his world turned upside down when he is mistaken for a man by the name of George Kaplan. A group of thugs grab him and throw him into the home of Lester Townsend, who is really Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), a foreign spy who is into importing and exporting government secrets. They set up an elaborate ploy to frame Roger by getting him drunk and putting him behind the wheel of a car, causing him to have a drunk-driving accident. In this situation, his own mother doesn’t even believe him, as it sounds made up. It’s all true, and it’s up to Roger to clear his good name and put the pieces back together in this intricate puzzle.
In his travels, he runs into a young woman by the name of Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), who takes a liking to Roger, even though his picture is all over the paper for a murder he didn’t commit. Things have only gone from bad to worse for Roger at this point. She is willing to help him out and they become romantically involved. There’s more to her than meets the eye. That is the beauty of “North by Northwest;” everyone is not who they appear to be upon first glance. It keeps the audience guessing and it keeps the characters in the film guessing as well. Hitchcock made a very smart film here which is occupied with very smart people.
Even though there is a lot going on in “North by Northwest,” it never feels complicated or overly convoluted. The film doesn’t need to explain every little thing to the audience, as it trusts that the audience is smart and able to keep up with everything happening on screen. It also doesn’t hurt when you have the legendary Cary Grant on screen, who is so effortlessly charming and fascinating. He really rolls with the punches here, as Hitchcock puts him in all types of unique and challenging settings, including the crop-dusting scene and a near-death experience on Mount Rushmore. Hitchcock, who was notoriously tough on actors, has said his favorite actor to work with was Grant. It’s easy to see why as they made movie magic on screen together.
Saint is sizzling on screen with her sex appeal, confidence and charisma. She more than holds her own in her scenes with Grant. They go tit for tat with one another, and she smolders on screen. Whenever they are on-screen together, it’s impossible to ignore their charisma and chemistry. They play off each other so well. James Mason is a great bad guy with depth and complexity and he doesn’t overplay it and is never cheesy or silly. Mason knows less is more, and he knows how to read his lines in a way where he’s cooler than the other side of the pillow. He is too good of an actor to just play this role as a typical movie bad guy, and he gives this character sophistication and elegance.
“North by Northwest” is one of those rare movies where you never want it to end. As soon as it starts, it grabs you and never lets you go. I didn’t want to get up to use the bathroom during this movie, as I didn’t want to miss anything happening on screen. There is no wasted movement in this film. Everything adds up to something and means something. Every single character has a purpose, whether it is to enhance the story or the tension. I don’t like to use the word “perfect” too often, but when it comes to a movie like this one, it is absolutely perfect from start to finish. It’s one of my favorite films of all time.
* * * * out of * * * *
4K Info: “North by Northwest” is released on a single 4K disc from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. It also comes with a digital copy of the film as well. The film has a running time of 135 minutes and is unrated. It comes with either a 4K slipcover or a 4K steelbook.
4K Video Info: This is not only one of my favorite films, but also one of my favorite 4K discs of 2024. The picture quality is stunning and breathtaking. The HDR brings out all of the beautiful colors on display. Warner Brothers has done an incredible job of making this film look vivid and colorful. Wow! It is all about the details here, and they left no stone unturned in making sure “North by Northwest” was brought to life.
4K Audio Info: The Dolby Atmos soundtrack also adds the right amount of suspense and excitement to the proceedings. It’s a great audio track which really makes you feel like you are in the film. Subtitles are included in English, Spanish and French.
North By Northwest: Cinematography, Score and the Art of the Edit Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest
The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style
North By Northwest: One for the Ages
A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock
Should You Buy It?
HELL YES! This is a film that needs to be bought immediately and, lucky for you, there are two ways to own it—the standard 4K slipcover or the impressive looking 4K steelbook. Even though the special features have been ported over from the Blu-ray, these are lengthy and informative, and they add a lot of context and insight into the film. If you loved this movie, you want to know as much about it as possible. As far as the audio and the visuals of the 4K, this is why I love 4K and why I champion this format so much as a movie lover. My wife and I watched this together on a Friday night and we were transfixed by the film, the mesmerizing visuals and the incredible audio. Warner Brothers knocked it out of the park with this release. This release gets my highest level of recommendation.
