Lee Tamahori
49 connections found
View:
Connections, in both directions
Chinatown (1974)
Directed by Roman Polanski
influenced Mulholland Falls (1996)
Themes Characters Plot
Borrowing its portrait of L.A.-style corruption from "Chinatown" and James Ellroy's novels, it's heavy on atmosphere and revels in the nastiness of it all, only to conclude with a simplistic moral that integrity begins in the home.
Because of its tone and subject matter, Mulholland Falls recalls Chinatown, albeit incompletely.
The very title of Mulholland Falls carries a whiff of Chinatown, whose character Hollis Mulwray (the husband of Faye Dunaway's Evelyn Mulwray) was based on the Los Angeles robber baron William Mulholland.
The missing link between Chinatown and Reservoir Dogs, Lee Tamahori's Mulholland Falls introduces a band of independent Los Angeles cops (Nick Nolte, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Chazz Palminteri) who drive around wearing hats and beating people up.
In fact, had he looked at "The Big Sleep" or "Chinatown," Tamahori might see that those movies are exercises in the power of subtlety, while "Mulholland Falls" is an exercise in excess.
Based partially on a true Los Angeles land-grab scandal of the early 1900s (involving L.A. water engineer William Mulholland, who manipulated water rights for profit), Chinatown is a far superior script compared to a more factual take on the same story—the tedious Mulholland Falls.
There's a one-note love affair between Latif and Oday's favorite girl, Sarrab (Ludvine Sagnier), that feels ripped directly from De Palma's Scarface , holding even less weight than the Pacino/Pfeiffer sordid affair.
A curious concoction of Borat, Scarface and CNN, The Devil's Double makes a decent stab of translating the menacing and macabre tale of Iraqi mentalist Uday Hussein and his doppelganger to the big screen.
Man, it was like Scarface in the desert over there, a real Baghdad and Gomorrah.
The many comparisons to Al Pacino’s mook-to-mobster transformation in Scarface that have been made since The Devil’s Double premiered at Sundance in January may seem obvious, but the truth of them is undeniable.
The filmmakers may be aiming higher, but "The Devil's Double" plays like a lurid exploitation picture — and brings to mind, not in a good way, the Al Pacino "Scarface" and the notorious "Caligula" with Malcolm MacDowell in the title role.
"The Devil's Double" one-sheet is solid gold, from the enthroned " Scarface "-style gangsta -- big gun erect in each fist, legs spread wide to center-stage his manhood -- to the palatial digs that surround this caricature of machismo.
The novels and stories of the late Philip K. Dick have already provided the basis for eight movies, some of them very good ("Blade Runner," "Minority Report"), some so-so at best ("Imposter," "Paycheck"), and at least one of them godawful ("Screamers").
Lee Tamahori’s film is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick story “The Golden Man,” and if you know your Dick, you know screen adaptations of his work are all over the map — just compare Blade Runner with slack crap like Paycheck.
The results have been uneven to say the least, and while Next is hardly in the same league as Blade Runner or Minority Report (2002), it’s certainly better than Impostor (2002) or Paycheck (2003), and less of a muddled drag than A Scanner Darkly (2006).
“Next” had a distinct feel of another recent P.K. Dick adaptation, “Paycheck,” which I thought was okay, but hardly a great film.
The torpid "Next" may actually trump "Paycheck" as the worst film based on a story by the late, highly regarded, science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick - whose works have been turned into "Total Recall," "Minority Report" and "Blade Runner."
The filmmakers based the movie on a story by the late Philip K. Dick, from whose prolific writings have come such other sci-fi films as "Blade Runner" (1982), "Total Recall" (1990), "Screamers" (1995), "Impostor" (2002), "Paycheck" (2003), "A Scanner Darkly" (2006), "Next" (2007), and "Radio Free Albemuth" (2010).
The novels and stories of the late Philip K. Dick have already provided the basis for eight movies, some of them very good ("Blade Runner," "Minority Report"), some so-so at best ("Imposter," "Paycheck"), and at least one of them godawful ("Screamers").
The results have been uneven to say the least, and while Next is hardly in the same league as Blade Runner or Minority Report (2002), it’s certainly better than Impostor (2002) or Paycheck (2003), and less of a muddled drag than A Scanner Darkly (2006).
The involvement of Gary Goldman, who wrote "Total Recall" and an early version of "Minority Report," with "Next", a loose adaptation of Dick's 1954 short story "The Golden Man," is somewhat of a giveaway, but once again, these ideas are put into the capable hands of an action director, in this case "Die Another Day" director Lee Tamahori, to try to get the high concept idea across in the most entertaining way possible.
The filmmakers based the movie on a short story, "The Golden Man," by Hollywood's favorite sci-fi writer, the late Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Screamers," "Minority Report," "Scanner Darkly"), but beyond the basic idea, they didn't appear to do much with it except turn it into one long chase.
The results have been uneven to say the least, and while Next is hardly in the same league as Blade Runner or Minority Report (2002), it’s certainly better than Impostor (2002) or Paycheck (2003), and less of a muddled drag than A Scanner Darkly (2006).
Fresh from last year's noble misfire of A Scanner Darkly, and with the memories of Payback and Impostor still scorching the psyche, comes possibly the most egregious befouling of Dick's work to date.
“Next,” based on Dick’s “The Golden Man,” is the latest adaptation, and while it’s no “Minority Report” or “Blade Runner,” at least it’s no “Impostor” or “Paycheck,” either.
In the movie's production notes, he asserts the inspiration of such high-toned pictures as "Hiroshima mon amour" and Wong Kar-Wai's "Happy Together."
