Tag Archive for 'Naomi Watts'

Eastern Promises

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 27, 2008
in Crime, Drama, England, Graphic Violence, Investigation, Mob, Mystery, Russian, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Eastern Promises is a follow-up of sorts to A History of Violence. Both are directed by David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen stars in both, and they are both stories about somebody involved in the mob. While Cronenberg’s first mob film takes place in the US, Eastern Promises involves Russian mobsters and takes place in London.

Viggo’s character, Nikolai, works for a very notorious crime family. He’s the driver and he does more than just drive the car from point A to point B. One night he encounters Anna, played by Naomi Watts, as she is looking for somebody at the restaurant owned by the Nikolai’s employers. Anna works at a hospital and a girl died recently giving birth to her daughter. The young girl had a diary which contained a business card for said restaurant. Even though Anna speaks little Russian herself, it is part of her heritage and her uncle, who claims to be ex-KGB, warns her to stay away from the situation. Anna soon finds herself in the midst of a complicated situation as I’m sure you can guess.

One very interesting aspect of this movie is tattoos. In this crime society, tattoos are given as badges and marks of honor. They essentially tell the story of your life. The tattoos are also standardized so anybody can recognize your past glories and exploits merely by noticing the tattoos you have. In the same respect, having tattoos you did not earn can be quite detrimental to ones wellbeing.

Viggo Mortensen is AMAZING in this film. He’s a bit of a method actor in that he heavily researches roles he has and becomes the characters he plays. I know that most people only know him from his exploits in a little trilogy called Lord of the Rings, but seriously guys, Mortensen is a great actor that has been around for a while. I think the first film I remember seeing him in was Crimson Tide. I’ve since seen him in Witness, Carlito’s Way, The Prophecy, Young Guns II, G.I. Jane, and Psycho. The only movie I’ve seen him in that I wasn’t a big fan of was Hidalgo. If you’ve seen any of these and enjoyed Mortensen’s acting skills you should definitely check out some of his other films.

Other noteworthy performances came from Armin Mueller-Stahl, Seymon, who plays the head of the crime family. You’ll probably also recognize Vincent Cassel from Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13. I always remember him as the creepy brother from Brotherhood of the Wolf and the one movie I always throw out there for “wow factor”, Irreversible.

I really enjoyed this film and hope you do too. Let me know if you have any thoughts or comments.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Eastern Promises

Eastern Promises

Published
by
Neville
on November 6, 2007
in Crime, Drama, England, Graphic Violence, Investigation, Mob, Murder, Mystery, Russian, Thriller and Twist
. 1 Comment

I have a confession to make: director David Cronenburg is one of those critically acclaimed directors I just don’t get.

However, his last film “A History of Violence” was the first one I watched and felt its power. I felt there was something there, even if I wasn’t fully understanding just how complex it was.

Similar to “A History of Violence,” “Eastern Promises” stars the talented Viggo Mortensen and the underrated Naomi Watts in a crime drama revolving around babies, body parts and a sect of the Russian Mafia in London. Written by Stephen Knight, the screenwriter that gave us “Dirty Pretty Things,” another story more specifically about black market body parts, “Eastern Promises” begins with a jolt. True to Cronenburg’s form it seems, the violence in his films is often drawn out–shot without music or edited with stylized style–and it’s also visceral. So are the scenes in “Eastern Promises.” They touch on delicate subjects (underage prostitutes, abortion, homosexuality, pure human deception) and everything seems to be marked by the sins of these Mafia characters (similar to their iconic-like tatoos). The tagline for the film reads: “every sin leaves a mark.” And this is really what the movie is all about. It unpacks this idea through its visuals and asks its audience to be subjected to its darkness (make no mistake about it, it is dark). But can we bear it? Can we endure through it?

I think the film could’ve been more effective (or at least more accessible to mass audiences) if more music was in the film, but I’m quickly learning that this is not Cronenburg’s style. He seems to like revealing things, not as if it’s cinema but as if it’s real life, and this tension is felt continually throughout the film. Do I believe things like this go on? Absolutely. But can I ever see myself as one of them? Probably not.

It wasn’t until the film’s end until I sensed any kind of humanity in the “villian” characters of the film. What distinquishes people as people and people as monsters? This is another question the film asks.

Mortensen and Watts are both strong here and both give convincing performances with convincing accents. But so much darkness is here I wonder if Cronenburg would’ve been wise to have let a little more light in (into the scenes, into the colors, in the images/icons of the film). I know this is neo-film noir from a very experienced and artistic filmmaker but I still can wonder, right?

All in all, worth a rental, not quite worth the $10 cinema ticket price (unless you want to really really feel the violence–then maybe you should go to the cinema and watch it).

