Demon Knight.

Review #2441: Demon Knight.

Cast: 

Billy Zane (The Collector), William Sadler (Frank Brayker), Jada Pinkett (Jeryline), Thomas Haden Church (Roach), C. C. H. Pounder (Irene), John Kassir (voice of The Crypt Keeper; Brock Winkless as puppeteer), Brenda Bakke (Cordelia), Dick Miller (Uncle Willy), Gary Farmer (Deputy Bob), Ryan O'Donohue (Danny), Charles Fleischer (Wally), John Schuck (Sheriff Tupper), and Sherrie Rose (Wanda) Directed by Ernest Dickerson (#1641 - Juice) 

Review: 

"I’ve always enjoyed Demon Knight. I love horror films, and I had a lot of fun creating a horror mythology. It was a great cast. I was also happy to do the first film where an African American woman saves the world. That was a good project to be involved with."

Hey, remember Tales from the Crypt? In 1989, a television series was created based on the bi-monthly horror comic anthology series that was created by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. By the 1980s, one was long past whiny parents and even whinier doctors having fears that horror comics were making kids illiterate and/or juvenile delinquents*, now you could mine old stuff for movies and premium TV (complete with sex and violence, the hallmark of horror movies and probably America too). The show ran on HBO until 1996 and it probably makes sense that movies were coming. Plans for three of them, in fact. The other ones were tentatively called "Dead Easy" and "Body Count". The screenplay was credited to Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Voris, and Mark Bishop, although it should be noted that the script for the film had been languishing around for several years and at one point there was a version scripted around not having demons being shown but instead a legion of Bible salesman clad in suits and sunglasses that just happen to be revealed as demons later. Demon Knight, a movie released in January of 1995 because they pushed it back from Halloween 1994, was a mild success with audiences (not with critics, but do you trust mainstream critics about horror?), and a post-credits scene states the next film of the Crypt would be Dead E-nope, the second film "presented by Tales from the Crypt" was quickly retooled into Bordello of Blood in 1996 (funny enough, that was also a movie involving an old script being retooled). A hastily made segment with the Cryptkeper character was done for a movie called Ritual (2002), which remade I Walked With a Zombie of all movies (seriously?), although that movie barely had a release in theaters.

So, does it compare well to the 1972 Tales from the Crypt movie? Eh, sort of. If you accept the movie as a little ride through varied conversations about lore (well, something involving religion I guess) and familiar ground for a siege movie, you will be totally fine with what you get here. 92 minutes sounds like they could've just packaged a few episodes for video but it makes for a mostly paint-by-numbers movie, but...it is up the alley. If you thought the show could show promise when not just being a [name actor is here for 20 minutes]* episode, the movie will probably satisfy some of the expectations you may have in entertainment. Maybe it could have been more unsettling, but it at least makes up for it with a few solid moments, in particular because of the presence of Billy Zane, who is delightful in menace. He manages to be unsettling in the sequences of temptation because it ends up sounding pretty believable to walk along his path, which is a hard road when one scene has him drop the pretense of being a cop to just punch straight through a guy's head.  He just has an aura of energy and capability to make you want to listen to what the hell is coming up next that I almost wish would've made it all the way to the end. Sadler may be strapped with an understated type of hero role, but I see it more as an appropriately weary performance that is enjoyable to see play out, mainly because Sadler just seems reliable to take seriously. For a movie that invites you to the idea of a key filled with many, many people's blood (and Christ) in it, anyway. Pinkett makes a worthy participant to the proceedings around her, quirky yet eventually endearing enough to root for, at least when compared to the delightfully adversarial presence of Church* or the always on-time Pounder and Miller. In general, the movie sets its body count early and has a few fine moments with the effects and chuckles, although it definitely feels more a casual ride for those who've seen Assault on Precinct 13 (1980) a few too many times more than a truly original ride. But I like hokum like this when it is presented with likable people or a few little moments of gore to make me want to see it all the way to the ending, which might be a bit too cozy (even the lesser Crypt episodes tried sticking a twist in like a knife for the end). But as a whole, Demon Knight manages to have a few entertaining moments to ride through the obvious bumps that come with trying to turn 30-minute spine-tinglers into a full-edged movie for a moderate ride of success.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

*Why can't people focus their attention on asking aloud why certain people are weird like Taylor Swift superfans?

*Remember when Morton Downey Jr appeared in an episode about haunted ghosts on live TV? The one I probably remember best is the one with Joe Pantoliano about remembering just how many times he has died. Or the one about being trapped in one's own body.

