Review of Shooting Gallery (2005) by Julien C — 17 Jan 2006

[b]The Transporter[/b] - I like a bit of unbelievablity with my action movies, its what makes them FUN. I want to believe Riggs and Murtah can ramp a car through a building, drive through office desks, and ramp out the other side. I want to believe that young Indiana Jones can drop off the bottom of a moving train and not get hurt. This film is full of those items. It pushes the line of cheese, but doesn't cross over it fully, and I dig it. Good fight scenes too.

[b]The Transporter 2[/b] - What the hell happened? I like cheese with my action, but come ON. This is rediculous. And repeated fight scene actions? Blech. Okay, he's slippery, we get it. What a let down.

[b]Shooting Gallery[/b] - Surprisingly not too bad. I was into the movie, even if it focused to much on pool hall slang, and not enough on plot. At any rate, an interesting film. I'll probably pick it up when it hits the five dollar bin. 6.5/10.

[b]Into The Blue[/b] - I imagine the pitch for this movie when something like this:

Writer: "Okay, here's the story. We got Jessica Alba and Paul Walker, and they both are divers in the Bahamas. One day they're out diving with some friends when...".

Studio: "Wait. Alba and Walker and they're both divers? You mean we'll have Walker with his shirt off and Alba in a bikini the whole movie?".

Writer: "...".

Studio: "...".

Writer: "Yes.".

Studio: "I'll take it.".

Writer: "So anyways, one day they're diving and...".

Studio: "Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. I don't need to hear the details. Deal!".

[b]2046[/b] - Well this was quite a disappointment. Half of it was brilliantly directed, and the camera work is incredible. The story is good, if even a tad confusing. But every now and then, he throws in the art-film-school-student trash, and it totally removes any emotion I had for the scene! Why would he do that?! Man, it pissed me off so bad. I need to watch it again, but for now, I'm torn between brilliantly directed film, and film-school-student-masterbatory-celluloid-waster. Score subject to change...