Pretty Predictable...Imagine That

In Imagine That, Eddie Murphy stars as a successful financial executive who has more time for his blackberry than his seven-year-old daughter (Yara Shahidi). When he has a crisis of confidence and his career starts going down the drain, however, he finds the solution to all his problems in his daughter’s imaginary world.

Eddie Murphy's latest is exactly what everyone expects it to be; cliché and predictable, but in Imagine That, a family comedy about a workaholic Dad who finds that fatherhood is as rewarding as finance, it reminded me of how funny Eddie Murphy is without a fat suit or flatulence gags. Murphy is the buttoned-down Evan, a Denver securities analyst so preoccupied at the firm that he forgets to pick up Olivia, his 6-year-old daughter, on custody days. Yara Shahidi, wide-eyed and adorable, is Olivia. She brings out in Murphy what's been missing from films such as Norbit - spontaneous play. Shahidi's and Murphy's scenes together have such warmth, tenderness, and joy that they elevate this cookie-cutter comedy into homemade fun. Evan has two problems. One: Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church), his Native American colleague, is aiming to steal his clients. Two: Olivia, upset by the estrangement of her parents, will not surrender her security blanket at school, where she talks more with her imaginary friends than her real ones. Technically, it’s not that Evan is a bad father; he simply has other priorities than his 7-year-old daughter Olivia, played by newcomer Yara Shahidi (and, for that matter his estranged wife). Priorities like his Blackberry. And his stock portfolios. Befuddled by the responsibilities of fatherhood, Evan ignores Olivia, leaving her to be entertained by her security blanket and her imaginary friends. But when Olivia begins to tell Evan that her imaginary friends have some very strong opinions on which stocks he should buy and sell — opinions that turn out to be spectacularly correct and make Evan a superstar at work where he is being considered as the boss’s successor — Daddy suddenly loves playing make-believe. But is Evan’s sudden interest in Olivia one of paternal esteem or base profit motivation? Imagine That is the most enjoyable film Eddie Murphy has made in years and is certainly the best of his middling, family-friendly films. 

It’s been fascinating over the past few decades watching one of the country’s most foul-mouthed comedians morph into a kid-friendly standard bearer. Imagine That allows Murphy to play to his comic strengths without crossing the line into obnoxiousness. He sings and prances and makes funny faces throughout the film, as Evan’s apartment is transformed into a magical wood filled with princesses and fire-breathing dragons. Anyone who has ever played with children will relate. (Refreshingly, Imagine That forces its audience to do just that — imagine. There is no CGI trickery here. Olivia’s imaginary friends are, well, invisible.) In this gentle fantasy from director Karey Kirkpatrick (who wrote the screenplay for the recent Charlotte's Web), it may be that Olivia's imaginary friends are crack stock analysts. And that her security blanket is a "securities blanket" - a magic cloth accurately predicting market outcomes. Thankfully, the fantasy elements are implicit rather than explicit; the movie is not an inventory of special effects, like the recent Bedtime Stories. Thus the audience, like Evan, accepts what Olivia says on faith. Imagine That and its young female star have something in common: they are both adorable. The daddy/daughter sequences are wonderful, particularly a scene in which Evan teaches Olivia how to sing without really singing. The film works the best, produces the most laughs and tugs at our heartstrings the hardest when Murphy is alone with Shahidi engaging in delirious horseplay. The innocent, delectable girl more than holds her own beside Murphy’s crazy antics, giving a performance that is equally funny and enduring. She is an absolute delight without ever being cloying or excessively sweet. Much humor also comes from Thomas Haden Church, who plays Johnny Whitefeather, Evan’s chief rival at work, whose faux-Native American mumbo jumbo is a smokescreen for his ruthless competitive streak. True, the film’s feel-good, Beatles-saturated revelations are all-too-familiar — a workaholic dad who doesn’t spend enough time with his kid; the conundrum of choosing between a critical business meeting and a school production — but Imagine That builds such goodwill through its undemandingly pleasant fantasy and the charming, comic abilities of its stars, that much will be forgiven. This gets a 3 on my "Go See" scale. It's not the best out there right now, but Murphy and Shahidi make this what it is: cute and entertaining to watch.

