JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX

Eboard vs Barry: Reverse-Flash tries to kill the Flash

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE FLASHPOINT PARADOX (2013 video animated feature). Director: Jay Oliva.

Based on a DC Comics mini-series entitled Flashpoint, this shows what unexpectedly happens when super-speedster the Flash (Barry Allen) goes back in time to prevent his mother's murder at the hands of his nemesis from the future, the Reverse-Flash (Eboard Thane). He has many more years with his mother, but the rippling effect creates a new reality in which Atlantis [ruled by Aquaman] is at war with the Amazons headed by Wonder Woman, with the whole world being slowly decimated by the violent conflict. In this new reality, Bruce Wayne was killed as a boy and it is his father, Thomas Wayne, who is a grizzled, ruthless and middle-aged Batman. And there are other changes as well.  Frankly this adaptation gets a little confusing even if you've read the comics [apparently Aquaman and WW simply have an affair in this version while in the comics they nearly get married], but it has enough exciting moments to hold your attention. Some of the faces look a little too much like what you'd see in anime, and Cary Elwes is perhaps not the best choice to do the voice for Aquaman. C. Thomas Howell is fine as Reverse-Flash, however, as is Justin Chambers as Barry Allen and Kevin McKidd as Batman. One of the most magical moments has the Flash happily traveling at high speed, flying really, across the city at the end.

Verdict: For comics, super-hero and animation fans. ***.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Peter Parker practices his spider powers

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012). Director: Marc Webb.

The 4th Spider-Man movie goes back to the beginning with a new actor and retells the origin of the arachnid hero. Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) acquires spider-based powers, tries to use them for good, and comes afoul of his girlfriend's father, police captain Stacey (Denis Leary). Worse is that a one-armed scientist named Curt Connors (a scenery-chewing Rhys Ifans), who knew Peter's late father, has transformed into a hulking lizard-man monster that is threatening the city. If there had been no other Spider-Man movies, Amazing Spider-Man would have been fine, but it's all been done before, and done better [Spider-Man 2]. The Lizard was a popular villain in the comic books, but he's been transformed into a rampaging FX creature like the Hulk, somehow making him less interesting. There are some good action scenes -- and excellent photography -- but nothing as eye-popping as the climax of Spider-Man 2. Garfield is on target as the hero, and he gets fine support from Sally Field and Martin Sheen as his Aunt May and Uncle Ben. [The comic book origin has been fiddled with a bit so that Parker isn't quite indirectly responsible for his uncle's death.] Leary is adequate as Stacey, and Emma Stone has some good moments as his daughter, Gwen. Spider-Man's antagonist, newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson, doesn't appear in the movie at all. Co-creator Stan Lee has a funny cameo, and C. Thomas Howell [Young Toscanini] has a couple of good sequences as the father of a little boy saved by our amazin' hero. Despite its flaws [or over-familiarity], Amazing Spider-Man is by no means a bad picture and fans should still get a kick out of it. Garfield was also in the Robert Redford film Lions for Lambs.

Verdict: Slick if somewhat empty razzle dazzle. ***.

[YOUNG] TOSCANINI

C. Thomas Howell as the great conductor

TOSCANINI (aka Young Toscanini and Il giovane Toscanini/1988). Director: Franco Zeffirelli.

NOTE: As I have only seen the Italian-language version of this film, this post is more of a report on the movie than a review.

It sounds like something that could only happen in a movie, but it really did happen: When he was 19- years-old, musician (and chorus master) Arturo Toscanini was working on a production of Verdi's "Aida" in Rio de Janeiro when the conductor proved so inept that the singers threatened to go on strike if the general manager didn't replace him. When two successive conductors couldn't handle the score, Toscanini, who knew the whole opera, was importuned to take over at the podium despite the fact he'd never conducted before. Toscanini did an excellent job, and became one of the world's most famous conductors of operas and classical music.

Okay, you know how the movie ends, but that's history. Toscanini shows the young artist (C. Thomas Howell) being rejected as a cellist at La scala due to his temperament, then follows him as he joins a South American tour and winds up in Brazil. There he romances a young lady, Margherita (Sophie Ward, who has a great face), who ministers to the poor in Rio, and also meets an idol of his, the (probably fictional) soprano Nadina Bulichoff (Elizabeth Taylor), who is coming out of retirement to appear in "Aida." During the opera she enrages the powers-that-be by denouncing the slavery [part of the plot of the opera] that is still being practiced in Brazil.

Toscanini is a handsome picture with beautiful settings and musical backgrounds. Tenor Carlo Bergonzi appears in the film -- and sings! -- and the production of "Aida" looks quite magnificent. An especially charming scene has Arturo playing for the sweet-faced children of Rio; a more somber moment has him discovering that some of these children have died.

