The Screengrab : mcg

Screengrab Review: "Terminator Salvation"

Nick Schager — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Terminator Salvation goes Dark Knight-gloomy to reignite James Cameron’s technophobic sci-fi series, jumping forward to post-Judgment Day 2018 to pick up with rebel “prophet” John Conner (Christian Bale) and the human resistance as they wage war against malevolent sentient Skynet and its army of killer robots. The world is now ash-gray and reverberates with cacophonous explosions and squealing metal, a grim, gritty Road Warrior desert dystopia populated only by Terminators and vagabond humans who huddle around barrel fires listening to the radio broadcasts of Connor, a humorless hero embodied by Bale with such monotonous intensity that one fears the greatest threat to his well-being is a self-produced aneurism. Bale’s vehemence suitably meshes with the apocalyptic landscape in which director McG has situated him. Yet working from a script by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris that places a far greater premium on land, sea and air skirmishes than on meaningful drama, the actor proves no more compelling than the machines against which his protagonist struggles. If only this were a 2001-style commentary on mankind’s devolution. Terminator Salvation, alas, strives for bleak gravity with misguided fervor, dispatching the very traces of warm, generous humanity that, in Cameron’s first two chapters, served as counterbalancing reminders of the necessity for staving off forthcoming mecha-Armageddon.

Given the dreariness of his tale's military resistance, however, McG makes the exact opposite case, positing a human race barely worth saving. At odds with his resistance leadership – namely Michael Ironside, here drained of nails-tough charisma – Conner is determined to use a special transmission signal to shut down Skynet’s HQ, as well as find Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), the teenager who will someday travel back in time to impregnate his mother and become his father. Conner ceases to exist if Reese dies, a scenario familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of the series. And here, it’s frequently intercut with the saga of Marcus Wright (bland battering ram Sam Worthington), whom we first see on death row in 2003 donating his organs to Helena Bonham Carter’s bald, dying Cyberdyne scientist, and later find emerging from the 2018 primordial muck reborn as…what? One guess is all it takes to deduce the surprise lying in wait. The predictability of this revelation, though, isn’t the bummer it might have been thanks to the more pressing disinterest elicited by the overall story, which is comprised of underlined-meaningful dialogue (“Everybody deserves a second chance”), peripheral hotties with beautiful hair (Moon Bloodgood as the badass female, a preggers Bryce Dallas Howard as the maternal one), and action that’s orchestrated with harsh vigor but – one thrilling semi-truck chase notwithstanding – only mild imagination.

McG nods to his predecessors in ways both strained (managing to shoehorn in, with some difficulty, “I’ll be back”) and amusing (a snippet from Guns N’ Roses’ “You Could Be Mine”), but even less than Jonathan Mostow’s Terminator 3, his franchise entry barely bothers adding something new to the mix, adhering to a strict run-and-gun template at the expense of innovation. That might be pardonable if the film proffered even an ounce of humor, which has always been a secondary but vital series component, whether it was Edward Furlong ordering Ahnold’s emotionless surrogate father figure not to kill in T2, or Kristanna Loken’s red-leather-dominatrix get-up in T3. Terminator Salvation, however, mistakes soberness for seriousness, its gloomy character drama coming off as merely action-figure poses, and its deafening combat, drained of any larger narrative import, registering mainly as impressive CG demo reel material. Where feeling is needed, McG offers only cold steel, such that when Wright finally rebels against his makers with a corny bit of slow-motion window-breaking, and Schwarzenegger shortly thereafter makes a cameo – via face-grafting computer-generated trickery – the sought-after emotional payoff never materializes. In its place, there’s only crashing, crushing indifference.

