Bourne Free

Movie Review: The Bourne Ultimatum

He's a quiet man and he is on a mission - his name is Jason Bourne. Matt Damon again steps into the shoes of the government assassin with no memory of who he is or was. This series of films has been quite the showcase for Mr. Damon as it allows him to be smart and kick ass at the same time. Based loosely on the book series by the late Robert Ludlum, Paul Greengrass has taken the helm once again to bring the man with nothing left to lose to life (Doug Liman directed the first installment, The Bourne Identity). The Bourne movies have rejuvenated the spy-genre by placing its hero firmly in the real world, with real emotions and replacing high-tech devices with wit and cunning.

Bourne is still being hunted down like a dog by the CIA. No matter how hard they have tried to kill him in the past, he has always been at least one step ahead of the g-men trying to silence their loose end from Operation Treadstone (watch the 1st two movies). This time around, Bourne has their number and isn’t going to give them an inch.

In round three, we meet the head of the black-ops program, Noah Vosen, played skillfully by David Strathairn. As we learn, Blackbriar is the cut-throat black-ops program that is Treadstone's successor or "upgrade." Pam Landy (Joan Allen), who previously was obsessed with catching Bourne, goes a little nutty and starts to question the vigor in which they are willing to take Bourne out. I’m not sure that this turn did the character any justice, however.

We do learn the origins of Jason Bourne. He has been looking for answers for 3 movies now and he finally gets them. Unfortunately, he gets more than he bargained for but at least he can have some peace.

The film moves so fast there's barely time to take a sip of your soda or a bite of popcorn for fear of missing a morsel. There are some excellent fight scenes but the best scene in the entire movie was the chase scene. For those of you thinking about car chases (Ronin still wins that contest), this one takes place on foot. It is like a well-choreographed dance, with Bourne taking the lead. The masterful back and forth between the “good guys” and the “bad guys” just reels you in and keeps you glued to your seat for the rest of the 2-hour flick. There are other chase scenes in the movie – let’s face it, this is a chase movie – but the first one is still my favorite.

I applaud Mr. Greengrass in his seemingly non-stop action between car crashes, leaping from rooftop to rooftop and crashing through windows. I am torn as to which movie of the trilogy is my favorite, but I think the 3rd movie will come in last. Depending on the day of the week, I will pick Identity over The Bourne Supremacy (let’s face it, Franka Potente’s Marie died too soon in the 2nd movie – she gave Bourne a more human and sympathetic character). But tonight, I think I side with Mr. Greengrass.

Who knows if this is truly the last chapter in the Bourne series, especially with a new book recently released by Ludlum’s close friend? If the box office receipts look good and Matt Damon is willing to return, I bet this isn’t the last we have seen of the spy who now knows too much.

Table for One

Movie Review: No Reservations

½

As a second helping of culinary films this summer, No Reservations does a fine job setting the stage for a decent foodie chick-flick with just the right amount of chefly ego tossed in for good measure.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Kate, a driven heralded chef who happens to be anal retentive in every way. Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin is Kate's niece, Zoe, who unexpectedly moves in after a tragedy takes her mother from her. While Kate steps away from the kitchen to figure out how the hell to care for a 9-year old, her boss brings in a sous chef to help ease the load - enter Nick (Aaron Eckhart), the exact opposite to Kate's orderly and controlling head chef. Nick likes things loose and passionate, including singing to Pavarotti in the kitchen and dancing with the quail dinner special.

Kate is an atypical movie heroine as she is grounded and content with her routines, including her empty apartment and seemingly always empty voicemail box. The addition of a child who refuses to eat Kate's gourmet feasts sends her reeling and looking for answers back in her home away from home - the restaurant kitchen. She quickly learns that you cannot always dress the plate to appease all palates and she has to learn to allow herself to eat on the floor and have pillow fights. Nick finds the recipe to soften her tough exterior and bring fun and joy into her home life with Zoe.

The journey of Kate, Zoe and even Nick was a bit predictable, but a little life was stirred into the tale with Zoe's willingness to step into the kitchen and do a little sautéing of her own. I am a sucker for most culinary movies, even the cheesy and less than stellar ones (like Simply Irresistible).

This mix of Raising Helen meets Baby Boom meets Big Night is the right mix of food, love and learning to adapt to life as it happens. I really did enjoy this movie, but it is understandable if the critics don't get it. This movie isn't flashy, it isn't Oscar-worthy, but it is real - it works as a date movie or just 100 minutes of relaxing entertainment (but maybe bring a Kleenex or two).

One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall!

