Archive for the 'Kidnapping' Category

Rambo

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 6, 2008
in Action, Kidnapping, Sequel, Thriller and War
. 0 Comments

Before I even start, I must admit that I had been avoiding the 4th Rambo installment for a while.  It just seemed a little ridiculous to me that Sylvester Stallone would be doing another Rambo and another Rocky movie.  It was only after several friends tried to assure me it was good, that I decided to add it to my Netflix list.  Now, after seeing it, I must admit that Rambo totally redeemed Rambo III.

I think one of the big factors contributing to the worth of this film was Stallone stepping in as a writer, and directing the film.  He’s obviously had a lot of experience acting, writing, and directing and was aware “the people” would not abide more of the same considering what happened with Rambo III.  Another contributing factor was Stallone trying to shed some light on the atrocities currently happening in Burma.

Action.  If there’s one thing this movie has, it’s action.  I’m pretty sure Robin would say something along the lines of, “Holy belt-fed machine guns, Batman!”  Liz walked in and saw a short clip during one of the featurettes on the DVD and uttered, “gross!”  I must say I wasn’t grossed out, I actually thought it was kind of cool.  That must be the little boy in me.

The story was pretty general.  Rambo helps some people, against his initial instinct, and eventually ends up saving them.  I really appreciated the “wandering warrior” theme that has prevailed throughout the series.  Parts of the original score were also worked into this score which reall tied the films together.  The execution of the story is really what made it work for me though.  Stallone really pulled off the Rambo character as an older version, still searching for meaning in his life and slightly enraged at the atrocities around him.

If you’re even a tiny bit a fan of First Blood, I highly suggest you check this one out.  It’ll be well worth your time.  I only hope Rambo V builds off of the success of Rambo.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Kingdom

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 16, 2007
in Action, Drama, Government, Iraq, Kidnapping, Religion, Revenge, Thriller, Twist and War
. 0 Comments

I wasn’t too sure about this one when I first heard about it. I just didn’t know how Jamie Foxx would do in this role. Jennifer Garner had that show Alias and Chris Cooper has proven himself time and again. Even Jason Bateman has done amazingly well recently with Arrested Development, one of the best shows in the past few years. I even had a chance to see a free screening a couple hours away, but wasn’t able to make it. It wasn’t until after I had read some of the reviews that I decided I had to see this.

If you’re not sure of the plot this is kinda about terrorism. It takes place in Saudi Arabia after an American “compound” for oil workers is blown up during a picnic. This isn’t based on actual events, but it’s one of those very plausible stories - especially with all the turmoil currently happening in that region. The FBI ends up sending in a team to help the Saudis do some forensic work at the scene and try to catch whomever is responsible.

Even though this movie turns into action for the last 20 minutes or so, I’ll still argue that this movie is more about people than it is guns and blowing stuff up. I think the root of many conflicts is miscommunication. People on both sides are assuming things based on many factors and reasons, and a lot of times both sides aren’t even talking about the same thing. I think that’s evidenced in this film.

Right from the start the Saudis are very opposed to American involvement in their country and their problems. I can certainly sympathize with that. Can you think of a time you were having a problem or argument and welcomed some stranger stepping up and trying to help/solve your problems? This is seen with the character Colonel Faris Al Ghazi played by Ashraf Barhom. He’s been instructed to “take care” of these Americans and not let them get too involved while the Americans are frustrated they just can’t “dive in” and get their hands dirty.

Eventually the Colonel and Fleury, Foxx, come to the agreement that they’re both just trying to catch a criminal and prevent the continued loss of life. Once they realized they were both aiming for the same goal, just coming at it from different angles, they were able to really accomplish something.

I also liked how the movie showed there were both good and bad Americans; good and bad Saudis. Not everyone who is Arab or Muslim is a terrorist. Not every American has the world’s best interest in mind. I know this movie wasn’t made to help improve relations between countries, but I think it takes some small steps towards breaking down some of these invisible walls of prejudice, racism and hatred. Everybody has lost somebody. The hard part is stopping the violence to try and prevent more. As the Klingons say, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Alpha Dog

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 31, 2007
in Based on a true story, Crime, Drama, Dysfunctional, Independent and Kidnapping
. 0 Comments

Here’s another movie I had no idea what it was about before I saw it. Turns out it’s based on true events surrounding Jesse James Hollywood who was one of the youngest people on the FBI’s most wanted list. He eluded the feds for five years before being caught in Brazil in 2005. The story goes that Benjamin Markowitz owed Hollywood $1500 or so so Hollywood and his friends kidnapped Nicholas, Markowitz’s little brother, held him for five days, and killed him in the end.

