Roger Donaldson
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Connections, in both directions
Tom Holland reminds us of his versatility and inherent likability as he slips into the role of Nathan, a gymnastically inclined (hey!), street-smart hustler and bartender who’s pulling off some Tom Cruise-in-“Cocktail” level tricks behind the bar while working his pickpocket game on the upscale clientele.
Nathan turns into Tom Holland, working as a bartender in a trendy NYC joint (Holland swipes some of Tom Cruise’s “Cocktail” moves) but engaging in pickpocketing on the side.
They would be perfect in a remake of 1988’s Tom Cruise/Bryan Brown drama “Cocktail.”
We first saw him working as a bartender and knows a thing or two about flair bartending as if he’s pulling Tom Cruise’s Brian Flanagan in Cocktail (1988).
At any rate that may explain the images of his character, Nate Drake, a thief who moonlights as a bartender (or vice versa), pulling some smooth moves on the job, a bit of juggling tomfoolery that instantly triggers images of Cruise in “Cocktail.”
There’s even a touch of the Tom Cruise classic "Cocktail" in there too.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Directed by Taika Waititi
influenced by Smash Palace (1981), Sleeping Dogs (1977)
Plot
Remainder of the pic is a backwoods manhunt that’s both a salute to and gentle parody of several late 1970s-early ’80s Kiwi classics, with specific references not just to “Dogs” but also “Goodbye Pork Pie,” “Smash Palace” and more.
Though Wilderpeople does wind up somewhere that sure looks like Smash Palace, so maybe not.
Based on a tale by the late, prolific New Zealand novelist Barry Crump, Taika Waititi ’s latest is a pleasing comedy-adventure that pays cheeky homage to key early works from that nation’s first filmic renaissance — right down to casting the still-game Sam Neill, who was also a fugitive 40 years ago in Roger Donaldson’s “Sleeping Dogs.”
It's intriguing too that Neill, the man who who coined the term "cinema of unease", starts off the movie as if he's wandered in from Vincent Ward's Vigil into a laugh-out-loud movie that makes plenty of references to the crowd-pleasing Kiwi movies of the late 70s and 80s - like Sleeping Dogs (in which Neill got chased around the bush, as he is here) and Goodbye Pork Pie.
Based on the ads, I assumed that it was going to be little more than a cheesy knock-off of “Species,” the endearingly silly 1995 monster movie best remembered for displaying the pulchritude of Natasha Henstridge and the scenery-chewing abilities of Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina.
Variants of the story have turned up in a number of films over the last quarter-century such as The Fly (1986), Species (1995) and Alien Resurrection (1997).
Throughout, parallels from James Whale’s 1931 film “Frankenstein” to David Cronenberg’s 1986 film “The Fly” to Roger Donaldson’s 1995 movie “Species” abound, but Natali goes a step farther in that he doesn’t make his leads at all likable, which might be an additional cautionary comment on all that occurs in his movie.
But it's also uneven, perhaps a bit too preoccupied with paying homage to Shelley and James Whale's interpretations of the creating life story when not feeling a bit like the second coming of "Species" (the 1995 sci-fi flick), and ultimately succumbs to the tired third act conventions and requirements of the genre.
A House of Dynamite (2025)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
influenced by Thirteen Days (2000)
Plot Characters
Cuban Missile Crisis docudrama Thirteen Days on the BOATS (Based On A True Story) end of things…
These generic bureaucratic faces seem vacant compared with those in Advise and Consent, Seven Days in May, Twilight’s Last Gleaming, and Thirteen Days…
The movie that might come closest is Roger Donaldson’s Thirteen Days…
Movie studios have recently served up plenty of cartoonish nightmare scenarios, including “Deep Impact” (1998), “Dante’s Peak” (1997), “The Quake” (2018), and “2012” (2009), and the latter film stressed out some moviegoers for three years until the clock reached January 1, 2013.
Earthquakes haven't been exploited at the movies as much as one would think (most prominently in 1974's Earthquake, which brought us the Sensurround gimmick), but those with long-memories can cross-reference 1997's Dante's Peak and Volcano, which are more or less the same movie as (each other and) San Andreas, except with geysers of lava.
Following in the footsteps of Earthquake and Dante's Peak, this adrenaline-assisted blockbuster employs state-of-the-art digital artistry and 3D to plonk us amid the collapsing buildings of what boffin Paul Giamatti notes is "the largest magnitude quake in recorded history".
Native American Jake (Saginaw Grant, "Grey Owl," "Dreamer") stops to help Burt with a busted trailer and Ada's (Diane Ladd, "Wild at Heart," "28 Days") junkyard ends up leading to the lonely widowed woman's bed.
