Aside from having perhaps the worst movie title in the history of movies, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a stunning film and one that can be appreciated by anyone willing to give it its due diligence. Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe – Gladiator, Cinderella Man) is the captain of the HMS Enterprise. This British ship protected the Pacific Ocean from Napoleon’s French forces, who sought to invade England. As directed by the Queen of England herself, his job is to intercept any attacking vessel from the French fleet.
Continue reading Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Takers, John Luessenhop’s first attempt at a big-budget movie, falls flat on its face before it ever gets going. Takers is an entirely unoriginal, formulaic, good guys versus bad guys movie. It’s one of those movies where the trailer tells a better story than the actual film. With a cast that includes Matt Dillon (There’s Something About Mary, Wild Things), Idris Elba (HBO’s The Wire, Obsessed), Paul Walker (Joy Ride, Running Scared), T.I. (American Gangster, ATL), Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Jumper), and Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights, Hostel), among others, I thought that at least I’d be entertained with the acting. Heck, the R&B singer Chris Brown was even in this movie.
The one thing I kept focusing on during my viewing of Salt was that this movie was written specifically with the idea that Tom Cruise would be playing the lead role. Instead, Cruise opted to co-star with Cameron Diaz in the romantic adventure Knight and Day. And while Knight and Day was pleasantly entertaining and a movie I recommend, Cruise would have preferred to have Salt in his filmography rather than Knight and Day. I believe he took Knight and Day because the role allowed him to be a quirky, jovial type of character and also because many might identify Salt as a Mission Impossible franchise movie.
I am the first to admit that I am not as big a fan of Joel and Ethan Coen-directed movies as most people are. While I did enjoy Fargo (1996) and A Single Man (2009), I wouldn’t say I liked Miller’s Crossing (1990) and Barton Fink (1991). While I thought No Country for Old Men was pretty good, it was not close to being the best movie from 2007. Then there are the other Coen-directed movies I would prefer to see. These include Burn After Reading (2008), The Ladykillers (2007), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), or O Brother, Where Art Though? (2000). I appreciate a good Western. Once True Grit was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, it became a no-brainer that I saw the movie, despite my reservations about the Coens.
1998’s Enemy of the State was, for the most part, the first film that the movie studios relied on Will Smith to carry. This was Smith’s seventh movie overall and the fourth where he was one of the big stars in the film. The other three were Bad Boys (where he had Martin Lawrence), Men In Black (where he had Tommy Lee Jones), and 1991’s summer blockbuster Independence Day. This was certainly not a make-or-break movie for Smith, but a domestic gross of $111 million and favorable reviews from the critics helped cement him in the Hollywood landscape, where he has remained ever since.