Brian De Palma's adaptation of Stephen King's horror classic gave society the iconic scene of Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) becoming the victim of the cruel prank of having pig blood is dumped on her at the High School Prom. The meek, abused girl then retaliates by decimating her classmates with her telekinetic powers.

What is often forgotten about this movie is the overwhelming anti-Christian bigotry that permeates the production. Carrie White is the victim not only of arrogant classmates but also of her psychotic, fanatic mother (Piper Laurie).

Carrie's mother is an insulting caricature I call the American Zealot, a character that has developed over the past forty years. The American Zealot is generally a southern Baptist type who is all fire and brimstone and no Heaven. They are the wild-eyed, intolerant and often violent Christian bogeymen that secularists warn are living under our cultural beds. You don't have to take a theology seriously if you can hype it up to ridiculous levels and then point to it and say "see, they're all dangerous crazies."

The film itself hasn't aged well at all. There has been a change in film making since the 1970's and those changes are very obvious in this case. The very intentional plotting, the twenty-odd-year-old actors pretending to be teenagers, the music. It all has a warped after-school special vibe that undermines any potential horror the film would otherwise offer.


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Labels: film, John Travolta, movie review, Sissy Spacek, Stephen King

Are they bothering to drop this into theaters?



Oh wait, they did?


Are they going to bother to put it out on DVD?




Screenwriter: Adi Hasak
Director: Pierre Morel (Taken)
Actors: John Travolta (The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Match Point) and Kasia Smutniak (Quiet Chaos)

Labels: film, John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, movie trailer

Short Review: Ryder is a bad guy with a soul. Walter is a hero who need redemption. We’re an audience in need of some entertainment.



Like Assault on Precinct 37 or The Italian Job, this a remake that was done for no apparent reason. The original is hardly a classic and this reworking doesn't shine as well. Are we wallowing so deep in post-modern muck that we need to recreate mediocrity?

John Travolta and Denzel Washington spend time in this rehash of the 70’s flick about the hijacking of a New York subway. Ryder (Travolta) and his crew of highly expendable thugs jump Pelham 123, a subway car. Walter (Washington) is a dispatcher with a troubled past.

When the cops show, Ryder insists on only negotiating with Walter. This sets up a long series of hostage phone conversations which are just like every other series of hostage phone conversations we’ve seen in film for forty years.

Director Tony Scott employs his usual sharp edged stylization in an attempt to mask his hollow script. Neither Travolta nor Washington have much to do since their character don’t have notable arcs. They yap and yap as they wait for the next plot point to arrive.

In order to make the final confrontation happen the plot has to discard any logic and/or acknowledgment of police procedure. All of the narrative acrobatics leads to a resolution that is dissatisfying and when considered, pretty darn distasteful.




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Man on Fire (2004)
American Gangster (2007)


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Labels: Denzel Washington, film, John Travolta, movie review, remake

At this point any animated "family movie" that isn't littered with piss and fart jokes is notable. If it also doesn't contain any sex jokes you're also seeing something out of the norm. This film manages to deliver an enjoyable and at times inventive story without the scatological references, so kudos to the filmmakers for acting like adults.

The story is about Bolt (John Travolta) a small white dog who has been raised on a television set. He is the star of a predictable and failing television show and his haughty director has the crew go to extreme lengths to keep the dog completely unaware his television life isn't real. Bolt's master, Penny (Miley Cyrus), leaves for the day, Bolt is convinced she has been kidnapped by the show's villains (it kinda makes sense in context.) Bolt then heads out into the big bad world in search of Penny. Along the way he buddies up with a cat named Mittens (Sue Essman) and a overly zealous hamster named Rhino (Mark Walton).

As far as animated flicks go, this is a visual descendant of The Incredibles. The Pixar super people film's style is obvious in the opening sequence and is threaded throughout the remainder of the film. The film is modeled after the Pixar line of films as well. It avoids low humor and focuses on story and development. To be honest, the development isn't that great and the film loses much of its steam as it goes along. The first half of the film is strong, but the resolution of the film faulters mostly because there isn't a strong villain or central conflict. There is nothing really to resolve. This means the kids will be excited at first but may get eventually bored.

