Review - Terminator: Salvation

Studio/Production Company: Warner Brothers
Director: McG
Release Date: May 21, 2009 (theatrical)
Genre: Action
Strong Points: Masterful visual style; the post-apocalyptic world we’ve been waiting to see for years is fully realized; strong performances by both Christian Bale and Sam Worthington; some impressive camera work.
Weak Points: Good characters, script, and plot have been tossed out the window and replaced with a constant bombardment of action.
Technical Score: B
Artistic Score: B
Final Score (not an average): C
Moral Warnings: The action is intense and frequent; some minor curse words throughout including one use of “son of a *****”.

Buckle up, kiddies. Terminator is back. Under the direction of McG (the visionary director of "Charlie’s Angels" and that one football movie everyone has already forgotten about), the post-apocalyptic world and the war with the machines is finally revealed 25 years after the first "Terminator" film. And it’s war all right, as probably 112 of its 115 minutes are filled with explosions and gunfire and terminators and people screaming. You know. The things that sell tickets.

Salvation takes place in 2003 in the post-apocalyptic...no, wait. That’s later. The opening scene is of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a man on death row in 2003. We don’t know what he did, but he feels pretty bad about it and we get the Oh-the-terrible-things-that-I’ve-done-and-do-you-believe-in-second-chances-blah-blah-blah moment. If my heart was supposed to go out to him for that, it didn’t. After discussing his inner turmoil/angst to a doctor (Helena Bonham Carter), he signs his body away to Cyberdyne for some unknown project (I wonder what on earth THAT could be) and is executed.

Okay. NOW we’re in 2018. For the uncultured, there’s a cute "Star Wars"-ey opening crawl that gives a quick recap on exactly what the heck is going on in 2018, though really it’s pretty easy to figure out if you just watch the screen and don’t fall asleep, which should be no problem considering how many explosions and gun fights and lions and tigers and Terminators-oh-my show up.

Basically, it all boils down to man vs. machine, and this is something that the previous "Terminator" films have all been able to pull off quite successfully. However, since Salvation takes place in the post-apocalyptic world we’ve only seen brief glimpses of in the previous films, it’s man vs. machine on a remarkably larger scale.

For those who have spent significant time dreaming about what this machine-controlled 2018 would look like (because you’re weird like that), I say unto you: dream no longer. Because it’s here, and it’s beautiful. And by beautiful, I mean desolate, despairing, disturbing, and many other negative adjectives that start with the letter “D.” If there’s any place that McG and his team have succeeded in full, the creation of this world is it. It’s barren, empty, and makes you believe that Judgment Day really happened. Think "Children of Men" with Terminators as the bad guys instead of people (coincidentally, "Children of Men" was one of McG’s main influences for the setting).

Add that with some truly impressive cinematography by Shane Hurlbut. Shaky hand held camera work and one-shot takes are all over the place, and it’s gorgeous. They’ve set this world up and captured it perfectly. Mr. Hurlbut, I echo the words of Mr. Bale when he said: “Oh, good for you.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t enough to save "Salvation" (see what I did there?). It’s not a mess, no. Not at all. But its flaws are too significant for it to be the fourth "Terminator" film that we all wanted it to be. The characters are one-dimensional and underdeveloped, particularly John Connor (Christian Bale). My guess is the writers figured they could rely on his development in the previous two films and throw him in as-is, leaving more room for explosions and helicopter crashes.

Okay. I’ll admit it. The helicopter sequence was awesome.

Though, really, the show doesn’t go to Connor. It belongs to Marcus, the Terminator who thinks he’s human. Sam Worthington actually made me like his character, but even then there wasn’t any big feeling of attachment like the one I got out of "Terminator 2" (poor Arnold).

What replaces this character development? Action. Very well done, heart-pounding, visually striking action. But still action, and my mind begins to wander at the possibilities of how much better Salvation could be if just fifteen minutes of Terminators were taken out and well-constructed dialogue put in. Maybe we’ll find out when the sequel is made. Time will tell.

"Salvation" isn’t a light PG-13. It’s a dark film, wrought with intense fire-fights, frequent explosions, helicopter chases, and just overall plenty of violence to go around. Language was surprisingly sparse, though it is there. In one scene, a group of men intend to rape a woman, but they are stopped before they can do anything.

"Terminator: Salvation" has its flaws, and it certainly could have started the “beginning of the end” on a better note. But there’s a lot that’s done right here, and that gives me a good deal of hope for whatever the next step is for this series.