**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 following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.
“The Terminator,” directed by James Cameron, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Because of this, Warner Brothers released the film on 4K for the very first time. This has been one of the most anticipated 4K releases in years. James Cameron released a number of his movies this year on 4K, including “Aliens,” “True Lies” and “The Abyss.” Many YouTubers and physical media collectors have expressed mixed opinions on the transfers of these releases, and it has caused a lot of debate in the physical media community. Cameron himself has come out and expressed his frustration with their criticism and even suggested they move out of their parent’s basements.
As far as the film itself, “The Terminator” opens up by introducing the audience to a cyborg (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who has been sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to eliminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). To the untrained eye, he looks like a regular human being with his flesh, his ability to talk, and his ability to enter a room without really drawing a lot of attention to himself. Standing in the Terminator’s way is a soldier by the name of Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn). He’s also from the future, and he has one job and one job only, which is to protect Sarah. The Terminator’s job is to stop at nothing to eliminate Sarah because her unborn son, John Connor, is going to be the one to attempt to stop the machines from taking over after a war in the future begins.
The battle between humans and machines is one we are still battling in today’s world, especially with the introduction of artificial intelligence. Will machines become so powerful that humans will be rendered useless and unnecessary? Cameron was way ahead of himself with 1984’s “The Terminator.” This is a movie with big ideas and big characters. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator is fantastic with his movements, his screen presence, and his aura. Whenever he is on screen, you are completely captivated by him as an audience member to where you can’t keep your eyes off him. Linda Hamilton is terrific at walking that tightrope to where she’s seen as tough but also a little vulnerable. Michael Biehn also turns in a stellar performance as Kyle Reese. It’s a hard role to pull off, as Kyle needs to talk about the future in a way that will not only convince Sarah he’s telling the truth but also win over the audience.
I might be in the minority on this one, but my one issue with “The Terminator” is the love story between Sarah and Kyle. It is why I can’t give the film a perfect rating, even though I absolutely love it. The love story feels unnecessary when all of this is going on in Sarah’s world. In a film where I was able to suspend my disbelief for almost its entire running time, the romance came completely out of left field for me. Besides that, there is a lot to like about this film. It has a ton of great supporting work from actors such as Lance Henriksen, Paul Winfield, Dick Miller, and Earl Boen. Los Angeles is a character in this film, especially late at night. In many ways, “The Terminator” felt like Michael Mann directed a sci-fi thriller. It’s a moody and dark film with an underbelly of seediness and gloom and doom.
I also felt as though “The Terminator” had a sense of humor about itself without being too jokey. When the Terminator himself encounters some street punks while he’s naked, it allows Cameron to have a little fun with his premise. He is wise to not make the film too silly or goofy, however, as then it would be a completely different film altogether. The comedic moments come more from the way people react to the Terminator and how he reacts to them. Because he is so laser focused on killing Sarah Connor, he doesn’t have time for pleasantries. He is a man on a mission and will eliminate anyone and anything in his way. This film is able to feel like a big budget Hollywood blockbuster and a gritty, down and dirty independent film at the same time. It was made for $6.4 million, but it looks top-notch and has a sense of danger to it as well. “The Terminator” is an almost perfect film.
* * * ½ out of * * * *
4K Info: “The Terminator” is released on a single-disc 4K from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. It comes with a digital copy of the film as well. The film has a running time of 107 minutes and is rated R for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence throughout, some sexuality/nudity, and strong language. You can get this film either with a 4K slipcover or a 4K steelbook.
4K Video Info: Warner Brothers released this film on Dolby Vision HDR. It is a clean-looking transfer that doesn’t take any chances and doesn’t really need to when you consider its original source material. I thought the majority of the film looked impressive and it had a very cinematic feel to it. I don’t think there are too many things you can find wrong with this 4K video transfer.
4K Audio Info: The Dolby Atmos track is really good here. This is a film filled with a lot of action, explosions and big moments. Those scenes sound impressive and make for a good at-home theater experience. It wasn’t too loud or boisterous, but it made its presence known. Subtitles are included in English, Spanish and French.
Special Features:
Deleted Scenes with Optional James Cameron Commentary
Creating the Terminator: Visual Effects & Music
The Terminator: Closer to the Real Thing
Unstoppable Force: The Legacy of the Terminator
Should You Buy It?