As an English-language or sub-titled version of the film is unavailable, it is hard to judge the dramatic viability of the film unless you understand Italian. Howell and Taylor have been dubbed by Italian actors. (The DVD release of the film says that it has both English and Korean sub-titles, but it only has Korean.) The film is certainly good to look at, and appears to have several tense and dramatic sequences.

Some may feel that the non-Italian casting of the leads is rather odd. If Zeffirelli were hoping Howell and Taylor would improve the film's chances of American success he was mistaken. Taylor was no longer box office in 1988, and while Howell had appeared in such successful "teen" films as The Outsiders, his fans probably didn't know who Toscanini was. He seems quite intense and romantic in the part. (Toscanini was a good-looking man, although probably not as Hollywood handsome as Howell)] So in the long run, sadly, the two actors, good as they are, didn't do the picture much good and vice versa.

Definitely worth a look. And let's hope one with English captions or titles comes out one of these days.

WAR OF THE WORLDS [VIDEO/2005]

WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005). Director/co-writer: David Michael Latt.

In what is first seen as a terrorist attack, missiles land on  major US cities, and huge crab-like tripods emerge from them, bringing death and destruction. Astronomer Dr. George Herbert (C. Thomas Howell) tries to find his wife and son, but is horrified to learn Washington D.C. has been nearly obliterated. It would have been nice if we had actually gotten to see some of this action and devastation, but this low-budget, direct-to-video movie -- which has little real connection to H. G. Wells' classic novel aside from a couple of sequences and characters -- tries a smaller scale approach, to say the least. In this very talky movie Herbert meets up with his brother, Matt (Peter Greene), a sergeant (Andrew Lauer), a psycho lieutenant (Jake Busey) and a pastor named Victor (Rhett Giles). Instead of action and horror, aside from some quick bits, there's a lot of walking and talking and more walking and talking -- characters even tell their back stories during what might have been tense moments. A bit with a green mist of poison gas is briefly creepy, and the scenes of the ruins of Washington D.C. aren't bad. The screenplay has some sensitive moments, but it seems to have forgotten about everything else. Howell, Giles and the other cast members give good performances, however, and the animated tripods are effective. Followed by War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave three years later. This can hardly compare to the George Pal and Steven Spielberg versions. 

Verdict: Whatever it is, it ain't Wells. **.

WAR OF THE WORLDS 2: THE NEXT WAVE

WAR OF THE WORLDS 2: THE NEXT WAVE (2008). Director: C. Thomas Howell.

C. Thomas Howell both directs and stars in this sequel to the direct-to-video movie War of the Worlds (2005). Dr. George Herbert (Howell) is in the thick of things when the martians return to earth and kidnap humans using zap beams that seem to disintegrate them but actually teleport them into bizarre holding pens. The martian ships, like the creature in Alien, turn out to be a kind of bio-technological living being, and the martians want to homogenize human blood so its microbes won't infect them as before. When Herbert's son is zapped, Herbert gets himself kidnapped and finds himself some unlikely allies in the war against the aliens, not to mention his search for his son. War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave is a little more involving than the first film, has some interesting [if derivative] ideas and sequences, and Howell gives a very good performance, but there seem to be confusing narrative gaps and a little too much talk, especially in the first half. The climax has some real suspense, however.

Verdict: Bleak and tedious at times despite some good moments. **1/2.

RESTITUTION

C. Thomas Howell in sinister mode

RESTITUTION (2011). Director: Lance Kawas.

Bryan Spikes (Mark Bierlein), who investigates insurance fraud, meets a pretty bartender named Heather (Mena Suvari), and then gets murdered. Then writer Alex Forrester (also Mark Bierlien), who looks like Bryan without his beard, comes to town and claims he is doing a book about -- Bryan Spikes, who allegedly murdered several people. What's going on here? Since most people will sort of notice that Bryan and Alex resemble one another, the final twist in this picture may not come as much of a surprise, but there's enough confusing stuff to almost hold the attention [in a roundabout way] between the opening and the climax. But the emphasis is on the word confusing, for even when you've figured it all out the movie doesn't make much sense. Mark Bierlein, the star of the movie, also co-wrote the screenplay and served as executive producer. Bierlien is not untalented [as an actor at least] but he isn't the best casting choice and, frankly, could use a little more seasoning. He is not without appeal, but making mediocre vanity projects is probably not the way to go. The whole movie seems like something a small town drama club cobbled together with borrowed equipment -- it looks more or less professional at times but has the veneer of something cheap and fifth-rate. Exceptions to this are the first-rate musical score by Misha Segal, and the performances of C. Thomas Howell and Mena Suvari, who is talented but needs to stay out of movies like this. Tom Arnold is the only other "name" in the cast besides Howell; he's supposed to be funny but isn't. There are some good scenes, but not enough.

 Verdict: Amateur Hour and a half. **.