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eventual aerial escape from a secret
government-run laboratory—was so
excruciatingly boring that I was more
engaged in my struggle with a fierce
catnap. The first hour, which is pretty
much one long, chr jped up car chase,
was a lot of fun. Wt n cabbie Jack
Bruno (Dwayne Ihe Rock" Johnson)
picks up the towheaded brother and
sister duo of Sara (AnnaSophia Robb)
and Seth (Alexander Ludwig), Race
to Witch Mountain channels its inner
Vanishing Point of the more movie
appropriate Bullitt. The movie's stunt
drivers contributed more to the movie's
success ihan anyone besides the
charming Johnson. Race to Witch
Mountain belongs to Johnson. The .
former professional wrestler has a very
easy charm and physicality rivaling
Arnold Schwarzenegger at his '80s
action peak. He makes Jack Bruno's
sudden, easy paradigm shift from
non-believing Scully to true-believing
Mulder as painless as possible. It's
not his fault; he didn't write the incon
sistent character, but he makes him
as appealing as possible. Brief, witty
soliloquies haven't been au courant
in action since Schwarzenegger's
Reagan-era reign, but Johnson wears
them comfortably. He also pummels
believably. Johnson exemplifies the
soft tough guy. Besides the stunt driv
ing and the charmer formerly known
as the Rock, Race to Witch Mountain
possesses few other noticeable baits.
I'd recommend parents rent the original
and its sequel if your kid can stomach
special effects circa 1975. If your kid
prefers the Prequels to the Original
Trilogy, s/he'd be better off with the
Rock, but if your little one prefers pup
pets and matte paintings to digitally
drawn-to-life creatures, Escape with
Richards and Ike EisenmannS Tia and
Tony Malone.
RAISING ARIZONA (PG-13) 1987.
In the Coen Brothers' cult classic, a
petty criminal (Nicholas Cage) and a
cop (Holly Hunter) swipe a famous
quintuplet.
STAR TREK (PG-13) The 23rd-cen-
tury voyages of the Starship Enterprise
just entered the 21st century. Director
J.J. Abrams brings Gene Roddenberry's
idyllic, stodgy creation to warp speed.
Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and
Alex Kurtzman revive the franchise
with a breezy, action-packed matinee
abandon never before seen in this
often sober universe. The maiden
voyage of the U.S.S. Enterprise,
captained by Christopher Pike (Bruce
Greenwood) and manned by a crew
of future United Federation of Planets
legends—James T. Kirk (Chris Pine),
Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto, "Heroes"),
Dr. Leonard “Bones" McCoy (Karl
Urban), communications officer Uhura
(Zoe Saldana), pilot Sulu (John Cho),
navigator Chekhov (Anton Yelchin),
and engineer Scotty (Simon Pegg)—is
fraught with peril as ship-endangering
as ever. A rogue Romulan commander,
Nero (Eric Bana), seeks vengeance afte r
the Federation and its Ambassador,
Spock (Leonard Nimoy), fail to halt
the destruction of his home world.
Star Treks drama is a rather grandly
Khan-esque settling of scores. The lens
through which I viewed Star Trek ms
definitely tinted with layers and layers
of fandom. Even then, I don't recall
enjoying a new Star Trek movie this
much since 1 gee’s slightly goofy The
Voyage Home. The last film, 2002's
TNG-helmed Nemesis, had broken
the series' “evens are good, odds are
bad’ streak. A massive reboot was in
order, and the result, one of the most
exciting science-fiction adventure films
I've ever seen, boldly goes where no
Trekhas gone before. Abrams, Orci and
Kurtzman make the Enterprise’s tricky,
high-profile refitting look easy.
TERMINATOR SALVATION (PG-13)
See Movie Pick.
X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
(PG-13) In a post-//'em Man/Dark
Knight/Watchtnen world, X-Men
Origins: Wolverine is an unevolved
comic caveman. The X-Men trilogy
has been going downhill since X2, and
since 20th Century Fox's rights predate
Marvel's improved property handling,
no one should expect great things from
subsequent Origins pics. Wolverine
merely fills in the pre-X team gaps in
the tri-clawed mutant's long life.
UP (PG) Pixar’s newest left me cold
when first we met by trailer. Seventy-
eight-year-old Carl Fredricksen (v.
Edward Asner) ties thousands of bal
loons to his house, unwittingly soaring
into the air with a stowaway 70 years
younger, Russell (v. Jordan Nagai). As
later trailers reveal the South American
land of the lost visited by Carl and
Wilderness Explorer Russell, my
excitement has grown exponentially.
Co-director Pete Docter, a four-time
Oscar-nominee. previously directed
Monsters, Inc.
Drew Wheeler
BACK FROM THE FUTURE
TERMINATOR SALVATION (PG-13) Twenty-five
years ago, James Cameron, a little-known
filmmaker whose debut involved flying fish
with sharp teeth, wrought hell upon the future
by sending a cyborg into the past to kill the
mother of the future savior of humanity. Seven
years later, he surpassed the original with one
of the best sci-fi films
of the past 30 years.
Then, he got a bit big
for his britches, grew
obsessed with a giant
sunken ship, and the
franchise fell into less
capable hands.
The ultra-grim
fourth installment
of the time-bending
franchise, Terminator
Salvation, makes
minor improvements
on the frivolous third
film. Finally, we get to
witness the epic bat
tles between man and
machine. Strangely,
this conflict resembles
Vietnam with metal
lic enemy combat
ants. Humanity's
savior, John Connor
(Christian Bale), is
waylaid from his
mission to defeat Skynet, the self-aware,
computer-based defense system attempting to
cleanse the planet of all mankind. Searching
for his teenage father, Kyle Reese (Anton
Yelchin, Star Trek), Connor meets Marcus
Wright (Sam Worthington), a new Terminator
model that actually believes it's human.
T4, according to the series' title-abbreviat
ing precedent, is rather like TZs liquid metal
T-IOOO once it falls into the molten metal.
The movie never solidifies into one cohesive
identity. Instead, several major plots compete
for dominance. One minute, the John Connor
rescue mission is the A plot. Suddenly, Marcus
Wright's identity cri
sis leaps from B to
A status. A constant
C plot involving the
human resistance, led
by genre vet Michael
Ironside, attempt
ing to bomb Skynet,
seems to have drunk-
enly stumbled over
from a bad Saturday
night on the Sci Fi
Channel.
Ultimately, almost
every terrifying pre
diction I had about
T4 came true. The
long-awaited battles
between humanity
and the endoskeleton
army grow tedious in
chunks larger than
TZs tantalizing bits.
The film did quell
my fear about director
McG. T4 is the best
looking film in the series, in a Michael Bay/
Transformers kind of way. As unkillable as the
Terminators are, it might be time to unplug
a franchise that's two movies and a failed TV
show past its T2 prime.
Drew Wheeler
Christian Bale and Bryce Dallas Howard
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