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Mad City starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta

Posted on September 15, 2010 Written by ripitup

Mad City starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman. Directed by Costa- Gavras. Written by Eric Williams and Tom Matthews. 1997.

Max Brackett’s (Dustin Hoffman) live “brush” with fellow reporter Kevin Hollander (Alan Alda) has resulted in Max’s being relocated to a local television, still dependent on his old network. Max is bored, as his boss Lou (Robert Prosky) won’t let him “move the line”( that is to interrupt the news objects’ lives for the sake of news)…

As luck would have it, however, Max accidentally runs into the story of a lifetime. As he is doing an interview at the museum run by Mrs. Banks (Blythe Danner), Sam Baily (John Travolta) decides to pay her a visit: she has just fired Sam, who was one of the two guards working for her. Sam, a husband and a father of 2, just wants his job back. But when Mrs. Banks can’t be bothered to give Sam two minutes, Sam brings out the big guns-literally. What he hasn’t planned on is the news reporter in the bathroom, and the group of young school kids on a school trip at the museum.

Soon, this turns into a career-defining opportunity for Max and a nightmare for Sam, it doesn’t take long for Sam to find Max out. But Max has no intention of letting the story go, even as he becomes a hostage. For one thing, Sam is not a psycho criminal but a desperate man who just wanted to be heard. Second, he is much more experienced than Sam when it comes to hostage situations. So from then on, Max helps Sam, and steers him in the direction that will help Sam and Max’s career.

But the news is just too big for Kevin Hollander to ignore and for the FBI to stay away. While Max mostly works to show Sam in a positive light, the rest seems intent on showing him as the ultimate villain. With the parents of the kids hating him, and his own wife trying to figure out how as to handle things, can good intentions be taken into account when a weapon and kids are involved? Or are the ratings just more important than humanity?

Mad City is one of my favorite films. It is from 1997, so today, you may not be moved by it as I was when I first saw it over a decade ago. After all, 1997 was before Youtube and Twitter and Facebook. The story could no way flow the way it was written. Probably one of the kids would have a high-tech phone with an internet connection or their teacher or Mrs. Banks…There would be no need to create a public poll as the public would create the buzz after they heard it. People would follow the news worldwide and it is likely that some of the pro-Sam audience would offer Sam a job and things would never quite get out of control. But it was shot in 1997, and it was all about the big networks and their ratings.

Yes, by now, probably you have seen at least tens of hostage situation movies where sometimes you were probably rooting for the villain. But this film is one of the better ones, and it does have a great cast. Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta make a great team.

I’d love to share my favorite line, but that would be a spoiler. Let me just say it is the final line of Dustin Hoffman. A really good take on the lust for ratings vs. the fight for survival.

Fun notes: Blythe Danner is Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother.

Mel Gibson is referenced a couple of times.

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Face/Off starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta

Posted on September 11, 2010 Written by ripitup

Face Off starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. Co-starring Joan Allen, Dominique Swain and Gina Gershon. Featuring James Denton.

Castor Troy (Nicolas Cage) is the worst kind of criminal: he is smart, vicious, dangerous, he has great resources and he is a total psycho. The man who is closest to catching him is Agent Sean Archer (John Travolta). In attempt to kill Archer, however, Castor accidentally kills Sean’s little son. This results a determined quest on Sean’s part. He eventually catches him. Sean’s doctor wife Eve (Joan Allen) is more than relieved, as she won’t have to be feeling alone and deal with their rebellious teenage daughter Jamie (Dominique Swain) on her own. But one last assignment won’t give Sean the time to catch up with his family and finally find peace:

Castor isn’t dead, but is in a coma. His brother Pollux (Alessandro Nivola) is in a maximum security, top-secret prison and unfortunately he is the only person who knows the place of the bomb they placed in the city: So despite how impossible and difficult it seems, Sean has to agree on an advanced but reversible surgery, which will allow him to “be” Castor: the doctors remove Castor’s and Sean’s faces and implant Castor’s face on Sean. This top secret mission is known only by his doctor, and 2 colleagues.

As much as he hates looking like his son’s killer, Sean (now played by Nicolas Cage) goes to the prison to pretend to be Castor. He gets the info he needs, but he gets a big shock: Castor has woken up and he is more than willing to be Sean for a while, to use his resources. So he gets the surgery, and then kills everyone who knows about the mission. So know, Castor (now played by John Travolta) gets to be with Sean’s wife. As impossible as it might seem, now Sean’s only way out is to break out of the prison, pretend to be Castor to those who don’t know Sean is indeed Castor and he also has try to persuade his wife that he might look like their son’s killer but he is in fact her husband…

Face/Off is a really decent and glorious action film. And once you suspend your disbelief to believe that the technology that allows facial implants/replacements to exist the way it does in the movie, you are in one hell of a ride. It is also fun to have a movie where John Travolta and Nicolas Cage play both of the lead characters for a certain period of the movie and both get to show their acting chops as a villain and the ultimate good guy. It is directed by John Woo (Mission Impossible 2, Broken Arrow), who just knows how to make an action film look good. Written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary.