*A Harlingen High School graduate, don't ya know?

Collateral.

Review #2325: Collateral.

Cast: 

Tom Cruise (Vincent), Jamie Foxx (Max Durocher), Jada Pinkett Smith (Annie Farrell), Mark Ruffalo (Ray Fanning), Peter Berg (Richard Weidner), Bruce McGill (Frank Pedrosa), and Irma P. Hall (Ida Durocher) Directed by Michael Mann (#1531 - Ali, #1631 - The Last of the Mohicans, #1713 - Manhunter, #2091 - Miami Vice)

Review: 

"I wanted to compress time, to imagine the psychological extremes when two lives collide unexpectedly. Small [details] become very important when, for example, you don’t change wardrobe, when the time of day doesn’t change, when the color of night or the cut of a suit becomes crucial."

Admittedly, taking a ride with a stranger is not a particularly new concept for a film. You've got quite a few movies dealing with strangers on a train, for example, or hitch-hiking with, well, The Hitch-Hiker (1953). Incidentally, the original basis for the script came from a cab ride home that Stuart Beattie (probably best known for his co-credit on the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl script) had when he was a teenager in which he made an idea about a maniac sitting in the back of a cab with the driver right there in implicit trust that he soon turned into a treatment. Sure, the script and film are only superficially similiar (it had subplots that are entirely not in the film, like a relationship between the cabbie and a librarian), but the efforts of Julie Richardson (who ended up co-producing the film with Mann) eventually paid off. The eighth film of Mann's career, it was his decision to shoot the film primarily with the Viper FilmStream High-Definition Camera (i.e. not film, although the nightclub sequence is shot that way) as a way to capture the urban environment of night-time LA. Incidentally, the original cast members in mind for the lead roles were Russell Crowe and Adam Sandler (or perhaps even Sandler paired with Cruise), but so it goes. The movie was a relative success at the time of its release, done just two decades ago.

You can see pretty quickly the appeal in a movie that is set in one night with such a compact goal in mind in tight thrills with characters that match each other like a glove for a neat movie. It maneuvers curiosity for its locale and machinations for two hours that deserves consideration for any thriller type of night. It has a murky feel with its locale that extends right to its trips through LA that feel distinct like a vignette, whether that involves a nightclub or a hospital visit. Undeniably, Cruise delivers the most in his role, where he apparently took inspiration from Alain Delon's character in Le Samouraï [1967] (one might wonder if there was something to draw from the silver-haired fox of Lee Marvin). Wrapped in grey attire and silver hair, there is something unnerving about his mannerisms in how he just "clicks" as an erudite and efficient killer that still makes one curious about what makes him tick. It basically is a cat-and-mouse game where one is curious where the cat wants to guide the mouse next. The character doesn't even that much of a backstory, one can just picture in their heads a guy who seeps in and out of his assignment as one who really could just lurk in the shadows and have no one notice, much in the same way that Foxx's character is just as one to be thought of in the background for most people (hey, do you know your cabbie?); go figure, it was Foxx that recieved the Academy Award nomination that year. But yes, Foxx is pretty effective here in his own terms of instinct of human nature, one who we like as someone learning to not lie so much about themselves. Smith makes a suitable presence to fit the ends of the film required in snap timing while the others fit the fragmented pieces required in a trip where you have a highly efficient (and smart) killer on one side and a tense but equally interesting presence worth watching on the other, such as the nightclub sequence when it comes to building a release of just who one really is when around other people. The film eventually delves into a chase that works out pretty well in the hands of Mann, who finds time to look upon an office from a distance to build tension. I especially like the ending in just settling on the most soothing of  possible resolutions when it comes to rising above collateral nature to be one's own man that circles back to earlier in the movie involving people fading into the background. As a whole, it's a neat movie that has two worthy players with worthy staging and a look to make a useful neo-noir fit for the eyes of the 21st century.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Ali.

Review #1531: Ali.

Cast: 
Will Smith (Cassius Clay Jr / Muhammad Ali), Jamie Foxx (Drew Bundini Brown), Jon Voight (Howard Cosell), Mario Van Peebles (Malcolm X), Ron Silver (Angelo Dundee), Jeffrey Wright (Howard Bingham), Mykelti Williamson (Don King), James Toney (Joe Frazier), Jada Pinkett Smith (Sonji Roi), Nona Gaye (Belinda Boyd / Khalilah Ali), Michael Michele (Veronica Porché), Joe Morton (Chauncey Eskridge), Paul Rodriguez (Dr. Ferdie Pacheco), and Bruce McGill (Bradley) Directed by Michael Mann.

