A scene from G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra
Following the release of the Transformers sequel, G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra is based on another of Hasbro’s popular toy lines, which in turn was also one of the more well-known cartoons of the 80s. Set ten years from now, G.I. Joe is all about a secret, elite military force with two new recruits; Duke, played by Channing Tatum, and Ripcord, played by Marlon Wayans.

Following these recruits, the movie shows us what it means to be, well, “Real American Heroes.” The real story, however, introduces us to their fight against criminals like Destro, the arms dealer, and the rising threat posed by an organization known as Cobra and their plot to control the flow of weapons, including a new nanobot technology that could destroy an entire city.

As you may have guessed, the film is meant to be pure action fluff at its greatest, and that’s perhaps made all the more obvious by the fact that G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra was directed by Stephen Sommers, the man behind The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

While I love a good blockbuster, and all the action and explosions that come with them, this is still a genre with more than its fair share of silliness. Summers himself has directed a number of patently silly films, and G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra is just the latest one on his resume.

Failing only briefly in delivering believable effects, the film is much better than I expected, however, and in fact, better than the Transformers sequel for the most part. Summers and his team keep the cheese at relatively acceptable levels, and the film feels surprisingly light and fun. It’s what you would call a jokey, “high octane” action-adventure, with some very good special effects overall.

I would recommend the film to anyone who doesn’t mind movie fluff, but I have to add that the film is a little more violent than expected, which is actually something I enjoyed considering how many action films feel sanitized for young audiences. Parents may just want to remember that the film is rated 14A and can be fairly violent.

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Based on Morton Freedgood’s 1973 novel, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is a reimagining of a story that has appeared in theatres once before, and made it to television 11 years ago.

Denzel Washington plays Walter, an everyman working as a dispatcher for the New York subway system who must deal with a group of train hijackers, led by John Travolta as the twisted Ryder.

The day seems to start like any other until one train, Pelham 1 2 3, suddenly stops in the middle of the tracks. As Walter tries to figure out what is going on, Ryder takes control of the lead car with a hand full of hostages.

When Ryder finally starts talking to Walter, he asks for ten million in cash in exchange for all of the hostages, and gives them one hour to pay or warns that people will start dying.

Directed by Tony Scott, who previously worked with Washington on the film Déjà Vu, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is a fairly clever action thriller, with more laughs than I expected. The film also benefits from Washington’s ability to play the perfect everyman.

Travolta’s over the top villain is also an asset to the film, although it’s a mild understatement to say that he frequently chews on the scenery. Travolta is better here however than he has been in some time, and I credit that all to Scott’s direction. I also highly appreciated the great character work of John Turturro and James Gandolfini, both of whom made the film even more enjoyable.

Written by Brian Helgeland, who also wrote Man on Fire for Scott, the story is taut and the dialogue is surprisingly good. The problem is really that the third act falls apart after an incredibly promising opening and middle. The film is hardly believable, although it is as close as Hollywood gets, but final act is almost laughable in comparison. The only great moment is in the film’s utterly simple but praiseworthy final scene.

Editor Chris Lebenzon also needed to be reigned in as his work here is way over the top, making the film feel spastic at times. Some of those choices work to build up the intensity of the story, but more often than not I just found his editing distracting, playing out far too much like a very bad music video.

Food, Inc.
For North Americans, food seems to be an abundantly available commodity that you almost don’t need to think about. We live in a time where supermarkets and stores are offering more than they ever could before, and there rarely seems to be shortages.

While people have started to think about eating locally, and where their food comes from, there still seem to be a lot of questions worth asking and Food, Inc. is looking at a lot of things that should still concern people when they go shopping. Things that we really don’t know enough about, in fact.

This documentary might scare some people, looking at things that we sometimes like to ignore, but it’s an incredibly important film, and it could change your opinion of big box grocery stores, and food processing.

As the filmmakers point out, you also have more choice than ever before, and by shopping differently you’ll send a clear message to the companies that sell us the food we live on.

I Love You, Beth Cooper
Lastly, in the comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, Heroes star Hayden Panettiere is the dreamy Miss. Cooper, the most popular girl in the school and the woman that nerdy Denis Cooverman, played by Paul Rust, openly proclaims his love for during his graduation speech.

