OCR Text |
Show WeekendDiversions Page 8 'Bangkok Dangerous is anything but dangerous "Bangkok Dangerous" is a dark ride through the life of a hitman for hire. To clarify, by "dark" I mean really, really dark. As in this movie is almost impossible to see. At sometimes during the movie I couldn't distinguish between the actors and the backgrounds. Also, by saying "ride" I am over-exaggerating just a little. The word "ride" seems to denote something fast and fun, neither are true here. A better word to describe this movie rather than "ride" could be "crawl." The Pang brothers, who made the original "Bangkok Dangerous/ have decided to remake it. But instead of keep the interesting storyline of a deaf and mute hitman, they cast Nicholas Cage, "National Treasure". After a few of nis one-liners and listening to him narrate the entire film, you'll wish he was mute to begin with. Cage plays Joe, a hitman that travels the world Killing people for money. His anonymity is his weapon. No one knows who he is and he likes to keep it that way. Every place he goes he hires a small-time thug to do his dirty work, like deliveries and pick-ups, and then dispatches with them after the job is done. The entire movie is narrated by Cage, telling us the ins and outs of hitman life. In the show "Burn Notice/' this type of how-to narrating works, but Aaron Peck Movie Critic Reel Reviews Grade D"Bangkok Dangerous" here it is grating and doesn't really help move the story along. We learn tnat this trip to Bangkok will be Joe's last job. After this he's done with the life. Wouldn't you know it, that this is the time where everything doesn't go exactly according to plan. Joe finds Kong, a young punk, to essentially be his gopher. Kong runs back ana forth from a club delivering sensitive documents stuffed in briefcases to Joe. These cases contain the information Joe needs to kill the people he's being paid to kill. But Kong is so loveable, Joe is hard pressed to not ; become attached to him. ; >A» Joe also finds a love interest in a deaf woman named Fon that works at a pharmacy. Everything is going wrong. Joe's life is spinning out of control. He's falling in love ,which he's not supposed to do, and he's becoming friends with Kong ,which is another hitman no*no. There are movies about hitmen that are interesting, but this isn't one of them. It's hard to take the film serious when it starts out as a dramatic film, heads on over into the buddy action genre, and then even skirts romantic comedy. It seemed so lackadaisically thrown together, that it was hard to care about anything. Cage is completely unlikable and unbelievable as Joe the hitman. He doesn't have that same aura as say Matt Damon had as Jason Bourne. He's not equipped for a role like this. He clumsily moves around the film, like an old man, not fluid like you'd expect a world-renowned hitman to move. But, in the end the story falls way short. There's no emotion, or caring for the characters. Some of the plot points, like Joe training Kong like his little hitman Padawan, garner unintended laughter. In short "Bangkok Dangerous" is anything but dangerous. It's a dingy, slow-moving waste of big screen space. Its characters are dull, and its actors are duller. And to top it all off it seemed like Cage stole his hair-do from Tom Hanks in the "Da Vinci Code." It's hard to take someone serious when it looks like an animal just died on his head. -aaron.peck@aggiemail. usu. edu Indie films: Critics, filmmakers offer opinions Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 NOU PLACING CadeDellis junior theater arts L Green Day - Holiday L Dropkick Murphy's ihippin' Up To Boston i. Europe - Final Countdown L Spiderman - Spiderman Theme >. Good CharlottenJQance Floi "•• L Ah-Ha - Take On Me I Rent Soundtrack - Another >ay ,l I. RedHQt Chili Pepped -Tell | Me Buddy % \ Phil Collins - Can't Stop f loving You k \o. Eminem - Lose Yourself f J •••• - • *• Wach week the Statesman will find one * Student listening to his or her ipod and sem what is playing on their playlist. r 'Information compiled by Chris Gardner [J continued[from page 7 numbered." Instead, Handling said, an event mentality "has taken over the culture generally. Unless you have a mass event like a football game, it's really hard to create space and awareness for your activities, especially if they are small and artistic in nature." But Handling believes film festivals have basically usurped art-house theaters as an "outlet for many films trying to penetrate the marketplace." During a festival, he said, people "immerse themselves, gorge themselves" on foreign, alternative and independent film, after which "they are caught up." And then they tune out until the following year's festival. The Box-Office Guru Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers The immigration drama "The Visitor" grossed less than $10 million this summer. But those are blockbuster numbers for an indie film, said Dergarabedian, who tracks box-office data. "That movie started out strong and never slowed down," he said. But while a few indie films do well, most don't, Dergarabedian added. "Releasing a specialized film and nurturing it is a m m - delicate science," he said. Such films are "not cost-effective unless you can get a breakout hit." And that can depend on reviews. "In the blockbuster world, movies are review-proof. In the indie world, they are review-dependent," he said. Newspapers' cutting back on reviews "is not a good thing for the indie world," Dergarabedian said. "That might be the X factor. The audiences that gravitate toward them want a respected critic to say it's a good film before they go out." The Filmmaker Randall Miller, director of "Bottle Shock" Miller and his wife and co-writer, Jody Savin, mortgaged their house to finance their first movie, "Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School," and they were "really optimistic" when they took it to the Sundance Film Festival. "We had a great cast and an amazing audience response. And we got one of those small deals" to distribute the film, Miller said. The movie still hasn't made money. "Which is sad because it was not a very expensive movie," he said. "It should have paid itself back, and it didn't. That's what * drove us to this point." So, for their wine-country film "Bottle Shock," they are distributing it by themselves. A studio, Miller said, would have tacked on a 25 percent marketing fee, "so dollar one comes in with 25 percent off the top." Plus, there are fees for marketing "which you can't control" and interest. "And so when you start to do the math... you see there's very little chance that you're going to get your money back," Miller said. "It's worse than any other business in that way. You take out a bank