Arts & Entertainment
 
 

New 'Bill' will kill at weekend box office

'Punisher,' 'Connie' to fall victim to bloody action of Tarantino and Thurman's Bride

by Geronimo Rodriguez
The Daily Cougar

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 will punish the box-office opposition for a couple of weeks as Uma Thurman makes a roaring comeback in Quentin Tarantino's epic finale.

Thurman's Bride hopes to finish off what she started with Kill Bill: Vol. 1. David Carradine's Bill, who wasn't seen too much in the first installment, gets a bit more screen time as the plot tells more about the former couple. Former headliner Daryl Hannah and pigeonholed bad guy Michael Madsen also help move the story line with their colorful characters. Tarantino has a knack for reviving the careers of favorable thespians, but don't look for John Travolta, who's moved on to smaller, inferior things since his Vincent Vega days.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

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Travolta stars as the baddie in the color-me-stupid The Punisher. In the titular role, Thomas Jane might be a decent actor, but the guy couldn't kill an engine. 

Why can't Travolta stick to what he knows, like belting out a couple of Tarantino's delicious lines as seen in Pulp Fiction? Although he's a bit heavier than his Saturday Night Fever days, Travolta might try staying alive by auditioning for a Chicago-esque musical.

Speaking of award-winning efforts, it's a running joke in Hollywood that Richard Gere's taken a number of roles turned down by Travolta, including American Gigolo and Chicago. The joke here is Gere wouldn't have taken The Punisher role if a plump gerbil were waiting on the other side.

Based on the comic book character, The Punisher follows Frank Castle (Jane) as he avenges the death of his family. Dolph Lundgren played the lead character in the 1989 version, which didn't fare too well, but this flick might earn a couple million dollars before it gets kicked out of theaters.

Another former box-office buster, Bruce Willis, revisits the screen with Terry Gilliam's enthralling 12 Monkeys (1995). The film, which also stars Madeline Stowe, will show Friday and Saturday as part of Midnight at the River Oaks. Brad Pitt, who was coming off a solid effort with David Fincher's disturbing Seven, delivers an equally impressive performance in the film.

Willis' Sixth Sense co-star Toni Collette has since lost her senses, starring in the asinine Connie and Carla. Unless My Big Fat Greek Wedding's Nia Vardalos still has a pinch of magic dust left, this film should go "poof" within a week after its release.

It's about two women who ... just imagine Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis' Thelma and Louise characters taking a wrong turn and trying their hand in show business. They make it, or don't, and everyone goes home happy, or not. It's highly doubtful that these two characters will end up driving off a cliff or earning Collette or Vardalos an Oscar.

In other words, it'll be a slow weekend at theaters unless viewers are watching Thurman's Bride get all bloody.

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