Directed by one of my personal favorite filmmakers, the great Chris Columbus, who brought us Home Alone, not to mention Mrs. Doubtfire, two Harry Potter films, and the film adaptation of Rent, I expected something at least acceptably funny, which is sadly not the case. I Love You, Beth Cooper is simply a bad comedy, with a weak cast, which was misdirected, and badly wanted to be as funny or touching as Superbad, but just ends up missing the super and being painfully bad.

Sacha Baron Cohen as Bruno

Bruno
This may shock some of you, but I think Sacha Baron Cohen is actually a uniquely gifted actor and comedian. He also has the almost miraculous ability to shock and surprise people again, and again, which comes in handy for his latest comedic foray.

The first time he shocked America was back in 2006 when he stumbled into the country as the somewhat bumbling, socially backwards (and yet oddly likeable) Borat.

Now he’s back, but this time it’s as the unmistakably gay Austrian model, Bruno, who has come to America in search of… well, it hardly even seems to matter.

Once again, Cohen hides his camera crew in plain site, getting the most unbelievable people to appear in his film under the false pretence that they’re actually there for some other insane reason. Playing Bruno as a backwards but oh-so-very gay model, Cohen finds new ways to push everyone’s buttons.

In one scene, Bruno proclaims to a studio audience that he has adopted a baby from Africa, and he’s given him a “traditional African name”… O.J. In another, he has gone to a psychiatrist who believes Bruno wants to become straight somehow.

Essentially, it’s the kind of setup for the film that should remind most audiences that this is a “one trick pony” kind of movie, which consists of a series of gags strung together. The thing is, these films go, Cohen is actually very good at turning emotional button-mashing experiences into a wonderful form of comic mayhem.

Looking at your average critic, I’m not sure many of them are really cut out to review a film like this, at least in my opinion, since Bruno is mostly about gags rather than anything so high-brow as a plot. Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net offer some wisdom into the new film though.

“Even more insane and hysterical than Borat,” Douglas writes, “Sacha Baron Cohen’s hilarious follow-up is also far more coherent and effective at using shock factor to get you laughing.”

Meanwhile, a number of critics have some logical points about the new film, all pointing to some flaws that may not matter to everyone.

“Where Borat was an innocent abroad, Brüno is just broad,” Andrew L. Urban wrote for Urban Cinefile. “Sacha Baron Cohen makes Brüno the self centred and self obsessed centre of the film, which is not so much a story as a series of sketches designed to shock, disgust and outrage.”

Continuing that train of thought, Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, “There is also a pronounced nasty streak to the innumerable provocations staged by the title character that curdles the laughs and wears out the flamboyant Austrian fashionista’s welcome within the picture’s brief 82-minute running time.”

Or, quite simply – as Kirk Honeycutt wrote for the Hollywood Reporter, “We all knew Borat. Borat was a friend of ours. Bruno, you’re no Borat.”

I Love You, Beth Cooper
Lastly, in the comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper, Heroes star Hayden Panettiere is the dreamy Miss. Cooper, the most popular girl in the school and the woman that nerdy Denis Cooverman, played by Paul Rust, openly proclaims his love for during his graduation speech.

I Love You, Beth Cooper was directed by one of my personal favorite filmmakers, the great Chris Columbus, who brought us Home Alone, not to mention Mrs. Doubtfire, two Harry Potter films, and the film adaptation of Rent. The film was also written, interestingly enough, by Larry Doyle, who has contributed to multiple episodes of The Simpsons.

While I’m torn on the casting of Panettiere and Rust, I actually had semi-high hopes for the film. Unfortunately for Columbus and the cast, the critics are painting a clear picture in their reviews. The top critics on RottenTomatoes.com rate the film as 13% – clearly on the rotten side of the scale.

As just one example, Scott Foundas of the Village Voice called I Love You, Beth Cooper “[a] joyless, offensively stupid end-of-high-school farce.”

Coming soon…

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (July 15)
Opening next Wednesday, the latest chapter in the Harry Potter film franchise makes it’s dark, and yet oddly comedic debut, with Harry trying to deal with a budding romance, trouble between his friends, and all the turmoil of a school besieged by the evil forces of Lord Voldemort.

