Father Geek here with a new Euro-AICN column from our guy in Rome... Robert... I saw "Reloaded" for the second time tonight... It really should be called... "MATRIX: Unloaded", I liked the online cartoons better... sorry! Now here's Robert...
Hi people. It seems that our european staff was eager to talk about X2 and so we have two reviews today of this movie. Unfortunately, nothing about Matrix Reloaded so far (I personally have to wait till monday, 19, for the press screening, because the movie will be released just on 23 in Italy). But before leaving you with the column, I'm glad to pass you some information from the Italian Tolkien Society, which I'm sure will be very well received by european fans:
But before leaving you with the column, I'm glad to pass you some information from the Italian Tolkien Society, which I'm sure will be very well received by european fans:
The Italian Tolkien Society is organizing a series of events aimed at arousing italian fans’ interest as well as foregneirs’one all over the world. On 24th of april, the ambassador of New Zealand in Italy, Peter Bennett, met in Rome the President of the Italian Tolkien Society, Paolo Paron, together with the ITS Manager of Foreign Relations Oronzo Cilli, and the Cultural Executive of the Embassy of New Zealand, Angela Giovanardi. This meeting gave birth to some important initiatives.
“The Embassy of New Zealand will back any suggestion by the Italian Tolkien Society about the promotion of Tolkien and New Zealand”, said Bennett. The most attractive among these initiatives is the planning of a two weeks journey in New Zealand at low prices on february 2004, with the collaboration of the travel agency “Nuova Zelanda Viaggi” of Rome. For the trip, the ITS is trying to get the support of several italian institutions. The departure is scheduled from Rome, with stops in some other european countries in order to enable foreign Tolkien fans as well to join our journey. The package will include the return flight, board and lodging, as well as guided tours to LOTR sets.
Besides, the Embassy of N.Z. in Italy will sustain some ITS’ initiatives, such as “Verso la Contea” in Trani and the 10th “Hobbiton” in Udine and both of them will be honoured by the presence of the Ambassador. Cultural exchanges will be also possible between New Zealand and italian young people as well as a twinning with the New Zealand Tolkien Society.
Moreover, the Italian Tolkien Society is organizing an outstanding exhibition for 2004 in Brussels, for the fiftieth anniversary of the publishing of the two first books of LOTR, in collaboration with the english Tolkien Society and with the involvement of the other european Tolkien Societies. An entire week will be devoted exclusively to the great english writer, hoping that one of Tolkien’s sons will join some of the scheduled initiatives. The event will be introduced at the European Parliament of Brussels, as occurred this year in march for the celebration “Verso la Contea”.
For further information about these initiatives and to join the trip, please contact the promoter Oronzo Cilli at his mail address: By Clicking Here
Action stuff from our Liverpool correspondent Julez...
Hi,
It looks as if Liverpool's film office has scored a major coup for the city's budding film industry by luring in three top Hollywood names. According to icLiverpool Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren and possibly Dennis Hopper will heading for the city soon. Van Damme will be filming 'Snake Head' around the North West region and is in talks for a second feature while he's here, while Lundgren is making a 'predator type action' movie called 'It Waits' and Dennis Hopper is also rumoured to be making his next project there. Read the full skinny yourself...
Regards, Julez
X-MEN 2 review by Ethan
When the initial X-MEN feature was released, I`ve cut it some slack because of Bryan Singer`s previous work. I`ve realized that the movie is part of this cunning Avi Arad strategy of reviving Marvel franchises that began with BLADE. But then, when time went by, when SPIDER-MAN managed to suck so much, when DAREDEVIL appeared to be among the worst major-release directorial efforts ever, on par with ECKS VS. SEVER, I realized that it is not Avi Arad taking care of the franchises. It was New Line taking care of BLADE. X-2 is considered to be a step forward. And somehow it is better than the first one. But it isn`t the step forward. It is just a healthy step, nothing else. It is the first step. Because the first film should have been X-2.
X-2 has a serious plot. It has enough character development to work with audience that has no knowledge of the comic book or the first film. It really does. X-MEN did develop characters and it sketched the origins but basically it was just a plotless movie that cannot work on its` own. X-2 is a well-shaped film.
The script, written by a comitee, actually offers some smart cues and fine ideas but never really reaches beyond boundaries of halfhearted hacking. The basic trouble is Singer`s direction. It`s not just that his directorial position means responsibility. It really feels that most of the flaws are directly his own personal fault.
First off, Singer is not an action director. His action scenes are lame. Some of these action scenes are nicely set but they still appear lame. It`s not just the question of his knowledge and talent which is nonexistetnt when it comes to action scenes. It is also his choice to avoid the old school method of fluent action filmmaking. He obviously never goes for the visceral. It`s his concept. A bad one.
He insists on these slow, compiled, action sequences where many details and close-ups obscure his inability to direct big spacious set pieces. It is a tough thing to sit through a comic book actioner made by a man who can`t and won`t direct energetic action. Besides, most of the coolest moments happen out of the frame. Check the SWAT raid at Xavier`s School.