Tank Girl

Published
by
Chalupa
on September 5, 2006
in Action, Based on a comic, Comedy, Future, Puppets and Sci-fi
. 0 Comments

Tank Girl is a great B-movie out of 1995 starring Lori Petty (Point Break, Free Willy) and Naomi Watts about some rebels battling the big bad conglomerate government. Kind of the ongoing battle played out in many a movie, but this one involves a girl and her tank. Besides seeming kind of silly and weird, this movie is also heavily based on the comic world, which explains some of the costuming and dialogue. If you’ve seen Ultraviolet, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I do have to admit, from the cover I always thought that “Tank Girl” was played byAlanna Ubach (Waiting…, Beakman’s World and Sister Act). This isn’t something to get all fired up about and invite 20 friends over to watch on the big screen, unless you all like this movie. I’d say it’s definitely worth watching though. Where else are you going to see Ice-T dressed up as a mutant human/kangaroo fighting for justice?

King Kong

Published
by
Chalupa
on January 12, 2006
in Adventure, Drama, Film in film, Great Depression, Kidnapping, New York, Remake and Romance
. 0 Comments

Before even seeing this I heard a lot of criticisms. After seeing it, I had to agree that this film does lend itself a bit towards the film fanatic. Mostly because of it’s length. I will say though that I think cutting the film would have taken away from some of the story. It’s not like everything you saw was just fluff.

I’ve always heard that Peter Jackson’s favorite movie was King Kong and his dream was to do a remake. I wasn’t ever very interested because I had seen bits and pieces of several versions on TV and was never really impressed. Then I finally saw a trailer and I immediately wanted to see this.

I think Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts, Thomas Kretschmann, Colin Hanks, and Andy Serkis were cast very well for this. You might have noticed I left out one important person and that would be Jack Black. If you know me very well you’ll know that I love Jack Black - not in the Neil Diamond obsession sort of way from Saving Silverman, but in a ‘Jack Black rocks’ sort of way. I have a lot of respect for this man and the comedy he creates that leaves me laughing night and day. This role was very similar to many of Jack’s other roles. He did the eye thing, the crazy faces, the hands, the voice intonations…..the only thing I don’t remember seeing were his happy feet. You know, when he does that little dance thing. I thought Jack did a great job, however, I think somebody else would have been better suited for his role.

The animation was great in this movie. I mean really great. But this is Peter Jackson we’re talking about. The man that pulled off the beloved Lord of the Rings. King Kong looks amazing, the T-Rexes looked sweet, and even the insects. Cause who could forget those scenes? Poor Lumpy.

I also really loved the indigenous people that had on the island. They looked so amazing. Everything from their skin color, their hair, their jewelry, their movements - even the crazy ones with their eyes rolled back in their heads. You kind of get the feeling that Kong is their protector because there’s a lot of crazy stuff on that island.

I really enjoyed how Kong was personalized in this movie. He wasn’t just a crazed ape. He had feelings, hopes and dreams. You realized he had a home and used to have a family. He was the last of his kind. A very lonely creature; living out his days. I can’t say I’ve ever thought of a personified Kong before. I think Jackson did a good job here.

I think the only other thing I would maybe point out here is the seemingly growing/shrinking size of Kong. If you take him in relation to Naomi Watts throughout the movie, sometimes she’s just this tiny little thing in his hand and other times she’s about the size of his whole arm. I suggested maybe he has a little Hulk-syndrome. You know, get angry and become this huge, hulking behemoth that nobody wants to mess with.

Overall I think this movie was very well made and really enjoyed watching it. If you’re not into those long movies, like special editions of LOTR, then maybe you should think twice before trying to sit down and watch this all at once.

Stay

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 9, 2005
in Drama, Mystery and Thriller
. 0 Comments

It took me a while to try and come up what to say about this movie; not because I didn’t like it, but more because I don’t want to give too much away. So let me start out by saying this movie is awesome.

If you saw the previews or have read a little about this you’ll know that the movie centers around a college student, Henry (Ryan Gosling), who wants to kill himself and a shrink, Sam (Ewan McGregor), who is trying to prevent that from happening. Sam’s girlfriend, Lila, is played by Naomi Watts. This seems pretty straightforward until you start getting farther and farther into the movie. Is Henry confused? Is Sam confused? Are we just dumb movie watchers and confused? At one point Henry meets an old blind man who is a friend of Sam’s. Henry freaks out because the man looks exactly like his father, who has been dead for some time. I think you could compare Stay to films like Memento, A Beautiful Mind and Fight Club. I know there’s more out there, but I think three examples are enough here. The basic thing going on here is that you’re a bit confused, things aren’t making much sense, but then you get to the end and everything is explained. I think that’s about all I’m going to say about the plot. Otherwise I’d get carried away and ruin it for you.

The cinematography is great in here. I’d also like to go out on a limb and say I witnessed the best transitions ever while watching this film. The one example I’ve told people is Sam takes a cab to a house. Now you could show Sam walking all the way up to the house or just cut from inside the taxi to the doorstep. In the movie you have Sam stepping out of the cab and then all of a sudden you see somebody standing at the door and then it cuts to Sam at the door. Sam actually saw himself standing up there. The kicker is everything is done seamlessly and you don’t even realize what happened until afterwards. To top it all off, that was a simple transition. Others had complete scenery changes that were all seamless! It’s awesome.

