Conference bookie::movies

    I believe Ed Harris has a decent role in this as well. 

    
    	Yes, Ed Harris plays the bad guy.
    

    Most definately looks like a movie worth seeing.  Does Ed Harris play
    an inmate or .......?
    
    P
      

    Ed Harris is the bad guy.  Psycho Marine who's threatening to release
    some sort of agent (the chemical kind) if his demands aren't met, if
    memory serves.
    
    
    
    kim

    
    	An inmate??
    
    	I don't think they're using the place as a prison, I think they're
    	using the place as a launch pad.
    

    >as a launch pad
    
    Does this mean it takes place sometime in future or is it take place in
    this time and it is some sort of government secret or am I now getting
    a little imaginative?
    
    P
    

    re .6
    
    Ed Harris and cronies, from what I glean from the preview, are using
    Alcatraz as their "base" to extort whatever they're trying to extort. 
    I think it's set in the present day.  
    
    
    
    kim

    Eddie and the lads are threatening to launch some chemical weapons on
    San Francisco if theay dinnae' get what they want !

    
    I think Alcatraz is an amusement park in this movie???  And Ed
    Harris' character takes "The Rock" hostage.  
    
    We'll know for sure soon enough, it starts tonight.
    
    CF

    
    Los Angeles times review today:
    
    "the film is a nonstop aural bombardment, beating viewers into
    submission if they can't be convinced by saner methods"
    
    "It's loud, slick and forceful, eager for any opportunity to
    pump on the volume both literally and metaphorically"
    
    Film is dedicated to Don Simpson, the producer who died awhile
    ago.
    
    Nicolas Cage is getting great reviews for the character he
    plays in thism film.
    
    well...it's off to the theater this weekend.
    
    
    
    

    Good fun, in a summer movie action picture sort of way.  Very much a
    typical Simpson/Bruckheimer (sp) Testosterone flick.  You could tell
    from the lack of significant women characters and the frequent use of
    the F-word. :)
    
    Nicholas Cage and Sean Connery worked well together.  Plus there were
    bullets, nasty nerve/ooky-to-your-skin gas, rockets, planes, bombs,
    SEALs, Marines, helicopters, hostages, guns, car wrecks, grenades,
    levitating cable cars, dead people and all the shots of Alcatraz you
    could ever want.  Not exactly the most believable or solid of plots and
    there's a point where I felt the wind was sort of taken out of the
    whole dire situation by a certain plot element, but hey.  Not a GREAT
    movie, but good fun.
    
    It was very much in evidence (to me anyway) that the picture was
    directed by an ex-music video director.  For most of the film, there's
    not a single camera shot that lasts more than 5 seconds before a cut to
    a different shot.  
    
    **.75 out of ****
    
    
    kim

Saw it Saturday.  It was great.  Cage and Connery banter 
is done very well.  Lots of amusing one-liners and 
situations.  

Harris is not entirely a bad guy.  Can't divulge much 
without giving it away.  

One of the best car-chase sequences I've seen in a 
while.

Except for the furnace, it was believable.

Only question I have in retrospect is "Were those Marine 
or Navy F-18s?"  I was so engrossed in the flick that I 
didn't observe which they were.

Don't wait for video.  Although nothing stood out in the 
way of cinematography, I get the feeling that the impact 
of the movie just won't be the same on a TV screen.

    Just got in from this one.  Verdict: qualified thumbs up.
    
    The producers of this flick went to some expense assembling an
    outstanding cast of very talented actors.  Kudos to the casting
    director (credit not caught).
    
    The screenplay itself was good, the plot held together nicely and
    didn't rely too much on super-human feats to pull off the action.
    
    The special effects (especially the aforementioned car chase) were
    superb.  Don't look away when the first gas victim gets hit, the horror
    is very integral to the plot.
    
    So, why is the "thumbs up" qualified?  What's wrong with this picture?
    (no pun intended, but left in anyway.)  In a word directing.  Bay
    should not be working with the obvious other talent involved in this 
    project!  In one early scene, an FBI agent bounces a quarter across a
    table to Sean Connery.  Bay uses a super-close-up, super-slo-mo shot to
    highlight the quarter spinning and falling to the floor.  You'd think
    from that shot that the quarter would end up being a BIG plot device,
    but it turns out to be just a quick tool to cut some glass.  WHY WASTE
    OUR TIME?????
    
