Back Seat Producers

Barney Ross is the leader of a group of mercenaries called The Expendables and they’re about to take on a job where they overthrow a dictator in a small country called Vilena.

That’s about all I’ll say about the overall story to The Expendables, the long-awaited movie from director and star Sylvester Stallone that gathers together some of the greatest ever stars of action movies. Has it been worth the wait? Well, I certainly think so.

Since making Rocky Balboa a couple of years ago and then following it up with Rambo, Stallone’s been showing up that he still has the chops to make a darn good movie, and The Expendables just adds to that, and in my opinion surpasses those two great movies.

This is a cool throwback to 80s action movies with some modern techniques thrown in. The story and character interaction remind of the sort of thing that we would see from writer Shane Black (the Lethal Weapon movies) and that’s very cool, as every character gets a chance to have their little bit of spotlight in the movie.

Yeah, it’s high-charged action but at the same time, it has those moments where it’s allowed to breathe and spotlight more than just moving from action sequence to action sequence. It’s also very self-aware of the type of movie that it is, but it’s not a mocking self-awareness, it’s all played straight.

But really, the main thing that we’re going to see this movie for is just it’s terrific assemblage of action movie stars. And while Stallone is the lead, it never once felt to me like he was dominating the movie, this really felt like an ensemble film. But he is the glue that holds it all together and he’s extremely solid.

And what a cast- Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Terry Crews form the rest of The Expendables and Mickey Rourke plays a former team member who’s since retired from the life but still hangs with his pals. Statham has been one of my favorite guys to see in movies for awhile now, and he doesn’t disappoint here. He and Stallone have the tightest relationship amongst the group and their chemistry is very good. In the action sequences, while all of the guys are very effective, Statham tends to standout to me with an intensity to his moves that just looks authentic. Jet Li is given top billing in the movie, though his part is a little smaller than Stallone’s and Statham’s, but he also gets the chance to provide some cool comedy relief as well as have one terrific fight sequence with Dolph lundgren.

But it doesn’t stop there, of course we have the uncredited appearances of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger that have certainly been pushed strong in the trailers for the film. Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis are just together for one scene, but it’s a good one. Willis plays the man who’s hiring for the job and Schawarzenegger is the head of a rival mercenary group. Willis brings the intensity to the scene and Stallone and Schwarzenegger take some funny shots at each other. It’s very short, but it still feels like your genuine moment that’s a special thing if you’re a fan of big-ass action movies.

And it still doesn’t stop, Eric Roberts is absolutely terrific as the villain of the piece and Stone Cold Steve Austin plays his right hand man. Roberts looks great here and he’s just a commanding presence whenever he’s on screen. Austin has few words, but when they’re delivered, they’re authentic. He literally goes toe-to-toe with Stallone in one fight sequence, and hands Stallone his hat.

The Expendables is the last of the big three “Men on a Mission” movies for the year (the other two being The Losers and The A-Team) and I have to say, it’s my favorite of the bunch. It’s a rollicking ride that’s self-aware without spoofing and delivers the good with some prime action sequences and big stars. It’s also left open-ended, so there’s the chance for sequels and I hope Stallone and company return for more (and hopefully work with other action stars as well, like Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Dwayne Johnson amongst others). Fun stuff and highly recommended.

I used to make fun of these movies.

Yep, I just had no appreciation for them whatsoever, and so they were something that I just made fun and had contempt for.

That all changed a few years ago when Fox premiered So You Think You Can Dance. Now here’s the deal, I had no intention of ever watching this show when it premiered. American Idol had just finished another season, and I was ready to move on. The day that SYTYCD started, I had just gotten a a new DVR from my cable company and along with getting that DVR, I was also now getting High-Def access. I got this late in the day, and so once it was all installed, I was flipping around to see what I could see in glorious HD. SYTYCD was just starting and I kept the TV on that channel for the first audition and man… it just struck me the same way that a great painting does, this dancer I saw in action was a beautiful piece of live action art.

