Knight and Day

Reviewed by: Joshua Starnes
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Movie Details: View here

Cast:

Tom Cruise as Roy Miller

Cameron Diaz as June Havens

Peter Sarsgaard as Fitzgerald

Jordi Mollà as Antonio

Viola Davis ad Director George

Paul Dano as Simon Feck

Falk Hentschel as Bernhard

Marc Blucas as Rodney

Lennie Loftin as Braces

Maggie Grace as April Havens

Dale Dye as Frank Jenkins

Celia Weston as Molly

Review:

I can't believe Tom Cruise movies have gotten old-fashioned. That's not right. What I should say is: I can't believe movie stars have gotten old-fashioned. But they have and the proof is in "Knight and Day's" pudding, a last gasp of old-fashioned movie star filmmaking that feels as quaint as it sounds.

Super agent Roy Miller (Tom Cruise) has a problem. He needs to sneak something out of Wichita and the less his mule knows the better. Unfortunately that leaves him with a bigger problem, because Roy is a pretty good guy and when the perfect mule turns up in the shape of June Havens (Cameron Diaz) he can't help himself but make sure she gets home to her sister's wedding on time and that the bad guys don't kill her for unknowingly helping him.

This is the kind of thing that was big 20 years ago but has been going out of fashion for a while and there's a whiff of desperation about the whole thing. And the desperation of a couple on the lam.

It's unfortunate because it's not a bad movie. It's not exactly a good movie, either, but it's got its moments. "Knight and Day" is a film about charisma and on-screen chemistry, but unfortunately not much else.

June is very much your every-woman (assuming your every-woman looks like Cameron Diaz); a hard-working blue collar girl who doesn't want much out of life but to live it. It's a world that gets turned upside down when the airplane she's riding with charming Roy suddenly fills itself with dead people and crash lands in a Kansas corn field in one of the films few uninterrupted action sequences.

It's trying to be very over-the-top in its sentiments, with ridiculous, contrived dangers and escapes as only Hollywood can do them, but from such a narrow point of view that it's hard to get close to the danger. The idea is to tell the story as much as possible from June's point of view of these dangers, which is to say frantic and crazed and never entirely certain what to make of what is going on.

That's an interesting way to make an action movie, but director James Mangold ("Walk the Line") can't quite work his way out of the straight-jacket he's put himself in.

After waking up back home in Boston, hoping the entire incident on the plane was a dream, June soon finds herself running for her life from the FBI in a rollicking car chase told mostly from her point of view so we can only tangentially see the other cars exploding and flipping around her while she tries to have a conversation with Roy, who seems to be super-glued to the hood of her car.

It's actually pretty well done but it becomes readily apparent several action scenes in that this is the way he plans to shoot the entire film and it quickly moves from being interesting to being a liability. A big summer action movie is ultimately about letting your audience share in the visceral nature of the over-the-top situations you've created; separating and keeping the audience apart from that is ultimately a case of shooting yourself in the foot.

Because it's an action movie that's not about being an action movie. It's about seeing its two stars spar and flirt on screen, and it does its best to move the action out of the way so that they can get back to it.

Usually I'm all for ditching pointless action in exchange for character development, but ditching it for flirting isn't doing anyone any favors. The leads are very charming, there's no denying, but they're covering up their own film instead of enhancing it.

"Knight and Day" is like the last gasp of a beached whale. Not because of the quality of the movie itself, but just the kind of film it is. The ante for what can and will be put on screen has been raised and just a movie star can't compete with that any more. If done well, you can get a good balance between the two, like Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow or Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man; each enhancing the other.

"Knight and Day" wants to do that, but isn't up to it. Instead its movie stars keep getting in the way of their own film, each tripping over the other. Instead of watching it, you're better off putting "Knight and Day" in a time capsule and singing some Don McLean, 'cause this is the day the movie star died.

Source : comingsoon

FIFA ignoring mistakes, writing sickeningly glossed history

By Brooks Peck
Anger, fear and paranoia abound as the blatantly horrible referee mistakes pile up like the massive amounts of cash being generated by the 2010 World Cup. The two most recent incidents - Frank Lampard's disregarded goal against Germany and Carlos Tevez's miles offside opening score against Mexico - were so bad that they go beyond mere errors in judgment and have some considering more sinister puppeteering at work.

And the justification of that is growing. Already resolute in their anti-technology/instant replay stubbornness, FIFA is now trying to ensure there is no evidence against referee rulings inside the stadiums, as there was when Tevez's offside goal was shown on Soccer City's big screens, which caused Mexican players to intensify their protests. From the AP:

FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said Monday that replaying the incident was “a clear mistake.”