    Bay made the same mistake with a slo-mo shot in Bad Boys and I remember
    complaining about that.
    
    One note:  I heard on a Hollywood gossip show that Connery balked at
    doing the movie just because Bay was the director.  Seems I'm not the
    only one who notices his crappy style.
    
    
    Rick

    
    This movie was a good time.  I espcially liked the attempt to give the
    antagonist a motivation other than money.  It wasn't quite brought off,
    but at least there was an attempt.
    
    The above the title credits alone are enough to convince one that
    there's plenty of acting talent involved in this one, but even the
    people with bit parts (Michael Biehn, John C. McGinley, David Morse,
    William Forsythe) are good actors, so I was wondering if the writing
    would cut the film down.  No, the film was pretty well written, too.  I
    have to agree with the noter in -.1, however.  The direction was
    occasionally annoying.  There were moments (like the quarter) where
    things seemed to be thrown in at random.
    
    One thing the writers did miss -- during one of Connery's fights at the
    end, I was surprised he didn't point out Glasgow was in Scotland. 
    Would've made for a chuckle.  Well, maybe it made the take run too
    long and got edited out :-)
    
    If you don't like action movies with a certain amount of macho
    posturing, this film is to be avoided, because it's an above average
    example of that genre, and doesn't miss a trick.  Since I really like
    the genre, I'd pay full price to see it again.  Best movie I've seen
    this summer.
    
    DFW

>   One thing the writers did miss -- during one of Connery's fights at the
>   end, I was surprised he didn't point out Glasgow was in Scotland. 
>   Would've made for a chuckle.  
    
    Yes, I was waiting for Connery to come up with "Glasgow <PUNCH!> is in
    SCOTLAND <K.O.!>! "
    
    The writers missed on other occasions, too. One I remember is
    
    
    
    *SPOILER*
    
    
    ... during the mutiny the bad guys said "We want our money". Ed Harris
    could have said (with supporting earlier dialogue) "I said you'd be
    paid on the SUCCESSFUL completion of this mission, Captain". That would
    have provided a clear highlighting of the mutiny. Instead, Harris says,
    in effect, "Well, I've decided to weasel out and screw you guys" or
    (depending on what you choose to believe) "Well, I lied to you when I
    first recruited you".
    
    The mutiny thus came off as a rush job, not as crisp as say the scene
    in the shower where Harris is demanding surrender and not getting it.
    
      John

    
    Saw this last night and enjoyed it immensely.  Great to watch, visually
    good and the interaction between the lead characters is first rate. 
    This movie might not have been so good if it weren't for the choice of
    lead actors.
    
    I liked the chase scenes.  I've seen movies with every kind of chase
    but never a crane bucket chase before, that was novel.  To those who
    had a problem with the spinning quarter I say this:  Stop analysing and
    watch the damn movie.  Yes, I expected it to be used for something
    because of the tracking shot but I wasn't expecting it to figure in a
    major way.  
    
    
    I.

    Saw this yesterday afternoon. Thought it was an excellent movie.  I
    thought Cage and Connery made an wicked pair.  I found that the movie
    was non-stop action.  Even the slower parts of the movie were good.
    
    spoiler
    
    I only have one Question.  The chemical in the rockets was so
    incredibly deadly, but what was so special about the needle in the
    heart that it saved cages life at the end?
    
    Pete
    

    Re -1 
    
    
    It contained Atropine, which is used to relieve spasms and such.
    Perhaps it was meant to stop a heart attack. Why it didn't melt his
    face was not explained, IMHO. 
    
    
    Marilyn
    

    
    Answer behind spoiler
    
    Happy
    
    Now
    
    Jeff?....
    
    
    
    Atropine is, I believe, a nerve stimulant and is used as an antidote to
    chemical agents that act on the nervous system by "boosting" the
    nervous system (Ok, that's a simplified way of saying it).  It's
    carried by soldiers who may be exposed to chemical attack as a
    universal antidote.  That's what saved his life, but the thing about
    the skin is a good point, I assume the skin effect was down to the gas
    attacking the nervous system, therefore:  nerves ok?  skin OK!
    
