Tag: John Travolta

Be Cool

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:59 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Be Cool
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn, Cedric the Entertainer, Harvey Keitel, The Rock
MPAA Rated: PG-13
Released By: MGM
Kiddie Movie: The story is adult. Leave them at home.
Date Movie: Good for everyone.
Gratuitous Sex: It’s PG-13, so mostly just suggestive.
Gratuitous Violence: There is some shooting.
Action: No chase scenes, really.
Laughs: I laughed a lot.
Memorable Scene: Any scene with Sin and his posse.
Memorable Quote: “Unless you want an ‘R’ rating, you can only use the ‘F’ word once. I say ‘Fuck that.’ That’s it.” (Editor’s note: And that was it for the use of the ‘F’ word)
Directed By: F. Gary Grey

I don’t know why, maybe because I never read any books by Elmore Leonard and I haven’t seen “Get Shorty,” so I didn’t have any preconceived notions of how the movie should be, and even though John Travolta didn’t seem that great in this movie, I enjoyed “Be Cool.” From the others reviews I’ve seen, it seems that there goes some more of my movie review credibility out the window. Anyway, here’s the story…
Travolta plays Chili Palmer. It seems he’s pretty much sick of being in the movie business and thinks that maybe the music business is where he should stick his nose, especially since he is acquainted with a rising talent, Linda Moon (Christina Milian), and also the recently widowed record executive Edie (Uma Thurman), whose husband, Tommy (James Woods) was gunned down during a meeting with Chili. Chili takes Linda away from Raji (Vince Vaughn who has yet to let me down), her manager who thinks he’s black and totally overacts the part. And then the trouble starts.

Like normal, things don’t always go as easy as you would like. It seems Linda has already signed a contract with Raji and his boss, music dude Nick (Harvey Keitel), so Chili has to figure out a way to resolve that issue. Also, it appears Edie’s record company owes producer Sin (Cedric the Entertainer) a big chunk of change, but sadly, the company is broke and Sin is threatening that some heads will role if he doesn’t get his cash. There’s also some Russian dudes who aren’t too happy with Chili, and the feds think somehow Chili has some information on the mob in town. Who you gonna call when things are this out of control? Of course, you’re gonna call Steven Tyler, whose clothes you used to wash, and he will somehow save the day. Yes, that is correct, you call Steven Tyler, get him to listen to a tape of Linda, and suddenly things work out in the end. And, oh yea, toss in a gay, Samoan, “wants to be an actor” bodyguard named Elliot (The Rock).

Look, there are way to many plot things going on to have me write a full synopsis, but yes, all of them are intertwined in one way or another, and I thought it was marvelous, especially when it all came full-circle as Nick opens the package at the pawn shop.

I don’t know if this was the intent, and I think it’s the reason I liked this movie so much, but for me this was a movie making fun of the entire music, and for what it’s worth, movie industries. There was Raji, totally overacting the white dude who wants to act black, complete with the red, pimp outfit, and unable to command sounding street. Sin and his gangsta’s so overplayed the gangsta stereotype it was hilarious, and the Russian mob was even over-the-top. Not to mention The Rock who is my first pick for an Oscar next year because even if you have no interest in this movie, he is freakin’ hilarious and a reason to see this movie. All that, and I think I’m back in love with Uma Thurman and I’m not really sure why.

I took the movie for a campy look at Hollywood and had a good time with it. You might not, and obviously a lot of other critics didn’t see it the same way, but I know a lot of people around me were laughing. It’s 4 stars out of 5 for me. Maybe don’t try to take the movie as seriously as other people I suppose.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Battlefield Earth

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:57 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Battlefield Earth
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker
MPAA Rated: PG-13
Released By: Warner Bros.
Kiddie Movie: They might like it, but I doubt it.
Date Movie: Only if you want to break up with them.
Gratuitous Sex: Nope.
Gratuitous Violence: Lots of shooting of funky lasers, but it ends up lame.
Action: Some chase scenes.
Laughs: The movie.
Memorable Scene: None.
Memorable Quote: None.
Directed By: Roger Christian

This review will be short. Why? Because I don’t want to waste your time the way the movie “Battlefield Earth” wasted mine. I can usually find some good in a movie, maybe a song, maybe some quality violence, maybe some nudity, maybe a good line. But “Battlefield Earth” had none. Sure, somebody out there might like it, but it sure as hell wasn’t me.

Story wrap up: It’s 1000 years from now, the earth has been taken over by aliens, some people are living like American Indians (the resurrection of the tee-pee) on the run, a dude goes to see the world, stumbles across a miniature golf course and a mall (good to see they held up so well), gets captured, and decides he can save the world. Also, a bad dude alien is pissed because he got caught sleeping with the bosses daughter so the boss won’t let him come back to the home planet, so the bad dude decides to use humans to steal some gold. He teaches our hero the alien language, how to fly, and lets this human learn some world history. Hero rounds up some other people, they all learn how to fight, fly, and a bad cliché “Piece of cake” which I found odd since I’m thinking cake has long since become a memory. They save the world, but leave the door open for the sequel. God I hope not.

The story isn’t that bad, maybe the book isn’t that bad, but the movie is. You get two hours of bad dialogue, pretty cheesy effects, screen swipes that can be done better by 95% of movie students, lots of things that make no sense in any real world, and camera shots that look like the cameraman had one leg shorter than the other (just about every shot/scene was tilted at an angle, I’m sure for some dramatic effect, but it just gave me a stiff neck).

