Everybody's favorite Vietnam vet with post-traumatic stress disorder is back.
Before the smirking starts, let's not forget that they also were giggling when it was announced that the Italian Stallion was coming out of retirement, but then Sylvester Stallone silenced the skeptics with the thoroughly respectable Rocky Balboa.
Could the first sighting of John J. Rambo in two decades prove equally rewarding?
Oh well, one out of two ain't bad.
For Rambo, the fourth and purportedly final movie in the series that began back in 1982 with First Blood, director/co-writer Stallone has taken a similar, stripped-down approach to the material.
But what worked for the beloved underdog does the one-man killing machine no favors.
By going the unplugged route, Stallone has removed the over-the-top comic book element that made the Rambo movies such a pop cultural staple of the Reagan era.
What remains is a lot of hyper-realistic, brutal violence; snatches of banal dialogue; and all the escalating dramatic tension of a video game.
In short, No. 4 is one big snore.
Considering the cold shoulder given to recent war-related movies, Rambo, with its guerrilla-style marketing campaign, could find that a blotchy iconic image might not be much of a domestic draw beyond nostalgia seekers.
Given Rambo's standing as a worldwide phenomenon, however, the movie's 11 executive producers should still be pleased with those final tallies.
The last time we saw Rambo, he was kicking butt in Afghanistan.
Since that time he has been laying low in northern Thailand, minding his business as a longboat driver on the Salween River and wrangling boa constrictors for snake fights.
But when a group of human rights missionaries gets caught in the crossfire of the still-raging Burmese-Karen civil war, Rambo ultimately rises to the challenge. Accompanied by a group of mercenaries, he soon finds himself ripping out a guy's throat with his bare hands, just like the good old days.
Also, just like the good old days, Rambo remains the strong, silent type, which ensures that speeches like, "When you're pushed, killin' is as easy as breathin'," are kept to a grateful minimum.
The other trite characters in the Stallone- and Art Monterastelli-penned script aren't so lucky, which makes it easier not to become emotionally invested when a good portion of them are beheaded or vivisected or blown to bits by the intense, bloody violence.
It's ironically the only thing that's really alive in this otherwise dull film.
From an audience point of view, you wish Stallone had instead headed in the other direction, pulling out all stops and going out a blaze of glory, taking a page out of the John McClane playbook for last year's guilty-pleasure Die Hard revival.
Instead Stallone is intent on showing the introspective, vulnerable man behind the legend, stripping him of most of that showy '80s gear (but allowing him to keep his shirt on) and ending on a sun-drenched, silly coda during which a weary Rambo discovers that you can go home again.
Sorry Sly, not this time.
RAMBO
Lionsgate
The Weinstein Co./Equity Prods./Millennium Films/Nu Image
Credits:
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Screenwriters: Art Monterastelli, Sylvester Stallone
Based on characters created by: David Morrell
Producers: Avi Lerner, Kevin King-Templeton, John Thompson
Executive producers: Jon Feltheimer, Peter Block, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Danny Dimbort, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short, Andreas Thiesmeyer, Florian Lechner, Randall Emmett, George Furla
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Franco Giacomo Carbone
Music: Brian Tyler
Costume designer: Lizz Wolf
Editor: Sean Albertson
Cast:
John Rambo: Sylvester Stallone
Sarah Miller: Julie Benz
Dr. Michael Burnett: Paul Schulze
School Boy: Matthew Marsden
Lewis: Graham McTavish
Arthur Marsh: Ken Howard
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Before the smirking starts, let's not forget that they also were giggling when it was announced that the Italian Stallion was coming out of retirement, but then Sylvester Stallone silenced the skeptics with the thoroughly respectable Rocky Balboa.
Could the first sighting of John J. Rambo in two decades prove equally rewarding?
Oh well, one out of two ain't bad.
For Rambo, the fourth and purportedly final movie in the series that began back in 1982 with First Blood, director/co-writer Stallone has taken a similar, stripped-down approach to the material.
