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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 July 2000

So what kind of qualities am I talking about?  Professor X (Stewart) is their aged leader and has tremendous psychopathic abilities.  Wolverine (Jackman) has tremendous physical strength and metal claws protruding from his knuckles.  Storm (Berry) can influence the weather.  Cyclops (Marsden) can shoot lasers from his eyes.  You get the picture?

On the other hand, there is an evil race of mutants led by the powerful Magneto (McKellan) who want to destroy all humans so that the mutants can dominate the Earth.  When Magneto comes across a very important mutant named Rogue (Paquin), he discovers the secret to fulfilling his objectives and thus it’s up to the “good” mutants to try to save the human race.

It seems most every comic book and cartoon series has made its venture to the big screen and X-Men has come across with some heavy financial backing.  It’s a big cast with some elaborate special effects that are well crafted.  It’s quite dark and has striking similarities with the original Batman (released way back in 1989) only with more commercialism.

The plot has substance but is confusing at times and you’ll have to be paying close attention to keep up.  It takes a long time to set up the characters and once the action gets started and the interest builds, it’s all but over.  Over 45 minutes of the film was cut by the studio to try to make the film faster and more audience-friendly.  Without having seen the extra footage, I feel sure it would have made X-Men a better view.

A bigger annoyance is that the ending so obviously sets up a sequel that it’s hard to feel you’ve reached a conclusion.  It’s like we’ve seen part one and we’ll have to wait a couple of years to find out how it ends.  I guess it’s similar to reading a comic book in that the super villain always manages to elude them so that more adventures can be created.  I shouldn’t have to pay to see the next movie because technically I haven’t seen the end of the first one.

I was surprised to see Bryan Singer as director given his previous two projects - The Usual Suspects and Apt Pupil.  Singer’s direction is intense and creates strong interest and suspense.  The X-Men aren’t exactly household names and Singer has created a film that will generate heavy interest in the franchise.

It’s always nice to see summer blockbusters that aren’t just plastic characters acting cheesy storylines.  Whilst not covering any new ground, X-Men is simple entertainment that’ll sucker you in for a couple of hours.  Take plenty of popcorn.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 June 2000

Nicolas Cage is Memphis, a retired car thief who used to be the best in the business.  He has since retired from the game but is forced to return when his younger brother (Ribisi) gets in hot water with a nasty underworld leader after a botched theft.  Memphis is given the challenge of stealing fifty cars in three days so that the leader can meet his client’s demands or else his brother will be killed.

So, Memphis goes out and reassembles his old crew (including Jolie and Duvall) as they set out to pull the impossible off.  On their tale though are two detectives (Lindo and Olyphant) who have wanted to pin a crime on Memphis for years but have never been able to make it stick.  Enough said?

Everything here borders on ridiculous and the fact that studio executives thought one might enjoy this is an insult to our intelligence.  A particular scene of note sees Jolie and Cage stealing a car in a suburban neighbourhood and Cage suspects that someone is watching him.  You’ve got to see it to believe how bad it is.

Sure the big finale gets the blood flowing with a very length car chase scene between Cage and the entire police force (of course, he eludes them all) but that’s not good enough in my book.  I feel the only positive to come out of this film was the fact that my memory of the whole experience was gone in sixty seconds.  If that sounds like a tacky cliché, wait till you see the film...

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 July 2000

There is one answer to Luke’s problems.  An exclusive, secret society known as the Skulls has the reputation of providing for one’s future but obtaining membership is harder than cracking the most secure safe.

Luke is given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity when he is preselected as a candidate for membership and put through a series of tests to evaluate his loyalty.  He is paired with Caleb (Walker), with whom he develops a bond.  Everything is perfect for Luke until his best friend is found hanged in his room and suspicions are aroused.  Does this have anything to do with his association with the Skulls?

The Skulls is an attempt to break away from the traditional teen mould of soppy romance.  It has its thrills but gets bogged down in its oversimplification.  It’s disrespectful to the audience that studios think lowly enough of our intelligence to be taken in by this film.  It could have been so much better.

The cast does little to save the script with Jackson playing the good guy (as always) with his familiar style. Walker gets the juicier role and makes more of it.

