JohnTravolta Tagged Articles at Cinematical

"How the hell can you run a goddamn railroad without swearing?"
-The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

"I got 99 problems, and a bitch ain't one."
-The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

About as loud as Joseph Sargent's original was lean, Tony Scott's take on The Taking of Pelham 123 is more indebted to his name than its own, all restless shots and relentless cuts, ticking clocks and roving maps, a stream of shouting and shooting and speed-ramping and slow-motion and all that jazz. The conversations are cranked up, and the confrontations are amped up, but to what end? Scott whips out the familiar frame-blurring techniques that have ostensibly served him well in the past, but his flair tends to instead rob a crackerjack crime thriller of an inherent momentum that has served it quite well over the span of almost four decades.

I seriously love the Daily Express. These guys know how to scheme up a good rumor. This time around, they're going for the ultimate buddy remake. Forget the likes of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Who'd want those guys when you can have Tom Cruise and John Travolta? According to the gossip rag, Cruise wants to remake the 1969 classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and star in it along with Travolta. Not only that, but Cruise reportedly got the blessing of Paul Newman before he passed on.

According to the Express' source, this remake has "been a pet project of his [Cruise] that has been on the back-burner for years. But now he's ready to go, and will most likely happily eschew the enormous salary that he normally commands."

Now I'd love to see Travolta and Cruise as buddies on the big screen. I think they could have a lot of fun with each other. But a Western? One of the most iconic Westerns with two of Hollywood's most notable and critically loved male stars? No thanks. If this is, in any way, true, Newman must have been high on pain meds. And if it comes to fruition, I think we're all going to want to be high on them.

Would you like Travolta Cassidy and the Sundance Cruise?

It's not far to assume that all remakes will disappoint by default. I've come to learn that we get one Dawn of the Dead '04 for every ten of Prom Night '08, but more importantly, I've learned to be a bit more grateful for those that do work, because they are no less ours to enjoy. However, judging by the new trailer over at Yahoo! Movies for Tony Scott's take on The Taking of Pelham 123, that approach cannot eliminate skepticism entirely, which is what this trailer filled me with, entirely.

Hiring the more spastic Scott sibling to helm a movie that mostly takes place on a subway car held hostage doesn't seem right, which is why this piece is filled with roaming cameras as a truck crashes into a car, Denzel Washington clashes with John Travolta, a motorcycle crashes into a car, Denzel's facial hair clashes with Travolta's facial hair, so on, so forth...

And the original (Walter Matthau vs. Robert Shaw! And that theme!) and its dry wit appear to have instead been reduced to that one line about milk and a climax likely more comparable to Speed than Pelham '74. But hey, I can't say for sure until I actually see more than two minutes of the thing, and having been surprised by how much I enjoyed Scott and Washington's Deja Vu after sitting through its trailers, I'll try and bite my tongue until June 12th.

(On the flip side: if you have 105 minutes to spare, I may be able to help you see things my way...)

So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!

Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), but the only problem is it may not hit theaters on time if 20th Century Fox has anything to say about it. Both Fox and Warner Brothers are fighting over who actually owns the rights, and if a judge favors Fox comes January 20th (when the court date is set), we're looking at a delayed release and a whole ton of angry fans. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.

Gallery: Watchmen

Perhaps I'm still feeling the cheer of holiday beer, but I'm absolutely loving the above trailer for John Travolta's new film, From Paris with Love. Think Pulp Fiction meets a razor, and then layers of deliciously silly movie camp and a move overseas.

The film stars John Travolta as an American spy who teams up with an embassy worker (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) "during a tumultuous time in Paris." While it isn't quite as bad as big, bad men bringing out The Gimp, there does seem to be a decent amount of explosions and mayhem. Better yet, the film was written by Luc Bessoin and Adi Hasak, and penned by District B13 director Pierre Morel.

The campy trailer could be just a fluke of crappy marketing, but with this combination of talent, I'm thinking that audiences are in for a strange and amusing ride! At the very least, it's nice to see Travolta tapping into his inner badass once again, rather than a fat suit and dress.

I'm trying to muster up some enthusiasm for Disney's latest animated film, Bolt. It's cute. It has funny pigeons. My eight-year-old niece is going to like it, especially since Miley Cyrus is involved. It's the first non-Pixar Disney feature produced by John Lasseter, who directed the Toy Story movies and Cars. It's got Hollywood jokes in it, including a director voiced by James Lipton, and a comically pushy agent. And yet I never thrilled to the story or the characters; I wasn't half as amused as I'd been by Kung Fu Panda, a film for kids I saw earlier this year.

