Kiele Sanchez

A Perfect Getaway, Kiele Sanchez – Download on iTunes

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6 strangers. 2 killers. No getting away… Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez star in this shocking Unrated version of the gripping suspense thriller from director David Twohy about an island vacation that turns deadly. Honeymooners Cliff (Zahn) and Cydney (Jovovich) are hiking a jungle trail to a remote Hawaiian beach when they hear that police have uncovered a grisly murder scene and the suspected killers are somewhere nearby. Unsure whether to stay or flee, the pair joins two other couples when things start to go horribly wrong. Far from civilization, a brutal battle for survival begins where danger lurks along every twist of the path and no one is who they seem.

© 2009 Rogue Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

David Twohy doesn’t reinvent the wheel with A Perfect Getaway, the key to both the film’s minor successes and shortcomings. Interested in straightforward B-movie suspense laced with a dash of wink-wink self-awareness, Twohy’s film concerns a vacationing couple in Kauai – screenwriter Cliff (Steve Zahn) and new bride Cydney (Milla Jovovich) – who, while backpacking in the mountains, hear that a pair of newlywed murderers are loose on the island. Wouldn’t you know it, they then immediately find themselves faced with two sets of suspects: a menacing pair (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton) angry over being denied a hitchhiking ride, and a super hunting/camping twosome (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez) who seem a bit too handy with a knife. Twohy lets his story’s central guessing game play out with patient tautness, and his cast’s performances – whether directly addressing the issue of “red herrings” and “second-act plot twists,” as Olyphant does, or merely exuding a playful “how dangerous am I?” ambiguity – keep the mystery lively. It’s too bad that Twohy telegraphs his climactic surprise from the opening-credits prologue, yet his otherwise capable misdirections are sturdy enough to cast minor doubt on the final outcome, just as his generally clean, gimmick-free direction keeps the action lean and swift. A third-act filled with too much flash and sizzle, as well as dull flashback exposition, mucks up the preceding tense atmosphere, but as far as modest genre exercises go, A Perfect Getaway nonetheless gets enough right.

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 — A&E says it has given the go-ahead to a new scripted police drama “Sugarloaf,” starring Australian actor Matt Passmore.

The cast of the show includes Kiele Sanchez and Carlos Gomez.

Fox Television Studios is to begin production on a 13-episode run in Miami this winter for a summer premiere.

Passmore will play Jim Longworth, “an attractive, brilliant, yet hard to get along with homicide detective from Chicago who after being wrongfully accused of sleeping with his former captain’s wife is forced into exile,” A&E said in a news release Thursday.

“Longworth relocates to Sugarloaf, a sleepy small resort town in the middle of nowhere on the Gulf Coast of Florida where the sunshine and golf are plentiful and crime is seemingly at a minimum. Yet life in Sugarloaf is not as beautiful as it may seem.”

“Matt Passmore brings a fresh face and a vibrant presence to the American television landscape in this series,” Tana Nugent Jamieson — senior vice president of drama programming for A&E Network — said in a statement. “‘Sugarloaf’ is an exciting character-driven series that marries the gritty style of a police procedural with the blue-sky backdrop of rural Florida. It’s pure entertainment that will complement the network’s current lineup of hit real-life series and off-net dramas.”

A&E will add a new drama to its lineup this summer, greenlights Sugarloaf.

Production will begin in Miami this winter on the series from Fox Television Studios. A&E officials said the network has placed a 13-installment order for the original series, starring Australian actor Matt Passmore (McLeod’s Daughters, Underbelly) as a hard-to-get-along with homicide detective from Chicago, who is forced to leave the Second City after being wrongfully accused of sleeping with his former captain’s wife.
In the pilot, Longworth has relocated to Sugarloaf a small resort town on Florida’s Gulf Coast, where the easily life goes bad when a unidentified woman washes up in a creek. Further complicating matters is his relationship with Callie (Kiele Sanchez, Lost, Samantha Who?), a beautiful medical student with a 12 year-old son and a husband in prison. Golf partner and department medical examiner Carlos (Carlos Gómez, Shark, Sleeper Cell) is also in mix, trying to piece together the facts to identify the victim and bring her killer to justice.

“Matt Passmore brings a fresh face and a vibrant presence to the American television landscape in this series,” said Tana Nugent Jamieson, senior vice president, drama programming, A&E Network in announcing the pick-up. “Sugarloaf is an exciting character-driven series that marries the gritty style of a police procedural with the blue-sky backdrop of rural Florida. It’s pure entertainment that will complement the network’s current lineup of hit “Real-Life” series and off-net dramas.”

A&E is loading up on “Sugarloaf”

The network has picked up the hour long pilot starring Matt Passmore & Kiele Sanchez with a 13-episode order. The Fox TV Studios drama centers on Jim Longworth (Passmore), a brilliant-but-difficult Chicago homicide detective who’s wrongfully accused of sleeping with his former captain’s wife and forced into exile. Longworth relocates to Sugarloaf, a sleepy Gulf Coast resort town in Florida where life can be less beautiful than it first seems. Kiele Sanchez and Carlos Gomez co-star. Production is set to begin in Miami this winter for a summer premiere. “Sugarloaf” was one of two drama pilots that A&E picked up last fall, along with “The Quickening,” which starred Radha Mitchell as a bipolar homicide detective. The network passed on “Quickening” this month. “We have only one spot for the summer, and when we screened ‘Sugarloaf’ we knew this is the one,” A&E senior vp drama programming Tana Nugent Jamieson said. “It takes a typical gritty police procedural but has fun with the main character against the blue-sky backdrop of rural Florida. It’s pure entertainment that will complement the network’s current lineup of hit real-life series and off-net dramas.” The series order for “Sugarloaf” — created by Clifton Campbell and executive produced by Campbell and Gary Randall — represents a tonal shift at A&E. After a six-year hiatus, the basic cable network re-entered the scripted-series arena with two gritty dramas, “The Cleaner” in 2008 and “The Beast” in 2009, which lasted two and one season, respectively. In its latest round of pilots, A&E had a choice between staying the course with the dark and edgy “Quickening” and going lighter with “Sugarloaf.” “Quickening” also came from Fox TV Studios, which produces USA Network’s “Burn Notice” and “White Collar.”"‘Sugarloaf’ is a mystery show with a light touch set in a fun location with a lot of playfulness and wit to it, and it fits nicely alongside ‘Burn Notice’ and ‘White Collar,’ ” FtvS exec vp David Madden said. “We’ve found a bit of a sweet spot for us.

A Perfect Getaway is much like a disappointing rollercoaster ride – it runs along a lengthy plateau until finally climbing to the peak and then quickly descending to an unsatisfactory conclusion.

Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) are honeymooning in Hawaii when they hear of a grisly murder nearby of another pair of newlyweds. Hiking a secluded jungle trail to a remote beach, they choose to join another couple (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez) rather than run back to civilization. Eventually things begin to go horribly wrong and a brutal fight for survival ensues deep in the heart of paradise.

As I began watching, I was reminded of the highly disturbed road trip movie Kalifornia. In both, one couple decides to travel with another during a vacation; however, one of the pairs is actually deranged serial killers. Kalifornia is made interesting from beginning to end by the strange interactions of the characters. While A Perfect Getaway has some of these moments, the first hour passes relatively without incident.

Finally, the climax/reveal is exciting and very promising in terms of a last act that will make the previous hour worthwhile. Unfortunately, the filmmakers did not feel the same squandering the opportunity for a thrilling final 30 minutes. As a result, the film quickly plummets to an insufficient end.

There are no DVD special features.  6.5/10

After the overblown space opera that was The Chronicles of Riddick, David Twohy is back in more comfortable genre territory. He writes and directs a slick character driven thriller that’s an enjoyable rollercoaster ride, containing a fine twist.
The Story of A Perfect Getaway

A newlywed couple, Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney Anderson (Milla Jovovich), are honeymooning in Hawaii, backpacking to one of its most remote beaches. On route they hear that a couple have been murdered close by and they begin to fear that they might be next. When they encounter another couple, the all action Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez), their suspicions are raised.
The Benefits of Committed Actors

A Perfect Getaway is a solidly written thriller, yet it demonstrates the importance of committed acting. Twohy’s economical characterisation is devoured by the actors, who are clearly having a ball. Zahn and Olyphant both play to type: Zahn slightly bumbling; Olyphant sinister and slightly crazed. Sanchez, looking like Lara Croft, is far more than window dressing and has a lot of charm. The revelation of the cast, though, is Jovovich. So often playing cold and serious action heroines, here she can stretch herself by playing, ironically, a mild mannered and ordinary woman. There’s a charisma and likability in her performance that hasn’t been seen enough in her career so far.
A B-Movie Thrill Ride

Zwohy is an expert of pressure cooker scenarios, knowing that its character that tension is built from, not action set pieces. The chosen Hawaii backdrop to events is a refreshing locale, open and beautiful, at odds with the claustrophobic situation the characters find themselves in. Danger, it seems, can find you in even the most beautiful of places.

As the film progresses the tension ramps up as everyone suspects everyone else. This paranoia is supplemented by knowing references to storytelling given that Zahn character is a screenwriter, questioned ceaselessly by the interested Olyphant. Zwohy wants the audience to guess where the story’s going, knowing he’s got a twist up his sleeve that, like the best, is so obvious it’s brilliant. When the reveal comes, the film erupts into a crescendo of action that’s satisfyingly done, albeit a little too flashy with heavy use of slow-mo.

Read more at Suite101: UK Film Review: A Perfect Getaway: David Twohy’s Back Doing What He Does Best http://action-films-thrillers.suite101.com/article.cfm/uk-film-review-a-perfect-getaway#ixzz0fZXEstbV

Kiele Sanchez and Evangeline Lilly – The Six Degrees of Dating

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Interview: A Perfect Getaway’s Tim Olyphant And Kiele Sanchez

It’s hard to talk about A Perfect Getaway on tape. Not because the paradise-set thriller doesn’t have anything going on it, but because there’s a twist halfway through that makes the rest of the film impossible to discuss without spoiling.

So when we sat down with Kiele Sanchez and Timothy Olyphant, we didn’t talk much about their rough-and-tumble characters or how they turn out in the film. Instead, we stuck to the marijuana laws of Jamaica, kayaking and Kiele and Timothy’s stints on Lost and Deadwood, respectively. And because these two are so dynamic, it turned out hilarious anyway. Read the brief interview below, and check out A Perfect Getaway in theaters starting today.

Did you see the final 30 minutes of the movie coming when you first read the script?
Timothy: No. Well, that’s not true.
Kiele: I really didn’t. But you’re smarter than I am, so that makes sense.
Timothy: I just read really slowly, so that helps. I don’t recall. But I do remember I remember the moment I figured it out, before it happened.
Kiele: I had no idea if I was the killer.

Did you have to go through a lot of physical training to make the movie?
Kiele: I was actually training for a marathon anyway, so I was already kind of doing a lot of physical activity as far as that’s concerned. I ddin’t do a lot of training as far as fight training, because I didn’t think that my character would be a professional fighter.

