Archive for the 'Based on a true story' Category

Milk

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 7, 2009
in Assassination, Based on a true story, Biography, Drama, Ensemble Cast, Government, Politics and Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Not having any idea who Harvey Milk was, other than what I had learned from the trailer, Milk was a very interesting look at the life of the first openly gay man to be elected to a major public office in the US.  Directed by Gus Van Sant, I knew this had to be at least a little good.  Then I noticed the amazing ensemble cast consisting of Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Alison Pill, and Diego Luna.  Everyone did a great job.  I couldn’t really see a single character carrying the whole film with the exception of maybe Penn, but he was the central character.

Milk was a political activist in the 1970s who tried to rally the gay community on Castro street in San Francisco.  It was around this time that laws were being put into place giving employers, landlords, and communities the right to discriminate based on sexual preference.  This might sound a little crazy to you, but it was only about 50 years ago that the Civil Rights movement started in our nation.  I’ve heard some off-handed comments saying this movie is about “that gay guy.”  That’s only partially true.  I say this film is much more about civil rights than about gay rights.  Milk was someone who was able to rally people together of all races, religions and creeds.  This was even more evident after he was killed.

Don’t get mad cause I just gave the ending away.  This movie is about a real person, remember?  Penn was amazing.  I know there are a lot of you out there that just don’t like the guy, but he had an amazing performance in this one.  When people act, some mimic a person or character and others just melt into the person they are playing.  Sean Penn really melted into this one.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see him nominated for Best Actor on this one.

Also just saw Josh Brolin talking to James Lipton on The Actor’s Studio.  Brolin talked about auditioning for the part and working with Penn.  It was pretty interesting.  You should probably check it out if you get the chance.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 10, 2008
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Based on a true story, Biography, Drama and Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

If you’re into movies I hope you’ve at least heard of this one.  There was a lot of Oscar buzz surrounding it.  Unfortunately the film didn’t win any of the four Oscars it was nominated for, but it did pick up some awards at other festivals and from other film groups.  Le Scaphandre et le papillon (French title) is based on the book and true story authored by Jean-Dominique Bauby.  Elle editor Jean-Do suffered a stroke in 1995 that left him almost completely paralyzed.  The one part of his body that he could move was his left eye.  Doctors and therapists at the hospital worked out a way to communicate with Mr. Bauby by blinking to spell words.  Later on, he was able to write a memoir with the help of a translator before his death in 1997.

This film reminded me of El Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside) starring Javier Bardem.  Both are stories about men who have an accident that leaves them physically disabled and they’re left trying to cope with the aftermath.  I can’t even imagine how frustrating it must be to feel trapped inside of my own body.  It gives you a new perspective on what people with physical disabilities go through.

Jean-Do Bauby is played by Mathieu Amalric.  You might recognize him from Munich or Marie Antoinette.  I know Jim Carrey was praised for his facial control in The Grinch, but I think Amalric most likely had a harder job contorting his face for this role.

Being a French film, you’ll definately need to pay attention to the subtitles unless you’re fluent at French.  I know some of you hate subtitles, but seriously, you need to get over that.  You might also find this a bit slow or depressing, but it’s a gem from 2007 that I think many missed.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Counterfeiters

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 12, 2008
in Based on a book, Based on a true story, Drama, Foreign, Germany, Jewish, WWII and War
. 0 Comments

Fälscher, Die, or The Counterfeiters is based on the true story of Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history.  During WWII, the Nazis had a great idea in 1936 to destroy the economies of their foes by counterfeiting large amounts of currency and flooding the markets.  By 1945 the Germans had successfully created 8,965,080 British banknotes valued at £134,610,810.  Their efforts were then turned towards the US dollar, but due to some sabotage on the part of the Jewish prisoners and Allied Forces winning the war, large amounts of US currency were never printed.

This film follows the story of Salomon Sorowitsch, the best counterfeiter at the time, and Adolf Burger, an expert printer, as they simultaneously try to stay alive and foil the Germans plans.  Housed at Sachsenhausen, these special prisoners were kept apart from the rest of the camp.  They were given nice clothes, plenty of food, real beds to sleep in, showers, and even had music playing all day long.  I am by no means an expert on the Nazi camps, but I had never heard of this kind of treatment before.