But what worked for the beloved underdog does the one-man killing machine no favors.
By going the unplugged route, Stallone has removed the over-the-top comic book element that made the Rambo movies such a pop cultural staple of the Reagan era.
What remains is a lot of hyper-realistic, brutal violence; snatches of banal dialogue; and all the escalating dramatic tension of a video game.
In short, No. 4 is one big snore.
Considering the cold shoulder given to recent war-related movies, Rambo, with its guerrilla-style marketing campaign, could find that a blotchy iconic image might not be much of a domestic draw beyond nostalgia seekers.
Given Rambo's standing as a worldwide phenomenon, however, the movie's 11 executive producers should still be pleased with those final tallies.
The last time we saw Rambo, he was kicking butt in Afghanistan.
Since that time he has been laying low in northern Thailand, minding his business as a longboat driver on the Salween River and wrangling boa constrictors for snake fights.
But when a group of human rights missionaries gets caught in the crossfire of the still-raging Burmese-Karen civil war, Rambo ultimately rises to the challenge. Accompanied by a group of mercenaries, he soon finds himself ripping out a guy's throat with his bare hands, just like the good old days.
Also, just like the good old days, Rambo remains the strong, silent type, which ensures that speeches like, "When you're pushed, killin' is as easy as breathin'," are kept to a grateful minimum.
The other trite characters in the Stallone- and Art Monterastelli-penned script aren't so lucky, which makes it easier not to become emotionally invested when a good portion of them are beheaded or vivisected or blown to bits by the intense, bloody violence.
It's ironically the only thing that's really alive in this otherwise dull film.
From an audience point of view, you wish Stallone had instead headed in the other direction, pulling out all stops and going out a blaze of glory, taking a page out of the John McClane playbook for last year's guilty-pleasure Die Hard revival.
Instead Stallone is intent on showing the introspective, vulnerable man behind the legend, stripping him of most of that showy '80s gear (but allowing him to keep his shirt on) and ending on a sun-drenched, silly coda during which a weary Rambo discovers that you can go home again.
Sorry Sly, not this time.
RAMBO
Lionsgate
The Weinstein Co./Equity Prods./Millennium Films/Nu Image
Credits:
Director: Sylvester Stallone
Screenwriters: Art Monterastelli, Sylvester Stallone
Based on characters created by: David Morrell
Producers: Avi Lerner, Kevin King-Templeton, John Thompson
Executive producers: Jon Feltheimer, Peter Block, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein, Danny Dimbort, Boaz Davidson, Trevor Short, Andreas Thiesmeyer, Florian Lechner, Randall Emmett, George Furla
Director of photography: Glen MacPherson
Production designer: Franco Giacomo Carbone
Music: Brian Tyler
Costume designer: Lizz Wolf
Editor: Sean Albertson
Cast:
John Rambo: Sylvester Stallone
Sarah Miller: Julie Benz
Dr. Michael Burnett: Paul Schulze
School Boy: Matthew Marsden
Lewis: Graham McTavish
Arthur Marsh: Ken Howard
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 1/25/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
nm0517820 autoLindsay Lohan[/link]'s sexual exploits have hit the headlines again - one of her Italian lovers has revealed all about his passionate one-night-stand with the actress.
Alessandro diNunzio, an aspiring rocker, alleges to have recently spent a blissful night with the Mean Girls star in Italy, where she was honoured for her acting achievements at the Capri Film Festival.
The 27-year-old, who was working as a sound engineer at the festival, met Lohan at a bar, when she invited him to join her and her friends at their table. And he claims that encounter led to an amazing night of lust with the 21-year-old star.
He tells British newspaper the News of the World, "I couldn't believe it when she asked if I could come to dinner... Then she invited me to a couple of clubs with her two friends. Despite her recent troubles she was downing alcohol - vodka cranberry and vodka soda..."
After kissing in the club, the star invited diNunzio up to her hotel room, where she stripped off and jumped into bed.