It seems like you guys had a good time shooting out there in the jungle, hanging out on the set waiting for the weather conditions to cooperate.
Timothy: We really did click as a group from the jump. It was a lovely group of actors, on and offscreen. It was really fun from the first rehearsals. Steve, Milla and Kiele, they’re all very spontaneous, they’re all very present. Invariably you always sit around on any set, and here we got to sit around on the beach, on the rocks.
Kiele: The rainforest.
Timothy: They’d be like, cut, and you’d be like, OK, I’m just gonna kayak. I’m already in the kayak. Steve and I got to go to Jamaica. You didn’t get to go.
Kiele: I don’t want to talk about that.
Timothy: Yeah, it was beautiful.

But Kiele, weren’t you part of that scene by the cave? You were on top of the cave?
Kiele: I was on the bubble of going. You may be going to Jamaica, you may not be going to Jamaica.
Timothy: You should go. I highly recommend Jamaica. You can get weed from anyone at any time. You don’t buy it, because everybody has it. There’s no weed for sale.
Kiele: Because that would be illegal.
Timothy: Apparently in other places. I walked by the gardener at the hotel and he reeked of weed. Then you go to the lobby, and they’re also high. You can get room service to bring you weed. I am not making it up. They’ll leave it on the bedside table. Part of the turndown service. A little joint on the bedside table.

Kiele, the last time we saw you tramping through the jungle was on Lost.
Kiele: It’s interesting. It was always going to be just a guest star role. I didn’t think I was going to be sticking around for too long on the show. The only thing that was disappointing was, I feel like fans felt a little betrayed by the fact that there was these other people that you just didn’t see, that had been there the whole time and here they are. I felt the fans’ disappointment, and i understood it.

Do you feel glad to have been a part of this fan world? Because I think fans like you as well.
Kiele: Totally. I am honored to be a part of a show that I think is, it’s a phenomenon. To be part of that in any way, I’m really happy with. And I was really happy with the episode that I got. I thought that it was really awesome, and I felt lucky. It was a good death. And I love that it was done by the heroes of the show. They’re burying two people who are actually alive. Tim, how about the role that Deadwood keeps playing in your life? And your recent role on Damages?
Timothy: Deadwood was an experience that kind of keeps on giving. Milch is a really inspiring, creative force, and I feel like I draw from that a great deal still. With both those shows, it’s really wonderful to be on something that you’re proud of, just to be a part of it. Both those experiences fall into that category.

Synopsis of ‘A Perfect Getaway’

Honeymooning newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) are hiking an 11-mile trail in Hawaii when they cross paths will ex-military man Nick (Timothy Olyphant), who earns their trust by helping them navigate a particularly treacherous mountain cliff. A few yards later, the trio runs into a group of girls whose parents are begging them to return home following reports that a honeymooning couple has been murdered on one of the other islands. The suspects in the killings are a young white couple, and when Cliff and Cydney meet Nick’s frees-spirited girlfriend, Gina (Kiele Sanchez), tensions start to rise. The further the foursome walks together, the more delicate the balance of trust and suspicion becomes.

Hollywood is praising Kiele Sanchez for 30 Days of Night: Dark Days. Insiders are saying she tops any other actress at the moment and is “being watched very closely” as one of Tinseltown’s new leading lady’s of action films.

Steve Niles Updates 30 Days of Night Franchise and seems to believe Kiele Sanchez was a perfect fit and hopefully we’ll be seeing more vampires on the big screen in the near future!

Bloody Disgusting E.L. Katz recently was lucky enough to visit the set of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, the highly anticipated sequel now filming in Vancouver, Canada. While a full set report is forthcoming, along with a handful of interviews, we’ve still got something juicy to share with you. Katz caught up with creator/co-writer Steve Niles who talks to BD about another sequel, along with why Melissa George didn’t return as Stella.

“How many sequels are currently planned? Is “Return to Barrow” in conceptual stages?” asks Katz.

“Right now we’re just trying to get this one in the can,” Niles states; adding that they plan on bringing back some of the cast. “If that goes well, we’re set up to move forward. We got a great young cast that we can bring along if this works out well, and we’ll be ready to keep going with the story. Plus, the comics are done. God, what do we have, like seven different graphic novels now if it actually took off?”

Kiele Sanchez as Stella, Rhys Coiro, Mia Kirshner, Harold Perrineau, Diora Baird, Rhys Coiro, Monique Ganderton, Marco Sorian and even Katherine Isabelle all star in the film; but Stella was recast (upgraded you mean to Kiele Sanchez!) Niles explains briefly why Melissa George couldn’t return to fill her shoes?

“Schedule. The enemy of all casting. She’s got a “million gazillion” things going on right now, so we couldn’t fit it.” ~Sorry, but a “million gazillion” is such a lame excuse, luckily after her excellent performance in a ‘A Perfect Getaway‘, Kiele Sanchez is the darling for fighting bloody vampires, Kiele is really the one to keep watching!

In ‘Dark Days’, it’s been a year since the Alaskan town of Barrow’s population was decimated by vampires during its annual month long sunset. Riddled with grief over the death of her husband, bound by nightmares and void of all emotions beyond hate and sorrow, Stella (Kiele Sanchez) has spent the past months traveling the world, trying to convince others that vampires exist. Met with skepticism and laughter, Stella is ready to throw in the towel when a group of lost souls (Coiro, Baird and Perrineau) offers an incredible opportunity: the chance to exact revenge upon Lilith (Kirshner), the vampire queen responsible for the assault on her sleepy Alaskan town. With nothing remaining to live for, and nothing left to fear, Stella joins their mission and ventures into the uncharted underbelly of Los Angeles where she pushes herself to the most extreme limits to stop the evil from striking again.

The esteemed Dread Central was lucky enough to hit the set of Sony’s 30 Days of Night: Dark Days earlier this month – the film wraps principal photography today in Vancouver, Canada, under the watchful eye of co-scripter (with Steve Niles) and director Ben Ketai – and while there sat down with producer JR Young (among others) to discuss the flick (cast interviews to come).

“This is a very edgy film,” Young, who previously produced The Messengers, told Dread while intently watching a scene being played out in video village – a scene which featured a rather hysterical and bloody actress (Katherine Isabelle) pleading for her life. “Ben knows this world. I think it comes natural to him.”

Sony’s 30 Days of Night: Dark Days Star’s Kiele Sanchez (A Perfect Getaway) , Mia (De Palma’s The Black Dahlia) Kirschner, Rhys (“Entourage”) Coiro, Diora (Night of the Demons) Baird, Harold (“Lost”) Perrineau, Troy (A Marine Story) Ruptash, Jackson Berlin, John De Santis, Marco Sorian, Monique (Cabin in the Woods) Ganderton, and the previously-mentioned horror-fave Katherine (Ginger Snaps, “Supernatural”) Isabelle, Dark Days appears poised according to Young to be a rather faithful adaptation of Niles’ graphic novel of the same name.

“It (the novel) was the jumping off point,” said the producer. “Having Steve aboard as the co-writer with Ben Ketai has been great because they’ve been able to forge the story already knowing that world intimately. What is also cool is that we are all fans of the first film. (Director of the original 30 Days of Night) David Slade, who’s currently up here shooting the third Twilight movie, took the vampires (in 30 Days) and really brought them into their own. How he treated their movements and look is something we all loved, so all of those elements have been translated into this film – keeping the vampires in tune with the first one and keeping the characters and story loyal to the graphic novel.”

Fans of the original film not familiar with the source material can breathe a sigh of relief, as the look of the vamps, from what this scribe witnessed, as well as their on-screen brutality, does indeed keep in step with Slade’s vision. What they may be surprised about, however, is the narrative’s departure from the first film’s frozen Alaskan climes they are accustomed to.

“What has been fun and what I think will be very different is that here we are in an urban and gritty environment, versus small town Barrow,” explained Young of the setting change to sunny Los Angeles. “The color palette of this film is different. We have yellows and amber tones due to the setting, which you didn’t see so much in the first film, so it’s drawing from all of these pre-existing things, but in its own way it’s becoming its own.”

As for the casting, “We read a lot actors out of Los Angeles, and we really scored,” said Young, with Actress Kiele Sanchez. Also, given the scenes playing out, unsurprisingly first commented on the actresses before us. “For instance, when we were talking about the character of Lilith, we brought up (actress) Mia Kirshner, and when we found out that she wanted to do it, we were so psyched. We were thrilled, too, that Katherine Isabelle wanted to be a part of this.”

The producer’s outlook was warranted, as Kirschner (regardless of the flu she at the time suffered, coupled with the prosthetic dentures and scleral lenses required of her character) flickered menace upon the monitor. From what this scribe witnessed, in the end she indeed may prove a worthy successor to actor Danny Huston, whose chilling depiction of lead vamp Marlow in the original caused so many chills.

As for actress Kiele Sanchez (taking over the ‘Stella’ role previously played by Melissa George in the original 30 Days of Night), Young said, “What’s interesting is that she was actually in the mix for the role of Stella in the first film, but she was on (the television show) “Lost” at the time and wasn’t available. It came around this time, though, and she had a great audition and was able to take the role, so it was a fortuitous turn of events.”

Young seemed convinced also that the actress would have little problem filling the character’s boots with the gravitas needed of the film’s psychologically-damaged protagonist. “Ever since she got on set, it’s really great to see her step into the role,” said the producer. “When she first grabbed the gun (described as a “gnarly black shotgun” in the sides), she was a little tentative, and now she walks around cocking it like she’s ready to kill some vampires.”

Effects, too, seem to be on point with the original film. The production hired FX man Todd Masters to deliver the goods, and given the grue on hand, he did just that.

“He’s doing a lot of blood gags and prosthetic work, from the vampire teeth to heads being decapitated,” said Young, who cited Masters’ work on James Gunn’s Slither as some of his favorite cinematic splatter. “Ben (Kentai) and I keep using the term ‘organic’ in our approach to this film. It’s very much practically-driven. When you are working within a budget and you want to make it look real and cool is when you actually use prosthetics. We’ll use visual effects to enhance, but the project has been designed in such a way that those few VFX shots won’t be (recognized as such). A good example is District 9. In that film I couldn’t tell what was a VFX shot or practical, and that’s our goal with Dark Days. With this show, the smarter and better approach is to do it with prosthetic work – you’ll see that in this scene – her neck is bitten into and a chunk is taken out and it’s all prosthetic work.”

Two cameras worked in conjunction to capture the gag – a gag which echoed some of Savini’s more gut-churning work on 1985’s Day of the Dead, given the amount of flesh-pulling, tearing, and blood-spurting on display, and Young and crew seemed pleased with the result. Shooting Day 13 of 25 at the time at old foundry turned film location Terminal City in East Vancouver, Dark Days director of photography Eric Madison was shooting on a Sony F35 HD camera, which allowed for film editor Darrin (Grace) Navarro to assemble a rough-cut instantaneously, pleasing the producer.

“We have a really cool editor,” said Young. “We’re already seeing things coming together.”

As for the flick’s DP, Young effused of Madison, “We were looking for someone to make it a living, breathing film. We wanted the camera moving, and for someone to capture that gritty environment, but continue with the style of the original so that it feels like a continuation. Even with the roughest of cuts, Ben is really happy with what he is seeing, even though he is his own toughest critic. It inspires confidence.”

With post-production scheduled to be completed by April of 2010, Young admitted, “It’s been a super ambitious shoot. There’s more of an action component to this film, in that they are actually going out after the vampires – they aren’t just trying to stay alive – so by nature there is more. I’m careful in wording this, but I can compare the difference (in films) to Alien and Aliens. Those are the most incredible of films, so I use that as the golden example.”

