Away for October

Well my movie maniacs, October is just about upon us. Your favorite Film Phantom has quite a lot going on and I will have limited time (if any) to review any new movies. Rest assured, if I do manage to slink into a theater this month, your review will follow not far behind.

I might have some other updates throughout the month so stay tuned. And fear not...the Phantom shall return to his designated center seat!

Premium Rush

One of about 1,500 bike messengers in New York City picks up his last delivery of the day. However, there's a dirty cop who is intent on getting the envelope before it makes it to it's destination. A chase through NYC ensues as the mystery of what the envelope is and why it's so important unravels.

Cast:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Wilee
Dania Ramirez as Vanessa
Sean Kennedy as Marco
Kymberly Perfetto as Polo
Anthony Chisholm as Tito
Wolé Parks as Manny
Aasif Mandvi as Raj
Michael Shannon as Bobby Monday
Jamie Chung as Nima

Who will like this:

The movie flips back and forth through time in a Pulp Fiction type of way to expose certain plot points out of order to reveal the answers to the questions that both the audience and Wilee has. It has a Hackers sort of feel to it, to those who remember one of Angelina Jolie's first films (1995). In a more subtle way, it is also similar to the first Die Hard (which is ironic due to the fact that Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play the same person in the upcoming movie Looper). The limited bike messenger/cyclist audience will love this movie. It's a mild action/mystery with not too much of either.

Phantom Thoughts

  I expected to see a bit more action/racing through this movie from the trailer and tag line "Ride like Hell". Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of bike riding/racing in there...I guess I just expected more. One of the first things that took me out of the movie was the fact that it takes place between 5pm and 7pm in New York City, one of the most congested and difficult places to drive, never mind during rush hour, and the first chase scene is Wilee on his bike being chased by a car...at pretty good speeds, I might add. Look, anyone who has ever been to NYC knows that you couldn't do that at 5am much less 5pm. Also, during this time they go up and down through the city numerous times in this hour and a half span. The least believable is close to the end of the movie where SPOILER: Wilee and Det. Monday drive about 20 blocks in just a few minutes in an unmarked car with no lights flashing or anything. Really?
 
 Now the bad guy in this movie is just an over the top "dirty cop" that you are just forced to hate. For starters, Michael Shannon who plays Det. Bobby Monday kinda looks like a shorter version of Richard Kiel who played the greatest Bond villain ever "Jaws". He's a guy who is a gambling addict, uses the fact that he is a cop to intimidate people... he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I spent most of the movie just waiting for him to get his inevitable "getting what's coming for him" moment.
  
  Nima, the girl who gives Wilee the envelope to be delivered SPOILER ALERT just happens to be the roommate of Wilee's girlfriend, Vanessa. These two have been roommates for who knows how long, but Nima has this secret that she's been keeping that has to due with the plot of the story. However, halfway through the movie, she spills her guts to HIM for no apparent reason at all.
  
   Speaking of Vanessa, she is a fellow bike messenger in the same company as Wilee (obviously). Dania Ramirez who plays Vanessa looks like she is delivering grapes in her shirt throughout most of the movie. I guess it must be pretty exciting to be riding through the streets of New York. VERY exciting.

   Gordon-Levitt was injured during filming, when he was cycling too fast and hit the back of a taxi. The impact sent Gordon-Levitt flying into the rear windshield of the taxi, slashing his arm which required 31 stitches. A shot of the aftermath of that accident is included as a scene during the credits of the film.

   Here's another SPOILER: toward the end of the movie, Wilee's bike is taken to a police impound where Vanessa holds on to the back of the police tow truck while on her bike to get it back. She is able to enter the impound building undetected by any cops or surveillance cameras or even the tow truck driver (until he THINKS he sees her after entering the building). Try doing that in real life. I dare you.

  If you are able to put these major plot holes aside, you could be able to enjoy this movie a bit. I like the way they show how Wilee's mind works in getting through dangerous intersections and traffic. The movie flows nicely and it had a good (not great) storyline. Worth a rental or On Demand watch, especially if you have never actually driven or visited New York in your life.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.

Total Recall

This is a bit of a reboot from the 1990 movie of the same name starring Arnold  Schwarzenegger and a bit of the original short story from 1966 "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick.
It is the distant future and the world has been scarred by chemical war. The only two places on the planet that are inhabitable is England, now known as the United Federation of Britain and Australia, which is re-named the Colony. While the upper class live in UFB, the poor and worker class live in the Colony. The only way to travel between these two places is a skyscraper sized "train" called The Fall which goes through the Planet. A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, visits Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led. After picking out a spy scenario for himself, things go wrong and he finds himself on the run and in the middle of a major class dispute. But he has to find out what is real and what is a Rekall dream in order to figure out which side he is actually on.

Colin Farrell as Douglas Quaid/Carl Hauser
Kate Beckinsale as Lori
Jessica Biel as Melina, a member of the Resistance
Bryan Cranston as Chancellor Vilos Cohaagen
Bokeem Woodbine as Harry, Quaid's "best friend"
Bill Nighy as Matthias Lair, the leader of the Resistance


Who will like this:

If you were a fan of the original movie looking for a "re-make", this is not what you would expect. I thought it would follow more closely to the original short story that it was based on, but that is not the case either. Basically, they took elements of both and made a new movie that has much more political overtones to it and has taken out the trip to Mars that is also present in both the 1990 movie and the short story. I think people who liked movies such as "Minority Report" or "I, Robot" will associate with "Total Recall" as it has that same futuristic thriller vibe to it. It is directed by Len Wiseman, who directed and/or produced pretty much all of the Underworld movies, and his influence is definitely seen throughout this movie.

Phantom Thoughts

If I had to sum up Total Recall in one word, it would be..."eh".
The over the top political statements this movie was trying to make could have been less obvious if they were applied with a sledgehammer to the back of my skull. But hey...that's just me. I'll tell you what I did like. I liked the nods they gave to the original movie. By now, everyone has seen the pictures of the three boobed hooker (played by Kaitlyn Leeb) that makes her appearance in movie form once again. (All three were a prosthetic like in the original, in case you were wondering) A couple of other scenes and mentions were also sprinkled throughout this adaptation of Recall that give ode to the first one.
There were a lot of action sequences. and of course, by "action" I mean Colin Farrell running, explosions, Colin Farrell running, car chases, Colin Farrell running...

This was just a way to pass two hours without staring at a blank wall. Len Wiseman was working with half his Underworld cast, so even he slipped into a comfort zone and directed this thing on auto-pilot. I'm not sure if they cast Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel because they looked similar on purpose, but I would have liked to have seen more of a physical difference between the two characters.

A-not-so-much-of-a-spoiler: The ending is supposed to, according to Wiseman, be left to the audience member as to whether the entire movie is a Rekall dream or not (see also: Vanilla Sky). However, after watching it and talking to people who have seen it, no one seems to have that question. It is all pretty clear and wrapped up from what we saw. I've heard there's a good chunk of movie that hit the cutting room floor, including a 5 page monologue by  Ethan Hawke who never made it in the final version. Maybe the Blu-Ray will have these scenes put back in, but I have a feeling it will just make it awkward and confusing. It is what it is and should be watched as just a semi-entertaining waste of time.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.