    I thought he did a good job of acting all weary after the injection,
    most films like that would have gone like this:  Stab! "oh, that's
    better", "I think I'll just scale this sheer cliff face".  At least he
    showed what a massive shock to the nervous system would be like.
    
    
    I.

    Thanks for the replys on that question.  Handley_I I like your theory
    for the skin thing, it sounds like a good possibility.
    
    Spoiler----->
    
    I also liked the way they did that with the needle.  If I remember
    correctly he wasn't even able to take the needle out himself for a long
    period of time. 
    
    One of the parts I liked the best was whe Cage killed buddy by putting 
    the chemical capsule in his mouth and then punching him in the jaw.......
    .....I love it!!!!!
    
    Pete
    
    
    

I saw this film last week and was bowled over. What a roller-coaster ride ! Did
someone say earlier that no camera shot lasted more than 5 seconds ? I must have
counted at least two shots that were at least 6 seconds... ;-)

Simon.

    
    I think you must be mistaken.  I had my stopwatch in the theatre and I
    can tell you......blah blah[cont p.94]
    
    
    
    I.

    
    Finally got the chance to see this.  Good Movie!  I have to admit
    though, the camera shots during the car chase scene made me nauseous. I
    don't know if being pregnant had anything to do with it or not (someone
    else told me that his wife who is also pregnant felt nauseous during
    those scenes too).
    
    I never really cared for Nicolas Cage before but I found myself liking
    him after this one.
    
    Was surprised that no one has mentioned that Anthony Clark had a bit
    part.  
    
    Sean Connery was excellent as always.
    
    Good movie!
    
    

    
    The car chase made me nauseous to, I had to close my eyes until it was
    done. (and im not pregnant).
    
    I loved the movie, I found my self actualy out of breath on alot of the
    scenes.
    
    

    
    
    I saw this one over the weekend as well. Non-stop action from 
    beginning to end.
    
    spoiler
    
    
    
    
    Lots and lots of scenes tha pass beyond the realm of believability.
    but a few that come to mind:
    
    1) Sean Connery hits everything in site while driving the jeep
       and is never even scratched nor does anything actually stop the jeep.
    
    2) Sean Connery throws a grenade at two marines. The grenade explodes
       at their feet and sends them flying but they both get up without a
       scratch.
                                      
    3) Sean Connery gets a machine gun butt in the face and not only does
       he not have any bruises but it never even makes him flinch. he
       carries  on un-affected.
    
    5) Nicholas Cage has just hidden the most unstable chemical gas
       on top of the light tower and yet a bomb hitting the island
       fails to even damage the fragile casing
    
    6) Nicholas Cage explodes one of the chemical balls inside a victims
       mouth but his skin is not affected with even one blemish. Yes I know
       he took the drug in the heart but lets face it. It took him a minute
       to do that and he was at point blank range when the chemicals hit
       the air.
    
    
    all that being said. I still liked the movie! :))))
    
    Chris
    :)

    
    
    
    re the 25 cent coin debate
    
    
    what was the big deal re this scene.
    
    spoiler
    
    
    
    
    The camera followed the coin as if it would be used in a later scene
    and it was. What more did you want?
    He used the coin to break through the window to intimidate those
    who were questioning him. The guy was an SAS agent and an escape
    artist. What else did you want him to do with a quarter?
    
    I think he was just having some fun with them.
    
    Chris
    :)

  This move is really exciting. It has everything that you would want from an
action/adventure type film as well as great character development, great gyzmos
and effects and great direction. 

  It sweeps you up and keeps your attention from the opening scene to the
credits. Don't miss it on the big screen.

  ****, out of 5
  George

    SSSSSSSUUUUUUUUPPPPPPEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRBBBBBBBBBBBBBB!!!
    
    Great film!!
    Loved it - on the edge of my seat all the way through!
    I felt the same about Nicholas Cage as someone stated earlier: Didn't
    really think that much of him - but after this film, I changed my mind! 
    He was great!!! And yes the banter between him and Sean Connery was
    great!!
    
    **** out of *****
    
    S..x

    
    	this is playing at the Elm Draught house in Millbury 7/19-25

    
    Good movie! Some good action in it! I would have liked to have seen
    this in the theater also! Good job by Connery, Cage, and Harris.