This scribe had to know, however, whether there were plans for a cinematic incarnation of 30 Days of Night: Return to Barrow, the third in Niles’ graphic novel series, and Young didn’t disappoint, as he stated with enthusiasm, “What’s great is that with the novels, there is potential for another film. We are staying true to the end of the novel Dark Days, which has a lot to do with Return to Barrow, so the door is definitely open for more films.”

- Sean Decker

A Perfect Getaway

Written and Directed by: David Twohy
Starring: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton

With a cool cast, a decent twist, and Chris “Goerge Kirk/Thor” Hemsworth, this should have been a pretty good movie. Unfortunately when the twist is revealed, it becomes apparent that Twohy came up with the twist, then wrote a movie around it. The results aren’t as good as one would hope. But Hemsworth is really good, as a creepy and angry husband who doesn’t own any shirts. When I saw him I knew he looked familiar, when I saw it was Hemsworth I was suprised, and am now pumped for Thor, he can play clean-cut straight forward (like Kirk) and intense (like this guy). Other than that Zahn and Sanchez are the only two who really present realistic characters. Olyphant is way too over the top, but it sort of works, and the “meta” feeling of the movie becomes apparent and cheesy after a while. I can’t explain that last line because it would spoil the movie, but in retrospect that aspect of the movie is a little cool. The problem is that once the twist happens, you don’t really care anymore. You know the movie will go one of two unfulfilled ways. Either its an unoriginal happy ending that bothers you with its inadequacy, or its an unoriginal bad guys win ending that bothers you because for a bad guys win ending to work it has to be a spectacularly great movie. So its a mediocre, mildly entertaining movie with some cool and respectably parts of the screenplay. The actors all did a fine job, this writer feels what lacked was Writer, Director Twohy’s (Tu-Burger) creativity in the end.

Rating: 6.5/10

Jürgen Sjogren

Zephyrhills in Pasco County is the new home for the A&E Pilot drama ‘Sugarloaf’

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Next week, Fox Television Studios is filming a pilot for the A&E cable network drama Sugarloaf at Central Avenue and Crystal Springs Road, south of Zephyrhills.

The show is reportedly about a sly Chicago cop who gets the ax after his former captain, who wrongfully believes the cop had an affair with his wife, shoots him, according to hollywoodreporter.com. The cop moves to small-town Florida and joins the “state police,” (which doesn’t exist outside of Hollywood).

Pasco commissioners on Tuesday agreed to temporarily shut down the intersection and reroute traffic from 5 p.m. Dec. 11 to 3 a.m. the next morning as the film company requested. Cindy Jolly, Pasco’s development review manager, said the company is shooting a chase scene.

“Is this the one where Tom Cruise is going to be on site with Renee Zellweger?” Commissioner Michael Cox joked Tuesday night.

Not quite.

Sugarloaf stars Australian TV actor Matt Passmore, according to imdb.com, and Kiele Sanchez, who played Nikki Fernandez in Lost.

It’s unclear if the pilot will turn into a series at this point.

“It’s really interesting. It’s really edgy. We’re hoping A&E will love it,” said Leslie Oren, a representative from Fox Television Studios, the production company also behind Burn Notice, White Collar and The Wanda Sykes Show.

No one had information Wednesday as to why the area was chosen for the shot.

“I’m guessing someone really liked the town and the way it looked, and it fit with the script,” said Barry Rosenberg, publicity director at A&E.

Whatever it was they liked, it wasn’t enough to keep them in town. According to paperwork the production company provided to the county, the crew is staying at the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa in St. Pete Beach.

East Pasco County has had other brushes with fame in the past.

In 2003, Dade City was very close to hosting the Simple Life’s stars, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. Producers scouted 25 small towns across the Southeast looking for a rural town and a farm family willing to house the two women and put them to work. There was not an outpouring of interest from local families looking to take part.

The show moved north to Hernando County, where Hilton famously tumbled off a horse at J.O. “Jimmy” Batten’s Bull-It ranch, east of Brooksville.

A decade earlier, Edward Scissorhands was filmed in Dade City, Land O’Lakes and Wesley Chapel.

The sequel to 30 Days of Night, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, will be released January 1st, 2010. The distributors of this film apparently have forgotten that a movie poster and movie trailer often create excitement for a film, as there is little to no promotional material available. 30 Days of Night: Dark Days is set to be released in less than a month now and a synopsis for the film is provided below. Have a look at the cast list below too.

A synopsis for 30 Days of Night: Dark Days here:

“It’s been a year since the Alaskan town of Barrow’s population was decimated by vampires during its annual month long sunset. Riddled with grief over the death of her husband, bound by nightmares and void of all emotions beyond hate and sorrow, Stella (Sanchez) has spent the past months traveling the world, trying to convince others that vampires exist.

Met with skepticism and laughter, Stella is ready to throw in the towel when a group of lost souls (Coiro, Baird and Perrineau) offers an incredible opportunity: the chance to exact revenge upon Lilith (Kirshner), the vampire queen responsible for the assault on her sleepy Alaskan town. With nothing remaining to live for, and nothing left to fear, Stella joins their mission and ventures into the uncharted underbelly of Los Angeles where she pushes herself to the most extreme limits to stop the evil from striking again.

Release Date: 2010.

Director: Ben Ketai.

Writer: Steve Niles.

Cast: Kiele Sanchez, Monique Ganderton, Mia Kirshner, Diora Baird.

David Twohy is not a memorable filmmaker, a fact which I think he understands. Since making The Arrival (1996), Pitch Black (2000) and Below (2002), Twohy’s career took a fatal nose dive after his The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) was received with open arms and gnashing teeth (I’m rather partial to this quote from Variety’s David Rooney, stolen from Meta-critic: “May not quite gain entry to the hallowed pantheon of interstellar cheese of a ‘Battlefield Earth,’ but it’s not far behind.”). To say that Twohy’s career needed a kick-start would be an understatement. Five years later, he returns to directing feature films with A Perfect Getaway, a last ditch effort for attention whose central plot twist effectively sinks the film’s aspirations of being a smug Shane Black-esque pastiche of B-movie cliches. Twohy, who also wrote the film’s script, tries very hard to make the audience so distracted by his pithy meta-dialogue (ed herring and second act twist being the most egregiously abused) that they’ll ignore the fact that his film is never clever enough to build on that rickety foundation long enough create an involving story or memorable characters.

Instead, Twohy jerks the viewer around with a third act revelation worthy of superhack Wes Craven, whose career was made by championing the “bad guys” and painting the “good guys” a dark shade of grayish-black. While we sympathize with hapless tourists Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Mila Jovovich) as they backpack around Hawaii with Nick and Gina (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez), who they suspect are actually the New Honeymoon Killers, it’s actually them who are the murderers. This dumb-dumb twist is especially irritating because it ignores the two or three scenes where Cliff is earnestly seeking out clues about the killer’s identities and the killing’s in general. Twohy tries to minimize the illogical of this miss-step by making Cliff a man that gets off on distancing himself from his real personality, a fact we learn from an extended, info dump-heavy series of flashbacks that includes some of the most wretched film dialogue of the year (“Look, I get it: in some sick way, your need for detachment fits my need for attachment,” says Cydney). By that point, he gives the viewer fewer and fewer reasons to care. His pacing gets noticeably desperate, relying on ill-advised stylistic experimentation that makes Ang Lee’s well-meaning but wonky editing in Hulk look pared down. The fact that A Perfect Getaway did relatively well signals that Twohy’s career is safe for the moment, but who ever knows about this red herring? Hopefully that means the man can now work on something worthy of his earlier career, when he was just a benign craftsman.

Kiele Sanchez and Carlos Gomez have landed co-starring roles on A&E’s drama pilot “Sugarloaf.”

The project, from Fox TV Studios, centers on Jim Longworth (Matt Passmore), a Chicago cop who gets kicked off the force after being shot by his ex-captain, who wrongfully accused him of having an affair with his wife. After receiving a payout, Jim, an observant detective with a sly sense of humor, moves to a small Florida town and joins the state police.

Sanchez will play Jim’s romantic interest, Callie, a nurse who moonlights at a pizza place to afford medical school. Uriah Shelton has been cast as Callie’s 12-year son, whom she is raising alone, with her husband in prison.

Gomez will play Jim’s golf partner, friend and colleague, a forensic medical examiner. Clifton Campbell wrote “Sugarloaf” and is executive producing the pilot with Gary Randall. Peter O’Fallon is directing.

Sanchez, who co-starred in the feature “A Perfect Getaway,” is repped by Gersh and Industry.

A Perfect Getaway is one of those films which the trailer tells too much, so much so that I was quite certain who the mystery killer couple was amongst the three featured, and proven right. I think I’ll steer clear of trailers for a while, since the better ones will keep your interest piqued, but the poorly made ones tend to spell everything out.

A Perfect Getaway proved to be quite a well made whodunnit thriller, where we follow a couple, Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) on their honeymoon to Hawaii, only to learn that there’s a serial killer couple on the loose where they are. Bumping into other couples Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez), and the creepy hippies Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and Cleo (Marley Shelton) only provides that extra element of guesswork as to just who amongst them could coincidentally be those on the police wanted list, and sadly the way the trailer was constructed, laid it all out transparently.

So I’ll just talk about the couples instead. Written and directed by David Twohy, Zahn and Jovovich behave like your common newlyweds who are up for just about any adventure, and despite bumping into nasties, almost always try to make the best out of their situation. Having Zahn’s Cliff as a scriptwriter also allowed the film to have its fair share of movie references, which would appeal to any film fan especially when Timothy Olyphant’s Nick starts chatting up and contributing story ideas, the most telling and ironic being the discussion on red herrings.

It is the characters of Nick (Olyphant) and Gina (Sanchez) that are the most fleshed out and the most interesting of the lot, the former being an ex-clandestine operative whose cool looks could just kill, and Twohy’s story has enough moments to showcase just how deadly this Man can be, especially when there are continuous praises by girlfriend Gina on just how indestructible he actually is. Gina herself is no pushover, being a butcher skilled at carving meat out for dinners.

And when so much focus is placed on these two couples, unfortunately Kale and Cleo got somewhat relegated to support roles only. Much as I would hope they had enough screen time to balance things up and to become ample suspects as well, somehow Twohy probably ran out of steam to fill these two characters up with as much back story as the others.

It’s these relationship dynamics, of secrets and details shared between themselves, and between couples, that set things up for the big reveal, and thereafter some excellently crafted action sequence set on primal survival instincts, with enough gory moments that don’t go over the top or done for the sake of. Watching with perfect hindsight, the secrets here were beautifully masked, with suggestions made at ample time so that the keen eyed viewer would at once know that there’s more to things than meets the eye. Frankly if one was as situationally aware as the Nick’s character, you’ll see through the charades soon enough.

A Recommended DVD to watch, available December 29th, 2009 at Amazon.

Over a month ago, the first still image from the set of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days was released showing Kiele Sanchez taking over for Melissa George as Stella. 30 Days creator and Dark Days writer Steve Niles originally said that they decided to cast “slightly younger” because they hoped to make more movies based on the multitude of 30 Days graphic novels.

