Diane Lane

DVD Review: ‘Killshot’ With Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane Finally Gets Released

BrianTT — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:30:18 -0600

CHICAGO – How does a movie with Oscar-nominated leads, a prominent director, beloved source material, and an excellent supporting cast get delayed for so long that it inevitably gets quietly shuffled off to DVD? Well, if history tells us anything, having a complicated and troubled project in the Weinstein Company archives doesn’t help a movie like “Killshot,” an action thriller that has its flaws but none so big that it deserved such an unusual and lackluster fate.

DVD Rating: 1.0/5.0

Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Rosario Dawson started shooting “Killshot” with director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) in 2005. Then the dreaded Weinstein test audience process began. Entire characters (including one played by Johnny Knoxville) were excised from the film and “Killshot” had more release date delays than nearly any movie in history.

Of course, everyone moved on and Mickey Rourke became a star again with “The Wrestler”. So, after a minor theatrical release, “Killshot” is being quietly released in what is essentially a straight-to-DVD release to bank off Rourke’s return to fame.

Killshot was released on DVD on May 26th, 2009.
Photo credit: HBO Home Video

It has to be horrible, right? Only a train wreck of a film would suffer a fate as awful as the editing out of complete characters, three years of release date delays, and a straight-to-DVD release with no accompanying Blu-Ray, right? Of course not.

Killshot was released on DVD on May 26th, 2009.
Photo credit: HBO Home Video

To be fair, “Killshot” has some problems. It’s not too hard to see what turned off test audiences and spooked the executives. Hossein Amini’s screenplay based on the book by Elmore Leonard doesn’t quite work and even Madden doesn’t seem to have the right grasp on the character-driven crimes of one of the best genre authors of the last century. It’s hard to tell how many of the problems with “Killshot” are directly related to the nightmare post-production and how many were there in the first place, but it’s not like this is a perfect hidden gem that was completely railroaded by the Hollywood machine. But while it may not be perfect, “Killshot” deserved a better fate.

I think audiences will take to “Killshot” on DVD. Action films always do well on the home market and Rourke is absolutely beloved by nearly everyone who saw “The Wrestler”.

Rourke plays a hitman named Blackbird, a deadly killer who leaves no loose ends. Blackbird gets pressured into a job with the psychotic Richie Nix (a movie-stealing Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and stumbles across a pair of witnesses (Thomas Jane & Diane Lane) who see his face. The struggling couple gets put in the witness protection program and the rest of the film is basically a ticking clock until the two pairs inevitably meet up again.

Killshot was released on DVD on May 26th, 2009.
Photo credit: HBO Home Video

The set-up for “Killshot” is interesting but the follow-through is dull and plodding. It’s hard to tell, but it’s unlikely that years of delays and editing did anything to help the final product. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Jane, and Rosario Dawson all do good work but Rourke and Lane are surprisingly dull. Both of these actors are capable of so much more when given better material.

The film itself might be a solid 2.5/5 but this is a “DVD review” and the home release for “Killshot” is absolutely pathetic. With all the editing, you would think there would at least be a FEW deleted scenes. And how amazing would it have been to hear a commentary by Madden or anyone else involved after all this time? Have they all forgotten they made the film?

The fact is that in today’s market of great technical transfers and hours of special features, a bare-bones DVD without a single bonus and standard video & audio just doesn’t cut it. “Killshot” deserved better.

‘Killshot’ is released by The Weinstein Company and stars Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Thomas Jane. It was written by Hossein Amini and directed by John Madden. The DVD was released on May 26th, 2009. It is rated R.

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

Blu-Ray Review: Shockingly High Levels of Melodrama Sink ‘Nights in Rodanthe’

BrianTT — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 11:15:19 -0700

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.0/5.0

CHICAGO – I have a very high threshold for melodramatic romance. I was raised on cheesy musicals and will admit to pausing on the underrated “The Notebook” more than once when I pass it on cable. Having said that, I hated “Nights in Rodanthe,” a film that mines rarely seen lows in manipulative soap opera dreck and washes away the screen presence of two of the genre’s most physically blessed stars in a sea of fake tears and ridiculous plot twists.

The script for “Nights in Rodanthe” by Ann Peacock and John Romano from a best-selling book by Nicholas Sparks would get most writers laughed out of a pitch meeting for an episode of “Days of Our Lives”. I am easily moved and will admit to openly crying at films more often than a grown man should, but rarely have I seen a melodramatic script rendered more ineffective by horrendous dialogue and cliched behavior than the one for “Rodanthe”.

Nights in Rodanthe is released by Warner Brothers Home Video on February 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

The two charismatic and beautiful stars of “Unfaithful” - Richard Gere and Diane Lane - star in “Nights in Rodanthe” and prove that they still have an impressive and interesting screen chemistry. They just chose the wrong script to do so.