-Zak Mellgren (zak@revolve21.com)


Second Spin by Drew Regensburger

As I read Zak's review, it seemed apparent that I had either had different expectations for the newest "Terminator" film, or that I had watched a different film. I don't know. But after the mess that was "Terminator 3," I wasn't expecting much. What I got was a movie that was both fun and visceral, a movie that didn't betray the previous films in the franchise but embraced them. John Connor, while not the sole main character of the film, really comes into his own here, echoing the slow transformation we began to see in "Terminator 2." Anton Yelchin is in top form as Connor's teenage father Kyle Reese, going so far as to emulate speech patterns that Michael Biehn had in the first two "Terminator" films.

And the visual style is impressive, as mentioned above. But when it comes to the character development already present, I have to disagree. It's not entirely unreasonable to expect viewers to be familiar with previous material in a series; after all, "The Empire Strikes Back" assumed familiarity and didn't rely on exposition in film to establish previously established characters. That means that in the fourth film in a series, focusing more on developing new characters makes more sense than expanding upon a character that has been built up over the course of three films and over twenty-five years.

All of that said however, "Terminator: Salvation" is--barring some clunky and corny dialogue--a treat to watch. It's a lesser "Terminator" film, but then, it's hard to surpass the first two films in the series, simply because of their status as sci-fi/action classics. Still, it towers over the diminutive and unimpressive "Terminator 3," and sets up the continuation of the series, leaving me (much like Zak) hoping that the next film in the franchise will be that much more impressive.
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Review - The Informers

Studio/Production Company: Senator Entertainment
Director: Gregor Jordan
Written by: Bret Easton Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki
Rating: Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, drug use, pervasive language and some disturbing images.
Release Date: April 24, 2009
Genre: Drama
Strong Points: Captures the atmosphere of the 80s exceedingly well; some very strong performances from the cast; excellent cinematography and editing; strong script
Weak Points: Fractured feel, largely in part to unresolved plot; depravity of characters and plot can feel oppressive; characterizations tend to feel one-dimensional
Technical Score: B
Artistic Score: A
Final Score (not an average): C+
Moral Warnings: Sex and drugs permeate the film; profanity is heavily used throughout the film, including blasphemy; male and female nudity occurs frequently; some violence is featured, but not heavily.

In the late-80s, author Bret Easton Ellis came onto the scene with “Less than Zero,” a nihilistic take on youth, drugs and sex in Los Angeles, circa the mid-1980s. A film, starring Robert Downey, Jr., and Brat-Packers Jami Gertz and Andrew McCarthy followed, and was the first of several Easton Ellis adaptations. Later projects included “American Psycho,” a novel and film about facades and insanity in the yuppie crowd (and starring Christian Bale in an amazing, chilling role), and “The Rules of Attraction,” a novel and film about drugs, sex and debauchery in the 1980s college crowd.

In that way, “The Informers” is no different an adaptation than any of those previous; it deals with drugs, sex and a nihilistic group of people in the early 1980s, and follows them for a short period of time. All of the characters are connected in some way, through theme, chance encounter or sexual partner. Sometimes it’s a mix of all three. At other times, the connections are harder to make.

Like any ensemble piece, “The Informers” relies heavily on the strength of its players. Strong performances from Mickey Rourke, Kim Basinger, and Billy Bob Thornton lead the way, but those actors never turn anything surprising in. They simply provide a solid backbone for the story to rest on, backstory and context when it’s needed. Oddly enough, these are also some of the most fascinating characters in the film, which isn’t saying much when the vast majority of the characters are portrayed as one- and two-dimensional addicts with no life and no remorse for their despicable actions.

Brad Renfro, in his final role (he died in early 2008 from a heroine overdose), appears as Jack, a young, struggling actor who lives in a dump and without confidence, and is dealing with his uncle Peter (Mickey Rourke) taking advantage of him and doing things that are not strictly legal. Graham (Jon Foster) is the son of William (Billy Bob Thornton), and is a rich kid who deals drugs on the side, lives with his girlfriend Christie (Amber Heard) and occasionally his best friend Martin (Austin Nichols), a music video director who leads a particularly hedonistic lifestyle. One of their friends, Tim (Lou Taylor Pucci), recently went on vacation with his alcoholic father Les (Chris Isaak), who thinks his son might be gay. On top of all of this, pop star Bryan Metro (Mel Raido) is dealing with a heavy drug addiction, a pressing tour schedule and a host of other problems.