Towards the end of the war the countfeiters at Sachsenhausen were moved to Ebensee, but the operation was never started back up again before the camp was liberated.  Many of the banknotes were thrown into a nearby lake and were recovered by divers years later.

This is another great film for any history buff.  Very interesting and enjoyable.  Some of the special features even include interviews with Adolf Burger.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Mongol

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 6, 2008
in Asia, Assassination, Based on a true story, Biography, Drama, History, Romance and War
. 0 Comments

Here’s an amazing story that has really been needing a film - Ghengis Khan.  Mongol is an amazing film that chronicles that story of Temudjin, who eventually became known as Ghengis Khan.  One reason this is somewhat feasible is because there are many written accounts about this man and how he ruled the Mongols.

The story is really amazing how the young son of a slain ruler is kidnapped, enslaved, and jailed - yet never gives up.  He just keeps getting back up.  I can’t really comment on how Temudjin really was, I’m sure the peoples he conquered weren’t exactly happy to be conquered.  He seemed to be just in what he did though, and he didn’t forget those who were kind and who helped him.  Some parts of the film really personified “an eye for an eye.”

I’m not exactly what language was being spoken in the film, but I assumed it was the native Mongol tongue.  That’s always something I enjoy about films.  Not so great though for those of you who detest subtitles.  To that I say you should get over it cause you’re missing out on some good films.

One aspect I wasn’t sure what to expect was the war factor.  I’m glad to say this wasn’t turned into an action flick.  That would be interesting to watch, but this was mainly focused on Temudjin’s life and his relationships with people, including his best friend who eventually became his enemy.  Definitely rent this and check it out if you’re into historical films, like history, or are into Asian culture.

Rating: ★★★★☆

In the Valley of Elah

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 9, 2008
in Based on a true story, Crime, Drama, Iraq, Mystery, Thriller and War
. 0 Comments

I’ve been finding it intersting that more and more movies are coming out about the war in Iraq.  The other day it just dawned on me that in 20 years, this war will be just like Vietnam in that there will be plenty of books, movies, etc out there for people to learn from.

In the same way that Lions for Lambs seemed so lame compared to Charlie Wilson’s War, I think Robert Redford’s film once again pales in comparison to In the Valley of Elah.  The first pair goes together because they both deal with war in Afghanistan.  The second pair also makes sense because they both deal with the current “War on Terror” or “War of Terror” as Borat puts it.

This film deals with a soldier that has just returned from home, but turns up missing.  Tommy Lee Jones, plays the boy’s father, is trying to figure out what happened to his son.  Being a veteran, and a bit of an investigator himself, Hank Deerfield isn’t satisfied with the lackluster efforts and figuring out just what happened to his son.  Through trial and tribulation, Hank finally gets Detective Sanders, Charlize Theron, to take a real look at the case and try to piece all the parts together.  In the meantime, Hank is trying to make sense of some of the videos his son had been sending home to him from the battlefield.

This is truly a sad and tragic story, but I feel that it gave me a little peak into what some of these people are going through.  Every once in a while I catch a blip on the news about what’s going on in that region of the world.  The only real thing that’s actually affecting me are gas prices and the economy tanking.  I’m not in the armed forces though, and there’s very little chance of a draft happening again so I’d be really surprised if I ever experienced anything like this first hand.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 5, 2008
in American Civil War, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Based on a true story, Crime, Great Depression, Narrated, Trains and Western
. 2 Comments

This movie is one that I’ve been wanting to watch for a while. I’m a big fan of Westerns and their derivatives.  Other drawing factors were the Oscar buzz surrounding this film and the performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.  I’m glad to see Casey getting some recognition.  I think he’s a very qualified actor and it’s good that he’s making a name for himself other than Ben’s brother.

In my opinion, there seem to be two main types of Western films.  I’ve always labeled them in my head as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood when in reality they’re both on the same side.  I think the real line should be drawn at the musicals.  Many old films in this style include lots of singing, and maybe even some dancing.  These are the ones I’m really not a fan of.  I more into the shooting, the bank robberies, the jail breaks, and the action.  The Assassination of Jesse James incorporates a lot of these elements.

