Showing posts with label Abigail Breslin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abigail Breslin. Show all posts
Take The Call; But Hang Up Before It’s Over
The job of a 911 operator can be a pressure cooker. Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) enjoys her job helping people and getting the right emergency personnel on the scene to solve problems; but that all changes when she takes a call from a young girl. She makes a mistake in trying to help her and leaves actively taking calls to train new employees.
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While touring the center with the new recruits, Jordan has one of her probationary reps melting down while dealing with an abduction call. It’s at this point that Jordan jumps back on the phone to do what she is trained to do.
Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) has been abducted from a mall and finds herself in the trunk of a moving car. As Jordan jumps into the call with Casey she levels her head to fight for survival. Now the two women will try anything to free Casey and bring her out of this alive. Can Jordan find and keep her wits? Can Casey keep her cool? Or will this all end in tragedy like Jordan’s last call?
The Call is the story of two movies.
The first 2/3 of the film is truly an exciting and heart-pounding thriller that will raise the hairs on your neck. The tension is amazing and the violence feels real and is quite disturbing. I didn’t expect the moments of terror that peppered the first two thirds of the film.
It was brisk and meaningful dialogue. The characters portrayed by Berry, Breslin, Chestnut and Eklund felt like they really existed.
Eklund created a bad guy that viewers could despise. He was creepy and twisted in all the right ways.
But…
And you knew there was a but…
Then there is a moment in this film where things just get ridiculously silly. You’ll know it when you see it, but let me just say…it’s the moment Berry leaves the call center. If you would leave the movie at that point…you’d believe that you saw something that truly crept up on you and was a special movie.
The last third of the film, you really can’t excuse; I tried but failed. I’m willing to suspend belief a little…but in this case there was a film that was well crafted and decided to forget what they did so right for the first hour plus. Thrillers shouldn’t be laughable but this became a yell at the screen for not doing all the things charcters do wrong in horror/thrillers. You know the things that the movie Scream parodied? A good film shouldn’t resort to that.
So how do you grade this film? Well the first 2/3 is a solid B+ type of film…it was on the way to becoming a truly memorable thriller. But the last third was cliché and off the mark and really fell back to the D+ type of range. Sure, I’ll watch it again sometime to see if I’m being too harsh, but for now I have to make a call myself. Feel free to click take a different call after the first hour… you won’t miss much and will be happier.
C+
Sony Pictures
Director: Brad Anderson
Cast: Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund
Rating: R for violence, disturbing content and some language.
Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
Changing the Landscape of Animation
Rango (voice of Johnny Depp) has always led a life of luxury. In his controlled environment, he was the master of all. But when an unfortunate accident leaves him stranded in the middle of the desert, he learns to fend for himself and establish his new identity.
Now in the west there are strange things around every corner. Becoming a member of a town means finding a niche. In the town of “Dirt” the Mayor (Ned Beatty) has the keys to the city. That key, of course, is water. Now with Rango in town, there is a new sheriff that will keep things in order and keep the town ahead of the curve.
But can Rango establish himself as something he’s never been? Will his acting background help him to take on this new challenge? And will this new persona lead to positive changes in the sleepy town of Dirt?
Rango is an animated film that really breaks stereotypes. For much too long, despite the advances of the Pixar films, people have viewed animated films as “kids” fare. Rango is not really “kids” fare. This is one of those films where the wheelhouse seems to be older teens or even young adults. The swagger of the west includes a number of violent shootouts and cigar chomping moments. For many of the youngest kids this film is not in their league, nor does it try to be.
And that’s what makes sequences of Rango so cool an hip. Not pandering to the sterotype of the genre, Rango instead charts a new course for animation. A course that is a welcome change, it is refreshing to see an animated film that sets its own rules. With a cool lead like Johnny Depp, Rango is able to find a hip place in the lexicon of animated films. Depp brings style and a large amount of swagger to his character that explodes on the screen.
Unfortunately the film felt like it dragged through a muddy plot at times. It didn’t use its break out feel to really shoot out of its box. Despite a decent little premise and a fun cast of characters, I felt the film was a touch off.
Despite that, Rango is easily one of the more fun adult focused and interesting animated films to come along in a long time. Rango may be changing the way that we view animation; welcome to the shootout in a popular genre.
B
Rango
Paramount Pictures
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty
Rating: PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking.
Runtime: 107 minutes.
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Rango (voice of Johnny Depp) has always led a life of luxury. In his controlled environment, he was the master of all. But when an unfortunate accident leaves him stranded in the middle of the desert, he learns to fend for himself and establish his new identity.
Now in the west there are strange things around every corner. Becoming a member of a town means finding a niche. In the town of “Dirt” the Mayor (Ned Beatty) has the keys to the city. That key, of course, is water. Now with Rango in town, there is a new sheriff that will keep things in order and keep the town ahead of the curve.
But can Rango establish himself as something he’s never been? Will his acting background help him to take on this new challenge? And will this new persona lead to positive changes in the sleepy town of Dirt?
Rango is an animated film that really breaks stereotypes. For much too long, despite the advances of the Pixar films, people have viewed animated films as “kids” fare. Rango is not really “kids” fare. This is one of those films where the wheelhouse seems to be older teens or even young adults. The swagger of the west includes a number of violent shootouts and cigar chomping moments. For many of the youngest kids this film is not in their league, nor does it try to be.
And that’s what makes sequences of Rango so cool an hip. Not pandering to the sterotype of the genre, Rango instead charts a new course for animation. A course that is a welcome change, it is refreshing to see an animated film that sets its own rules. With a cool lead like Johnny Depp, Rango is able to find a hip place in the lexicon of animated films. Depp brings style and a large amount of swagger to his character that explodes on the screen.
Unfortunately the film felt like it dragged through a muddy plot at times. It didn’t use its break out feel to really shoot out of its box. Despite a decent little premise and a fun cast of characters, I felt the film was a touch off.
Despite that, Rango is easily one of the more fun adult focused and interesting animated films to come along in a long time. Rango may be changing the way that we view animation; welcome to the shootout in a popular genre.
B
Rango
Paramount Pictures
Director: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty
Rating: PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking.
Runtime: 107 minutes.