Tom Cruise makes a good ‘Jack Reacher’

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jack-reacher-tom-cruise

I noted yesterday I hoped to see “Jack Reacher,” the movie adaptation of Lee Child’s wandering troubleshooter character. I did see it and wanted to share a few thoughts.

I was as skeptical as anyone when Paramount announced that Tom Cruise would be playing Reacher. He’s nearly a foot shorter than Child’s ex-MP, maybe 80 pounds lighter and not nearly as ape-ishly ugly as Reacher in the books.

But Cruise does a good job of essaying the terse confidence and quiet physicality of Reacher in the movie. Although I thought a few times about the difference in appearance, I was pleased overall with Cruise’s presence and performance.

As fans of the book “One Shot,” from which the plot of “Jack Reacher” was taken, know, director Christopher McQuarrie is fairly faithful to the book. After former Army sniper James Barr is arrested for killing several people with a high-powered rifle, he asks for Jack Reacher. The police are stumped, however: Reacher has no home, no ID, no good way of being tracked.

At about that time, Reacher shows up, unannounced, having seen news accounts of the killing spree. The cops think he’s there to defend his former military cohort. But Reacher, convinced that Barr killed several civilians in the Middle East, believes the man is guilty.

Reacher is persuaded to work as an investigator for Barr’s defense attorney (Rosamund Pike) and slowly begins to unravel a plot that ensnared Barr.

Fans of the book will notice a few characters are missing. Happily, one of the best characters from the book, a shooting range owner and Reacher ally named Cash, is in the movie and is played by a wry Robert Duvall. He’s good and adds a bit of humanity to Reacher, who as a character can be so superhuman he can be, well, unreachable.

That’s part of the fun of Child’s books, however. Reacher is such a capable, lethal, smart soldier that it’s fun to watch him tear his way through opponents.

Random observations:

Lee Child has a cameo in the movie. He’s the desk sergeant giving Reacher back his passport, toothbrush and cash – familiar to fans of the books as pretty much all Reacher carries with him – when Reacher is released from jail.

Although the book is set in Indiana – in a made-up city – the movie’s setting is Pittsburgh. Wonder why the change?

The movie is true to the tradition of Reacher taking a bit of punishment. And of people being horrified by his wounds. What Reacher doesn’t say, however: “You should have seen the other guy.”

Reacher returns in ‘A Wanted Man’

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lee child a wanted man

This is something of a Lee Child weekend. The Tom Cruise movie “Jack Reacher,” the big-screen adaptation of Child’s book “One Shot,” opened in theaters. I hope to see it and will let you know what I thought.

But first, I’m finally getting around to sharing my thoughts on “A Wanted Man,” the 17th (!) Jack Reacher novel written by Child, a British author who has met with curious success by writing about an ex military cop who wanders the interstate highways and back roads of the U.S.

A quick introduction, if you don’t know the Reacher character: Reacher is a former military police officer who has decided to give up house and home and regular employment and travel, by foot and bus and hitchhiking, the United States. From book to book, carrying only an old passport, an ATM card and a toothbrush, Reacher goes where the flow of traffic takes him.

He’s unencumbered by a house, family or even suitcase. He simply buys new clothes every couple of days as he ambles.

Inevitably, like Lassie and the Hulk, the ambler finds himself drawn into other people’s problems. And because he’s six-feet-five and a trained killing machine, he’s usually able to solve said problems.

In recent books Reacher’s been in the West, traveling slowly back to the greater D.C. area to meet a woman he’s had some dealings with. In “A Wanted Man,” Reacher gets a ride from two men and a woman traveling East.

Which is no small accomplishment since the ape-like Reacher looks supremely scruffy, with duct tape over his latest broken nose and sporting worn and bloody clothing.

But the threesome that picks him up isn’t worried about that. Reacher quickly finds that the two men are looking for more people to join them so they can escape the scrutiny of the law. And the woman is feeling especially desperate because she’s a kidnap victim.

The book is divided between the low-key but menacing car ride and its aftermath, as Reacher works with a reluctant federal agent to try to save the woman.