Nights in Rodanthe is released by Warner Brothers Home Video on February 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Gere plays Paul, a surgeon who long ago traded family for career and has had to deal with upheaval in his life after a woman died on his operating table during a routine surgery. He’s grown distant from his son (an uncredited James Franco) and goes to a remote inn on the Outer Banks of North Carolina to unwind and meet up with someone important to his past and future.

Lane plays Adrienne, a devoted mother who has been separated from her husband (Christopher Meloni) since he cheated on her but the cad now wants back into her life. It doesn’t help that Adrienne is facing pressure from their daughter (Mae Whitman) to reconcile but she finds support from her close friend (Viola Davis), the owner of the inn.

Adrienne happens to be watching the inn when Paul happens to be the only guest there on a weekend where there happens to be a hurricane. There’s a lot of “happens” in “Nights in Rodanthe”. Just not a lot of believability.

The first part of “Rodanthe,” the courtship period between Adrienne and Paul, is surprisingly lifeless and inert. Without the natural chemistry these two stars have together, it would be nearly unbearable. They hang around the inn, eating, drinking, playing garbage-can basketball. Is this how people going through emotional upheaval really grow close to one another?

Of course, mother nature must step in and the hurricane forces Paul and Adrienne to turn to one another as they try to put the problems of their lives in perspective. The dialogue in the mid-section of “Nights in Rodanthe” is unbelievable.

“Not the best husband, the best father. The best doctor!”

“What are you afraid of?”

“Do you even remember who you really are any more?”

Nights in Rodanthe is released by Warner Brothers Home Video on February 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

These are the kind of cliched, manipulative lines that shouldn’t make it past a rough draft much less to a shooting script. No one talks like that and once you realize that “Rodanthe” is just another melodramatic soap opera, it loses all interest or emotional power. Past the star’s copious chemistry and like-ability, there’s nothing to care about.

Warner Brothers knows that “Nights in Rodanthe” is a very likely rental, possibly even a purchase for fans of the couple or Nicholas Sparks, so they do a decent job with the Blu-Ray release. The video transfer is very good and the audio is above average. Even as the world around Paul and Adrienne is falling apart, the lush, beautiful setting of the Outer Banks looks stunning in HD. In fact, the video transfer is the best thing about the Blu-Ray release of “Nights in Rodanthe”.

I expected a commentary or in-depth look at the making of the film, but neither are really present. There are a few EPK-style interview bits with Lane and Gere on the making-of feature called “The Nature of Love,” which runs about twenty minutes, probably long enough for casual fans of the movie, but serious ones usually want a bit more than that.

“A Time for Love: Keeping Up with Nicholas Sparks” is for hardcore fans of the author only and “An Intimate Look at ‘In Rodanthe’ with Singer/Songwriter Emmylou Harris” is the same for those who adore the country star. The inclusion of Gavin Rossdale’s “Love Remains the Same” may be the most unusual addition.

Finally, director George C. Wolfe appears on a director commentary on a handful of correctly deleted scenes. In one, he comments on the cut of a shot of a house going down the shore after the hurricane because of Katrina memories he feared it would raise. Wolfe, a theater veteran and household name in those circles, is an interesting creative voice and I wished he had done a commentary, even if it meant I had to sit through “Nights in Rodanthe” again.

‘Nights in Rodanthe’ is released by Warner Brothers Home Video and stars Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Scott Glenn, Christopher Meloni, Viola Davis, and James Franco. It was written by Ann Peacock and John Romano and directed by George C. Wolfe. It was released on February 10th, 2009.

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

‘Killshot’ Poster, Cast, Synopsis Information For Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane Thriller

BrianTT — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:55:14 -0700

CHICAGO – The Weinstein Company sent over the official poster for Killshot and information about the long-delayed release.

“Killshot”

Release Date: January 23rd, 2009

Cast: Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Rosario Dawson, Johnny Knoxville

Synopsis: From Academy Award nominated director John Madden (“Shakespeare in Love”) comes Hossein Amini’s wry adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s best-selling crime novel. The beautiful Carmen Colson (Diane Lane) and her husband Wayne (Thomas Jane) become entangled in a scam with a bumbling, small time con artist (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his over-the-hill hitman partner the Blackbird (Mickey Rourke). Ultimately, it all comes down to one wife, one husband, two killers…and one lethal killshot.

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

Lane’s ‘Untraceable’ Plagued With Predictable, Connect-the-Dots Plotline

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:01:28 -0700

CHICAGO – Gregory Hoblit’s “Untraceable” is a predictable thriller that takes us into the masterminds of cybercrime in Portland. Diane Lane plays FBI agent Jennifer Marsh and heads up a cybercrime department that’s chasing an Internet killer.

The contradictive story leads us into the path of the serial killer – played by Joseph Cross – who seeks revenge on an apathetic society focused on Internet violence. The character grotesquely tortures and kills victims online at his KillWithMe.com site.

He sets up extravagant torture devices so victims endure more pain with each and every additional Web site visitor. The process continually expedites them to their death.

Click here to read Allison Pitaccio’s full review
of “Untraceable” in our reviews section!

Click here for our full “Untraceable” image gallery!