New Movie Reviews

MAINSTREAM 4 ‘Domino’ thrills, shocks viewers

By CHISATO KANEGAE

Daily Titan Staff

Domino Harvey, 35, was found presumed dead in her home in West Hollywood in June 2005.

Wearing an electric monitor on her ankle, Harvey died of an overdose from extremely potent painkillers. Harvey had been under house arrest on a federal narcotics distribution charge.

Rewinding before she died, the new fi lm, “Domino” picks up the dangerous life of Domino Harvey – a woman who always lived on the edge.

Director Tony Scott, a close friend of Harvey, looks into her life and provides a movie for those seeking something new and edgy.

Keira Knightley stars as the Ford Agency model-turned-bounty hunter in New Line Cinema’s release. Based on the real life female bounty hunter, the fi lm follows Domino and others as they embark on dangerous missions.

The plot revolves around a mission that didn’t go as planned. Throughout the movie, Domino is interrogated by Taryn Miles (Lucy Liu), a criminal psychologist. Domino must tell all if she doesn’t want to be locked up.

Early in the fi lm, the audience gets a glimpse into Domino’s past. Her history reveals her beliefs and her reasons for choosing a dangerous life.

She meets her boss Ed Mosbey (Mickey Rourke) at a bounty hunter lecture and proves she has what it takes for the job when she pulls a few strings and helps Mosbey and Choco (Edgar Ramirez) catch a man evading arrest.

However, the main plot revolves around a stolen security armored vehicle carrying $10 million. The three bounty hunters and their driver Alf (Rizwan Abbasi), an Afghan explosives master, are sent to retrieve the money and catch the thieves.

To make things diffi cult, a TV crew follows the bounty hunters around as a part of a reality show. An all star cast, including Christopher Walken, Mark Heiss and Mena Suvari, plays the crew trailing the bounty hunters.

Lateesha Rodriguez (Mo’Nique) adds moments of comic relief to the intense fi lm.

The fi lm takes the audience through a piece of Domino Harvey’s life. Harsh lighting, abrupt camera movements and vivid colors make “Domino” a unique and exciting fi lm.

The fi lm shows Knightley immersed in a completely different character than she’s played before, and her performance is one to watch.

Story, plot lost in ‘The Fog’

By VALERIE SWAYNE

Daily Titan Staff

In a picturesque coastal community, residents prepare to honor their town’s founding fathers. Little do they realize, a thick blanket of mist is about to come upon them and wreck havoc on the festivities.

This is the basic premise of “The Fog,” a remake of the 1980 original by horror master, John Carpenter.

Nick Castle (Tom Welling) is a modest captain of the Seagrass who, with his buddy Spooner (DeRay David), rents out his boat for tourists to fi sh.

The movie subtly showcases Welling’s sex appeal, displaying his bare chest in one scene as he admits to fooling around with local radio deejay Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair) while his girlfriend, Elizabeth Williams (Maggie Grace), has been away.

This point is introduced but left conveniently unexplained for no other reason than to emphasize his character’s sexual prowess. When Williams unexpectedly returns to town, infi delity is left out in favor of

the couple’s steamy shower scene and snuggling in bed.

Blair, who plays a single mom, plows through her role with the same gusto she showed in “Hellboy.” She barely can act as she pretends to show fear and merely screams on cue.

Although normally hilarious in stand-up performances, Davis’ jokes fall fl at in the movie’s half-hearted attempt to provide comic relief. He has zero chemistry with Welling.

When Spooner and Nick return from fi shing one day, the ship’s anchor accidentally unearths a buried bundle of antiques from the ocean fl oor. The mementos wash up on shore and mysterious ancient mariner symbols begin to appear as clues beyond the grave. These incidents herald the fog’s arrival and a string of grisly deaths by supernatural forces. Although dramatic, the characters’ demises are inconsistent.