This is one of the greatest sci-fi/action films of all time, despite my issues with the love story between Sarah and Kyle. It comes with a stand-out 4K transfer which includes Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. This is the best “The Terminator” has looked, and it looks much better than the failed “Terminator 2” 4K release from Lionsgate a few years back. It seems like they have found a happy medium when it comes to James Cameron and his 4K transfers. They know how to make the most out of the 4K format without changing it too much to where you don’t recognize the film you love. Much like the prior Blu-ray release, the special features are lacking, which is a disappointment. Overall, though, if you love movies, you have to have “The Terminator” on 4K in your collection. It is a must-own, whether you get the 4K slipcover or the 4K steelbook. It’s a revolutionary film that holds up incredibly well on repeat viewings. This one comes highly recommended.
**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.
After the bloated motion picture that was “The Chronicles of Riddick,” filmmaker David Twohy and star Vin Diesel return for “Riddick,” the third in a trilogy which began with the riveting “Pitch Black.” This sequel proves to be a return to as the story here is a lean one and is not about to overwhelm us with too many plot points. Also, it proves to be a stand-alone film which does not require you to view the previous installments (or “The Chronicles of Riddick” at the least) to understand all that is going on.
As the movie starts, Riddick (Vin Diesel) is now King of the Necromongers, but he ends up being betrayed by his supposed followers when he is left for dead on a planet which he is led to believe is his home world of Furya. From there, this anti-hero struggles to survive in a hostile environment where all these scorpion-like creatures and dog beasts are out to eat anything that moves on at least two feet. To make matters worse, bounty hunters are once again on his tail as he is forced to expose his location in order to find a way off of this barren planet.
What I found interesting about “Riddick” is how being King has somehow robbed this anti-hero of his abilities to survive. Diesel has made it no secret of how much he loves playing this character, and he invests Riddick with everything he has. Whatever you may think of his acting, you cannot say “The Fast & The Furious” star is not dedicated to giving this character the respect he deserves. Riddick is a bad dude, but like the best anti-heroes in movies, I still found myself rooting for him.
This sequel is truly a passion project for Diesel and Twohy more than anything else. Because “The Chronicles of Riddick” was a big budget studio movie that didn’t do well commercially, the two of them ended up having to raise the money independently to make this one a reality. Going from a budget of over $100 to one of under $40 million may have forced them to cut a lot of corners, and this is probably not the “Riddick” movie they originally envisioned doing. Still, I liked what they were able to come up with given the limited resources at their disposal.
One of the joys of watching “Riddick” is seeing how Twohy deftly skewers a lot of sci-fi clichés and wonderfully plays on the bounty hunters’ collective fear of their prey. Once the hunters arrive on this barren planet, Riddick leaves them a warning to leave one ship behind for him or suffer the consequences. Right away, you know that a majority of these characters are screwed. The question is, how are they going to die? There’s a great scene where they think Riddick has gotten into one of their storage compartments which is protected by a highly explosive device. Did he or didn’t get inside? That’s the question. Whatever the answer is, it leads to one of the film’s most wonderfully suspenseful moments.
Among the crew of bounty hunters is Katee Sackhoff whom we all know and love for her work on “Battlestar Galactica” and “Longmire.” She plays Dahl, a female mercenary who can dish it out as much as the men can and then some, and the punches Dahl inflicts on the male population she is forced to deal with are exquisitely painful to say the least, and they leave scars which will not be easily forgotten. Sackhoff is awesome in a role that definitely reminds us of how much we love her work, but she isn’t just playing Starbuck all over again. Dahl makes it abundantly clear at one point that she doesn’t fuck guys, and Sackhoff leaves you wondering just what exactly her character means by this. Remember, a single word never has just one definition.
Also in the cast is Jordi Mollà who has been nominated three times for the Goya Award for Best Actor, but none of those nominations include the performance he gave in Michael Bay’s horrifically bombastic “Bad Boys II.” Here he plays Santana, the leader of one of the bounty hunter groups, and Santana does very little to hide just slimy of a bastard he is. Mollà clearly relishes playing such a despicable character, and I got a kick watching him go over the top as he hunts down his prey. I don’t think it’s giving away too much to say that his character gets the painful fate he so deserves.
Then there is Matt Nable who plays the leader of the other bounty hunter team (who have much better equipment by the way), Boss Johns. I have no idea if his mother gave him that name, but I can only imagine the playground beatings this character got as a kid. Talk about a name to live up to!
Anyway, Nable, a former professional rugby player, does good work in conveying the conflicted emotions of his character as it turns out he needs Riddick for more than just a simple bounty, and it gives this sequel a complexity I did not expect it to have.
