"The Hangover Part III" Starts Shooting for May 2013 Release

Cameras Roll on “The Hangover Part III”

Director Todd Phillips takes stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis on one last wild ride

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography is underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Hangover Part III,” the third and final film in director Todd Phillips’ record-shattering comedy franchise.

This time, there’s no wedding. No bachelor party. What could go wrong, right? But when the Wolfpack hits the road, all bets are off.

“The Hangover Part III” reunites Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha as Phil, Stu, Alan and Doug. Returning to the ensemble are Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Jeffrey Tambor and, as the guys’ long-suffering wives, Gillian Vigman, Sasha Barrese and Jamie Chung. John Goodman joins the cast as well.

Phillips directs from a screenplay he wrote with Craig Mazin, who also collaborated with him on the screenplay for “The Hangover Part II.” Phillips is producing the film under his Green Hat Films banner, together with Dan Goldberg. Thomas Tull, Scott Budnick, Chris Bender and J.C. Spink are the executive producers.

Also back for another round are Phillips’ behind-the-scenes creative team from the first two films: director of photography Lawrence Sher, editor Debra Neil-Fisher and costume designer Louise Mingenbach. They are joined by production designer Maher Ahmad (upcoming “Gangster Squad”) and editor Jeff Groth (“Project X”).

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures, “The Hangover Part III” is scheduled for release on May 24, 2013, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Google Play and Steven Spielberg Host "Lincoln" Sept. 13th

You’re Invited to a Google Play Hosted Hangout with Director Steven Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the World Premiere of the “Lincoln” Trailer on September 13th

First-Time-Ever Event Will Be Broadcast Live in Times Square

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DreamWorks Pictures and Google Play announced today that they will debut the theatrical trailer for “Lincoln” during a Google+ Hangout on Thursday, September 13, 2012, at 4 p.m. PT.

The event will also feature a live conversation with Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who portrays Robert Todd Lincoln in the highly anticipated film slated for release in November.

The “Lincoln” trailer will be the first film trailer to launch during a Google+ Hangout, which allows people to connect face-to-face-to-face via group video chat. In another first, the Hangout will also be broadcast live on the ABC SuperSign in the heart of New York City’s Times Square.

The Hangout is being hosted by Google Play, which boasts the world’s largest collection of ebooks and is home to millions of songs, thousands of movies and TV shows, and a growing selection of magazines. Not to mention over 600,000 apps and games.

Fans interested in participating are asked to upload a short video to their own YouTube channel with the #LincolnHangout tag explaining who they are, why they are interested in “Lincoln” and what they would like to ask Spielberg and Gordon-Levitt about the film.

To learn more about the submission process and about how to tune in to this live Hangout, visit www.lincolnmoviehangout.com.


ABOUT THE MOVIE
Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln” is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, based in part on the book, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox film, in association with Participant Media, releases in U.S. theaters exclusive on November 9, 2012, with expansion on November 16, 2012.

Review: "Johnny Belinda" is a Powerful Drama (Remembering Jane Wyman)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 236 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Johnny Belinda (1948) – B&W
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Jean Negulesco
WRITERS: Allan Vincent and Irmgard von Cube (based upon the play by Elmer Harris)
PRODUCER: Jerry Wald
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ted McCord
EDITOR: David Weisbart
COMPOSER: Max Steiner
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorhead, Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling, Dan Seymour, and Alan Napier

The subject of this review is Johnny Belinda, a 1948 American drama that earned a best picture Oscar nomination. The film is based on a play of the same name by Elmer Harris, and the play is based on a real-life incident that occurred in the area of Harris’ summer residence. The film focuses on a deaf young woman and the doctor who befriends and teaches her.

Cape Breton is a small island on the northeast corner of Nova Scotia, and the kindly Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres) is the new doctor in a small fishing village on the island. Dr. Richardson takes a professional interest in Belinda MacDonald (Jane Wyman), a deaf mute, whom most everyone calls “Dummy.” Using his past experience and some medical text, Dr. Richardson teaches Belinda to communicate through sign language and by reading people’s lips.

A whole new world unfolds before Belinda, and she even surprises her doubting father, Black MacDonald (Charles Bickford), who more or less uses his daughter as a common laborer, and her aunt, Aggie MacDonald (Agnes Moorhead). Things turn ugly, however, when the town bully, Laughlin “Locky” McCormick (Stephen McNally), rapes Belinda, and she ends up pregnant – turning the town against her, her family, and her dear friend Dr. Richardson, whom the town mistakenly believes to be the baby daddy.