However, in a recent interview with Bloody Disgusting, he said that there were other issues that factored in the decision.

Schedule. The enemy of all casting. [Melissa George has] got a “million gazillion things going on right now” (shopping), so we couldn’t fit it…

As far as plans for another film after Dark Days, possibly based on the Return to Barrow graphic novel, Niles said the main concern right now is getting Dark Days “edited.”

If that goes well, we’re set up to move forward. We got a great young cast that we can bring along if this works out well, and we’;ll be ready to keep going with the story. Plus, the comics are done. God, what do we have, like seven different graphic novels now if it actually took off?

30 Days of Night: Dark Days is expected to debut in 2010.

Perfect Getaway, [Unrated/Rated Versions]

A Perfect Getaway opens with the same old cliché I’d be happy to see die, a video montage of people at a wedding giving their well-wishes to the newlyweds Cliff and Cydney (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich). Intercut with the video we catch up with the newlyweds on their Hawaiian honeymoon. Everything appears to be idyllic in this Pacific Eden until word gets out that there’s a killer couple out there knocking people off. This information arrives around the same time Cliff and Cydney meet two couples, Kale and Cleo (Chris Hemsworth and Marley Shelton), two other newlyweds with an off-putting air about them, and Nick and Gina (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez), a former special ops man’s man and his handy-with-a-knife girlfriend.

Or are they? Or are anyone? Who’s who? Who are you? You may not be sure after the movie’s frustrating second act twist that twists the film so hard it nearly breaks it. Fortunately the movie’s thrilling third act, fun performers and beautiful scenery make the endeavor, while far from perfect, certainly entertaining.

The only thing stopping me from giving it a wholehearted endorsement is that damn twist. Alfred Hitchcock laid down a lot of brilliant ideas about how to execute a good thriller. He came up with the MacGuffin. He famously said, “Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders.” One of his most acknowledged truisms was that the filmmaker should never, ever lie to his audience. Characters could lie to other characters, directors could misdirect the audience, even fool them, but they should never, ever lie.

I went back and watched A Perfect Getaway a second time because I felt certain that it had lied to me with its twist. It hadn’t, and I will give writer/director David Twohy credit for that, but it still felt like a lie. For the sake of one reveal Twohy lets the tail wag the dog for the first hour and change of his film, and instead of surprising the audience it just makes them feel jerked around.

The twist is also a bust in that it comes in the shape of a flashback that lasts nearly ten minutes and shows the audience a much more interesting movie than the one they’ve been watching for the last hour. As proof of this, the last twenty minutes are full of wild action, exciting reversals, and a handful of big, fun moments. Giving the audience the information at the beginning that Twohy hides away for two-thirds of the movie would open up the film to be both a fun cat-and-mouse game as well as a potentially fascinating character study. Instead, it’s an hour of shell game, an explosion of exposition, and twenty minutes of thrills, spills and kills.

Even the shell game has its moments, though. This is due largely to the cast, a cadre of charismatic character actors who seem to be having fun traipsing through the stunningly gorgeous Hawaiian landscape. Steve Zahn, an engaging scene-stealer usually relegated to comic relief and indie quirk, gets to chew some different kinds of scenery here, and acquits himself nicely. Timothy Olyphant exudes an excellent swagger, and uses it here to full effect. Although neither he nor Kiele Sanchez seem quite sure of what accent they’re going for, they make for a fun, believable couple that’s just this side of survivalist. And then there’s Milla Jovovich. Is there another actress who throws herself into roles with the same insane gusto as Ms. Jovovich? She is, in a way, the female Christopher Walken. She appears to take whatever comes her way, the wackier the better, and even when the movies around her are awful (and lord, a large percentage of them are) she is unfailingly worth watching. This movie is no exception. When the script gets ludicrous she is right there with it, note for note, selling it like it was Chekhov and looking as gorgeous as the scenery around her while doing it.

And let’s talk about that scenery. It’s a Blu-ray like this that can really help show off the glories of this technology. The Hawaiian scenery looks absolutely stunning. The grand finale, set on a secluded beach and involving a waterfall, a cliff, and a sea cave, makes for some pretty spectacular viewing. Twohy uses the setting well, making the changing landscapes, weather patterns and vibrant colors of the locale help build the suspense.

Twohy’s a yeoman director, cranking out better-than-average genre fair like Pitch Black, Below and The Arrival. Even with his missteps here he’s crafted some solid suspense and good thrills. The Blu-ray comes with both the theatrical cut and the “unrated director’s cut.” I recommend the theatrical cut. I watched them both in close succession, and honestly the only things missing from the theatrical cut were little moments that were either annoying or superfluous and were rightly taken out.

Although I cannot say I’d recommend it without reservations, if you’re looking for a thriller with good acting and set pieces, and you don’t mind if the film occasionally becomes too clever by half, then A Perfect Getaway should definitely sate your appetite.

Escapada perfecta (A Perfect Getaway) – Tráiler español, Idioma del tráiler: castellano Director: David Twohy Intérpretes: Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sánchez, Steve Zahn, Marley Shelton, Chris Hemsworth Fecha de estreno en España: 15 de enero

“A Perfect Getaway” is a mystery/suspense thriller that doesn’t keep up the mystery or suspense.  Obviously the filmmakers were trying to throw twists and turns in the story to keep the audience guessing.  However, the filmmakers forgot to make us care enough.  The actors aren’t developed enough for the audience, we don’t sit on pins and needles or jump at the “starling” moments.

“A Perfect Getaway” is the story of newlyweds honeymooning on a Hawaiian island.  Turns out that there has been a gruesome murder of a newlywed couple on an adjacent island.  Cliff and Cydney are the newlyweds.  They are headed for an 11-mile trail that leads to a dead end beach.  Along the trail, the couple meets Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina (Kiele Sanchez).  The film then spends too long with the couples trying to decide whether the other couple is the killer of the newlyweds.  Meanwhile, a disgruntled couple seems to be following the two other couples on the trail.  Of course anyone that knows these types of films, knows that they are not the killers.

As a subtext to the actual film’s story, the characters within the story talk about moviemaking and storylines.  Ironically, the characters in the story speak of the story being everything in a movie, while the movie in which they are in lacks that strong story.  I won’t give away the ultimate twist in the film, but it is pretty obvious after a short while.  I case it depends on how much you truly pay attention to the opening of the film.

When watching the film you can’t help but think that you have seen the film before.  You can’t put your finger on it, but it just seems all too familiar.

The video transfer is quite good.  The film is intentionally overblown.  However, the transfer tends to bring that oversaturated and overcooked look out a bit more than the original.  There isn’t much gradation in the color palette.  Hues are limited.  The details and textures of the film are sharp.  This lends to a very dimensional image.  The depth is quite incredible.  However, artificial sharpening of the edge leads to ringing and fake looking edges.  Black levels remain stable and deep, as does brightness and contrast.  Shadow delineation is always revealing.  This is an eye-popping image that will surely grab many viewers undivided attention.  The Hawaiian landscape is certainly beautiful.  However, the artificial look of the film becomes annoying after a while.

“A Perfect Getaway” lacks any truly inspiring audio track moments.  The entire mix is very front heavy.  This is surprising given the atmosphere and location of the scenes.  The rear speakers only come and go.  They are active for some of the chases and helicopter sequences.  Dialogue remains flat in the center channel.  The ambience and reverberation of any space is lacking.  When the actors enter a sea cave, dialogue is not realistic to the location.  An attempt is made, but it fails.  I have been to Hawaii and know that when traveling a trail like the characters are doing, the ambience is filled with countless singing birds.  Birds are limited and practically absent for most listeners.  This track does not bring you into the film.  You remain sitting on your couch without the thrill of the chase.  The audio track probably sounds like the original, but the original sound design is average at best.

Universal decided not to obliged audiences with any real special features.  Universal has provided both the theatrical and director’s cut on this Blu-ray, a 10-minute discrepancy between the two.  Other than that, there is the original ending (which isn’t much different than the actual ending), BD-Live functionality and D-Box motion control.

“A Perfect Getaway” is not as intense as it should be.  While the video quality is artificial, it will please many viewers.  However, the audio track does not lend a perfect getaway to “A Perfect Getaway.”

A Perfect Getaway (2009), DVD Synopsis.

Available on: December 29, 2009

Cast: Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez

Director: David Twohy
Studio: Universal Studios
Genre: Action, Suspense/Thriller
Running Time: 100 min.
Languages: English

Synopsis:
Honeymooning newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) are hiking an 11-mile trail in Hawaii when they cross paths will ex-military man Nick (Timothy Olyphant), who earns their trust by helping them navigate a particularly treacherous mountain cliff. A few yards later, the trio runs into a group of girls whose parents are begging them to return home following reports that a honeymooning couple has been murdered on one of the other islands. The suspects in the killings are a young white couple, and when Cliff and Cydney meet Nick’s frees-spirited girlfriend, Gina (Kiele Sanchez), tensions start to rise. The further the foursome walks together, the more delicate the balance of trust and suspicion makes this an epic adventure.

Rating: 7/10 stars for Action, Suspense/Thriller.

CAST of  ‘LOST’ (entire cast so far, all Season’s)

