I thought I could watch Transformers 2, or whatever it’s called, but I can’t. I made it through the first one, maybe because it followed some kind of traditional narrative structure, but the second one is unbearable. It’s just incompetently told. I’ll read plot details and they seem interesting, but there’s no way I’d ever […]
Entries Tagged as 'Paramount Pictures'
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009, Michael Bay)
September 28th, 2009 · No Comments
Tagged: Alex Kurtzman· DreamWorks Pictures· Ehren Kruger· Hugo Weaving· John Turturro· Kevin Dunn· Michael Bay· Paramount Pictures· Roberto Orci· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Watchmen (2009, Zach Snyder), the director’s cut
August 23rd, 2009 · No Comments
This response will be double length. Well, double length minus ten words. Wait, twelve. No, fifteen. Well, you get the idea.
Watchmen doesn’t get a double post because it’s good. It gets a double post because it is, as far as I can tell, the first utterly pretentious film from a filmmaker–Zach Snyder–who seems to think an […]
Tagged: Alan Moore· Alex Tse· Billy Crudup· Dave Gibbons· David Hayter· Paramount Pictures· Warner Bros.· Zach Snyder· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Paycheck (2003, John Woo)
August 9th, 2009 · No Comments
Didn’t John Woo used to have a style? I mean, I know he had birds and he had the guns pointed at each other, but didn’t he have some style? He’s got no style in Paycheck, which ends up being one of the best movies John Badham never made.
It’s a complete time waster, the kind of […]
Tagged: Ben Affleck· Dean Georgaris· Joe Morton· John Woo· Paramount Pictures· Paul Giamatti· Philip K. Dick· ★
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009, Stephen Sommers)
August 8th, 2009 · No Comments
It doesn’t surprise me there are people out there who like G.I. Joe. Not to be negative, but people are, by and large, not very intelligent. What surprises me is anyone who thought they were making a competent action picture. You’d think the success of Van Helsing would keep Sommers away from franchises or potential […]
Tagged: David Elliot· Dennis Quaid· Michael Gordon· Paramount Pictures· Paul Lovett· Stephen Sommers· Stuart Beattie· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Three Days of the Condor (1975, Sydney Pollack)
July 26th, 2009 · No Comments
The espionage genre has gotten so stupid over the last couple decades, it’s hard to even imagine how a mediocre entry could be good. Now, it’s watching the least worst. Three Days of the Condor is such a peculiar film, even though it’s wholly commercial–I mean, Dino De Laurentiis produced it.
It’s not just a spy […]
Tagged: David Rayfiel· Faye Dunaway· James Grady· John Houseman· Lorenzo Semple Jr.· Max von Sydow· Paramount Pictures· Robert Redford· Sydney Pollack· ★★½
Badge 373 (1973, Howard W. Koch)
May 31st, 2009 · No Comments
Badge 373 sounded good because it’s seventies Robert Duvall (before he was eighties and nineties Robert Duvall). My high hopes were quickly dashed. It’s poorly written, with lousy direction.
It’s amateurish, far beneath Duvall’s abilities.
I thought Howard W. Koch was somebody–I thought it was because of the New York mayor (Ed Koch), but it’s really Howard […]
Tagged: Eddie Egan· Howard W. Koch· Paramount Pictures· Pete Hamill· Robert Duvall· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Days of Heaven (1978, Terrence Malick)
May 13th, 2009 · No Comments
According to John Travolta (who was originally cast and probably wasn’t just making it up–as it was pre–Battlefield Earth and he was still somewhat legitimate), when ABC wouldn’t let him out of his “Welcome Back, Kotter” contract, Malick was forced to cast Richard Gere and shredded the majority of Days of Heaven’s screenplay, instead going […]
Tagged: Paramount Pictures· Sam Shepard· Terrence Malick· ★½