A Child Saves Eddie Murphy's Movie. Imagine That

Family comedies are a fan favorite, and Hollywood is never in short supply of what they think we want to see, and every once in awhile we get good movies, like "Up" that are a pleasure to watch for the entire family, and sometimes we get movies like "Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins" that are not worth the time of day. What we get in between are movies like "Imagine That" a family friendly movie that presents equal doses of immaturity and seriousness, that help to bridge the gaps in the plot for everyone.

Focused, driven, and always in control, Evan Danielson (Eddie Murphy) is a financial genius, who is so organized that his notes have notes. His one job is to make his several dozen rich clients even more money. He does this very well. This doesn't leave much time for his seven-year-old daughter Olivia (Yara Shahidi), who is a socially detached child, dependent on her security blanket nicked named the goo gaa, she won't go anywhere without it in her clutches. This blanket is her doorway to an imaginary world of princesses and fire breathing dragons.

When Olivia's mother (Nicole Ari Parker) asks Evan to take care of her for a week, things get out of hand, Evan is starting to feel like he is losing out, he now has some competition. Whitefeather (Thomas Haden Church) is gaining power and favor with the boss, (Ronny Cox). Whitefeather claims to be Native American but looks so much like a con man that it's no surprise when it's revealed later in the movie that he has little to no Native American blood in his ancestry. The day comes when Olivia is left alone in Evans office and draws on his work notes, she tells him that the princesses tell her that some of the companies Evan is looking at will marry other companies, that others will have their pants pulled down and that others will be cry babies and go running to their mommy. After his meeting with the clients and his boss where Evan says look at my new crazy ideas, Evan goes back to his office fearing he is about to be fired, when the boss calls him into his office Evan finds out that two of the companies in his notes did in fact merge, that one had dirty secrets exposed and one of the companies who got exposed cried set up and went and hid behind their parent company.

Evan now believes what his daughters imaginary friends are telling them now, he gets Olivia to get them to talk about many companies that Evan is looking at, some he tells his clients to avoid for many reasons, some he tells his clients to get into, all on the whim of his daughters princess friends. Evan starts to get deeper and deeper into his daughters world, when he gets the chance of a lifetime, to run the portfolio of one of the firms biggest clients, (Martin Sheen) he must outfox Whitefeather. The one problem is that Evan has gotten so comfortable with the goo gaa that he runs to find Olivia who is at a sleepover, he breaks in the house and tries to steal the blanket, is caught and is thrown out, when he screams that he needs the goo gaa his friend slams the door. After Evan goes to talk to Olivia at home she hands him the blanket and tells him she would prefer he not come to hear her sing, he tells her that if that's what she wants he wont, his real reason is that he has the meeting with his biggest client the next morning.

When Evan finally understands that it is Olivia that matters most to him, he walks out of the meeting and goes to the Chilton School where she is going to sing, he comes dressed as a king, because he had promised her to play dress up and never found the time. He of course walked out of the meeting leaving behind his perspective that the client looks over, after the performance Evan comes out to find the client waiting for him, this is of expected the movie is so cliche filled that you will see the dilemma that Evan will face almost immediately. That's not to say this movie isn't worth watching because it is, the whole family will enjoy this one, it is the performance of Yara Shahidi that saves this entire film, she is so cute to watch and at times you will find yourself saying awww.

I give Imagine That a 3 and on my avoidance scale a 0, this is the one film that you can take your children to see and not worry about the more adult situations that seem to be so popular in family themed movies today.

Imagine That is rated PG for some Mild Language and Brief Questionable Behavior

Running time is 1 hr. 47 mins.

Away We Go To Find Where We Belong

Away We Go is a contemporary comedy directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes from an original screenplay by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The movie follows the journey of an expectant couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph), as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family.