So I continued to watch the show, and just got hooked. Every episode, I always see something that’s just absolutely amazing. The panel of judges, always headed by Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe, just had a great and positive energy about them and always handed out praise and constructive criticism to their contestants. The show’s host, Cat Deeley, is to me, a positively magnetic personality and she does a fantastic job hosting this show. She’s, in my eyes, the best of the hosts of the various talent shows that are on the air now.

But the main thing that got to me about the show was just it’s sheer celebration of it’s artform, encompassing all forms of dance. On American Idol, I’d actually grow to actively dislike some of their contestants, but that rarely happened with SYTYCD (only once so far). There’s a lot of joy to this show, and even for someone with two left feet like myself, there’s a lot to appreciate. And this went even further, because I started watching America’s Best Dance Crew as well, and that just gave me even more to appreciate.

Adam Shankman has been one of the regular judges on the show for the last two seasons and I knew he was one of the producers of the Step Up movies. Because of that, I eventually saw both Step Up and Step Up 2 The Streets on cable and had a pretty good time with them. On top of that, it doesn’t hurt that Shankman was behind this year’s Oscar broadcast, delivering what I thought was the best Oscar show that I’d seen in a long time.

So, when I finally saw the trailer to Step Up 3D, I was finally ready to want to see one of these movies theatrically. When this opportunity came up through The Trades], I jumped at the chance to go see it. Recently on SYTYCD, Cat Deeley said something to the effect that Step Up 3D is the kind of movie that their viewers should go see, and I have to say, she’s absolutely right.

Step Up 3D starts with one of the characters from Step Up 2 The Streets, Moose as he’s about to start college at NYU. Everyone thinks Moose has this dancing thing out of his system and now he’s ready to start his life in the real world and concentrate on his studies to be an engineer. Well, right off the bat, Moose inadvertently gets involved in a dance showdown with a member of a dance group called The Samurai, and Moose pretty much schools this guy. Moose catches the eye of Luke, a budding filmmaker who has his own dance crew called The Pirates and right away, Luke drafts Moose into his crew. But Luke and his crew have their own problems. The building that they’re staying in is about to be foreclosed on and their only chance to save the building is to compete against the top dance crews in epic B-Boy battles. At the same time that Luke is showing Moose around the building, a young lady named Natalie catches Luke’s eye with her own moves. Now Luke has what he needs to put his crew on the map and save their building… though it won’t quite be that easy.

Now, Step Up 3D won’t win any awards for originality in it’s story, but really that’s OK, it’s story acts as a frame for some really spectacular dance sequences. When it comes right down to it, if you’re going to see this movie, that’s really what you’re wanting to see and director Jon M. Chu really delivers the goods.

But coming back to it’s story, yeah, it’s heavily derivative, the characters are pretty shallow and there’s a few holes that you could drive a truck through, but y’know, it just didn’t bother me. You’ve got a very amiable cast at work here (even if they are shallow) and more than anything else, like SYTYCD, it’s a celebration of dance and for fans of this, that will probably suffice, it certainly did for me.

Chu’s shooting this almost like a classic Technicolor musical. There’s a kaleidoscope of bright colors and exquisite detail in every single shot. The dance numbers themselves are mostly shown full on and though there are some cuts, those cuts are spare making you feel like you’re watching a live show more often than not.

And it’s all presented in beautiful 3D! Yeah, there’s a lot of bellyachin’ going on these days about the overuse of 3D in movies and for a lot of those productions, I’m right there with you. But when something like this comes along that’s specifically shot for 3D and takes full advantage of it, well that’s when the pluses of 3D loom large. This isn’t tacked on 3D by any means and it works on both ends creating immersive environments as well as giving you that reach out and touch it effect. For me, this is the best live-action 3D that I’ve seen in a movie so far.

