Tag: Doug Liman

Geekscape Movie Reviews: American Made

by MCDave

Doug Liman returns with his second offering of 2017, re-teaming with his former Edge of Tomorrow star, Tom Cruise, in the wild true story of a commercial airline pilot-turned-CIA recon gatherer. American Made plays to a similar tone that we’ve witnessed on many occasions, shedding its light on the notorious Medellin drug cartel and leader Pablo Escobar. This aura of familiarity and a complete disregard for character building haunt Liman’s latest and have us pining for the level of success he showed early in his career with hits like The Bourne Identity and Swingers.

After growing tired of the monotony involved in his everyday life as a commercial pilot for TWA in the late 70s, a rare opportunity falls in the lap of Barry Seal (Tom Cruise) when he’s recruited by the CIA to fly recon missions in South and Central America. Barry’s thirst for adventure proves reckless when he finds himself immersed in a cocaine smuggling scheme under the behest of ruthless dealer Pablo Escobar. With all sorts of government agencies on his trail and danger certainly looming, Barry puts everything at risk when he makes a compromising decision that places him and his loved ones in grave danger.

Eerily reminiscent of Ted Demme’s 2001 cult classic, Blow, American Made suffers from what can only be described as an apparent egotistical grandstanding from leading star Tom Cruise. You’d be hard-pressed to find any extended period of time without Cruise’s long, flowy locks and devilish grin plastered across the screen. Sadly, the film focuses exclusively on Barry Seal, and its failure to properly address the impacts of Barry’s decisions on everyone else in his life through an adequate development of side characters proves detrimental. Barry’s family, most notably, is nothing more than a silhouette to Cruise’s demanding character. But despite this glaring weakness and unforgivable oversight to the film, American Made still manages to attract an audience with an energetic and amusingly tragic story. As Barry continues to fall deeper into his corrupt world of drug trafficking and money laundering, its like watching a car crash develop, where you refuse to look away for fear of missing the most destructive moment of impact. Cruise isn’t at his best but he certainly remains capable of carrying a film, even if we’re forced to take him in overflowing doses. But for as engaging and consuming as American Made‘s story allows it be, you can’t help but feel like Liman should have accomplished so much more.

GRADE: 3/5

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Doug Liman To Direct ‘Justice League Dark’!

by The_acz

While DC and Warner Bros continue to struggle with launching a critical and profitable DCEU film, that’s not stopping them from green lighting more films.

Announced today in a Variety exclusive, WB has hired Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman to direct a a Justice League Dark movie for DC’s upcoming cinematic universe slate. Along with Liman, Scott Rudin will be producing. Justice League Dark features lesser known, but still loved characters like John Constantine, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, and more as it’s intended to be a darker (obviously) version of the Justice League. While this sounds like a great way to get back on track, the question remains whether or not DC and WB can really bounce back after 3 mis-fires.

According to a recent open letter to WB president Kevin Tsujihara, not only has Suicide Squad been a mess from the start, but Wonder Woman is also having troubles of its own. Only time will tell if they can get back on track with WW & JL, or if they should just jump straight to a standalone Affleck Batman film and soft reboot the universe (it’s never too late.) Tell us what you think in the comments below!

Director Doug Liman on the set of JUMPER.

Geekscape Movie Reviews: Edge of Tomorrow

by MCDave

Make no mistake about it, the hype surrounding Edge of Tomorrow, from both critics and moviegoers alike, continues to grow throughout the film’s opening weekend. With an estimated $30 million in box-office revenue in the works and nearly 9 out of 10 critics voicing their approval, Tom Cruise proves he is still a major attraction. But is the megastar’s latest blockbuster collaboration with The Bourne Identity director, Doug Liman, worthy of all this adoration? Absolutely not!

Tom Cruise stars as Cage, a marketer-turned-Army Recruiter after an unexplained alien invasion threatens the survival of humankind. However, Cage has zero interest in actually setting foot on the battlefield. That is, until his commanding officer orders the under-qualified and cowardly soldier to attack the enemy with the first wave of fighters. Caught in the midst of war, Cage becomes trapped in a time-loop and uses the opportunity to team up with a Special Forces warrior named Rita (Emily Blunt) who transforms him into a killing machine determined to destroy the opposing forces.