It is that over-the-top, full-of-explosions/chases/gun fights action film that keeps you glued to your seat for more than 2 hours. And it is not about how it will end (you know how it will end); but watching how the movie will get there. It helps that the supporting cast is great well. Castor’s girlfriend is played by Gina Gershon. And in a very small role, there is James Denton (Mike Delfino of Desperate Housewives). Intellectual? No. Mind-bending? No. Fun as hell? Oh, yeah.! See it . It never gets old or boring. Yes, I have seen it more than twice.

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The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg

Posted on September 8, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg. Written and directed by Richard Shepard, 2007. Image via richardshepard.com

Simon Hunt (Richard Gere) is a very successful news reporter and makes the perfect team with his cameraman Duck (Terrence Howard). They are good friends and Duck is pretty OK with how fun and a little crazy Hunt is. They get into trouble but they are also the best.

However one instance changes this forever. Simon reaches his breaking point and has an outraged outburst, live. He gets fired and his career goes downhill. But Duck gets to be “safe” and becomes the cameraman for the anchorman. While this is trading up in many ways, Duck can’t help but miss his days with Hunt. In 2000, years after the Bosnian War ended, Duck is there with the anchor and a rookie named Benjamin (Jesse Eisenberg), freshly graduated from Harvard and who happens to be a son of the network’s vice president.

However the peaceful and harmless mission is disrupted when Hunt makes an appearance and offers a “job” for Duck. And it is not harmless at all: Simon thinks he can find the biggest criminal of that war: the man responsible for countless killings and rapes- the man whose capturers will earn 5,000,000. Of course while this man is a criminal for Bosnia and the most of the world, he is a national hero for most Serbians and they are willing to protect this man no matter what.

As crazy as this is, Duck and Benjamin join Hunt, hoping that they will just make an interview with the man. However it becomes clear that Hunt is not only after financial relief but personal vengeance as well. Can they really get to this guy without getting killed? And how the hell are three reporters supposed to survive without any weapons at all?

The Hunting Party is partially based on a true story and it is a very intriguing adventure/drama/thriller about war, journalism and friendship. It has some comedic relief, and even though it is an easy film to watch, the events told are anything but.

This is a fun and thought-provoking movie, although it can drag a bit at times. Even though it is not as impressive Lord of War (sure, different topic but the subject matters are equally heavy), it is a solid film with fine performances. And just like Lord of War’s notes (telling us what eventually happens or will keep happening) at the end credits, The Hunting Party also ends on a note that makes you say “Holy Shit!”

The three leads are just fine and I don’t think there was any reason to cast Diane Kruger as she appears for as a couple of minutes. Written and directed by Richard Shepard. Based on an article by Scott Anderson.

Currently 7.0 on IMDB.

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The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones

Posted on September 7, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Fugitive starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. Co-starring Joee Pantoliano, Julianne Moore and Sela Ward. Directed by Andrew Davis. 1993.

Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) is a highly successful, well-off and respected heart surgeon. However one day, he comes home to find an attacker and his wife Helen murdered. The murderer – who has one prosthetic arm – gets away. Kimble, desperate to revive his wife, leaves his fingerprints everywhere. For the lazy cops, he is the perfect suspect. After all, there are no other fingerprints around other than Richard’s. It also helps their case that she had a life insurance and Richard was the only beneficiary.

So Richard is sentenced to prison until he is killed by lethal injection. However while the convicts are being transferred to the prison, one of the prisoners fakes a heart-attack, causes enough chaos for some of the guards to get injured. Since the driver gets killed, the bus crashes into a railroad. Kimble barely makes it out with his life and seizes his one chance to escape.

Samuel Gerard, Marshall, responsible for prisoners, is pissed that prisoners have gotten away and he takes over Kimble’s case with full control and he is determined to catch Kimble no matter what.

Despite the fact that the whole country is after him, Kimble manages to dodge cops and starts his own quest to catch his wife’s murderer and prove his innocence.

So the fascinating great cat and mouse game starts. However the mouse is just as smart, maybe even smarter than the cat. And instead of running away, the mouse will cleverly involve the cat in his quest for innocence…

The Fugitive (1993) is a terrific and old-fashioned (in a very good sense) action/thriller/drama. Harrison-Ford, as usual, is very at home in this action-packed role as the smart protagonist. Tommy Lee Jones is perfect as the “cat”. Note that Tommy Lee won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with this role. The movie was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Sound and Best Music Oscars.

The Fugitive is based on the TV Series The Fugitive from 1963. Co-starring in the film are Julianne Moore and Joe Pantoliano. Directed by Andrew Davis, written by Jeb Stuart and
David Twohy. Rated 7.8 on IMDB, voted by over 96.000 viewers. I do agree. This movie is a real threat and it is not a movie that will lose from its age.

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