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Seen on: February 2, 2010

The players: Director: Pierre Morel, Writer: Adi Hasak, Cast: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak, Richard Durden

Facts of interest: Pierre Morel also directed "Taken."

The plot: A Paris-based agent teams up with a badass U.S. agent to stop a terrorist attack planned on French soil.

Our thoughts: Following his surprise hit “Taken,” Pierre Morel returns to the big screen with “From Paris with Love.” Don’t be fooled by the title though, because this is not a romantic story set in the city of love. On the contrary, this film is an outrageously ridiculous and yet quite entertaining action comedy filled with stupid action, bad dialogue and a totally crazy performance by John Travolta.

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Tuesday

02Feb2010

This week's new movie releases - Feb. 5, 2010

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 3:53PM | By

Opening this week are Lasse Hallström's romantic drama "Dear John" with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, and Pierre Morel's action thriller "From Paris with Love" with John Travolta.

DEAR JOHN (with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried)

Synopsis: The film tells story of John Tyree (Channing Tatum), a young soldier home on leave, and Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried), the idealistic college student he falls in love with during her spring vacation. Over the next seven tumultuous years, the couple is separated by John's increasingly dangerous deployments.

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Tuesday

05Jan2010

New 'From Paris With Love' trailer so-so

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 7:37PM | By

Trailer for Morel's next ain't that cool

Pierre Morel's "Taken" stormed the box office by surprise last year and even brought in some positive reviews. I enjoyed the film as well, even though it ranks as one of the most over-the-top thrillers I've ever seen. Still, it was silly fun to watch.

Now Morel has a new film coming out, and it's titled "From Paris With Love." Sadly, it looks terrible, even though the cast includes John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. A new trailer has popped up online, and you can check it out below.

Based on a script by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, the film centers on an embassy worker who encounters an American secret agent during a risky mission in the French capital. As you can see in the preview, it's all boom and bang.

Boom and bang can be fun, sure, but not when Travolta looks this ridiculous. I'm sure he had tons of fun playing the bad-ass American who kicks everybody's ass and blows shit up with a giant bazooka, but something about this just doesn't feel awesome.

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Friday

12Jun2009

Movie Review: “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3”

Friday, June 12, 2009 at 6:04PM | By

Seen on: June 12, 2009

The players: Director: Tony Scott, Writer: Brian Helgeland, Cast: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Brian Haley

Facts of interest: Remake of Joseph Sargent's 1974 flick of the same title.

The plot: A New York City subway dispatcher is thrust into the middle of a hostage situation on-board a subway train.

Our thoughts: I didn’t exactly love Tony Scott’s “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” remake, but much to the film’s credit, it sure did entertain me for most of its running time. “Pelham” has its flaws, and the central plot could have been a tad more intriguing, but all in all, it qualifies as a decent summer thriller that mostly works.

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Friday

12Jun2009

'The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3' web reviews

Friday, June 12, 2009 at 10:32AM | By

Tony Scott returns to the big screen with a remake of "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Let's find out what some of the Web's critics have to say about the thriller:

• Josh Tyler at CinemaBlend: "Solid performances from Washington and Travolta are wasted on a script that probably wasn’t worth making and a movie that’s definitely not worth seeing."

• Matt Goldberg at Collider: "Of course, Scott does what he always does: hyperactive editing regardless of the appropriate tonality as dictated by the narrative."

• Ron Henriques at LatinoReview: "There are so many directions the story could have taken, all of them better than the final result."

• Cole Abaius at FilmSchoolRejects: "What works about 'Pelham' is that, despite being high concept, there’s a solid focus on the characters that gives us shades of who they are without getting too preachy or attempting to get deeper than it needs to."

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Thursday

11Jun2009

Lame trailer for 'Old Dogs' debuts online

Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 3:01PM | By

Penguins attacking John Travolta and Robin Williams? A gorilla rocking Seth Green? Ladies and gentleman, the end of the world is near. These are signs of another disaster heading our way.

The first trailer for Walt Becker's new comedy "Old Dogs" has just debuted online, and to be honest, it kind of looks like a combination of "Wild Hogs" and Strange Wilderness." In other words, it looks quite aweful.

In the film, Williams and Travolta play two business partners whose lives take a sharp turn when Williams' character finds out he has 7-year-old twins. Oh and by the way, that guy's horrible with kids, so you can imagine what happens next...

The whole thing is a Walt Disney production, but judging by this trailer, it seems this is just the kind of flick you should not take your kids to, unless you want them to be sucked into the realm of unnecessary, absurd filmmaking.

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Monday

08Jun2009

This week's new movie releases - June 12, 2009

Monday, June 8, 2009 at 10:46PM | By

This week, we're only looking at two wide releases: Tony Scott's remake "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" with Denzel Washington and John Travolta; and Karey Kirkpatrick's family film "Imagine That" with Eddie Murphy:

THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3

Synopsis: Denzel Washington stars as New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber, whose ordinary day is thrown into chaos by an audacious crime: the hijacking of a subway train. John Travolta stars as Ryder, the criminal mastermind who, as leader of a highly-armed gang of four, threatens to execute the train's passengers unless a large ransom is paid within one hour.