Famke Janssen

Blu-Ray Review: HD ‘X-Men Trilogy’ Primes Fans For First Big Summer Movie

BrianTT — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:56:51 -0600

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – With ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ opening this Friday, fans can catch up on where Hugh Jackman’s legendary character earned a following big enough to warrant a summer tentpole release date in the Blu-Ray release of the “X-Men Trilogy” including the two films by Bryan Singer (“X-Men” and “X2: X-Men United”) and the three-quel by Brett Ratner (“X-Men: The Last Stand”). With nine discs, HD video/audio transfers, and dozens of special features, this is the Blu-Ray release of the season for the comic movie nut in your circle of friends and family.

Very few franchises have been robust enough to support four films in the new millennium. With “X-Men,” “X2: X-Men United,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and this week’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” this has been easily one of the most successful franchises of the ’00s (only Harry Potter, “Saw,” and “Fast & Furious” have had as many theatrical releases.) The three films in this set have made over $1.1 billion worldwide.

X-Men Trilogy was released on Blu-Ray on April 21st, 2009.
Photo credit: Fox

Knowing the rabid fan base of the franchise, Twentieth Century Fox has released a very complete set. Want special features? There are hours of them. Digital copies? There’s one for each film. And each film is presented in HD for the first time (the first and third film are presented in 2.40:1 with the middle film in 2.35:1). All three films are accompanied by 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio English tracks and 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks in Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Sadly, Fox continues to underwhelm in the technical departments. “X-Men” looks older than it should with the picture often coming across much flatter than an average Blu-Ray. The picture simply doesn’t pop like it should, something I’ve noted far-too-often with recent Fox releases (although, to be fair, not all of them). Ultimately, “X-Men Trilogy” should look amazing and it looks (and sounds) merely average.

What is amazing is the collection of special features for all three films. They’re as informative and exhaustive as a fan could possibly ask for. There’s clearly no more material left on the cutting room floor and until the cast and crew gets together in decades for an anniversary edition, there are no more interviews or behind-the-scenes details to provide.

X-Men Trilogy was released on Blu-Ray on April 21st, 2009.
Photo credit: Fox

The first disc of special features on “X-Men” - Commentary by Bryan Singer and Brian Peck, Behind-the-Scenes Footage, Deleted/Extended Scenes with Optional Commentary by Bryan Singer and Brian Peck, Fox Special: “The Mutant Watch,” Bryan Singer Interview, Animatics, Art Gallery, Three TV Spots, Music Promo, BD-Live: Wolverine Exclusive, and HD Marvel Universe Trailers.

The second disc of special features on “X-Men” - Disc Intro by Bryan Singer, The Uncanny Suspects, X-Factor: The Look of the X-Men, Image Gallery, Production Documentary Scrapbook, The Special Effects of the X-Men, Reflection of the X-Men, Marketing the X-Men, TV Spots, and Internet Interstitials.

The first disc of special features on “X2: X-Men United” - Commentary by Bryan Singer and Tom Sigel, Commentary by Lauren Shuler Donner, Ralph Winter, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris and David Hayter, Generation X: Comic Book History, BD-Live: Wolverine Exclusive, and HD Marvel Universe Trailers.

The second disc of special features on “X2: X-Men United” - History of the X-Men, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, Deleted Scenes, Galleries, Locations and Sets, On-Camera Graphics, The Unseen X2, and Three HD Trailers.

The first disc of special features on “X-Men: The Last Stand” - Director and Writer Commentary by Brett Ratner, Zack Penn and Simon Kinberg, Producer Commentary by Avi Arad, Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, HD Deleted Scenes (Optional Director and Writer Commentary by Brett Ratner, Zack Penn and Simon Kinberg), HD Easter Eggs, BD-Live: Wolverine Exclusive, and HD Marvel Universe Trailers.