The story should sound familiar to anyone who grew up with Lassie movies or other animal-road-trip films, but with a Hollywood twist. The title character, a cute dog called Bolt (John Travolta), is fiercely attached to "his person," teenage Penny (Miley Cyrus). Bolt saves Penny's life on a regular basis as she and her dad are pursued by the evil Dr. Calico and his nasty cats ... or so he thinks. The truth is that Bolt is the star of a TV series, but the cast and crew are very careful not to let him know that he's not in real-life situations. So he believes he's a genetically engineered dog with laser eyes and amazing strength and a supersonic bark. When Bolt is separated from Penny and ends up halfway across the country on his own, for the first time he's in a world that isn't a soundstage or his trailer. Now, how will he get back to Penny?

Tonight (we hope), the longest and hardest-fought Presidential campaign in recent memory finally comes to a close. To celebrate, we've assembled a list of the seven most memorable political campaign workers in the past 50 years of movies. We've got office staff members, campaign managers, and the candidates themselves, each one giving their all in the most important campaign of their lives.

1. Robert Redford, The Candidate

Redford plays activist and staunch idealist Bill McKay, son of the former governor of California, who reluctantly enters the race for Senator with little chance of winning, all so he can speak out honestly on "the issues." As his popularity and support grows, so do the temptations and pressures to compromise his beliefs. My favorite scene comes deep in the campaign when McKay goes a little nuts in the back seat of a car speeding to a TV station. Repeating his slogan over and over, he's so exhausted that all he can do is laugh hysterically. Peter Boyle and Allan Garfield play his equally memorable political operatives.

2. Warren Beatty, Bulworth

What is it about California that makes Senators go nuts? Up for re-election, California Senator Jay Bulworth (Beatty), no longer wishing to live, decides he can finally speak the truth instead of campaign rhetoric, making for a racous series of politically incorrect adventures. Beatty, of course, had previously made Shampoo, in which he spent Election Day in 1968 running around Los Angeles putting out romantic and business fires, but he outdid himself with Bulworth.

When he donned a wig and a dress, John Travolta made our Lame in 2007 list for his work in Hairspray. But now he's taking a decidedly different look for his work -- baldness!

Above is a peek at Travolta, from ExtraTV, on the set of his new movie -- From Paris with Love, which is shooting in (surprise, surprise) France. The film, co-written by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, stars Travolta as an American spy, while Jonathan Rhys Meyers co-stars as an embassy employee. Travolta doesn't look too bad with a bald noggin, and now I've got visions of the actor teaming up with Bruce Willis for a baldie buddy cop film.

But back to the film -- there's just as much drama off-screen as there is on. Earlier this month, production was postponed after arson attacks. The film was set to shoot in one of Paris' suburbs, but then 10 stunt cars were set on fire "during a night-time rampage." It looks like things are back on, and hopefully will continue safely. The film is set to hit theaters next year.

Click image above to enlarge

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Disney's Bolt, which boasts a voice cast that includes John Travolta and some girl named Miley Cyrus (maybe you've heard of her; looks a little like that other girl Hannah Montana ...). The flick, which will be presented in fully awesome Disney Digital 3D, tells of a heroic dog (Travolta) on a hit TV show who really believes he has superpowers. A nice reality check comes when he's accidentally shipped from Hollywood to New York City (aka the real world) and has to somehow make his way back home with help from an old cat and an overweight hamster.

Written by Dan Fogelman (Cars, Fred Claus), Bolt looks to continue Disney's successful run in the Digital 3D business, joining other films like Meet the Robinsons and the Hannah Montana Concert Tour. It's fun, charming ... and who doesn't love a few solid one-liners from an overweight hamster?

Bolt zooms into theaters on November 21.

When it comes to sifting through all actors responsible for portraying the most powerful man on the planet, there's no shortage of options. John Travolta did a great Bill Clinton impersonation in Primary Colors and Timothy Bottoms delivered a near-perfect imitation of George W. Bush in both D.C. 9/11: Time of Crisis and That's My Bush! Neither one comes across as particularly flattering, so presidential nominee Barack Obama has chosen a safer bet: At a recent party in Los Angeles, Obama revealed that he prefers Jeff Bridges' conflicted commander-in-chief in The Contender. Granted, he may have said this simply to keep his audience happy -- in this case, Contender director Rod Lurie, one of the attendees who was willing to plop down $28,000 for the event. "'I just plugged your movie," Obama told Lurie, according to a report the director sent to Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells.

Still, when you're under the kind of intense scrutiny that Obama currently endures, Bridges actually seems like a pretty safe choice. Choose Anthony Hopkins in Nixon and it sounds like you're endorsing the bad guy. Choose Kevin Kline in Dave and you come across as disingenuous. Choose Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove and somebody will call you incompetent. Bridges, on the other hand, plays a fierce leader bound to his moral convictions. Of course, Obama also expressed sympathy over Lurie's short-lived television show Commander-in-Chief, which featured Geena Davis as the first woman president. Perhaps it's no coincidence that he and Hillary have publicly made amends.