“This will be corrected and we will have a closer look into that,” Maingot told a news conference Monday. “We will work on this and be a bit more, I would say, tight on this for the games to be played.”

Maingot said the screens were used to broadcast a FIFA “infotainment program” to fans before the match and could be used to replay some match action.

The only "clear mistake" FIFA admits to is that they shouldn't have allowed people to see the real mistakes. Is it time to grab the torches and pitchforks yet? Not quite. There's more.

As Tom Dunmore at Pitch Invasion points out, the match reports on FIFA's official website recap a much cleaner version of what happened in both of Sunday's matches. On Lampard's goal:

Meetings between these two sides often provide talking points and this one's came 60 seconds later when Lampard's shot from the edge of the box struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down, with the referee ruling the ball had not crossed the goalline.

It simply bounced down and was ruled as having not crossed the line? That paints a very different picture than what everyone with a television saw. It makes it sound as if it was almost close. And it was only a talking point because the only people who didn't recognize it as a goal were the refs.

On Tevez's first goal:

Tevez might have thought his chance had gone when Perez raced out to block bravely at his feet, but Messi was quick-witted enough to return the ball toward goal, where the Manchester City striker was waiting to head home. Breaking the deadlock enabled Argentina to take a firm grip on proceedings, and within seven minutes that hold was strengthened as Mexico reached for the self-destruct button.

"Waiting to head home" ... in an astoundingly offside position.

Sure FIFA nor any corporate entity wants to highlight their failings on their official website, but FIFA's attempts to hope everyone simply forgets what they saw goes beyond those match reports. According to the AP, they kept their lips locked during the press ravaging that was Sunday's daily briefing, too:

The governing body of world football did not send any officials with responsibility for referees to its daily briefing despite widespread furor over Sunday’s errors.

FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot faced hostile questioning but said he was not competent to discuss decisions by referees or football’s rules-making panel, which has rejected introducing video technology that would help match officials.

“We obviously will not open any debate,” Maingot said. “This is obviously not the place for this.”

The debate is already open, Mr. Maingot. It's been released from confinement and it has you surrounded. If the sport's glittering centerpiece of a tournament - the one that this debate threatens to ruin - isn't the place to discuss it and maybe even do something to at least appear as if you care, then where?

But the primary question remains - is it corruption at work or ineptitude compounded by embarrassment? To be honest, it almost has to be the latter. If the fix was in, you'd think they would at least try to be sneaky about it rather than purposefully ignore clear goals and blindly overlook offside infractions that even someone unfamiliar with the rule could spot. That's just stupidity. Then again, this is FIFA and whether it's protecting sponsor against poor street merchants and ladies in orange dresses or doing business through nepotism, subtlety has never been its strong suit.

Source : yahoo sport

Kristen Stewart in No Rush To Marry Robert Pattinson

KRISTEN Stewart says she doesn’t want to get married — yet.

The actress — who’s widely rumored to be dating her Twilight costar Robert Pattinson — insists she’s in no rush to settle down, despite reports to the contrary.

“I don’t want to get married right now,” she says. “Some people want to get married… whatever.

“I really don’t think about it. I’m not the type of girl who grew up planning her own wedding.”

In the next Twilight film, Breaking Dawn, Kristen’s character Bella will be planning her wedding to Edward Cullen, played by Pattinson.

“Bella is older than me and hopefully, by the time I’m there, that’s not going to be weird to play. It will be cool,” she said.

“As soon as you start bringing your own [personal] stuff in, it’s like, ‘No, that’s not right.’ You’re playing a different person. You can relate but you have to leave that stuff at the door.”

Kristen, 20, recently revealed she used to get called a “bitch” when she was at school.

“I couldn’t relate to kids my own age. They were mean and didn’t give you any chance,” she moaned.

“I was never the type of girl to be walking around talking about acting, so I didn’t get a whole lot of hassle until someone saw some old movie I did.

“I tried to play it down, but I definitely got, ‘Oh, she’s such a bitch.’”

Source : showbizspy

World Cup 2010: Arsenal star Robin van Persie thinks that his long injury lay-off will be a blessing in disguise for Holland

By Anthony Sciarrino

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie believes that his long injury absence this season will help him lead Holland to World Cup success.

Van Persie missed five months with a severe ankle injury, returning to the Gunners for only the final matches of the season.

