This
could be amazing. I stress the word
could. Variety's Michael Flemming is reporting that Joe Carnahan (
Narc,
Smokin' Aces) is set to direct a big-budget re-imagining of the 70's television series
The A-Team, with Ridley and Tony Scott (
Black Hawk Down,
Enemy of the State) set to produce. The screenwriting duties are being given to action-auteur Skip Woods (
Swordfish, this summer's
GI Joe, and many, many uncredited rewrites). No intended rating was provided by Fleming in his report. However, this is an action film that
NEEDS to be rated-R. No doubt about it. And with the involvement of Carnahan and the Scotts, it might be safe to assume that they'd be gunning for an R-rating as well, as creatively, it will provide them with zero action-related restrictions. The one
major problem with this project, and it is
major, is that Fox is funding it. And the people at Fox, for the most part, suck donkey balls. They've apparently neutered Gavin Hood's long-shooting
Wolverine and they're generally known for screwing around with a lot of their genre material. They did, after all, hire Brett Ratner to take a giant shit on the
X-Men franchise with the third installment. That said, it's possible that someone, maybe a young exec, sees that this is a property that can't be fucked with. I am not saying that the original
The A-Team is some sort of masterpiece or a cultural landmark that shouldn't be touched. It was time-filler crap with an attitude that was fun in a cheesy way. But the idea for the show is timeless: a group of war-vets (who now, rather than Vietnam, will be coming from the Middle East) are convicted of armed robbery and escape from military prison, only to became do-gooder mercenaries. Besides the name-brand recognition of what
The A-Team means to pop culture society, this is an inherently exciting action-movie scenario, that with the right flair (and with Carnahan and the Scotts on board you know there will be flair) and the right sensibility, could really become a great summer movie. I will be following this one closely, and hope that the new rounds of casting will yield some great decisions. The film is aiming for a summer 2010 release.
John Crowley's incisive and thought provoking drama Boy A (***1/2) goes to some dark places but the end result is worth the wrenching journey. Andrew Garfield gives a power-house performance and is matched by Peter Mullan, who turns in yet another sensitive and totally believable portrait of a man caught in the middle of conflicting emotions. The film can't help but take one contrived detour, but overall, this is an extremely well crafted and written piece of work about a hard-to-believe law in England that is the very definition of controversial.
RocknRolla (***) is a stylish return to form for gangster movie auteur Guy Ritchie, who in the past few years has stumbled (the disastrous Swept Away and the incomprehensible Revolver were his previous two efforts). A gaggle of entertaining performances stud this comically violent and typically convoluted crime story which moves along at a hurtling pace. While never reaching the heights of Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, RocknRolla is a solid piece of entertainment.
Cop movies are my thing, which is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed Pride and Glory (***) a lot more than most critics did. There's nothing uniquely special about this efficient genre entry, but at the same time, director and co-screenwriter Gavin O'Connor imbues his film with a lot of gritty integrity and the performances, especially those of top-lining stars Ed Norton and Colin Farrell, crackle with intensity. It's a grim, nasty world conjured up by O'Connor, co-scenarist Joe Carnahan, and cinematographer Declan Quinn (who shoots with a darting, jolting intensity), so if you like these types of movies, Pride and Glory will do the trick.
Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona (***) was fun for as far as it went, but considering the hype, I expected a better, richer film. There is a ton of chemistry between all of the super-attractive actors in this sexy movie: Jarvier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Scarlet Johansson, and Rebecca Hall all deliver the goods. It's just that I figured there'd be more in store for the viewer by the film's conclusions, and the mystifying nomination that the Academy bestowed on Cruz for a totally one-dimensional piece of acting grates the nerves, especially when considering that the far more deserving Rosemarie DeWitt from Rachel Getting Married was left out in the cold.