One might say I just spoiled the movie, but all this information is out there if you want to look any of it up since this is based on actual events. What really drew me in and kept my attention was the reality of the film. It seemed so real. A lot of times you watch a movie and know that what you just saw would never ever happen in real life. This story definitely seemed possible. I think the performances helped make this movie what it is. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, we have Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch, Vincent Kartheiser, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hatosy, Harry Dean Stanton and Ben Foster to name a few.

I think I was most surprised by Timberlake. I’ve just always seen him as a fluffy person. I’m not into his music and he’s always been around other people I consider fluffy like Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera…..and who can forget ‘N Sync? This guy can actually act though. Another great performance from Emile Hirsch. I really like this guy. He seemed to almost be the same person he was in Lords of Dogtown. I mentioned to Liz that he always seems to play roles where he’s a drug addict and a deviant. She then reminded me of some other roles like The Girl Next Door and Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.

Another interesting aspect was the time period. I’m almost the same age as Jesse James so thinking back about when this happened while watching the film made it a lot more real for me. I really liked watching this movie, but don’t know if or when I’ll watch it again. It’s definitely worth your time to watch it once though. Let me know what you think if you saw this.

Blood Diamond

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 31, 2006
in Adventure, Africa, Drama, Drugs, Kidnapping, Thriller and War
. 0 Comments

Liz and I finally got out to see a movie! We also got to hang out with Matt and Liz so I’d call that a double bonus. I wasn’t really sure if I really wanted to go see this in the theater or not just from watching the preview. I’m really glad I finally saw it though. This is a quality film. It reminded me a lot of Tears of the Sun and Saving Private Ryan, only this movie was a lot more meaningful and worthwhile.

If you’ve never heard of blood diamonds, you’ve might have heard of conflict diamonds…no? Ok, I’ll start at the beginning. A lot of violence has, is and will continue to happen in Africa over the control of valuable natural resources. Diamonds are just one of those resources that governments and warlords are trying to control. Many innocent people lose their lives over these resources and some of the larger nations in the world have been trying to do something about it. This movie is a story about some people who are affected by this situation.

For starters this was directed by Edward Zwick. He has directed films such as The Last Samurai and Legends of the Fall. He’s also produced I Am Sam and Traffic. For actors we have Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. One person that immediately stuck out to me was Arnold Vosloo. You might recognize him as the mummy from The Mummy. Caprio is probably best known for his role in Titanic, a movie I still haven’t watched, but I like to remember him for other roles such as “Growing Pains”, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Romeo + Juliet, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can and The Aviator. I still haven’t seen The Departed. Hounsou is an amazing actor and has done an amazing job in films such as Stargate, Amistad, Gladiator, The Four Feathers and In America to name a few. Connelly has definitely been around the block. She started her career out early in classics like Once Upon a Time in America and Labyrinth. She’s also been in other films such as A Beautiful Mind, House of Sand and Fog, and Requiem for a Dream. If you’ve seen some/all of these films you’ll know that the cast is pretty good. I used to not really like DiCaprio all that much and I wasn’t sure why. This guy is a great actor though. He’s done a wide variety of films with a wide variety of characters. I’m always impressed.

I really liked how they shot some of the different scenes with different colors. I’m not talking about colors like Hero but more along the lines of shading things from browns to blues to vibrant colors depending on the location. It’s little things like that, combined with music and the score that can really set a mood for a film.

Even though I loved this movie I’m sure there will be some that won’t for various reasons. There is a bit of violence in here. A lot of running through jungles and people being shot and killed. There’s even a scene where you see captured villagers getting hands chopped off. This might be a bit much for some, but at least it’s meaningful and not a Gibson film, right? Ok, I’ll just stop right there. I highly recommend this one. Check it out.

