Universal's May '06 Releases
Earthquake (June 24/06)
Though Earthquake is commonly regarded as one of the more memorable disaster films to emerge out of the 1970s, it doesn't really hold up all that well today - something that can be attributed to the extraordinarily slow pace and emphasis on melodrama. Featuring a cast that includes Charlton Heston, George Kennedy, and Richard Roundtree, the movie revolves around the exploits of several characters both before and after a massive earthquake hits San Francisco. And that's really the problem here; aside from an amusing cameo by Walter Matthau as an oblivious drunkard, the individual performers are simply unable to transform their respective characters into figures worth caring about. That most of these people are essentially walking cliches certainly doesn't help matters (ie there's the one scientist who believes a major quake is about to hit, but can't get anybody to take him seriously), nor does the inclusion of several trashy, soap opera-esque plot developments by screenwriters Mario Puzo and George Fox. It's the sort of stuff one generally associates with the genre, admittedly, but there never seems to be an overwhelming reason for the film to even exist (ie the whole movie seems to have been fashioned around the big special effects set-pieces, instead of the other way around).
out of
Miracle at Sage Creek (June 27/06)
That Miracle at Sage Creek has a "family approved" logo right on its front cover doesn't come as much of a surprise, given the film's emphasis on themes of religion and the importance of family. And although there are a few interesting elements within Thadd Turner's screenplay, Miracle at Sage Creek is ultimately undone by its simplistic, thoroughly predictable approach. Set in the old West, the story revolves around the various relationships within a small town - including a crusty rancher's (David Carradine) feud with a neighboring cowboy over the possession of several horses. Miracle at Sage Creek unfolds at a leisurely, overly deliberate pace that admittedly does suit the material, though it's clear that less patient viewers will find little here worth embracing. The cut-and-dried approach (ie the evil character wears a black hat) is exacerbated by Turner's heavy-handed approach, something that's particularly egregious with respect to the religious stuff (after a minister's son falls ill, his wife screams, "where's your great god now!") That being said, Miracle at Sage Creek is basically entertaining - though it's fairly obvious that the film has been geared almost exclusively to the family-friendly crowd.
out of
Munich (June 25/06)
Overlong, ponderous, and erratic, Munich is easily the most ineffective movie of Steven Spielberg's career and only cements the feeling that the director is now more interested in churning out "important" films than in entertaining his audience. Though well acted and impeccably shot, the movie remains curiously uninvolving throughout its ridiculously bloated 164-minute running time. Based on the true story, Munich follows five Israeli assassins - led by Eric Bana's Avner - who are assigned the task of hunting down and executing 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the massacre of Jewish athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games. While there are plenty of individually compelling moments here - particularly the sequence in which Avner and company come awfully close to blowing up a little girl - the distinct lack of dramatic tension effectively prevents the viewer from wholeheartedly embracing any of the central characters or their cause (this is despite the uniformly superb performances, with Bana a clear standout). Spielberg's expectedly heavy-handed approach is exacerbated by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth's screenplay, which is painfully unsubtle and filled to the brim with poetic but thoroughly inauthentic dialogue. The final straw comes towards the end with a laughably overwrought sequence in which Spielberg cuts between footage of the Jewish athletes being murdered with Avner and his wife having sex, as the director clumsily hammers home the extraordinarily obvious point that Avner's psyche has been damaged by the killings. The majority of Munich is similarly substandard, and it's difficult to imagine just what Spielberg was hoping to accomplish with this disastrously inept piece of work.
out of
