Jay's Review: The Storm

"24" meets "Twister" in this "disaster (of a) movie" I reviewed for dvdsnapshot.com. Enjoy!

THE STORM

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
With eye-popping special effects and amazing action, this apocalyptic thriller will leave you breathless! Techno-billionaire Robert Terrell (Treat Williams, "Everwood") has a sinister plan: rule the world by controlling the weather. But when a test goes wrong and stirs up a global cataclysm, it's up to a dedicated scientist and a renegade reporter to halt the Megastorm's deadly rampage. also starring James Van Der Beek ("Dawson's Creek"), Teri Polo (Meet the Parents), and Luke Perry ("Beverly Hills, 90210"), The Storm shows what happens when nature turns against mankind - with devastating results.

OUR TAKE
Sir Robert Halmi is the new Irwin Allen. As the current reigning kind of the disaster movie, he and his son grind out miniseries and TV movies of killer infections, natural disasters, and fantasy adventures madeup of equal parts formula and pure entertainment. There's always life-or-death stakes played out by characters trapped in comparatively middling domestic dramas. What worked so well as the formula of disaster classics like The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and Earthquake works just as well here in The Storm. This time, the Halmis at it again with a TV miniseries featuring Lex Luthor-worthy plot to conquer the world thru weather control.

What didn't work as the MacGuffin for the film version of The Avengers winds up getting a bit out of hand in The Storm (also known as "Megastorm"). Perhaps Emma Peel could've helped. The plot immediately kicks into motion as things start falling apart in the first ten minutes. Five more and we establish that the James Van Der Beek and Teri Polo characters used to date, because you can't have cataclysm without renewed romance in a disaster flick. If you don't think the EMT with the pregnant wife are going to have storylines that build as the storm clouds do, you've never paid much attention to this sort of flick before. (There's an unexpected plot-twist about 35 minutes in that breaks the formula of this sort of entertainment. It's violent, alienating, and surprisingly jarring. The Storm slathers on action and bloodshed to pad it's running time, setting it apart from disaster flicks of yore.)

There's several subplots and a slow build since you have to have cliff-hangers at the 80 minute mark that ends part one. Will an evil billionaire with the government in his back pocket be any match for a desk-jockey number-crunching scientist? Isn't Luke Perry's hair a bit long for someone in Military Intelligence? Will our subplots all be resolved by the end of the inclement weather? You know the answers, but taking the ride is where the fun is...

SPECIAL FEATURES
Trailers for Meteor, Knights of Bloodsteel (both featuring Christopher Lloyd), and The Last Templar. Presented in Widescreen and in English Dolby Digital 4.1, the disc has no other features.

CONCLUSION
Comforting like an old shoe, and nearly just as... aromatic, The Storm is another Soap Opera/SciFi hybrid where special effects run rampant and actors cash paychecks in a nearly 3 hour cheese fest. Okay for a rainy day if you're a disaster movie and action flick lover. Otherwise, the mean-spiritedness and off-handed thrown-in body count make this is something you can take a pass on...

OVERALL PICTURE
MOVIE: C-
EXTRAS: D

Jay's Review: Angel and the Badman (2009)

...one VERY overdue review that finally got turned into dvdsnapshot.com. Have you been there lately? The fact that they publish me is only one of the reasons they're such a great site. Check 'em out!

ANGEL AND THE BADMAN

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:
This John Wayne remake tells the story of a notorious gunfighter, Quirt Evans (Lou Diamond Phillips), who is wounded and seeks shelter with a Quaker family. Attracted to the family's beautiful, loving, and widowed daughter Temperance (Deborah Kara Unger), the hard-bitten gunfighter is transformed from a man with a history of violence into a man of peace. Unfortunately, the leader of the outlaws, Laredo (Luke Perry), won't let his past die.

OUR TAKE:
I've never seen the original version of Angel and the Badman, so I was able to come to this film with fresh eyes. In fact, my experience with John Wayne films and Westerns in general is pretty minimal, so when I do watch them they're always pretty fresh to me.

Our wounded "Bad Man," Quirt, suffering from a gunshot wound, winds up at the house of a Quaker family and nursed by Temperance, begins to find inner peace. (The fact that they seem to have pretty good sexual chemistry doesn't hurt any, either.) While he fights it and his life of crime slowly catches up to him, it's pretty obvious how things will turn out in the end.

The casting here is decent. Lou Diamond Phillips and Deborah Kara Unger are two very talented actors who never seem to get the high profile work that often. They star in the roles of a gunslinger and the daughter of a Quaker played by Wayne and Jane Russell in the original movie. Unger is especially good here. She conveys tension and fear as a woman sure from the beginning this "Bad Man" is the right one for her. Known for her dangerous sex-bombs and damaged characters in films like Crash and Whispers in the Dark, her simple Quaker was something of a surprise. Phillips is mostly hard when he needs to be and convincing as he opens up, but some of his lines sure die on the vine though.

The bad guy (as opposed to the "Bad Man") is played by Luke Perry. While serviceable enough, he still seems less hard and grizzled than Dylan McKay playing dress-up. He fits in with the ridiculously tidy Western settings and well-pressed "Working girls." There's moments of humor in with the occasional shoot-out and slow-burn romantic plot. I've read it hews pretty closely to the original version of the film and I wouldn't be a bit surprised. On the whole, Angel and the Badman is as old-fashioned and patient as courting. That's not a bad thing.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
This was a screener copy. The disc should have English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo with Spanish subtitles. It's presented in Widescreen format.

CONCLUSION:
Kind, clean, and classy - though not a classic - this remake of Angel and the Badman is just as family-friendly as one would expect from a Hallmark Channel production. It's not spicy, but it sticks to good-old fashioned western tropes. A throwback or one for the parents and grandparents, it's a very pleasant watch for a gray Fall afternoon.

OVERALL PICTURE:
MOVIE: B-
EXTRAS: n/a