One of the quiz
questions in the times to come will be, “What is common to – Robin Williams,
John Cussack, James Marsden, Liev Schrieber and Alan Rickman”? They all played
United States Presidents in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. Of course their roles were restricted to
about 2-5 minutes of screen time but they are on the record right? But what
they did miss out on was someone to play Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Wonder why?
Showing posts with label Liev Schrieber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liev Schrieber. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Salt
Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is rescued from a North Korean Prison Camp thanks to the efforts of Mike Krause (August Diehl) an Archnologist who is completely smitten by her. He is unaware that she works for the CIA. A few years later, they are married, happily at that, and celebrating their anniversary. Evelyn is leaving for home with her close colleague, Ted Winter (Liev Schrieber) when they get info about a Russian defector Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski). Much against their wishes, Evelyn and Ted go ahead with their interrogation under the watchful eyes of Agent Peabody (Chiwetel Ejifor) who is the CIA equivalent of Internal Affairs.
Orlov seems to have a past till 1993 but before that is a blank. He claims that there is a plot to assassinate the Russian Premiere @ the funeral of the US Vice President the next day. He also gives details of a specific Russian Programme called KA12, till now considered to be a myth, wherein Russian kids have been prepared on a really long term mission to hit specific targets on a specific Day X. The agent, he claims, is known as Evelyn Salt.
Needless to say, all hell breaks lose since Evelyn herself if interrogating Orlov. Knowing the way this would pan out, her immediate concern moves to Mike who is by then unreachable. She uses all her field experience to escape from the CIA HQ and gets home to pick up suitable back up ammo and then immediately takes off to NY where the funeral of the VP is to be held.
A few sets of amazing chases later, she finds herself in NY @ the funeral with the CIA hot in pursuit but unable to locate her and actually kills the Russian Premiere. A completely twist in the tale for the entire audience which by now thinks that she is actually trying to clear her name of all charges.
Salt is an extremely fast paced movie which in the words of a very close friend resembles a Bourne movie especially at the end. However, if he would have been aware of the background of Philip Noyce, the director, he would have claimed Tom Clancy instead of Robert Ludlum. Philip Noyce has directed both the Tom Clancy movies made to date i.e. Clear and Present Danger as well as Patriot Games. However, the last notable movie was over 10 years back in Bone Collector in 1999. To round off the espionage special he also made a very slick spy thriller starring Val Kilmer called The Saint.
The 10 year hiatus seems to have done Noyce a lot of good since he has come up with another very slickly made movie in Salt. Truly edge of your seat gripping spy thriller all the way till 5 minutes from the end where like a Dan Brown novel it kind of just fizzles out. Coming from the background of movies that he is famous for, one would have expected much better.
Jolie continues to prove that she is by far the best female star one can get for any action flick. Story goes that she refused to be a Bond girl coz she felt that she could be Bond herself. I would be inclined to concur with that observation. If Bond would be a woman, she would have to be played by none other than Angelina.
The rest of the cast seem to be pedestrian in comparison with the exception of Live Schrieber who I believe is waiting for a movie where he would be cast as the clear lead. Loads of potential there. His screen presence is quite charismatic. Chiwetel Ejiofor is an extremely talented actor but often relegated to secondary roles without much importance. Somehow he does not seem to have it in him to be a leading man anyways.
All in all, Salt is a fantastic roller coaster ride for the most part. I would have loved to give this a 7 on 10. But the ending pretty much seals my rating @ 6 on 10.
Orlov seems to have a past till 1993 but before that is a blank. He claims that there is a plot to assassinate the Russian Premiere @ the funeral of the US Vice President the next day. He also gives details of a specific Russian Programme called KA12, till now considered to be a myth, wherein Russian kids have been prepared on a really long term mission to hit specific targets on a specific Day X. The agent, he claims, is known as Evelyn Salt.
Needless to say, all hell breaks lose since Evelyn herself if interrogating Orlov. Knowing the way this would pan out, her immediate concern moves to Mike who is by then unreachable. She uses all her field experience to escape from the CIA HQ and gets home to pick up suitable back up ammo and then immediately takes off to NY where the funeral of the VP is to be held.
A few sets of amazing chases later, she finds herself in NY @ the funeral with the CIA hot in pursuit but unable to locate her and actually kills the Russian Premiere. A completely twist in the tale for the entire audience which by now thinks that she is actually trying to clear her name of all charges.
Salt is an extremely fast paced movie which in the words of a very close friend resembles a Bourne movie especially at the end. However, if he would have been aware of the background of Philip Noyce, the director, he would have claimed Tom Clancy instead of Robert Ludlum. Philip Noyce has directed both the Tom Clancy movies made to date i.e. Clear and Present Danger as well as Patriot Games. However, the last notable movie was over 10 years back in Bone Collector in 1999. To round off the espionage special he also made a very slick spy thriller starring Val Kilmer called The Saint.
The 10 year hiatus seems to have done Noyce a lot of good since he has come up with another very slickly made movie in Salt. Truly edge of your seat gripping spy thriller all the way till 5 minutes from the end where like a Dan Brown novel it kind of just fizzles out. Coming from the background of movies that he is famous for, one would have expected much better.
Jolie continues to prove that she is by far the best female star one can get for any action flick. Story goes that she refused to be a Bond girl coz she felt that she could be Bond herself. I would be inclined to concur with that observation. If Bond would be a woman, she would have to be played by none other than Angelina.