The Arsenal star scored in Holland’s 2-1 victory against Cameroon, a result which made them the first team since the 1982 Brazil squad to win all of their World Cup qualification matches and their first three group games.

Holland will take on Slovakia on Monday in the Round of 16 and van Persie thinks that his long lay-off will help the Dutch in South Africa.

“We’ll have to see in the next couple of weeks whether that’s the case,” van Persie told The Mirror.

“But I feel very, very fresh.

“I know some of the boys have been tired with the travelling and stuff, but I don’t mind waiting around for two hours or staying in a hotel a long time because I’m back with the team.

“Physically and even mentally, there’s more to come. You can be very tired when you start a tournament after playing 60 or 70 games in a season, but I’ve only played 25 and I’m ready physically and mentally.

“I recover quickly after games and the physios are working very hard with me, so it’s looking good.”

Source : goal

More protests expected at G-20 summit

By the CNN Wire Staff

Toronto, Canada (CNN) -- Police said they were preparing for more disruptions Sunday after groups of protesters burned cars, hurled bricks and smashed windows as they tried to penetrate the fence surrounding the G-20 summit.

"I do not believe that the individuals bent on vandalism and violence in our city have finished with their intent, so we will remain vigilant," Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said Saturday night.

Police had arrested more than 180 people by late Saturday night, according to the summit's security unit.

Blair told reporters that packs of disruptive demonstrators infiltrated peaceful protests in order to cause chaos and distract police.

"These criminals rely on the anonymity of hiding in a larger group of the curious and the naive," he said.

At least four police cars went up in flames and smoke during hours of confrontation.

Protesters left behind broken windows and graffiti. Blair said police used tear gas after warning a group of protesters "engaged in acts of destruction" Saturday.

However, not all encounters between police and protesters were hostile. At one intersection, the crowd danced and chanted, "You're sexy, you're cute, take off your riot suit!"

More aggressive groups of demonstrators moved from intersection to intersection, trying to circumvent police and get to the security fence protecting the summit meeting.

"The fence is a symbol that they can build a fence and spend a billion dollars on their agenda. The fence is a symbol of what's wrong with this country," protester Rolf Gerstenberger said.

Everywhere the protesters went, police were waiting to head them off, in some cases with individual blasts of pepper spray, tear gas and bean bag pellets, according to the summit's security unit.

Authorities said the fence was not breached Saturday. Behind it, world leaders began an economic summit focusing on recovery from the global financial crisis.

As they prepared for Sunday's scheduled meetings, the U.N. chief urged them to remember that the world's poor need help making ends meet now more than ever.

"Let me emphasize this evening that, under any circumstances we must not balance budgets on the backs of the world's poorest people," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

Ban said countries should invest in agriculture, green recovery jobs and health.

On Saturday, European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stressed that European leaders were already taking action to strengthen their economies and deal with a weakening euro caused by public debt woes.

"There should be no doubts. Europe will do whatever it takes to assure the financial stability of the euro," he told CNN.

This weekend's meetings come on the heels of the two-day G8 summit outside Toronto, where the leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan and Russia also focused on recovery from the global economic crisis. The group also made note of other thorny issues in their final statement issued Saturday, singling out Iran and North Korea for criticism.

Source : cnn

Sex tape charges for Indonesian star Nazril Irham

By Karishma Vaswani

Jakarta, Luna Maya and Nazril Irham Nazril Irham (r) and Luna Maya are both named in the scandal

One of Indonesia's top celebrities has been charged under an anti-pornography law for his alleged role in sex videos which have appeared on the internet.

Pop star Nazril "Ariel" Irham and two other celebrities, TV presenter Luna Maya and soapstar Cut Tari, have denied involvement in the sex tapes.

The scandal has angered many in Muslim-dominated Indonesia.

Some conservative Islamic groups have called for the celebrities to be punished.

Zainuri Lubis, deputy spokesman of the National Police, told the BBC that Ariel had been charged with the making and distribution of the sex tapes under the controversial anti-pornography law.

He is the first high-profile person to be charged under the law, which came into effect in 2008 despite strong opposition from the public and members of government.

The law has been criticised for being too vague and for its harsh penalties.

Ariel's charge carries with it a maximum sentence of 12 years and a fine of more than $600,000 (£403,000).

He was arrested earlier this week and photos of him behind bars have been spread online by his fans.

Local reports have quoted Indonesian police saying they have plans to detain the two female celebrities who are also allegedly featured in the sex tapes for their own protection.