Away We Go is a hipster's wet dream: An eccentric young couple travel cross-country in their beat-up car, trying to find a new place to call "home." They do battle with ghoulish grown-ups who try to crush their whimsical spirits, while meaningful acoustic rock punctuates their moments of reflection. Pregnant and panicked, Verona (Rudolph) asks her boyfriend Bert (Krasinski), "Are we fuckups?" Bert, an insurance salesmen with chunky glasses and a buoyant sense of quirk, replies with an emphatic, "No!" See, Burt and Verona may be screwups, but it doesn't matter because everyone else around this sensitive couple is way more effed up. And aren't we all? The two wander dreamily between cities, visiting friends and looking for the right place to raise their unborn. The sojourn is, of course, much more existential than geographic. The pregnancy becomes a referendum on their ramshackle existence and ability to raise a happy child if they themselves are just unhappy, well, children. The pace is open and airy, and the chemistry between the couple gives the story a warm glow. But screenwriters Dave Eggers and Vendela Vita relish, too much, in looking down on others who rightfully deserve scorn: Allison Janney's a burnt-to-a-crisp, soused-in-gin Tucson mom who humiliates her children, and Maggie Gyllenhaal nearly throws the movie off its graceful axis with an explosive portrayal of a New Age mom gone bad. In their reactions to offbeat behavior and unanticipated situations, they come across like a real-life couple, even people we might know. The notions of what it takes to raise a family and what constitutes a happy upbringing are explored in subtle and intriguing ways as the pair visit friends and relatives. Should they settle in Phoenix near Lily (Janney), Verona's brashly honest colleague? Or perhaps they'd be better off in a Wisconsin college town near LN (Gyllenhaal), Burt's childhood friend with a child-rearing style that is a weird blend of rigid and politically correct? In Montreal they visit college friends with an eclectic and happy family, and things seem to be crystallizing. But they are called away on a family matter that makes them delve deeper into complicated feelings. Away We Go is an exploratory and occasionally bittersweet trek that takes unexpected turns and winds up in an emotionally satisfying place.

Fortunately, Krasinki is able to anchor the movie with a limber, melancholy performance—and doesn't draw too heavily from his overflowing reservoir of nice-guy charm. And though this may be a common story about two mixed-up kids just trying to find their way in this no-good world, it has a unique and honest quality that's hard to find at the movies today. Away We Go is a movie with memorable and engaging performances. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are one of the most appealing and believable screen couples to star in a romantic comedy. Not only do they project terrific chemistry, but they adeptly switch between broad comedy and poignancy, sometimes in the same scene. This is even more noteworthy because neither has much film experience, having both made their names in television comedies —The Office in Krasinski's case and Saturday Night Live for Rudolph. Mendes deserves credit for choosing them as leads, and also for the quirky supporting cast. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Allison Janney give hilarious performances in roles that are extreme yet familiar. Strong performances in this dramedy. This is one that I highly recommend seeing. 4 on my "Go See" scale.

Finding Our Place Starts With A Road Trip In Away We Go

The Hollywood version of the road trip usually involves a few stop overs along the way, we have the love story road trip we have the comedic road trip and we also sometimes get the combination of the two. "Away We Go" is the new movie from Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes, from the original screenplay by Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida, and featuring music by Alexi Murdoch. The movie is about Exploring the twists and turns in one couple’s journey across contemporary America. Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Burt (John Krasinski) are an unmarried couple in their thirties who are expecting their first child. Living in Denver to be near Burt's parents, the pair are excited to be telling Jerry (Jeff Daniels) and Gloria (Catherine O'Hara) about the Verona's pending birth. Unfortunately they have news of their own, they are moving to Budapest one month before the baby is due and going to stay there for two years.

Despondent the couple decide that they should also look for the perfect place to live. The trip will take them through Arizona, The couple embarks on an ambitious itinerary to visit friends and family, and to evaluate cities to raise their child. The first stop on the grand tour is Phoenix, where the duo spends a day at the dog races with Verona’s irrepressible former colleague Lily (Allison Janney) and her family, that includes her husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan) and two children Taylor (Conor Carroll) and Ashley (Samantha Pryor). This is one of the funnier scenes in the movie, Janney brings a light comedic touch to a very moving picture, she has some of the funnier lines in the whole movie. Her one line about going butch on us had me laughing so hard i almost cried.

