A question has come up in recent weeks surrounding Harrison Ford’s latest film “Firewall” and action-suspense thrillers in general. Is Ford getting too old for this sort of movie? There was a time, not so long ago, where the name ‘Harrison Ford’ meant something for filmgoers. An icon thanks to Geoege Lucas, the actor has graced many films which would end up on any one movie buff’s ‘Top Ten’ whether it would be an Indiana Jones installment, ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Witness’ or even ‘The Fugitive’. This new film, however, will not, as his recent films, join those ranks. In fact, the film, while still well acted, is routine for not only Ford, but also Virgina Madsen as well.
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To be quite honest, I wasn’t overly excited at the prospect of having to sit through the entire story of Pocahontas all over again. However, the critical acclaim and the picture’s cast made me decide otherwise. From the Disney animated feature we know, over the years, the takes on the story have been slightly altered to more acceptable standards. For instance Pocahontas was about the age of twelve when she first met John Smith. The New World skilfully dodges the mentioning of the name of Pocahontas (her name is, in fact, listed at the credits), perhaps fed by the fear people might associate Terrence Malick’s latest feature with the animated feature by Disney.
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This is not a film I would usually go to see in the cinema, but as I had misread the showings for Brokeback Mountain, my fellow cinemagoer and I decided on a film based on what time it started rather than what it was about. So we ended up in a Jim Carrey movie which I expected to be crap, but I laughed so much it made my night.

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Perhaps D.J. Caruso’s Two For The Money didn’t do well at the U.S. box office, because the story is about a New York City sportsbetting operation and when the lead character makes his picks and the spread, he’s ’7 out of 8′ or ’11 for 12′. Some weeks he gets them all right. We see a few of these football games played on screens, characters watching those screens. When the ‘chosen’ team wins over and over again, I’m sure a few viewers might feel no suspense. But this film is more of a character study, and knows the subject well. It is, after all, based on a true story.
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Those darn studio trailers, always giving away the surprises and plot twists almost at every turn….and giving the impression to the viewer that the film is something it is not. Such is as the trailer for Prime, starring Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep. But after seeing the trailer for the comedy-drama, it looked funny enough – and it did have two wonderful actresses in it. Sadly, it came and went in U.S. theatres before I had the chance to see it. Now it’s on DVD, and, to my surprise, I wasn’t really missing anything.
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After a long time of dwindling box office results on one side and a large number of sloppily made ‘quick-buck’-movies on the other, it seems Hollywood is finally waking up to its audience’s needs. This year, the Oscar-nominated films and performances have been of an extraordinarily high level and, almost without exception, consisted of topical films that take their audiences seriously. One of these is Syriana, a film about the world’s oil-addiction and the (global) implications of the policies that are carried out to protect everybody’s (own) interests.
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One of the best plot devices known to always work no matter what is a ticking clock. The countdown also works if the characters are interesting. In Richard Donner’s 16 Blocks the countdown starts when beat cop Jack Mosley – who seems to have been demoted in part to his drinking problem and other personal issues- is given the chance to do a ‘favor’. One cop is caught up in a bad traffic jam and therefore cannot escort a witness to the courthouse. The snitch, a non-stop motormouth named Eddie Bunker needs to give his testimony in two hours or the case will be dismissed. Sixteen blocks in two hours? Easy job. Until bad guys total Mosley’s car and hunt the cop and Bunker, on foot, down in, out, above and below Chinatown. The bad guys also happen to be Mosley’s friends on the police department. The main antogonist, no less, is Mosley’s former partner.
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With only one day to go before Oscar gold will definitely affect Hollywood and parts of the rest of the world, it may be a good time to take a closer look at the possible winners. This year’s ceremony will be dominated by politics and political correctness. That would not matter, as long as the good films will win. Favorites are Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain and George Clooney’s second endeavour in the directing chair, Good Night, and Good Luck. Will it be a clean sweep for Jack and Ennis, the sheep herding ranch hands, or will Clooney’s political dialogue-based clash between politics and media prevail? A detailed and motivated look at my bets.
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