Borat

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 5, 2006
in Based on TV Series, Bears, Comedy, Documentary, Kidnapping, Mocumentary and Satire
. 1 Comment

Robby, Liz and I saw this over the weekend and we now know what everybody is raving about. This movie is hilarious! There are definitely some crazy parts, some offensive parts and maybe even some gross parts. I’m sure there are many who would not find this funny at all…but I did. Maybe this should be tossed into the same category as South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. The one thing I’m actually surprised with is how people are trying to sue Sasha Baron Cohen after finding out they’re in the movie. These people signed release forms and were interacting with a man and a camera crew. This guy also has a TV show where he plays the exact same character. I guess some people are just slow to catch on.

If you don’t know much about this movie, a man pretends to be a news reporter from Kazakhstan and travels all over the US gaining experiences along the way. He’s very anti-semitic and has many offensive ideas and ideologies that he shares with just the right people along the way. He also does a lot of things to put people in awkward situations and seems to get away with it because he’s “foreign”.

I can’t recommend this to most, but I found this one to be quite funny.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 9, 2006
in Adventure, Crime, Drama, Forgiveness, Kidnapping, Mexico, Neo Noir and Western
. 0 Comments

I unfortunately missed this one in the theaters, but luckily netflix came through for me. This movie stars Tommy Lee Jones(Pete), Barry Pepper(Mike), Julio Cedillo(Melquiades), and Dwight Yoakam(Belmont). Tommy Lee Jones also directed this movie. This is his second movie to direct and I think he did a wonderful job. This movie has ‘three burials’ in its titled because it’s about a man that was buried three times. A mexican migrant worker is accidently shot by a border patrol officer and the officer tries to cover it up. The body was later found by the authorities and the victim’s best friend, Jones, starts his own investigation. Jones goes on his own personal vendetta to track down the man responsible and make the killer realize exactly just what he has done.

I think I was first drawn to this movie by the title. Then I was drawn to it by the setting, actors, and then by the story. This is a great story about having to face the music when we screw up. This is also a movie about intense friendship and loyalty. I’d like to think I would be willing to do the same thing for my friend.

After Jones tracks down the man responsible, they go retrieve Melquiades’ body and proceed to transport to his hometown in Mexico. It takes them a while to actually find the town and once they do, they immediately go to work. First they repair Estrada’s house. They then post a sign so anybody coming by will know what they’ve found. Lastly, they bury Melquiades Estrada for the third and last time.

It’s not quite over yet though. Pete now makes Mike beg for forgiveness. At first Mike tries to shirk this one final responsibility given him, but things don’t work out the way Mike would like. Even though nothing can be done to bring Melquiades back, and the whole thing was an accident, Mike is still responsible. I really felt like personal redemption was gained by the end for Mike. Some of this can be painful to watch, but I think it needs to be that way. So much of our culture today glorifies death, killing and violence. Many people view hispanic people as just “spics” or “wetbacks” and would probably even voice their opinion in support of Mike’s actions. I would like to think that these kinds of people would really feel this way if put into Mike’s shoes.

I also get the feeling that Pete is like a “ghost of Christmas past”. In the same way that Scrooge is made aware of the consequences of his actions, Mike is made aware of the consequences of shooting Melquiades. Mike also repents of his actions and comes out on the other side of his wild adventure a changed man. I’m not sure if this was done on purpose, but I think it could lead to some great discussion.

There’s definitely some objectionable content in here, but this is a film very much worth watching.

Oxygen

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 4, 2006
in Crime, Drama, Kidnapping, Murder and Thriller
. 0 Comments

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this one. However, if you’d like to see Maura Tierney (ER) and Terry Kinney (Oz) as police and Adrien Brody (The Pianist) as a psycho kidnapper/killer, check this one out.

Oldboy

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Drama, Graphic Violence, Kidnapping, Martial Arts, Mystery, Narrated, Neo Noir, Revenge, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Oldboy is a movie I learned about from my good buddy Tim Mahan. It’s a Korean film about a man who is kidnapped and held in a room for 15 years. He’s allowed to watch some TV but has no access to things like sunlight and contact with other human beings. Eventually he breaks free and decides to try and figure out who imprisioned him and why. He can’t find his family and friends because the world thinks he murdered his wife and is on the run.