Dave Bautista, a former WWE wrestler who has since given memorable performances in movies like “Blade Runner 2049” and “Spectre,” plays the most bone crushing bounty hunter of all, Diaz. With Bautista in the cast, we know he and Diesel are going to have an all-out fight. And yes, it is quite the fight.
Most of the visual effects we see here are rendered in CGI, but that’s understandable given the movie’s budget. While the overuse of CGI effects in movies tends to drive me crazy, many of them look really good, and the alien landscapes are memorably illustrated. Riddick also gets to adopt a dog in the process, and the dog turns out to be one of this sequel’s best characters. Despite all the snarling, this dog is a cuddly little beast at heart.
It is also great to see Graeme Revell back composing the score for “Riddick” as he also did the music for the previous two films as well. It also marks a welcome return to the electronic elements he utilized so well in both “The Crow” and “Dead Calm.” It’s a wonderful reminder of how Revell doesn’t always need a full orchestra to create suck a compelling score.
“Riddick” is not a great movie and does not reinvent the wheel for either the action or science fiction genres, but it kept me entertained throughout. It also says a lot about Diesel and Twohy that they managed to bring this character back to the silver screen despite the commercial disappointment of “The Chronicles of Riddick.” The fans still wanted to see Diesel’s most favorite character make a return to the big screen. It took almost a decade for this to happen, but Diesel and Twohy came through even though they had fewer resources to work with.
And now we have news that a fourth “Pitch Black” movie is in the works. I am intrigued to see what Diesel and Twohy come up with next, and it is nice to know Diesel has another character to rely on other than Dominic Toretto.
This teaser trailer for “The Silence of the Lambs” was my introduction to this film, and it immediately grabbed me in a way few trailers do. Back then, the internet had yet to be discovered by me, I only knew Jodie Foster from “The Accused” which she won an Oscar for, and I had no idea who Anthony Hopkins was in the slightest. I should also add that not once in this trailer is there any mention that this adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel was directed by Jonathan Demme. Had Demme’s name been included here, it would have made me all the more eager to check this film out as “Married to the Mob” and “Something Wild” were still very fresh in my mind.
What I love about this particular trailer is how it gives this film a look which makes it feel like no other cinematic experience that was coming soon to a theater near you. Everything about it was full of darkness, but it was a darkness like no other. With its striking images and shrieking noises, and also Anthony Hopkins staring directly into the camera in a way few other actors could, I felt I was being promised an experience which not be average or cliched in any conceivable way. I also very much prefer it to the main theatrical trailer which, quite frankly, gave far too much of the story away to where I am so very thankful I didn’t see it before I saw this brilliant motion picture on the silver screen at Crow Canyon Cinemas.
For the record, “The Silence of the Lambs” is one of my favorite movies ever, and one which I am happy to revisit quite often. This teaser trailer is also one of my favorites as those who put it together made it clear to audiences that this was a motion picture you would be foolish to miss out on. While the darkness it presented could have frightened many audience members off, not once did it feel like your average slasher flick.
The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.
“Blink Twice” is a film with ambition, style, and some big goals. It does not always achieve those goals from a filmmaking perspective, but it’s an interesting directorial debut from actress Zoë Kravitz, who also co-wrote the screenplay with E.T. Feigenbaum. The film also opens with a trigger warning for audiences, which is something I don’t think I’ve seen before from a big screen movie. I’ve seen it before on TV shows when a particular episode is going to show scenes involving abuse, suicide, or rape. “Blink Twice” has become one of the most-talked about movies of 2024, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a film that is either going to piss audiences off or leave them with a lot to ponder.
Our film opens up introducing us to Frida (Naomi Ackie) who, along with her friend and roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat), work a ritzy and glamorous exclusive event, where she runs into Slater King (Channing Tatum). He was recently forced to step down as CEO of his company after a scandalous event which forced him into therapy. He claims to be a changed man and has also apologized publicly for his behavior. When he runs into Frida and Jess, they are invited to his private island, where they have to put their phones in a bag. It seems to be your typical rich, glamorous party with drugs and over-the-top behavior, but Slater insists he has toned down his behavior. The longer Frida and Jess spend at this private island, the more they suspect something is up. Can they put the pieces together?