Then it’s on to Tucson, and a visit to the lovely Grace (Carmen Ejogo), Verona’s sister. A touching intimate conversation with her sister, who is her lone living relative, gives Verona a renewed perspective on life, she has quietly held in all her pain over the death of her parents, Grace tells Verona that she must not be afraid to live her life and be happy. This visit is one of the movies most tender aspects, the couple try to fly to their next destination and are told that no pregnant mother over so many months can board the plane, Verona tries to tell them that she is only six months but is not believed. The couple are forced to take the train to Wisconsin for their next stopover. Burt's so called cousin is a college professor and has changed her name to LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal) when they go to her office she is breast feeding her (too old) child Wolfie (Bailey Harkins). She invites the couple to her home for dinner. They bring a gift, a baby stroller that LN says to leave on the porch, she is so hip that she can't see pushing her child away, LN's partner Roderick (Josh Hamilton) elaborate on their all too insane ideas for raising children and running a household.

Burt and Verona run from the house and go on to their next destination, Montreal and a sweeter more gentler welcome from their former college classmates Tom (Chris Messina) and Munch (Melanie Lynskey). Even though their house is full of children, most of them adopted. A night out for the four old friends provides a forced reminder of how much it takes to sustain a relationship and a family, their trip to a bar leads to Munch doing a form of pole dancing in front of a cheering crowd. Burt gets an emergency phone call from his brother Courtney (Paul Schneider), a death in the family has occurred and this forces Burt to side track the trip to go to Miami. Burt and Verona decide that they have known of the perfect place to raise a family all along, the one place that Verona knows so personally, the home of her deceased parents. Here she will make a home where she will bring the her children up.

I give Away We Go a 4 and on my avoidance scale a 0, this is a wonderfully crafted motion picture, the type of film that families as a whole can enjoy, the humor may be a little hard for some younger children but in whole this is one of the better independent films this year. it is light and moving, touching and whimsical all at the same time.

Away We Go is rated R for Language and some Sexual Content

Running time is 1 hr. 37 mins.

From Summer To Autumn

In (500) Days Of Summer, Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a greeting-card writer and hopeless romantic, is caught completely off-guard when his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), suddenly dumps him. He reflects back on their 500 days together to try to figure out where their love affair went sour, and in so doing, Tom rediscovers his true passions in life.

Rethinking romantic-comedy conventions with a sharp eye and a soft heart, 500 Days Of Summer is an immensely pleasurable love story about two young people with a deep connection but an uncertain future. Making his feature debut, director Marc Webb guides Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel through a chronologically-scrambled narrative which traces the joys and sorrows of two appealing, well-drawn characters. 500 Days of Summer looks like a certain counter-programming hit during the summer, with breakout potential a definite possibility. Bored greeting-card employee Tom (Gordon-Levitt) instantly falls for Summer (Deschanel), the company’s latest employee. Flipping back and forth between key moments in the next 500 days, the film shows how Tom tries to win Summer’s heart, despite her initial warning that she’s not looking for a serious relationship. Armed with a breezy though substantive script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, 500 Days Of Summer is that rare mainstream romantic comedy which tries unusual storytelling techniques without getting bogged-down in its own cleverness. Beyond the conceit of rewinding and fast-forwarding through time, director Mike Webb (known primarily as a music-video director) incorporates an omnipotent narrator (voiced by Richard McGonagle), split-screens to contrast Tom’s expectations with the actual reality of the situation, and a very amusing impromptu musical-dance number. While it doesn’t have the same artistic heft as Woody Allen’s brilliant Annie Hall, 500 Days Of Summer does share with that melancholy film a desire to use unconventional narrative techniques to aggressively examine the mysteries of the human heart, offering fresh insights on the typical boy-meets-girl scenario. Though the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, 500 Days Of Summer is an intelligent probing of the difficulties of anyone’s first grownup relationship. Thankfully, Webb displays a light touch with the movie’s more dramatic moments, maintaining an engaging tone throughout. 

