Bob Hoskins is an actor I have noticed in recent films the past 10 years. He’s obviously somebody that is respected in the acting world. Today I think I found out why - The Long Good Friday.
If you’re a fan of Guy Ritchie and his cockney gangster films, you have to watch this. In this Hoskins plays a big-time gangster who is trying to capitalize on some prime real estate, but everything seems to be going wrong. His friends and family are being targeted along with his businesses. This is not looking good to the investors and the American mobsters are re-thinking their investment options.
I knew the film had to be good from the start because it had a catchy tune. Movies these days seem to lack the kind of openings like this. Then I realized both P.H. Moriarty (Hatchet Harry fromLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Alan Ford (Brick Top from Snatch and Alan/Narrator from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) were in it. Pretty soon I also started noticing phrases like, “This is like a bad night in Vietnam.” being very similar to “A minute ago this was the safest job in the world. Now it’s turning into a bad day in Bosnia.” The similarities continue. I would even suppose that both Moriarty and Ford took some inspiration for their parts in Ritchie’s films from Bob Hoskin’s portrayal of a gangster.
Seeing how great Guy Ritchie apparently thought of John Mackenzie, I’m now interested in seeing what else Mackenzie has directed. Oh, and did I mention this is in the Criterion Collection? If you’re a fan of British film, you’re sure to recognize many actors from back in the day. Definitely worth renting!
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Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a movie I was really looking forward to. Being a huge Arrested Development fan, I’ve always been on the lookout for Michael Cera and have really enjoyed his roles in Superbad and Juno. Now there’s another movie starring Cera and it has something to do about music. I know it came out a while ago, but I’m just now getting to it on my Netflix list.
While on the surface, the story of some teenagers (I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to be high school students) driving around all night trying to find where their elusive, favorite band is going to be playing in New York City might sound cool, I was a little disturbed by the sub plot. You know, their seemingly alcoholic friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor) who is so drunk she has no idea where she is or what happened to her. She was initially handed off to some friends of friends but then came to in the back of a van and “escaped” her kidnappers. You see, she heard the other occupants in the van talking about a song and assumed she was about to be date-raped. So while this funny, teen-romance comedy is taking place Nick (Michael Cera) and Norah (Kat Dennings from 40 Year Old Virgin) are also trying to find Caroline. They’re essentially chasing her around town to all of her “favorite puking places” and eventually meet up with her by the end of the film.
I feel weird saying it, but I must be getting old. I’ve never really been bothered by these more “sophisticated” teen comedies before, but this time I really just felt out of my element. While there were some funny moments, the whole situation just seemed a little ridiculous. Is this just because I’m not 17 years old anymore?
I was also expecting some awesome music to be had but I must have missed it or just had too high of expectations. Has anyone else seen this flick? I’d really like some feedback here. Was I just not in the mood and need to give this a 2nd chance?
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I think this is the first time I’ve ever talked about a TV show on here. We’ve tried to stick to movies. Tonight I saw the first episode of Joss Whedon’s new TV series on Fox called Dollhouse. This show is about a group of five men and women who are essentially blank slates. They have personalities downloaded into them and are then contracted out to perform jobs. It’s kind of like the ultimate temp agency mixed with some Matrix-style brain downloading.
Starring in this show is Eliza Dushku, playing the character of Echo. We get to see her in action during the first episode, but not everything works out as planned. We know there are four others working for this agency, but we haven’t been introduced to them yet. You’ll probably also recognize Tahmoh Penikett who played Helo on Battlestar Galactica and Olivia Williams who played Rosemary Cross, the teacher, on Rushmore.
If you’re not familiar with Joss Whedon, he’s the creator of shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly. He’s well known for his science fiction and being a feminist. I’m not talking about Rosie the Riveter here, I’m talking about a guy who respects women, writes great roles for them in his projects, and doesn’t treat them like eye candy. This reputation of his has come under fire with this new project because it kind of fulfills one of those “ultimate male fantasies.” You have women seen as things and not people. While I have to agree with that at face value, I’m not ready to make a judgment yet. I was definitely intrigued by this first episode and am planning on tuning in next week.
For more information visit Fox’s website (http://www.fox.com/dollhouse/) or Dollverse (http://www.dollverse.com/).
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I must admit I added this to the queue because I saw that Ellen Page was in it. And by in it, I mean she was once again the leading lady. The first time I experienced a Page film was with Hard Candy so I was more than eager to see Juno. She’s quite the amazing actress for her age. The Tracey Fragments reminded me a lot of Pieces of April. Both films are about a young girl/woman trying to make it on their own. They have not so desirable families and are trying to work things out in their lives. This film was even visually fragmented on screen. There were often multiple camera shots and angles, of the same scene, being shown all at once. Some were from different perspectives, some from a different vantage point, others just sped up or down. It was kind of interesting and kind of hard to take it all in at the same time. Almost like being visually overstimulated.
The timeline was a bit hard to follow. I think the multiple camera shots helped with my confusion. I had never seen something like this persist throughout a whole movie. This kind of seemed like a gutsy, young director thing to do. I checked out who did the directing and saw that Bruce McDonald did have 35 other projects to his name before this one. So he’s definitely not a rookie. A pretty interesting style. The saving grace was the ending though. Eventually everything came together and made a lot more sense. In the end you realize what was real, what was imagined, and how all the fragments fit together.
This is definitely a sad story. Tracey’s 9 year old brother has disappeared and she’s trying to find him. She also happens to be a very unpopular 15 year old in high school. I’m sure many of us can relate to that…trying to find our way in the world.
I could see a lot of people not being into this movie. If you start watching it, please stick through to the end. You won’t be sorry. It totally redeems itself.
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City of Men is a sequel of sorts, based off a TV show, to City of God. It takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and shows a peak into the lives of some young men living there. The city is wrought with strife and gang wars. This film illustrates some of the problems these children and young adults face just because of the color the their skin, where they live, who they’re related to, and what gang they belong to. It also speaks a lot to fatherhood, or the lack thereof.
This story mainly consists of the relationship between two friends, Ace and Wallace. They’re turning 18 and have come to the point in life where they’re finally grown up. Ace already has a son and Wallace is in search of his biological father. In the middle of everything, a gang war erupts putting these lifelong friends at odds.
I don’t feel like there’s much more I can say without giving away too much. It’s a really great film and if you saw City of God, you need to see the follow up to the TV Series sequel. I think there’s less violence in this film, but it’s just as powerful as the first.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I had high hopes for this movie. It just looked so “feel good.” That’s probably why I was disappointed with it. The cast was promising touting big names like Robin Williams, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, and the talented Freddie Highmore. It also looked like it could be good like the popular indie flick Once.
I think the hardest aspect for me to buy in to was the magical realism portrayed in the story. You have a very musically talented man and woman who fall in love and “make a baby” one fateful night. The girl’s father decides she doesn’t need a child because she has her career as a cheloist. So the baby boy is given up for adoption and has been living in an orphanage. So one day the boy is exposed to music and he turns into Mozart on steroids. He believes the music he creates will bring his parents back together and reunite them as a family. That’s what made me roll my eyes at this movie.
Performances were ok. Everything seems very much like a Charles Dickens’ story. Highmore did pretty well and the music was interesting. You have to remember though, that musicals rarely float my boat. They’re just not my thing. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t get into the story very well. I’d be interested to see what other think. I’m kinda feeling like maybe the movie wasn’t so cheesy, but just not my style as with Across the Universe. I’d love to hear any thoughts anyone else has.
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