In an echo of the spring of 1997, when "Dante's Peak" and "Volcano" promised moviegoers death by lava, and the summer of 1998, when "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" threatened audiences with extinction via asteroid, "White House Down" arrives three months and a week after "Olympus Has Fallen," a very similar story about a tough agent turned rescuer/avenger after circumstances trap him inside the White House during an armed assault that -- worst case scenario -- could escalate into nuclear war.
"Species" was written by Dennis Feldman, who clearly got his inspirations from "Alien," "Aliens," "Predator," and "Splash."
But if you need a hook to grab on to: imagine a feminist Nicolas Roeg or Stanley Kubrick directing the 1995 sci-fi horror Species.
The premise sound encouraging enough in concept, its heist plot setting itself up as a cross between 2000's " Small Time Crooks " and 2008's " The Bank Job "?but with woodland creatures.
Directed by Roger Donaldson with loads of off-kilter camera angles, and written by Roger Towne, Kurt Wimmer and Mitch Glazer, whose collective credits range from "Cocktail" to "Great Expectations," the film has a setup nearly as preposterous as "Spy Game," Tony Scott's superior confabulation of guns, guts and blond-on-blond glamour.
The movie is, essentially, a con game, similar to movies like "Spy Game," "The Game," "House of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner," but with more action and some romance.
Will it find a middle ground like Spy Game (2000)—which largely worked because of the freaky resemblance between Robert Redford and his younger, chipmunk-cheeked alter ego, Brad Pitt?
Despite the mentor/student and gray government portrayal similarities to 2001's "Spy Game," this film thankfully doesn't exactly mimic its plot.
Resembling Tony Scott's "Spy Game," the 2001 thriller about the older spy tutoring the younger one, "The Recruit" puts CIA agent Pacino into the role of a father figure to young Farrell, whom he persuades to join the organization.
Devereaux has since spent five years enjoying the quiet life, but like Al Pacino stated in The Godfather: Part III — or was it Joe Montana in the NFL? — "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."
Jay initially seems to be rather callous about these meetings, even bragging to his coworker at the bar about the exploits, setting up an incorrect audience expectation that we�re watching a grittier version of the Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail, but with more cock and tail.
"Dante's Peak" is the first of an onslaught of disaster revival movies attempting to cash in on the "Twister" crowd using the same vauge story outline.
It's almost impossible not to compare Dante's Peak with Twister.
Up to this point, Dante's Peak has been a pale Xerox of Jaws (the town officials don't want to scare away tourists and investors) and Twister (Harry has a team of volcano-chasers).
As an exercise in disaster-movie logistics, this is on a par with Twister, although the jaw-dropping SFX are far more varied and genuinely terrifying.
(Feb. 6, 1997) -- Toss in a bit of Jaws, a touch of Twister and a dollop of Earthquake.
The Wolfman was written by David Self and Andrew Kevin Walker, who both cut their teeth on some terrific, heady movies -- Walker on dark genre films like Se7en and Sleepy Hollow, and Self on Thirteen Days and Road to Perdition.
Adapted from Curt Siodmak’s original script by Andrew Kevin Walker (“Se7en,” “Sleepy Hollow”), then totally re-written with ludicrous, clichéd lines of dialogue by David Self (“Road to Perdition,” “Thirteen Days”) it’s unfortunately unfocused, conflicted and bizarrely edited.
Theoretically a remake of the 1941 genre-defining Lon Chaney, Jr. vehicle The Wolf Man (please note the subtle distinction between the titles), the new film, written by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self - the former man at least has some respectable credits, while the latter vomited out Thirteen Days and the 1999 remake of The Haunting - borrow little from Curt Siodmak's original scenario besides character names and the set-up that a prodigal son has returned to his ancestral home in Great Britain on the event of his elder brother's violent death (the remake doesn't even leave the action in Wales).
"Salt" is a well made actioner with a physically and emotionally committed Jolie performance that will please the popcorn crowd, but it doesn't have the intelligence of its forerunner, fellow Aussie director Roger Donaldson's 1987 "No Way Out."
The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)
Directed by Ian Samuels
influenced by Dante's Peak (1997)
Plot
Unfortunately for The Map of Tiny Perfect Things , a Y.A. drama streaming on Amazon Prime, it’s now the Volcano of time loop romances (the superior Palm Springs is the Dante’s Peak , of course).
Volcano and Dante’s Peak .
The movie is, essentially, a con game, similar to movies like "Spy Game," "The Game," "House of Games" and "The Spanish Prisoner," but with more action and some romance.
The end result is a Spy Game type movie with a The Game sense of gimmickry that falls short of either of those superior films.
Will it be a put-on, like the 1997 The Game (ugh)?
Spy Game with brunette instead of blonde studs, The Recruit suggests that the CIA is a little like a reality-testing funhouse: a discursive series of inward-collapsing machinations like one might have found once upon a time in Fincher's The Game.
Dr. M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) does his best Cocktail impression…