Because Everybody Else Has One

I hate to dump on personal, independent flicks, I really do, but... This review is also up at Channel 24 . What it's about Set in Australia after a giant economic collapse, the Rover tells the story of a loner who embarks on a mission to reclaim the car that is stolen from him with the help of the brother of one of the thieves. What we thought The Rover is the eagerly awaited follow-up to David Michod's breakthrough film, Animal Kingdom, and being very much aimed at art house crowds, it has, not surprisingly, been on the receiving end of a number of very positive reviews. Personally though, I was bored senseless by it. The film's admirers point to the film's use of the desolate Australian planes as the perfect representation of a desolate future, while at the same time applauding the film's bare-bones minimalism that places atmosphere and mood over plot and characterization. Then, of course, there's also the matter of the very strong p...

Oh yeah, a couple of things also came out this past weekend. This is the first. You know, it's funny that in the same weekend I gave the new Spider-man a bit of grief for retelling its hero's origin story, I am confronted with a film that truly puts Spidey's "unoriginality" in perspective. Lockout is   far from a terrible film but never before has the phrase "based on an original idea by Luc Besson" been so hilariously ironic. Besson has already given us Die Hard in the future with the admittedly terrific The Fifth Element and now he's giving us what is essentially Con Air in space, with a bit of Demolition Man and Attack on Pelham 1 2 3 thrown in for good measure. This is especially brilliant because Con Air was always basically just Die Hard on a jet plane in the first place. "Derivative" doesn't even begin to describe Lockout . See if you can guess where this plot goes: In the not too distant future, the most ruthless c...