I’d like to end this up by saying while this movie isn’t full of objectionable material, this isn’t something you would want to take a small child to. This is rated R and they don’t do that for no reason at all. I think this movie could fall into the entertaining AND thinking categories, but it mind depend on what you find entertaining. It’s one of those movies that after you watch it you start realizing more and more about it. I would call this one a must-see for the year. It’ll be making its way to my top 10 list.

21 Grams

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 12, 2005
in Crime, Drama, Drugs, Independent, Multiple story line and Thriller
. 0 Comments

Another Netflix “rental”. This is one movie I thought looked really interesting and wanted to see and then never got around to seeing it. I think it was made out to be another ‘drug movie’ like Blow or Traffic or Trainspotting. There were some minimal drugs involved here, but it wasn’t really integral to the plot. I think I got a lot more out of this movie from little things rather then everything as a whole.

This movie has a couple stories going on that are kind of all connected. It also skips around a lot timeline-wise, but it’s not completely backwards like Memento or Irreversible. This isn’t an upbeat happy movie, but I still think it was good. Decent performances from Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. Great performance from Benicio del Torro.

There were some interesting topics to look at in this movie like religion, revenge, mercy, generosity, justice, kindness, responsibility, etc. I think this is another one of those movies that can be watched just for content, or can be looked at and thought about. Some movies only seem to fall into one category or the other.

I Heart Huckabees

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 7, 2004
in Comedy, Existential and Multiple story line
. 0 Comments

I’ve really fallen behind in posting about movies so here I go….Saw this one with Elaine, Liz and Sarah. It was definitely the best example of existentialism I’ve ever seen. It’s one of those things I read a little bit about in a couple classes, but never really quite grasped the concept. Wonderful performances by Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore (1998)) and Mark Wahlberg. You also had Jude Law, Dustin Hoffman, Naomi Watts, and Lily Tomlin. Definitely a star-studded cast. Elaine had told me while watching this movie she was kept on the edge of her seat waiting to hear what they would say next. I’d have to say I concur. Definitely great dialog going on here. For some reason while watching it I was constantly reminded of John Cusack. One actress in here was the teacher he talked to outside the high school in Grosse Pointe Blank who he told still dresses like Mary Tyler Moore. There were also little things that reminded of some of his other movies. I thought Naomi Watts did an awesome job portraying how shallow everyone was in treating her after she quit trying to look “pretty” all the time. There were also a bunch of little things like when Jude Law threw up in the meeting and him crying at the end. I also loved when he admitted going to the existential detectives just to get Albert kicked out.

This is definitely a movie that can be appreciated on multiple levels. It’s entertaining and witty on the surface, yet is also much deeper if you want to sit and really think about what you’re watching. Definitely something to watch sometime.

Ned Kelly

Published
by
Chalupa
on October 10, 2004
in Australia, Based on a novel, Biography, Drama, History and Western
. 2 Comments

Last night I picked up Ned Kelly, previously viewed, at Blockbuster and then watched it with some guys on the deuce. This movie is about an Irish guy, Ned, who becomes an outlaw while trying to stick up for his family. The movie takes place in Australia in the 1870’s or 1880’s. The cops basically rule the land and do whatever they want…so if you get on their bad side you’re screwed. Eventually Ned, his brother, and a couple friends start robbing banks to give the money back to their friends and family so they can pay bills, mortgages, etc and basically survive. Pretty soon a bounty is put on their heads, they are declared outlaws, and the crown sends a big bad lawman, played by Geoffrey Rush, to bring the men to justice. Towards the end of the movie there’s an interesting shootout where the 4 outlaws have created steel plating so deflect the police’ bullets. Reminded me a lot of when those guys had flack jackets and AK-47’s and robbed a bank out in CA. They walk out of a building, the cops open fire. They just stand there. The cops get confused. They open fire and start taking them out left and right til they have to reload and then go back inside. Besides the whole pseudo modern Robin Hood theme going on, there is the issue of unjust imprisonment and unchecked governmental authority. Definitely something worth checking out.

We Don’t Live Here Anymore

Published
by
Neville
on September 29, 2004
in Drama
. 0 Comments

You’ve probably heard of this independent, art-house drama about four adults caught up in adultery with each other’s spouses…but you probably haven’t seen it. I’d recommend waiting to video, but if you happen to see it playing nearby and feel like experiencing a tiny bit of the torture and pain and anguish of what couples who go through affairs go through, check it out. It leaves you with a very sad feeling, as it should, and while some of the performances tend to be a bit melodramatic, Laura Dern’s stood out to me as being the best (i hope she gets some award-recognition). Naomi Watts and Mark Ruffalo also start, but both of them I feel like have played this same-type character before. Anyone see “XX/XY”? This reminded me a lot of that…only better. Okay, that’s two quick ones in a row…sorry, been meaning to do it for awhile but just haven’t gotten around to it.