Established A.D. 2000, March 19. Now in our tenth calendar year! Number 497 (Vol. 10, No. 40). This edition is for the week of September 28--October 4, 2009.
FALL HAS FELL
POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS Ashley Lewis, Oct 2, 25 yrs Hugo Morley, Oct 2, 42 yrs Josh Montgomery, Oct 4, 26 yrs Lisa Rio Zubeck, Oct 5, 44 yrs Josh Sullivan, Oct 13, 28 yrs Autumn Rio, Oct. 18, 27 yrs Paul Guzzo, Oct. 20, 34 yrs Corey Castellano, Oct 27, 46 yrs Mike "Deadguy" Scott, Oct 28, 38 yrs
It ain't Fall for me in Florida until I feel the first waft of outside air that's sub-75 degrees. Such a waft was felt last night (as I write these words) and it felt pretty damn good, I must say. Tonight should provide a repeat before we zoom back up to the familiar 80 and 90-degree steambath this weekend. That's OK, 'cuz I hate the cold anyway. But a breather from the stifling humidity is always welcome.
That...and my review of "Surrogates" declares the end of Summer for yours truly and the official beginning of Fall.
"SURROGATES"
POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
I got quite a surprise Monday morning when Splash Page/State of the Nation scribe Brandon Jones spontaneously took the day off from work and pitched the idea we take in a matinee. It's been years since we'd done such things regularly, so after the shock subsided and he explained that this was likely a one-shot deal at least until year's end, we went over some possibilites.
Pretty slim pickin's out there right now, but with not much else to tempt us we decided on the Bruce Willis sci-fi action vehicle Surrogates. Despite it only coming in second on its opening weekend behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and I wasn't really in the mood for a kid's movie, and I hadn't seen anything approaching sci-fi since the over-rated District 9, Surrogates it was.
"Surrogates" (2009)
Touchstone Pictures
Cast: Bruce Willis (Tom Greer), Radha Mitchell (agent Peters), Rosamund Pike (Maggie Greer), Boris Kodjoe (FBI boss Stone), Ving Rhames (The Prophet), and James Cromwell (Lionel Canter)
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 88 minutes
In the not-too-distant future, technology has advance to the degree where humans are no longer required to participate in day-to-day activies in person, but can remotely control, via a special device, their "surrogate", a highly-advanced robotic twin that takes their place in society. In fact, the robot doesn't even have to be a twin, it can be whatever gender and age you want. The owner/controller merely relaxes in something resembling a dentist's chair, then dons a headpiece with eye-covers to connect with their surrogate. The pitch is it's safer than actually going outside. Such is the genius of the future inventor of all this, Lionel Canter (James Cromwell).
(About this point you're all probably thinking of at least a dozen other movies or TV shows with this same set-up. I know I did. Bear with me...)
All is hunky-dorey in this near crime-free society until a weapon is brandished that not only destroys a robot's workings, but fries the host/operator's brain as well. Several of these murders occur, pointing to a new kind of serial killer.
Enter FBI special-agents Greer and Peters (Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell). Looking rather artificial themselves (hint, hint), they are assigned the duty of finding who the killer is, and more importantly, the kind of weapon used.
Of course, there are those who object to this dehumanizing of society and have created a renegade sect that prohibits humans interacting with surrogates. They are led my The Prophet (Ving Rhames). Could this activist sect be behind the killings?
There is every effort, it seems, to enable the viewer to fairly easily pick out the surrogates from the real counterparts. The bad wigs and heavy make-up make everyone resemble dime-store mannequins. Seeing Bruce Willis' surrogate with a god-awful blonde wig of a 30-year-old is really funny. When he appears as his real self he is, well, late 50-something Bruce Willis. Reassuring. Trying to reconnect with his wife--the real human one--forms the basic subplot.
The acting is strong given the extremely derivative script they're given. I picked out pieces of I Robot, Logan's Run, Minority Report, and Brainstorm just to name a few off the top of my head. Nevertheless, director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3) managed to craft a decently enjoyable way to pass ninety minutes. James Cromwell is great (as always) as the conflicted billionaire-inventor, but his actual screen-time is short. Bruce Willis is actually who makes this watchable. I don't think I'd've gone if it were anyone else.
I give this points for good special effects (the KNB guys), watchable actors, and a very fast-paced story. But I have to deduct points for its extremely derivative nature and open-ended loopholes. (I'm going to side-step the political/social ramifications of a world where, when you can pick what you want to look like, ethnic diversity is at a minimum.) On our zero-to-four star system, I give SurrogatesTwo and a Half Stars.
I'm only posting this out of a sense of journalistic duty since the Message Board has already been blazing about it for a few days.
Following a 30-year exile overseas, director Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown) has been arrested for flight from justice. Thirty years ago, he was convicted for statutory rape on a 13-year-old (look it up, a heart-warming story), but fled the country when the trial judge reneged on a plea deal. His fugitive status ended a few days ago when he was arrested at the age of 76 at an event where he was to pick up a lifetime achievement award.
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