AIR FORCE ONE
USA - 1997
Movie Review By Alex Lau
Harrison Ford as an action hero? Been there, done that. Harrison Ford as
the President of the United States? OK, I guess so. Put the two together in the same
movie? Now you've got something like "Air Force One", the new action thriller
starring Ford as the butt-kicking Commander in Chief.
I've seen all the "Die Hard in a plane" movies in the last
year or so: "Con Air," "Turbulence," "Executive Decision."
"Air Force One" is easily the most entertaining one so far, and Ford is the main
reason why. Can he keep us on the edge of our seats with a character that's not named Han
Solo, Indiana Jones, or Jack Ryan? The answer is, yes, indeed. Ford pulls out all the
stops, and he shows what "star power" really means. He's able to turn the
President into someone that anyone can root for. When's the last time someone was able to
do that?
Gary Oldman's Russian right-winger act is actually a little reserved,
for him. Then again, almost anything would seem reserved after his schtick as Zorg in
"The Fifth Element." But he makes a credible bad guy, and that's what counts.
Glenn Close's role as the Vice President really could have been played by almost anyone,
but she's still very strong. I don't know if I'd vote for Ford as President, but I just
might vote for Close, if only it wouldn't keep her from making more movies.
There's absolutely nothing ground-breaking about this movie, but
director Wolfgang Peterson is still able to pull it all together in a very craftsmanlike
manner. Almost all of the scenes are paced perfectly, and the one hour, 58 minute running
time just flies by. Peterson, who previously directed "In the Line of Fire" and
"Outbreak," has to be considered up there with John Woo and Steven Spielberg as
one of the finest action thriller directors today.
It all clicks in this film, from Oldman speaking Russian with English
subtitles, to Close slamming her palms on the briefing room table in frustration, to Ford
punching out another Russian baddie. "Air Force One" is a big winner.
© 1997 • Alex Lau • Air Date: 7/23/97
Here you can see the main-actor of the film "Airforce One"
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IN AND
OUT |
| Howard Brackett's high school English students are astonished. Is it
really true that their favorite teacher might be gay? But hey, he can't be gay; he's about
to get married! Then again, he also teaches the drama class and boy, does he love those
Barbra Streisand records... It all happened to Howard (KEVIN
KLINE) faster than you could say "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." One of his former
students (MATT DILLON) became a Hollywood superstar, and clumsily called Howard's
sexuality into question--on the Academy Awards® telecast, no less. Instantly Howard's
tranquil life in Greenleaf, Indiana has turned upside down. Greenleaf has now become the
scene of a media feeding-frenzy, with Howard as the bait. Peter Malloy (TOM SELLECK), a
slick and aggressive TV reporter, is determined to move in for the kill and get Howard to
speak the truth. Meanwhile, Howard is only days away from his wedding to Emily Montgomery
(JOAN CUSACK), the fiancee he's managed to hold at bay for a full three years.
"In & Out," a comedy directed by Frank Oz, is a Scott
Rudin production for Paramount Pictures and Spelling Entertainment. Kevin Kline, Joan
Cusack, Debbie Reynolds, Wilford Brimley, Matt Dillon, Bob Newhart and Tom Selleck head
the cast. Adam Schroeder is executive producer and the original screenplay is written by
Paul Rudnick. Paramount Pictures is part of the entertainment operations of Viacom Inc.
Like the comedies of Preston Sturges and Frank Capra, "In &
Out" centers on a small-town hero who inadvertently snags national attention.
However, Obie Award-winning playwright Paul Rudnick ("Jeffrey") has infused his
screenplay with his characteristically wry 1990's point of view. Rudnick was first
approached by Scott Rudin with the idea for the screenplay: "I started to think about
someone being outed the week they were to be married," says Rudnick, "and a
comedy came into view. And I liked the idea of setting the film in the small town where he
lives and works and has spent his life. It's a story that really could only exist at this
moment in an age of global video and grand movie stars." He adds, "We've had a
lot of Manhattan cocktail parties on screen recently, but how many barn raisings?"
Rudnick, who grew up an hour outside New York city in New Jersey,
definitely had a Howard Brackett or two for a teacher during his high school years.
"There was one in particular, an algebra teacher," he says. "He would go
hunting with his dad--and then go off to New York to see musicals with the school
librarian."
Rudnick loved the opportunity to take the subject of "outing"
and use it as the springboard for a comedy, rather than an "issue" film.
Director Frank Oz warmed instantly to Rudnick's comic take on the material. "There
have been great movies about how society deals with homosexuality, like
'Philadelphia,'" says Oz, "but this one is unique. This one is the flip side,
the one you can laugh with. The questions remain the same, and the situations remain the
same, but this is entertainment; this is a romantic comedy. Paul is such a great writer,
and I love his script because it has this spin on it. It's a challenge to introduce this
subject matter in an entertaining way. No one wants to be preached to. No one wants to be
told what's good or what's bad. If you're doing a comedy, of course, you have a
responsibility to make people laugh, but I think comedy is hollow without feeling. You
don't want only laughter, you want to be touched by the characters. And I think in this
movie we have some terrific characters."
"The movie has much more to do with comic misunderstanding than
with hatred," adds Paul Rudnick. "It's about people really just grappling with
what the right thing might be, and how do we do it? I hope these people are quirky enough,
and real enough, and wild enough, that audiences will have a wonderful time watching them
and empathizing with their problems. To me the essence of romantic comedy is the
excitement of pure happiness--acquiring joy, and realizing that even though you thought
this was going to be the worst day of your life, you've ended it with your head in the
clouds." |
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HOLLYWOOD (December, 1997) -- "Titanic
is first and above all a love story. The passion, the intimacy and the heart break one
feels in watching a love story on film a created largely by the actors, but we help where
we can with cinematography, set design and the other crafts. Of course music is most
important addition to the actors' work for increasing the emotional impact of the
film." "James Horner's
score for Titanic is all I had hoped and prayed it would be and much more. It
deftly leaps from intimacy to grandeur, from joy to heart-wrenching sadness and across the
full emotional spectrum of the film while maintaining a stylistic and thematic unity. The
music spans time, making immediate the actions and feelings of people 85 years ago with
full emotional resonance without falling into either of the two dreaded traps the sweeping
conventional period picture score, or the inappropriately modern and anachronistic
'counter program' score."
"James has walked the tightrope by using synthesizer, vocal and
full orchestra to create a timeless sound which tells us that these people were not so
very different from us. Their hopes, their fears, their passions are like ours. In the
film I have tried to accentuate the universalities of human behavior, rather than focus on
the quaint differences between this other time and our own. James has done the same thing,
bridging the gap of time and making these people seem so alive, so vibrant, so real that
the dreaded event, when it finally comes is terrifying in the authenticity."
"And most importantly, he has made us one with Jack (Leonardo
DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), feeling the beat of their hearts as they experience the
kind of love we all dream about, but seldom find."
- Director James Cameron
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