Naveen Andrews – Sayid Jarrah

Josh Holloway – James ‘Sawyer’ Ford

Daniel Dae Kim – Jin Kwon

Yunjin Kim – Sun Kwon

Evangeline Lilly – Kate Austen

Terry O’Quinn – Joh Locke

Matthew Fox – Jack Shephard

Jorge Garcia – Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes

Emilie de Ravin – Claire Littleton

Michael Emerson – Benjamin Linus

Dominic Monaghan – Charlie Pace

Harold Perrineau – Michael Dawson

Henry Ian Cusick – Desmond Hume

Elizabeth Mitchell – Juliet Burke

Ken Leung – Miles Straume

Madison – Vincent the Dog

Nestor Carbonell – Richard Alpert

Maggie Grace – Shannon Rutherford

Malcolm David Kelley – Walt Lloyd

Jeremy Davies – Daniel Faraday

Ian Somerhalder – Boone Carlyle

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje – Mr. Eko

Michelle Rodriguez – Ana Lucia Cortez

Zuleikha Robinson – Ilana

Jeff Fahey – Frank Lapidus

Cynthia Watros – Libby

L. Scott Caldwell – Rose Nadler

Rebecca Mader – Charlotte Lewis

Sam Anderson – Bernard Nadler

M.C. Gainey – Tom Friendly

Mira Furlan – Danielle Rousseau

John Terry – Christian Shephard

Tania Raymonde – Alex Rousseau

Kiele Sanchez – Nikki Fernandez

Rodrigo Santoro – Paulo

Francois Chau – Dr.Pierre Chang

Alan Dale – Charles Widmore

Sonya Walger – Penelope Widmore

Maarsha Thomason – Naomi Dorrit

William Mapother – Ethan Rom

Kimberley Joseph – Cindy Chandler

Christian Bowman – Steve Jenkins

William Blanchette – Aaron

Fredic Lehne – Marshal Edward Mars

Patrick Fischler – Phil

Blake Bashoff – Karl Martin

Kevin Durand – Martin Keamy

Andrew Divoff – Mikhail Bakunin

Michael Bowen – Danny Pickett

Doug Hutchison – Horace Goodspeed

Eric Lange – Stuart Radzinsky

Ariston Green – Jason

Daniel Roebuck – Leslie Arzt

Kevin Tighe – Anthony Cooper

Sterling Beaumon – Young Ben

Beth Broderick – Diane Jansen

Anthony Azizi – Omar

Jon Gries – Roger Linus

Julie Bowen – Sarah

Lillian Hurst – Carmen Reyes

Andrea Gabriel – Nadia

Fionnula Flanagan – Eloise Hawking

Kim Dickens – Cassidy Phillips

Zoe Bell – Regina

Brett Cullen – Goodwin Stanhope

Byron Chung – Mr. Paik

Brad William Henke – Bram

Said Taghmaoui – Caesar

Lance Reddick – Matthew Abaddon

Billy Ray Gallion – Randy Nations

Fisher Stevens – George Minkowski

Neil Hopkins – Liam Pace

June Kyoto Lu – Mrs. Paik

Marc Vann – Doctor

Brian Sherwin – Gast Station Clerk

Reiko Aylesworth – Amy Goodspeed

Adetokumboh M’Cormack – Yemi

Alice Evans – Young Eloise Hawking

Melissa Farman – Danielle Rousseau

Tony Lee – Jae Lee

Jonathan Dixon – Flight Attendant #2

Grant Bowler – Captain Gault

April Grace – Bea Klugh

Michelle Arthur – Flight Attendant #2

Susan Duerden – Carole Littleton

Susan Duerden – Carole Littleton

Cheech Marin – David Reyes

Brian Goodman – Ryan Pryce

Grisel Toledo – Nurse Susie

Leslie Ishii – Laua Straume

Joah Buley – Luke

Teddy Wells – Ivan

Michael Adamshick – Lottery Official

Brittany Perrineau – Lotto Girl

Guilaume Dabinpons – Robert Rousseau

Nick Jameson – Richard Malkin

Tamara Taylor – Susan Lloyd

Clancy Brown – Kelvin Inman

Kevin Chapman – Mitch

Rachel Ticotin – Captain Teresa Cortez

John Shin – Mr. Kwon

Katey Sagal – Helen Norwood

Sarah Farooqui – Theresa Spencer

Linsey Ginter – Sgt. Sam Austen

Ron Bottitta – Leonard Sims

Gavrielle Fitzpatrick – Lindsey

Tom Irwin – Dan Norton

Mary Mara – Jill

Marc Menard – Montand

Michail Cudlitz – Big Mike Walton

David S. Lee – Young Charles Widmore

Veronica Hamel – Margo Shephard

Geoff Heise – Doctor

Katie Doyle – EMY

Robin Weigert – Rachel Carlson

Mark Dillen Stitham – Head Doctor

Glenn Cannon – Old Scooter Man

Paula Malcomson – Colleen Pickett

Kolawole Obileye Jr. – Young Eko

Starletta DuPois – Michael’s Mom

Michael M. Vendrell – Big Guy

Wendy Braun – Gina

Matthew Alan – Cunningham

Julie Ow – Nurse

David Ely – Intern

Jeremy Shada – Young Charlie

Lawrence Jones – Lead Soldier

Olekan Obileye – Young Yemi

Bruno Bruni Jr. – Brennan

Sean Whalen – Neil

Achilles Gacis – Guy in Car

Brad Berryhill – Anxious Guy

Robert Frederick – Jeff

Zack Shada – Yound Liam

Tom Connolly – Young Charles Widmore

Esmond Chung – Paik’s Assoc.

Tomiko Lee – Mrs. Lee

Ruz Rusden – Airport Cop

Bill Ogilvie – Man

Tracy Middendort – Bonnie

Marvin DeFreitas – Charlie Hume

Maya Henssens – Yound Charlotte

Tess Yong – Best Friend

Lana Parrilla – Greta

Michael Dempsey – Foreman

Sven Erik Lindstrom – Crew Member

Sebastian Siegel – Erik

Mary Ann Taheny – Gate Attendant

Alex Petrovitch – Henrik

Jill Kuramoto – Female Anchor

Dustin Geiger – Matthew

William Makozak – Captain Bird

Matt Moore – Husband

Suzanne Krull – Lynn Karnoff

Kiersten Havelock – Emma

Mickey Graue – Zack

Rob McElhenney – Aldo

Greg Grunberg – Pilot Seth Norris

Faith Fay – Survivior

‘LOST’ – SEASON 6 – February, 2010

Kiele Sanchez on set for 30 Days of Night sequel Shooting has wrapped on the 30 Days of Night sequel, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, and producer J.R. Young told fans of the first movie will be very pleased with what he described as a “war movie”.

I think the second film definitely stays within the world of the first film and it stays true to the second graphic novel in the series for those fans out there. The story is within that world but there are differences and a lot of that is due to the graphic novel. The first film is very much a survival film and this next one is all about revenge. There’s an action component. The last one is a western, this one is more of a war movie. It’s taking the battle to the vampires.

Seeking revenge will be Kiele Sanchez, taking over for Melissa George who could not work out her schedule to return. Ben Ketai, who made two 30 Days of Night shorts that premiered on the web, will direct from a script he co-wrote with 30 Days creator Steve Niles. While Ketai is currently working on editing the movie, once he finishes Young and the Ghost House Pictures team, including director Sam Raimi, will consult on the project. Meanwhile, Young is waiting for a release date.

We haven’t been given a release date yet. We have a post schedule as to when we want to have the film done by. Then it goes into the studio’s hands and they’ll figure out when the best date will be. There has been talk about a DVD release. We always work toward to make the best film we can and let it go out where they see fit.

Dark Days will Be a “War” Movie!

A Perfect Getaway – DVD release, December 29th, 2009

A Perfect Getaway, (Rated R, 97 minutes): David Twohy’s thriller/romance/travelogue seems to have enough red herrings on board to scuttle a cruise ship to Hawaii, which is where Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) have gone on their honeymoon. However, upon arriving, they hear the story about honeymooners being murdered by a couple back in Honolulu. Then they meet Gina (Kiele Sanchez) and Nick (Timothy Olyphant), who has a titanium plate in his head, a crazed look in his eye and a sufficient number of Iraq war stories to curl one’s hair. Contains violence, vulgarity, sexual content and drug use.

7 out of 10 stars.

A Perfect Getaway, (The Blu-ray holds additional supplements, including an alternate ending.) Writer and director David Twohy cheats and plays tricks on his audience. But he delivers a gripping adventure-mystery with several unforeseen twists that force the audience to change allegiances and perceptions.

A honeymooning couple (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) travels to Hawaii’s most remote island for a prolonged hike to an even more isolated beach. Along the way, they encounter two other questionable hiking couples and end up traveling with one (Tim Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez). Meanwhile, they learn on their BlackBerry that a couple in Honolulu has been brutally mutilated.

Twohy casts doubt over everyone, setting his film up for a chilling third act filled with action and violence. During the mayhem, cinematographer Mark Plummer ably captures the stunning Hawaiian scenery.

The DVD offers both R-rated (98 minutes) and unrated (108 minutes) versions. Please don’t forget, the Blu-ray holds additional supplements, including an alternate ending!

Blu-ray Available at Amazon

DVD’s this week: A Perfect Getaway (Universal)

David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway (Universal) is a deft piece of genre film-making, which is no backhanded compliment. In a film culture where B-movie plots are routinely executed with budgets in excess of $100 million in place of intelligence and thrown into thousands of theaters, the well-tuned genre piece is an increasingly rare breed. A Perfect Getaway is a type of film we’re used to seeing in myriad variations: an urban couple leaves the comfort of civilization for a vacation isolated in the wilds, where there just so happens to be a killer on the loose and no end to suspicious characters.

Twohy delivers everything we expect—attractive performers in paradise (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich as cute urbanizes fumbling through the jungle, Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez as rather more prepared trail companions), breathtaking landscapes and lush scenery, ominous tensions and plenty of action—and something you likely did not: suspense, surprise and sheer fun. In a film culture where genre storytelling all too often boils down to the stock gimmicks used over and over again with special effects or high concept twists to hide the familiarity, this is so refreshingly old school smart that it feels almost new. The DVD features both the theatrical cut and a “Director’s Cut,” which runs about ten minutes longer, but no other supplements. The Blu-ray features an alternate ending, which isn’t all that different but is significantly shorter. I prefer the original rather than the longer version.

DVD Released Today, A Perfect Getaway:

David Twohy Genre: Thriller Price: $14.99 Rental Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 29, 2009 6 strangers. 2 killers. No getting away… Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez star in this shocking Unrated version of the gripping suspense thriller from director David Twohy about an island vacation that turns deadly.

Honeymooners Cliff (Zahn) and Cydney (Jovovich) are hiking a jungle trail to a remote Hawaiian beach when they hear that police have uncovered a grisly murder scene and the suspected killers are somewhere nearby. Unsure whether to stay or flee, the pair joins two other couples when things start to go horribly wrong. Far from civilization, a brutal battle for survival begins where danger lurks along every twist of the path and no one is who they seem.

A PERFECT GETAWAY (Universal Studios) $29.98. 108 minutes. Hawaii is no longer paradise for two vacationing couples when they discover psychopaths are murdering tourists. With Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez. R (graphic violence, profanity including sexual references and some drug use)

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (Paramount) $29.99. 86 minute’s. A young couple who believes they are being haunted by a demonic presence decides to record the activity that often disturbs them at night. With Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Amber Armstrong. R (profanity)

NINE (Universal Studios) $29.98. 80 minute’s. Man has been destroyed by machine but civilization may persevere if a group of rag dolls can defeat the mechanical beasts. With Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Christopher Plummer. PG-13 (violence and scary images)

JENNIFER’S BODY (20th Century Fox) $29.99. 102 minutes. Demonic possession triggers a snobbish cheerleader’s interest in her male classmates — even the social misfits. With Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons. R (sexuality, bloody violence, profanity and brief drug use)

“A Perfect Getaway”

Written and Directed by David Twohy, Rated R, 98 Minutes Running.

“A Perfect Getaway” is a film unlike most I’ve seen these days. It has all the principle cliches of a modern thriller, but it manages to almost work because of those cliches rather than despite them. It uses tradition and molds it in a way that makes the film more of a celebration of cliches than a tired vessel for them.

The film, partly a mystery and partly a thriller, follows three couples on vacation on an island in Hawaii–Cliff and Sydney (Steve Zahn and Milloa Jovovich), Cleo and Kale (Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth) and Gina and Nick (Kiele Sanchez and Timothy Olyphant). Trouble is, the three couples soon discover that there was a couple was brutally murdered in Honolulu the day before–and one of the couples present may very well be the culprits.

Writer and director David Twohy toys with the audience a great deal early on in the mystery, showing arbitrary shadows in the woods, revealing troubling facts about each couple, and mocking his own film with references to red herrings and cliched villains and twists. It’s very reminiscent of some of the techniques Wes Craven used in his “Scream” trilogy to both laugh with and at his own film. Both “Scream” and “A Perfect Getaway” are traditional genre pictures, but they become self-aware to the point that you can laugh even while you’re jumping out of your seat.