Kravitz has assembled an all-star cast for her feature film debut. The film features unique screen performances from Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Kyle MacLachlan, and Simon Rex. While their performances are unique and out there, unfortunately these are not characters that are particularly well-written or fleshed out. Since they are good actors, they chew up the scenery. However, I can only imagine how much more effective these performances would have been if these characters were not so one-dimensional. The stand-out performance comes from Tatum, who gives a chilling, eerie and unnerving performance.
The first 45-60 minutes are repetitive and boring at times, even though the film is shot beautifully and looks fantastic. As a director, Kravitz has a keen eye behind the camera. This is a gorgeous film featuring beautiful people looking their best while doing very bad things. The film is much more interesting in the third act when certain elements of the plot are revealed to the audience. I wanted the film to be more like the third act, which was lively, intense and exciting. The film lost me for the first hour or so, which is why it was too little, too late to save it as a whole.
I could examine all of the issues and themes which are rather on-the-nose, but I don’t think it would serve my review. I think Kravitz has A LOT to say, and she’s not shy about how she goes about presenting that message. Is it preachy at times? Yes, but it didn’t take me out of the film or make me lose interest in the story. As a matter of fact, it did the opposite for me—it left me with a lot to think about long after the credits rolled. It made me want to see what she has up her sleeve in the future as a filmmaker. “Blink Twice” is a film that gains traction the more you think about it and the further removed you are from it as an audience member. It was the lack of action and the pacing which took me out of the film in the first hour.
Overall, “Blink Twice” almost lost me entirely for a good chunk of its running time. This is something that cannot be ignored. If I wasn’t reviewing the movie, I would have shut it off. Yes, I enjoyed the scenery and the acting, but the plot took way too long to get moving. That being said, I also can’t ignore the power and the impact of the film’s final act along with the energy Kravitz brought to this film as a director. After the movie was over, it stayed with me and I thought about it for a long time. This is a movie that is below average for the first 45-60 minutes before it ends with a bang for the final 30-35 minutes. This is a brainy film. I give it a slight recommendation with some hesitation.
* * out of * * * *
Blu-ray Info: “Blink Twice” is released on a single-disc Blu-ray from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. The film has a running time of 102 minutes and is rated R for strong violent content, sexual assault, drug use and language throughout, and some sexual references. It comes with a digital copy of the film as well.
Blu-ray Audio/Video Info: “Blink Twice” looks good on Blu-ray, but I’m not sure why this film didn’t get a 4K release. This film was screaming to be released on 4K, and I’m not sure why they didn’t offer that option. It is still a solid Blu-ray, but a 4K transfer would have been eye-popping and mesmerizing. The Dolby Audio is also solid, but an Atmos track would have been preferred for this movie. Subtitles are included in Parisian French, Castilian Spanish, Italian, English, Latin Spanish, and Canadian French.
Special Features:
NONE
Should You Buy It?
Considering this film should have received a 4K release and there are no special features on this Blu-Ray disc, I don’t think it is a film you need to purchase right away. It also doesn’t come with a slipcover for the Blu-ray. For a collector like me, I enjoy a slipcover over the Blu-ray case. For the time being, it is a film worth seeing, despite how frustrating it can be at times. I’d recommend you rent the film from a digital platform like Amazon, YouTube or Apple TV. It’s worth renting digitally and checking out. I’m looking forward to the next film from director Zoë Kravitz, as she impressed me with her first offering.
**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.
“Unhinged” was one of the first movies to be released in theaters near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. This may very well be its biggest claim to fame as what results is an action thriller which is never boring, but hints at a motion picture which could have been so much better than it is. As much as I want to look at a movie for what it is as opposed to what I want it to be, this one has me inescapably thinking of what could have been improved with the material. Seriously, this could have been an epic thriller which stood proudly alongside Steven Spielberg’s “Duel” and “The Hitcher” (the original, not the terrible Platinum Dunes remake), but no such luck.
We are introduced to Tom Cooper (Russell Crowe) who, as “Unhinged” begins, breaks into his ex-wife’s house, murders her and her boyfriend who has the bad luck of sleeping at her place on this particular evening. These actions are preceded by Tom holding a lit match in his fingers and letting it burn right down to the tip of his skin. I kept waiting for him to flinch, but he never does. Clearly, he has already reached his D-FEN’s “Falling Down” moment, and it is all downhill for him from there.
