Directed by Clark Johnson
Written by George Nolfi (screenplay); Gerald Petievich (novel)
Starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Eva Longoria, Kim Basinger
Genre: Crime / Drama / Thriller
Country: USA
Runtime: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated PG: Not recommended for children

Evaluation: 7/10
by Greg Ferguson







When a nation's security is breached and a credible threat against its leader exists, the most immediate impulse is to attack the problem of how such a thing could have happened rather than why, and few entities in North America are perhaps more synonymous with this brand of swift and efficient recourse than the US Secret Service. In The Sentinel, director Clark Johnson presents us with a glimpse into their lives and procedures as they operate within the small window of opportunity between the first signs of danger and the finality of an impending attempt to assassinate the president. For its duration, the film is a gradual unspooling of threads that routinely but effectively builds suspense by faithfully preserving the sort of hectic pursuit of leads and suspects heightened by the elevated urgency of a national crisis. With little time or incentive to explore the motivations of the killers and their co-conspirators, the result is a frequently kinetic feature whose first priority, like that of its federal agents, is the bottom line. Realistically, that'd be all the payoff necessary; cinematically and dramatically, however, such bare-bones storytelling, while reasonably thrilling on the first go, is ultimately empty entertainment of limited endurance.

The action centres around veteran agent Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas), a man who once took a bullet for Reagan but has since been passed over for important promotions and is presently romancing the First Lady (Kim Basinger) in secret. Because of this indiscretion, his allegiance to his country is called into question, especially after it is revealed that there is a mole within the Service involved in a plot against the president. Garrison is eventually fingered as the turncoat by David Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland), the uncompromisingly inflexible agent leading the investigation, and uses his years of extensive experience to elude capture. Complicating matters is the fact that Breckinridge happens to be Garrison's one-time apprentice and friend, having since become embittered after an alleged affair between him and his wife. Tense encounters are shared as their professional facades buckle and we wonder whether either party in this in-house conflict has anything to do with the whole grand scheme - a suspicion supported by the appearance of rookie agent Jill Marin (Eva Longoria), newly recommended by Garrison but assigned to duty with Breckinridge in the field.

Though The Sentinel appears to be a vehicle for Douglas, popular for his roles as self-importat power seekers, many will likely - and rightly - associate the film with Sutherland and his portrayal of super-agent Jack Bauer on the Fox anti-terrorism drama 24. For all intents and purposes, it could be considered a dress-rehearsal for the eventual feature-length film version of the show, and indeed at one point it was rumoured that the casting of Sutherland as a steely and gritty Jack-alike was meant to test the waters for one (thankfully, no such rumour exists for Longoria and her Desperate Housewives coven). As a devoted fan of 24's tightly-paced stories rich in action and emotion, my expectations were high and I anticipated something on a grander scale. Unfortunately, the film felt like the show stripped down to its barest minimum, lacking ambition and depth by comparison. Coming from director Johnson, who only recently shifted from work in television to cinema with 2003's S.W.A.T., I figured he might relish the chance to step beyond the scope of the average primetime network humdrum and embrace a more brazen style of filmmaking. Not so.

Chastising the film for not being like 24, though, is rather unfair considering it's still a top-shelf jolt to our systems even at its weakest. The Sentinel, while simple and straightforward, isn't a bad film at all and will likely only disappoint those whose hopes hinge upon exceptionally sophisticated fare. Nevertheless, to the producers of 24: The Movie there is one lesson to be learned: keep Clark Johnson away from the director's chair.

(The Sentinel is currently playing at the Empire 8, Trinity Drive cinema, located at 125 Trinity Drive in Moncton.)

Directed by Jason Reitman
Written by Jason Reitman (screenplay); Christopher Buckley (novel)
Starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Adam Brody, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy, Robert Duvall
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA
Runtime: 92 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated 14A

Evaluation: 7.5/10
by Greg Ferguson







I had a laugh a few weeks back when Thank You For Smoking author Christopher Buckley appeared on Stephen Colbert's The Colbert Report. Discussing the subject of the book, being a satirical yet sympathetic take on the world of tobacco lobbying, Colbert's exaggerated Conservative retort was appropriately and hilariously ironic: "Who is a doctor to tell me that smoking will give me cancer? That's a personal choice whether or not I want cancer!" While immediately funny for its candid idiocy, there is an underlying wisdom in what he said and how which perfectly echoes the spirit and tone of both Buckley's book and now its delightful new film adaptation.

Over ten years coming, Thank You For Smoking, directed by newcomer Jason Reitman, is basically a ninety-minute visualization of Colbert's statement, concealing in its humour a backhanded concern for the moral and ethical responsibilities of big business in their appeal to civil liberties. It is an important message whose purpose in our society is ongoing especially among the youth, hence the film's major dilemma. Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), the grandstanding, home run-drivin' lobbyist who is at once part of a skeevy little trio called the MOD Squad (Merchants of Death) and a divorced father of one, is in a bind when he realizes the impact his questionable profession is having on his impressionable son (Cameron Bright). He doesn't appear to want to let go of his job, though, and incredibly allows his son to follow him around on the job. Talking is his true talent, and Nick loves the sport of spin and enjoys the challenge of talking his way into winning every argument, which he consistently does. What makes this a problem for him, though, is that it is his livelihood and, more dangerously, his identity. Forget for a moment that he happens to be hawking tobacco; what the film does so well is show how his unscrupulous desire to always be right is as egotistical as the psychology of a smoker, who is a cancer unto him- or herself and everyone else in their vicinity. Somehow, Nick has to see that he is damaging himself and his relationship with his son before it's too late.