While this movie won’t win any acting awards, I still thought that our main three characters, Luke, Natalie and Moose were likable characters and actors Rick Malambri, Sharni Vinson and Adam Sevani certainly look good and do serviceable jobs. There are a few SYTYCD alum in the cast as well, most notable being Season 4’s winner Joshua and one of the finalists from Season 6, Legacy. The one that’s a real treat to see though is from Season 4 and this year’s All-Star cast and that’s Stephen “tWitch” Boss. For my money, tWitch is the best pure performer that I ever saw on the show. In this current season, he had one of the real standout moments with a routine that he performed with early favorite Alex Wong choreographed Napoleon and Tabitha D’umo (do yourself a favor and check this out on Youtube). tWitch is pure support here, and while he’s not given the chance to stand out like he does on SYTYCD, it’s still a genuine pleasure to see him in this film and I just hope that he gets the chance to do more in the future (and maybe even more than just dance, I thinks he’s got those kind of chops).

So if you’re a fan of dance and musicals, by all means see this (it’s not just Hip-Hop in this movie, there’s also a nice ballroom number and a terrific salute to the type of thing that Gene Kelly would do later in the film) and see it in 3D. This 3D doesn’t disappoint in the slightest and thanks to the talent of director Jon Chu and his fine cast of dancers, you’ll see some things here in live action that will rival some of the more ambitious mechanical and digital effects of other movies. If you’re not a fan… well, a few years ago, I wasn’t either and I’ve certainly had my eyes peeled in recent years. Step Up 3D could go a long way to giving others a big appreciation for the art of dance.

A woman named Evelyn Salt is held captive in North Korea. The North Koreans believe her to be a spy and even under extreme torture, Salt denies it (though it is true), maintaining that she’s an executive with a petroleum company. Eventually though she’s released in a spy exchange. It was something that she hadn’t expected, but it was done thanks to efforts of her boyfriend, Mike Krause, a German arachnologist who is something of a big deal. His looking into this threatened to make a huge international stink, and so Salt’s CIA superiors decide to arrange for being freed.

Two years later, Salt’s cover is still good and things are going well for her. One day though, a defector comes in from the cold. A master Russian spy named Orlov who reveals a plot to kill the Russian president scheduled to happen in the United States. Orlov tells that this will happen due to a deep cover operative placed within the CIA- an agent named Evelyn Salt. Now Salt is on the run in order to supposedly clear her name.

Salt is the latest movie from director Philip Noyce and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer. Noyce is best remembered for his work on two of the Jack Ryan movies, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. Wimmer is certainly no stranger to the action genre, having written movies like Law Abiding Citizen, The Recruit and the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. Wimmer’s better known (at least to me) for the two movies that he wrote and directed, Equilibrium and Ultraviolet. I think they’ve delivered a pretty fun movie here, with just a few quibbles on my end.

It’s been awhile since seeing Philip Noyce do this kind of big action movie, and he hasn’t lost his touch. The action scenes here are genuinely thrilling with one of the big highlights being a chase scene near the start of the film. The pacing of this film is pretty balls to the wall all the way through, though you never get lost in it.

Salt’s story revisits the days of the Cold War in a big way, offering up it’s own comic book take on a huge Russian master plan. Now I’ve seen some complaints regarding it’s realism, or lack of, and I have to say, this didn’t bother me. It might’ve if this had some sort of mocking quality to it, but it doesn’t. It’s all handled very straight with some solid conviction all around.

Angelina Jolie plays Evelyn Salt and I think she does one hell of a good job here. She looks terrific (as always) and she’s one of the few actresses around who I think can pull off this kind of action and make it convincing. She’s backed up with some fine support from Liev Schrieber and Chiwetol Ejifor. Daniel Olbrychski plays Orlov and does a nice job as this Russian master spy. He’s mainly there for story exposition, but certainly carries the authority to pull it off.

Some of my quibbles though are in the casting. I think this should’ve gone a little bigger with it’s casting of both Mike Krause and the President of the United States. I’m sure that both August Diehl (Krause) and Hunt Block (the president) are doing just what’s asked of them, but there’s not a whole lot more. And while their casting doesn’t really hurt the movie, having actors who could’ve brought a bit more to it could’ve added a lot more. Andre Braugher is cast as the Secretary of Defense and he’s only seen in a single scene near the end where he barely has anything to do- and so to me, an actor of his calibre is wasted. He could’ve served this movie better being cast as the President of the United States.