The ultimate solution to the puzzle presented here could certainly be seen as ludicrous. What one may notice with actual thought, however, is that the big revelation of the film (that is, who happens to be the murderers) is entirely plausible and makes perfect sense looking back on all of the clues the film provides. It might appear nonsensical upon first glance–and to be completely honest, it is a bit silly–but everything you’ve seen leading up to it definitely clued you in were you to notice all the signs. It’s pretty clever, all things considered.

If there is any fault to be found in the script, it’s with the dialogue. While some of the cuter winks to the audience are amusing and refreshing, the general conversations often can be cringe-worthy, and even if it was Twohy’s intention to make the dialogue so goofy so as to fit his overall stereotypical portrait, it nonetheless hinders the mood. That said, the performances are quite good, especially from Olyphant and Zahn, who work a bit out of their element and definitely to their advantage. Sanchez, who is familiar with the Hawaiian setting due to her short work on “Lost,” portrays the “is-she-or-isn’t-she?” aspect of her character extraordinarily well. Jovovich is the only one who falls a bit short, but thankfully, she manages to up the ante a bit in the last act and comes out better than she starts.

Overall, “A Perfect Getaway” is a great deal of fun, and when it’s so hard to come by a solid popcorn thriller these days, I was very pleased with how it turned out.

Score: 7.5/10

Kiele Sanchez Photo

Click to Enlarge

Momentum Pictures have scheduled the UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of A Perfect Getaway for 18th January 2010. Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez star in this suspense-thriller about an island vacation that turns deadly. The film is directed by David Twohy.

Priced at £17.99 RRP on DVD and £24.99 RRP on Blu-ray Disc, features are outlined below:

DVD
■Theatrical Cut only
■Making of (9mins)
■Original Scripted Ending

Blu-ray Disc
■Theatrical & Director’s Cut Versions of the film
■1080P Widescreen
■English 5.1 DTS-HD MA & 5.1 Dolby Digital
■English subtitles
■Making of (9mins)
■Original Scripted Ending

Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez

Cliff: Not that me isn’t my favorite subject, but can we talk about something else for a while?

A couple honeymooning in Hawaii hears about some murders that took place recently on another island and start to wonder if the couple they’re hiking with might be the killers.

This is not a groundbreaking movie, and it’s not going to be winning any awards, but I thought it was a pretty good time.  From the title and the initial set up, it seems like it’s going to be one of these torture movies, like Hostel maybe, but it ends up being a bit more cerebral than that.  It was fun watching the verbal and mental games the characters play with each other as they’re all suspecting each other of being the killers who have been stalking the Hawaiian islands.

All the actors do a good job, and the characters are all likable and watchable, but I think Tim Olyphant really steals the show as Nick.  He’s entertaining every time he’s on the screen, and you’re never sure if you want to like him or if you should suspect that he’s a psychopath.  Kiele Sanchez, who I only knew as Nikki from Lost (guess she likes filming things in Hawaii), is better than I expected as well, good choice by the Director… Sure, she’s easy on the eyes, but she turns in a compelling performance as well; Kiele has a real future in movies rather than television.

As for the story, it’s somewhat routine, but the fun is in guessing who the villains are.  There’s really only a few possibilities, but, of course, the filmmakers keep tossing conflicting clues at the audience to constantly steer them in different directions of thought.  While the end sort of seems like a bit of a cheat, it does seem to logically work out, but a long sequence of flashbacks is required in order to really explain everything.  That sequence was a bit too long, but not terrible.

Naturally, it degenerates into a sequence of strong violence at the end.  I guess that’s the stuff people really want to see.  Despite that by-the-numbers finale, it’s an enjoyable ride up to that point.

Don’t talk to strangers is even applicable even in Hawaii…

I loved the Violent finale, even though some of it feels like a bit of a cheat or that it doesn’t entirely make sense, I still liked this film, so I gave it a 7.7 / 10

The New Year, 2010 is here, and with it comes a clean slate and a host of new movies, series and games to get excited about – from killer fish in three dimensions to warmongering angels to the long-awaited return of two horror icons to the screen (and your nightmares). In chronological order, behold our top 10 reasons why 2010 could be a great year for horror fans.

The Return of Vicious Vampire Films (January 8 & beyond)

The tail end of the ‘00s may have belonged to sparkly vampires, but in 2010, their vicious brethren are taking the genre back to its bloody roots. First up is Daybreakers. Ethan Hawke plays a vamp scientist in a world dominated by bloodthirsty vampires who feed on humanity. Later this year, Twilight’s Cam Gigandet and True Blood’s Stephen Moyer team up with Paul Bettany’s warrior monk in the summer flick Priest, loosely based on the Korean comic about a shotgun-toting, vampire-hunting clergyman. And keep an eye out for those LA bloodsucker types in 30 Days of Night: Dark Days, which picks up as Stella (Kiele Sanchez) heads to California to exact revenge for her husband’s death.

A Perfect Getaway

Directed by David Twohy

David Twohy is a seasoned screenwriter and ambitious, although he’s very hit-and-miss as a  director, but he delivers a surprisingly compelling and entertaining thriller with A Perfect Getaway. There’s a couple of  couple’s on a Hawaiian vacation (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) meet another couple (Chris Hemsworth, looking very Thor-ready in his shirtless, and Mary Shelton) hitchhiking and after an amicable, but tense, exchange, the hitchers refuse a ride. Cliff and Sydney (Zahn and Jovovich, both in top form) continue along to their camping trail destination. On the path, they meet the charismatic, possibly eccentric Nick (Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant), who has one almost unbelievable tale after another to tell of his crazy adventures as what he jokingly calls an “American Jedi.” Nick guides the couple to his partner Gina (Kiele Sanchez, holding up well surrounded by superior actors) and despite any misgivings about Nick’s mental health, the couples decide to formally hit the trail together. Shortly after, word begins to spread from other hikers on the trail that vacationing couples were recently found murdered in the area. Suspicions abound and Twohy’s oh-so-clever screenplay taunts the audience with references to storytelling devices, as Nick banters endlessly with Cliff about screenwriting. The winking at genre expectations would be too much were it not specifically appropriate to the interaction between the two men. Almost the entire script can be read in multiple ways, and coupled with superb acting from the pivotal roles, A Perfect Getaway is almost a perfect gift for audiences who love to hunt for clues. It’s a shame then, after a brilliant and sensible twist, Twohy feels the need to over explain, bloating what could have been a viciously tight final act. There’s plenty of satisfaction, largely thanks to the electric awesomeness of Timothy Olyphant, but hand holding flashbacks mute the film’s overall impact. The original ending is the only special feature included, and while the minor changes from it are important to the emotional resolution of the film, this is the kind of thoughtful movie making that deserves more thorough examination, let’s just give this film a big thumbs up because the scenery by itself is wonderful, but so is the movie.

A Perfect Getaway has been released by Universal Pictures Home Video and stars Kiele Sanchez,  Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant and Milla Jovovich. It was written and directed by David Twohy (Merkin). It is on Blu-Ray and DVD and is available now.

David Twohy’s-Merkin is surprisingly effervescent  for the thriller “A Perfect Getaway” features good-to-great performances from Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Steve Zahn and especially Kiele Sanchez; and a tight, interesting screenplay with enough twists and turns to keep the audience entertained for its scant running time. A gorgeously transferred HD picture should help this underrated film find an audience at home. ‘A Perfect Getaway’ opens with home video footage shot at a wedding and then cuts to Cliff & Cydney Anderson (Zahn & Jovovich), a young couple on their honeymoon on the beautiful island of Kauai’s. All chewy smiles as they drive a keep through the brush there teeth and take a helicopter ride, the two plan a 3-day hike to a beach that can only be reached by foot or kayak.

On their way to the start of the trail, the Andersons run into another couple named Cleo & Kale (Marley Shelton & Chris Hemsworth). The drifter-looking hitchhikers are the opposite of the Andersons. He’s tattoo-ed. She wears dreadlocks. And the buttoned-up couple and the hippie one butt heads. Think Cleo & Kale will eventually end up on the same trail as our heroes? On the journey itself, Cliff & Cydney cross paths with the adventurous Nick & Gina (Timothy Olyphant of “Damages” and “Deadwood” & Kiele Sanchez of “Lost”). He claims to be a former soldier and happens to be tough enough to kill a goat for dinner while on the adventure. This is not your normal honeymoon.

Three couples. One trail. It’s not long before a gaggle of giggling girls tells our characters that there was a recent murder in Oahu where a man and woman killed a couple before hopping over to Kauai’s. Is one of the three beach-bound couples the killers? Which one? Are Nick’s stories true? Are Cydney’s? And what role do those hitchhikers play? What the hey is going on excepy for Kiele’s toned legs and arms?

Twohy-Merkin, the talented writer/director of “Pitch Black,” he plays with the conventions of his genre (sort of), dangling potential twists and turns as he writes tongue-in-cheek observations about “red herrings” into Cliff’s dialogue. Cliff happens to be a screenwriter, making for a script that knowingly winks at its audience and distracts it with one hand while it sets up the twist ending with another. Twohy-Merkin (toothy, industry speak) in & out cheese burger the writer is clearly having a blast and it’s an infectious one that extends to Olyphant’s charismatic performance and another, typically strong turn from Zahn’s typical dumbness. Milla looks a bit larger than usual just having a child, but Kiele Sanchez is one rocking beautiful babe with a very shapely and strong body, look for her in the future.

This is a thriller with a big twist needs to have a crazy final act and “A Perfect Getaway” almost nails the completely nutty final reel. After Twohy reveals his hand, he goes completely off the rails, employing different film stocks, flashbacks, freeze frames, and more. What had been a relatively straightforward thriller turns into something totally weird that could turn off a lot of audiences, but made this critic appreciate a unique voice in what is so typically a predictable genre.

The absolute end of the film is a bit compromised (as proven by the alternate one available on the Blu-ray) and there are a series of flashbacks in the final act that are designed to fill in far more holes than needed to be, but “A Perfect Getaway” works much better than you might expect and should make a great Saturday night rental to more tropical climes during this frigid season. The gorgeously transferred HD picture of “A Perfect Getaway” is so crystal clear that it will make you call your travel agent. As for special features, they’re a little light with a director’s cut that runs about ten minutes longer and the alternate ending.

‘A Perfect Getaway’ is released by Universal Pictures Home Video and stars Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich and Kiele Sanchez. It was written and directed by David ‘Merkin’ Twohy. Available on Blu-Ray and DVD. Our Blu-Ray Rating: 4.7/5.0

David Twohy’s (Mullet aka/Merkin) ‘A Perfect Getaway’ is a movie starring Timothy Olyphant ( Live Free and Die Hard), Milla Jovovich (The 5th Element), Kiele Sanchez (Lost) and Steve Zahn (Joyride with Ashton Kutcher.) Zahniness’ and Milla Jovovich play the honeymooning couple in Hawaii looking for the perfect getaway as they drive along the road and look for places to go exploring. They meet two plus other couples along the way and get bad vibes from both of them right away like a bunch of scared rats.

When they hear of murders in Hawaii and a pair of killers on the run, they wonder if it is one of the other couples. Olyphant plays a guy in one of the other couples and he has bizarre stories of fighting in Iraq and seems strange. Zahn and Jovovich gradually begin to fear both of the couples but out in the jungle, there is no one else to help them. A Perfect Getaway does not have much happening for the first 30 minutes but then things pick up and it gets quite entertaining. There is a twist involved but we saw it coming a mile away so its effect was diminished. The movie is still good as it turns into a thriller near the end with a gun, knife and fights all making an appearance and with Jürgen Sjogren Syndrome loving every moment sitting at his parents house as every 45 year old should be a blast.