Wisely, Thank You For Smoking uses comedy to cleverly underscore the ridiculousness of Nick's mentality and behaviour so that it's more recognizable to viewers. When it strays from this strategy, the film feels inescapably tedious as it gets around to making its point because it is one most of us already acknowledge. The film's last act, despite a surplus of witty remarks and lighthearted performances, is painfully facile and as obvious as the jarringly wrong title. It is best when it tackles the corporate slicksters and tricksters like Nick who actually straightface their wrongheaded rhetoric and snakily deflect blame they rightfully deserve, showing them to be first-order buffoons if not criminals. This is why satirizing public wrongdoing is so prevalent and popular. By publicly exposing such people and practices, it is hoped on some level that justice may be done. Fortunately, Reitman plays up the satire of the story for the bulk of its duration, disarming tobacco lobbyists and similarly "morally flexible" people by pointing out their foibles. After this film, if lighting up and risking cancer is still a personal choice of yours, you just may end up the subject of a sequel.

(Thank You For Smoking is currently playing at the Empire 8, Trinity Drive cinema, located at 125 Trinity Drive in Moncton.)

When teaching at an elementary school, I often discourage students from reading "Where's Waldo?" and other spot-the-details books during their literacy period because they do little to promote reading skills or stimulate imaginations. They're empty-headed time-wasters with limited entertainment value, and though they can be fun diversionary activities, they don't have much of a life beyond the first read. I feel the same way about director Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Slevin, essentially a live-action equivalent put to film. With its jumbled narrative and sequencing of images, McGuigan and screenwriter Jason Smilovic here present us with a similar game in the form of a Wrong Man Mystery which rewards the most observant viewers with snatches of key plot points that otherwise elude us in razzle-dazzle flashes of distraction. Both men earnestly believe themselves wily, intentionally jerking the audience around with twist after shocking twist on the premise that the longer into a film one lasts before discovering its secrets, the better it is. Such a principle shouldn't be confused for good storytelling, however. Hinging its major twists on characters that are barely developed and lack dimension, the film is no more than an exercise in outwitting the filmmakers, who have gone to elaborate lengths to mislead us while at the same time daring us to succeed.

Slevin is the sort of movie Charlie Kaufman's fictitious brother Donald from Adaptation. probably would have written if he actually existed. It is so preposterous in its set-up and affected in its dialogue that on paper it would have read like a fool's ambition (namely, taking after Christopher McQuarrie, who won an original screenplay Oscar for The Usual Suspects). Things open with a man named Mr. Goodkat (Bruce Willis) who spins a lengthy, pregnant yarn about something called a Kansas City Shuffle that is abruptly and violently ended. We then meet Slevin (Josh Hartnett), a profoundly unlucky but affable man new to the city whose latest bout of misfortune is being mistaken for his pal Nick, who owes a large sum of money to a local crime kingpin named The Boss (Morgan Freeman). Unable to pay up, his life in jeopardy, Slevin must carry out a murder for The Boss against the son of his enemy, The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley), all the while being closely pursued by Det. Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) and monitored by the shifty Mr. Goodkat, who divides his time between both rivals. Remarkably, despite the pressure he's under, Slevin doesn't sweat it, instead finding the time to romance Nick's neighbour Lindsey (Lucy Liu) with some of the most skunky banter I've heard in a halfway credible film (I say that because I've never wooed a woman with semantics). I'm resisting the urge to call it too clever because it's not - it's gratingly awkward and over-achieving. Ironically, what truly carries Slevin are its sympathetic and charming performances by Hartnett and Liu, among the others. In a film that thrives foremost on its woozy presentation and its element of surprise, the potential upset of having an implausible and outrageous story such as this one is drastically reduced by the actors' ownership of their roles, though not prevented entirely.

Once the pieces start fitting together and we figure out what's going on, Slevin suddenly doesn't seem so shrewd; it is promptly deflated, its story and characters shown to be rather derivative of others. After the game's been solved, nothing original is offered or hinted at. Like the Waldo books, the film only exists for the "gotcha!" factor and would have resonated better had its characters' motivations been truer and more compelling. Nevertheless, for as long as the ride lasts until its revelations are made, it retains an attractive energy that those who enjoy the sport of spotting and assembling clues will find engaging. If we can forgive Slevin its shameless plot devices and regard it as a purposefully manipulative puzzle, then it is no less than a frivolous pleasure. Just don't let me catch you watching it on my time.