Now the next quibble goes into spoiler territory, so if you don’t want to be spoiled, then skip this paragraph. Almost from the moment he’s introduced, you sort’ve suspect that something is up with the character that Liev Schrieber plays. Indeed by the movie’s end, you find out that there is indeed something going on with him. Now I really like Schreiber and I think it would’ve actually been pretty cool had they defied convention with his use and maybe have had another CIA agent introduced at the start to take on what Schreiber ends up doing. It would’ve been nice to see him more in the good guy role here. Again, like with the casting of the president and Mike Krause, this doesn’t really hurt the movie, but it really could’ve improved if this had just defied convention a bit.

Still, even with my quibbles, Salt is a lot of fun and hopefully the start of a new franchise for both Jolie and Philip Noyce. I had a great time with this.

Dom Cobb specializes in the world of corporate espionage. He has a reputation for being the best in the business for finding the deepest of corporate secrets. He does this through the infiltration of dreams and using a specialized technology that lets him and his associates construct a shared dream world. Once their target is in this world, then their secrets are pretty much Cobb’s for the picking, but only because of Cobb’s advanced use of the technology and deep understanding of the human subconscious.

Cobb’s talents though have made him a wanted man in the United States, and since the death of his wife Mal (related to their work in dreams), he’s desperate to be able to come back to the States and be a real father to their children. Dom gets his chance thanks to a ruthless corporate head named Saito. Saito wants Dom and his associates to infiltrate the dreams of a corporate rival. But instead of taking a secret from him, Saito wants Cobb to implant an idea through a process that they call Inception. Inception has never been performed successfully, but Saito has promised Cobb that if he can perform this, Saito will use his connections to clear Cobb’s way to get back to his family.

Of course, Cobb accepts the mission and what follows is one hell of a terrific and extremely smart ride.

Inception is the much awaited new film from director (and writer) Christopher Nolan. Nolan of course made huge waves with his second film, the low-budget Memento and has since become a real power player with Warner Brothers since helming Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (and about to go even further with him shepherding the next iteration of Superman for film). Inception, from what I understand, has been an idea that he’s been developing since making Memento. That long thought and planning is very much evident on the big screen.

I tend to think of this film as the sort of thing you might get if you mashed art house guys like Peter Greenaway (who’s been known to make movies where he’s set himself some specific rules for how his films unfold) and David Lynch (who’s readily dealt with dream interpretation in his past work) with just a touch of a hardcore action filmmaker. This combination doesn’t exactly make for what one tends to think of as a typical summer blockbuster. Yet, it really does work. And further, this harkens back to Memento, giving you the type of movie that you can watch again and again just to see how all the pieces work together.

This film is a mix of two things: an intense character study and your classic caper film. On one end, we get a very intense character with Dom Cobb and Cobb has a pretty dark past with the death of his wife, Mal. This is so ingrained in Dom that even in the midst of a shared dream world, Mal will manifest herself and threaten the entire operation. As this progresses, Dom must come to grips with his involvement in his wife’s death while still staying on point with the task at hand.

On the other end, we have the classic caper film- and as with all good caper films, we have some clear rules for how things are supposed to play out. Of course though, nothing ever sticks to the plan in the end of these movies and everything gets incredibly screwed up.

Add in the idea of dealing with deep layers of the subconscious and you’ve got some pretty impressive meat to chew on here.

It’s all skillfully handled and a lot of credit has to go to the editing of the film- especially in the film’s second half where eventually we end up seeing Cobb’s team dealing with the main dream and then three stages of dreams within the main dream. This could easily become confusing if you don’t have a deft touch on the cutting room floor. As complicated as this becomes, it’s never confusing to follow- as long as you’re paying attention. Kudos to Mister Nolan and film editor Lee Smith (Smith should get an Oscar nomination for his work here).

Inception certainly looks terrific thanks to some pretty smart production design and the sure eye of cinematographer Wally Pfister (who’s worked on every Nolan film except for Following). I also have to give high marks to Hans Zimmer for a knockout score- it’s not atypical of his previous action work and it’s particularly effective as the caper plays out.

