Virtuality

Moore's other pilot-turned-movie was advertised as such because FOX didn't pick it up as a series, and the only shot it had at that happening was doing a good job in the ratings, and being a new science fiction property without any big names and airing on Friday night, it failed to do so. What did FOX expect? There was supposed to be a decent ad campaign behind it but even I didn't know when it was airing, and for all intents and purposes they left it to die. I'm not too broken up about it, because as a prospect for a series I'm not sure how they could keep it interesting for more than a season or two, but as a simple introduction to a bunch of characters and possible conflicts I mostly enjoyed it.

The problem is it doesn't work as a stand-alone movie because it leaves too many plot threads dangling, and it probably wouldn't work as a series because there's only so much you can do with a realistic mission through space and no fanciful elements like extremely quick space travel or aliens or anything. The premise is fairly interesting; a space crew that's being filmed for a huge reality show is faced with a decision as they near Saturn - return to Earth which is rapidly experiencing a decline in living conditions or continue on with their ten year mission to a nearby star. Given that it was supposed to set up something long running, it's fairly obvious which will be picked, but there are decent reasons for both and some amount of tension and drama to the whole proceedings. Happening alongside all this is some mysterious figure who keeps popping up unexpectedly in the virtual reality simulations the crew uses to unwind and killing them repeatedly. I like seeing a sci-fi story that's mostly grounded in reality and most of the cast is pretty good, but in the end all Virtuality does is begin to tell a story that will most likely never continue, making it little more than an interesting failure.

Smokin' Aces

I checked this out for roughly the same reasons as the last two movies, but it's not really that similar to them. Carnahan's script tries very desperately to be smart and stylish, although it only partially succeeds at times. There are a lot of different characters with similar amounts of screen time, and it was a little difficult to even say who the stars were, so I just went with the two "good" guy feds. I think Ryan Reynolds should probably stick with comedy. Part of me wants to say he's fine in a serous role, but I think that's really just thinking he can grow a pretty nice beard. Ray Liotta never did that much with his career after Goodfellas, although he always seems to do a good job when he appears. Plenty of other large and small names make appearances, from Ben Affleck to Jason Bateman to Jeremy Piven to Andy Garcia and a bunch of people you probably don't know by name but recognize when you see them. Common and Alicia Keys also make their acting debuts, and they're not bad enough that I'd want to make a lame comment about sticking to their music careers.

All of these characters lead to a lot of craziness that could turn into a jumbled mess, although it never does. Basically, Smokin' Aces is a movie about a couple of FBI guys going to pick up Piven's character (nicknamed "Aces"), a mob witness, before a plethora of hitmen descend on him to pick up the seven figure reward on his head. They all want to smoke Aces. Get it? Chaos ensues, with lots of shooting and stabbing happening everywhere all over a casino. It's over the top most of the time, with hookers running around, sniper rifles so powerful they can knock you over, and a trio called the Tremors adding plate armor and chainsaws to the mix. A bunch of fairly entertaining stuff happens with the requisite subterfuge and betrayal before the rug is pulled out with a plot twist after all the action's died down. A few plot points seem a little vague, but it's a decent enough story in the end. The movie's never as thoroughly entertaining as it obviously wants to be, but it wasn't too bad. If anything, it does well balancing all the pieces it throws in the air.