In Other Blogs Goes to Hawaii

Scott Von Doviak — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:30:00 GMT

Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule previews the summer movie schedule. “But even with the proof, in Star Trek, that my expectations could be so fundamentally off-base, it’s still hard for me to get excited, as Entertainment Weekly insists I should, about this summer’s big-ass slate of films. I thumbed through that 'Summer Movie Preview' issue with 'all the buzz on over 80 new films' and was bored stiff by the time I turned the page into the month of July. Really, am I supposed to care that Stephen Sommers, perpetrator of Van Helsing, has a new action blockbuster based on a toy I was bored with in 1967? Am I supposed to get all squirmy with excitement at seeing shots of a sweaty Megan Fox intercut with heavy-metal images from Michael Bay’s new movie about toys I was at least 15 years too old for when they were first popular? And despite my fondness for McG and the first Charlie’s Angels feature (about as zesty and giddily exciting as any pre-fab confection could be), that new Terminator movie just looks so goddamn glum and desperate, and overly familiar.”

GreenCine Daily’s DVD of the Week is Wise Blood. “Otherworldly in its characterizations (did I forget to mention the naïve, hyperactive 18-year-old obsessed with both a shrunken mummy and some guy in a bear suit?) but too sad or realistically perverse—even during a violent act late in the film—to be written off as a grotesque carnival, Wise Blood is not the tale of redemption or maybe accidental martyrdom that the final scenes superficially symbolize. It's about the powerlessness of existence, which is both as terrifying and absurd as that sounds.”

Beyond the Multiplex argues the importance of the original Star Trek. “For me, Star Trek and the Rolling Stones, as much as they might appear to be polar opposites -- one supremely American and the other English, one Apollonian and optimistic, the other Dionysian and pessimistic -- were the cultural phenomena that made the pre-punk-rock early '70s tolerable. A person interested in those things was, prima facie, not interested in Donny Osmond or Happy Days, had conceivably read a book not required by teachers and furthermore could plausibly have access to decent weed.”

At Scanners, Jim Emerson ponders whether one bad shot can ruin a movie. “I'm not among those who think the final shot of Hal Ashby's Being There takes a marvelously sustained balancing act and kicks it to the ground. But I can understand how somebody might feel that way. But how can just one bad decision -- maybe on screen for just a second or two -- deflate a full-length motion picture? Well, roughly the same way a pinprick in a balloon can, I guess. It can puncture the thin membrane that's sustaining the thing. Without shape and purpose, there's nothing to keep it aloft any longer.”

Finally in List-o-Mania, Spoutblog offers 10 Lost Theories Inspired by the Movies. Back to the Future Part III, anyone? “When that bright flash of light ended the episode, the Losties trapped in 1977 were returned to the present time. Or, that’s what a number of the show’s fans are predicting today. But if anyone’s been paying close attention, they’ll know that Lost has taken some cues from the Back to the Future franchise this season. So, logically, by looking at that trilogy, we know that Lost must have its denouement in the 1800s, just as the BTTF series does with Part III.”

Morning Deal Report: Tina Fey’s Date Night

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Tina Fey and Steve Carell will star in Date Night, a comedy that “revolves around a married couple who find themselves in harm's way after their routine date night goes horribly awry,” Variety reports. James Franco and Mark Wahlberg will have supporting roles. “Wahlberg plays a successful and crazily buff securities expert who flirts with Fey's character. Franco portrays a not-too-bright conman and petty criminal.” Hmm, Franco playing not-too-bright? Not sure he can pull that off.

McG: The Musical? “McG is in talks to bring the Broadway rock musical Spring Awakening to the big screen, developing it with original book and lyrics writer Steven Sater,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “Set in 19th-century Germany, the coming-of-age story follows a group of teens discovering their sexuality and dealing with high-wire topics like masturbation, abortion, rape and suicide.” Could be the next Sound of Music!

From McG to McMafia: Working Title “has acquired rights to McMafia, Mischa Glenny's sprawling book about organized crime around the world…With its globalist themes, the book is said to be something of an underworld equivalent of Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat.” But, you know, with more guns.