The second disc of special features fon “X-Men: The Last Stand” - Brett Ratner’s Production Diary, X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy, X-Men Up Close - Interactive gallery with stills and video, Generation X: Comic Book History, Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School, Fox Movie Channel Presents: Casting Session, X3: The Excitement Continues in HD, Anatomy of a Scene: Golden Gate Bridge in HD, HD Vignettes, HD Blogs, Previz Animatics, Galleries, Easter Egg, and Three HD Trailers.

‘X-Men Trilogy’ is released by Twentieth Century Fox and stars Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Alan Cumming, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romijn, Bruce Davison, Brian Cox, Kelsey Grammer, and Vinnie Jones. “X-Men” was written by David Hayter and directed by Bryan Singer. “X2: X-Men United” was written by Zak Penn and Hayter & Singer and directed by Singer. “X-Men: The Last Stand” was written by Simon Kinberg & Penn and directed by Brett Ratner. “X-Men Trilogy” was released on April 21st, 2009. All three films are rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Liam Neeson Elevates Above-Average Action Movie ‘Taken’

BrianTT — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:25:39 -0700

CHICAGO – Bringing the same screen presence and gravity that he has to more serious roles like those in “Schindler’s List” and “Kinsey,” Liam Neeson turns the relatively generic “Taken” into an above-average action movie that should prove a surprising alternative for movie goers looking for a break from Super Bowl coverage this weekend.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The great Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a retired “preventer,” essentially Jack Bauer ten or fifteen years down the road. He’s put his violent days behind him but not forgotten the skills that made him one of the most efficient experts in his very specialized field. In the opening act of “Taken,” Mills is hanging out with friends and taking odd jobs like providing back-stage security for the latest pop starlet.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Taken” in our reviews section.

Bryan has grown a bit distant from his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), but he’s working on getting back into the life of his only child. Kim decides to travel to Europe to follow U2 with her best friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) and Bryan reluctantly allows her to go.

Before they’re even out of the airport, Kim and Amanda are spotted by accomplices of some of the most evil people in the world, spotters for an Albanian sex ring. Kim and her friend are kidnapped, but not before Kim gets her father on the phone. He hears just enough detail that he knows he can travel to Europe and save his daughter’s life. And kill anyone who gets in his way.

‘Taken’ stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Katie Cassidy, and Jon Gries. It was written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen and directed by Pierre Morel. It opens on January 30th, 2009, and is rated PG-13.

Continuing reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Taken” review.

In Taken, Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-government operative who has less than four days to find his kidnapped daughter - who has been taken on her first day of vacation in Paris.
Photo credit: Stephanie Branchu/Fox

Slideshow: 8-Image Gallery For ‘Taken’ With Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace

BrianTT — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:56:53 -0700

CHICAGO – This 8-image slideshow contains a selection of official press images from Twentieth Century Fox’s “Taken,” which opens stateside on Friday, January 30th, 2009.

“Taken” stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Katie Cassidy, Holly Valance, and Famke Janssen. The film was written by Robert Mark Kamen and Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel. It opens on Jan. 30, 2009.

Synopsis: “I don’t know you who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you’re looking for a ransom, I can tell you, I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills acquired over a very long career in the shadows, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you. And I will kill you.”

With these chilling words to a member of a band of kidnappers, former government operative Bryan Mills begins the longest 96-hours of his life – and the hunt for the fearsome organization that has taken his daughter Kim.

Mills had only recently given up his government career as what he calls, a “preventer” – “I prevented bad things from happenings,” he says – to be near Kim, who lives with Bryan’s ex-wife Lenore and her new husband. To make ends meet, Bryan joins some former colleagues for special security details (like guarding a pop diva), but most of his time and energy are spent re-connecting with Kim.

Bryan’s familial goal is nearly derailed when Kim requests his permission to spend time in Paris with a friend. All too aware of the dangers that could lie ahead for Kim in a foreign land, Bryan says no, but Kim’s disappointment leads him to very reluctantly relent.

