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REVIEWSPREVIEWS: Laurel Canyon
After its warm reception at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, indie flick Laurel Canyon recently opened in mainstream cinemas. Having graduated from Harvard Medical School, straight-laced medical resident (Christian Bale) and his control freak fiancé (Kate Beckinsale) move in with his unconventional mother, played by Oscar-winner Frances McDormand, in the lush, bohemian Los Angeles neighbourhood that gives writer-director Lisa Cholodenko’s movie its name. McDormand steals the show with her role as a pot smoking, freewheeling record producer who has a younger rock star boyfriend (Alessandro Nivola). Once the prodigal son returns, the strained love-hate dynamic between the mother and son is very obvious, at levels that recall obsessive psycho Norman Bates.
As Bale recoils from his mother’s free-lovin’ ways, Beckinsale becomes fascinated by the world-wise McDormand and Nivola. Slowly, she abandons her intentions of writing a book and embarks on a path that betrays her unsuspecting fiancé. Bale plays his part with convincing emotional injury while struggling against temptations of his own.
Despite its modest production budget, Laurel Canyon exhibits some powerful performances, particularly by McDormand.—-T. U. Dawood
Wrong Turn
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Road rules are made for the security of drivers. If one concentrates on the road, a lot of ill-fated episodes (and creatures) can be averted. But if you’re one of those people who think that rules are meant to be broken, then you should watch Wrong Turn as an eye opener.Chris (Desmond Harrington) is on the way to a major job interview. Unfortunately, he gets stuck in jam-packed traffic en route. Already late and agitated, he makes a wrong move and takes a dirt side road to get to his destination. Distracted, he rams into a stranded van, which is packed with a group of youngsters. With busted vehicles in the middle of nowhere, the group set off while two of the pack makes the brainless move of staying behind. After that, everyone is assailed by leather-faced cannibalistic mountain creatures whose bodies have mutated after eons of inbreeding. The rest of the movie is full of predictable horror. Lots of unsettling gore, chases through the woods, running around and yelping for help.
The script is scruffy and incoherent. The cast is good but their performances have not been justified because their acting comes across as wooden and emotionally distant. Full of annoying wrong turns, Wrong Turn is a complete waste of time and money. It is a pointless piece of gratuitous garbage. But if you’re into unoriginal, cheesy fare, then this movie was made for you!—-Taimur Saleem
Vampires 2
In Vampires 2: Los Muertos, Jon Bon Jovi plays a contract vampire hunter. One day he receives a hefty offer from an anonymous person to track down a unique vampire, for which he’s required to round up a team of professional hunters like himself. The only problem is, wherever he goes to recruit a team member, a vampire has already been there to take out the hunter. It’s as if someone knows all his moves before he makes them. Finally, when the entire list of potential hunters has been wiped clean, he manages to assemble a group that can hardly be called vampire slayers: a teenage boy, a priest and a woman who’s already been bitten and could turn into a vampire any time. What follows is nothing to write home about.
This is a sequel to 1998’s Vampires, which starred James Woods in place of Bon Jovi and was a much better flick than this one. The sequel follows the same storyline, with the Mexican setting and betrayals galore, but sucks big time. The original wasn’t a hit either, but at least it had more of an original plot. Moreover, horror maestro John Carpenter directed it, whereas this one was written and directed by an unknown, Tommy Lee Wallace. Recommended only for die-hard fans of Jon Bon Jovi who would love to see him fry some vampires.—Saqib Khan
The Italian Job
Director F. Gary Gray’s remake of Michael Caine’s The Italian Job (1969) is an adrenaline-pumping thriller. It starts off with an elaborate heist in Venice followed by chaotic motorboat chases along the lines of the James Bond movies.
The heist is a gold theft planned by mastermind Charlie (Mark Wahlberg). But one of his teammates is a bad apple who betrays at a critical point, leaving an important member of the team, Bridger, dead. This scene is shot brilliantly with exotic icy locales in the background. The rest of the movie is about how Charlie and his gang take revenge from the turncoat in Los Angeles. Bridger’s daughter Stella (Charlize Theron) also joins in the adventure.
Another robbery is planned, and if the first one was hair-raising, the second one tops even that. It involves sabotaging the traffic signals and subways so that everyone runs into red lights, causing the ‘largest traffic jam in LA’s history,’ allowing the gang to make good their escape with the loot.
The pace of the film drops when the gang is preparing for the second heist. Too much time is wasted in showing them preparing for the big one. But the cinematography throughout is first rate. There are well-defined characters and some fine performances. Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg chew their meaty roles right up to the bone. All in all, one of the best movies to come out this summer.—-Azeem Haider
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