Volume 39, Number 07
Movies
Movie News
By Bill Hersey
As most of you know the multi-talented Hilary Duff was in Japan to do a series of commercials for Softbank’s Disney mobiles. She partied at the New Lex, and all I can say is what a fun nice young woman.
I just read that Hilary is co-starring with Diana Ross’s teenage son, Evan Ross, in the upcoming film Greta—an international romance story. I also read Evan’s already living an out of control Hollywood lifestyle.
I met Diana (“Call me Miss Ross”) at one of the now long gone ‘Tokyo Music Festivals. Giving credit where it’s due I liked her fashion sense, but it pretty much stopped there.
One of the world’s most intelligent ladies in showbiz, Jodie Foster, was never all that much into fashion. Even so, she didn’t deserve a photo layout and comment in an American gossip rag that I saw recently. There were pictures of Jodie at The Brave One premiers in L.A., NYC and London in which she was always wearing the same black dress. Copy under the photos read “Come on Jodie, now that you’ve come out of the closet there’s room in there for a few more dresses.” First her sexual preferences are or should be her own business. She’s an exceptional woman who’s as nice and down to earth as they come. She did by the way wear a black dress (a different one) at the Tokyo premier and looked great.
Sorry I missed Patrick Dempsey when he was here to promote the animated musical, comedy, and love story film, Enchantment for Walt Disney. I first met Patrick when he was here to promote Mobsters several years back.
Jackie Chan, who recently fi nished fi lming the Hong Kong production here, Shinjuku Incident, with actor Daniel Woo and Japanese actor Masaya Kato, had the opportunity to congratulate Koichi Domoto (Kinki Kids) on his Warner Brothers local production. The film was, for the most part, shot on location in New York City.
I ran into Jackie at Nobu’s and was happy to have the opportunity to congratulate him on all those great TV commercials he’s been busy doing for the Beijing Olympics. What a fun guy.
Movie Reviews - Balls of Fury / Lions For Lambs / The Hitman
by William Casper
Balls of Fury
Balls of Fury is basically a spoof of the Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon, substituting ping-pong for martial arts. As such, it is a one-joke movie, albeit a pretty good one. The film starts at the 1988 Seoul Olympics where American child ping-pong prodigy Randy Daytona competes for the gold medal. The film jumps twenty years and Randy, now on his uppers and played by Dan Fogler, is reduced to doing ping-pong exhibitions in a seedy Reno casino. The FBI tracks him down and, after the usual haggling, persuades him to enter a tournament organized by evil kingpin Feng (played by Christopher Walken at his hammiest), who just so happened to have killed Randy’s father years earlier. Randy is trained for the tournament by Wong, a blind ping-pong master (veteran James Hong—who steals every scene he is in), and his daughter Maggie (Maggie Q).
By no means a classic, Balls of Fury does however move along at a fair old pace and has enough funny moments scattered throughout its breezy 90 minutes to make it worth a look. Also featuring George Lopez as FBI agent Rodriguez, Robert Patrick as Randy’s father, and the lovely Aisha Tyler as Mahogany, Feng’s blowpipe wielding sidekick.
Lions For Lambs
Lions For Lambs is a timely, if talky, look at what it means to be an American patriot in light of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Directed by Robert Redford and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, heavy hitters Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise join Redford in an impressive cast.
The film is divided into three connected strands all taking place at the same time. In Washington, senator Jasper Irving (Cruise) has a meeting with veteran journalist Janine Roth (Streep) to discuss a new military initiative he has devised in Afghanistan. Meanwhile on the west coast, craggy college professor Stephen Malley (Redford), is taking an early morning meeting with a disengaged student, Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield). One of the ways Malley attempts to reach Hayes is by telling him the story of two former students of his, Rodriguez (Michael Pena) and Finch (Derek Luke), who are, as Malley speaks, involved in the new military initiative Senator Irving has planned in Afghanistan.
The performances are all good, with Cruise the pick, as the bright young republican Senator desperate for an American ‘win’ in the war on terror, and all the while coordinating a future run for the presidency. Meryl Streep puts in another immaculate performance as the liberal leaning journalist who realizes with growing dread that somewhere along the way, she, herself, has directly contributed to the current political climate.
The film offers no easy solutions to the complex situations discussed and is not as preachy as some may expect. It does makes a plea for people to get involved, although even then is careful to show that commitment can involve great sacrifice. With two of its three parts essentially pairs of people sitting in rooms talking, Lions for Lambs is not the most cinematic experience ever, although the third part, set on the mountain tops of Afghanistan, goes someway to rectifying that.
For Robert Redford, the film is part of an incredible career that not only encompasses acting, producing, directing and setting up the most influential independent film organization in the world (Sundance); but also campaigning tirelessly for the environment (long before it was fashionable), native American rights, and a whole host of important causes. Lions for Lambs is however perhaps not Redford’s greatest achievement. In fact were it one of 20 mainstream films dealing intelligently with American foreign policy released this year, I would be cautious in recommending a trip to see it at a the theater; but it’s possibly one of one (certainly the only one with a cast this stellar) so in a own way, it’s still a must-see.
The Hitman
Disappointing to find the talented actors Dougray Scott (Enigma, Desperate Housewives, etc.) and Timothy Olyphant (so brilliant in the HBO series Deadwood) lending credibility to this puerile ‘based on a computer game’ rubbish.
The Hitman is mostly visible trash, though the graphic nature of the relentless violence is slightly alarming and depressing. This is the kind of ‘piece’ that gets its exposition out of the way with a few dreamy images during the opening credits so as not to waste a single frame that could be used to show someone, anyone, being ruthlessly blown away—almost always accompanied by a pounding techno soundtrack.
Also featuring Olga Kurylenko, straight from the ‘La Femme Nikita’ school of pouting bad girls, as the ‘love’ interest, and Robert Kneppler (who played the psychopathic redneck in Prison Break) as one of the many sinister Russians on show.
Plot? Oh yeah, this skinhead guy with a bar code tattooed on his head, kills people for a secret organization but now he knows too much or something.
On DVD
Stormbreaker—James Bond for the under twelves, featuring a surreal turn by Mickey Rourke. Based on an Alex Rider book.
Bourne Ultimatum—Matt Damon returns for the final part (probably) of arguably the best action film trilogy of all time. Good supporting work by David Strathairn, Joan Allen, and the great Albert Finney.
The Brave One—Jodie Foster on a revenge mission. Death Wish with a conscience, but still Death Wish. Costarring the excellent Terrence Howard.
Death Proof—Quentin Tarantino’s obsession with seventies trash reaches it peak/nadir. With Kurt Russell.