Review: 
"The accomplishment of Will Smith in that movie is extraordinary: It’s not just the movement and the boxing — that’s difficult enough; it’s having your head in 1964, which came from sitting where you’re sitting and talking to Geronimo Pratt. That’s the challenge, because that’s what’s really, sincerely exciting — to get things to the point where they become emotionalized and real, so hopefully they have an impact upon audiences.”

It takes a life as big as Muhammad Ali to have two big names behind a biopic about his crucial years, which is why Michael Mann and Will Smith seemed destined to make this film together. The Chicago-born Mann studied English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but it was the viewing of films by F. W. Murnau and G. W. Pabst along with the release of Dr. Strangelove (1963) that influenced him about becoming a director and making a film with an individual statement with successful appeal for serious cinema without needing to be niche. He attended London Film School and subsequently made commercials and shorts before eventually moving back to the United States to do television, which led to his TV breakthrough with The Jericho Mile (1979) before a feature film breakthrough with Thief (1981). Known for his focus on his work with detail and style, this is the seventh of his eleven directorial efforts, and he would also serve as a co-producer and co-writer on the screenplay (with Eric Roth, Stephen J. Rivele, and Christopher Wilkinson, while Gregory Allen Howard got credit for the story). As for Smith, he had risen to fame through various media, which included hip hop in the late 1980s and television with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990-96) before carving a breakthrough in film with Six Degrees of Separation (1993). Smith had his hesitations of taking on Ali in part because of uncertainty about the script but also in if he was ready to be involved in the feature. He went through months of training in learning about boxing and Islamic studies while gaining weight for the role for a project that ultimately ballooned to over $100 million in budget.

Ali had been prominent on and off the ring, with his pursuits involving writing, music, and acting, which included features such as a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970, documentary), which had archival footage and interviews with Ali about his exile from the ring, The Greatest (1977), in which Ali starred as himself detailing his life from 1960-1974, and When We Were Kings (1996, documentary), which detailed the "Rumble In The Jungle" fight with archival footage. One could likely do multiple projects on the life of Ali or study him and his prominent life through simply seeing him near a boxing ring. However, this is a film that details the most important years of his life that go from 1964 to 1974, detailing his holding to his principles through a rise, fall, and rise again to the ring and what matters to him most when it comes to holding his principles in religion and against war. In this sense, Ali is a decent film, packed to the prim with observation and some of the confidence and curiosity that made Ali such an icon while perhaps dragging its feet in covering all the fine points of what it wants to show in its vision, a man filled with idiosyncrasies that made him a courageous rebel with struggles and human flaws. In this sense, Smith pulls off a wonderful performance, wrapped in confidence that does well in bravado and stature that works as a tribute to the man portrayed without seeping into hagiographic worship, elevating the material beyond putty if in lesser hands. Foxx proves just as well in delivering someone wrapped in hype and mystery with the right kind of conviction and timing when he is needed for the experience. Voight, wrapped in makeup, pulls off a pretty convincing performance, one with enterprising presence that likely captures the blustery confidence of the real Cosell (in my vague awareness of him the film did actually teach me something I didn't know, namely that he studied law before broadcasting) without just seeming like a pale imitation. Others do fine, but they generally seep in and out of the film as time goes on that make it a bit difficult to really grab a hold on (aside from one might know about them, as is the case with figures played by Van Peebles and Williamson), although at least the film never detracts from its time period with something distracting. The boxing sequences are generally well done, handling the plight of what it means to get beaten pound-for-pound with flourish and careful cutting. Even though the film was not a success with audiences at the time, it shouldn't erase what turns out to be a useful experience to see on screen. One's enjoyment of the film comes from how much of the material will resonate with a viewer when it comes to being a celebration of Ali and what he went through in a decade of fighting others from the ring onto the system that go from place to place with a fair bit of impact for its surroundings that make a decent achievement for both Mann and Smith to be proud of.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

Review #651: Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.

