The Video Station: (303) 440-4448 » dakota fanning

PUSH – Reviewed by David

blogadmin — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:41:09 +0000

As the newest member of the ordinary-people-with-powers sub-genre, Push is neither as fluidly directed as the first two X-Men movies nor as compelling as TV’s Heroes was in its prime, but it proves to be solid sci-fi entertainment just the same thanks to an interesting setting, a judicious use of effects and a cast of sort-of-familiar faces.

In a nutshell, it revolves around the efforts of an off-the-grid telekinetic (Chris Evans) and a teen clairvoyant (Dakota Fanning) to find a syringe full of an ability-enhancing drug created by a covert U.S. government agency run by a ruthless agent (Djimon Hounsou) who wants the thing back after it’s stolen by a girl (Camilla Belle) who was injected with the stuff. Psychic-powered Asians are also involved.

I admittedly didn’t care for the film when I saw it in theaters in February. It didn’t have enough action or effects and it felt too slow. I thought it was boring. Most of all, though, it wasn’t Jumper, the nifty Hayden Christensen adventure that had opened around the same time last year and also sported a title that promised sci-fi fun.

But after seeing it a second time, I found I didn’t mind the deliberate pace or the low-key performances or the distinct lack of fireballs, and that I liked the lively Hong Kong backdrop and the way Scottish director Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin) lit the film in blue-greens and reds and oranges to make it feel like a live-action comic book.

Also, says the little boy in me, I thought the assorted abilities were really cool. I wanted to be able to push thoughts into people’s minds, to convince people that a piece of paper was actually money or that a black suitcase was really red, to make people’s ears bleed (and fish explode) with high-pitched sonic screams and to heal people with just a touch.

If I could only choose one, though, it would have to be the telekinetic talents of Evans and a nattily-attired agency bodyguard, whose fantastic fights with Evans rep the movie’s high points. The two fling each other around like rag dolls, deflect bullets, levitate guns, land punches without even touching each other and chuck Chinese soldiers through bamboo scaffolding and huge plates of orange glass.

The cast overall does its job, even if the performances don’t pop like they should. Evans had more, um, fire as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic 4 films, Hounsou isn’t mean enough and Belle (10,000 B.C.) is mostly just easy on the eyes. Better are Cliff Curtis (Sunshine) as the guy who can do the paper-money thing and Maggie Siff (TV’s Mad Men) as the healer, both of whom, coincidentally, have accents.

As for 15-year-old Fanning, I know she wants more mature roles, but here she comes off like an annoying little sister who you wish would just shut up about the future already. And the sight of her drunk is a little unsettling. But at least her rivalry with a fellow clairvoyant (Xiaolu Li) is interesting, not to mention unintentionally funny, as the woman frequently tells the teen that she knows when the girl will die. – [DVD]

Sci-Fi/Thriller

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 7/7/09

HOUNDDOG – Reviewed by Tovah

blogadmin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:43:58 +0000

I really liked this movie a lot. It’s set in the South in the late Fifties/ early Sixties. It is about a girl who is nearing puberty and who loves Elvis Presley, hence the name of the movie. Elvis is coming to her town to sing, so she needs to get a ticket. Unfortunately for her, she is dirt-poor. Sketchy situations come up in the story that make her grow up before she is supposed to. This is a very realistic portrayal of rape. Dakota Fanning does an excellent job.

Drama

Rated R

DVD Release Date: 2/17/09

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES – Reviewed by David

blogadmin — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:38:30 +0000

This Southern-fried coming-of-age drama, based on a book by Sue Monk Kidd, is pretty much tailor-made for girls of any age, but especially those who liked Fried Green Tomatoes or perhaps Driving Miss Daisy. It’s postcard-pretty and, uncomfortable moments aside, goes down like honey.

Dakota Fanning, the busiest little actress in Hollywood, plays a young girl in the South in 1964 who flees with her housekeeper (Jennifer Hudson) from her abusive father (Paul Bettany) and finds refuge with a trio of black sisters who live in the town where her mother grew up.

The film’s uglier elements, like Bettany’s treatment of Fanning and Hudson’s being beaten by white men, will likely irk anyone expecting a violence-free experience. But such unpleasantness gives way soon enough to a soft piano score and beautifully photographed scenes of sun-dappled South Carolina (really North Carolina) that seem designed more or less to attract tourists.

Fanning is good here, but though she’s still leagues ahead of other actresses her age, it’s not her best work. Hudson is adequate in a role that doesn’t require much of her, as is Alicia Keyes as the most serious-minded of said sisters, and Bettany is in stale wife-beater mode. Sophie Okonedo, however, gives a sweet, sensitive performance as the childlike sister who is too easily pained by the state of the world.

But the film belongs to Queen Latifah, who plays the most level-minded sister. Though you know that no one could possibly be that saintly, she nearly proves you wrong, doling out sage advice and nuggets of wisdom and administering comfort in the kind of soothing voice that would make Heath Ledger’s Joker repent for his sins.

And it’s all directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who a number of years ago made the much better Love & Basketball. [DVD]

Adventure/Drama

Rated PG-13

DVD Release Date: 2/4/09