None of this would work if you didn’t have a cast that’s ready to convict to the ideas here in spades, and fortunately Nolan has that cast. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Dom Cobb and there’s a lot of similarities here to what we’ve seen from him earlier in the year with Shutter Island (I wasn’t that taken with Shutter Island on the first viewing and certainly owe it another shot down the road). The difference here is that it wasn’t as apparent to me what his final resolution was going to be as it was in Shutter Island. What DiCaprio brings to this though is a an intensity that feels authentic to a man who spends a deep amount of time and study to the dream world and knowing just how harmful that world can be. He’s the anchor here, but as we find out, you’re just not sure how sturdy that anchor is and DiCaprio is pretty convincing on that end.

DiCaprio’s got a lot of excellent support. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays his right hand man, Arthur. Gordon-Levitt’s certainly come a long way since Angels in the Outfield and Third Rock From The Sun. Now he’s strictly support here and does a solid job of being Cobb’s second. But even as support he gets a true area to shine in one of the film’s most innovative and imaginative action scenes in the caper’s second dream stage. This scene, even though it’s skillfully edited with the other layers, is a standout and you have to figure a lot of credit goes to Gordon-Levitt’s conviction to make this play just right. Ellen Page plays Ariadne who becomes Cobb’s new Architect for building a dream world. Page is one of those actors that you can always see has a brain in her head when she’s on-screen. It pays off here handsomely as she tries to figure out everything she can about Cobb’s demons.

Tom Hardy and Dileep Rao make up the rest of Cobb’s team. Hardy plays Eames who acts as the Forger and can literally shapeshift himself in the dreamworld to play specific people in the subconscious. Dileep Rao plays Yusif who acts as the sedative supplier to the team and has his own special concoction that can work through three layers of the subconscious as well as connect up to 12 people at one time. Both are solid, but Hardy really stands out here with his own brand of self-confidence.

It doesn’t stop there either. Ken Watanabe plays Saito, the man who wants Cobb to do the job. There’s just one catch, Saito wants to go in with Cobb’s team and see firsthand that the job gets done. Now Watanabe’s good here, but I have to admit I had a little trouble following some of his dialogue in some places. Some of that though I chalk up to the theatre that I saw this in and where I sat, so I expect something different when I’ll next see this. Cillian Murphy plays Robert Fischer, Jr.- the Mark. Up to the point where we first see him, this whole film has centered around Cobb and his team. So Murphy has to do his best to give you a pretty rounded character in a short amount of time and he certainly does here. Tom Berenger (man, it’s cool to see Berenger in a movie like this- sort of like how cool it was to see Rutger Hauer in Batman Begins) plays Browning, Fischer’s advisor and he’s certainly good there, but he gets to go in for double duty when Eames assumes Browning’s identity in the dream world and he brings in some nice subtleties.

Finally though, I have to give extremely high marks to Marion Cotilliard who plays Mal, Dom’s wife. First, she’s just gorgeous, an absolutely beautiful woman but that’s just the surface. She’s the root of Cobb’s own problems and so whenever she comes on screen, then she’s got to carry a lot of weight and a lot of presence and she certainly does. And as we get further and further in, she has some pretty heavy and harrowing moments that are indelible.

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen a movie that has dealt with the world of dreams and the perception of reality. Dreams have been dealt with in things like Dreamscape and the anime Paprika. Reality has certainly been dealt with in things like The Matrix movies, The Cell and Vanilla Sky. But rarely do we get to see something that takes it as far as what Inception does (The Matrix[ films being the ones that next do it best in my mind). This is the sort of film that demands being seen again and again. Oh, I certainly had a satisfying experience the first time, but there’s just so many layers of depth here that certainly makes me want to see it again). Don’t miss this one, make it a point to see it in a theatre on the best screen you can- you’ll be glad you did.

Without a doubt, another film that will definitely figure in as one of the best that I’ve seen for 2010. Inception is highly, highly recommended.