If you don’t know about Jesse James, he was an American outlaw during the mid to late 1800s.  As I’m sure you can guess by the title, he was eventually assassinated and then became one of the legends of the “Wild West.”  I think it would be fair to argue most people don’t know much about his life other than he was an outlaw.  I really enjoyed this film because it gave a small peak into his life that most would never know.

As I mentioned before, there were some amazing performances by Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, but it’s fair to mention they weren’t the only stars involved in this film.  Rounding out the cast are Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, and Paul Schneider.  Roger Deakins was even nominated for Cinematography, along with No Country for Old Men, and Affleck was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The only drawback I can think of for this film is the length.  I still don’t understand why some can’t sit through a longer movie if it’s worth watching, but it’s fair to mention just so you know.  I would highly recommend this to any fans of the Western genre.  I would put it on par with 3:10 to Yuma.

Rating: ★★★★½

The Other Boleyn Girl

Published
by
Lij
on March 28, 2008
in Based on a true story, British, Drama, England, History, Romance and Royalty
. 0 Comments

Ask people what they know about Henry VIII, and you’ll hear one thing: he killed his wives.

People more interested in history will also tell you about his divorce of his first wife, his splitting with the Catholic church, and his major impact on world history because of those two splits, but most people at least know that Henry VIII killed his wives.

In The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Scarlett Johansson as Mary Boleyn and Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn, director Justin Chadwick attempts to explore the earlier parts of Henry’s reign. This is before Jane Seymour, before his second and third Catherines, and before he’d begun beheading people because things weren’t going his way.

Eric Bana plays the king, and he does well. Johansson plays the kindhearted Mary Boleyn well, while Portman is at once endearing and conniving. You want to like her because she is strong and unwilling to be trampled, but she’s also self-centered and self-serving. Her fate, though, is still tragic, and her final monologue is excellent.

The story follows Mary and Anne as they are ordered through their lives by the men around them — their father, their uncle, their husbands, and more. It’s upsetting to see them traded as commodities, which is basically how the men in their lives see them. Even Henry VIII, who is either in love with or infatuated by each of them from time to time, is shown as loving them only because they are what he can or cannot have.

Mary is the first sister to become the mistress of the king, who is being driven to desperation by his wife’s inability to give him a male heir. Anne only becomes the mistress of the king later, after she manipulates her way into a better place. This works for and against her.

I liked that the film didn’t try to hard to make you love or hate any of the characters. It did well to show them as human enough that you care for them, but it also showed that they were flawed. Some more than others.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Charlie Wilson’s War

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 6, 2008
in Based on a book, Based on a true story, Biography, Drama, History, Politics and War
. 3 Comments

Liz and I did a double-header yesterday, the first being Charlie Wilson’s War. I’m usually not really into political movies with a message, Lions for Lambs for example, but I enjoyed this one. This movie is based on the true story of a little known senator, Charlie Wilson, who got the funding for the original “War on Terror” in Afghanistan back in the 80’s. What I really enjoyed about this movie was the end where it showed funding for schools and rebuilding the society, at a mere fraction of what had been spent on weapons and munitions, being turned down because “nobody cares about Pakistan.” Pakistan wasn’t even the country Wilson was trying to get the funding for; it was Afghanistan. It points out that time and time again, the US has funded and armed one group only to find them the enemy later on down the road. Everybody is concerned about Osama Bin Laden right now - well he was one of the people fighting the Russians back in the 80’s with our money and our weapons.

I think the acting was top notch here. Tom Hanks gave a wonderful performance as usual. I know you’ve probably heard me rant about Cast Away, but that was just a fluke in my book. Julia Roberts also did a decent job. I kinda feel like she might have stepped out of the box a little with this role, at least in reference to her more recent movies that I’ve seen. It was also cool to see Amy Adams again. She was amazing in Junebug and after seeing that, I remember her from Catch Me If You Can, another Hanks film. You might have also seen her in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny if you’re into the phenom of Jack Black and Kyle Gast. And who can not mention Philip Seymour Hoffman’s role? I was reminded a lot of his character in Punch-Drunk Love as the sofa king. He did a lot of yelling in that role, only there weren’t any redeeming characteristics.

