65 - The Joyriders

Connection To METEOR - Martin Landau.

I actually put The Joyriders on knowing nothing other then it starred Martin Landau and Shawn Hatosy and it was called The Joyriders, so it's rare I go into a film totally blind not even knowing the plot, but here goes.

The film is about a suicidal elderly man (Landau) who ends up getting "kidnapped" by three wayward teens (Hatosy, Elisabeth Moss and Heather McComb) and though I predicted the direction the film was going to go (that they would start to identify with each other, care for each other etc.) I ended up really liking it once it get, I wish it would just get there a touch sooner.

I had a problem with the "kidnapping" which I have put in quotes because the film still wants you to identify with these characters that it's really something that is out of the kids control, it kind of doesn't make sense though how they end up taking Landau, mostly because it doesn't seem in their character until it actually happens.

The 4 leads characters gelled together really well particularly Landau with Moss - the more naive, sweetheart of the trio (Hatosy more immature and McComb more live wire) and she plays the sort of character you could fall in love with simply because she is so undeniably sweet even if her life as gone to shit. There is a good smaller role for Kris Kristofferson as a friendly preacher, he's enjoyable for the time he's on screen. The sole bad casting for me was Diane Venora as Moss' mother she just didn't deliver a very good performance.

Overall, the first part is not a bad film but the second part is very good, the longer the film goes the more you start to feel for the characters and by the end you are hoping for a happy ending for everyone.

64 - Meteor

Connection To O.K. Connery - Sean's brother Neil starred in that movie, I have decided to do family connection, on only one condition, if the relative is far, far less successful and it's very likely they are involved in film at all if it wasn't for the success of said relative.

I have such affection for the disaster movies of the 1970's, especially if it has Irwin Allen's name attached to it - I am SOLD - The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno are both to me bonafide classics - I just love them putting all-star casts in the middle of something catastrophic (be it man made or nature) and other non-Allen films ended up following suit, Meteor is one of them and ended up flopping and receiving a lot of negative write-ups but I am writing this bit before watching it (and having never seen it) - I am just hoping the 70's disaster movie charm follows on for me, so fingers crossed...

Meteor actually wasn't as bad as I heard, sure there was plenty of scenes where the main characters seemed to be just stood around staring at computer screens, and random cut backs to the meteor itself just really there floating in space - I've also heard people knock the special effects which to me whilst they did come post-Star Wars they still had their charm, the destruction of Hong Kong and later part of New York (the WTC is among the building seen destroyed).

I enjoyed an whole bunch of performances, which probably is where a lot of the budget went because it's a famous cast, one of my favourite scenes is Martin Landau as the general just throwing a proper hissy fit, besides that he is actually my favourite performance of the. The two leads are Sean Connery and Natalie Wood who have decent chemistry even if the dialogue handed to them to speak isn't the best. Wood is somebody I am big of anyway so I am touch bias there.

Overall far from perfect but not as bad as it's been lead to believe, I feel like say this often but if 20 minutes or so was shaved off the film would be tighter and a better experience for it.

46 - Hollywood Homicide

Connection To AIR FORCE ONE - Harrison Ford

There's always ultimately one of two choices to go with when picking a film as the connection, especially if it's one I haven't seen - do I go for a film that's known to be at least decent or something that's known to be a bit poo-poo (sorry for the harsh language), I think sometimes that decision lies in the last few films I have watched, if there is a lot badness just been then it needs something awesome to remind me why I like film and the bad film sometimes lies in the curiosity of how bad it might be or what it's reputation is in the so-bad it's good field

Hollywood Homicide stars Hollywood legend Harrison Ford (star of some of the awesome-ist films ever) and not Hollywood Legend Josh Hartnett (actually the star of one of my least favourite films of all time - I won't say what it is but I am anxious to revisit it and do it on here) and reading critical ratings for the film it seems to have bad marks but not quite bad enough (the 30% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes seem to suggest some critics liked it - Roger Ebert liked it apparently), all I can say is that I'm prepared to give this film a chance...

For starters, I can't help but think before multiple rewrites there was a much sharper film in there, but that's just a guess maybe it was like this all along - as a film it had fleeting shining moments but ultimately didn't do too much for me. I did like the idea initially of two cops - both moonlighting in different professions, one as a real estate broker (Harrison Ford) and the other a yoga teacher/wannabe actor (Josh Hartnett), and the two are assigned to investigate a night club shooting involving a rap group.

Ford and Hartnett don't have too bad chemistry if I'm honest and there are times the film threatens to take off, but as an action-comedy it's rarely that funny, and the action is... okay, Isaiah Washington and Dwight Yoakam made decent villains though I think they deserved a better movie around them.

Overall, it's not awful it's just most of the time largely uninspired, maybe if they went the approach of biting satire on Hollywood and rap music we could have had something but alas this is all we get.