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Allow me to precede my arguments with a declaration that the latest sci-fi blockbuster, Edge of Tommorow, is a well-crafted and highly rationalized idea. Yet, Doug Liman’s action adventure is over-pursued and misguided. The whole “time travel” or “time loop” idea is by no means uncharted territory. Somewhat recent comparables such as Duncan Jones’ Source Code or Rian Johnson’s Looper use this scientific anomaly as a far more impressive backdrop to their better executed stories. With Edge of Tomorrow, the audience is asked to buy into an often-used, but convincing, character arc surrounding Tom Cruise’s onscreen personae, Cage. But to the film’s detriment, an unjust finale sells that transformation short and tears down the flimsy foundation it spends nearly two hours building.

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Although Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow contains a mediocre plot and a collection of performances that neither benefit nor detract from the final product, the blockbuster delivers an abundance of remarkably-shot scenes. The camera work and editing are superb enough to satisfy any action junkie imaginable, further demonstrating a need to applaud Liman’s effort for the movie’s sound technical achievements. However, at the end of the day, there’s no escaping a long list of basic fundamental blunders that ultimately confine Edge of Tomorrow to being a run-of-the-mill feature.

Sporting a balanced sheet of pros and cons, the latest sci-fi tale, Edge of Tomorrow, fails to stand out among a long list of similarly-molded films. Its “groundhog day” approach feels long-winded through a moderately engaging story. And although the special effects and captured shots are likely to be marveled at, there isn’t much else elevating Edge of Tomorrow to mainstream blockbuster glory.

GRADE: 3/5

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First Look At Tom Cruise In ‘All You Need Is Kill’!

by Shawn Madden

Get a first look at Tom Cruise in All You Need Is Kill, the adaptation of the manga of the same name, showing Cruise running from an explosion in a powerful mech suit. All You Need Is Kill stars Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton and is directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Jumper).

The story unfolds in a near future in which a hive-like alien race, called Mimics, have hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, shredding great cities to rubble and leaving millions of human casualties in their wake. No army in the world can match the speed, brutality or seeming prescience of the weaponized Mimic fighters or their telepathic commanders. But now the world’s armies have joined forces for a last stand offensive against the alien horde, with no second chances.

Lt. Col. Bill Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and then dropped—untrained and ill-equipped—into what amounts to little more than a suicide mission. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an Alpha down with him. But, impossibly, he awakens back at the beginning of the same hellish day, and is forced to fight and die again…and again. Direct physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop—dooming him to live out the same brutal combat over and over.

But with each pass, Cage becomes tougher, smarter, and able to engage the Mimics with increasing skill, alongside Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski (Blunt), who has lain waste to more Mimics than anyone on Earth. As Cage and Rita take the fight to the aliens, each repeated battle becomes an opportunity to find the key to annihilating the alien invaders and saving the Earth.

All You Need Is Kill is scheduled to hit theaters on March 14, 2014

‘All You Need Is Kill’ Adaptation Has Been Greenlit

by Shawn Madden

Reports are coming in that Warner Bros. has officially given the green light to All You Need Is Kill, an adaptation of the science fiction graphic novel of the same name. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) will be directing, while Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt are set to star in the film. Originally Brad Bitt was was approached to play the lead, but he has conflicts with other films for which Warner wanted him. Dante Harper wrote the script with executive producer Joby Harold. Cruise began work on the movie last Friday in London. He recently completed production on another sci-fi graphic novel adaptation, Oblivion.

No release date for All You Need Is Kill has been set yet. But we should be expecting an announcement from Warner Bros. sometime soon.

If you’ve never read nor heard of All You Need Is Kill here’s a plot summary:

The story is told from the perspective of Keiji Kiriya, the protagonist, a new recruit in the United Defense Force which fights against the mysterious ‘Mimics’ which have laid siege to Earth. Keiji is killed on his first sortie, but through some inexplicable phenomenon wakes up having returned to the day before the battle, only to find himself caught in time loop as his death and resurrection repeats time and time again. Keiji’s skill as a soldier grows as he passes through each time loop in a desperate attempt to change his fate.

While it does seem cool I am not too sure about the cast and director on this one. But I will have to wait and see before I pass judgement because Tom Cruise has surprised me in the past before.

Source: Deadline