I did not, but if you do not see the twist coming then you will think that this movie is better than it really is but it is still worth a watch. It won’t be the worst movie you see, but it won’t be the best either. I liked it as it does have you guessing from the start. I thought of the twist but even after that, it was still good. Timmy Olyphant’s character mentions a potential movie called American Jedi and I would love to see that!!! If you have an hour and 40 minutes to spare, then you should check it out but just keep your expectations low. It has six characters basically and just about holds your interest,  so all in all it is not too bad. It’s always good when there is a twist in a movie even if people can see it coming or are unaware to see it coming!? I’z likes this films as much as taking a shower and smelling clean.

A Perfect Getaway (8/10)

The premise of A Perfect Getaway is fairly simple – a newly-wed couple backpack through the idyllic terrain of a remote Hawaiian island, only to discover that some other honeymooners have just been murdered by a young couple.

So which of the two couples they meet on the way could be the murderers?

This thriller stars Milla Jovovich, Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez, although the twist is easy to spot.

Extras include a Making Of movie, plus the director’s cut option on the Blu-ray.

Título Original: A Perfect Getaway
Género: Drama, Terror, Thriller
Director: David Twohy
Producción: Robbie Brenner, Mark Canton, Ryan Kavanaugh y Tucker Tooley
Guión: David Twohy
Reparto: Milla Jovovich (Cydney), Timothy Olyphant (Nick), SteveZahn (Cliff), Kiele Sanchez (Gina), Chris Hemsworth (Kale), Wendy Braun(Debbie), Travis Willingham (Tommy), Mercedes Leggett (Katie)

Sinopsis.
Cliff y Cydney son jóvenes, aventureros y celebran su luna de miel en un remoto paraje de Hawái. Entonces tiene lugar un acontecimiento que cambia sus vidas para siempre.

A PERFECT GETAWAY -

When a newlywed couple start their honeymoon on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai they are thinking it will be a perfect getaway.  Just as they are setting off on long hike to a remote beach, the newlyweds, played by Steve Zahn and Mila Jovovich  discover that a gruesome murder just happened in Honolulu on nearby Oahu.  And to make it worse, the cops think the murderers are hiding out on Kauai, exactly where the lovebirds planned their perfect honeymoon.  A solid thriller with a big twist, this one will make you think twice about hiking in Hawaii.  Excellent performance by Steve Zahn.  Starring Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Mila Jovovich, Steve Zahn and Chris Hemsworth.  Jürgen ‘John’ Sjogren is being tucked in bed at home still living with his parents with warm milk watching this movie on DVD; when finished, this score is: 7.5 Stars. Rated R.,  for Graphic Violence. This monie must eev

A Movie worth seeing.

It starts off like Deliverance in Hawaii, but writer-director David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway soon develops into an enjoyably off-kilter suspense thriller that has considerable fun toying with genre conventions and audience expectations. While the plot twists will present some marketing challenges, word of mouth – and the casting of Milla Jovovich in one of the four lead roles – could make this Relativity Media production a solid performer for independent distributors worldwide.

Relativity’s Rogue Pictures opens the R-rated thriller wide in the US this weekend (August 7). Competing releases with built-in appeal – the female-skewing Julie & Julia and actioner G I Joe – are likely to grab most of the weekend’s available moviegoers so Rogue will have to hope that
its entry has some staying power.

Independents outside the US which have acquired rights from QED International may be able to find easier slots in which to launch the film. And they should be able to make more of the presence of Jovovich, whose three Resident Evil movies have all done better internationally than in North America.

Twohy-Merkin – who made his mark as a screenwriter on The Fugitive before adding a directing hat for Pitch Black and other genre projects – sets the story up as a fairly conventional urbanites-in-the-wild thriller.

Up-and-coming but nerdy Hollywood screenwriter Cliff (Zahn) and his new bride Cydney (Jovovich) are honeymooning on Hawaii’s lush Kauai island when they set out to hike to a secluded beach. Along the way they meet two other couples: rugged adventurers Nick (Olyphant) and Gina (Sanchez) and mysterious hitchhikers Kale (Hemsworth) and Cleo (Shelton).

When news reaches the group that a pair of serial killers may be at large on the island the couples stick together for safety – but also start eyeing each other nervously.

The film’s first half-hour seems to be laying the ground for a thoroughly formulaic psycho murderer thriller (complete with the now requisite scene establishing that no one can get a mobile phone signal).

But things get more interesting as Twohy offers up telling details about Cliff, Cydney, Nick and Gina, suggesting new possibilities as to who are the hunters and who are the hunted.

The tension is nicely off-set by touches of Hitchcockian humour, some of which provides additional clues about who’s who.

An hour into the story, Twohy throws convention to the wind by revealing the killers’ identities. It’s a bold and surprising move that just about works, even though the extended flashback sequence – spookily shot on digital infrared black and white film – that follows the revelation robs the story of some momentum.

From then on the film becomes a more familiar and slightly cartoonish – though still quite witty – couple-in-peril nail-biter.

Besides Twohy, the actors deserve credit for helping to make the big plot twist credible. Olyphant is especially engaging as the cocky Nick, who claims a secret military background and likes to refer to himself as “an American Jedi.” And Zahn displays his acting chops in a pivotal role.
Jovovich and Sanchez get less to work with but both add a bit of character depth to what might otherwise have been a generic story.
Shot (because of financial incentives) in Puerto Rico, the production uses visual effects to transform Puerto Rican locations into some impressive Hawaiian settings.

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It was always surprising to me what a good actor Timothy Olyphant has turned out to be. Before it, all I’d really seen him in (albeit a while ago) was Scream 2 and he’s absolutely terrible in that one. In A Perfect Getaway, he proves able to translate his ability into a more standard leading man type role. Olyphant makes the movie. When he and girlfriend Kiele Sanchez are offscreen, Getaway lacks, when they’re on, it works fine.

But Olyphant and Sanchez aren’t the leads in Getaway, Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich are the leads, which presents a bit of a problem, the not-as-charismatic people being the leads. Zahn’s good, maybe turning in the best performance I’ve seen him give since Out of Sight, when he established his persona. Getaway plays with it a bit. Jovovich is good too, but just like in her video game movies, the character doesn’t really offer her very much to do. It’s a technically superior performance, but Jovovich didn’t once surprise me. Of course she could do this role… Charlize Theron or Cameron Diaz could do it too and they’re both awful.

Twohy’s not a great director, but his half-noir in paradise, half-Hawaiian travelogue thing works for the first half, before he does his big twist. He gets in a couple solid screenwriting jokes, the kind of thing one can “appreciate” on a second viewing, but the cast and concept are strong enough he could have been straightforward.

CREDITS

Written and directed by David Twohy; director of photography, Mark Plummer; edited by Tracy Adams; music by Boris Elkis; production designer, Joseph C. Nemec III; produced by Ryan Kavanaugh, Mark Canton, Tucker Tooley and Robbie Brenner; released by Rogue Pictures.

Starring Timothy Olyphant (Nick), Milla Jovovich (Cydney), Kiele Sanchez (Gina), Steve Zahn (Cliff), Marley Shelton (Cleo) and Chris Hemsworth (Kale).

Timothy Olyphant x Kiele Sanchez have the American Spirit in A Perfect Getaway!

The Film starts with a couple, Cliff and Cydney Anderson, honeymooning on the Hawaiian Islands.  While taking in the scenery of the great outdoors during an 11-mile nature trek across one of the islands, they come across a group of girls who have just learned that there have been some murders on the islands and that the killers have yet to be caught.  Fearing that it might be the abrasive couple that they didn’t give a ride to and is now on the same hike that they are on, they decide to continue on with another couple, Nick and Gina.  However, the idea of “safety in numbers” starts to seem fallible as paranoia sets in and everyone starts to become suspicious of everyone else, changing the hike into a game of “everyone’s a suspect.”

Starting with hand held footage from the wedding, this film quickly puts the viewer on their guard.  After all, beginning a film of this genre with something as happy and nostalgic as a wedding video can never be a good sign for the characters involved.  Then the story picks up with the couple in a really beautiful part of Hawaii (and Puerto Rico if you are keeping track of actual shooting locations) that’s sunny and romantic, yet creepy thanks to the surrounding dense greenery with iffy cell phone reception.  By keeping the footage shot mainly to the daytime, the story becomes slightly more off-putting and uncomfortable thanks to the sunshine mixed with the potential for brutality like with what has been done in The Ruins and Lost.

Though the setting and how the film is shot adds a lot to the overall feel of the film, most of the creepy factor actually comes from the characters themselves.  Though there are a few obvious standouts as to who can be suspected of being murderers, this film is full of potential red herrings.  First there is the above-mentioned couple, Cleo and Kale (Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth), who appear to be stalking Cliff and Cydney and seem to have enough anger issues to kill someone over not being given a ride.  Then there is Nick and Gina (Timothy Olyphant and Kiele Sanchez), whose hospitality mixed with death-defying wild stories makes them a prime contender for the murderous couple as well.  But then after the main couples are assessed, there are plenty of other characters to start to wonder about, and every action and word spoken becomes a potential clue as to the killers’ identities.  Every glace becomes suspicious, and at one point I was even willing to throw the group of girls from the beginning of the film into the suspect pot.  In other words, everyone is a suspect, and it is easy to spend every moment trying to piece what is really happening together until the murderers are revealed.  And though this revelation may not be that surprising once it finally enters out into the open, it is still deserved because of all the work up to that point.  But I will say the flashback scene following is a little much and drags on longer than it should, sticking out like a soar thumb thanks to the monotonous use of blue throughout its entirety.

The “who-done-it” element is one of the best parts of the film thanks to the cast being filled with actors capable of great performances, with Olyphant’s portrayal of the off kilter war vet being a highlight.  Plus, the film warrants as many cheers as it does “ugh! Don’t do that!” cries because these characters obviously don’t always show the best decision making for the type of film they find themselves in.  But with its minor flaws, A Perfect Getaway remains an entertaining thriller that keeps you reassessing what you know the whole time.

Final Grade: A-

Who killed who are usually best served up with plenty of characters and red herrings to keep you guessing until the end. A Perfect Getaway has only a handful of characters (I’m even including the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them extras here, too), so there’s a danger of it being a no-brainer. Chances are you’ll identify the murderers before the end, but it’s a nice ride along all the same.

It opens with cheesy video footage from a wedding celebration as the newlyweds get set to head to Hawaii. Cut to happy couple Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) living it up in a remote but beautiful part of Hawaii and deciding to hike to an isolated beach, but there’s trouble in paradise with news that another newlywed couple have been butchered on a neighboring island.

Onwards, Cliff and Cydney have a tense run-in with hitchhikers Cleo (Marley Shelton) and Kale (Chris Hemsworth), two crusty hippies who are anything but chilled. And they’re so creepy they’ve got “we’re the serial killers” written on their foreheads. Well not literally, but close enough.