Cast
Ben Stiller (Alex), Chris Rock (Marty), David Schwimmer (Melman), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria), Jessica Chastain (Gia), Bryan Cranston (Vitaly), Tom McGrath (Skipper and First Policeman), Chris Miller (Kowalski), Frances McDormand (Captain Chantel DuBois), Sacha Baron Cohen (King Julien XIII), Martin Short (Stefano), John DiMaggio (Rico), and Christopher Knights (Private) Directed by Eric Darnell (#154 - Madagascar 2, #165 - Madagascar, and #254 - Antz), Conrad Vernon (#162 - Shrek 2) and Tom McGrath (#154- Madagascar 2, #165 - Madagascar, and #195 - Megamind).

Review
The first two Madagascar films were alright, not too shabby. 7/10 star ratings, but again, decent enough and entertaining enough for at least children or teens. But hey, what do I know, right? Anyway, the third movie is more wild, more ambitious and also more entertaining. The animation this time is really good, I especially like the circus show with the use of black lights and trapeze work. It's so colorful to watch, and the use of "Firework" oddly enough goes really well with the scene, which is about as wild as you expect. The characters (old and new) are entertaining, especially Bryan Cranston, though admittedly that maybe just my preference for the rugged but entertaining to watch actor. Or maybe I just have Malcolm in the Middle (go watch it if you haven't already) on the mind, but whatever. The comedy is more fun to watch, and most of that comes from how awesomely insane the villain is, I especially like the scene where McDormand sings "Non Je Ne Regrette Rien". It comes out of nowhere, and the character reactions to the song are just priceless. Is the plot anything special? Probably not, but it makes up for it by having enough enjoyment and just having fun. Is it great? Not really, but it is better than the first two films, which I guess matters the most.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: The Nutty Professor (1996).

Review #457: The Nutty Professor.

Cast
Eddie Murphy (Sherman Klump, Buddy Love, Mama Anna Klump, Grandma Klump, Papa Cletus Klump, Ernie Klump, Sr, and Lance Perkins), Jada Pinkett (Carla Purty), John Ales (Jason), James Coburn (Harlan Hartley), Larry Miller (Dean Richmond), Dave Chappelle (Reggie Warrington), John Ales (Jason), Jamal Mixon (Ernie Klump, Jr.), and Montell Jordan (Himself) Directed by Tom Shadyac (#148 - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective)

Review
I'd compare this to the original version, however since I didn't see the 60s film beforehand, there is no point of comparison. Eddie Murphy can be funny, given the right material (Trading Places, Coming to America), but when you give him the wrong material (Norbit), it fails. This film thankfully has the right stuff to work. Murphy does a nice job because while the jokes aren't always funny, at least when the joke misfire, it isn't a spectacular failure. Murphy plays other roles (with make up by the fantastic Rick Baker), but it doesn't overwhelm the film to a halt, more a near afterthought. The actors are good, especially Larry Miller. He may have brief scenes, but he certainly leaves an impression. Jada Pinkett is fairly decent, and with Murphy, they do well. It's a pretty decent film that while not all that it could have been, it certainly makes its mark.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Madagascar.

Review #165: Madagascar.

Cast
Ben Stiller (Alex), Chris Rock (Marty), David Schwimmer (Melman), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria), Sacha Baron Cohen (King Julien), Cedric the Entertainer (Maurice), Andy Richter (Mort) Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath (#154 - Madagascar 2)

Review
Madagascar isn't a perfect film, but it is a good film. It is better then Shark Tale and Shrek the Third, but it isn't better then Shrek 2 or Chicken Run. The voice acting is good, especially from Stiller and Rock. The plot is decent, as this film entertains with bright animation, a decently catchy song, and some subtle jokes at points. The film is the start of a franchise (with the second film having already been reviewed). This ends Part VI of Dreamworks Animation Week. Stay tuned for Part VII...

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Madagascar 2.

Review #154: Madagascar 2.

Cast
Ben Stiller (Alex the Lion), Chris Rock (Marty the Zebra), David Schwimmer (Melman the Giraffe), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria the Hippopotamus), Sacha Baron Cohen (King Julien the Lemur), Cedric the Entertainer (Maurice the Aye-Aye), Andy Richter (Mort the Lemur), Bernie Mac (Zuba the Lion), and Alec Baldwin (Makunga the Lion) Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath.

Review
I should mention the original title is "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" I was tempted to type it to confuse people or make them wonder who would have this kind of grammar. Anyway, this film is essentially a mash of the first and The Lion King, but despite that, this film still works. The voices are alright, as this film has charm to make you entertained for its relatively standard 89 minutes. Dreamworks Animation and Pixar are both decent studios. Pixar better than others. This is decent at best, not the worst or the best of DreamWorks I've seen.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.