The Hurt Locker
Most importantly, I wanted to mention the great upcoming dramatic thriller, The Hurt Locker. Potentially one of this year’s best films, the story revolves around a group of military bomb technicians working in Baghdad to disarm the numerous explosives that threaten the lives of their comrades, and the general public in the war torn city.

It’s a little depressing to me, but this year’s batch of Heroes are turning out to be duds of lamely epic proportions. Even the so called “Villains,” which are the focus of this chapter in the story, seem to be coming up a bit short on the incredo-meter. They’re like caricatures of bad guys that my friends and I made up on the grade five recesses. If it wasn’t for Zachary Quinto as Sylar, this third, depressing season wouldn’t even be worth talking about.

Even the talented eye candy, like Kristen Bell, Hayden Panettiere, or Dania Ramirez, are hardly worth paying attention to when there are these horrible, ridiculous scripts.

Take tonight’s episode for example. ‘Eris Quod Sum’ has us back with Peter and his not-so-dead father at Pinehearst. Peter is now completely powerless thanks to daddy, and so it’s up to Sylar to come save the day. At the same time, Mohinder is slipping even further into his creepy new mood, Maya apparently has her power eaten by Peter’s father, and the super speedy Daphne has to go kill Matt, but he has a plan to save them both. Oh, and let’s not forget about the electric Elle, who shows up at the Bennet house, but can’t control her powers and so ends up going with Claire to Pinehearst just in time to run into Peter, falling out of a window.

After watching Lost for so long, and actually enjoying the convoluted nature of comic books, I have no problem with all the crazy plots. In fact, that’s almost expected at this point. But the problem is that the writers seem to be resorting to hair-brained schemes to bring characters together, and they like rewriting the books at every turn.

There is also something incredibly lazy about flip flopping your characters around just to make things more interesting. It’s like someone looked up ‘deus ex machina’ one day on Google and figured that was a great way of handling problems in every freaking episode.

For example, can anyone explain to me why the logical Mohinder tested a serum on himself so suddenly this season, changing his character entirely? I like how they’ve changed Sylar around, but maybe that’s because Quinto is pretty talented. When they do the same thing to Peter, I somehow found it all really stupid.

Oh, and as my friend Katrina pointed out to me, when did Maya suddenly learn English!?

I know I’m not alone here. I know at least two fans, Aisha and Katrina, who are just as lackluster about this season as I am. The problem is, I’ll probably keep watching for a bit longer if only because I’m addicted to the whole comic-book heroes thing. Not to mention the cast, which is pretty damn cool.

Compared to season one though, things are going down hill fast, and it’s going to take some miracle writing to save things. Taking plots and characters a little more seriously would help, as would injecting some more humour, but I don’t have much faith that they can revive it at this point. When a show becomes as big as Heroes did, so quickly, without a strong creative presence behind it, things get out of control very easily.

And I’m not sure I’m prepared to sit through it as it crashes and burns, leaving a wake of likely unanswered, or even unanswerable questions.

Hayden Panettiere

For the last few weeks I haven’t had any time to watch Heroes – I’m practically barely even into this second season and it’s going to end (thanks to the writers strike) before I ever get caught up.

But the one thing I can’t get over is how much I read about Hayden Panettiere, who plays Claire Bennet in the show. I’m surprised how much I ended up enjoying her role in season one, but every other thing I read about is that people think she’s hot.

To which I do a double take and ask, Hayden? I’m sorry, she’s cute and all, but she’s exactly super attractive. She got a unique look, and all that, but I don’t get why the net is buzzing for her.

Now Ali Larter – she’s a babe. She plays Niki Sanders in the show and while I’d never drool over her or anything, she’s easily the hottest woman on that show.

If anything though I’ll give Heroes credit for doing a good job of casting and not just throwing the prettiest babes they could find into key roles. Decent scripts, good plot developments usually, and the characters actually evolve (no pun intended) very well throughout the season.

Ali Larter

Anyway, cast you vote in the comments – who do you think is hotter? Ali Larter or Hayden Panettiere? Feel free to vote for other ladies from the show too.

And don’t worry – we’ll do a poll on the guys next week.