None of these characters are particularly likable. None of the characters are necessarily engaging. Part of the appeal of “The Informers” is that fact, that the characters both repulse and compel. This is the stuff of soap opera tragedy, a story that feels almost tragicomic in its melodrama. And comical it would be if the subject matter weren’t so dark. Easton Ellis has long been a satirist in his novels. “American Psycho” dealt heavily with that, featuring a man whose answer to his own inhumanity and insensitivity was to kill, and kill brutally. In that film, Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman murders both colleagues and prostitutes while commenting on popular music in a very nonchalant fashion. Here however, the destruction on display is of the personal kind and finds itself in even less comical territory than “American Psycho” ever did. Characters often wake up in bisexual threesomes, or find themselves unable to relate to another because of their inability to relate to themselves. There is no redemption here, and maybe none is wanted.

Themes of love and death juxtaposed run through the film, though one has to wonder: Do any of the characters actually care? When we reach certainty about love, certainty about death, at least for one of the characters on display here, it’s almost too late. Those with answers are given no screen time; those without them do what they want and then bemoan their misfortune when the world crashes around them. It seems in some ways that we, as the audience, are almost expected to judge the characters presented here, to analyze and condemn them while the film coldly displays their actions.

Perhaps the best thing about “The Informers” is how well it captures that quintessential 80s vibe. Everything, from costume design to art direction to music selection, is dead on, often betraying a real affection for the era. Nostalgia does permeate the film, but so does anger and sadness and a feeling of being directionless. Morality is a grey area here and sex is thrown around as a commodity, just like the drugs.

Nudity abounds in “The Informers,” with at least one major character’s breasts exposed for the majority of her scenes. Full frontal nudity is shown several times, including both male and female, though not often in focus. At least one graphic sex scene is on display, and one character is heavily bisexual, sleeping with more than one character and making no secret of it. Drug use runs rampant, from cocaine to pot to what seems like heroine. One character kidnaps a child with the intent to sell him. Another punches a woman in the face after she propositions him sexually. At the beginning of the film, a character is hit by a car; blood is everywhere from the act. Incidental blood is shown from cuts on the hands to two major characters. Profanity is everywhere, with most words in the book used. Blasphemy is used, but not prevalent.

None of this is to say that “The Informers” is not interesting, or that it’s a bad film. It’s well made and holds a sort of morbid fascination for the viewer. But when all the sex, drugs and glamour fade away, we find that most of the characters have not progressed, and those that have are not necessarily better for it. The ones that haven’t feel like lost causes, their faces spattered with blood or their noses powdered with cocaine. They haven’t learned a thing from their experiences, and maybe neither have we. Either way, “The Informers” is what it is: An intriguing, albeit vile, character study, drenched in sexual and moral ambiguity. It is a film that is both hard to watch and hard to stomach, and one that I’m not sure needed to be made.

Drew Regensburger (drew@revolve21.com)
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Review - Together Through Life

Artist: Bob Dylan
Album: Together Through Life
Record Label: Columbia Records
Producer(s): Jack Frost
Release Date: April 28, 2009
Genre: Folk Rock, Blues Rock
Strong Points: Strong album all the way through; excellent production values, lyricism and instrumentation; very retro feel
Weak Points: None
Technical Score: A
Artistic Score: A+
Final Score (not an average): A+
Moral Warnings: None

There’s no in-between with Bob Dylan: you love him or you hate him. Call him what you will, Dylan has consistently reinvented himself through his albums. From troubadour to gospel man, from prophet to blues-man, Dylan’s music has always proven surprising throughout his four-decade long career. With this newest release, Dylan follows up his trio of dark, spiritual blues albums with an album that is not so much a reinvention but an evolution of his previous blues work.

The previous three albums that Dylan released, 1997’s “Time Out of Mind,” 2001’s “Love and Theft” and 2006’s “Modern Times,” dealt heavily in the murk of blues, and tackled subjects such as love, death and aging. There was a hopelessness to all three albums as well as a commonality in theme that united the three, causing some critics to hail them as a trilogy, a claim that Dylan denied in subsequent interviews.

For this, Bob Dylan’s 33rd studio album, Dylan pursued a feel similar to that of the 1950s Chicago blues scene, specifically that of Chess Records, with a distinctive bass and accordion added to evoke that particular sound. However, the album still sounds very much in line with the previous three, even though it feels rougher and somehow brighter. Dylan doesn’t so much bemoan love here as praise it. Where in 1997 he cried, “You left me standing in the doorway crying/Suffering like a fool,” here his intent is stated in the title.