The celebrity sex scandal has annoyed many conservative Indonesians who see it as an example of deteriorating morals in the country.

Earlier this week, hundreds of members of the hard-line Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir protested against the celebrities, calling for them to be publicly punished.

Source : bbc news

By Jane Douglas, GameSpot UK

UK REVIEW-- For those who enjoyed the N64's Sin and Punishment, either on import or later via Virtual Console download, this glorious Wii follow-up, also an on-rails shooter, is a no-brainer. Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies (known as Sin and Punishment: Star Successor in North America) improves on its predecessor in every respect. For everyone else, this game's nonstop creativity will be a treat, too.

Successor of the Skies is set years after the first game and follows two kids called Isa and Kachi as they do battle with military types, mechs, and outlandish animals. It all takes place in, around, and far above a future Japan. Isa is the son of the original game's main characters. Kachi appears to be, but isn't, a young girl. The plot, such as it is, may seem like nonsense, and there's not much more to it than laid out here. But that's no complaint. This is a game about spectacle and action, not story, and it manages both very well.

You play from a third-person perspective, pointing and shooting with the Wii Remote and using the nunchuk to dodge around the screen while you're scrolled through the game's seven stages. The Classic Controller and GameCube Controller are also supported, but the motion-control shooting works so well these are hardly called for. Kachi and Isa each have a melee attack for hitting enemies who get up close and a charged shot for doing massive, explosive damage. Unlike in the original game, you can fly--using a jetpack if you've picked Isa or a hoverboard if you're playing as Kachi. This gives Kachi or Isa full roam of the screen where you traverse with the analog stick and perform a quick dodge manoeuvre via the Z button.

The game's abundance of ideas and variety of action is admirable. Sometimes the camera will swing to one side, turning it into a side-scrolling or vertically scrolling shooter. At another point, the game briefly becomes a side-on brawler, giving a twist to the finale of one boss fight. The quality and variety of visual design is likewise dazzling, to the point where the sometimes less-than-pretty textures are eclipsed. The on-rails experience takes in sky fortresses, space stations, lava submarines, haunted forests, and underwater tunnels. These are variously populated with soldiers, elaborate robots, chimera-like beasts, bioluminescent fish, and screen-filling bosses. You encounter bosses and minibosses frequently and, like the environments and ordinary enemies, they are hugely, gratifyingly inventive. A voodoo-styled boss with a bird skull on her head fires exploding lotuses and time-bending ravens at you. Another boss transforms into a colossal manta ray and then into a school of flipping, laser-equipped dolphins. Each boss is uniquely memorable and, happily, tough enough to make each encounter feel epic.

Each screen-filling boss is unique, memorable, and suitably tough.

As is traditional, the boss battles are multistage affairs in which you chip away at a vast health bar that passes through all the colours of the rainbow on its way down to zero. In the absence of checkpoints during these battles (elsewhere, checkpoints are generously doled out), the game is at its most brutally challenging but it never quite strays into frustrating difficulty. That said, the ability to switch between difficulty modes on the fly would still be welcome. As it is, the only way to switch among easy, normal, and hard is to start again or to have already unlocked that stage at that difficulty on a previous play-through. An experienced player on a high-score (that is, no-death) run might manage one of these in just three or four hours, but the average player should expect up to six hours for a single play-through. Though it's not an especially long game (it doesn't need to be), its replay value is high, with online leaderboards for players to compete on and personal records to beat.

Scoring is based on a multiplier system that rewards stringing together kills without getting hit, so dodging is crucial. There's often a single, small safe patch on the screen, with the rest filled with lasers, fire, floating mines, boulders, missiles, and other glowing, exploding, or destructive items. This leaves you navigating a hazard-filled screen with one hand and shooting with the other. Doing both at once, with one eye on a distant enemy's movement and another on the shifting pattern of deadly things in the foreground, is key, and there's a great deal of satisfaction to be had in mastering it.

The two-player mode is a letdown. Rather than putting a second character on the (admittedly crowded) screen, the mode adds a second targeting reticle. The second player becomes not much more than an assistant; he or she may be good for a little extra damage, picking up some extra points, and clearing the screen of hazards but has no special attacks. With nothing to do but paint targets with the Wii Remote, the second player's experience is diluted beyond recognition. The weak co-op offering aside, Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Skies impresses with its gratifying action and wealth of ideas. Wii owners owe it to themselves to experience a high-energy on-rails shooter with this diverse and fresh-feeling game.


Source : gamespot