Jumper
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/jumper/
We begin with a film whose title makes me think of woolly sweaters - alas, not the subject matter of the movie it seems. Based on the 1992 SF novel by Steven Gould, ‘Jumper’ is the story of a young man who finds he has the ability to teleport anywhere, a nice trick you’ll agree, but this genetic anomlay is not unique just to him - there are and have been many such gifted people, and for thousands of years a war has been fought between ‘Jumpers’ and those who wish to stop them from becoming too powerful….and jumping around alot, or something.
So that’s the premise out of the way; the movie is directed by Doug Liman and stars Samuel L. Jackson and Hayden Christensen, last seen waving lightsabers at each other in the Star Wars prequels.
The trailer opens with our gifted protagonist, David, who is either really bored or really lazy, as he can’t seem to walk from one side of the kitchen to the other without teleporting. We then see him visiting the usual tourist attractions, Big Ben, The Coloseum, The Sphinx and so on.
David also finds out that he isn’t the only person on the planet who can teleport, and we meet a renegade ‘Jumper’ played by Jamie Bell who’s up to all manner of mischief. We’re also introduced to the shady ‘Paladin’ organisation headed up by the white-haired-but-still-somehow-damn-cool-looking Samuel L. Jackson - he’s been keeping tabs on the teleporters and has devised snazzy methods to subdue them should they resist.
There are some nice visuals in the trailer, including a double-decker bus materialising from nowhere and hurtling through the desert for example, and the action is handled well, but we’ll have to see if the film has anything new to offer in the way of action or story.
The Mist
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/weinstein/themist/
Stephen King’s horror novella ‘The Mist’ gets the inevitable hollywood treatment and it’s thanks to the screenwriting and directing of Frank Darabont, who’s tackled King territory before with ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Green Mile’.
This particular horror story has a small town in Maine (no surprise there) being suddenly overrun by an unnatural mist after a freak violent thunderstorm, this strange weather conceals terrifying and otherworldly monstrosities within it - the deadly vapor may also be linked to a nearby military base conducting top-secret experiments too.
In the aftermath of the storm the trailer shows families trying to rebuild their homes and comfort each other, which usually means visiting the local supermarket and having a good chat. Everything is peachy until the titular mist rolls in and the shoppers soon find themselves trapped. Cue the swarms of CG monsters and beasties. There’s also trouble inside the place with the religious nut who wants to sacrifice everyone but herself, the foolhardy guy who wants to tie himself to a rope and be a hero (guess what happens to him), and the military idiots who’ve been messing with those ‘other dimensions’.
Still, its got Tom Jane in it and Frank Darabont did give us The Shawshank Redemption, so we’ll reserve judgment.
Valkyrie
Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/valkyrie/
Finally we have ‘Valkyrie’, a film directed by Bryan Singer, based on the true plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The film stars Tom Cruise as Colonel von Stauffenberg, a german officer who helps to conceive ‘Operation Valkyrie’ - a complex contingency plan originally approved by Hitler himself, which would put in place a shadow government in the event of the Führer’s death - a death that Stauffenberg and a group of german officers feel is imminently necessary to not only save Germany from Hitler, but to make peace with the rest of the world.
The film also stars Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp and Eddie Izzard - not a bad line-up of talent.
The trailer has Stauffenberg returning home from Africa after being severely injured in battle - losing his eye, right hand and injuring his left hand in Tunisia. His return also hints at the beginnings of the assassinaton plot and Stauffenberg’s introduction into the German Resistence, where he meets Henning von Tresckow (Brannagh), the chief architect of the planned coup, and looks to find others sympathetic to their cause; the plan becomes more and more complex, and with so much pressure and danger involved it’s only a matter of time before it begins to unravel.
The plus side this historical thriller is the quality of the actors in it and the way that Bryan Singer handles the material, having touched upon Nazi’s and World War II themes in X-Men and Apt Pupil and done so with sensitivity - the only forseeable problem could be the very ‘assertive’ acting style of Tom Cruise, which would conflict with the layered and nuanced plotting of the characters and story.
Mo Ali was born in a haunted hospital and has exceeded all expectations and kept breathing.
A digital artist, poet and writer, he needs to find some paid work before the inevitable apocalypse. To make matters worse he lives in Berkshire.