(Lucky Number Slevin is currently playing at the Empire 8, Trinity Drive cinema, located at 125 Trinity Drive in Moncton.)

It was perhaps inevitable while watching Ice Age: The Meltdown that I would find parallels between it and our current concerns over global warming. Just this past winter, temperatures in Canada were unseasonably high in many regions, breaking many long-held records (some dating back to when records first started being kept). Beyond our borders, anxiety abounds as doomsayers portend grave peril in the foreseeable future if we do not change our habits; others, less optimistic, already place us in an unalterable predicament of decline. All things considered, the choice to set the sequel to 2002's original Ice Age during the beginning stages of Earth's transition from our last ice age to our warmer and more familiar climate seemed curious if only because it would be tinged with an amount of sadness unusual for a typical children's film, although I suppose it supplied it with a suitable crisis. Happily, The Meltdown isn't grim to any lasting degree. In fact, it is so sunny and good-natured that I would have expected R.E.M.'s grating ditty about feelin' fine despite The End as we know it as a tactical pop-culture underscore, yet considerate enough of our sensibilities to have avoided using it. Never mind that we know the eventual woeful fate of such species as the mammoth and the saber-toothed tiger. Like the first film, The Meltdown is an endearing fantasy about the friendly souls from whom we inherited our planet that is simply and sweetly told.

When last we saw Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Dennis Leary), they were returning a human baby they had found to its parents, rescuing it from the impending ice age. This time out the ice is melting with a new age dawning, and everyone is in danger of drowning when the water level rises and floods the valley they inhabit. Scoping them out and taunting them all the while is a vindictive and hungry vulture (Will Arnett), and from his bird's eye view he's able to approximate three days before the ice melts and washes out every living creature below. Hot on their tails as well are a couple of vicious, carnivorous fish who are frozen in ice at the beginning but are soon thawed and released back into the wild. With nothing left to do but flee, our furry crew start hoofing it toward safer territory. This takes a little extra effort as each of them has some sort of hang-up which is slowing them down. Sid can't gain the respect of his friends, who find him inane and foolish; Diego substitutes a fear of water for a thorn in his paw; and Manny, believing himself to be the last of his species, is suddenly confronted by Ellie (Queen Latifah), a female mammoth whom he can befriend and repopulate with - if only she didn't already think she was a possum. Used to travelling under the blanket of darkness at night with her two possum "brothers," Crash and Eddie (Sean William Scott and Josh Peck), Ellie figures they can expedite their journey by joining Manny and his gang, able to protect them during the day. Yet, personalities clash, as they are bound to do in such situations, and survival quickly becomes a matter of solidarity and trust between each creature. Either everyone makes it, or nobody does.

The one character I've failed to mention thus far is arguably the most recognizable and charming in the franchise. Scrat (Chris Wedge), the hapless little scamp eternally denied his meagre acorn but faithfully committed to getting it, is a much-needed source of comic relief, appearing at odd intervals throughout the film for brief sketches that harken back to the classic Roadrunner cartoons and are worthy of standing on their own (his first appearance was actually in the Oscar-nominated short Gone Nutty). Though they are loosely related to the general story (except for one crucial scene at the end), they keep its pace brisk by shifting focus from its often meandering and predictable resolution arc. While they may be predictable in their own right (surely Scrat won't be allowed to actually savour his quarry), they remain vibrant for the extraordinary lengths and means by which his best efforts are defeated by lack of foresight and dumb luck. So much is hilariously made of this poor guy's quest for a nut, but considerably little made of Manny and his friends' entire trek across a vast and treacherous terrain toward an uncertain conclusion. For those of us who are fairly certain, or don't care, that Manny and Ellie will fall in love, The Meltdown doesn't offer much else in the way of stimulation besides Scrat and some truly beautiful animation. Instead of exploiting the unique and truly adventurous nature of a world undergoing global warming, or making connections to today's present calamity for the sake of children viewers, the film suffers for the drab and uninspiring ways it handles each of its conflicts. Compared with more imaginative and challenging children's fare, it feels about as hackneyed and stale as its characters are ancient.

Oh, but I couldn't help but smile all the same throughout The Meltdown. Ultimately, it remains a winner for the positive values that are portrayed and reinforced, and for that I cautiously recommend it. While any overall excitement to be felt is reserved mainly for younger audiences, for whom this sort of plot is novel, it still managed to evoke the innocence of those pre-"hip" cartoons I enjoyed as a child. Yes, it unapologetically avoids complicating its story and its characters with undue metaphorical import, which is to say some grown-ups will likely find it tiresome. However, it earnestly cares about them and counts on children's inquisitiveness and interest in its basic issues to sustain it. So sad, then, that the demise of the Ice Age may have exhausted all future stories for the gang. At least there is the gleaming hope that the continued episodic foibles of Scrat may live on and transcend the franchise to delirious highs.

(Ice Age: The Meltdown is currently playing at the Crystal Palace 8 Cinemas, located at 499 Paul St. in Dieppe, and at the Empire 8, Trinity Drive cinema, located at 125 Trinity Drive in Moncton.)