“Together Through Life” begins with a confession of love to another. Dylan’s voice is immediate and needful. “Don’t know what I’d do without it/Without this love that we call ours,” Dylan croons on opening track Beyond Here Lies Nothin’, his voice weaving between blues guitars and a slowly pulsing band, propelling the music forward. The track that follows, Life is Hard, is filled with nostalgia. The guitars are lightly plucked and a slide wails in the background, texturing the music. At its base, Life is Hard is a song of longing and need, not unlike the previous track but from the perspective of someone who feels very much alone.

More along the lines of a classic blues song is My Wife’s Home Town, which plays lines juxtaposed against guitar melody. Dark and brooding, but with a playful side that still hasn’t left Dylan’s writing, the song jumps between indecision and devotion, despair and justification.

The rest of the album deals with a variety of issues, but all of the songs tend to be linked through concepts of need and desire. On If You Ever Go to Houston, the narrator bargains with an unknown person to help him find his lost love: “Last time I saw her was at the Magnolia Motel/If you help me find her you can be my pal/Mister Policeman, can you help me find my gal?” Jolene is an ode to devotion, perhaps unrequited, and This Dream of You rambles in a folksy way, continuing the idea of devotion to one’s love. Not one song fails to find its mark, resulting in an album that continues Bob Dylan’s recent string of successes.

Like much of Dylan’s later work, “Together Through Life” focuses on very personal, but immediately relatable, songs. The rage from his early work is gone, but so is Dylan the Confessor, last seen on 1975’s “Blood on the Tracks” and 1976’s “Desire.” Still, this is the first album since those two that takes such a positive view of love. Prior to this, it seemed like Dylan was testing the waters of the blues after a decade long hiatus from the genre, but even then he sounded comfortable. This album is the result of a band that fully realizes what it’s capable of. It’s the result of a songwriter who is comfortable in his own skin and comfortable experimenting with what he does best. Ultimately, “Together Through Life” is better for this experimentation. The raw sound, the cuts, the jagged edges, everything feels deliberate and flawless, though the running time seems almost too brief, especially considering the length of his previous albums. This is truly the work of a master.

Album Highlights:
Jolene
Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
This Dream of You
I Feel a Change Comin’ On
It’s All Good
Shake Shake Mama

-Drew Regensburger (drew@revolve21.com)
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Review - X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Studio/Production Company: 20th Century Fox/Marvel Studios/Seed Productions/Dune Entertainment
Director: Gavin Hood
Written by: David Benioff, Skip Woods
Rating: PG-13 for or intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity.
Release Date: May 1, 2009
Genre: Action
Strong Points: Strong performances from principal actors; well-done special effects; excellent opening sequence
Weak Points: Poor representation of every character; bad script; corny dialogue; weirdly jumps between bloody and bloodless; bad effects for Wolverine’s claws
Technical Score: C+
Artistic Score: D
Final Score (not an average): D
Moral Warnings: Violence runs throughout the film; an intense sequence in Vietnam and in World War II early in the movie; some profanity scattered through the film, including s*** and a**h***; blood is present in the movie, but not an extreme amount; some sensuality is implied; some characters are ruthlessly murdered; Wolverine is seen naked from a distance at one point

The “X-Men” film series, much like the “Spider-Man” series, has had its share of ups and downs. The first two films in both series, arguably, were the best, followed by weaker third installments. In the case of the final “X-Men” movie, it wasn’t bogged down by silliness, but it wasn’t as moody or character driven, either. That was the main problem with that movie, and the reason why some felt so disappointed with it.

“X-Men Origins: Wolverine” doesn’t suffer from that problem, but adds many of its own to the list. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is just as angsty and angry as ever, but gone is the mysteriousness and complexity from previous films. In its place is exposition, and here, it’s just not that good. The script is full of bad, almost laughable dialogue. Characters that were intriguing and captivating in previous films are now almost parodies of themselves, which is really a shame when so many skilled actors are part of the film, turning in strong performances. Sadly, strong performances without good dialogue don’t add up to much.

Disappointingly, here is where the screenwriters decided to add in fan favorite characters beyond the more famous X-Men. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is the worst casualty of the bunch. Here is a sarcastic, funny character perfectly suited to the actor, and the writers used none of the actual Deadpool source material. Looking at the film without understanding the source material, one finds that the filmmakers underutilized Reynold’s, throwing him out ten minutes into the film and otherwise sabotaging the character itself. Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) is another such casualty, though not to the degree that Deadpool is. As one of the most anticipated Marvel characters to make the transition from panel to screen, one would think that the filmmakers would take more care in presenting the character. This largely is not the fault of the writing, because Gambit is nearly spot-on, ignoring some aspects of his past that the characters elaborate on. Instead, the problem is with the actor who plays the character, a person who bizarrely seems to have hardly any presence on screen, despite his character’s otherwise flashy powers.