Movie Review: Transformers

I loved Transformers as a kid (thanks, Hasbro), but was not a die hard fan, so any changes to the original did not really phase me...maybe I am in the minority there.

The premise was the same - vehicles, electronic devices, etc, unfold, their insides coming out, and then reassemble themselves, with speed and agility into giant robots.

This movie was thoroughly enjoyable - especially if you take it for what it is. This was a fun, action-packed movie that doesn't take itself too seriously. After all, this is a Michael Bay film and we all know what to expect when we walk into the theatre. However, this seemed to be a stronger showing for Mr. Bay this time around - but a lot of that may have been due to Steven Speilberg holding the purse strings.

The story is this - the AllSpark (the giver of life in the robot world) was lost in space after the robots divided between good and evil. Falling onto Earth (of course), a handful of these robots traveled all over the galaxy to find this device. Enter the Autobots (good) and the Decepticons (evil). The Autobots want to defend Earth and keep the Allspark from the Decepticons who want to use it to conquer planets.

Our human hero, Sam Witwicky (played skillfully by Shia LeBeouf), is seemingly an innocent bystander when his car - a rusty yellow 1976 Chevy Camaro - Bumblebee, transforms and starts to talk to him through his radio. This was good for some laughs as the car chose the right song lyrics to match what was going through Sam's head at the time. His paramour, Mikaela (Megan Fox), is sucked into the adventure and soon finds that she fits in more with Sam than with the popular clique - much to Sam's delight! The relationship was contrived and somewhat forced for my tastes – maybe this was meant to give a nugget for all the girls forced to see the movie with their men. Otherwise, the character was completely intended to give the guys a drool factor – the girl had some skin showing throughout most of the movie…it’s what they say about men – all they need is cars and women.

Our Autobot hero is Optimus Prime, and he morphs from a big rig, with red/blue flames, and speaks in a booming voice (voiced by Peter Cullen, who originated the character in the cartoon). The rest of his posse is comprised of Bumblebee (who I believe was a girl in the cartoon), Ironhide, Jazz and Ratchett. It was really hard to keep the rest of them straight during the movie, but I’m not sure it mattered.

Most of the charm of this movie is the action of the robots transforming and then fighting each other (sometimes at the very same time). Watching them convert from a car chase to a metal-on-metal death match just leaves you wanting more.

The kids in all of us (especially the boys) were the target audience for this – and that’s why it has been so successful. This was an epic battle of good versus evil with lots of fights, explosions, metal scorpions chasing after military squadrons…all very Michael Bay and all very enjoyable if you aren’t looking for Platoon meets 2001: A Space Odyssey. This was more Aliens meets The Terminator meets War of the Worlds…which is not a bad thing at all.

Pretty Scary in Pink

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix



With just a week left until the final installment of the Harry Potter book series is to be released, I found myself looking for a quick fix to tide me over. 870 pages condensed into 2 hours and 18 minutes quite brilliantly. Director David Yates does an excellent job creating a Harry Potter movie story that flows with relevance and accuracy…well, mostly.

As Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his cohorts, Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) are set to enter their fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they find themselves heavily ensconced in The Order of the Phoenix as they prepare for Lord Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) return to power. Harry is once again reunited with his godfather, Sirius Black (Gary Oldham) and he couldn’t be happier.

This movie is action-packed, even with paring down the original book, but a lot of the scenes are flashes from the 4 previous films. Gone are most of the scenes at Sirius’s house dealing with The Order, but we are still given a glimpse into that piece of the storyline. Harry continues to confide in Sirius and this time around, he is entrusted with most of the secrets of The Order.

This book was notorious for teen angst and a brooding Harry and the movie is no different. The beauty of the abridged version is that he seems to snap out of it a lot sooner. However, we were not denied any of the delicious plot involving the pink yet vicious Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). Her insertion as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor by the paranoid Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy). Her ability to be such a menace over the students and the school is absolutely hair-raising. Her wall of decorative cat plates and her sipping of tea temporarily masks the evil side within. Her pure torture of Harry in detention is as scary to watch as it was to read.

Knowing that Voldemort has returned and being denied the opportunities to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry et al build Dumbledore’s Army and decide to teach themselves how to defend the world against the ultimate evil. Using the Room of Requirement for their lessons, the kids learn everything from Stupefy to Patronus. The addition of Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch) is so refreshing and delightful to watch. This young lady was born to play Looney Lovegood, indeed.

As we soon find out, Harry’s connection to the Dark Lord is stronger than ever and they are actually able to read each other’s thoughts and experience each other’s actions. In order to try and stave off the cranial intrusions, Harry finds himself taking Occlumency lessons from none other than Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman). The portrayal of the aspect of the story was absolutely dazzling. Using the footage from previous films and intertwining some new scenes for Snape was a beautiful harmony of images to give much more meaning to these scenes than my own imagination could do.