He recalls, "I was shocked she had made the first move... To be honest I felt a bit intimidated. But I took my clothes off and we started to make love... It was very passionate and intense and lasted for one-and-a-half hours, maybe more. Lindsay was very, very good and surprisingly experienced. She wanted to do everything, every position. She was extremely flexible and adventurous."
But diNunzio was shocked and saddened to discover he was just one of Lohan's three conquests while in the country: "I was hurt and sad when I found out about the other guys. I think that's the way things are with Lindsay. But... it was a good sex match."
This is the second time in as many weeks that Lohan's bedroom antics have been exposed in the newspapers - her snowboarder ex Riley Giles kiss-and-told following their break-up in December.
Alessandro diNunzio, an aspiring rocker, alleges to have recently spent a blissful night with the Mean Girls star in Italy, where she was honoured for her acting achievements at the Capri Film Festival.
The 27-year-old, who was working as a sound engineer at the festival, met Lohan at a bar, when she invited him to join her and her friends at their table. And he claims that encounter led to an amazing night of lust with the 21-year-old star.
He tells British newspaper the News of the World, "I couldn't believe it when she asked if I could come to dinner... Then she invited me to a couple of clubs with her two friends. Despite her recent troubles she was downing alcohol - vodka cranberry and vodka soda..."
After kissing in the club, the star invited diNunzio up to her hotel room, where she stripped off and jumped into bed.
He recalls, "I was shocked she had made the first move... To be honest I felt a bit intimidated. But I took my clothes off and we started to make love... It was very passionate and intense and lasted for one-and-a-half hours, maybe more. Lindsay was very, very good and surprisingly experienced. She wanted to do everything, every position. She was extremely flexible and adventurous."
But diNunzio was shocked and saddened to discover he was just one of Lohan's three conquests while in the country: "I was hurt and sad when I found out about the other guys. I think that's the way things are with Lindsay. But... it was a good sex match."
This is the second time in as many weeks that Lohan's bedroom antics have been exposed in the newspapers - her snowboarder ex Riley Giles kiss-and-told following their break-up in December.
- 1/6/2008
- WENN
First 007 gets back to basics, now, 30 years after the Italian Stallion came out swinging, Sylvester Stallone has returned to Rocky's humble roots with an unplugged edition that emerges as one of this season's more pleasant surprises.
Dispensing with those bloated Roman numerals, Rocky Balboa -- for those keeping count, it's the sixth in the series and the first since 1990's winded Rocky V -- defies all expectations with a low-key, technically stripped-down production that really does come close to capturing the heart and soul of the original.
That one, with a budget of less than $1 million, played like gangbusters, punching up more than $56 million in 1976 dollars.
But is Rocky gonna fly now?
Given that Bill Conti's mighty fanfare still has a way of putting a lump in the throat, the nostalgia factor, combined with the picture's underdog status among the holiday heavy hitters, might just result in Rocky going the distance for one final round.
There's a disarming quality to Stallone's thoughtful script that has a way of stopping smirking skeptics right in their tracks, as if to say: "Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. But at least give me a shot here."
And darned if that gently self-effacing approach doesn't melt away those preconceived notions.
With his beloved Adrian having passed away, Rocky trudges along the streets of his South Philly neighborhood like a man who's been beaten down by the ravages of time and bittersweet memories of all-too-distant glories.
He's only too happy to regale patrons at his eatery, Adrian's, with those stories, but his habit of living in the past is beginning to grate on his old buddy Paulie (Burt Young, who's been there for all six rounds), who's no longer willing to accompany Rocky on those ritual tours through his old haunts.
Fortunately the guy we all know and love snaps back into form when an installment of ESPN's Man vs. Machine, which pits two athletes from different eras against each other in a computer-simulated competition, has current heavyweight champ Mason The Line Dixon (real-life boxer Antonio Tarver) going up against Balboa in a hypothetical bout that gives the Italian Stallion the upper hook.