We then meet Rachel Flynn (Caren Pistorius), a recent divorcee who, like me, sleeps in a lot later than they should. This particular morning, she is supposed to be meeting with a client, driving her son Kyle (Gabriel Bateman) to school, and figuring out what to do with her brother Fred (Austin P. McKenzie) and his girlfriend Mary (Juliene Joyner) who have taken up residence in her house due to their unfortunate financial circumstances. On top of all of this, one of Rachel’s clients coldly fires her while she drives her son to school. Clearly, she is already having a very bad day and is understandably pissed.
Then Rachel ends up behind Tom in his truck, and she becomes irate when he is not quick to step on the gas before the light turns red. She ends up passing him, more or less flips him off, and when he asks her for an apology in an effort to smooth things out, she is dismissive as she sees his problems as being no more or less important than anyone else’s. From there, Tom becomes determined to show her what it is to have a very bad day. This reminded me of when Robert De Niro told Nick Nolte that he would teach him the meaning of commitment in Martin Scorsese’s remake of “Cape Fear,” and we all came to see how vicious De Niro’s intentions were.
The first thing I should point out about “Unhinged” is Russell Crowe’s performance as Tom Cooper. The material might seem beneath him as this is the same actor who gave such epic performances in “Gladiator,” “A Beautiful Mind” and “Cinderella Man,” but he helps to give Tom a little more dimension than the screenplay might imply. Crowe helps to make Tom’s psychotic behavior all the more frightening than it might be if it were another actor taking on this role. It also helps that Crowe is playing a man who is prepared to commit suicide by cop as he has nothing left to lose, and this makes him all the more frightening as a result.
Playing Tom Cooper’s unfortunate victim is Caren Pistorius. I am not familiar with her work, but she made a breakthrough with her performance in “Slow West” in which she co-starred with Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smith-McPhee, and she appeared in Derek Cianfrance’s “Light Between Oceans.” She was also born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand, and this makes her American accent all the more impressive.
Pistorius makes Rachel Flynn into the type of protagonist you quickly come to care for. Rachel is not perfect (who is by the way?), but we root for her because the actress makes her into an everyone we have to recognize in our own lives. Like her, we would flip off any driver who would never be quick to step on the gas once the light turns green to where it is like an automatic impulse, but we don’t expect said drivers to come after us with a murderous vengeance. Watching Rachel deal with Tom’s murderous advances makes the furious emotions on display all the more brutal.
Having said all of this, “Unhinged” still has a lot of problems. Among them is that there are many plot holes throughout. Whether or not I could quickly identify these holes is not important. What is important is that I could tell they existed as much as the great white shark’s unrealistic roar of pain came about in “Jaws: The Revenge.” I mean, seriously, how does Tom get to learn about Rachel’s life through her cell phone ever so quickly?
Plus, there are many things which are telegraphed throughout like a cell phone being left in an individual’s car which you know will get stolen, and a pair of scissors which figure prominently in the climactic battle to where you wonder where in Tom’s body they will end up. Just when I thought “Unhinged” would subvert the cliches a movie like this is expected to have, it falls victim to them in ways which just kill the tension and the plausibility.
I recently came across an article on The Guardian website regarding Robert Harmon’s “The Hitcher” in which Rutger Hauer, who played the murderous psychopath John Ryder, stated that he didn’t play bad guys. This made Hauer’s performance in that film all the more fascinating to me, and it also made me want to believe Crowe had the same intentions when it came to him portraying Tom Cooper. But in the end, “Unhinged” blows a lot of opportunities to make it stand out from so many thrillers like it, and it will not last long in the memory after you have watched it.
After spending too much time watching its critic and audience scores sink like stones on Rotten Tomatoes, I took the time to check out “Joker: Folie a Deux” at my local movie theater. Regardless of its horrific reception and the fact it is now one of the biggest box office bombs of 2024, I had to see it for myself as, and I am in agreement with Tony Farinella, the original was one of the very best movies of 2019. Surely it could not be as bad as many were making it out to be, and perhaps its Cinemascore grade of a D might prove to be a badge of honor. And perhaps it may be a misunderstood masterpiece which will only grow in stature like other box office debacles have in the past. Anything is possible.
Well, in the meantime, I have to be honest and say “Joker: Folie a Deux” is a tremendous disappointment. In its attempt to retain the anarchic spirit of its predecessor, it instead becomes a miserable and lifeless spectacle which many have described as being inert. This reminds me of some dialogue uttered by Hal Williams in “Private Benjamin:”
“Beware, there are mine fields out there. Most of them are inert. However, some are ert.”