The two lead performances are superb. Joseph Gordon-Levitt has emerged as a promising indie-film actor through roles in Brick and The Lookout, but this likeable, sympathetic turn as the insecure Tom promises to introduce him to a much larger audience. Tom could come off as a whiny wimp as he tries to keep Summer in his life, but Gordon-Levitt makes him an intelligent, albeit emotionally-immature young man. Likewise, Zooey Deschanel has a difficult assignment playing the guarded Summer. The actress skilfully reveals her character to be an honest woman who knows what she wants in life - which makes her very real feelings for Tom all the more difficult for her but all the more intriguing for the audience. Deschanel does what she does seemingly without effort, managing to convey Summer's mixed-up messed-upness - she's dark, she's flirtatious, she's frank, coy, ethereal, sexy - with a kind of crazy allure that makes us understand why Tom thinks he's found his one true love. The fact that Summer doesn't feel quite the same way is the crux of the problem. Director Marc Webb gets too gimmicky for his own (and the film's) good: there's a dancing-in-the-streets number, replete with a line of hoofers, a kitschy Hall & Oates tune, and an animated bluebird that comes off more like a TV commercial than a witty illustration of Tom's euphoria. And there are the usual best bro sidekicks: a well-meaning, long-married dullard, and a horny dude who gets sloppy drunk and hasn't had a girlfriend in years. As the title suggests, Tom manages to keep his Summer for less than two years. But it's the kind of relationship that will stay in his head for a lifetime and mine as well. This is a must see. A 4 on my "Go See" scale.

Spend (500) Days With Summer

When true love finds you, it can sometimes be more painful then joyful, that's the premise of "(500) Days Of Summer" an offbeat romantic comedy about a girl, Summer (Zooey Deschanel) who doesn't believe that true love can be found. She has grown up in a single parent household after her parents divorce. And the guy Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who believes that his one true love is just waiting to be found. Tom and Summer both work for the same firm, Tom writes greeting cards and Summer is his bosses assistant. Tom meets Summer one Thursday when all of the employees are in a meeting to discuss the new idea concepts for the upcoming greeting cards. He is immediately taken by her.

When the company has a party Tom gets up the nerve to start talking to Summer, he has tried everything else before hand, he even tries to get her to notice he plays The Smiths on his computer, she had commented to him on the elevator one day, but he was to scared to talk to her. Since all else has failed, Tom's friend McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) tells him this is his chance, that they are going to a karaoke bar for a party, that ALL the employees are going, so Tom goes and with the help of his friend McKenzie strikes up a conversation with Summer. The ensuing days fly by, and Tom finds himself falling in love, Summer tells him over and over again that she wants the relationship to be just casual, Tom says that's all right with him. As time flies by Tom finds himself falling deeper and deeper in love.

Of course things don't last, Summer breaks up with Tom, saying she is the Sid Vicious to his Nancy in the relationship, Summer still wants to be friends, but Tom finds that too hard, he would rather walk away. Tom tries everything to win Summer back, and at the wedding of a co-worker, Millie (Patricia Belcher) Tom finds himself alone with Summer, they dance and flirt like they were still together, Tom takes this to mean that maybe they are going to get back together, while Summer thinks this means that Tom is finally happy with just being friends. Summer invites Tom to her house one night and we get a split screen image, one side shows Toms idea of what the night will bring while the other shows the nights reality. This idea is quirky but it works in this film, Director Marc Webb brings the two characters to life, the story hangs on the characters ability to make us care for them, we find ourselves rooting for the two, separately and together.

The ending is not what we would expect from the cliche mill we call Hollywood, Tom does get a second chance, but it's not with the one person we would assume it would be, going into this movie, that is what makes this movie worth watching more than anything else, it doesn't have a cliche ending. Summer finds the one thing she was running away from, it just wasn't with Tom. Its refreshing to see a movie that gives you its heart and then goads you into not liking it.

I give (500) days of summer a 4 and on my avoidance scale a 0, this movie opens in limited run in July, go and see this movie, it is well worth the time, all of the blockbusters will still be playing and to be honest this one will be better than ALL of the summer blow em up movies. you will enjoy this little movie, it is a pleasure to watch, and the two stars make the story work, they are personable and we care for them right away, they have the kind of lives we are so close to having ourselves.

(500) days of summer is rated PG-13 for Sexual Material and Language

Running time is 1 hr. 35 mins.

Travolta Is Awesome As A Bad Guy!

In The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, 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. As the tension mounts beneath his feet, Garber employs his vast knowledge of the subway system in a battle to outwit Ryder and save the hostages. But there's one riddle Garber can't solve: even if the thieves get the money, how can they possibly escape?

