Universal Soldier 4: Day of Reckoning
Film Review by Kam Williams
John (Scott Adkins) was sadistically beaten with tire irons and left for dead by three assassins dressed like ninjas during a home invasion. When he came out of his coma nine months later, all he could remember about the attack was how his wife and daughter had been murdered right in front of his eyes by a creep who had the nerve to taunt him.
In fact, their assailant, Luc Deveraux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) even had the temerity to remove his mask and show his face. As he recovered from his wounds, John realizes he doesn't have much to live for with his family gone. So, he decides to take the law into his own hands, rather than wait for the police to bring the perpetrators to justice.
That is the deceptive point of departure of Universal Soldier 4: Day of Reckoning, a high body-count splatterflick ostensibly revolving around an embittered vigilante bent on revenge, ala Charles Bronson in Death Wish. Directed by John Hyams, the film is the fourth in a grisly franchise launched way back in 1992.
The plot thickens while John is searching for Deveraux, when he finds himself being relentlessly hunted by a mysterious figure (Andrei Arlovski).
Furthermore, getting to Deveraux proves easier said than done, since he is protected by an army of rogue Universal Soldiers in his capacity as high priest of the Unisol Church of Eventualism.
Previously, these liberated Unisols had been remote-controlled sleeper agents, operating under the thumb of the government like latter-day Manchurian candidates. But trust me, trying to sort out this complicated storyline isn't worth the time, since just about everybody is about to get gutted or have his head lopped off.
Appreciation of this installment doesn't depend on any knowledge of what's transpired in the earlier episodes, since this bloody free-for-all is designed for that demo of film fans with an insatiable appetite for gratuitous gore. So gruesome, it makes Peckinpah look like Winnie the Pooh.
Very Good (2.5 stars)
Rated R for profanity, graphic sexuality, frontal nudity and pervasive gruesome violence
Running time: 113 minutes
Distributor: Magnet Pictures
To see a trailer for Universal Soldier 4: Day of Reckoning, visit
Rise of the Guardians
Film Review by Kam Williams
When the Boogeyman (Jude Law) hatches a diabolical plan to dash the dreams of sugarplums dancing in tykes' heads and to steal baby teeth left under their pillows at bedtime, it's clear that something must be done. For, if left unchecked, it'll just be a matter of time before the evil schemer will quash kids' belief in the Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the Sandman.
Fortunately, these beloved mythical figures have already united to fight their longtime adversary by forming the Guardians, an association dedicated to the preservation of the innocence, imagination and sense of wonder of children all over the world. And at the direction of their sage inspirational leader, the Man in the Moon, they proceed to implore Jack Frost (Chris Pine) to sign-on as an indispensable addition to their ragtag team.
Initially, Jack proves a rather reluctant superhero, between his immaturity and a traumatic feeling of inadequacy resulting from his invisibility. But he ultimately succumbs to his earnest confederates' relentless pressuring that, "You cannot say no!" and "It is destiny!"
With greatness thus thrust upon him, will Jack rise to the occasion to spearhead the charge against the Boogeyman? That is the pivotal question posed by the premise of Rise of the Guardians, an enchanting fairytale loosely based on "The Guardians of Childhood" series of best-sellers by William Joyce.
This action-oriented, animated adventure marks the auspicious directorial debut of veteran storyboard artist Peter Ramsey who makes novel enough use of state-of-the-art 3-D technology here to warrant an investment in goggles for an amplified enjoyment of all the eye-popping, special f/x. Nevertheless, at heart, the picture remains a sweet story with a universal message about the importance of protecting children's innocence.
Although aimed at the very impressionable, still-believing demographic, Rise of the Guardians is apt to resonate with kids of any age with an intact sense of wonder and awe. Yes, Virginia, there is not only a Santa Claus, but a Tooth Fairy, a Jack Frost, an Easter Bunny, and a Sandman, too.
Excellent (3.5 stars)
Rated PG for mature themes and scary action sequences
Running time: 97 minutes
Distributor: Dreamworks Pictures
To see a trailer for Rise of the Guardians, visit
Lincoln
Film Review by Kam Williams
At the beginning of his presidency, Abraham Lincoln invited three of his political opponents to join his Cabinet to form a so-called "Team of Rivals" with the hope of preserving the Union. But the challenges proved to be insurmountable as the Southern states seceded anyway, leading to the outbreak of The Civil War.
By late 1864, much blood had been spilled and the sides seemed as bitterly divided as they had been at the start of the conflict. Even holding the contending factions inside the surviving coalition together came courtesy of compromise, which explains why the Emancipation Proclamation freed the Confederacy's slaves but none in any of the Union's four, remaining slave states.
Based on Harvard historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's 944-page opus "Team of Rivals," Lincoln telescopes tightly on the last five months of the Great Emancipator's life, a period during which he was desperately devoted to both abolishing slavery and reuniting the country by ending the Civil War. The movie was directed by Steven Spielberg, and bears many of the legendary director's trademark visual effects like blowing curtains and light flares.
The production is first rate in terms of cast, from Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role to a stellar supporting ensemble which includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, James Spader, David Strathairn, Gloria Reuben, S. Epatha Merkerson, Hal Holbrook, Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, Jackie Earl Haley and Bruce McGill. Nor did Spielberg scrimp when it came to costuming or set design, which means the film feels authentic and never hits a false note plotwise.