It is rumoured that organisations like this do exist all over America and that the CIA was founded in such a way.  That may be the case but given the bunch of yuppie saps that are members of the Skulls, I’d rather not be a member.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 June 2000

Jim Carrey plays Charlie, a local police officer from Rhode Island who was happily married until his wife left him for the wedding chauffeur.  Now with three sons to raise on his own, Charlie is the laughing stock of the community because of his inability to observe his wife’s infidelities (the hints are rather obvious).  Charlie has bottled up his emotions and refuses to move on in life.  That is until he develops a split persona - Hank.  Hank is the exact opposite of Charlie and isn’t somebody you want to mess with.

Irene (Zellweger) arrives in town from New York but is forced to return when summoned by the police and it is Charlie’s responsibility to escort her there.  Things become twisted when an attempt is made to eliminate Irene under the assumption she knows details of a big money laundering scam.  In the mayhem that ensues, Charlie loses his schizophrenia medication, which releases Hank from within, and both have fallen for Irene...

The Farrelly’s are the kings of gross-out comedy and this film makes an effort to push the boundaries even further.  There are some truly disgusting moments highlighted by a scene involving a bet, a police officer and a chicken.  Another highlight came when Hank tries to put down an injured cow.  There were however plenty of jokes that left an eerily dead silence in the cinema with a good example being a lengthy scene between Charlie/Hank and an albino waiter at a restaurant.

Jim Carrey has all his facial expressions on show but they’ve been seen many times before and their amusement is short lived.  Rene Zellweger plays second fiddle to Carrey and does little to advance the comedy.  Most members of the supporting cast are also wasted.  It seems Carrey’s gets all the great lines and the rest are left as puppets.

The film is a bunch of set-up jokes with a story based around them.  This was a similar technique to that used effectively in There’s Something About Mary.  The application is not quite as productive in Me, Myself & Irene due to the weaker cast and script.

Featuring plenty of toilet humour (and I mean that literally at times), this new film will take a big chunk out of the box-office yet leave many expectations unmet.  The Farrelly brothers will be back with bigger and better material as they continue to take chances and I do look forward to seeing their next film.  As for now, this is just another one of “those” comedies that you’d expect from a Martin Lawrence or an Adam Sandler.  Certainly not a Jim Carrey.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 June 2000

Determined to prove them wrong, Billy rounds up his crew for one last trip before the winter sets in.  One of the crew, Bobby Shatford (Wahlberg), has left despite the wishes of his wife (Lane). She’s ready to settle down and make a go of it with Bobby and wants him to give up his fishing career.

What they encountered on that trip is what meteorologists define as the “perfect storm” - when a cold front, a low and a hurricane collide to create a massive weather system.  Crucial navigation decisions will have to be made that will affect their survival as the ultimate battle between man and Mother Nature takes form.

Director Wolfgang Petersen (Air Force One, Das Boat) has pulled off a supreme directorial effort for The Perfect Storm and is backed by the wonderful editing of Australian Richard Francis-Bruce (The Shawshank Redemption, Seven) and the cinematography from another Aussie, John Seale (The English Patient, Rain Man).

The special effects in The Perfect Storm comfortably surpass those seen in other disaster films of recent years.  The line between live and computer-generated has been blended with such precision that it’s impossible to differentiate between the two.  The realism provided by the visual effects are the key to supporting the screenplay and giving the story it’s “edge of your seat” quality.  It’s rare to see such a developed plot feature in an action film.  Time is actually taken at the start of this film to develop characters.  As seen by this week’s other release, Gone In 60 Seconds, the action should be built around the story and not vise-versa.

The acting performances are top-notch with some great scenes shared between two stars George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.  Also working effectively was the creation of several, smaller sub-stories which helped build tension and create a higher interest level.

Perhaps the only downside to The Perfect Storm was the drawn out ending.  Without giving too much away, the film’s final five minutes release the tight grip the film has over the audience and is most unnecessary.

Not to be overlooked as another one of those Hollywood summer disaster movies, The Perfect Storm relies upon a super cast and crew to creates a film with power and feeling that throws up more than a few surprises for the better.   A “perfect” action movie.