One odd couple should be enough for any honeymoon, but later Cliff and Cydney hook up with battle-scarred former GI Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and his hillbilly girlfriend, Gina (Kiele Sanchez). Nick is nuts, with plenty of larger-than-life stories. He’s handy with a knife and deadly in combat, but Kiele Sanchez is the one who saves the day in this film.

Without giving anything else away, the plot’s a bit muddled, it’s got more red herrings than most movies but it does have those awkward moments when you know your traveling companions are nuts but haven’t the gall to tell them to their faces. An amusing romp with twists and turns that climaxes in a nice blood and guts showdown.

DVD extras: The worst crime in this movie? The lack of interesting additional material, bar a decent director’s cut which makes the movie 10 minutes longer as well as the original theatrical cut, but I still enjoyed A Perfect Getaway.

Let me say, are there actually places you can purchase permits and hike into private beaches on Kauai? I wish I would have known that when I went there. The acting is cast well and actually pretty good through most of this movie. Steve Zahn does a good job of turning from the Mr. Magoo to a cracked out Rambo. I didn’t expect the ending but the movie didn’t really explain how the couple was found out, via camera mode. It does have parts that drag on a bit and there is one scene where the CGI is just awful but all and all, it’s worth the rental.

Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich), are on their honeymoon headed to an 11-mile hiking trail that takes them into the secluded beaches of Hawaii. Along the way, the meet a group of girls talking on the phone to their father about a murderer on the loose who’s just killed a newlywed couple on Oahu. The suspect is a young white couple. When they meet a Nick (Timothy Olyphant), along their route, at first they are leery of his help across a treacherous cliff. Again they meet up with Nick and his girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez), and even though the foursome want to trust each other, they start to think the worst of each other as the trip carries on.

I still enjoyed this film and gave it 7 out of 10 stars.

A Perfect Getaway (2009) ***
Dir. David Twohy
Starring: Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton, Chris Hemsworth

This surprisingly deceptive thriller takes a fairly old premise and turns it on its head. This is one of those movies where you have two innocents in a tropical paradise being hunted by killers, but they’re not sure who are the killers and who can protect them from the killers. Many reviews at the time of its theatrical release praised its original approach up until the killers were revealed, saying it went on autopilot from that point on. But that happens so late in the movie, it doesn’t have much left to resolve.

When three creepy couples all meet in a secluded hiking spot in Hawaii, right after there was a murder in which the alleged killers are a pair of honeymooners. Which of these three couples are the killers?

I have to say that I thought this would be a good “thriller”, like Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, but it was really more like Scooby Doo. This film did a good job of making all the couples look creepy and building toward the whodunit ending, and the ending was certainly gory with a twist and turn or two, but I knew who the bad guys were.

However, even though I thought it was predictable, it’s worth the rent for sure. I had the option to watch either the unrated directors cut or the theater version, and I went with the theater version, and I was glad I did, since I thought it was pretty gory and bloody, as well as sexual situations, as the MMPA would say.

This stars Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovoich, and Kiele Sanchez.

A PERFECT GETAWAY with Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich, Timothy Olyphant Kiele Sanchez , Marley Shelton and Chris Hemsworth. Directed by David Twohy.

A PERFECT Getaway, not to be confused with the 1998 Armand Mastroianni film The Perfect Getaway, is a beautifully shot but ultimately prosaic thriller, which while not exactly predictable, will leave you muttering “oh, get on with it already”.

What could be more blissful for newlyweds Cliff (Steve Zahn) and Cydney (Milla Jovovich) than a tropical honeymoon on a remote Hawaiian island.

Forget cocktails on a tourist beach – Nerdy Hollywood screenwriter Cliff and apparently naive goody two-shoes Cydney are keen for a more authentic experience– hiking along the wild and rugged coastline of a remote archipelago

While driving through the lush subtropical countryside on the way to start the trail in their luxury jeep the couple refuses to give a lift to two skanky pseudo-hippies – Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and Cleo (Marley Shelton), which angers the tall and menacing Kale – a really scary looking character – could this be the mistake of their young lives? In fact the theme of affluence and ostentation comes up often in A perfect Getaway and the theme of jealousy is used to drive the plot.

Later the bumbling city slickers encounter Nick (Timothy Olyphant) and Gina, (Kiele Sanchez) two zany but kind free spirits who help guide them through the jungles and tricky cliff crossing. Nick – it turns out – is a special forces vet and as Gina quips – “is very hard to kill.”

After some flirtatious skinny dipping amid the inviting pools and waterfalls of this island paradise, things take a decidedly darker turn as the Cliff and Cydney learn of a gruesome murder that has recently been committed on an adjacent island. And the police believe the murderers – another couple – are heading this way. Of course the hikers are about to lose cell reception … and thus all contact with the outside world.

While it does deliver a powerful twist-in-the tail, the plot is just too full of holes to ignore and the dialogue and character development is sadly lacking.

The best thing about A Perfect Getaway is the absolutely breathtaking scenery with its ragged bluffs, perfect beaches, lush jungle and sparkling waterfalls. (Does a sensuous, scantily-clad Jovovich and buffed-up, mostly shirtless Olyphant count as scenery?)

A Perfect Getaway

Starring – Steve Zahn, Timothy Olyphant, Milla Jovovich, Kiele Sanchez, Marley Shelton, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Ruivivar, Dale Dickey, Peter Navy Tuiasosopo, Wendy Braun

Written and Directed by – David Twohy

A newlywed couple on their honeymoon in Hawaii run into two other couples after hearing that a psychopathic couple are killing tourists.

Going into this one I wasn’t expecting much. In fact, if Milla Jovovich hadn’t been in this one I probably never would have watched it but I’m really glad I did. I really enjoyed this one. It’s pretty run of the mill in the grand scheme of things and there’s a twist that should have been quite obvious to me, but it still managed to have me on the edge of my seat.

To raise this flick above the usual thriller standards are the performances of Timothy Olyphant, Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich. Olyphant plays this funny yet creepy guy who may or may not be half of the killer couple. His stories of being in Iraq and how he’s survived countless disasters can be pretty hilarious, and after each story his girlfriend has to chime in with ‘He’s just so hard to kill.’ which plays into suggestions of them being the killers. The problem is there’s another couple on the island who seem to be just the right types for psychopathic killers. Who could it be?

I’m pretty sure that anyone even remotely paying attention will see the twist coming. I’ve said numerous times before that these things are always way over my head and I like to think that it helps me to enjoy movies a bit more. This is going to be the downfall of the movie in most peoples eyes because it will take away from the impact of the film. Even with a twist you might already know, Timothy Olyphant’s performance should be enough to entertain you.

I’d like to go more into the movie but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. There must be somebody out there like me, whose brain shuts off when they watch flicks so the surprises are still there, and it wouldn’t be fair to ruin it. On top of great performances there are some amazing shots in there. I’ve never been a fan of leaving Canada since it always seems like it would result in a plane ride and I am seriously afraid of flying but after seeing some of the beautiful scenery on display here I may reconsider. Gorgeous waterfalls and crystal clear water washing onto sandy beaches made me wish I was there now instead of the freezing cold that’s hanging around out here now.

There’s some playing with the audience in this one as well that made the movie fun. Steve Zahn’s character is a screenwriter and Olyphant’s character had once taken a crash course in screenwriting, leading to discussions about the structure of films. This includes throwing in a ‘red herring’ to throw the audience off. They’re basically addressing the same ideas that the film itself is presenting and it seems as if they’re tapping on the fourth wall. Looking back on it now it’s pretty obvious what was going on but if you can get by that you will find an entertaining flick. It doesn’t break the mold but it fits just right and there are some strong performances in the movie that should help you enjoy it.

Lost: The Complete Collection, DVD & Blu-ray

Amazon.com

Lost: Season One

Along with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows in the fall of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilization or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan’s Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night–and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites–with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there’s a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There’s a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there’s a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack?

Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the “oh, it didn’t really happen” card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show’s debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or “where I have I seen that face before” supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O’Quinn (who’s made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there’s really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. –David Horiuchi

Lost: Season Two

What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That’s right: Just when you say “Ohhhhh,” there comes another “What?” Thankfully, the show’s producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant’s pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it’s an island; you never know who you’re going to run into.) First, there are the “Tailies,” passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone’s already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O’Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer’s departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season’s end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom “my life is an open book” never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season’s conclusion. But hey, that’s the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart’s content. Just try and keep that.—Ellen Kim

Lost: Season Three

When it aired in 2006-07, Lost’s third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through–in particular that whopper of a finale–the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch’s video monitor. One of the series’ biggest curiosities from the past–how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place–also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, “The Man from Tallahassee,” likely was a big contributor to Terry O’Quinn’s surprising–but long-deserved–Emmy win that year.)

Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn’t have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there’s Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She’s also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there’s the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons’ key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans’ ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, “Who the hell are you?”). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and–as mentioned before–the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series.

The extras are as well-stocked as a Dharma Initiative food pantry on this seven-disc set. Commentaries by producer Damon Lindelof, show writers, and numerous cast members reveal a whole lot of juicy trivia; plus, the DVDs even provide a subtitle track for the commentary (rarely seen other than on foreign-language director’s commentaries) so you won’t miss a thing. “Lost Book Club” goes through the parallels between what characters are reading and the show’s storylines (The Wizard of Oz and Stephen King are heavily referenced). “Lost: On Location” gives a lot of insight to some of the biggest episodes, and “Lost in a Day” gives a 24-hour glimpse at the drama’s arduous production. If you’re a Lost fan who gave up during this season, the bonus features alone might lure you back for the next round. –Ellen A. Kim

Lost: Season Four

Season four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season’s finale introduced a new storytelling device–the flash-forward–that’s employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it’s definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O’Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season’s strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show’s emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilization in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you’ve left. There’s a force that pulls them in, and it’s a hook that keeps you watching.

Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers’ strike; nonetheless, the set comes with two discs of extras. One of the best features is “LOST in 8:15,” which is a rapid-fire summation of the series thus far in eight minutes, 15 seconds. Narrated by a hilariously droll female, it includes lines such as “Jack meets Kate. Kate stitches up Jack. They bond.” and “They see Jack play football with Mr. Friendly. Mr. Friendly throws like a girl.” The featurette “The Right to Bear Arms” takes a fun look at the prop masters responsible for supplying the castaways with guns–and keeping track of who has one and who doesn’t (best here is Sawyer’s (Josh Holloway) assertion that characters often cock their guns just to look cool). Cast members Lilly, Garcia, Yunjin Kim, and Daniel Dae Kim provide a few of the commentaries, and the set even comes with an amusing safety guide for Oceanic Airlines. (Example: “if you notice black smoke emanating from the plane, please alert the captain. It is either a problem with the engines or a mysterious creature.”) Finally, for those who bought the standard-def DVD, take a closer look at the front cover after you’ve removed the O-sleeve; you’ll notice the entire cast has been blacked out save for a few: the Oceanic Six. –Ellen A. Kim

Lost: Season Five

Since Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O’Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen–or so it appears–and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke’s wish.

As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, “We’re doing time travel this year,” and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island’s master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel’s mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season.

Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could’ve wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there’s a “fine line between confusion and mystery,” adding, “it makes more sense if you’re drunk.” Other extras include deleted scenes, featurettes, a “lost” episode of Mysteries of the Universe, and commentary from writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz on “He’s Our You,” a reference to Sayid, who tries to change the future by changing the past.