The picture basically revolves around Lincoln's twisting elbows to get the two-thirds vote in Congress necessary to pass the 13th Amendment ending slavery. This means most of the movie focuses on his exercising his powers of persuasion, promising (sometimes with his fingers crossed) whatever it takes to induce reluctant fellow Republicans and adversaries from across the aisle to support his historic measure.
The President is helped in this regard by his Secretary of State, William Seward (Strathairn) who, in turn, enlists the assistance of Congressmen Bilbo (Spader), Latham (Hawkes) and Schell (Nelson). And already counted on for their votes are longtime liberals like Thaddeus Stevens (Jones) and James Ashley (David Costabile).
This flick doesn't feature any epic battle scenes or even Lincoln's assassination, but simply lots and lots of talk scenes. The conversation-driven docudrama winds what passes for tension around the fait accompli of whether or not the president's bill will pass.
While watching talking heads exchanging dialogue borrowed from "Team of Rivals" might delight history buffs, it's unfortunately likely to test the patience of kids without a 2½ hour attention span unless it involves action and special f/x. Is it still worth the investment? Yes, but not if you're expecting anything more than a poignant portrait of Lincoln's last days, time spent as a marked man making his appointed rounds en route to his rendezvous with destiny.
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for gruesome images, brief profanity, ethnic slurs and an intense scene of war violence.
Running time: 149 minutes
Distributor: DreamWorks Pictures
To see a trailer for Lincoln, visit
Life of Pi
Film Review by Kam Williams
Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) was raised Hindu before converting to Catholicism and Islam all on his own. The spiritually-promiscuous, 16 year-old's parents reacted differently to the changes in the boy's unorthodox behavior which included going to church and praying facing east five times a day.
His frustrated father (Adil Hussain) warned, "You cannot follow three religions at the same time," while his more tolerant mother (Tabu) conceded that "Science cannot teach what is in here," touching her heart. Both shrug it off as probably just a passing phase, since they're busy planning the big move of the family household and zoo from India to Canada.
Then, tragedy strikes en route, when their cargo ship capsizes and sinks in the middle of the Pacific, leaving sole human survivor Pi in a lifeboat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Will the precocious believer remain true to his lofty ideals while having to play the faith-testing hand he's suddenly been dealt?
That's the pressing question posed in Life of Pi, a visually-captivating tale of spirituality and survival. Directed by Oscar-winner Ang Lee (for Brokeback Mountain), the movie was shot against a series of exquisite seascapes that look like glorious, hand-painted, pastel panoramas.
From the point of the shipwreck forward the picture is basically a one-man show, ala Tom Hanks in Cast Away (2000). But instead of talking to a soccer ball, the protagonist here has to figure out how to coexist peacefully in very close quarters with a tiger who'd probably prefer to make him its next meal.
The burden of carrying the film falls on the shoulders of first-time actor Suraj Sharma, who does a magnificent job of conveying the existential angst of the beleaguered, ever-exasperated title character. But given the oceanic endurance theme, the picture still feels more like the Hitchcock classic, Lifeboat (1944), than Cast Away.
As for finding an audience, this remarkably richly-textured adaptation will undoubtedly be a hit with fans of the Yann Martel best-seller upon which it's based, as well as with audience members of any age just looking for an entertaining movie. It might be more important to note that during an opening sequence of this flashback flick, the audience is essentially told that what is about to unfold is a story that will make you believe in God.
For all its religious pretensions, however, the thrust of the production revolves less around any overt attempt to convert disbelievers than around Ang Lee's brilliant use of the screen as a cinematic canvas to narrate a compelling yarn for the ages. A critic and crowd-pleaser impossible to forget come Academy Award season.
Crouching tiger, hidden Siegfried! (sans Roy)
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG for mature themes and scary action sequences
In English, French and Japanese with subtitles
Running time: 127 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
To see a trailer for Life of Pi, visit
Bob Zemeckis
The "Flight" Interview with Kam Williams
Born in Chicago on May 14, 1951, Bob Zemeckis won an Academy Award for Best Director for the hugely successful "Forrest Gump." The film's numerous honors also included Oscars for Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Picture. The Library of Congress recently selected the film to join the esteemed National Film Registry.
Zemeckis re-teamed with Hanks on the contemporary drama "Cast Away," the filming of which was split into two sections, book-ending production on What Lies Beneath. Earlier in his career, Zemeckis co-wrote and directed "Back to the Future," which was the top-grossing release of 1985, and for which Zemeckis landed an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
He then went on to helm "Back to the Future, Part II and Part III," completing one of the most successful film trilogies ever. In addition, he directed and produced "Contact," starring Jodie Foster, based on the best-selling novel by Carl Sagan; and the macabre comedy hit "Death Becomes Her," starring Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis.
He also wrote and directed the box office smash "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," cleverly blending live action and animation. And he directed the action-adventure hit "Romancing the Stone," pairing Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
In March 2001, the USC School of Cinema-Television celebrated the opening of the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. This state-of-the-art facility is the country's first fully-digital training center, and houses the latest in non-linear production and post-production equipment as well as stages, a 50-seat screening room and a USC student-run television station, Trojan Vision.
Here, he talks about his latest film, Flight, a combination special f/x and legal thriller starring Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, John Goodman and Melissa Leo.
Kam Williams: Hi Bob, thanks so much for the interview.
Bob Zemeckis: You bet.
KW: I'm honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. I loved the film and found it fascinating. I told my readers I'd be speaking with you, so I'll be mixing my questions in with theirs. What interested you in making Flight?
BZ: I thought it was a wonderful, beautifully-written screenplay with some really interesting, complex characters, including Denzel's, obviously. I found it to be very bold and very courageous.