There’s government plots and double identities scattered through the book and an opportunity for the dryly funny Reacher to show off his combat skills.

“A Wanted Man” is good Lee Child Reacher fiction but maybe not the best. I’ve enjoyed some of his more recent stories of Reacher against a corrupt town or family a bit more. But good Lee Child is always a fun and entertaining read.

Let’s hoping it makes for good moviegoing too.

 

iPhoneography: The Muhammad Ali Center

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ali center painting

There are so, so many reasons to honor Muhammad Ali.

Here’s a man who, as a child, pulled himself up out of the rough streets of Louisville, became an athlete, then became an Olympic athlete, became a professional athlete at a time of desegregation and prejudice against African-Americans, became a living symbol of how the government can try to crush people whose beliefs are considered unacceptable by some officials, fought his way back to the top of his profession and, even while facing a crippling illness, continued to live his life as an example to others.

Ali is a true hero.

The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, is a really very good repository and collection of the many highlights of his life. Medals and personal mementoes abound and – most compelling to me, in a way – film of some of his fights plays non-stop on monitors in the building.

The Ali center has a lot of weight but isn’t boring. The color and drama of Ali’s life is recreated.

Above is my iPhone snapshot of one of artist LeRoy Neiman’s paintings of Ali, of course. The original is on display in the center.

ali center tiles

Inside the center, besides the display of Ali artifacts, are demonstrations of Ali’s reach on young people, including these tiles painted by children.

ali center outside

And outside the beautiful building is a sunny plaza overseen by images of The Greatest himself.

The Ali Center is worth a visit.

iPhone Christmas stuff: Cap and Darth

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cap christmas stocking

Here’s another coupla pop culture Christmas thingies, courtesy of my iPhone.

Above is a bonafide Captain America Christmas stocking, one of several focusing on popular Marvel heroes and Avengers.

I would have loved one of these as a little geek.

darth vader nutcracker

And speaking of little geek love: A Darth Vader nutcracker.

If it was a talking nutcracker, oh the things it would say:

“Join me, Luke, and together we can crack nuts throughout the galaxy as father and son!”

Well, you don’t think he used the Force just to choke out Imperial lackeys, do you?

 

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ trailer: Five things we noticed

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Star-Trek-Into-Darkness-

In the latest in a series of previews of a movie that doesn’t come out until May – and really, by that time I think we’ll have seen all of it, although probably out of sequence – the latest teaser trailer from “Star Trek Into Darkness” debuted online today.

Some random thoughts:

Two narrators this time, both scary. In the earlier teaser we heard Benedict Cumberbatch assuring Kirk and company that they were overmatched. There’s more of that this time, plus words from Bruce Greenwood’s Christopher Pike telling Kirk that his lack of humility will get him and his crew killed. Then we see what might be Starfleet caskets. FOREshadowing!

Solemn is the word. Surely there’s some lighthearted humor in the movie. But we’re not seeing it so far. Maybe there’ll be something funny in the scene that sees Kirk and McCoy running for their lives through a crazy red landscape.

Gary Mitchell? Garth? John Harrison? Who is Benedict Cumberbatch playing? We still don’t know. We’ve been led to believe that Khan, the ultimate “Star Trek” movie Big Bad, is not the character Cumberbatch is playing in the movie. Is that a ruse? Is he really Khan? Is he paving the way for Khan in a third movie? Personally, I’m still betting on Gary Mitchell, Kirk’s old comrade who gets godlike powers.

Cumberbatch hangs out in the Hulk/Loki chamber from “The Avengers.” Not really. But it sure looks like something Samuel L. Jackson would drop from a great height with the right provocation.

Alice Eve is reportedly playing Carol Marcus. Will we see the inception of Kirk’s son, David Marcus?

The movie opens May 17.

iPhone Christmas ornaments: ALVIN!

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chipmunks ornament

Here’s another look at offbeat Christmas ornaments.

Not a lot needs to be said here except that if someone gives you an Alvin and the Chipmunks ornament I feel sorry for you.