The rest of the cast seem to be pedestrian in comparison with the exception of Live Schrieber who I believe is waiting for a movie where he would be cast as the clear lead. Loads of potential there. His screen presence is quite charismatic. Chiwetel Ejiofor is an extremely talented actor but often relegated to secondary roles without much importance. Somehow he does not seem to have it in him to be a leading man anyways.
All in all, Salt is a fantastic roller coaster ride for the most part. I would have loved to give this a 7 on 10. But the ending pretty much seals my rating @ 6 on 10.
Monday, 19 July 2010
X Men Origins - Wolverine
What defines a successful movie franchise? Or for that matter, any successful franchise? I would guess it would be scalability. In the easiest possible manner. When the first edition of X Men, directed by Bryan Singer was released 10 years back, I think the makers would have given serious thought to ensure that it was not the last time an X Men movie was released. 3 successful movies later, it was only natural that they go into letting people know how they all started in the first place. One can’t help but think that Wolverine is the first in the series of X Men Origins. Actually, one would hope that this is not the last coz they are all very well made to say the least. And they have Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to thank for starting it all nearly 50 years back.
James Howlett, as a young boy, kills his biological father Thomas Logan in a fit of rage when Logan Sr. kills his father John Howlett. Logan Sr. leaves behind Victor, who is James’ elder brother. Both of them then take off and Victor gets James to promise that they would look out for each other for as long as it takes. What they don’t quite understand is that they have natural regenerative powers. In other words, it would take a lot and I mean A LOT to really kill them. Over the next few decades, they grow into James (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schrieber) Logan through all possible wars from the late 1800s to date.
As the years roll by, Victor’s rage gets completely out of control till he kills an officer who stops him from raping an innocent girl in ‘nam. After a while, Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) offers the brothers a place in the Team X which includes Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) who can control electricity, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) and manic swordsman, Agent Zero (Daniel Henney) an expert marksman, John Wraith (Will I Am) who can teleport and Dukes (Kevin Durand) who is indestructible in a manner of speaking. However, with Victor’s rage not improving and not being in agreement with the concept of Team X, Logan decides to part ways.
Six years later, Stryker tracks Logan who is now settled with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins) and informs him that someone is killing the members of Team X one by one. Stryker asks Logan to help him in vain. However, when Kayla is killed shortly after, Victor agrees and gets enrolled into a programme where his bones are bonded with a new substance called Adamantium which is literally indestructible and recovered from a meteorite. However, he hears Stryker asking the team to erase his memory and flees. Knowing that Kayla was killed by Victor, Logan begins the search for his brother so that he can get his revenge. The transition is complete when he changes his dog tags from Logan to Wolverine.
Wolverine is directed by little known director Gavin Hood whose claim to fame before this would have been the 2005 South African Academy Award winning movie Tsotsi. That one was quite critically acclaimed. I haven’t seen that one yet and Wolverine does not completely inspire me to either. Hoods direction is just about at par and does enough to ensure that the excitement of the X Men franchise continues and keeps you looking forward to the next one.
Hugh Jackman continues to play the role of Wolverine like no else I can think of. The rest of the cast is quite passé. The movie overall is very exciting and quite full of action. Similar to the previous 3 editions of the X Men. Special Effects are definitely up there. Overall I would give this a 6 on 10. Worth a watch for sure. Preferably on the big screen though.
James Howlett, as a young boy, kills his biological father Thomas Logan in a fit of rage when Logan Sr. kills his father John Howlett. Logan Sr. leaves behind Victor, who is James’ elder brother. Both of them then take off and Victor gets James to promise that they would look out for each other for as long as it takes. What they don’t quite understand is that they have natural regenerative powers. In other words, it would take a lot and I mean A LOT to really kill them. Over the next few decades, they grow into James (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schrieber) Logan through all possible wars from the late 1800s to date.
As the years roll by, Victor’s rage gets completely out of control till he kills an officer who stops him from raping an innocent girl in ‘nam. After a while, Major William Stryker (Danny Huston) offers the brothers a place in the Team X which includes Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) who can control electricity, Wade (Ryan Reynolds) and manic swordsman, Agent Zero (Daniel Henney) an expert marksman, John Wraith (Will I Am) who can teleport and Dukes (Kevin Durand) who is indestructible in a manner of speaking. However, with Victor’s rage not improving and not being in agreement with the concept of Team X, Logan decides to part ways.
Six years later, Stryker tracks Logan who is now settled with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins) and informs him that someone is killing the members of Team X one by one. Stryker asks Logan to help him in vain. However, when Kayla is killed shortly after, Victor agrees and gets enrolled into a programme where his bones are bonded with a new substance called Adamantium which is literally indestructible and recovered from a meteorite. However, he hears Stryker asking the team to erase his memory and flees. Knowing that Kayla was killed by Victor, Logan begins the search for his brother so that he can get his revenge. The transition is complete when he changes his dog tags from Logan to Wolverine.
Wolverine is directed by little known director Gavin Hood whose claim to fame before this would have been the 2005 South African Academy Award winning movie Tsotsi. That one was quite critically acclaimed. I haven’t seen that one yet and Wolverine does not completely inspire me to either. Hoods direction is just about at par and does enough to ensure that the excitement of the X Men franchise continues and keeps you looking forward to the next one.
Hugh Jackman continues to play the role of Wolverine like no else I can think of. The rest of the cast is quite passé. The movie overall is very exciting and quite full of action. Similar to the previous 3 editions of the X Men. Special Effects are definitely up there. Overall I would give this a 6 on 10. Worth a watch for sure. Preferably on the big screen though.
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