Jane Wyman earned the “Best Actress” Oscar for her turn in Johnny Belinda as a young deaf woman who finds herself awakening to the world, both its best and worst, when she learns to communicate. It’s actually an amazing performance when considering how quiet and undemonstrative the character is, and Wyman captures it with equally soft grace. Hers, however, isn’t the only good performance. Lew Ayres is steadfast as Dr. Richardson, so convincing that Dr. Richardson seems to be a real person who somehow stepped into the film’s fictional setting. Charles Bickford as Belinda’s father and Agnes Moorhead as her aunt provide a solid counterbalance to the influence of Dr. Richardson in Belinda’s life.

Perhaps because director Jean Negulesco allows this quartet of brawny performances to breath and develop without melodrama, Johnny Belinda is a solid weepy, the kind of tear-jerker that doesn’t jerk tears out of the audience so much as it touches them in a profound way. Negulesco finds room in the script for the rest of the cast who aren’t so much characters as they are the backdrop to this little drama. The denizens of Cape Breton are insular, conservative, and oh-so set in their ways, and it’s a nifty move of directing that allows these people and the way they live to enhance the drama. Negulesco uses these obstacles and adversaries our protagonists face to make Belinda’s ultimate victory even sweeter.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1949 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Jane Wyman); 11 nominations: “Best Picture” (Warner Bros.), “Best Actor in a Leading Role” (Lew Ayres), “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Charles Bickford), “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” (Agnes Moorehead), “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White” (Robert M. Haas and William Wallace), “Best Cinematography, Black-and-White” (Ted D. McCord), “Best Director” (Jean Negulesco), “Best Film Editing” (David Weisbart), “Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture” (Max Steiner), “Best Sound, Recording” ((Warner Bros. Sound Dept.), and “Best Writing, Screenplay” (Irma von Cube and Allen Vincent)

1949 Golden Globes, USA: 2 wins: “Best Motion Picture – Drama (shared with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre-1948) and “Best Motion Picture Actress” (Jane Wyman)

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

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Winners at the 69th Venice Film Festival Announced

Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" Wins, Then Loses the "Golden Lion"

Kim Ki-duk's "Pieta" Wins the Golden Lion

Founded in 1932, the Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world.  The 69th edition just ended... with some controversy.

Apparently, there is a new rule for the festival's film awards.  The film that wins the "Golden Lion," which is the Venice Film Festival's top prize, cannot win other awards.  The jury (with Michael Mann as this year's President of the jury) initially awarded the Golden Lion to Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, which focuses on an L. Ron Hubbard-like figure.  The jury had also awarded the film other awards.  In order to give The Master several trophies, the jury had to reconsider the Golden Lion, so they gave it to Pieta, a film by Korean director, Kim Ki-duk.

Official Awards of the 69th Venice Film Festival

• VENEZIA 69

GOLDEN LION for Best Film to PIETA by Kim Ki-duk (Republic of Korea)

SILVER LION for Best Director to THE MASTER by Paul Thomas Anderson (USA)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to Paradies: Glaube by Ulrich Seidl (Austria, Germany, France)

COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix in the film THE MASTER by Paul Thomas Anderson (USA)

COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress Hadas Yaron in the film LEMALE ET HA’CHALAL by Rama Bursthein (Israel)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best New Young Actor or Actress to Fabrizio Falco in the films BELLA ADDORMENTATA by Marco Bellocchio (Italy) and È STATO IL FIGLIO by Daniele Ciprí (Italy)

AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY to Olivier Assayas for the film APRES MAI by Olivier Assayas (France)

AWARD FOR THE BEST TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION (CINEMATOGRAPHY) to Daniele Ciprì for the film È STATO IL FIGLIO by Daniele Ciprì (Italy)


• LION OF THE FUTURE – “LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” VENICE AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM to KÜF (MOLD) by Ali Aydin (Turkey, Germany) VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS’ WEEK as well as a prize of 100,000 USD, donated by Filmauro di Aurelio e Luigi De Laurentiis to be divided equally between director and producer

• ORIZZONTI ("Horizons" - honors new trends)

ORIZZONTI AWARD FOR BEST FILM (full-length films) to SAN ZIMEI by Wang Bing (France, Hong Kong)

SPECIAL ORIZZONTI JURY PRIZE (full-length films) to TANGO LIBRE by Frédéric Fonteyne (France, Belgium, Luxembourg)

ORIZZONTI YOUTUBE AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM to CHO-DE by Yoo Min-young (South Korea)

EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2012-EFA to TITLOI TELOUS by Yorgos Zois (Greece)


GOLDEN LION FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT 2012 to Francesco Rosi

JAEGER-LECOULTRE GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER AWARD to Spike Lee

PERSOL AWARD to Michael Cimino

L’ORÉAL PARIS PER IL CINEMA AWARD to Giulia Bevilacqua

"Think Like a Man" a Frothy Battle of the Sexes

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 72 (of 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux


Think Like a Man (2012)
Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content, some crude humor, and brief drug use
DIRECTOR: Tim Story
WRITERS: Keith Merryman and David A. Newman (based on the book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, by Steve Harvey)
PRODUCER: William Packer
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Larry Blanford
EDITOR: Peter S. Elliot
COMPOSER: Christopher Lennertz

ROMANCE/COMEDY

Starring: Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence J, Jenifer Lewis, Romany Malco, Gary Owen, Gabrielle Union, La La Anthony, Chris Brown, Wendy Williams, Sherri Shepherd, Caleel Harris, Arielle Kebbel, Steve Harvey, Tony Rock, and Luenell with Matt Barnes, Shannon Brown, Rasual Butler, Darren Collison, Lisa Leslie, and Metta World Peace

Think Like a Man is a 2012 ensemble romantic comedy from director Tim Story (Fantastic Four). The film is based on comedian and actor Steve Harvey’s 2009 advice book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. The film follows four male friends who conspire to turn the tables on the women in their lives when they discover that their ladies have been using Steve Harvey’s relationship advice against them.

Cedric (Kevin Hart), Dominic (Michael Ealy), Zeke (Romany Malco), Michael (Terrence J), Jeremy (Jerry Ferrara), and Bennett (Gary Owen) are friends who like to get together and talk about their relationships with women. Cedric is going through a divorce, and Bennett is happily married. Jeremy’s relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Kristen (Gabrielle Union), is frayed, although he doesn’t seem to notice it. Dominic uses deception to begin a relationship with Lauren (Taraji P. Henson), a successful businesswoman.

Zeke meets Mya (Meagan Good), a young woman who has just decided that before she has sex with a new boyfriend, he has to wait 90 days. Zeke, however, always wants to “hit it” right away. Michael begins a relationship with Candace (Regina Hall), a single mother, but Michael is a mama’s boy, and that creates strife in the new relationship.

However, Kristen, Lauren, Mya, and Candace decide to take the advice of Steve Harvey (playing himself) as presented in his book, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, to help them get the upper hand in their relationships. When the guys discover what their ladies are doing, they decide to get familiar with the same book. Game on!

The first thing I want to say is that Kevin Hart is a pure scene-stealer. Hart not only plays a character, Cedric, but he is also the film’s narrator. As the narrator, he practically owns half this movie. He’s good; he’s funny.

The other half of the ownership goes to director Tim Story. I think that Story’s talent as a director is largely untapped. His two Fantastic Four films for 20th Century Fox were underserved by uneven screenwriting. Story shows his skills in Think Like a Man, because there are so many characters and so many actors playing them that the director has to get a handle on them. Handle them Story does, which is quite a feat, as there are way too many characters in this movie. Still, Story gives every actor the opportunity to make the most of his or her character, and most of the actors take advantage of the opportunities. That is why Think Like a Man movie works.

Think Like a Man is a frothy, romantic comedy, and it has the same cinematic bubbles and fizz to tickle the nose that movie audiences find in frivolous romantic comedies featuring predominately white casts. Tim Story delivers the same feel-good charm which directors of those other films do, but with a way-too large cast.

Think Like a Man may be the best romantic comedy starring a predominately African-American cast to date. It’s sweet and filled with empty calories, but they feel good going down. They’re so good that you might want more… later.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Review: "Fantastic Four" is Fantastic for the Entire Family

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 109 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fantastic Four (2005)
Running time: 106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sequences of intense action and some suggestive content
DIRECTOR: Tim Story
WRITERS: Michael France and Mark Frost (based upon the Marvel Comics characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad, Michael Barnathan, and Bernd Eichinger
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: William Hoy
COMPOSER: John Ottman

SUPERHERO/ACTION/SCI-FI/ADVENTURE with elements of comedy

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Hamish Linklater, Kerry Washington, and Stan Lee

Marvel Comics longest running comic book series is the Fantastic Four, subtitled “The World’s Greatest Comic Book Magazine,” but Spider-Man is Marvel’s best known characters, while the X-Men are the most popular characters in North American comic book publishing; both the Spider-Man and the X-Men are also successful film franchises. However, there has been a nearly ten-year struggle to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen, and now, it’s finally happened. Fresh off Barbershop (2002) and the Queen Latifah vehicle, Taxi (2004), director Tim Story wows audiences with the Fantastic Four, the long-awaited silver screen appearance of Marvel’s first family, and unlike some other comic book to film adaptations (Sin City to name one), Fantastic Four is a joy ride for kids.

Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), financially strapped scientific genius, has an important experiment that requires his use orbital space lab of his long-time rival, the jealous and grudge-holding Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon). Von Doom insists on accompanying Richards to the station. Also aboard the station for the research mission is Reed’s ex-girlfriend, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), who now works for Von Doom, Sue’s brother, hot shot pilot Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), and Reed’s long-time friend, Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), who more or less is Reed’s bodyguard. However, something goes wrong, and all five of them are exposed to an intense band of radiation that transforms their DNA and their bodies. Reed suddenly can stretch any part of his anatomy. Sue can turn invisible and create an invisible force field. Johnny can turn his body into living flame. Ben becomes a monster with a rock-like body. Victor’s skin eventually turns metallic and can absorb electricity.

After their powers become public, Johnny gives his compatriots names: Reed is Mr. Fantastic; Sue is the Invisible Girl; Ben is The Thing; and Johnny is the Human Torch. Together, they become known as the Fantastic Four, and though Reed, Sue, and Ben would like to be cured of their powers and new found physical gifts (or curses), they must band together as a quartet to save New York City from Victor, who becomes the super villain, Dr. Doom, a man bent on destroying the Fantastic Four and ruling the world.

The Incredibles was kind of an update or riff off the Fantastic Four, which is as much superhero action/adventure and fantasy fun as The Incredibles was, although FF is not nearly as well written and directed as the Pixar computer-animated hit. Still the emphasis is on fun. The Human Torch’s firepower is constantly on display, as he blazes across the sky like a pretty Christmas light with a rocket engine on it. Also, the Thing’s physical appearance and his monstrous strength are perfect for youngsters looking for vicarious wish fulfillment, because the brute wrecks, squashes, smashes, and breaks a lot during the course of the film. And I can’t forget that Mr. Fantastic’s stretching powers will cause a giggle or two, and they certainly made my eyes widen on a few occasions. The Fantastic Four comic book never made the Invisible Woman’s powers look as good as they do on the big screen.

The acting is good. Ioan Gruffudd is thoughtful and straight-laced as the serious and contemplative Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. He’s not the infinitely intelligent leader that he is in the comic, and sometimes he comes across in the film as a bit too befuddled. Still, he’s more human and likeable here; I get the feeling that the filmmakers either didn’t know quite what to do with him or they didn’t like the character enough to make him the big boss he is in the comics.

For all her acting woes, Jessica Alba is a little spitfire as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman who keeps the boys in line. She’s a heroine for today; she doesn’t consider herself to be a second-class citizen. Yes, she’s boy crazy about Reed, but she’ll speak her mind to him. Even better, she won’t back down one bit in a fierce battle. Her screen chemistry with Gruffudd gets better as the film goes along, although it’s limp at first. I figure the relationship between the two characters will be tinkered with in any potential sequel, giving the actors more with which to work.

Michael Chiklis gives a surprisingly good turn as The Thing; even under the heavy and very thick suit he has to wear to portray the Thing, he gives the character a range of emotions and the air of the tragic, misunderstood monster. Chiklis plays the Thing as a heavily burdened man whose life is suddenly destroyed by his transformation into a monster. Sometimes the down-on-life bit gets too thick, but Chiklis still gives a good performance under all that makeup and costume, and his portrayal of Ben Grimm the human is pure action movie hero. It would be good to see more of that Ben Grimm in the Thing and less “woe is me” in a sequel.

The Thing is my number two favorite character in the film after Chris Evans’ hilarious and energetic ball of fire, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. Evans is superb comic relief for the film; his antics, handsomeness, and cockiness is the much-needed smoke and mirrors for this film. Sometimes Johnny’s comic clowning around hides some serious flaws in this film, but he’s still fun to watch. Evans really seems to enjoy the role (as does the rest of the cast), and that comes across in the performance and entertainment value of the film.