Through the twisted world one man has created, we eventually discover exactly what Dae-su Oh has done to warrant such revenge. I do need to say that this movie is kind of messed up and wouldn’t be enjoyed by many. If you’re up to it though, you might want to give it a try some time.

Thank You for Smoking: Lobbyists, Salesmen, and other soul-less caricatures…

Published
by
Phil Boltz
on April 10, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Black Comedy, Government, Independent, Industry, Kidnapping, Lobbyist and Smoking
. 1 Comment

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the ultimate schmooze. Sometime ago the best negotiator and bullshit artists were to be found in sales and politics, but leave it to our little post-modern, post-industrial, post-ethics society to create something bigger and better for the sanguine melancholy temperaments of the world to do. Introducing, the perfect mix of politics and pr, of sales and smarmyness: The Lobbyist!

A Sundance favorite by Jason Reitman, “Thank You for Smoking” tells the short story of Nick Naylor, lobbyist for Big Tobacco. The cast is full of friendly faces, Maria Bello, David Koechner, JK Simmons, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Robert Duvall, and so many charachter workers that it’s sweet to see who’ll show up next.

Naylor is not only a professional talker but a father of one. In a mildly sinister tale, we are exposed to the reasons why we smoke…which, as it seems, is because we believe in freedom. Wave that flag kids, because it’s not only the spin, but it’s the truth! Now, I feel personally connected to Naylor, mostly because I talk for a living. It’s my job to get people to do what they really need to, but they didn’t know was the first step to answering their legal woes. No, I don’t sell pre-paid legal services. Accept in the sense that you have to pay the firm before we do work for you.

Essentially, this film stands on it’s own. It resists simply being an issue film, and gives us genuine characters. Albeit, mislead and depraved ones at that. Funny and respectable, I’d recommend it to you…I mean, that’s what I’m doing here isn’t it?

It’s fun…Watch it, enjoy.

Law Office,
Phil

The Chumscrubber

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 16, 2006
in Comedy, Drama, Dysfunctional, Kidnapping and Video games
. 0 Comments

Saw this one last night. It was a bit weird, but really good. I think this is one of those movies that will get even better the next time I see it. Chumscrubber is sort of a made-up pop-culture thing in this movie. There are kids playing a video game and a cartoon/movie on TV in several scenes. It basically represents a teenager who has literally and symbolically lost his head.

In my best description this movie is a lot of American Beauty, some The United States of Leland and a dash of Crash. American Beauty because this film takes place in perfect suburbia where nothing wrong is supposed to happen. The only problem is that a lot is going wrong. To top it all off the kids are continually telling the adults everything that’s going on, only nobody ever listens to them. It’s really quite sad. The only parent in here that seems to actually be “parenting” his child beats his son when he finds out he threw a knife into the wall. For most of the movie a child has been kidnapped for several days but his mother is so preoccupied with a wedding she doesn’t even realize he’s gone.

The United States of Leland because there is a father figure in here who is a book-writing-psychologist/therapist who only cares about his next book. At one point he sits down for a man-to-man talk with his son because his son’s best friend had recently committed suicide. This doesn’t sound to bad - until he pulls out a notebook and starts making notes. His son says, “Dad, if you write about me in another one of those stupid books of yours, I’m going to kill you.” This is pretty direct and out there, only the dad responds by telling his son there are several book distributors who would disagree that his books are ’stupid’. Sounds like he really cares about his family, eh?

Finally, Crash because of all the interactions people have with each other and how interconnected everyone is.

This film is full of recognizable faces. Glenn Close, William Fichtner (Crash, Equilibrium, Blackhawk Down), Ralph Fiennes(The Constant Gardener, Red Dragon), John Heard (Home Alone), Lauren Holly (Dumb and Dumber), Jason Isaacs(Blackhawk Down, The Patriot), Allison Janney(American Beauty), Carrie-Anne Moss(The Matrix, Chocolat, Memento) Rita Wilson, Jamie Bell(King Kong, Billy Elliot), Camilla Belle(The Ballad of Jack and Rose), Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds) and Rory Culkin(Mean Creek) to name a few.

I’m pretty sure a lot of people won’t like this movie. I think it’s great. I don’t know if I’d buy it, but I definitely need to see it again sometime.