Give Up Tomorrow

Paco’s family files for appeal to the Supreme Court, and four years later, receives a change in verdict from life imprisonment to death by lethal injection. It is later revealed that the Supreme Court chief justice’s wife is a relative of Mrs. Chiong, mother of the victims. Since Paco is also a Spanish national through his father’s Spanish citizenship, his family has appealed for help from Spain. The UN Human Rights Commission steps in, declares Paco innocent and pressures the Manila government to release him. Spain steps in and ratifies a prison-exchange agreement between Spain and the Philippines, which will allow them to transfer Paco to a Spanish prison. In October 2009, Paco is transferred to a Spanish prison, with high hopes of his release. As of today, November 2011, Paco is still in prison.

Michael and Marty went on a six-year journey to unlock the story behind the Chiong sisters’ murder, the arrest of Paco Larranaga and the failing process of a corrupt justice system. It all started when they read the letters of the “Unheard 35″, the 35 witnesses who were with Paco on the day of the murder, witnesses who clear his name for sure. I was able to watch the World Premiere of Give Up Tomorrow at Tribeca Film Festival in New York early this year. And it moved me to tears. Give Up Tomorrow presents the facts from both sides and has now convinced me more than ever of Paco’s innocence.

Learn more about Give Up Tomorrow on their website, http://www.pacodocu.com. If you’re in New York on November 15, you can catch their screening at Stranger than Fiction Festival at the IFC Center. You can find out more at their website: http://stfdocs.com/films/give_up_tomorrow/.

If you’d like to show your support for the campaign to Free Paco or send messages to Paco, please visit the Free Paco campaign website at http://www.freepaconow.com.

Some stories are classic. All film versions of The Three Musketeers spawned from the 19th century novel by Alexandre Dumas. The story — in varying degrees of faithfulness to the source material — has been translated into film 20 times, not counting the animated spoofs like the immortal Barbie and the Three Musketeers in 2009. So it should come as no surprise that we will be treated to a 21st version coming to theaters next month. Thinking that there could be nothing new to add after a score of movies has already been done? This will be the first Musketeers movie… in 3D.

The Thing is certainly a film worthy of a remake. So much so, that it has been done already — almost 30 years ago. In 1982 director John Carpenter took the original sci-fi classic and re-jigged it into a horror film. Now, sixty years after the original film came out, Hollywood is dusting off and modernizing the story once again. I think I’ll skip this one and wait for the 2031 version.

Why remake Footloose? I just don’t know. Footloose was a hit in its day, grossing a respectable (for 1984) $80 million on an $8 million budget. The entire plot can be summed up in a single sentence. According to IMDB, “City kid Ren McCormack moves from Boston to an old-fashioned and uptight Bomont, and rebels against its law that bans dancing and rock music.” That’s really the whole story. I don’t see much re-makeable about this film. Even if you focus exclusively on the 80s nostalgia market, I can think of a dozen other 80s movies more worthy of a remake than Footloose.

Maybe one of these will surprise us and prove to be remake-worthy. I think The Three Musketeers probably offers the most hope. Check back here at Flick Rev when the movies come out for insightful reviews and commentary before you spend your hard-earned bucks at the theater.

But to take a book like The Lord of the Rings, Twilight, or Harry Potter and turn it into a film you must take into account the reaction of the legions of devoted fans who have their own ideas about how their favorites characters should look, sound, and act in real life. Which brings us to The Hunger Games, due to hit theaters in March 2012. The hugely popular book, written by Suzanne Collins, is sparse on description and detail. Collins prefers to press ahead with the action rather than spend paragraph after paragraph describing the appearance of the forest. She tells you it’s a forest and moves on to what happens in the forest. The details are left to your imagination.

Which is a style that is ripe for the conversion to the silver screen. Unlike, for example, JRR Tolkein who described every aspect of Middle Earth in such detail that the filmmakers had little choice but to create a world and characters that matched visually, Collins’ world is painted in broad strokes which can be interpreted more freely for the movie.

The biggest obstacles to translating the story to a film is the amount of time that Katniss spends alone with her thoughts and her rapidly shifting motivations for her actions. While her thoughts and intentions are crystal clear to the reader, significant changes will be necessary to convey the same on screen.

With a $75 million budget and a solid cast, headed by Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and including Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, and Lenny Kravitz – who was born to play Cinna – The Hunger Games appears to be on track to satisfy the hoards of fans of the series and two sequels are almost guaranteed.

Why am I going on about a lost 87-year-old film now?  Because as of last week the film is no longer lost.  Well, not all of it, anyway.  A film archivist pouring through the vast collection of a deceased film buff found the first three reels of the six reel film tucked away in a vault in New Zealand.