But if you bring this into your own house, it’s all on you.

iPhone Christmas ornaments: Two worlds collide

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santa jesus tree

Okay, I know that maybe it’s not that strange to have Santa Claus cuddling the baby Jesus.

But for a kid who was raised in the Baptist church, the mix of holiday images is just weird to me.

So Santa under the Christmas tree with Jesus = huh?

santa jesus manger

So Santa right there in the manger = double huh?

Next you’re gonna tell me the Little Drummer Boy is supplying sticks for plugging holes in Noah’s Ark?

 

‘Man of Steel’ trailer still a quandary

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man of steel poster

I want to believe a man can fly.

I want to believe in Superman.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I do.

It’s “Man of Steel” I’m not sure about.

man of steel trailer

The latest trailer for “Man of Steel,” producer Christopher Nolan and director Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Superman movies, hit the Interwebz yesterday. I’ve watched it a few times and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

Ambivalent, maybe. Here’s why:

We don’t need another origin story, even though we’re getting one. Yes, it’s been more than three decades since the last big-screen Superman origin. Yes, the lure of Krypton’s explosion and Jor-El and all that is too great to pass up. But I just feel like we don’t need another introduction to Superman the character, any more than I feel like we needed another introduction to Spider-Man last summer. Between the various and quite good animated versions and “Smallville,” I can’t imagine what another origin story will bring.

Superman is lonely but he isn’t brooding. He’s an alien, more or less the last surviving Kryptonian. Well, that’s proven false time and time again in the comics and movies. But you get the idea. So while I don’t want to see a happy, sunny Superman necessarily, I don’t feel like we need a Superman who’s just as likely to lie on his bed and eat Doritos all weekend as … well, must of his fans are.

On the other hand … Superman isn’t boring. He’s a complex, multi-faceted character, not a Boy Scout. So maybe some stark loneliness will play well.

If Pa Kent isn’t Clark’s dependable mentor and conscience and adviser, I’m not sure I want to see that movie. In the trailer, young Clark wonders if he should have let a school bus full of kids drown in a river rather than save them – especially if it means revealing his powers. Pa says, “Maybe.” No. Pa Kent would never say that. Wrong. Wrong.

We need some action. It kinda sorta looks like Brooding Boy pulls on his scaly blue tights and engages in some fisticuffs with Zod at some point. At least I hope so. “Superman Returns” was so slow.

The imagery is … problematic. The early poster (above), featuring Superman in handcuffs. Why would Warners want that image, curiosity-inspiring as it might be, to be the first image most people connect with the movie?

Did I say we don’t need another origin story? Oh yes, I guess I did.

 

 

Cool trailer for ‘Pacific Rim’

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pacific-rim1

This isn’t “Transformers.” At least, I don’t think it is.

One of the buzziest movies due out next summer is “Pacific Rim,” director Guillermo del Toro’s epic-in-scale science fiction movie about a future Earth where giant, Godzilla-like creatures have risen from the sea to destroy mankind … and they’re confronted by the giant, pilot-driven robots mankind has created to beat them back.

“Pacific Rim” has been getting some good reaction from the fans so far. The new trailer went online today and I’ve gotta say that it looks good even to someone who isn’t the biggest giant-monsters-menacing-Japan fan in the world.

Check out the trailer on iTunes here.

iPhoneography: More Christmas stuff

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pocket size charlie brown tree

You know how this goes: I find odd Christmas ornaments and decor take pictures with my iPhone. And publish them here.

Above we see the tiniest manifestation of the Charlie Brown Christmas phenomenon. That little box contains a pathetic little tree and a little book retelling the story from the classic 1965 “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Tiny little Peanuts pathos.

furry stockings

Here’s the oddest Christmas stocking I’ve seen this year. Anyone else remember the goat leggings from the 1987 “Dragnet” movie?

dragnet goat leggings

And finally, there’s this:

tennis ball ornament

Really, Target, I don’t need any more encouragement for my dog to try to eat our Christmas tree.