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Rollerball (2002) Though the original Rollerball was no masterpiece, it featured many intriguing elements, not least of all the ultra-violent sport at its heart; a game in which teams on roller skates and motor bikes compete for fame, glory and television ratings at the potential risk of their lives. In the 1975 film, Harrison's cyberpunk yarn of a death sport veteran contemplating the emptiness of his life and society was expanded and tweaked into a satire on the sports industry and the soullessness of corporate power. Rollerball is, at the moment, a fringe sport; a quasi-legal cult success in Eastern European, Asian, and African countries, watched by the teeming masses yearning to be free and overseen by Russian hard man Jean Reno (Godzilla). homepage.eircom.net /~obrienh/roll02.htm   (718 words)

Rollerball (1975)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Rollerball is a film that I'd been intrigued by since I was a kid. Starring Caan as Jonathon E, a star Rollerball player, the film is set in a bleak future, where governments no longer exist; rather, they've been replaced by a monolithic corporation (instead of rising for the national anthem, people stand for the "corporate hymn"). Heavy-handed to the extreme, Rollerball seems to have been crafted not as a piece of entertainment, but as a warning: "If we stay as violent as we are, this is what's going to happen!" If a movie wants to present an important message, that's fine. www.reelfilm.com /roller.htm   (207 words)

Rollerball : Production Notes McTiernan's Rollerball is an update of the classic 1975 film directed by Norman Jewison. Marcus Ridley, Jonathan's best friend and fellow Rollerballer, is played by LL COOL J, the phenomenal recording artist and actor who has garnered critical kudos for his work in such films as Any Given Sunday (1999), Deep Blue Sea (1999), and Kingdom Come (2001). Before filming, Rollerball's stars had to undergo intense and extensive training in preparation for the difficult physical feats they'd be required to perform. www.cinema.com /articles/761/rollerball-production-notes.phtml   (4506 words)

MGC Review - Rollerball   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Like the 1975 film, this remake asserts the rise of a popular new sporting event, an ultraviolent cross between roller derby and rugby with a couple of motorcycles and other wrinkles added. Instead of showing a near-future society in which Rollerball has already become the most popular mass entertainment, as in the original, the new film is set in the present, with Rollerball on the rise in Asia and on the cusp of breaking through in North America. In the original film, James Caan deliberately blinded himself to anything other than the creature comforts afforded by his position; his awakening, therefore, was as much internal as external, and gave his character an emotional arc. moviegeek.homestead.com /files/rollerball.htm   (2168 words)

IGN: Rollerball Review Rollerball isn't so much a remake of the 1975 film of the same name as it is a dumbed-down action hero film with a similar theme. Where Jewison's film tried to show public and corporate obsession with a game and the elevation of its stars to near-godhood with more than a few allusions to professional football, McTiernan's version is much more straightforward: people good, business bad. The eventual, final and bloody game of Rollerball is one of the low points of the film, where the rules are voided and all hell breaks loose. filmforce.ign.com /articles/324/324193p1.html   (1183 words)

Rollerball Rollerball is based in Central Asia, among the former Soviet republics, making incredible amounts of money through gambling and broadcast deals. Director John McTiernan's Rollerball is a "remake" of the 1975 film starring James Caan. Rollerball could have been a visceral, scathing satire of modern media excess and the popular lust for gladiatorial smackdown - but toning it down to PG-13 serves to dilute its impact. www.scifidimensions.com /Feb02/rollerball.htm   (417 words)

Rollerball (2002)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Inevitably, they discover Rollerball isn't the extreme sports game it was cracked up to be, and that when ratings are involved, Petrovich is willing to do anything to make sure the players continue risking their lives night after night. Rollerball is in the exact same situation, and while the name of the product remains the same, the executives at MGM are all the more dunderheaded for releasing a remake that glorifies everything the original was up against. True, the Rollerball scenes are bone-crunchingly dumb fun, and I enjoyed the added concept of a figure-8 track and more obstacles one must go through to score a goal, but numerous other changes and additions to the game result in more resentment from fans of the original. www.ajhakari.com /r/rollerball2002.html   (1410 words)

