The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn - Part 1 delivers
strongly for the rabid fan
base who have catapulted the
young adult novel series and
subsequent movie adaptations
to the worldwide phenomenon
that it's become, but it
alienates a broader audience
with a lack of any real
action. Similar to the tone of
Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1, the first
film of the two-part Twilight
conclusion is heavy on
romance, love, and turmoil but
light on fight scenes and
gruesome battles. The movie
doesn't waste any time getting
to the goods and opens with
Bella and Edward's much-hyped
wedding scene. It works--the
vows are efficient and
first-time franchise director
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) moves
the party along quickly and
amusingly with a well-edited
toast scene and some
surprisingly moving moments
between Bella and her father,
cast standout Billy Burke. The
honeymoon plays as a slightly
awkward soft-focus made-for-TV
movie, with a lot of long
moments spent staring in the
mirror and some love scenes
that feel at once overly
intimate and completely
passionless. It's a relief
when Bella retches on a bite
of chicken she's cooked
herself and quickly concludes
she's pregnant with a
potentially demonic baby. From
bliss to horror, the Cullens
return to Forks, where Bella
spends the second half of the
movie wasting away and Edward
and Jacob are aligned in their
anger and frustration over her
decision. Throw in some
over-the-top scenes with Jacob
and his pack--including a
strange showdown where the
wolves communicate in their
canine form by having a
passionate nonverbal fight in
their minds (a plot point that
works much better in print,
it's portrayed in the film via
aggressive voice-over)--and
the film overshoots intensity
and goes straight to silly.
The birth scene is horrific,
but not as gruesome as in the
book, and by the end, Bella
has of course survived, though
is much altered. The final
scene features a delightfully
campy Michael Sheen as Volturi
leader Aro and makes it clear
that the action and fun in
Breaking Dawn, Part 1 is ready
to start. Fans will just have
to wait until Part 2 to get
it. --Kira Canny
This 1992 crowd pleaser made
almost as much money for
Whitney Houston as its
chart-busting soundtrack. A
high-wattage star vehicle as
only Hollywood can make, The
Bodyguard stars Houston as a
pop-music diva (now there's a
stretch) and Kevin Costner as
the stern bodyguard who is
assigned to protect her after
the singer receives some nasty
death threats. Pop star and
bodyguard don't hit it off at
first, but they wear down each
others' defenses, and before
long Houston is baring her
tonsils with a rousing
rendition of the Dolly Parton
chestnut "I Will Always Love
You." The film, written by
Lawrence Kasden, was
originally intended for Steve
McQueen, but the script
languished for years before
Houston took an interest in
the project. A proposed sequel
would potentially have starred
Costner and Princess Diana,
until Diana's tragic death
precluded that possibility.
--Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Rowan Atkinson reprises his
role as the slightly hapless,
but still remarkably effective
secret agent Johnny English in
Johnny English Reborn.
Atkinson's deadpan slapstick
delivery is in fine form in
this sequel to 2003's Johnny
English. The sequel actually
delivers as an excellent
action film, with outstanding
cinematography showcasing
scenes as diverse as Hong Kong
and Tibet, as well as a
comedy along the lines of Get
Smart. Johnny English Reborn
opens in the mountains of
Tibet, where a disgraced
English has been living in a
monastery, learning focus,
attentiveness, and martial
arts of the avoidance rather
than of the Ă¼ber-attack
variety. He is suddenly
called back into action to
serve Her Majesty in the spy
agency MI-7, to help take
down an international ring of
assassins. English is
reluctant at first, but then
jumps at the chance to avenge
the mistakes he made years
earlier, and to deploy his new
arsenal of skills. Johnny
English is a very crisply
directed, well-written, and
even unpredictable
comedy-action spoof, and it
just might make fans out of
Rowan Atkinson doubters. The
timing of the gags is really
well done, and Atkinson seems
game for just about anything.
He is also surrounded by a
splendid supporting cast.
Gillian Anderson plays the
severe new head of MI-7,
Pamela, with crisp assurance.
Rosamund Pike is the comely
Kate, a potential love
interest for Agent English.
And Daniel Kaluuya plays
newbie Agent Tucker, who is
assigned to accompany English,
and who brings skills (and
baggage) of his own. Director
Oliver Parker, known mostly
for his remakes of classics
like Othello and The
Importance of Being Earnest,
brings a sure vision and
entertaining pace to Johnny
English Reborn. There's some
crude humor, mostly in the
form of blows to various
groins, but there's no bad
language or over-the-top
grossness, so Johnny English
Reborn is suitable for older
kids and teens. --A.T. Hurley
The Twilight Saga: Breaking
Dawn - Part 1 delivers
strongly for the rabid fan
base who have catapulted the
young adult novel series and
subsequent movie adaptations
to the worldwide phenomenon
that it's become, but it
alienates a broader audience
with a lack of any real
action. Similar to the tone of
Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows: Part 1, the first
film of the two-part Twilight
conclusion is heavy on
romance, love, and turmoil but
light on fight scenes and
gruesome battles. The movie
doesn't waste any time getting
to the goods and opens with
Bella and Edward's much-hyped
wedding scene. It works--the
vows are efficient and
first-time franchise director
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) moves
the party along quickly and
amusingly with a well-edited
toast scene and some
surprisingly moving moments
between Bella and her father,
cast standout Billy Burke. The
honeymoon plays as a slightly
awkward soft-focus made-for-TV
movie, with a lot of long
moments spent staring in the
mirror and some love scenes
that feel at once overly
intimate and completely
passionless. It's a relief
when Bella retches on a bite
of chicken she's cooked
herself and quickly concludes
she's pregnant with a
potentially demonic baby. From
bliss to horror, the Cullens
return to Forks, where Bella
spends the second half of the
movie wasting away and Edward
and Jacob are aligned in their
anger and frustration over her
decision. Throw in some
over-the-top scenes with Jacob
and his pack--including a
strange showdown where the
wolves communicate in their
canine form by having a
passionate nonverbal fight in
their minds (a plot point that
works much better in print,
it's portrayed in the film via
aggressive voice-over)--and
the film overshoots intensity
and goes straight to silly.
The birth scene is horrific,
but not as gruesome as in the
book, and by the end, Bella
has of course survived, though
is much altered. The final
scene features a delightfully
campy Michael Sheen as Volturi
leader Aro and makes it clear
that the action and fun in
Breaking Dawn - Part 1 is
ready to start. Fans will just
have to wait until Part 2 to
get it. --Kira Canny