Predictably ratcheted up a few notches from the original 1974 film and cloaked in contemporary sociological relevance, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an efficiently reworked version of a tense, ticking-clock suspense story. More than anything a fascinating portrait of how much New York has changed in 35 years, the film delivers the goods in excitement and big-star charisma, with the contrasting low-key and cranked-up acting styles of Denzel Washington and John Travolta playing off one another nicely. Comparatively low-tech thriller looks to hijack solid-to-strong returns for Sony before the tentpoles take over most of the nation's screens. First adaptation of John Godey's novel is a minor classic in the early-'70s school of gritty Gotham crime yarns. Directed by Joseph Sargent and written by Peter Stone, it pitted Walter Matthau's sardonic subway dispatcher against Robert Shaw's cold-blooded mercenary as the latter commandeered a subway train and promised to start killing one hostage per minute unless $1 million in cash was delivered within an hour.  An armed gang of four, led by the thuggish-looking Ryder (Travolta), efficiently takes over the lead car of a downtown 6 train, shoots a plainclothes cop and, with 18 hostages cowering at gunpoint, gives the city 60 minutes to hand over -- inflation well taken into account -- $10 million. Finding this crisis in his lap is dispatcher Walter Garber (Washington), who insists to Ryder that he's "just a guy," a cog in the city bureaucracy with no power to deal with a high-stakes hostage situation. But in between issuing blunt demands and threats, Ryder takes an apparent liking to the regular Joe, pressing him about his life and, in the process, revealing scraps of useful information about himself. Helgeland's script then pushes into directions Stone's did not, establishing personal links between the hijacker and his opposite number. But the film also is interested in a bigger picture; a dark episode in Garber's career is pushed front and center, forcing a facile but still provoking contrast concerning degrees, gravity and justifiability of different types of criminality, from high to low, white-collar to blue-collar, municipal to private. Pressed any further, the thematic implications would become pretentious but, as is, the elaboration grafts a little meat onto generic characters. With the minutes quickly counting down, Garber is briefly replaced at the microphone by a professional hostage negotiator (John Turturro); the mayor (James Gandolfini, very good) moans and groans while dashing about town; hundreds of cops are deployed; and, with another killing, Ryder makes it deadly clear he's not kidding. Final act has been contrived to get Garber out of his antiseptic office and down into the subway tunnel, where he can morph into something resembling an action hero. Washington's notably increased bulk makes it unlikely he could run as fast and far as he must here, but the actor's time-tested skill at quietly setting the bait with masterful underplaying and making it all pay off down the line prevails once again. As for Travolta, his over-the-top early scenes create some concern. But as Ryder settles into his verbal sparring with Garber, the characterization becomes more modulated, and the actor's obviously delight with his role becomes contagious. Shaw gave real, understated gravity to his version of the part and remains the strongest element of the original film, but Travolta takes the baddie in an entirely different direction and does a great job. Ryder's three cohorts should have been given a few lines with which to individualize themselves, while a few of the hostage characters have their moments. Location work provides plenty of atmosphere, as do the extensive scenes below ground.

The contrast between the old and new pictures is less interesting as a comparison of styles -- with Tony Scott, you know what you're going to get in terms of heavily worked images and blaring soundtrack -- than as one of society. In the early '70s, as reflected in "Pelham," the city looked grungy to the point of dilapidation, verging on political meltdown (the portrait of a sickly mayor who just wants to hide in bed is jaw-dropping) and dominated ethnically by Jews and Italians. This time around, the transit system's central control HQ is as high-tech as a NASA command post, local authorities are tight knots of anxious professionalism and the population is a rainbow coalition come to fruition. Communication is also a whole lot better -- even if there's still no wireless service on the subway -- and the casual racism and sexism of some of the characters in the original are mostly gone. Compact story and high-pressure situation would seem to make this an all but fool-proof thriller concept, and Scott messes up only in his execution of a climactic stretch in which Ryder sends the subway car loose on a high-speed run toward Coney Island. By artificially jimmying the film speed, indulging in step-framing and his other visual tricks, the director in fact decreases the terrifying sense of speed that smart editing of real-time cinematography can provide. This movie works on so many levels. The Travolta and Washington back and forth scenes are done flawlessly in the end. I have to say that after seeing this remake, it reassured me that SOME movies can be improved by going this route. A hefty 4 on my "Go See" scale.