The half-movie will premier again (maybe that should be “remier”?*) next month in Hollywood.  No word yet on just how this is going to work.  Will the Hollywood elite gussy up to be seen going to an old silent movie without an ending?  Maybe, maybe not.  Film historians, on the other hand, will flock from the four corners of the Earth to see this priceless discovery – with or without a red carpet and paparazzi.  The opportunity to see a ‘new’ film by Alfred Hitchcock – the mastermind behind such greats as Dial M for Murder, Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, North by Northwest and The Birds – hasn’t come along since his final film, Family Plot, was released in 1976.  Barring another even more improbable discovery it will never happen again.

*The term “remier” is copyright 2011 by Flickrev.com.  All rights reserved.  You may not use the term “remier” without the express written consent of Flickrev.com and the National Football League.

Thor has already been reviewed on this site. Excellent film that proved comic book movies don’t have to contain gratuitous violence (violence against computer-generated frost giants doesn’t count) or sex or coarse language to be a box office hit with a gross of $437M to date. -1 point to my preview for incorrectly identifying Kenneth Branagh as the star. Branagh directed, Chris Helmsworth starred.

X-Men: First Class was surprisingly successful. Another prequel, pre-dating the previous prequel with a cast of nobodies was a gutsy move, but Fox pulled it off. With a gross to date of $346M, X-Men: First Class has to be considered a victory. (Remember when a gross of $100M was considered the threshold for ‘blockbuster’ status? Now your average blockbuster costs more than that to make.)

Green Lantern was the least of the summer superhero flicks in terms of critical acclaim, money made, and this writer’s estimation. A little over a month after its release, the film is still roughly $50 Million in the red. DC Comics just can’t seem to duplicate the success it achieved with the Chris Nolan Batman reboot. Here’s hoping the upcoming Man of Steel is better.

Captain America: The First Avenger, which I will not be reviewing because Shannon and Michael apparently offered the EIC a better bribe than I did (washing and waxing her car for the next three months seemed like a generous enough offer), was easily the best of the bunch. At times laugh-out-loud funny, other times lump-in-the-throat emotional, and consistently packed with action throughout. The opening weekend take is still being tallied as of this writing, but should easily top $80M. Strong word of mouth should push this one to a strong second week take.

The Summer of the Superhero has come to an end, but Comic Book fans need not despair.  The final Batman, The Avengers, and the Spider-Man reboot are just a year away.  And don’t forget Cowboys and Aliens, a film based on a comic that nobody read, will be out next week.

Joel and Ethan Coen

Lebowski functions as a  rewrite of a Raymond Chandler detective story, with the lead detective recast as a middle-aged, unemployed stoner. Just like Chandler’s novels (and the Humphrey Bogart movies made from them), the story is less of a mystery and more of an excuse to explore a vivid world filled with strange characters. And following the success of Fargo, Lebowski is less the Coens’ attempt to capitalize on their success and more an attempt to put as many strange characters as possible into a movie.

The most vividly drawn character, Jeff Bridges’ “The Dude,” has since defined Jeff Bridges, to an extent — critics have used it as a a touchstone to explain his unique, understated appeal. Bridges plays The Dude as a chronically unconcerned Los Angeles-based slacker who has settled into an early retirement. (Other than mentioning a brief run as a roadie for Metallica, Bridges’  character never gets an occupation, or any suggestion of where he gets his income.) The dude likes bowling, White Russians (a milk-based, coffee-flavored cocktail), pot, and the Oriental rug that “really ties his [living] room together.” Instead of a detective case, the loss of that rug propels the movie’s plot.

The cast is rounded out with talented actors who give life to the Coens’  Los Angeles. John Goodman plays Bridges’  best friend and bowling teammate as a giant force of a man who works angry reminders that he served in Vietnam into conversation as often as possible. David Huddleston plays the film’s namesake, a wealthy old man who shares Bridges’  given name, Jeff Lebowski. When Huddleston’s young wife (Tara Reid) disappears, he gives Bridges’  “detective” a”case”. Julianne Moore plays Huddleston’s daughter as a second-generation feminist who grew up in a succession of boarding schools, and John Turtorro has a short, but memorable turn as a rival bowler and convicted child molester named Jesus.

While the film’s plot mainly functions to loop all the jokes and vignettes together, the writing and acting work are good enough that even if the film never becomes more than the sum of its parts, the audience doesn’t tend to mind. The Big Lebowski has developed a cult following, and midnight screenings are now regular in college towns, where kids regularly quote lines from the movie as conversational shorthand.

Super 8 is the story of a group of kids in 1979 who are making their own scary movie to enter in a film contest. Late one night, their camera accidentally captures an incredible train crash in their small hometown, and they soon begin to discover that their camera may have also caught something else.

With Super 8, Abrams solidifies that he is a directorial force to be reckoned with. His “hide-and-reveal” technique with the audience fuels the building adrenaline of the film, and adrenaline it sure does have. What really surprised me was how plain scary the movie was. (SPOILERS NOW) The bus scene is sincerely terrifying, and gives this generation its own (maybe scarier) T-Rex Jeep scene or Jaws shark attack scene.