After being duped by Lucius Malfoy (Jason Isaacs), Harry and part of his army end up at The Ministry of Magic to try and save Sirius and thwart Voldemort’s plans to steal the Prophecy. Honestly, there was a lot of cutting in this part of the book/movie, but it worked nonetheless. From Sirius’ end to the battle between Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and Lord Voldemort, the ending was breath-taking and heart-pounding.

This is not the best of the series, but it is a very close second. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and felt that this put the series back on track. I have resigned myself to the fact that the movies will never be as detailed and full of secondary storylines as the books are and I am okay with that. If you enjoy this series, you will truly enjoy the newest installment of The Boy Who Lived.


My ratings of the Harry movies so far:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Dinner and a Movie

Movie Review: Ratatouille

½


The writer-director is Brad Bird, who made The Incredibles (2004), lets just say...incredible! So my expectations were quite high walking into this new installment from Pixar Animation Studios.

Our hero is a little rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt). He's kind of cute and loveable and has a predilection for all things culinary. He is a man among mice (er, rats) and even walks on his hind legs so as not to walk on the same things he uses to eat - his hands! Now, you may be thinking, ewwww a rat! However, once you get over the swarming of rats in a couple of scenes, you kind of forget his origins and learn to root for the little guy.

Remy understands the intricacies of tastes and flavors; he delights in combining complimentary spices and feels that you are what you eat. He is a natural-born chef without the culinary school degree. His taste buds separate him from the pack and he dreams of working in a real French kitchen. Obviously, he gets his wish (otherwise, why did we pay $9).

Remy's journey takes from fleeing a gun-totin’ Granny to raft being flushed through the sewers under Paris until he finds himself at Gusteau’s – the restaurant of his late-great-mentor. After accidentally tumbling into the kitchen, he runs across a soup in dire need of flavor-correction while trying to mount his escape. Being the gourmet he is, he cannot just walk by and do nothing. Next thing you know, Remy works his magic and not only saves the day, but helps put the restaurant back on the map.

As it turns out, this is somewhat of a buddy movie. Since Remy cannot take credit for the soup himself, Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano) ends up getting the accolades. Linguini and Remy decide that they need each other to get what they want (Linguini gets to keep his job and Remy gets to cook by using him as a puppet). Suddenly, the restaurant is at the top of the must-eat list and our co-chefs are happier than ever. Linguini even ends up with a love interest, Colette (Janeane Garofalo), who is the kitchen’s badass female chef who won’t take any crap from anyone – a nice touch to her story is to tell us how impossible it can be for a woman in a restaurant kitchen!

Unfortunately, to have a movie, you must have peril and conflict…even if this is a kids movie. So enters the Executive Chef, Skinner (Ian Holm), who resents Linguini and his ability to cook and wants nothing more than to use Gusteau’s name to make money in the frozen food business. But wait, that’s not all…we also have a ghoulish looking, embittered restaurant critic, Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole) who looks more like some scary castoff from Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride than something in a Pixar flick. Apparently, his only mission is to make restaurateurs and chefs miserable in their endeavors by giving them crappy reviews.

Overall, the movie is quite good, but fails in trying to stand up to the previous Pixar films. The animation is just as incredible and is more appetizing than ever, but the story is a little flat. I enjoyed watching the triumph of the underdog and it was very smart to give kids the message of “Anyone Can Cook.” The camera work was enticing and the ending was fun and funny at the same time. However, the movie just paled in comparison to my expectations. I will own this movie; I am sure I will end up watching it again and again (after all, I am a movie buff with a culinary degree). I will say, that watching this movie made me want to taste Thomas Keller’s recipe for Ratatouille (and I hate eggplant!!!) – That’s progress.

One other note, for the first time I feel like the ilk of voice talents was a little “bottom of the barrel” in terms of well-known actors. Nothing against the folks who lent their voices, but they were no Tom Hanks, Albert Brooks, Paul Newman, or Owen Wilson. At least John Ratzenberger kept his Pixar streak alive as Mustafa – but honestly I couldn’t tell you who he was in the movie.

So in honor of this movie, I feel I should post my Pixar list in order of most to least favorites:

The Incredibles
Finding Nemo
Toy Story
Cars
Monsters, Inc.
Ratatouille
A Bug’s Life
Toy Story 2

As an honorary mention, Lifted, the short that precedes this film, was cleaver and funny. It is no One Man Band, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is worth taking the time to watch it.