Don’t waste your money at the theater, don’t wait for the video, don’t worry if you don’t have HBO or Showtime when it comes to cable, and read a book when it comes to regular TV. I wasted my time on this one so you don’t have to. Zero stars out of 5.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

Basic

MPAA Rated – R
It’s 1:35 Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right

Basic
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Connie Nielsen, Giovanni Ribisi, Brian Van Holt
MPAA Rated: R
Released By: Columbia Pictures
Kiddie Movie: Leave them, and yourself, at home.
Date Movie: Leave them, and yourself, at home.
Gratuitous Sex: Nope.
Gratuitous Violence: There is a lot of shooting and people getting beat up.
Action: Some people chase each other.
Laughs: Most of the movie.
Memorable Scene: None.
Memorable Quote: None.
Directed By: John McTiernan

SPOILER WARNING – SPOILER WARNING – SPOILER WARNING

I begin this review simply by saying if you don’t want to know any of the plot twists, turns, and regurgitations in “Basic,” quit reading know and come back after you have seen the movie to see if you agree or disagree. Otherwise, I’m going to give a lot of the movie away simply for that fact that in doing so you won’t have to waste your money a second or third time to try to go back in the movie to see if anything makes sense in the end. So here we go…

“Basic” is one of those movies that proves sometimes you can have too many plot twists, especially when the final twist ruins what would have been a decent ending to the movie. See if you can follow along, because I’m not really sure I was able to.

John Travolta is Tom Hardy, a DEA agent under investigation for possibly taking bribes. He gets a phone call one evening from an army base commander, Bill Styles (Tim Daly), because something went horribly wrong on a training mission and the interrogator he has doesn’t seem to be cutting it (she’s Lt. Osborne played by Connie Nielsen). It seems Sgt. West (Samuel L. Jackson) and his trainees had a little problem on a training mission. All that are left is Dunbar (Brian Van Holt) and Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi), and Kendall ain’t talkin’ because he’s in the hospital and Dunbar ain’t talkin’ because he wants to see an Army Ranger. Enter Hardy, an ex-Ranger and according to Styles, one hell of an interrogator. So, yea, Osborne doesn’t like Hardy, Hardy gets Dunbar to talk a little, and now that Kendall is awake from surgery, well they get one account of the story, of course implicating Dunbar. So it’s back to Dunbar, who now that his ass is on the line tells a different story of drugs and Kendall, and now it’s back to the hospital and eventually the head doc (Harry Connick Jr.) is involved in some drug trafficking using the army soldiers. Then it’s back to Dunbar, oh wait, maybe it’s back to Kendall, but we know someone is lying and then Kendall’s ears and nose bleed and he proceeds to vomit blood signifying he’s soon dead. Alright, now it’s back to the good doctor who mentions that Dunbar should be black, but our Dunbar is white, so now it’s time for Hardy to get Dunbar to talk by threatening to push him into a spinning propeller. Alright, finally the real story comes out of Dunbar, who is now Pike, or so it would seem, and then Hardy figures it out that Styles is really the lead bad dude, and Styles goes ahead and blows his cover telling Hardy that Kendall was poisoned before it came out that he was poisoned, then trying to bribe Hardy into his drug ring. Hardy says he’ll think about it, Styles pulls a gun, Osborne who is eavesdropping shoots Styles, and you think the movie is pretty much over, especially after Hardy gives Osborne his phone number hoping she’ll call him for some sex. But no, the movie’s not over yet. Nope. Driving away Osborne realizes that Hardy says an overused phrase, then tails him only to find Dunbar, I mean Pike, coming out of the bushes and into Hardy’s car. So rather than call for back-up, she of course follows only to end up in a basement where everyone who was supposed to be dead at the training exercise is magically alive, including the good Sgt. West. And as you try to follow the cryptic explanations from these people as to what they do, what really would have helped would be a real flashback that would have explained the entire more.

So, there you have it, in the end West and Hardy are buddies and not dead, neither are Dunbar and Pike, and somehow this all ties together to get the drug ring stopped. Feel free to use any or all of this spoiler to try to follow along and put it all together as you watch the movie because all I know is that when the credits started to roll I was left with the feeling of “What kind of crap was that?”

Plot twists are great when done properly, and done properly means that you are shocked but yet instantly everything makes sense. “Basic” was full of twists, but after the conclusion twist you sit there too tired of twists to even want to try to piece everything together, you’re just glad to go home.

My recommendation for this movie is wait for its run on cable. There you can watch it again and again if you want without wasting your money on a DVD, or God forbid a second viewing. By trying to be so shocking, “Basic” just leaves you tired. 1 star out of 5.

That’s it for this review! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!

A Civil Action

MPAA Rated – PG-13
It’s 1:52 Long
A Preview by:
– The Dude on the Right

A Civil Action
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: John Travolta
MPAA Rated: PG-13
Released By: Touchstone Pictures
Release Date: January 8, 1999
Directed By: Steven Zaillian
Produced By: Rachel Pfeffer, Robert Redford, Scott Rudin

The trailer sort of reminds me of the likes of “The Rainmaker” in the fact of John Travolta being the lawyer that fights the mean and nasty corporation and their team of overpaid lawyers. A town is getting sickened by a company contaminating their water supply, and nobody wants to go against the company or else bad things will happen to them. John Travolta stars as a high-falutent lawyer who people don’t know if they can trust, and a seeming big spender, but then gets wrapped up in the human emotion of the townsfolk. It has the potential to be a killer drama flick, and Robert Duvall is usually a winner on screen. I’ll try to catch it.