BEFORE: This is the end of the Nicholson chain - I didn't get to films like "Anger Management", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "The Pledge", "The Border", or "Heartburn", but I'm OK with that - I think I did a pretty good job covering his films. This is also the start of a week of werewolf movies.
THE PLOT: Publisher Will Randall becomes a werewolf and has to fight to keep his job.
AFTER: And Michelle Pfeiffer carries over from last night's film as well...here she plays a woman who is so jaded, when a man tells her he is turning into a werewolf, she's barely even fazed, like she's seen it all before.
Nicholson plays a book editor here (wasn't he in publishing in "As Good As It Gets"? I guess he was an author in that one...) who's portrayed as something of an industry shark - yet he's also described as somewhat timid, which seems like a contradiction.
Anyway, when he gets bitten by a wolf that he struck with his car, it brings out his animal instincts (and some extra body hair) that actually seem to help him succeed at his job. He becomes more ruthless by day, and at night he leaps around Central Park looking for muggers to tear into.
The transformation effects were relatively low-budget, compared to some films coming up later this week, anyway...but the story was relatively strong, with some nice surprises in it later on.
Enhanced strength, heightened senses, increased sex drive - geez, it almost seems like there's no downside to this werewolf curse!
Also starring James Spader (last seen in "Wall Street"), Christopher Plummer (last seen in "Inside Man"), Richard Jenkins (last seen in "The Witches of Eastwick"), and David Hyde Pierce (last heard in "Hellboy"), with cameos from Ron Rifkin (last seen in "The Majestic"), Allison Janney (last seen in "Hairspray"), and David Schwimmer (last heard in "Madagascar 2").
RATING: 7 out of 10 peanut butter sandwiches.
JACK-O-METER: 7 out of 10. A bit more restrained than last night, at least when in human form. In wolf form, he's got that same evil "look" that he wore in "The Shining" and "The Witches of Eastwick".
SPOOK-O-METER: 4 out of 10. Hard to take Nicholson seriously as a werewolf.
Hello Honky,
ReplyDeleteI've been looking for some good movie blogs so I thought I'd check yours out, very impressive!!
Although it'll probably take me a while to work through all your reviews I'll try and post some comments as I go.
Moving on to Wolf, the fact that this film is a favourite of mine is mainly due to Michelle Pfeiffer.I love all Michelle's films in fact I've even dedicated a blog to her called Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies, If you get a chance check it out.
See you later.