The Taking of Pelham 123 Tagged Articles at Cinematical
400 Screens, 400 Blows - Diary of Two Summer Duds
Filed under: Columns », 400 Screens, 400 Blows »
I was just looking over the current release list and came upon two movies that seem to have been pretty much forgotten already, Ron Howard's Angels & Demons (247 screens) and Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (383 screens). The first one is a sequel and the second one is a remake. The first one is absolutely terrible, earning a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the second one is merely mediocre, earning a 52% rating. But what's truly astonishing is that Angels & Demons is a box office smash, with $133 million to its name, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 has earned less than half that, with $64 million.
Let's look at little closer at this. These are two of the summer's only movies that may have been aimed a little above the heads of young boys. All three of the name-above-the-title stars, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and John Travolta, are in their 50s. This ostensibly means that the studios wanted to entice older audiences out of their comfortable homes and into theaters. But unfortunately, if you're a fifty-something and you go out to see The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, what's the first thing you get? You get one of Tony Scott's quick-cut, jumpy, razzle-dazzle openings with Jay-Z boasting "I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one." Not to mention the rest of the breakneck movie, which practically reaches out from the screen and slaps you in the face.
Discuss: Is the Star System Dead?
Filed under: Box Office »
To some, it was a surprise upset: the week-old The Hangover outgrossed the brand-new The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. Or, in other words, the film with no stars beat out the film with two humongous stars. It's easy to look back over the past 12 months and find similar trends. Star Trek is currently the year's biggest smash, with no stars. (I'm using the term "stars" here very loosely; I'm talking, big, big stars, known the world over.) Likewise, Slumdog Millionaire, Up and Watchmen were all big hits with no big stars. We could argue that stars like Hugh Jackman, Tom Hanks, Ben Stiller and Christian Bale have been in hits this summer, but you could also argue that they're all in sequels that have sold because of other factors.Some stars seem unstoppable. Will Smith, for example, rarely stars in a film that grosses less than $100 million, and when he does, he gets an Oscar nomination for it; the exception, last year's Seven Pounds, even managed to turn a profit despite the fact that nobody liked it and it disappeared before anyone could blink. And you could hardly argue that Gran Torino would have been much of a film without Clint Eastwood. Indeed, most of the big hits of the past year and a half have had big stars in the cast, but relying on a star and a star alone to carry your film seems to be a thing of the past. There needs to be a big concept or a selling point that's as big or bigger than the star. What do you think, dear readers? Is the star system obsolete? Are there stars you adore so much you'll see anything they're in? Or do you go to the movies for other reasons?
Review: The Taking of Pelham 123
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Sony », Theatrical Reviews », Remakes and Sequels », Summer Movies »
"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.
Scenes We Love: Training Day
Filed under: Thrillers », Fandom », Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
There are those actors who somehow manage to raise the 'quality quotient' of any film that they are in -- and Denzel Washington is one of those actors. Whether he can keep that streak alive when The Taking of Pelham 123 opens on Friday remains to be seen, but today for Scenes We Love, I decided to throw a little love towards Washington for his performance in Antoine Fuqua's Training Day. Now just for starters; I have to say that it's not a great film...corny and satisfying? Yes, but great? Not quite. So how did Washington win an Oscar for his role as the corrupt LAPD officer, Alonzo Harris? Well, I think he earned it by taking a role in a paint-by-numbers cop thriller and turning it into an Oscar-worthy performance.
Everyone loves to see the bad guy get their comeuppance, and that's exactly what the final scenes of Training Day deliver. But in this scene, as Washington's dirty cop watches it all slip away, you can see it register on his face as all that power and respect circles the drain. In the hands of a lesser actor, this scene could have just been a cheap thrill of watching the bad guy get what he deserves, but to Washington's credit, he creates a very real moment where 'The Player' finally realizes he has lost the game.
Video and Training Day Fun Facts after the jump...