Bryan’s worst fears are realized when Kim and her friend Amanda are suddenly abducted – in broad daylight – from the Paris apartment at which they’ve just arrived. Moments before Kim is dragged away by the as yet unseen and unknown assailants, she manages to phone Bryan, who begins to expertly piece together clues that will take him to the darkness of Paris’s underworld, and to the City of Light’s plushest mansions. He will face nightmares worse than anything he experienced in black ops – and let nothing and no one stop him from saving his daughter.

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos credited to Stephanie Branchu/Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox unless otherwise noted.

Taken_01: In Taken, Liam Neeson stars as Bryan Mills, an ex-government operative who has less than four days to find his kidnapped daughter - who has been taken on her first day of vacation in Paris.
Taken_02: Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) engages in a fire fight with the vicious gang that has kidnapped his daughter in Paris.
Taken_03: Only moments away from being taken by a vicious band of kidnappers, Kim (Maggie Grace) makes an urgent phone call to her father.
Taken_04: Bryan (Liam Neeson) visits a streetwalker (Fani Kolarova) as he attempts to infiltrate a vicious gang that has kidnapped his daughter.
Taken_05: Bryan (Liam Neeson) prepares to take extreme measures during his interrogation of a man he suspects of being a key player in the kidnapping.
Taken_06: In Paris, Bryan (Liam Neeson) looks to a former ally, Jean Claude (Olivier Rabourdin), for help in finding those responsible for the kidnapping.
Taken_07: Ex-spouses Bryan (Liam Neeson) and Lenore (Famke Janssen) do not see eye-to-eye on matters concerning their daughter. Photo by Sam Urdank
Taken_08: Bryan (Liam Neeson, right) presents his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) with a birthday gift, as his ex-wife and her mother Lenore (Famke Janssen) looks on. Photo by Sam Urdank

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: ‘The Wackness’ Releases Dope Features For Slightly Wack Movie

BrianTT — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:06:44 -0700

CHICAGO – The coming-of-age comedy “The Wackness” with Josh Peck, Ben Kingsley, Olivia Thirlby, Mary-Kate Olsen, Method Man, and Famke Janssen may feature a bouncing hip-hop soundtrack and be about joyful things like first love, but it’s an oddly inert, haze-filled film, as if the regular marijuana usage in the film cast a haze over the entire project.

Only the always-interesting Kingsley and the delightful Thirlby, who’s been great in everything from “Juno” to “Snow Angels,” give the film any life at all and the great treatment of the film by Sony Pictures Home Video significantly helps the final product.

The Wackness is released by Sony Pictures Home Video on January 6th, 2009.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Home Video

In 1994 New York City, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) deals weed to all kinds of clients, including his therapist, the very immature Dr. Squires (Ben Kingsley). Luke’s dealing drugs to try and make ends meet before his family gets evicted. He happens to fall in love with Dr. Squires’ daughter, Stephanie (Olivia Thirlby), just as the relationship of her parents (Mrs. Squires is played by Famke Janssen) falls apart. All of the domestic drama and young-love comedy is scored to some of the best hip-hop of the mid-’90s including Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, and De La Soul.

The Wackness is released by Sony Pictures Home Video on January 6th, 2009.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures Home Video

I don’t believe it’s the talented young Mr. Peck’s fault but the lead character in “The Wackness,” Luke Shapiro, is, to use the parlance of the film, “mad boring y’all”. “The Wackness” is essentially about a boy becoming a man during one crazy summer and realizing that some people - especially the disturbingly immature doctor, who longs to have an affair before his marriage crumbles - never grow up. Luke falls hard for Stephanie, who may not return the strong feelings, and is forced to try and deal enough drugs to support his family. Debut director Jonathan Levine deftly handles his talented cast and has an interesting visual style. Despite the film’s flaws, it’s a promising debut.

Where “The Wackness” stumbles is in the details. Too many of the conversations between Dr. Squires and Luke just linger on and on, like a hazy afternoon listening to The Grateful Dead. There are too many montages and trick shots for a story that should have felt more genuine and, probably, autobiographical. And the final act of the script hits way too many of the film’s themes directly on the head. No character ever needs to say something like, “Life is hard and it’s full of pain, but we take it because there’s great stuff too.” A film should be able to show you a lesson like that, not tell you. (And, no, just because a character comments on the cheesy nature of that line doesn’t make it okay to include it.)

