Fallen ~ I’ve never gotten around to seeing this until recently and was surprised at how good it was. Denzel Washington is not just one of our finest actors, but he also has tremendous skill in choosing roles. Even when he stars in action flicks, or like here, borderline horror, he maintains his integrity by playing thinking protagonists as opposed to those who shoot or punch first and thinks later.
Fallen also features some great locations in and around Philadelphia, excellent sidekick work from John Goodman and a very chilling performance from Elias Koteas. It’s also interesting to see “Sopranos” brother and sister James Gandolfini and Aida Turturro together pre-“Sopranos.” Definitely recommended.
3:10 to Yuma (2007) ~ I really wanted to like this, especially because folks whose opinions I respect loved this version, but it just couldn’t overcome the original Glenn Ford/Van Heflin flick. In my opinion, while the performances are first class, the story was only made unnecessarily violent and complicated. Just not as good as it
could been – this one was a missed opportunity.
Domino ~ Director Tony Scott brings us this sharp and clever bounty hunter flick starring Keira Knightley very against type. Think Quentin Tarantino meets
Shoot ‘Em Up meets reality TV. Great fun.
Vanilla Sky ~ This remake of the Spanish
Open Your Eyes was a surprise, not just because I never expect much from Tom Cruise flicks, but because folks told me that this was the Cameron Crowe film that Cameron Crowe fans hate. Honestly, as a CC fan, I don’t see his touch, but considering he didn’t write this one I didn’t need to. I liked the twists and turns in the story, although I figured it out early. If I hadn’t this would have been a lot better. Acting-wise, no one is bad but no one stands out either – Cameron Diaz is suitably creepy though.
Throughout April Philadelphia is host to the, duh, Philadelphia Film Festival. As always the event is spotlighted (and continues to be throughout the month, check them out) by many terrific new films and features. One of the best this year, in my opinion at least, was the presentation of the 1920 silent version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the Prince Music Theater. Now if seeing this classic on the big screen wasn't enough, it was scored live by local band, Golden Ball. This was a unique experience as this is how it was done back in the day -with an organ or piano granted, but still - this was still way cool. It took a few minutes to get used to Golden Ball as unfortunately the band was too loud for the room, but once we were settled in, and used to the groove, everything was cool. And John Barrymore's performance was as terrific now as it was nearly ninety years ago. A terrific evening all around.
