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Reviews
In Good Company (2004)
A sweet, and entertaining character driven comedy/drama
In Good Company ***
Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is the 51 year-old manager of ad sales for a fictional magazine called "Sports America".
When the magazine's parent company gets taken over, Dan gets demoted and, to increase ad sales, a replacement is assigned in Carter Durea (Topher Grace), a 26 year-old hotshot with a lot to prove.
But it's his relationship with Dan that proves to be his biggest challenge.
For Carter, his recent divorce leads him into a relationship with Dan's 18 year old, mature and free spirited daughter (Scarlett Johansson). And for Dan, there's the obvious dismay that comes from having to report to a superior half his age.
It's frighteningly easy to think how any number of hack writers and directors would handle such a premise with either heavy-handed satire or slapstick comedy.
But fortunately, with In Good Company, we're in the reliable hands of writer/directors Chris and Paul Weitz (About a Boy, American Pie), two guys who know how to write characters and aren't afraid to throw a few curve balls into the Tinseltown formula. How? By actually taking the time to craft plausible characters we care about in situations we can relate to. And that's the pleasure of watching the movie unfold.
Grace is a particular surprise, as he successfully emerges from the shadow of That 70's show and proves he's well on his way to establishing himself as a unique kind of leading man. Think a young Cary Grant mixed with a more subdued Jim Carrey, and you'll know what I mean.
Quaid is moving gracefully into a new phase of his career, and here he has the courage to tackle a role that for many people hits close to home.
And Johansson is effectively low key as Quaid's daughter, an NYU creative writing student who is wise beyond her years.
It's a nice change of pace to just sit back and watch characters interact according to their nature, and don't let Hollywood conventions dictate their actions. Just when you think you've figured things out, the humanity of the characters takes over and something happens that you weren't expecting. But that's life, right?
The Great Raid (2005)
The Great Raid is a surprisingly effective war film that manages to work despite stereotypical characters and a well worn premise
The Great Raid ***
Here's a piece of advice when watching The Great Raid. Try and forget the flagrant jingoism and stereotypical characterizations on display and enjoy it for what it is.
And that is a good, old-fashioned war picture that, minus the violence, could easily have been made in the 1950s and would have been hailed as "a crackling, flagwaving war programmer".
Inspired by a true story, The Great Raid recounts what is recognized as the biggest single U.S. military rescue mission in history. A total of 511 American captives were rescued from a brutal Japanese POW camp in the Philippines following a highly coordinated surprise raid by U.S and local rebellion forces.
A narrated opening introduces us to the history of the U.S.-Japanese conflict. We then witness first hand the brutality of the Japanese army as they are instructed to eliminate all U.S prisoners as allied forces gain a foothold on the island.
The movie then spends its time intercutting between the plight of the POWs in the camp (led by Joseph Fiennes) and their abuse at the hands of their captors, and the efforts of a steely sergeant and captain (Benjamin Bratt and James Franco) to conduct a daring, 120-man rescue mission to get them out.
Despite the ultimate predictability of the story, it's definitely never boring. That's because director John Dahl (Rounders) wastes little time with extraneous character scenes and pares the story to its gritty essentials. He knows that most of us will have traveled this road before, and focuses on keeping the pacing tight and the suspense palpable.
There's a surprisingly strong female character played by Connie Nielson, as a foreign nurse helping to smuggle medicine into the camp. This forms the basis of an interesting, tense subplot that fits nicely into the main story and actually could have made a good little movie in itself.
There are a few missteps along the way though. The Japanese soldiers are portrayed as one dimensional, sadistic bullies whose sole purpose is to brutalize prisoners and play catch with American bullets. While I wasn't looking for richly developed characters a la Bridge on the River Kwai, the screenwriters could have at least have had one sympathetic Japanse character to identify with.
And with a movie with so many small roles, apart from the main characters it's hard to identify who's who, often resulting in audience whispers of "pssst...who's he again?".
But when the raid finally happens, it's a supremely well executed, adrenaline pumping sequence that only Hollywood can pull off with such thunderous, technical bravado.
When all is said and done, and the raid is over, the movie concludes with some emotional documentary footage of the real-life soldiers and prisoners who took part in the raid taken in the aftermath. In some ways this was more fascinating to watch than the dramatic re-enactment we've just witnessed. I guess it just reinforces the notion that while the real-life mission and the men who took part truly were great, this movie version is merely good.
Land of the Dead (2005)
A worthy entry in the Livng Dead series
Land of the Dead ***
Land of the Dead is the long-awaited fourth entry in George Romero's venerable zombies-walk-the-earth series. It began in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead, then continued in 1979 with Dawn of the Dead, and originally concluded with 1985's Day of the Dead.
Land, like others in the series, is an enticing cocktail of social commentary, dark humour and, of course, oodles of zombie gore. Admittedly this is not a mix that all audiences will find appealing. But for those who have followed the series, it's a fitting addition that's worthy of the Dead name.
Unlike the no-brained creatures from the previous entries in the series, this time a zombie "leader" manages to rally others of his decaying, flesh-eating ilk to take on the remaining humans as a single force. Their goal: an island city with one of the last bastions of civilization, led by an unscrupulous billionaire, played with relish by Dennis Hopper. Meanwhile, one of his henchmen (John Leguizamo) has stolen an armored vehicle (appropriately named Dead Reckoning), and has threatened to destroy the city unless he is paid 5 million dollars. It's up to the vehicle's designer and engineer (Simon Baker) to stop him.
This is a lean, mean zombie flick that also ranks among Romero's best films. There's some surprisingly strong acting turns from a game cast (especially Hopper and Leguizamo). While the allusions to a post Bush 9/11 world can seem ham-fisted at times, the overall pace and action scenes are handled with the deftness of a seasoned pro. After all, who else knows zombies better than their modern cinematic originator?