Well, this sequel could use way more of those ert moments.
We catch up with Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) two years after the murders he committed, and he is in custody at Arkham State Hospital, the place where all DC Comic villains end up residing in at some point. While he awaits trial where he is expected to answer for his crimes, his lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) looks to prove he suffers from dissociative identity disorder and that his alter ego of Joker is far more responsible for the heinous acts he has committed.
While passing by a musical therapy session, Arthur catches the eye of Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a patient who becomes instantly smitten with him. From there, these two form an unshakeable bond as they revel in one another’s chaos and fight against a society which seems infinitely determined to break them down in any and every way. But can this love affair survive the legal ramifications Arthur may have to answer to?
The big question many have about “Joker: Folie a Deux,” as I do, is this: is this sequel really a musical? Ever since the commercial failure of Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story” and the underperformance of the movie version of “In the Heights,” Hollywood has been shy about declaring any of its upcoming releases as being anything resembling a music video, let alone a musical. I can easily imagine a conversation between a film buff and a movie executive sounding something like this:
“Is this film a musical or not?”
“Well… it has music in it…”
When it comes down to it, “Joker: Folie a Deux” has a number of musical moments where Arthur and Harleen sing and dance to such tunes as “What the World Needs Now is Love,” “For Once in My Life,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “That’s Entertainment” among others. Some are rehearsed to where the actors are not expected to be as well-rehearsed as the average Broadway actor, and others prove to be more theatrical in ways I expect from someone like Lady Gaga. Regardless, I felt this sequel did not engage the musical form in any kind of enthralling manner. It’s like it wanted a musical, and then it didn’t want to be as it went straight into a courtroom drama which simply regurgitated the events of the previous film.
This is a real shame as there is a lot to admire about “Joker: Folie a Deux.” The cinematography by Lawrence Sher is truly Oscar worthy, the production design by Mark Friedberg is impressive, and Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Oscar for her work on the previous film, gives this installment strong musical compositions. As for the actors, Joaquin Phoenix remains one of the best working in movies today, Lady Gaga remains an amazing talent, and we get terrific performances from infinitely reliable actors like Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, Steve Coogan and Zazie Beetz throughout.
And let us never forget Leigh Gill who returns as Gary Puddles, Arthur’s former clown co-worker whose life he spared despite very brutal, not to mention horrifically bloody, circumstances. Seeing Gary testifying against Arthur is quite painful as he is testifying against a former friend and one who was always kind to him when no one else was proves to be moving and painful, and also one of the few moments this sequel has with any kind of invigorating emotion.
But as “Joker: Folie a Deux” reaches its final act, I became completely bewildered at what unfolded before me. We watch Arthur Fleck, decked out in his Joker makeup, apologize for his murderous actions to where he renounces his Joker persona. The problem is, “Joker” dealt with all the forces and a cruel, unforgiving Gotham city which turned Arthur into the menace he became to where it acted as an indictment of a society which renders his mental health a minute concern. By that film’s end, Arthur has fully embraced his alter ego to where his former life is just a memory, and he no longer feels any shame forced on him. But here, it is almost like the first film is treated like a joke when it never should have been.
Todd Phillips described the first “Joker” film as being an origin story, but not the origin story of this particular villainous DC Comics character. To him, these two films were based on an idea of this character not actually being the Joker, but instead being an inspiration for the Joker. This is an interesting idea, but he doesn’t do a good job of communicating this idea to us. Instead, I came out of it feeling like the rug was ripped out from under me, and its conclusion left me feeling as emotionally wrung out as the one from “Alien 3” did, and that one made me want to shoot myself.
I don’t know; perhaps time will be kind to “Joker: Folie a Deux.” It was released the same year as Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and, like that one, received a terrible critical and commercial reception. It pains me to think this will be the last time in a while where a filmmaker will have unchecked power when making such a big-budgeted motion picture. While Coppola has the excuse of self-financing his passion project, Phillips is not so lucky as a major film studio backed him on this one, thinking they had another billion dollar hit on their hands. This feels like an implication that future movies like this one will be rendered more formulaic and safer in the process. That sucks, doesn’t it?
For what it is worth, “Alien 3” has grown on me a lot since its theatrical release, and maybe this one will too. Then again, it doesn’t have Marc Maron whose character survived the last one. Could the man with the WTF podcast have saved this one? Okay, that’s wishful thinking,
The Ultimate Rabbit 