Needless to say, “The Fog’s” seemingly scary trailers pack more of a punch than the entire movie. Besides a handful of jumpy moments, it moves at a predictable pace and wastes time focusing on one-dimensional characters before fi nally piecing together a plot.

The cause of the mist is tied with the history of the town. Told through a series of abrupt fl ashback sequences of the founding members of the town in the 1800s. The consequences of their actions literally come back to haunt their descendants.

The fi rst few scenes from the past are interesting, but begin to feel repetitive after a while.

Flashback Favorite ‘Charlie Brown’s’ Halloween treat

The Fog’s PG-13 rating plays it safe, relying too heavily on uninspired ghost story clichés. The only good things going for the movie are its crisp camerawork, cool special effects, and Welling’s ample pecs.

This mediocre remake obviously lacks the touch of legendary director, Car penter, and makes one wonder if it was worth revisiting. COLUMBIA PICTURES Tom Welling stars in Revolution Studios’ horror/thriller “The Fog,”

Halloween season has once again arrived, and with that comes ghosts, goblins, candy and the Great Pumpkin. Every year since 1966, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” appeared on TV screens across America and viewers have embraced it with open arms.

And what’s not to like? The late Charles Schultz was a wise man who wanted to use this prime opportunity to have a pagan holiday like Halloween be appreciated by those who would usually condemn the festivities.

How did he accomplish this?

He mixed Christmas legends with Halloween festivities to create what is now a modernday classic.

The 22-minute episode began with Linus sitting at a table and writing what appears to be a letter.

However, it isn’t just any

By COURTNEY BETH PUGATCH

Daily Titan Staff

letter, but one addressed to The Great Pumpkin, a mythical and mysterious being that brings toys, gifts and oodles of candy to all the good little girls and boys on Halloween.

Now don’t get me wrong, Linus was a very intelligent kid, if not the most intelligent character in the Peanuts series.

He can recite Bible excerpts at the drop of a hat and is quite savvy when it comes to Christmas traditions.

Viewers are supposed to forget that tiny tidbit and now believe that this same kid also has a twisted misconception regarding Halloween.

Obviously he hasn’t quite fi gured out that on Halloween kids are supposed to dress up in costumes for free candy, instead of freezing outside under a security blanket until 3 a.m., waiting for a non-existent holiday fi gure.

Nonetheless, Charlie Brown has oddly enough fi gured out the purpose of Halloween and, in a peculiar twist of fate, snagged a party invitation from the school’s cool crowd to go trick-or-treating and then enjoy himself at a small party.

He joins his fi ve friends as yet another ghost but has a mishap with the scissors upon cutting the eyeholes out of the sheet.

Not one, two or even fi ve, but nearly 15 holes dot the costume.

His excuse was that he got carried away. Personally, I think he just wanted to be different because his friends were also dressed as ghosts, too.

But soon karma seems to creep up on the Peanuts characters, with each learning his own fate.

At the party, Charlie Brown realizes that the girls simply wanted him there for a model to practice their pumpkin-carving designs, utilizing the back of his bald head as a canvas.

Quite angered, he takes his bag of rocks (apparently he got more tricks than treats) and proceeds to go home to save his sister Sally from wasting her time with Linus in the pumpkin patch.

Sally and Linus spent the evening hanging out under the stars to await the highly anticipated arrival of The Great Pumpkin, who seeks out the most sincere pumpkin patch to visit.

Sally soon sees through Linus’s misconception of Halloween and Christmas, and leaves with Charlie Brown to enjoy what is left of her Halloween. Linus, however, waits on a mythical being who never shows his face.

It was “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” that started the onslaught of other Halloween cartoons such as the Garfi eld Halloween special and one also done by the Family Circus.

In spite of the commercialization of these cartoons on TV, none will take the place of “It’s the Great Pumpkin” because underneath the silly plotline lies a story with heart and a good message: Believe what you want and enjoy the holiday in any way you see fi t.