Trailer Park: The Taking of Bruno's Powdery Fame
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Drama », Trailer Trash », Remakes and Sequels »
Bruno
IMDB is giving the following as this film's informal alternative title: Bruno: Delicious Journeys Through America for the Purpose of Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable in the Presence of a Gay Foreigner in a Mesh T-Shirt. Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen adapts another character from Da Ali G show, this time assuming the persona of a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion designer. This is apparently shot in the same way they did Borat, with most of the people involved not realizing that Bruno is just a fictional character. I suspect this may be just as funny as Borat was, but we'll have to wait until July 10 to know for sure.
Fame
Really? A remake of the 1980 film? It's not something I would have thought people were clamoring for but the movie looks to be in the mold of modern dance flicks, and there's a catchy modernization of the classic theme song. If Step Up 2 The Streets is your kind of thing then Fame may work for you. Look for it on September 25.
Powder Blue
Indie drama about four individuals including a suicidal minister who has lost his faith (Forest Whitaker), a retired hit man (Ray Liotta), a single mom stripper (Jessica Biel) and a socially awkward mortician. In addition to these three stars we have Patrick Swayze and Kris Kristofferson rounding out an appealing cast. The story looks compelling, not just because of the strip tease scenes, but they certainly don't hurt. Watch for this in limited release on April 24.
It's Denzel vs. Travolta in the 'Pelham 123' Trailer
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Sony », Remakes and Sequels », Trailers and Clips »
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...)
Pics from 'Pelham 123'
Filed under: Drama », Remakes and Sequels », Images »
When putting together a remake, the powers that be usually find similar actors to fill the roles once immortalized by someone else. But sometimes, we get people entirely different. As we have heard, there's a remake of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three coming our way, titled The Taking of Pelham 123. Instead of Walter Matthau, we're getting a whole different type of actor -- Denzel Washington, and now Just Jared is sharing a peek at the man in action.
123 focuses on some armed, color-named gang members who hijack a subway car in New York City and take the train hostage in hopes of collecting a sweet ransom. Lt. Zachary Garber (Washington) has to make it all happen. Methinks things aren't going too well for Z in this scene.
I like Denzel and all, and I'm sure that he'll be great, but this isn't exactly new territory for him, and seeing this, I just want me some Walter Matthau. If you're feeling the same way, head through the jump.
Gandolfini to Play NYC Mayor in Tony Scott's 'Pelham' Remake
Filed under: Thrillers », Casting », Sony », Remakes and Sequels »
Imagine if New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano suddenly became the Mayor of New York City? Variety is reporting that James Gandolfini, best known for his starring role in the long-running HBO series The Sopranos, will be joining The Taking of Pelham 123. Gandolfini is set to play Hizzoner (AKA The Mayor) in Tony Scott's remake of the 1974 thriller. Gandolfini steps into the role inhabited by Lee Wallace in the original, a politician felled by the flu, stuck in bed, and motivated more by a selfish desire to be reelected than any altruistic concern for his fellow citizens.
Before The Sopranos, Gandolfini established himself as a colorful and versatile character actor (Crimson Tide, Get Shorty, A Civil Action). He was so supremely charismatic and memorably menacing as Tony Soprano, though, that his other recent roles have paled in comparison. Variety says he has other projects in development, based on writer Ernest Hemingway and basketball camp guru Sonny Vaccaro, that may showcase more of his range. Monika Bartyzel also noted recently that he's set to play Marvin Gaye's manager in Sexual Healing.
As Jessica Barnes originally reported, Pelham 123 will star Denzel Washington as a Transit Police officer charged with trying to foil a criminal gang that has hijacked a subway train. John Travolta will play the gang's ruthless leader. Production in New York City evidently began on February 7 and is scheduled to continue through July 4, according to the NYC Mayor's Office of Film Theatre & Broadcasting (PDF document). The film is due for release from Columbia Pictures in 2009.
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