This film is definitely a historical piece. It’s not about the 100 Year War or the pilgrims, but it’s still about a piece of history. In a way, it kind of reminded me of Blow. I think it also helps to watch films about political things at least a decade after the fact. People have had time to hear and learn about what happened apart from the media and everything else. I’d highly recommend seeing this. It has historical value as well as being very much in the present. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is even mention being assassinated in a military coup. He was the president and prime minister of Pakistan in the 70’s and 80’s. Just recently his daughter Benazir Bhutto, who also served as prime minister, was assassinated after just coming out of self-imposed exile.

The Martian Child

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 13, 2007
in Adoption, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Based on a true story, Drama, Family and Sci-fi
. 0 Comments

I’m always a sucker for a good John Cusack film. I think the first film I saw him in was The Journey of Natty Gann and I’ve been a fan ever since. Another interesting tidbit is how often his actual sister, Joan Cusack, plays his sister or another character in his films. She happens to be his sister again here. They just have such a great brother-sister dynamic.

If you didn’t know, this is based off a book. Liz read it to review for an online magazine she’s the books editor for, Infuze, and really enjoyed it. She did say that there were some noticeable differences between the two, but they were both good.

John plays David, a sci-fi writer, who adopts Dennis, played by Bobby Coleman. Dennis has trouble relating to people and believes he’s from the planet Mars. David was seen as maybe a good fit for Dennis because of his childhood similarities and some of the books he has written. Amanda Peet also plays Harlee, a friend of David’s and his deceased wife.

In a way, this movie was a little manipulative like I am Sam. It’s definitely not easy trying to care for Dennis or help him merge into a social life, but David goes out and achieves anyways. It was also cool to see Peet in a role where she wasn’t the sleazy, crazy or slutty type. I’m not saying she’s type-cast, it was just nice to see her in a different kind of role.

It has also been cool to see Cusack play the roles of a concerned father/parent figure in the past few films he’s done. In 1408 he’s the father of a dead child. In Grace is Gone he’s a recent widower and father, and in Identity they’re all trying to protect the young boy. Even though John Cusack has a long list of very unique films and characters, I always think of him as doing the romantic comedies and it’s cool to see him play different roles.

This might be a good movie to see after reading the book or vice versa. It’s worth your time and could maybe even be considered one of those “feel good” movies like Amelie.

American Gangster

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 13, 2007
in Based on a true story, Corruption, Crime, Drama, Drugs, Dysfunctional, Family, Investigation, Mob, Racism and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Starring Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a real-life American gangster, I feeling like I was watching Training Day, only this movie was much cooler, much classier, and just better all around. According to the film, which was based on claims by Frank Lucas, Frank Lucas was the driver/bodyguard that stepped in after his boss died of a heart attack. What’s different about this mob story is that Frank Lucas is black; he’s not Italian, Sicilian or Russian. He brings in his brothers to help run the business and runs shop like the Italians. He makes sure the public and everyone around him loves him. People even love him when Frank beats the crap out of them for making mistakes.

On one hand, Lucas was kind of like Robin Hood. He took from the rich and gave to the poor. Frank also cut out all the middle-men and worked for himself. He dealt in narcotics and got his good directly from Southeast Asia. He bribed a lot of people to make his operations work and brought a lot of them down with him.

This movie is definite Oscar material. Denzel has been nominated several times for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. He has won two Oscars already and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won again for this film. Some other talented performances would include Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Jon Polito.

I really enjoyed the cinematography. Lately in films we’ve been seeing the wild camera shots and angles. The Bourne series would be an example of this, even though I like it there, and it just wouldn’t work in this film. I didn’t really pay attention to the ASL (average shot length), but it was very easy to follow and the timing and flow of the film went very well.

I think Ridley Scott did quite well directing. You might recognize that name from his previous works such as Alien, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men and who could forget Blade Runner? He’s also produced a long list of movies. One that I’ve been wanting to see in particular would be The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Even though this is a mob/gangster movie, it also shows a peek into the lives of these people. It’s not just extortion, lies, decent and people getting knocked off in casinos and dark alleys. Definitely a good drama as well as a crime and thriller. I highly recommend this one.