Related:
Tina Fey is My Baby Mama
McG Under the Sea

Trailer Review: Terminator Salvation (Trailer #3)

Paul Clark — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Up to this point, I’ve been pretty down on the upcoming fourth film in the Terminator franchise. And while I wouldn’t exactly say this latest trailer has made a believer out of me, it’s finally showing some potential to be good, and that’s a start. If nothing else, this is the first evidence that there are some new ideas at work here, rather than the same regurgitated Terminator mythology that gave T3 its same-old-same-old vibe (let’s see- how about we make Arnold the good Terminator… again?). I like the twist of including in the story a machine who believes he’s a human, which could bring some interesting human/machine ideas into play. But mostly, this looks like a pretty good dystopian SF actioner in which a lot of CGI stuff gets blown up real good. And I’m fine with that. If McG doesn’t, y’know, McG it up, this might be entertaining.

Morning Deal Report: McG Under the Sea

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT

McG is in demand! Not by me or you or anyone who actually enjoys watching movies, of course, but by studio execs who can’t get enough of the half-named wonder. The Terminator: Salvation director has settled on his next project and it is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo. That thoroughly unnecessary and downright distracting subtitle is our first hint that this is not something to look forward to. “Scripted by Bill Marsilli, the film is an origin story of Nemo as he creates his warship, the Nautilus. The characters come from the Jules Verne novel,” Variety insists. The last time we saw Captain Nemo on the big screen was in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Poor guy.

The Tron sequel has landed its lead and sadly, it’s not the fellow pictured here. It’s “up-and-comer” Garrett Hedlund, who The Hollywood Reporter helpfully informs us “has been considered one of those actors that is on the cusp within the industry, though without much of a profile in middle America. Starring in a $150 million effects-intensive feature could change that.” Unless it’s a sequel to Tron.

The cast of The Expendables keeps on growing. Earlier this week we told you Forest Whitaker was set to sign on, and now comeback kid Mickey Rourke has added his name to the roster.” Rourke will play an unscrupulous arms dealer who becomes the go-to guy for a group of mercenaries planning to topple a South American dictator,” Variety reports. Comeback over!

Related:
Turning the Anime of the Past into the Bad Movies of Tomorrow
Mickey Rourke Gets Up Off the Canvas

Trailer Review: Terminator: Salvation (Trailer #2)

Paul Clark — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Could someone please cast Christian Bale in a cheerful role? Bale has always been a fine actor, but most of the roles he plays tend to accentuate his brooding intensity, especially since he donned the Bat-cowl. And Terminator: Salvation continues the trend, placing Bale in a future as downbeat as his persona. But then, I’m not really looking forward to the movie itself either, since I think they’ve already gone to the Terminator well one too many times even without this upcoming installment (haven’t seen the series yet). Honestly, what’s left for the Terminator franchise? Wholesale man-vs.-giant machine warfare a la Transformers? The sight of Connor sending one of his men back in time to shtup his mom? I’m not sure there’s much of a movie here, and the presence of McG in the director’s chair doesn’t give me much hope.

Is the Internet Ready for David Lynch?

Leonard Pierce — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:15:00 GMT

Recently, the ever-charming auteur David Lynch urged cinephiles who might seek to take advantage of new technologies to "get real" and not even consider watching movies on "a fucking phone". I can dig it, David -- a telephone is not my ideal medium for taking in a movie, either. But then again, neither is a computer, and yet, here you are, announcing that your next big project will be a web series.

That's right: Wired is reporting that, for the first time since Twin Peaks, Lynch is making a regular return to episodic network programming. Only this time out, the network in question is the On Network, a company that specializes in internet broadcasting, and the episodes will be of a new web-only series to be based on his quasi-self-help book, Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity. Goodness knows whether compelling television can be made of a book that advises following the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in order to access your creative side, but if anyone is up to it, I suppose it's Lynch.

In fact, this really won't be Lynch's first foray into web programming. Hardcore fans will no doubt remember Dumbland, his series of crude online short films, and the even more bizarre web-only pseudo-sitcom Rabbits. And, given that the other major directors who have dipped into the world of online video include the likes of Black Snake Moan's Craig Brewer and McG of Charlie's Angels fame, maybe this is a step up for the medium instead of a step down for David Lynch.