Rollerball (2002): Reviews Rollerball was trash even back in 1975, but in some small way it was ahead of its time. As in the comparatively quaint original film, there are whiffs of greed, carnage, social upheaval and the triumph of the numskull, but it's all rendered noxious nonsense by zooming hot rods, vague T&A, irritating jump-cuts and a bunch of dipshit Power Ranger wannabes slamming in hell's moshpit. Rollerball pushes the Hollywood action movie to stratospheric new levels of incoherence; pounding at the senses, it's mashed story, character, time and space into a chunky hash. www.metacritic.com /video/titles/rollerball   (958 words)

Rollerball: Special Edition (1975) Nonetheless, we are concerning ourselves with the 1975 original here, which has a decidedly better rating of 6.2, and is actually the source of a sample which Type O Negative used on the original edit of the Bloody Kisses album. Film artefacts were the greatest undoing for this transfer, with numerous fl and white marks, as well as hairs and scratches appearing on the transfer with moderate frequency. Any film that has been remade as many times as this one, be it under new names like the truly pathetic Future Sport or with a new script, has got to have something going for it. www.michaeldvd.com.au /Reviews/Reviews.asp?ReviewID=1141   (1909 words)

DVD REVIEW: "ROLLERBALL"   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) The film was then edited down to receive a PG-13 rating in its theatrical release, but has now been returned back to an R rating for its DVD release. Since the original film wasn't anything special and there were no worries about treading on sacred cinematic material, screenwriters Larry Ferguson ("Alien 3," "The Hunt For Red October") and John Pogue ("The Skulls," "U.S. Marshals") could have taken the material and run with it, creating a fascinating, fabulous and highly entertaining, cautionary yarn. Much like the first film, the attraction and highlights are supposed to be the Rollerball matches that combine roller derby, hockey, lacrosse and motorbike racing into a violent spectacle. www.screenit.com /dvd/2002/rollerball.html   (986 words)

Scifilm -- Reviews, ROLLERBALL (1975) The glum 70s were known for their pessismistic SF films (at least before the advent of STAR WARS) but ROLLERBALL was one of the cleverest of the lot. It is Rollerball, a fast-paced, brutal contest combining aspects of hockey, roller derby and motocross. ROLLERBALL was criticized by many for its violence and heavy tone during its initial run. www.scifilm.org /reviews3/rollerball.html   (1240 words)

Ziggy's Video Realm: James Caan in Rollerball (1975)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Rollerball stands as an all-time classic, one of those films that may at first seem superficial to those who don’t pay close attention but which in fact proves to be not only entertaining, but also highly relevant if one looks just barely below the surface. Rollerball is an excellent piece of allegorical science fiction; a well-directed, thought-provoking film that is all too often denied the credit that it deserves (though perhaps that may change with a year 2002 remake returning attention to the original). Rollerball as played during the movie's first contest is exhilarating, to the point where even accepting the fact the death among players is a matter of course, one could easily look forward to seeing Rollerball succeed as a real competitive sport, the exact opposite of the view that Jewison is obviously trying to convey. www.reelcriticism.com /ziggyrealm/reviews/rollerball.html   (1595 words)

Rollerball Listing at Box Office Prophets   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) In this remake of the 1975 film of the same name, a none-too-distant future (only 2005) is envisioned. The 1975 version of Rollerball imagined a future world of corporations instead of nations, wherein the great unwashed's penchant for violence is provided cathartic release in the form of a multi-corporation-sponsored brutal sport with virtually no rules, no intended heroes, and injury and death as an inevitable and acceptable game-play consequence. Plot details remain sketchy at this point, and it is unclear whether or not the Rollerball remake will follow along the same plotlines as the original, but the concept of worldwide corporate domination has been dropped, with the global scope reduced to a smaller, Eastern European scale of evil entrepreneurs. www.boxofficeprophets.com /tickermaster/feb2002/rollerball.asp   (405 words)

