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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Mali Elfman — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:00:23 +0000

Tony Scott‘s latest film, the remake of Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is not the fun ride that it should be. For those of you who remember the first film, Denzel Washington, reprises Walter Matthau’s old part at Walter Garber and John Travolta plays Robert Shaw’s original character “Blue,” now named “Ryder.” The problem with this film isn’t that it’s not bad, it’s just not that exciting. While watching it you realize it has the potential to be a fun action ride, but it never fully achieves what it sets out to do, which is to entertain you for 106 minutes.

Check out the review below…

The Plot: Four armed men, lead by a man who goes by the name of “Ryder” (John Travolta) hijack a New York City subway train and demand 1 million dollars – which must be delivered in 1 hour. For every minute they are late with the money, one hostage gets killed. The man who receives the threat is poor innocent subway worker, Walter Garber (Denzel Washington). Police must contend with City Hall red tape, the unrelenting demands of the hijackers, and the ever-ticking clock in an effort to save the passengers and bring the hijackers to justice before time runs out.

The Good:

Acting: The acting was surprisingly decent. Denzel Washington nails the regular guy in extraordinary circumstances and John Travolta seems right at home playing a crazy dude who wants money. Both of them had their entertaining moments and overall did a good job. It helped that they had a strong supporting cast that included John Turturro, James Gandolfini, and Luis Guzmán.
Comedy: There were a number of witty lines that were worth a chuckle, if only for how ridiculous they were. The script seemed to know how to revel in the little moments, unfortunately it had no clue had to come together as a whole.
Earning their R with Blood: They’re not afraid to kill anyone off and I respect that. Far too often action films rely on the suspense of killing someone. If you’re going to make someone a bad guy, let them be bad.

The Bad:

No Point: There was no substance or greater meaning to the film. I realize that this isn’t Citizen Cane, but in order for me to feel involved there has some greater purpose to the film even if it’s ridiculous. The reason we all love Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and those types of movies are because for however ridiculous they are, you care about the character. You join them on a crazy adventure ride for 90 minutes. In this film, you never felt like you were in on their world, you felt like a spectator, watching from the sidelines and it gets boring
Lack of Character: John Travolta’s character “Ryder” was never fully fleshed out. We had the makings of a great villain, but again there was no real substance to him. We know he’s crazy, but that’s about all. Why is he crazy? Why does he push himself? Why is he willing to do this? Why should I give a shit about him living or dying? The film never answers it.
The Fake Message: SPOILER ALERT (the next line contains a major spoiler, if you want to read it highlight the line, otherwise keep reading). When Washington’s character kills Travolta’s at the end, none of us get any satisfaction out of it because it means nothing. Travolta’s character never gives us any reason to care about him and Washington’s character is not changed by doing it, so why bother?
The Action: The action sequences are dated. I admit, we have been spoiled lately with some of the recent special effects in Star Trek and Terminator Salvation (say what you will, the effects were amazing), but just felt old. The jerky camera movements felt forced and too away from the scenes more than adding to them.
The Final Shot of the Film: You’ll know it when you see it.

Overall: This film was just pointless. It’s not that it was bad, I was relatively entertained while watching it, but it just left me feeling completely blasé about it. And it’s not the fun kind of action that you can escape in like Transformers, it’s all very late 90′s. Nothing in it felt fresh.

Rating: 5/10

ShoWest: Sony Struts It’s Stuff

Mali Elfman — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:39:58 +0000

Out of all the presentations I think this one probably has been the most impressive. They just screened some never before seen clips and trailers for District 9 (trailer coming in a couple of weeks!), The Ugly Truth, Angels and Demons, Julie and Julia, Year One, and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Every single one looks amazing for what it is.

Check out news on the clips below…

I have to say out of all of the movies that they screened, Angels and Demons impressed me the most, which I was hoping wouldn’t be the case. The Da Vinci Code was so horrible, that I was trying to avoid any of the hype for this film. I wish I could say, “don’t buy into it!” But they got me. Everything that I’ve seen so far, from posters to footage looks really good. Maybe they’ve redeemed themselves with this film. There is a lot more action, a lot more religion, and by the looks of it, and even more powerful bad guy. Hopefully, they’re not just setting us up for disappointment!

The Ugly Truth, looks like like the Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman film from 2001, Someone Like You. That being said, it’s looks like funny chick flick, with a ridiculous deal between two co-workers, a lot of silly penis jokes, and of course, vibrating panties during a business meeting that for some reason she just COULDN’T take off in the bathroom. They set out to make an simple, romantic comedy and it looks like they will deliver just that. It’s a simple film that won’t break new ground, but most likely will break the box office because it’s so “easy to watch.”

They premiered the trailer plus some more clips for Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Stanley Tucci. The film is based off two true stories and mixed together. It is definitely the most “act-y” films out the bunch. It reminded me of old Hollywood, where they take the same A-list movies stars and then recycle them in slightly different combinations. We have Streep and Adams who just starred across one another in Doubt and Tucci and Streep, who shared the scene in The Devil Wears Prada, not long ago. Perhaps Streep is picking favorites? Whatever the reason, it’s nice to see three great actors working together. The film looks like a lot of fun. Streep plays the famous chef, Julia Child who is a slightly chubby, self-confident, and snooty French woman. She (of course) looks amazing in the film as does her supporting cast.

There wasn’t too much new footage for Year One, but what there was looks amazing. We did get to see Bill Hader appear for the first time (although you could hardly recognize his face). Overall, looks hilarious!

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 was the biggest disappoint out of the bunch. The film looks very Tony Scot and what I mean by that is that there is a lot of fast movement, overused jolty camera work, and commercial looking action. It looks like it’s trying to do something they think is new, but it was done 10 years ago.

District 9 came in a very close second to the Angels and Demons footage. Rory Bruer, the President of Sony announced that the trailer for the film will be released within the next couple of weeks, so make sure to keep an eye out! The clips from the film looked amazing. It begins with some “actual footage” which sucks you in and then things get creepy, really fast. They allow for it to be an alien film and yet they make it “real,” much like they did with zombies in 28 Days Later. There were a few things that seemed like fairly obvious plot devices, but hopefully that was the trailers fault, not the films. Overall it had a very 28 Days Later meets Aliens vibe to it, which is setting the bar pretty damn high. The film comes out August 9th, I’m sure there is more to come on this soon I’m sure!

Check out their website for the film, D-9.com, it’s really cool!

Keep an eye out on Twitter (twitter.com/screencrave) for more immediate updates from ShoWest!

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Trailer

Mali Elfman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:21:46 +0000

Is this another pointless hostage film? Well, I like hostage films if they’re well made, they’re worth your time. So, what does this one have going for it? It has the amazing cast of Denzel Washington, John Travolta, and my favorite James Gandolfini, lead by Tony Scott, a man that knows his way around an action film. It was written by Brian Helgeland, the man who brought us Mystic River, L.A. Confidential, and many more. So, I think this definitely has a lot of potential for a high-class action film.

The story is about armed men (lead by Travolta) who hijack a subway train in NY and demand of a hefty ransom from a simply civil servant (Denzel Washington). As the authorities (lead by James Gandolfini) try to negotiate the hijackers try to create a plan to get away. Of course, Travolta and Washington bound at develop a unique relationship which I’m sure helps them both through rough times.

Check out the trailer below…

I’m in, except for that line about milk. What the hell is up with that? I am guessing that it’s supposed to be comic relief but all I can think is what a bitch his wife is. I’m sure that within the context of the movie it doesn’t come off that way, but it’s a REALLY bad choice for the trailer.

What do you think?

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The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

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