loan for any kind of business and once you pay them off... you don't have to keep paying them." Distributing the film themselves lets Miller and Savin see what the cost is. And they can make money "because the profits are in home video," Miller said. He compared it to the way Clint Eastwood made "Dirty Harry." "The distribution model is really clean," he said. "It's like direct receipts. Whatever it makes comes back to the production company." The Alternative Distribution Mogul Adley Gartenstein, president of Film Movement A great indie film makes Gartenstein feel "that I'm see- ing a work of art. That there's a reason this movie was made. And that my life is better because of it." You wouldn't think there were that many films like that in the world, but the Film Movement movie of the month club - at www.filmmovement, com - has 72 of them in its library. Gartenstein picks up exclusive rights to mostly foreignlanguage films that are simultaneously released in theaters and made available on DVD to club members six months to a year before they are released to the public. Subscribers "don't select it," he said. "They don't have to go to Netflix to pick it out. It's programmed for them by the world's top film festivals." Recent films included "Days and Clouds" from Italy, "The Violin" from Mexico and "The Grocer's Son" from France. "Our business is not dependent on having a smash opening weekend" Gartenstein said. "We buy a movie and put our resources behind it for the life of the film." He described the club as "the Miramax of the 1980s .. . when you knew if Miramax was associated with it, it would be a quality movie." The Artistic Director Jonathan Jackson, Film Milwaukee The new group Film Milwaukee is not only devoted to "creating a great film festival here" in 2009, but to "making a significant impact on the Milwaukee community with year-round" screenings and educational programs, Jackson said. "1 think we'll be a significant cultural entity in a couple years," said Jackson, who held the same position at the late Milwaukee International Film Festival. The "art of independent film... is as interesting as it's ever been," he said. But marketing a film "by a director people never heard of or with cast members nobody knows ... takes a community-based, locally driven" plan, which distributors and exhibitors do not provide. "It s on individual theaters to develop their marketplace" he said. One venue that does is the University of WisconsinMilwaukee s Union Theatre, of which Jackson was once director. "It is the only truly alternative art-house cinema in Milwaukee," and the school "owes it to the UWM community and the community at large to fund" the program, "with a full-time staff person and a marketing director," Jackson said, because "the audience is there." The Commercial Theater Chain Bruce J. Olson, president of Marcus Theatres The Milwaukee-based Marcus chain, which owns or operates 678 screens at 56 locations in six states, is the seventh-largest theater circuit in the nation. And while mainstream films are the core of the chains business, Marcus "has an interest in supporting" Film Milwaukee's plans to develop a new festival here. "And someday we'll have a downtown theater and hopefully that will be a centerpiece of the film festival," Olson said. "It's going to take some time, but I think it's good for the city. It's good for our image. And it's good for creativity. A city this size should have a film festival." Olson, whose area theaters show art-house fare under a "critics choice" banner, feels indie film, too, will rise again. "Just when we think there (are no more) indie movies, there will be another one that comes along. We don't know what it is yet, but it will come along. "Art," Olsen predicted, "will make a comeback." Driving: Life as an equipment guy * !J continued from page 6 The Best Photo I Took All Summer Content! •5 Deadline for submissions: Sept. 24, 5 p.m. 9 Submit digital files (.jpg, tiff, PS) to: statesman@cc.usu.edu. subject line "Photo Contest." ^Categories: I) Landscape/Scenic, 2) People/Activities, 3) Bizzare/Unusual. You pick the category for which you want your photos to be considered. SEND THEM TODAY! Only one submission per category per person. Submissions will be displayed at Statesman Online, www.uta h states man .co m You took some GREAT photos this summer. Time to Show Them I Off! theJu.au. AOiu. C/iftt to Local own children. "I get a hug from each one of them " Wiley said. "After every game, when I give them their meal and I take their bag, it's nice for them to know that I am always there for them. I don't even have to tell them not to cheat me but to give me a hug." Wiley said it has been rewarding to have parents approach him and tell him they think it is wonderful what he does for the players. "I just tell them I am a lucky guy to be here with this program," Wiley said. According to Wiley, driving the equipment to games is like having a portable locker room for the players. He said driving the equipment saves nearly $8,000 to $10,000 because it is not weight that has to be flown in an airplane. He said by driving his own truck, it does not require a vehicle to be rented and allows extra equipment to be packed. However, Wiley said not every trip works out perfect. He said every trip has an exciting adventure and he has had experiences from trucks breaking down to losing wallets. "I haven't had a trip where something hasn't happened," Wiley said. "Some little thing always happens. I can't think of one time it hasn't." No matter what happens however, Wiley said he doesn't let that get him down. "This is my way to give back," Wiley said. "It s my way to show appreciation to this school." - courtnie.packer@aggiemail, usu.edu Money: The high price of college [1 continued from page 6 over loosing their first-born son to the colligate life, but tears of laughter. This thought, I believe, was more disturbing than the discovery that I was in debt $100 for a math book. Of course my pile of textbooks aren't the only expenses that have brought a surge of anxiety through my stomach. Upon dusting off my calculator I was able to figure out that every semester I'm paying roughly $33 a day to attend school. Wowza, I'm only making $300 a month! Maybe I can get a direct deposit from work into my school account and just cut out the middleman completely. So Mr. Diddy might have had a point when he so intelligently stated that with more money comes more problems, but even though I'm not getting shot at by gang- sters or photographers, I'm still only eating Hot Pockets and cereal. And soon, if all else fails, I'll eat my pile of text books. Greg Boyles is a junior majoring in print journalism. You can reach him at greg.boyles@ aggiemail. usu.edu. |