FILM REVIEW: Rollerball Rollerball opens with a great scene that has little to do with the rest of the movie, but within five minutes, you’ll know if you’re going to like it or not. Remaking Norman Jewison’s 1975 film, John McTiernan (who also recreated Jewison’s The Thomas Crown Affair) takes the basic concept of Rollerball and tweaks it a bit, bringing it closer to the present day and adding a bit of irony to the commentary on the state of professional sports. The pace of the film is also a bit nuts, with a story arc that has a 90-degree angle in the middle. www.chartattack.com /damn/PrintThis.cfm?ID=2002020813   (463 words)

Rollerball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rollerball was also a 2002 remake of the 1975 film. Rollerball was a 1988 pinball-themed video game for the NES. This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Rollerball   (94 words)

Rollerball (2002) But a large part of the reason for the film’s success was in audiences reacting to it as an action film, rather than to its often heavy-handed message component. The film could almost be set in the present, as the opening scenes in San Francisco would seem to indicate. Ironically the film suffers from exactly the same hypocrisies that the original did - that to make a film about the corrupt use of cathartic bread and circuses violence to pacify the masses, it actually has to resort to making a film which appeals to the same violent instincts in its audience. www.moria.co.nz /sf/rollerball02.htm   (836 words)

Filmtracks: Rollerball (2001) (Eric Serra) Rollerball (2001): (Eric Serra) Fascination with the rollerball game as a concept has never really diminished since Norman Jewison's 1975 film interpretation of William Harrison's original story. The film would pour its budget into its art direction, glitzing everything up with lavish sets that were drenched in neon colors. It's not often that Serra scores films outside of his partnership with director Luc Besson, but given that this new Rollerball was once again set in a mythical European/Asian setting, Serra's habit of producing a pseudo Middle-Eastern style to his electronics would be more than appropriate. www.filmtracks.com /titles/rollerball.html   (1014 words)

Rollerball   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) What with the remake (or, rather, yet another re-imagining) of Rollerball now available for public consumption, it might be a suitable time to take a glance back at the original version of the film from 1975. Caan plays international Rollerball superstar Jonathan E. He is a brutal champion of the vicious roller rink, a master of the game, lionized by the people and rolling toward icon status. Though the subtext of Rollerball may be outweighed by its action sequences, it generally succeeds in making a valid and prescient point. www.urbanoutlaw.com /opinion/2002/0212.html   (675 words)

Rollerball (1975)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Having said that however, here is a film that although lacking the scope, budget and monumental depth of its compatriot, is a totally brilliant piece of film-making, equally awesome in its implications and social comment. The highlight of the film, if you are able to see it, is the party for Jonathan E, supposedly to mark his resignation but which in fact might be seen as the Energy Corporation's Last Supper! One of the most under-rated SF films of all time. www.imdb.com /Title?0073631   (860 words)

Zap2it - TV news - HBO In Talks With Jewison For 'Dinner' Adapted for the screen by Marguiles himself, the film is being executive produced by Laura Ziskin, Margo Lion and Daryl Roth. His other films include "Fiddler On the Roof," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "A Soldier's Story," "Agnes of God" and "Moonstruck." Last year, Jewison was awarded the Irving Thalberg Memorial Oscar for his contributions to the motion picture industry. Jewison's upcoming projects include a remake of his 1975 film "Rollerball" to be directed by John McTiernan. tv.zap2it.com /tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|61431|1|10,00.html   (212 words)

Rollerball (2002): Chris Klein, LL Cool J - PopMatters Film Review And while your first response may be, "Thank goodness," since the film is already looking about as three-dimensional as a Tony Hawk videogame, your second is likely to be, "Oh dear," as it quickly becomes clear that even the usually buoyant LL is going to dragged down with this sinking ship. At film's end, when that capitalist dog Petrovich decides to abandon the "rules," you'll likely be surprised to learn that there are any to abandon. But the means to get you so rooting exemplifies the film's basic dilemma (which is neither new nor confined to retarded movies like this one; see, for example, Unforgiven): it's happy to indulge in exactly the groveling-for-ratings violent antics that it pretends to rebuke. www.popmatters.com /film/reviews/r/rollerball.shtml   (1458 words)

Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Rollerball at Epinions.com   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Jonathan E is the "Joe Montana" of the game/sport Rollerball, and the story indicates that he has been the top player for a number of years. The design for the Rollerball "track" still looks good all these years later, perhaps as a result of the Rollerball track being the post-modern indoor bicycle velodrome in Munich that was used during the 1972 Summer Olympic Games. "Rollerball" was a blockbuster movie in its time that now seems dated, and I'm not sure it ever made the "big statement" that director Norman Jewison intended. www.epinions.com /content_34317373060   (1110 words)

Rollerball Since there is a lot of buzz about the up coming release of a remake for Rollerball, I felt it would be a perfect time to revisit the classic original film. This film was made during a silver age of Hollywood. Having watched many of his more notable films I can only conclude that is style changes with the individual demands imposed by the film before him. www.hometheaterinfo.com /rollerba.htm   (1046 words)

DVD.net : Rollerball (2001) - DVD Review   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) I mean the kid seriously can not make with the cranky eyes, and when he tries you are left sitting there on the verge of laughing at his dumb expression which looks more like a whimpering cocker-spaniel that’s just copped a whacking with a rolled up newspaper for leaving stains on the carpet. The storyline is shallow, there is very little going on in the background and the short 94 minutes that the film runs for is mostly filled with people racing around the track, racing around in fast cars, and racing away from the bad guys with big guns. After several release delays this film was only put to screens earlier this year, so the overall video quality looks brand spanking new. www.dvd.net.au /review.cgi?review_id=1795   (1284 words)

Amazon.co.uk: Rollerball [1975] - Special Edition: DVD   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) Notwithstanding the brilliantly staged arena sequences, Rollerball is essentially about freedom versus conformity and the corruption of unfettered capitalism, with Caan leading an existential rebellion in the tradition of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 which leads to a chilling, apocalyptic finale. Rollerball, a vicious indoor combination of Speedway, Gridiron and Ice Hockey,is supposed not only to distract and brutalise the masses, but to highlight the importance of the collective and the insignificance of individual effort. "Rollerball"'s triumph is its combination of this morality theme with as much visceral,dramatic action as you could hope for, as rule changes make Rollerball progressively more violent. www.amazon.co.uk /exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005KISO   (1017 words)

Amazon.com: Rollerball: DVD   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04) This is one sci fi film that looks remarkably contemporary-- no one wears anything made of silver spandex-- and the themes--of depersonalization in the face of consumerism, of corportate-ruled societies filled with a drugged-out leisure class, of the slick and cynical packaging of violence as entertainment in modern sporting spectacles--are as timely as ever. The film "Rollerball" is a fine depiction of this stylistic conflict. According to the author, William Harrison, Rollerball was inspired by an Arkansas Razorback basketball in Barnhill Arena during the era of coach Eddie Sutton. www.amazon.com /gp/product/0792838300   (2297 words)

TNMC Movie News: Rollerball Minimal damage was sustained and no cast and crew members were hurt, as the blaze occurred prior to the day's filming, which was due to begin at 9AM. The film's main set, the Rollerball track, was not damaged, although a minor set incurred some water damage. Signed to star in the film so far are Chris Klein, Jean Reno and LL Cool J. Stax got a hold of the script and subjected it to his critical eye. www.tnmc.org /gnews/rollerball.html   (1150 words)

Cincinnati CityBeat Opening Films It's too bad the film ends up feeling like a reunion special for a show that never was, thanks to supporting roles from Lee Majors (Six Million Dollar Man, The Fall Guy), Donald Faison (Scrubs), and Jaleel White (Family Matters). CityBeat grade: B. Rollerball -- Director John McTiernan remakes the 1975 film Rollerball, a vacant actioner about a 21st-century form of roller derby, and manages to create a film ten times worse than the disjointed original. Compared to the archival film footage and still photography shot by Frank Hurley, a Shackleton crewmember, the dramatizations are amateurish and uninteresting. www.citybeat.com /2002-02-07/filmopening.shtml   (1007 words)

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