There`s also the question of cinematography. Newton Thomas Siegel uses this shady light that is supposed to bring us some sense of realism. Instead it makes al the sets and costumes feel fake.
Bad staging and bad light work reveal other wesknesses. First off, there are some big mistakes in the script. Some howler lines that were supposed to b serious. The whole Nightcrawled affair which is downright terrible.
Also the acting isn`t top notch. Rebecca Romijn Stamos rules not only the toilet scene that was lifted from De Palma`s FEMME FATALE. In the end, it is tough to act in such a superficial enviroment with poorly shot sets and costumes.
The script isn`t brave enough to pull the Grant Morrison twist on the franchise. It sticks to the original Stan Lee vibe with some seventies revisions thrown in. But the Stan Lee vibe makes me compare this one with BATMAN FOEREVER, and it feels like the DC contender had better direction and more consistency even though X-2 feel innovative.
As it was mentioned some of the best scenes in X-2 were lifted form T-2 and FEMME FATALE.
The whole serious minded ideology about mutants being this metaphore for different people doesn`t work because Singer betrayed X-MEN trashy origins but failed to provide us with solid groundwork for this serious, and politically correct, agenda.
X-2 isn`t a complete failure. It isn`t disgrsceful and unbearable. But it isn`t as good as superhero flicks ought to be in 2003.
God bless, Ethan
A couple of reviews by James Bartlett...
X2: X-Men United Director: Bryan Singer
Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Brian Cox,
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos
General Release
Director: Bryan Singer Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Brian Cox, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos General Release
The sequel to the massive hit X-Men, X2 follows a logical pattern; when the US President is attacked by a mutant called Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming,) the order goes out to detain all mutants for questioning - are they a dangerous threat after all?
First off, the authorities visit the school of Xaiver (Patrick Stewart) where all the pupils are all mutants of some kind. Only just returned to the school from his travels is Wolverine (Hugh Jackman,) who helps some of the pupils escape before he and Xavier are captured by Stryker (Brian Cox,) the whacko scientist leading the mission against the mutants.
Now with Nightcrawler on their side, the remaining X Men have to make a decision; if they are going to avoid annihilation and persecution by Stryker, they must band together with Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) in order to save themselves.
The story climaxes in a battle at an old dam, where Stryker has assembled a machine similar to the Cerebrum (the gadget Xavier uses to monitor other mutants around the world) which he plans to make Xavier use to kill all the mutants. One of the X Men will die in this final battle - but who?
Whilst the first film had to introduce us to the many characters in this comic-inspired story, X2 settles into a routine a lot easier and the sequences in the story come across really well, as do the improved/new characters of Mystique, Pyro and Nightcrawler.
That said, the sheer number of characters necessitates that they are rarely all together and it does make for some confusion and lost threads at times - plus several of the characters really have very little to do.
There will no doubt be another X Men film as several new characters were set up, but in my cinema, the biggest cheers of the night were for the "Matrix Reloaded" trailer.
Bringing Down The House Director: Adam Shankman
Steve Martin, Queen Latifah, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright
105 mins
General Release
Certificate 12A
Uptight tax lawyer Peter (Steve Martin) is a bit of a mess. He's just let his kids down again after promising to take them on holiday and it's his work, work, work that caused his marriage to fail, even though his ex-wife and he still carry a torch for each other.
With no time to seek a new girlfriend, he joins an internet chat room and arranges to meet who he thinks is a tall, young blond monikered as "lawyer-girl". However, when she arrives for dinner, she's not what he expected: "lawyer-girl" is in fact Charlene (Queen Latifah,) a sassy and confident ex-crim who needs help proving that she is innocent of her crimes.
Desperate to win the billion dollar account of Mrs. Arness (Joan Plowright), Peter must prove he has a stable home and personal life - very difficult when Charlene won't leave the house (a la "Housesitter", another Martin film,) his work colleague Howie (Eugene Levy) has fallen for her and she is helping him with the kids.
So, they make a deal - he will help prove her innocence, she will help him win back his ex-wife and not lose him Mrs. Arness deal; but of course, it's not as simple as that.
One of Steve Martin's biggest ever hits at the box office, Bringing Down The House is, for several reasons, a bit of a mixed bag. On the story side, it's not quite sure what it wants to be - is it an out-and-out comedy or a romantic comedy (it seems so clear that Peter and Charlene will get together - but they don't,) or is it a drama (the presence of Charlene's gun-toting ex boyfriend when Peter gets close to solving the case).
It could also be seen as a parody in some ways, because the shockingly inappropriate use of some racial stereotypes and some of the cringe-worthy scenes are at best ill-judged and things that Martin (an experienced film player) and Latifah (a recent Oscar nominee and Executive Producer here) should have know better.
That said, you could argue that it is just a comedy and it does have some great lines (of which Levy, as the love-struck Howie gets most), but overall it misses more targets than it hits you do wonder what the point of it was; I guess mainstream comedy just isn't ready for a black/white romantic comedy with strong characters in it yet.
James Bartlett