Before you can say "yo," Rocky's back in training for The Real Thing, cartilage and all, much to the embarrassment of his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia), who's still struggling to crawl out from under his dad's formidable shadow.
Although the picture hits a few, er, rocky patches once it ultimately enters the ring -- it also overplays the dead Adrian card with one too many visits to the cemetery -- up until the rather abrupt finish, Stallone's grass-roots approach works quite effectively.
Passing on studio sets in favor of actual locations with extensive handheld camerawork (incorporating both 35mm and high-def film), Stallone reconnects with a lot of what made the character so endearing in the first place.
In addition to all the familiar faces -- Tony Burton also returns as Balboa corner man, Duke -- Irish actress Geraldine Hughes does affecting work as the grown-up Marie (played three decades ago by Jodi Letitizia), now a hard-working single mother of a grown son (James Francis Kelly III), whom Rock has taken under his wing.
Of course, Rocky wouldn't be Rocky without that signature theme, and Conti has turned it into elegiac lament for the first half of the picture before cranking it up to full throttle for that last hurrah, as well as backing amusing end-credits footage of tourists from all over re-enacting the iconic ascension of those Philadelphia Museum of Art steps.
Dispensing with those bloated Roman numerals, Rocky Balboa -- for those keeping count, it's the sixth in the series and the first since 1990's winded Rocky V -- defies all expectations with a low-key, technically stripped-down production that really does come close to capturing the heart and soul of the original.
That one, with a budget of less than $1 million, played like gangbusters, punching up more than $56 million in 1976 dollars.
But is Rocky gonna fly now?
Given that Bill Conti's mighty fanfare still has a way of putting a lump in the throat, the nostalgia factor, combined with the picture's underdog status among the holiday heavy hitters, might just result in Rocky going the distance for one final round.
There's a disarming quality to Stallone's thoughtful script that has a way of stopping smirking skeptics right in their tracks, as if to say: "Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. But at least give me a shot here."
And darned if that gently self-effacing approach doesn't melt away those preconceived notions.
With his beloved Adrian having passed away, Rocky trudges along the streets of his South Philly neighborhood like a man who's been beaten down by the ravages of time and bittersweet memories of all-too-distant glories.
He's only too happy to regale patrons at his eatery, Adrian's, with those stories, but his habit of living in the past is beginning to grate on his old buddy Paulie (Burt Young, who's been there for all six rounds), who's no longer willing to accompany Rocky on those ritual tours through his old haunts.
Fortunately the guy we all know and love snaps back into form when an installment of ESPN's Man vs. Machine, which pits two athletes from different eras against each other in a computer-simulated competition, has current heavyweight champ Mason The Line Dixon (real-life boxer Antonio Tarver) going up against Balboa in a hypothetical bout that gives the Italian Stallion the upper hook.
Before you can say "yo," Rocky's back in training for The Real Thing, cartilage and all, much to the embarrassment of his son Robert (Milo Ventimiglia), who's still struggling to crawl out from under his dad's formidable shadow.
Although the picture hits a few, er, rocky patches once it ultimately enters the ring -- it also overplays the dead Adrian card with one too many visits to the cemetery -- up until the rather abrupt finish, Stallone's grass-roots approach works quite effectively.
Passing on studio sets in favor of actual locations with extensive handheld camerawork (incorporating both 35mm and high-def film), Stallone reconnects with a lot of what made the character so endearing in the first place.
In addition to all the familiar faces -- Tony Burton also returns as Balboa corner man, Duke -- Irish actress Geraldine Hughes does affecting work as the grown-up Marie (played three decades ago by Jodi Letitizia), now a hard-working single mother of a grown son (James Francis Kelly III), whom Rock has taken under his wing.
Of course, Rocky wouldn't be Rocky without that signature theme, and Conti has turned it into elegiac lament for the first half of the picture before cranking it up to full throttle for that last hurrah, as well as backing amusing end-credits footage of tourists from all over re-enacting the iconic ascension of those Philadelphia Museum of Art steps.
- 12/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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