Entertainment
The Sanford Herald / Friday, April 2, 2010 / 11A
FILM REVIEW
FILM REVIEW
The worst of both worlds “T
‘Clash of the Titans’ updates ‘80s camp
he Last Song,� the second Nicholas Sparks’ film this year, unfolds much like those before it. Girl — Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) — meets boy — Will (Liam Hemsworth) — along a Southern shoreline (Georgia subs for Wrightsville Beach); their love perseveres against a backdrop of family drama; and, of course, the sound of sniffles will reverberate throughout the theater before the closing credits roll. In Sparks’ cockeyed alternate universe, Ronnie is a brooding teen who resents her father, Steve (Greg Kinnear), for her parents’ divorce and rebels by barely graduating from high school and intentionally throwing her SAT, yet somehow gets offered admittance to Julliard for piano skills she stopped honing years ago. While spending the summer with her dad and her precocious little brother (Bobby Coleman), she treads the beach wearing a pout and black leather boots, although her midriff becomes increasingly bare as her summer fling with Will progresses. Likewise, when Will isn’t working on his pecs or beach volleyball skills, he’s working as a grease monkey in a car repair
Neil Morris The Reel Deal To access movie reviews by Neil Morris, log on to marqueemarquis.com. You also may e-mail Morris at enm007@marqueemarquis.com.
“The Last Song� Grade: C – Director: Julie Anne Robinson Starring: Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, Liam Hemsworth, Bobby Coleman, and Kelly Preston MPAA Rating: PG Running Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Theaters: Spring Lane Cinemas in Sanford; Sand Hills Cinemas in Southern Pines; Crossroads 20 in Cary
shop, volunteering for a local aquarium, and laboring over whether to attend Columbia or Vanderbilt in the fall. Oh, did I mention his parents are millionaires who live on a sprawling, moss-draped plantation? Repeated near-breakups are interrupted by half-written subplots
AP photo
In this film publicity image released by Disney, Liam Hemsworth, left, and Miley Cyrus are shown in a scene from “The Last Song.� involving Ronnie and Steve’s daddy-daughter issues, a troubled local girl who frames Ronnie for shoplifting, a nowhere mystery involving a church burning, and the effort to save a nest of sea turtle eggs. In other words, it’s a lot of hooey marking time until the de rigueur tear jerking climax. Although all equally schmaltzy, Sparks’ previous film adaptations have made due thanks to competent casting and direction. Not so here, where Hemsworth’s purpose seems only to make Cyrus’ agonizing, two-note acting appear passable by comparison
— you know you’re in trouble when Kinnear provides the cast’s bona fides. And, director Julie Anne Robinson arrives to her first feature film on the heels of a career spent hopscotching episodic TV gigs. However, the ultimate blame lies with Sparks, whose infamous reader/ audience manipulation has metastasized to the point that his reputation as a simple sentimentalist is slowly being supplanted for that of an emotional sadist. Unfortunately, it is only the audience that suffers. “The Last Song� is just the same old refrain presented by performers who can’t carry the tune.
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By JAKE COYLE AP Entertainment Writer
Who wants to be a god, anyway? That’s the principle twist inserted into the new “Clash of the Titans,� a remake of the sometimes fondly recalled, technologically dated 1981 film about the fury of the gods of Mount Olympus and the rise of the young, earthly demigod Perseus. This time, Perseus (Sam Worthington) bears a distaste for his godlike nature: He just wants to be a regular dude and do normal guy stuff — like ride his winged horse Pegasus on the beach. It’s perhaps a fitting updating of the film for an era marked by distrust for political leaders and Internet-empowered masses. Now, even the gods are spurned in their own movie: Deity is so out. On Mount Olympus, that golden round table in the clouds, Zeus (Liam Neeson, in the part played by Laurence Olivier in the original) is angry at an ungrateful mankind and lets loose his brother Hades (Ralph Fiennes) to destroy the city of Argos. As a new citizen of Argos, Perseus (the son of Zeus) doesn’t much like this. He embarks on the familiar journey (particularly familiar for those who saw the recent, bouncier teen version
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“Percy Jackson & the Olympians�) in defeating a number of mythical creatures, including a serpentine Medusa and the sea monster Kraken — which, rest assured, is eventually released. Directed by Louis Leterrier (2008’s “The Incredible Hulk�), “The Clash of the Titans� will likely lure moviegoers chiefly by its digital effects (which are largely quite good but forgettable) and its promise of 3-D spectacle (which disappoints altogether). Like several blockbusters being released now in the post-�Avatar� environment, “Clash of the Titans� was made in 2-D but converted to 3-D in post-production. Audiences will hardly notice any increased depth. Though this is preferable to the distraction of most 3-D, it’s surely not worth the hike in ticket price. Worthington, the Australian actor who stared in “Avatar,� knows a little something about 3-D. Here, he trades aqua blue-colored skin for an equally artificial bronze spray tan in the mold of “300� torsos. Worthington was largely eclipsed by the surrounding effects of “Avatar�; it’s an interesting irony that few would be able to name the star of the biggest box-office grosser of all-time. In “Titans,� his presence is more explicit but also less substantial. With a crew cut atop his almost perfectly spherical head, Worthington grits his way through the film and does plenty of dramatic leaping while brandishing a sword. But he doesn’t supply the charisma that the movie needs and the whole thing feels like a joyless slog. Fiennes’s appearances provide a jolt. Arriving always with his head curiously fixed within a cloud of swirling black smog, he knows how to make an entrance. His part is surely the best in the movie and he’s clearly having fun. He hisses in a horse whisper: “What could be more beautiful than death?� But that’s not nearly enough to engender the kind of fondness people feel for the original “Clash of the Titans,� campy though it is. “Clash of the Titans,� a Warner Bros. Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality. Running time: 106 minutes. Two stars out of four.
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Showtimes for Showtimes for August 21-27 !PRIL ND !PRIL TH **Clash of the Titans 3D PG13 10:45am 1:05 3:20 5:35 7:50 10:10 **Tyler Perry’s “Why did I Get Married Too� PG-13 11:30am 2:00 5:00 7:30 10:00 The Last Song PG 10:50am 1:00 3:15 5:30 7:45 10:00 **Hot Tub Time Machine R 11:00am 1:10 3:10 5:10 7:10 9:40 **How To Train Your Dragon PG 2D 10:45am 12:45 4:45 7:00 9:15 3D 11:15am 1:15 3:15 4:45 5:15 7:30 9:45 Diary of a Wimpy Kid PG 11:00am 1:00 3:05 5:10 7:15 9:20 The Bounty Hunter PG-13 11:00am 1:10 3:20 5:30 7:40 9:50 Alice In Wonderland 3D PG 10:45am 1:00 3:15 5:30 7:45 10:00 Remember Me PG-13 10:45am 2:50 7:10 Our Family Wedding PG-13 12:55 5:00 9:20 CALL 919.708.5600 FOR DAILY SHOWTIMES
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