Overall, the kids will most likely enjoy the film. For parents, this is one of those family films you will probably have to see/hear a thousand times but it won't be too painful. In other words, enjoyable for kids, not terribly obnoxious for the adults.





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Labels: film, John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, movie review, Sue Essman

Screenwriters: John Godey
Director: Tony Scott (Domino)
Actors: Denzel Washington (Deja Vu), Johan Travolta (Swordfish), Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights), John Tuturro (The Big Lebowski), James Gandolfini (8mm) and Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire)

Labels: Denzel Washington, film, James Gandolfini, John Travolta, John Turturro, Luis Guzman, movie trailer

Tarantino makes amoral, flashy but hollow flicks but they sure do make for great trailers. This ad gives the full vibe of the movie and certainly promises what it delivers - a stylized, sharp-edge movie. Too bad the actual product is critically flawed. It is the epitome of style over substance and is best viewed within the confines of a few minutes like we have below.

Labels: Bruce Willis, Christopher Walkin, film, Harvey Keitel, John Travolta, movie trailer, Quentin Tarantino, Samuel L Jackson, Tim Roth, Uma Thurman

A young dog who has spent his life on a television set sets out to save his fictitious owner. Along the way he befriends a cat and a hamster in a plastic ball. The trailer is pretty good and sells the product. The easy premise is set up and the pacing is well done. The dog and cat doing an animal version of The Defiant Ones is a a little too cute for it's own good but what the heck.





Screenwriter: Chris Sanders (Mulan)
Director: Byron Howard and Chris Williams
Actors: Miley Cyrus (Big Fish), John Travolta (The General's Daughter), Malcolm McDowell (Doomsday) and Diedrich Bader (Office Space)

Labels: film, John Travolta, Malcolm McDowell, Miley Cyrus, movie trailer

Interesting when it was released during the Clinton years, the piece is dated and useless now. John Travolta in the lead role as a Clintonesque presidential nominee is passable. The meat of the piece comes from good supporting performances by Kathy Bates, Emma Thompson and Billy Bob Thornton. A mere curiosity now, there's little reason to drag this thing out at this point.


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Labels: Billy Bob Thornton, Emma Thompson, film, John Travolta, Kathy Bates, movie review, politics

Short Review: The cool thing about casting John Travolta is that it sets the bar low enough so no one else in the production need to bother trying.


You know you’ve really made it in Hollywood when you can stop acting and no one complains. Travolta has been too busy for the past ten years to take the time to get into character. Once again, we are treated to his “Guy In Charge” role. You know this guy from The General’s Daughter, Swordfish, Basic, Broken Arrow among others. Producers pay this guy millions to show up, wear collars that emphasis the thickness of his neck and prattle his lines with a emotional vocabulary usually reserved for comic books.

This movie is so predictable it doesn’t even count as a paint-by-numbers plot. The math involved in painting by numbers is too intelligent for this melodramatic stew. I loathe movies like this. They are so unoriginal I get headaches trying to citing all of the other films this movie pulls from. There are some very talented people involved here – including Travolta (the reason I complain about his acting is because he’s shown he can do far better and doesn’t seem to be trying,) and they are all wasted on this heap.

Now that I have done enough snarling to cement the idea I didn’t like this film, I should point out some of the brighter points. This movie does show blue-collar people as real humans with lives. This is worth noting since Hollywood goofballs usually are in a rush to slam middle class folk as mouth-breathing dimwits. This film respects its characters and does not mock their “normal” lives. The filmmakers understand that while firefighters will never be rich or famous, they are vital to their communities. They deserve the same admiration we reserve for the military or police. The filmmakers also took great care to try to show the life of a firefighter. While it was clumsily handled in many areas, I liked the fact they made the effort.

In closing I can’t recommend this all too common movie. There is hardly anything new here in regards to the plot. Many people who can watch films without a critical eye (and I am often jealous of that ability,) will enjoy this flick. This movie is not worth the rental – if you see it on cable, check it out if you’re bored. Worst case scenario, you can make a drinking game out of it. Take a shot every time you see John Travolta looking at his watch, waiting for his scene to end so he can cash his fat paycheck.


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Be Cool (2005)


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Labels: film, Joaquin Phoenix, John Travolta, movie review