It’s a carbon copy of a sequence in Ransom (among other films), and it leads to a loot drop-off clearly stolen from Kurosawa’s High and Low.
Jack, disgusted when his alter ego, the cowardly movie star Bruce Baxter (Kyle Chandler, "Mulholland Falls"), is presented as Kong's defeater, rushes to lure the ape away from midtown, while Ann, who has refused to take part in Kong's exploitation, hears the pandemonium outside and finds the bruised beast, offering him comfort.
However, the Diesel-less sequel, xXx: State of the Union really isn’t any better.
"State of the Union" opens explosively and never lets up, with Lee Tamahori ("Die Another Day") in full command of the action and Simon Kinberg an equally astute writer with a flair for linking socko action set pieces with terse characterization and a sure sense of topicality.
The novels and stories of the late Philip K. Dick have already provided the basis for eight movies, some of them very good ("Blade Runner," "Minority Report"), some so-so at best ("Imposter," "Paycheck"), and at least one of them godawful ("Screamers").
Lee Tamahori’s film is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick story “The Golden Man,” and if you know your Dick, you know screen adaptations of his work are all over the map — just compare Blade Runner with slack crap like Paycheck.
Ever since Ridley Scott turned Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” into Blade Runner (1982), the movies have been pretty keen on Dick—or at least on the prospect of turning his stories into pop-culture gold.
In fact, this may be one of the first Dick adaptations since "Blade Runner" that might warrant some form of sequel, although who knows what they'd be able to call it?
The filmmakers based the movie on a short story, "The Golden Man," by Hollywood's favorite sci-fi writer, the late Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Screamers," "Minority Report," "Scanner Darkly"), but beyond the basic idea, they didn't appear to do much with it except turn it into one long chase.
The novels and stories of the late Philip K. Dick have already provided the basis for eight movies, some of them very good ("Blade Runner," "Minority Report"), some so-so at best ("Imposter," "Paycheck"), and at least one of them godawful ("Screamers").
The filmmakers based the movie on a short story, "The Golden Man," by Hollywood's favorite sci-fi writer, the late Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Screamers," "Minority Report," "Scanner Darkly"), but beyond the basic idea, they didn't appear to do much with it except turn it into one long chase.
The presiding influence, however, is clearly the work of documentarian Erroll Morris, in particular his disturbing 1988 classic, "The Thin Blue Line."
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Directed by Curtis Hanson
influenced by Mulholland Falls (1996)
Plot Themes
(Nor is he Curtis Hanson, who did this movie right the following year with L.A. Confidential.)
With a script that pays homage to the films of the '40s and '50s and may remind some viewers of the likes of Chinatown, L.A. Confidential proves that every period piece thriller doesn't have to go the way of Mulholland Falls.
Last year director Lee Tamahori took a stab at this kind of heavy, character-driven, post-war detective story with "Mulholland Falls" and flopped.
And few believed in a period crime movie at a time when they seemed to be box office poison (Mulholland Falls, anyone?).
For this curious project, writer and producer Gary Goldman (who'd previously worked on "Minority Report" and "Total Recall," another PKD-based movie) acquired the rights to a 1954 Dick short story called "The Golden Man." Then he threw away the story, replaced it with an unrelated narrative of his own devising, changed the title, and shopped the resulting property to Saturn Films, a production company run by Nicolas Cage.
The involvement of Gary Goldman, who wrote "Total Recall" and an early version of "Minority Report," with "Next", a loose adaptation of Dick's 1954 short story "The Golden Man," is somewhat of a giveaway, but once again, these ideas are put into the capable hands of an action director, in this case "Die Another Day" director Lee Tamahori, to try to get the high concept idea across in the most entertaining way possible.
The filmmakers based the movie on a short story, "The Golden Man," by Hollywood's favorite sci-fi writer, the late Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall," "Screamers," "Minority Report," "Scanner Darkly"), but beyond the basic idea, they didn't appear to do much with it except turn it into one long chase.
Dick’s stories have been the basis or inspiration for hits like “Blade Runner” and “Total Recall.”
The torpid "Next" may actually trump "Paycheck" as the worst film based on a story by the late, highly regarded, science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick - whose works have been turned into "Total Recall," "Minority Report" and "Blade Runner."
Seven Days in May (1964)
Directed by John Frankenheimer
influenced xXx: State of the Union (2005)
Plot
Anyone who knows Seven Days in May will follow the plot, or perhaps simply recognize it.
George has since been elevated to Secretary of Defense (you know this is make-believe because the president is a liberal and his hawkish advisors have actually served time in combat) whose Seven Days in May ambitions unfold after a mystery raid on an NSA headquarters leaves top dog Augustus Gibbons (Samuel L. Jackson) on the run.
There's also a surprise (at least to me) appearance by Andrew McCarthy, who plays the victim's best friend in the movie (loved him since Less Than Zero and Pretty In Pink).
In a scene almost too good for the rest of the film, it begs having de Armas either reprise her role or do what Halle Berry’s Jinx Johnson from Die Another Day was meant to do: be spun off into an American spy series parallel to James Bond.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Directed by George Lucas
influenced by Once Were Warriors (1994)
Far more shocking is witnessing Commander Cody (Temuera Morrison, "Once Were Warriors") execute order 66 at Palpatine's bidding, turning and firing upon the Obi-Wan he was just conversing with and becoming who we know as Jango Fett.
As Sarrab, Ludivine Sagnier (2003's " Peter Pan ") is an eye-catcher, sexy but with a depth and longing to back it up.
(If you are wondering why the title sounds so familiar, it�s because of the 1996 movie Mulholland Falls with Nick Nolte, John Malkovich and Melanie Griffith.)