Ignoring the lack of faithfulness to the source material, the film is still mediocre at best. The plot feels like an amalgamation of a number of disparate plot threads, muddied by ham-fisted and comically bad dialogue. Special effects are used everywhere, which isn’t normally a bad thing, but it is when they’re of this quality. Somehow, the claw effects that looked so convincing on Wolverine in the past three films now look fake and cartoony. A number of exciting chase sequences end in bad CGI followed by a bad one-liner.

There are a number of very cool things in “Wolverine” that are unfortunately stuck in the mire that is this movie. Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and Wolverine’s relationship is well done, mostly because of the chemistry that the actors have between them. Several fight sequences are intense, including one where Wolverine destroys a helicopter. These sequences, however, are few and far between compared to the things that don’t work, and those are what end up killing the movie.

Speaking of fight sequences, most of them are relatively bloodless. Compared to the first three “X-Men” movies, “Wolverine” hardly has bloodshed, though there is some on dead bodies and in a few key close ups. The profanity in the movie is about average for a PG-13 film, and includes s*** and a**h***. Wolverine himself is seen naked from behind at one point, and only from a distance. There’s also some mild sensuality involving Wolverine early in the film.

For what it’s worth, the cinematography is well done, as is the sound design. And, as was said before, there are a number of surprisingly good performances by the leads, despite the bad script. None of that is enough to save “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” however, which begs the question: Are further installments in this series necessary, or even worth it? After seeing this mess, it’s hard to be enthusiastic.

-Drew Regensburger (drew@revolve21.com)
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Review - The Open Door EP

Artist: Death Cab for Cutie
Album: The Open Door ep
Record Label: Atlantic
Producer(s): Chris Walla
Release Date: March 31, 2009 (digital), April 14, 2009 (physical)
Genre: Indie Rock
Strong Points: Solid, enjoyable individual songs that incorporate everything that makes Death Cab one of the best Indie rock bands around.
Weak Points: None
Technical Score: A
Artistic Score: B+
Final Score (not an average): B+
Moral Warnings: Little Bribes describes the emptiness of Las Vegas, in one verse making a subtle reference to prostitution. One song, “I Once Was a Loyal Lover” is basically about what its title suggests.

With The Open Door EP, Death Cab adds one more to an already impressive collection of EPs (5 total), this one consisting of songs that didn’t match the overall feel of their latest studio album, Narrow Stairs. It’s short, containing 16 minutes of material total, but each song is an individual pleasure that holds strongly to the charming wit so often synonymous with Death Cab for Cutie.

The band lets their guns blaze right from the get-go with Little Bribes. It’s an irresistible, catchy, foot-tapping pop piece that immediately reminded me of The Sound of Settling from “Transatlanticism” and Crooked Teeth off of “Plans.” And though the music is more upbeat and pop-ish than normally associated with the band, the lyrics are wholly Gibbard, describing in poetic detail the glamor, yet ultimate emptiness, of Las Vegas: “You said this city has a beating heart/that pushes people down the boulevard/they’re all hoping for a wish fulfilled/in a desert for a dollar bill.”

From there, the album turns to very familiar territory. Both A Diamond and a Tether and I Once Was a Loyal Lover risk nothing in the band’s sound, nor do they particularly stretch Gibbard as a lyricist. But they’re enjoyable in their own right, and will likely be enjoyed particularly by fans of their older sound. Talking Bird is a demo from the Narrow Stairs album, and strips the song down to a ukulele and Gibbard’s voice. I’ll admit to not having been a big fan of the finished product, so I actually consider the stripped down version an improvement.

Along with Little Bribes, the third track, When My Mirror Speaks, is one of the songs that solidifies Death Cab for Cutie as one of the best indie rock bands around. Uptempo drums and an ever-so-slightly distorted guitar compliment Gibbard as he sings of the man that his mirror reveals: “I am standing face to face/with a man who hides/ from all that binds/in a mess of fading lines.” As always, his lyrics strike the listener as poetic and remarkably sincere, proving that he hasn’t lost his way with words over time.

The Open Door could be the best EP that Death Cab has released yet. It will more than please the band’s fans, and with its arrival nearly a year after Narrow Stairs, has enough lasting value to keep them content until their next album. Which still really can’t come soon enough.

Album highlights:
Little Bribes
My Mirror Speaks

-Zak Mellgren (zak@revolve21.com)
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