The costumes, sets, makeup effects, and special effects are very good – not as good as Star Wars or War of the Worlds, but good enough to bring the Fantastic Four to life in a fashion that couldn’t have been done cost-effectively a decade ago or at all 15 to 20 years ago. The Human Torch’s special effects are quite simply great, and the Thing’s suit makes him look like a real, living, breathing monster. The Fantastic Four’s blue one-piece costumes are quite nice and look like they belong on comic book heroes, which makes them three times better than most of the Batsuits in the Batman film franchise.

The script, by Michael France (The Hulk and The Punisher) and Mark Frost, co-creator of the cult TV series, “Twin Peaks,” is weak; it’s mostly story-driven, rather than relying on a plot. That’s not a problem. What is the problem is that the hero/villain conflict takes too long to get going. We know early on that Victor Von Doom (nicely played by “Nip/Tuck’s” Julian McMahon as an anal, self-centered, egomaniac) is the bad guy, but the film is nearly over by the time he really tussles with the Fantastic Four. Also, the script seems to emphasize action and effects over character, and that’s a shame because the characters have so much potential. The Incredibles, the film that is so close to the FF, got a lot of mileage out of playing up individual characters and their quirks. In the end, it’s director Tim Story’s ability to weave action and comedy as he did so well in Taxi (2004) that glosses over the clunk in the script.

Combine high quality sci-fi/fantasy production values with a cast that believes in their characters and enthusiastically brings them to life and you have the makings of a very good film. The final product is a superhero movie that is more for the kids than Batman Begins (the youngsters that I saw this flick with were totally into the film), and Fantastic Four recaptures what it felt like to read a great adventure comic. There aren’t many of those around anymore, but thankfully this new Fantastic Four movie will make up for what today’s juvenile and “tween” readers can no longer get. Nothing says that better than seeing Ben Grimm, the Thing in action and the Human Torch blazing across the city sky like a flaming rocket.

7 of 10
B+

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Review: "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" Does Not Rise Much

TRASH IN MY EYES No. 97 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language, and innuendo
DIRECTOR: Tim Story
WRITERS: Don Payne and Mark Frost; from a story John Turman and Mark Frost (based upon the characters created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)
PRODUCERS: Avi Arad, Bernd Eichinger, and Ralph Winter
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Larry Blanford (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Peter S. Elliot, William Hoy, and Michael McCusker
COMPOSER: John Ottman

SCI-FI/SUPERHERO/ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Andre Braugher, Laurence Fishburne (voice), Beau Garrett, and Doug Jones

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, like it predecessor, the 2005 surprise hit, Fantastic Four, is a superhero blockbuster aimed squarely at younger children. That sets this franchise apart from most superhero films, which while ostensibly family films, tend to skew older with darker stories.

As the film begins, the members of the dysfunctional family known as the Fantastic Four have their hands full. Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) and Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba) are getting married, but Sue can’t keep Reed’s mind off his work and on wedding planning. Meanwhile, Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Chiklis) has found peace and love in his relationship with the blind artist, Alicia Masters (Kerry Washington). And Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Chris Evans)? Well, Johnny just wants to market the FF as a brand that attracts sponsors, advertisers, and media willing to pay for exclusive access to the team.

The nuptials are interrupted by the arrival on Earth of an enigmatic being that Reed dubs The Silver Surfer. The Surfer is actually an intergalactic herald for a planet devouring being called Galactus. As the Surfer races on his board around the world wreaking havoc, the Fantastic Four must unravel the mystery of the Surfer and confront their mortal enemy Victor Von Doom a.k.a. Dr. Doom (Julian McMahon, who is terrible in this role), as he returns claiming to want to help defeat the Surfer. All of this puts stress on the delicate bonds of this fragile family called the Fantastic Four.

Director Tim Story’s second film attempt at the Fantastic Four is harmless fun, but it’s also vapid. It’s entertaining, but mostly empty. Lacking a good script (although the main plot is fun), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is the kind of dumb, silly, and simple-minded entertainment that many people think of when they do think of comics. This isn’t bad, but FF: TROTSS just lacks the kind of epic scope and widescreen sensibilities that the original comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had.

There are few good thinks about this film. Chris Evans plays Johnny Storm as a skirt-chasing, smart ass, and his presence just makes the Fantastic Four films better. To create the Silver Surfer, Doug Jones provides the physical acting, and Laurence Fishburne gives voice to the Silver Surfer. CGI finishes the work, and we have a cool looking, scene-stealing character. Every moment the Surfer is on screen the movie suddenly doesn’t seem like a slightly awkward, self-consciously clumsy kids’ flick. So adults beware; this is a mild amusement, but it’s even better for the young viewers.

5 of 10
B-

Thursday, June 21, 2007