David Lynch Calling

Trailer Review, Comic-Con Special: Terminator: Salvation Teaser

Paul Clark — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Back in 2003, I questioned whether the world needed a third Terminator movie, and my skepticism was rewarded with a third-rate addition to the saga. Now, with the release of this teaser, I can’t help but wonder again- does the world really need a fourth Terminator movie? More specifically, what will a new installment bring to the table? I’m sort of intrigued by the idea of a post-apocalyptic take on the series, but I’m not sure how sustainable it’ll be at feature length, at least with McG at the helm. I can imagine it getting a bit numbing, even with Christian Bale as John Connor. Also, this guy as Kyle Reese? Sorry, I’m just not seeing it. Barring some positive advance word, I think I’ll give Terminator: Salvation a pass.

New "Terminator" Trilogy on Tap: Christian Bale to Play John Connor, Times 3

Phil Nugent — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Christian Bale is turning out to be quite the franchise monkey. (We say it with love.) Having already done well following in the footsteps of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney, he'll be seen next year playing John Connor, savior of mankind in its battle against our mechanized tyrants, a job that calls for him to go where Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, and (on TV) Thomas Dekker have gone before. Bale and director McG are currently shooting Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, which is due to arrive in theaters on May 22, 2009. Now the BBC has reported that the producers of the current production, Halcyon, intend to make three Terminator movies, and Bale has agreed to come back for all of them. "He read the script and he loved it," said Derek Anderson, "so he's signed on for all three." His partner, Victor Kubicek, who calls Bale "really an actor's actor," adds that Bale "was our first choice and he's a big fan of The Terminator, so we're very lucky."

The Terminator series sure has come a long way since James Cameron cobbled together a surprise sleeper hit that, sneaking into theaters in the fall of 1984, blew more expensive, long-awaited sci-fi movies such as Dune and 2010 out of the water and, to the industry's slack-jawed amazement, made a bona fide movie star out of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was already fairly famous but regarded as a steroid freak with a funny accent, a useful guy to have around if you had a leading role that needed to be played in a loincloth. O. J. Simpson, famously was rejected for the role by producers who didn't think audiences would accept him as a villain, and by the time the first Terminator sequels rolled around, it was felt that Schwarzenegger wouldn't be accepted as a bad guy anymore either--or, at any rate, that he didn't want to play one--which meant that the scripts and special-effects people on those movies had to perform terrific feats of contortion to make it seem that the reformed Arnold-model robot might be plausibly vulnerable when pitted against the products of superior but skinnier technology. (Terminator 2 and the twelve-minute theme park attraction T2 3-D: Battle Across Time are the only Terminator spin-offs that Cameron has had a hand in besides picking up a check for the use of his characters.) The last Terminator movie, Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, had made it look as if the franchise was pretty well played out--ready for a TV series, in fact.

Who knows how hard the makers of the still-ongoing TV show The Sarah Connor Chronicles and the upcoming film trilogy will work to make sure their plotlines match up, but the really daunting task for the filmmakers may be proving that there's a big-screen audience for this material without Schwarzenegger. (Terminator 3 proved that there's considerably less of an audience for it with the Schwarzenegger of 2003 than there was for it with the Schwarzenegger of 1984.) The casting of Bale signals that the John Connor character is now the de facto headliner; whereas on the TV show, where his mom gets top billing, the humans are regularly upstaged by the quizzical mechanical hottie played by Summer Glau. The producers of the new franchise are purposefully vague about whether Schwarzenegger, who does have a state to run, will have any participation in the new movies. (His only film appearances since Terminator 3 have been cameos in the Jackie Chan-Steve Coogan bomb Around the World in 80 Days and in The Rundown, where he good-naturedly passed the action-movie sceptre to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.) Theoretically, there's no reason that the Terminator series can't go on forever and a day, because its time-travel gimmick is built around the idea that the characters who are on the verge of being vanquished can always return to the past and change things. The down side is that there must be a point where even the most stubbonly devoted fans have to get fed up and want to see something stick.