Movieline Online

THE FLICK: Writing a review for a film like National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is akin to a food critic submitting a rating for a McDonalds franchise. Sure, there’s some local flair - a splash of color on the walls, a tricked out kid’s area, maybe an extra wide handicapped bathroom stall – but the menu never changes. In fact, producer Jerry Bruckheimer seemed to go out of his way to duplicate everything from the original; the Ed Harries-for-Sean Bean swap as the central villain is the only distinguishing difference. Otherwise, it’s business as usual for Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) and his treasure hunting family who spring into action when one of their relatives is accused of having participated in the Lincoln assassination. The McAdventure begins with a fragment of a diary which sends Ben to Paris to the Statue of Liberty, which leads to the queen’s desk at Buckingham Palace followed by the same song and dance in the Oval Office, culminating in an underground chamber beneath Mt. Rushmo...

THE FLICKS: First released as Best Buy exclusives, the Classic Sci-Fi Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 & 2 went on to become such a out-of-print commodity that Universal wisely decided to package them together and sell them in wide release. Sporting 10 films across 6-discs, even if you’re only interested in a few of the titles, the final tally is around five bucks a movie. Presented in their original aspect ratios (a mix of Academy and widescreen) plus trailers, that’s simply too good of a deal to pass up! TARANTULA: The first of several “big bug” movies in the collection, this Jack Arnold directed chiller begins with an experiment gone wrong in the name of science, specifically a nutrient formula that turns lab animals into giant freaks of nature. A local country doctor (John Agar) must solve the mystery behind several corpses sucked bone dry of their vital juices. Watch for Clint Eastwood as a fighter pilot in the final sequence. The effects vacillate between sloppy and superb, but the...

THE FLICK: It took the might of the entire British Navy to defeat Napleon. By comparison, it only took the efforts of three studios (Fox, Universal & Miramax) to get Master and Commander to the screen. But that sort of three-way partnership was almost unheard of in Hollywood, opening the door to bigger budgets on grander epics with less individual risk than going it alone. And make no mistake, director Peter Weir’s massive undertaking of this small-scale story was quite a risk indeed. Although it stars Russell Crowe and features at least three exciting sea battles, this tale of high-seas adventure takes a far more literate approach than, say, Pirates of the Caribbean. With an emphasis on historical accuracy over action, Weir allows the politics of the ship and the grueling lives of its men (officers, mate and able seaman all) to set the tone. Adapted from the series of novels by Patrick O’Brian featuring Captain Jack Aubrey (Crowe), a cultured but confident man of the sea, Master a...

THE FLICK: It’s been seven years since the sleeper success of Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others proved a ghost story didn’t have to lift up its skirt to get an audience’s attention. And while Hollywood continues to beat a dead horse when it comes to the Japanese horror craze, Spanish filmmakers are quietly staging their own mini-comeback in the form of The Orphanage courtesy of producer Guillermo Del Toro. In an attempt to confront her own personal demons, Laura (Belen Rueda) moves her family into the converted orphanage in which she was raised, planning to help disabled kids and cement the relationship with her own adopted son, Tomas. But the appearance of a mysterious stranger and the disappearance of her own son convince Laura that restless spirits have invaded her home with malicious intent. In order to find her child, she must return to the games of her youth and uncover the mystery lurking with the orphanage’s walls. Produced with understated elegance, The Orphanage plays a familia...

THE FLICK: It’s never a good sign when the behind-the-scenes story gets more press than the one that’s taking place on screen. Such is the case with The Golden Compass thanks to a combination of studio politics, creative differences and religious right protests which feared the atheistic agenda underlying Phillip Pullman’s books without even giving Chris Weitz’s film adaptation a fair shake. It’s criminal really that such an imaginative, mature and expensive production was torpedoed before it ever had a chance at the box-office. But such is the risk in today’s Hollywood where establishing a marketable “franchise” takes precedent over telling a story with a beginning, middle and end. Set in one of many alternate realities, the world Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) inhabits is lorded over by the Magesterium, an rather obvious stand-in for the Catholic church, which disguises its Orwellian tendencies with an aura of beneficence embodied by Marisa Coulter (Nicole Kidman), who shows an...