THE TRIGGER EFFECT (1996)
Starring Kyle MacLachlan (as Matthew), Elizabeth Shue (Annie) and Dermot Mulroney (Joe),
The Trigger Effect is an interesting exploration into social groups, psychology and perhaps racism. I thought there were some major plot holes and the ending just sorta, well, ended, but overall not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.
The premise is a black-out brings out some behaviors in people they never expected. MacLachlan's character is nicely developed as a more timid or meek husband and father who is forced (in his mind, anyway) to take drastic action to secure medication for their child. The downward spiral continues as we see him becoming the person he hated in the opening sequence.
We never learn what caused the black-out; in way, I like this, as we are left 'in the dark' as much as the characters. But, there would probably be SOMEONE with a radio or SOME information as to how long it might last. The mystery I think added to the urgency felt by the characters.
But, the premise of Matthew's slide is a bit far-fetched. First, these two parents are totally wigged out about getting antibiotics for their child's ear infection, which they don't even know she has. They assumed that because she cried for five minutes and they called the doctor (my wife, a pediatrician, LOVES parents like that) for a prescription. When the power is out, the pharmacist does not have Matthew's script (the doctor could not call....the phones are out also) - why does Matthew not just simply GO to the doctor to get a written script?
Also, I thought Matthew and Joe were brothers, but it turns out they were just friends. I think their relationship (and each's with Annie) would have been more interesting/believable as brothers. Just my opinion.
Michael Rooker makes an appearance as a character that I don't think the director ever decided was a good guy or a bad guy. His presence seems included only to highlight Matthew's and his counterpart's (Richard T. Jones as Raymond) respective personalities.
The movie is just getting wound up good when it ends. I like the 94 minute run time (I'm getting a little sick of 2 hour shlog fests that just waste time), but I believe there was more story to tell.
3 of 5
NATIONAL VELVET (1944)
I'd never seen
National Velvet and got it from Netflix because my daughter likes to watch horses. My wife and I both really, really enjoyed this movie. I was actually surprised how much I liked it. Our favorite parts were the interactions between Mr. and Mrs. Brown.
Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) is a 12 year old girl who loves horses (maybe a little more than is healthy) and browbeats everyone around her into getting and training a horse she loves particularly. His name is Pie (a dumb name for a horse, but shows the simplicity of Taylor's character), and Velvet just KNOWS he can win the Grand National Steeple Chase race.
The only thing I did not like much about this film was the pervasive dripping sweetness of Taylor's character. Oh man, was that girl in her own world. But, I guess that was the driving conflict of the story: her innocence vs. the realities of the world.
4.5 out of 5 for a nice, gentle family film, though a bit long.
CARS (2006)
Wow. Pixar hits another home run with this one, in my opinion. I purposefully have not read anything about it, and was surprised to learn the great Lasseter himself directed. Some are saying it's not the best Pixar release, but who cares? CARS is a fun movie with good sight-gags, good jokes (though seemingly aimed more at the adults than the kids than usual) and as usual, stunning visuals.
Pixar will, in my opinion, continue to dominate not only CGI movies but movies in general because they have one solid story department. This one, however, is reminiscent of that Michael J. Fox movie DOC HOLLYWOOD in a lot of respects. I can forgive it, though, since putting that story into a car world is creative in and of itself.
Saw it at the Drive-In in a double feature with The Wild (2006) (see below)
5 of 5
THE WILD (2006)
Avoid this one like the plague. I hated this movie. You know it's bad when an almost 4 year is saying "Daddy, this movie is TOO long" less than an hour into it. It's just bad. My wife fell alseep and I was trying to (to dull the pain).
Let's see. They basically took the story of FINDING NEMO and made it zoo animals instead of fish, slapped in a little THE LION KING and MADAGASCAR for good measure. There was not a creative thing done in this movie, and I HATED IT. There is some debate on the IMDB boards about which came first, this or MADAGASCAR, but I don't care. If I had never seen NEMO, LION KING or MADAGASCAR, I would have still hated this movie.
Basically, Samson is a zoo lion that has told everyone he was captured from the wild; his son Ryan is trying to learn to roar like his dad (who defeated whole herds of wildebeast not with his claws or teeth, but with his roar), but is failing miserably. Everyone laughs at his roar, er, meow. Remind anyone of Simba?
Ryan gets trapped in a box that is shipped to Africa. Samson and his zoo buddies escape from the zoo and hijack a boat to get Ryan back. They have adventures along the way that teach them stuff. Marlin, uh, I mean Samson says a number of times "I have to find my son."
**SPOILER ALERT**
I'm gonna give some spoilers in the hope that it scares you off from this mess. If you really really insist upon seeing this movie and NOT being surprised by the plot (it's totally predicable from the first scene onward), read no further.
Early on we get a hint that Samson has something 'difficult' to tell his son. Let me guess. He was not really from the Wild. Oh, I was right. Only the makers of this dreck drag the 'suspense' of that secret out for like 40 minutes before they drop the bombshell. There are hints galore, and none of the characters pick up on it.
I think it would have been a MUCH better movie if Samson really had come from the wild and kicked butt and took names. But that would have flown in the face of Disney making a movie that makes fathers look like dung-heels. Let me elaborate.
Samson was a liar and a coward. Samson's father, a totally useless character introduced in a flashback scene when Samson was telling Ryan 'the big secret,' was worse. He seemed to hate his son and revelled in his pain. He was glad to see Samson sold to the zoo (by a circus that was getting rid of him because, get this, he couldn't roar). The presence of Samson's father's character added absolutely NOTHING to the story (the circus master provided all the plot in that scene, that father was just there to yell awful stuff to the young Samson), and was only there to show how bad fathers are.
Nice, for a movie being shown on Father's Day Weekend.
1 of 5, the 1 being for some good visuals in a CGI productions that took TEN YEARS (or so I've read).