But Super 8 is deeper than just the action and thrills, and that’s what makes it such an affecting and memorable film. It’s supported by a great cast, within which every one of the kids gives a stellar performance. The standout here is Joel Courtney, who plays young Joe Lamb, the main character of Super 8. I’ve never seen more emotion in one kid’s eyes than in his performance here. He’s truly phenomenal. Elle Fanning gave a great performance as well. The successful cast really gave Super 8 the boost it needed to take it from just a briefly entertaining movie to a lasting, moving one.

My only qualm was with the soundtrack. When we think of the great blockbusters of Spielberg’s era, there’s always an epic, memorable musical score to go along with it, transforming it from just a movie into a lasting memory. Super 8 tries to have some semblance of an elegant and emotional score, but doesn’t have enough of it. But I can let this go.

Super 8 set out to do something quite difficult. It had a relatively no-name starring cast made up of a bunch of kids, zero commercial marketing or branding, and a completely original plot. But I’ve never had a movie I’ve wanted to write more good things about. Super 8 brilliantly succeeds and gives you an old-school blockbuster of a summer movie that you can truly escape into. What’s next for Abrams and Super 8? With him, who knows. But I guarantee you’ll discover a movie universe that you won’t want to leave.

Where have those magical days of movie-making gone? Why have the ETs, the Jaws, the Jurassic Parks, the Back to the Futures, and the Star Wars been swept out onto the wind with the dust of a bygone time? These movies had something that movies of the present lack, and it’s become an empty and despair-filled struggle to get it back. Movies truly were an escape. Each film had a grand, vast world that the audience could journey into, with a sweeping soundtrack that carried each emotion in a note and characters that you never wanted to leave. And above all this, there was at its very core the story. Stories that had substance, that had it all—entertainment, adventure, emotion, humor, romance, excitement. It is the stories, and the grandness with which they are portrayed on the silver screen, that make these movies not just flashing images but a whole entire world that lives on, immortal through time.

Spielberg and Lucas gave the world Indiana Jones, and created his story on the big screen on  a scale that truly made movie watching an experience. Like many similar blockbusters of the era, it’s a success because it’s a classic story. Jones is a hero figure, and people love heroes. He’s someone to root for, someone you want to see succeed. You travel the world, you defeat the odds—you go on an adventure you can’t get anywhere else. You leave the troubles and stresses of your very own, normal life and delve into a world you want to get lost in.

This started out as a review of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I promise, I put the movie in the DVD player expecting to just have a good time watching it and then write a straight-up review. It’s been years since I’ve seen it. But perhaps because of all the time that’s passed, seeing Indiana Jones again really made a much larger impact on me. It made me realize how much I, and I bet others, long for movies to take us on such incredible adventures again. Here’s hoping that they do.

On the less positive side, there is everything else about the trailer and early promotion. In the old cartoon, ‘smurf’ was a multi-purpose word that meant just about anything. In this new rendition, it appears to be an easy excuse to slip in crude jokes that just don’t fit in kids’ movie. The three instances of ‘smurf’ in the advance – “I think I just smurfed in my mouth”, “alright, who smurfed?”, and “Smurf Happens” were a little too thinly veiled for this dad to approve of taking his kids to see the film. I’m just waiting for a Samuel Jackson-esque Smurf to pop up shouting “Smurf you, mother-smurfer.”

If Chipmunks 2 was a cheap knock-off of the original and Hop was a cheaper, third-rate version, then The Smurfs looks to be about two steps below that. If you are forced to endure The Smurfs in the theater, you can at least entertain yourself trying to identify the famous-name actors lending their voices to the diminutive blue stars of the film. Hank Azaria, Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Alan Cumming, George Lopez, and Paul Reubens (of PeeWee Herman fame), B.J. Novak (Ryan of the Office), Jeff Foxworthy, Fred Amisen, and… wait for it… Wolfgang Puck join Harris in this 3D animated/live action family comedy.

Check back after the movie’s release for an updated review. Until then, my snap judgment is that this is going to be one smurfed up movie suitable for no one.

Thor

For a movie featuring pagan gods of Norse mythology, Thor has a distinctly Christian feel to it, if you look for that sort of thing. A god sends his son to earth. The son sacrifices himself to save us all from the Destroyer. He dies and rises again (although in the movie it’s more like 3 seconds than 3 days dead). Then he ascends into heaven (Asgard) to rule at the right hand of the father. It should sound familiar if you paid even a little bit of attention in Sunday School.

As a comic book fan, I especially enjoyed the all-too-brief cameo by Hawkeye. If you’re not familiar with this minor Marvel character, he’s the guy with the bow and arrows. He didn’t do much, but I was thrilled to see my favorite character included. The fact that Jeremy Renner played the character (but don’t look for his name in the credits) bodes well for his inclusion in the upcoming Avengers film – planned for next summer.

This film gets my highest recommendation for pulling off the rare feat of being both family friendly and action packed. After screening the film with my lovely wife, I would not now hesitate to allow my 10 year-old son to watch it.