Even more damagingly, Levine and Peck make too many mopey decisions with Luke. When Peck is allowed to smile and laugh, which is far too rarely, the film shows life. But he’s, quite simply, too quiet. Peck mumbles his way through the role, as if he’s trying to counterbalance the vibrancy of Kingsley, but makes the center of “The Wackness” a bit too hollow. Kingsley, great in a trifecta of independent films in the summer of 2008 that included this, “Transsiberian,” and “Elegy,” is excellent and Thirlby is quickly developing into one of the more intriguing young actresses working today.

Levine will become a better screenwriter and he has a confident visual style missing from most young directors. I can’t wait to see what happens when he leaves the autobiographical details of the ’90s behind. “The Wackness” is a near-miss with great supporting performances, interesting ideas, and promising direction.

The confident visual style fits perfectly for “The Wackness,” which has a unique color palette and several unusual camera tricks that, of course, look better in High-Definition. Sony rarely falters with their Blu-Ray transfers and “The Wackness” is no exception. And the thumping hip-hop soundtrack sounds great in a master HD audio track.

“The Wackness” includes an informative and interesting collection of special features with a commentary by Peck and Levine, deleted scenes, and three featurettes - “Luke Shapiro’s Dope Show,” “Keeping It Real: A Day in the Life of Jonathan Levine,” “Time in a Bottle: Behind-the-Scenes of The Wackness”. It’s a suprisingly detailed collection of special features that includes interviews with nearly everyone involved in the production. It’s a pretty dope collection of features for a movie that’s kind of wack.

‘The Wackness’ is released by Sony Pictures Home Video and stars Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Method Man, and Mary-Kate Olsen. It was written and directed by Jonathan Levine. It was released on January 6th, 2009.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Director Jonathan Levine, Star Josh Peck to Appear in Chicago For Ben Kingsley’s ‘The Wackness’

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:25:22 -0600

CHICAGO – We have learned that writer and director Jonathan Levine (“All the Boys Love Mandy Lane”) and lead actor Josh Peck (“Ice Age: The Meltdown”) will publicly appear this Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 7 p.m. at the downtown Chicago Apple store at 679 N. Michigan Ave. to offer an insider’s look at their new film “The Wackness”.

Sir Ben Kingsley as Dr. Squires in “The Wackness”.
Photo by JoJo Whilden, © 2008 Occupant Films and courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Along with Peck, “The Wackness” also features Sir Ben Kingsley (who played Gandhi in 1982’s “Gandhi”) and Olivia Thirlby (from recent “Juno” fame).

“The Wackness” director Jonathan Levine.
Photo credit: Robin Holland, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

In addition to showing clips from the New York-set film, Levine and Peck will also be taking questions from the audience.

“The Wackness” is an Audience Award winner at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The film is scheduled to open in Chicago on July 11, 2008. Stay tuned for our upcoming interviews with Levine and Peck.

Here’s the plot outline for “The Wackness”:

In the summer of 1994, the streets of New York are pulsing with hip-hop and wafting with the sweet aroma of marijuana. But change is in the air.

The newly inaugurated mayor, Rudy Giuliani, is beginning to implement his anti-fun initiatives against “crimes” like noisy portable radios, graffiti and public drunkenness.

Set against this backdrop, Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck) spends his last summer before college selling dope throughout New York City and trading it with his shrink (Ben Kingsley) for therapy while crushing on his step-daughter (Olivia Thirlby).

Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen and Method Man round out the cast in this edgy, bittersweet and funny coming-of-age story.

Josh Peck (left) as Luke and Olivia Thirlby as Stephanie in “The Wackness”.
Photo by JoJo Whilden, © 2008 Occupant Films and courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

View our full, high-resolution image gallery for “The Wackness”.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com